AgdaPkt 2020-11-09 Joint SA PFA - Laserfiche WebLink

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From: Kris Johnson To: GRP -City Council Subject: South Main / Greystar 5 Date: Monday, November 9, 2020 8:02:54 AM Attachments: Screen Shot 2020-11-08 at 9.09.27 PM.ina Dear City Council, If the Planning Commission meeting was any indication, there will be dozens of housing advocates speaking in support of the Greystar 5 solely due to the number of housing units - both market -rate and affordable - that it will be providing. If that was the only factor in the decision- making process, your decision would be easy tomorrow evening but we know that's not the case. I have a simple question when it comes to the South Main Project, "Is this the best that we can do?" There are serious concerns with the project shared by many that center around a few core issues: 2. 3. 4. 5. An unsustainable jobs/housing imbalance A bare minimum of affordable housing The destruction of a historic resource A paucity of public open space and green space A suspect design for a transit -oriented development Our Planning Commission shared some of these concerns. Here's a quote from your staff report in reference to the Planning Commission meeting: "Areas of concern included the amount of housing compared to office (jobs/housing balance), desire for more affordable housing above and beyond the City requirements, desire for more open space, and concern of impacts during construction. " 1: An unsustainable jobs/housing imbalance During the Council study session on the Greystar project last September, the vast majority of you expressed concerns about the jobs/housing imbalance that this project would only accelerate. As presented to you that evening, the project consisted of 550k sq ft of office and 291 housing units. Given the apprehension expressed by the Council, one could have reasonably assumed the developer would swap -out a significant amount of office for housing. While they did convert one office building over to housing, they took the majority of the freed -up office space (all but 19k) and distributed it elsewhere throughout the site. The bottom line -- the overall size of the project increased by 33% since your study session. And with that increase in size comes an increase in impacts. Why the insignificant reduction in office space? The intent behind the recent change in