PLK Communities, which has nearly two dozen properties in the region, plans to build the apartment development on the city’s west side. It’s within the allowed density, per the city’s zoning regulations, and will feature a private street entering the complex (with a possible second private entry point) and 555 parking spaces for residents and visitors. Additionally, the developer is proposing a passive park, clubhouse, pond fountain, decorative lighting, bike parking, several EV charging spaces, and several on-grade entries.
PLK is still in negotiations with trying to purchase the parcel, along with the adjacent 28-acre wooded property to the north that will remain redevelopment, according to the city.
The proposed development sits on a parcel that was years ago planned to be a much denser student-housing project that failed and has since sat vacant and undeveloped, outside of a retention pond that has not been well maintained. Some residents in the gated community to the south say that retention pond, as well as a pair of retention ponds to the west, have caused flooding damage on their properties over the years.
About an hour or so before Wednesday’s City Council meeting, what was described as “a flood of emails” were sent to the city, said Councilman Tim Naab. Council members were reading the emails ahead and even during the early parts of the City Council meeting to understand the residents’ concern, which varied from traffic to density, but most were concerned with potential flooding and a possible two-week decision.
Naab said the project “seems consistent with the other properties that are adjoining it” and though he didn’t discount the valid concerns, he and others on council wondered why they waited a week after many of the same residents attended and voiced issues at the planning commission’s 6-1 approval.
Typically, City Council considers development projects at multiple meetings, in addition to an initial presentation, before voting. However, the developer, Nicholas Lingenfelter, has requested a first and second reading be held on the Oct. 25 meeting with a vote.
“We’re not intentionally trying to rush things, but it is the winter season,” he said, indicating they want to start digging before the ground freezes. There is about $6 million worth of site infrastructure that needs to be constructed in the ground before any of the 20 apartment buildings go up.”
“For us to have any type of opportunity to save on that would be huge because right now, it’s a pretty thin margin project to be built,” he said of the workforce housing that will see rents of two- or three-bedroom apartments that will be in the $1,400 and $1,700 range per month.
Lingenfelter said they can’t have the rents any higher, “so we have to find every way we can to be able to build that high-quality product” to make it work.
“If we don’t do this now, we’re probably waiting ‘til March, April, May to start because once we’re start getting into the really wet months, we have to line the site, it’s going to add significant costs to what we’re doing. It will make it unviable,” he said.
Assistant Director of Engineering Alan Messer said the retention ponds that were the cause of the flooding had debris in them, which obstructed the outlet of the water. He said the property where those two ponds sit has been purchased and the owner has been maintaining them and there have not been issues since that point.
The retention pond on the PLK potential site has also seen debris causing it to nearly overflow, mostly because of beavers blocking the outlet so water cannot naturally and slowly escape.
“It’s the maintenance of the existing pond, more so than the size or anything like that,” said Messer, adding the retention pond “will have to be modified to today’s standards” as it was built in the 1990s.
Councilmember Carla Fiehrer said she was uncomfortable making a final decision in two weeks with just the presentation and a handful of 11th-hour emails.
“How will we have this discussion with council, to ask questions and understand?” she said. “I just want to have time to really digest it.”
City Manager Joshua Smith and city staff will meet with residents at 2 p.m. to further discuss the issues, then prepare a report for City Council. A special work session is being considered for the council to discuss the matter, but a decision on that possible meeting wasn’t been made of the Journal-News deadline.
While the developer is requesting a decision to be made at the Oct. 25 meeting, City Council can still hold the decision for a second reading at the ensuing scheduled meeting on Nov. 8.
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