HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-11-17 Public Comment - D. Littlepage - Black Olive IIFrom:Dean Littlepage
To:Agenda
Subject:Black-Olive Site Plan Comment
Date:Tuesday, July 11, 2017 12:23:42 PM
Please pass this comment along to the Design Review Board, Marty Matsen
in Planning, and the Commission. Thanks.
I want to register a brief comment on the latest iteration of the
Black-Olive site plan. I will not be able to attend the DRB meeting
Wednesday, but want my opinion to be part of the record for that
meeting. The comments of citizens who cannot make a particular meeting
should be given equal weight to those presented orally. Thank you.
The DRB's recommendation on this iteration of the plan should be the
same as the previous two: just straight out NO. This iteration does not
differ materially from the previous two, and still ignores the issues
raised previously: major = scale, neighborhood compatibility, and
parking, but also including neighborhood traffic and the property values
of the near neighbors, three of which, I'm told, have been sold or are
up for sale because of this out-of-scale proposal.
Many of us have by now seen the video of the 2015 session where the
Commission failed to heed the advice of the lead planner at the time,
who essentially predicted this nightmare scenario for the immediate
neighborhood if the proposed changes at that time were adopted without
adequate public involvement. I would hope that the department and the
Commission would be willing to admit that this action was a mistake.
How many times does the developer get to propose essentially the same
flawed plan and take up more of the time of the department, the
Commission, the DRB, and downtown neighborhood residents, hoping to get
a different answer to the same question?
Concerning the DRB, I am also very concerned about the amendments to the
UDC that would cut the main avenue for the public to influence
development decisions -- through the DRB -- out of the site plan process
for all but the most humongous apartment/condo complexes in the NDOC.
The UDC draft is heading in the wrong direction; there should be more
citizen involvement in these processes, not less - particularly when a
Commission member who's a mayoral candidate has said publicly that
communication between the City and residents needs to be improved.
Please say NO to the latest Black-Olive plan.
Dean Littlepage
618 W. Curtiss St.
dljm@bresnan.net
(406) 522-3871