PC 042716 - Laserfiche WebLink

Beaudin: Those two streets right now, those are rear loaded units for the most part which means the garages come in through the back and the front space fronts public streets. So some of these areas with garages on the lane don't have any pedestrian amenities, so K and D are two that we think particularly need some additional pedestrian amenity because right now your front door takes you onto a main street. If you come out of the back of the home, you're essentially in a lane with no sidewalk. Commissioner Nagler: Okay, so say you're walking south on J Street, there's sidewalk on one side or both sides of the street? Hagen: On J Street there are very little sidewalks at all. There are sidewalks on the entry court and sidewalks up until the park. On the south side of J Street there are some sidewalks, but there are no sidewalks on the north side. Beaudin: I'm a really visual person, so sheet L -4 in the package will show that. If you get to L -4, see the pedestrian circulation at work? This largely shows where the sidewalks exist and the paths and sidewalks, but you can see how J Street has a dotted sidewalk presence on what would be .... if J Street is running north /south it would be on the east side. Nagler: Right, right. Okay, could we just go back to page L -3 for a moment? So again, just as an example, on J Street, on one side are driveways and garages, right? And on the other side of J Street I guess I'm confused about where the entrance to the homes are. Commissioner O'Connor: They're on the front. They're on Stanley. Hagen: Yes, so on the north side of J Street, the homes front Stanley and on the south side of J Street, the homes front the green park. So the homes on J Street, H Street and I Street all front the central park, and the same on G Street and F Street —they front the central green. Commissioner Nagler: Got it. Thank you. That's what I was asking. Okay, thank you for bearing with me. So having gotten through that, I agree with everything that's been said. I agree completely with what staff is suggesting about K Court and D Street. I also have some trouble with, but understand that the size of the homes directly correlates to their affordability but I have some trouble over the density of the neighborhood. There are just quite a few homes being built in a relatively small space and it particularly plays out in my mind, given the fact that there is not much open space given the density of the neighborhood. So for example, the homes on D Street, E and C Streets and L Court have very little green space in order for their kids to play; again, my operating assumption is because these are more affordable homes, there may be a high propensity of families buying these homes; that in order for a kid who lives on the corner of D and C to play in a park, they and /or with their parents have to walk quite some distance to cross a few streets, find where the sidewalks are to get to central green. And so the density of the neighborhood it seems to me sacrifices a certain amount of open space and park space that would benefit this neighborhood a lot. Linked to that is the fact that there isn't programmed play spaces, I believe flies in the face of the experience of most parents that kids like swings, kids like to climb, and that's what they do. And, to say that the modern world deems sufficient open space in which you can be creative and do whatever you want, just in my experience flies in the face of how kids behave at certain ages. And so to have structured play in open space somewhere in this neighborhood or maybe in several places I think is important. PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, April 27, 2016 Page 27 of 43