The leader of the East Main, Mustard, and Atlantic Avenue neighborhood association says that the group will take its fight against a controversial housing project to City Council.
The City Planning Commission signed-off last week on a rezoning proposal which allows for the construction of the $17 million development between Mustard and Palmer streets in EMMA. Sixteen of the 72 units would be for the developmentally disabled.
But the commission’s approval is just a recommendation; City Council has the final say and could vote on the rezoning next month.
The EMMA neighborhood group has been against the project, called The Community on East Main, since it was initially proposed early this year. Group members will make sure that Council is aware of their concerns, says Pastor Dorothy Parham, EMMA’s president.
The development is being forced on the neighborhood, she says. EMMA needs owner-occupancy, stores, and families to build itself up, not a project primarily made up of one-bedroom apartments, she says.
The Planning Commission rejected an earlier version of the plan in June, citing inconsistency with the surrounding neighborhood and other factors. But design changes accompanied by a zoning change to permit more density on the site won the members over, says Nelson Leenhouts, chair of Home Leasing, which is the company doing the project.
Leenhouts says that Home Leasing canvassed the neighborhood and found that many EMMA residents support the project. Parham says that’s not true.
The paperwork from the June Planning Commission meeting made note of significant neighborhood opposition to the development.
David Watson, chair of the Planning Commission, says that residents’ opinions are just one factor that the commission weighs when considering an application.
“If you have one person who’s speaking in favor and 800 against, it doesn’t automatically mean we’re going to vote one way or the other,” he says.
The development would consist of four buildings with a playground, computer lab, fitness area, takeout cafรฉ, and other features.
This article appears in Sep 21-27, 2016.
At some point it just gets sad. That stretch of East Main is full of vacant lots, abandoned homes, and decrepit store-fronts.
You know what helps start the revitalization of a neighborhood or corridor such as East Main? An $18 million project like this. You know what attracts what Pastor Parham desires – “owner-occupancy, stores, and families to build itself up”? Projects like this. Do they really expect private homeowners and business owners to just accept their invitation and start investing over there, especially given how they’ve fought this project?
This development is going to be far nicer than anything on that stretch between Goodman and Culver and will blend in just fine with the heavy amount of commercial and industrial uses in the neighborhood. This isn’t in the middle of some residential neighborhood….it’s on a major mixed-use corridor that hasn’t had a significant investment in decades. As a City resident, the stubbornness of these community “leaders” from EMMA is frustrating and troubling to watch.
In response to Ryan’s comment: this past year has seen the restoration of several homes on East Main and the opening of three businesses. There are two restaurants asking to open, and four more store fronts being renovated. Things are improving quickly along the south side of E.Main. The real problems are on the north side. This re-zoning wouldn’t have any affect on those problems. I would note too, that the bulk of this proposed project is on Breck Street. It abutts single family, owner occupied homes on both Breck & E.Main. It is extremely high density with as many as 50 people per quarter acre, 72 units, office & commercial space, and only 60 parking spaces. There is no street side parking on any of the N/S streets close to this and only four parking spots on Brcek Street. Two homes there don’t have a driveway. In a neighborhood of 330 homes adding 72 rental units completely changes the character of the neighborhood. There are many other problems with this project, all of which have been glossed over by the city & the developer in their bid to get hold of federal & state taxpayer dollars to build this.