Uptown Planners and various community groups have spoken in unison: No \u201cdensity bonus\u201d in the proposed Uptown Community Plan update. But will city planners listen?<\/p>\n
El Plan Comunitario de Uptown, que gu\u00eda el desarrollo en Park West, Bankers Hill, Hillcrest, Mission Hills, Medical District, Middletown y la mitad occidental de University Heights, est\u00e1 siendo actualizado por la ciudad por primera vez desde 1988. El plan actualizado tendr\u00e1 un gran impacto en estos vecindarios durante los pr\u00f3ximos 25 a\u00f1os.<\/p>\n
A discussion about \u201cincentive zoning\u201d and \u201cdensity bonus\u201d drew heated comments at a special meeting of the Uptown Planners advisory group on July 21 in the Great Room at St. Paul\u2019s Cathedral in Bankers Hill.<\/p>\n Senior city planner Marlon Pangilinan gave a presentation on the draft of the land-use element of the plan, and a majority of both the audience and the Uptown Planners gave him an earful of comments critical of the proposed \u201cincentive zoning\u201d that would allow taller buildings and increased density in some areas, including Bankers Hill and eastern Hillcrest, in exchange for public amenities such as plazas and parks.<\/p>\n In 2004, city planners embraced the City of Villages concept to encourage urban micro-clusters of mixed-use development near transit and commercial hubs. The goal is to reduce the environmental effects of development by creating neighborhoods that encourage residents to walk, bicycle or use public transportation instead of cars.<\/p>\n A few years ago, the Hillcrest Business Association \u2014 an influential group that represents the business community in Hillcrest \u2014 conducted a series of meetings that fostered a dialogue about what Hillcrest should look like in the future. Ben Nicholls, executive director of the HBA, explains that group\u2019s position:<\/p>\n \u201cI can say a couple of things.\u00a0First, though the HBA hasn’t taken a formal position on the plan update, people I talk to in the business community are very supportive of the proposed \u2018density bonus\u2019 system in the plan.\u00a0Like many neighborhood folks, many business people won’t come to a community meeting, but their opinion is just as important,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe \u2018density bonus\u2019 system is something that the HBA asked for as part of its recommendations for the plan. The community dialogue we held back in 2011-12, \u2018Hillcrest 2.0,\u2019 specifically requested this kind of innovative and reasonable incentive program. Many things that came out of the Hillcrest 2.0 effort have been included in the plan and we’re excited about that.\u00a0We will advocate to have those things preserved in the plan,\u201d Nicholls said.<\/p>\n The HBA was not represented at the July 21 special meeting, nor did any other business group attend.<\/p>\n Bankers Hill resident James Frost, an architect and planner who attended the meeting, pointed out \u201csignificant deficits in infrastructure and in almost every public service\u201d that cannot support higher density in Uptown. \u201cThese problems should be fixed before we consider higher density,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Rick Wilson of Hillcrest worried about losing historical structures in his community and said development \u201cshould be kept in scale with the community.\u201d<\/p>\n Ian Epley, an architect from Hillcrest, was one of a handful of people at the meeting who supported the \u201cdensity bonus\u201d proposal. He also opposed creating historical districts, saying there is \u201cnothing worth saving or promoting.\u201d He applauded plans to create a higher density area in Hillcrest from east of state Route 163 to Park Boulevard. Epley has made similar arguments at community planning meetings across the city, according to various news reports.<\/p>\n Sharon Gale of Mission Hills, mentioning that climate change is a reality, expressed support for \u201csustainable development to put people where they work and play.\u201d<\/p>\n Members of the Uptown Planners largely echoed the concerns of the audience, although members Michael Brennan and Dana Hook generally supported the land-use draft. Brennan is secretary of the advisory group and a landscape architect, and Hook has a degree in civil engineering and is considered an expert in urban-mobility solutions.<\/p>\n Brennan said he supports \u201cdensity bonus\u201d as a solution to affordable housing and said he represented a different demographic than many folks in the audience: younger people who want to live, work and play in urban communities instead of the suburbs.<\/p>\n Hook said the \u201cdensity bonus\u201d should be an option for planners to offer incentives to developers so they will build parks and infrastructure, which are sorely lacking in Uptown and wanted by the residents.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to be able to move people in our own community \u2026 not be a drive-through for people cutting through our neighborhoods,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n But most of the Uptown Planners members opposed higher density, including Mat Wahlstrom of Hillcrest, owner of Roberts Electric Services. He worried that the land-use draft only proposed a small historical district for Hillcrest, roughly from First Avenue and Washington Street down to Robinson Avenue. He also criticized the higher density proposed for east Hillcrest.<\/p>\n![\"uptown](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/uptown-planwebtop2.jpg\")
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