The next City Council Land Use Committee public hearing on the Washington Place project is this Thursday Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. At the last hearing on Sept. 13, the developer presented new details on affordability. In addition to 15 percent of units being affordable to households earning 50–80 percent of area median income (AMI), another 10 percent will be affordable to those earning 80–120 percent of AMI. Here’s the committee report.
Of course, you don’t have to attend the public hearing to share your views about this project. Just go to the comments section and tell us how you feel about the developer’s recent changes to both the height of the building and the proposed affordable component.
This is a project of enormous potential benefit. But until this developer puts a realistic proposal on the table, the Land Use Committee should not get suckered into accepting anything less than the city deserves. Affordable units that have an expiration date are not even worth discussing.
At the public hearing, it became known that the Planning and Development Board is down to four out of five full members and zero out of four auxiliary members. This has an impact on city zoning policy because the City Council must wait for the advice of the Planning Board before acting on any changes in the zoning map or the zoning ordinance. We don’t have to take their advice but we have to wait for it or postpone our action for twenty days.
There are obviously a lot of people in the city with a keen interest in development issues who might be excellent full or auxiliary members. The Mayor appoints members to the Planning Board so interested people should contact the Mayor or his staff. For more details about the duties of the Planning Board which include Community Development Block Grants and Subdivision Controls, citizens can contact the Planning Department.
City Councilor Brian Yates
According to an article in the Tab, the developer has stipulated that all of the affordable units will remain so in perpetuity. In addition the proposal has been amended such that the building along Walnut Street has been reduced to 4 stories, the set back has been increased to allow for wider sidewalks and bike lanes going in both directions on Washington Street have been added – along with other changes. It seems like it’s headed in the right direction.
“There are obviously a lot of people in the city with a keen interest in development issues who might be excellent full or auxiliary members.”
I’m not qualified, but if I were, I’d rather chew broken glass. The people who volunteer for such public service deserve a medal of some kind.
If I were Mayor, to improve the transparency and legitimacy of our hiring and appointment process, I would publicly post all applicants resumes and other qualifications. By doing so, we could 1) ensure that the most qualified individuals are being chosen and 2) end or reduce speculation that the Mayor overly politicizes this process. I know many qualified individuals who’ve applied for open positions, and despite these positions remaining open for far too long, these well qualified individuals didn’t even get past the first step in the hiring or appointment process.
We all deserve a highly functioning local government that works for us. If the Mayor wants to argue that the reason our city government is so understaffed is because there aren’t enough qualified people applying for positions, I’d call on him to prove it.