Grove Plan Needs More Housing, Parkland

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Leslie Pool
Posts: 231
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2015 3:22 pm

Grove Plan Needs More Housing, Parkland

Post by Leslie Pool »

Recently, the coalition of neighbors who joined together in 2012 to advocate for a superior mixed-used development on the state-owned property at Bull Creek Road submitted their recommendations for the current proposal at the Grove. I am adding their document at this link http://tinyurl.com/hhkxvzc and encourage you to take time to look these over and give them serious consideration before the application comes to the Council in August. A whole lot of effort has gone into this case to date from all parties – neighbors, the applicant, and City staff.

I join with the Bull Creek Road Coalition in requesting the developer increase the amount of housing, in particular affordable housing, and I call on the developer to add to the amount of contiguous parkland so far indicated. This can be accomplished by reducing the amount of retail and office space currently planned for the site. The community would benefit from a greater allocation of housing, including affordable housing, significant dedication of parkland, and less roadway congestion.

When I first met with the developer, Garrett Martin and his staff more than a year ago, I encouraged him to include a strong component of affordable housing. During this process, my staff and I have met with department staff to express our desire for more housing and park space and a reasonable amount of office and retail. While I am disappointed that there are still these big unresolved issues, I am optimistic that we as a Council can work together to make this a better PUD.

Recently, City staff recommended reducing the size of the project. In response, the applicant chose to cut the number of housing units, rather than commercial space. The applicant currently plans more than 360,000 square feet of commercial space out of a project totalling up to 2.53 million square feet. The number of affordable housing units the applicant is providing is only the minimum percentages our code requires for this kind of master-planned development (5% of ownership units, 10% of rental units) and with fewer housing units in general, there will also be fewer affordable housing units.

The developer has also chosen not to prioritize parkland on the 75-plus acre site, largely ignoring the stated and consistent preferences of those most affected by the development to preserve significant portions along with the stately and vigorous heritage trees that have grown on this land for a very long time.

I'm calling on the applicant to reverse the trend of cutting housing and instead reduce the amount of square footage attributed to commercial office and retail use. I'm also calling on the applicant to increase the amount of parkland. To put this into perspective, at least 24 acres of parkland would be required under the new Parkland Dedication Ordinance. I urge your active and positive consideration of these key points and thank you for your time on this matter.

The developer has also chosen not to prioritize parkland on the 75-plus acre site, largely ignoring the stated and consistent preferences of those most affected by the development to preserve significant portions along with the stately and vigorous heritage trees that have grown on this land for a very long time.

I'm calling on the applicant to reverse the trend of cutting housing and instead reduce the amount of square footage attributed to commercial office and retail use. I'm also calling on the applicant to increase the amount of parkland. To put this into perspective, at least 24 acres of parkland would be required under the new Parkland Dedication Ordinance. I urge your active and positive consideration of these key points and thank you for your time on this matter.

Leslie
Leslie Pool
Mayor Pro Tem
Council Member, District 7