The City of Redmond approved an 89-unit complex at its Area Urban Planning Commission Monday night.
“We have a housing needs analysis that is part of our comprehensive planning code and we literally need in the next 20 years, 7,000 new units to accommodate the growth,” said Redmond Area Urban Planning Commission Chair Teri Jansen. “We also have an extreme need for housing of all types right now.
The 7.52 acre land for the complex was met with plenty of push-back from surrounding neighbors.
The meeting saw around 40 attendees and was more than two and a half hours, with speakers from the city, developers and 13 public commenters.
“I am concerned about the frequent references to emotion,” Public Commenter Barry Campbell said. “It makes me feel like my comments, will be dismissed as either emotional or simple resistance to change and they are not. They are well researched thought out comments about the safety of our kids, about traffic flow, about available services, about the concern we have about the tendency by the folks from Seattle to meet the bar minimum standard and only that.”
“Eight hundred twenty-one extra trips a day, that is a lot, that is dangerous,” Commenter Steven Richards said about the traffic flow report. “I have a child that is deaf. We moved there because it was quiet, not to have 821 cars passing my street everyday.”
“We are not as a planning commission standing up and saying let’s protect this community,” said Commenter Tyler Bola. “We should be first, not a Seattle developer.”
Jansen did respond to some of the 13 commentators during that portion.
“It’s not that you are not being heard and it is not that we are not paying attention to the fact that there are other housing units and nicer homes and all that there, we are just telling you what we are required to meet and the standard is met for that zoning,” Jansen said. “I understand that you don’t agree to that zoning, but that is what we are driven by, that is what we have to base our decision on.”
The site and design of the complex were approved, but only if 17 conditions are met by LEDG Capital LLC., who are the applicants of the project.
Some of those conditions were things like the amount of fencing per unit, landscaping requirement, and more common space.
“That being said the majority voted to go forward with this project on the condition that 1-17 being met,” Jansen said.
The vote was four in favor of the complex with two against the approval.
You can read the conditions here:
The following conditions of approval shall be required:
- Any substantial alteration to the approved plans, except as modified by the following conditions of approval, shall be subject to the standards and procedures in Section 8.1400 (Modifications of Approval) of the Redmond Development Code.
- All land disturbed during construction shall be revegetated/landscaped immediately after construction is complete and dust created during construction shall be properly mitigated at all times, so as to not create significant impacts upon the neighboring properties.
- Fencing adjacent to SW Helmholtz Way shall incorporate a minimum of 5 inch wide square column every 8 feet along the fence with a cap added to the top of each column that is a minimum of ½ inch larger in each direction and a minimum of 1 inch in height.
- Any access aisle less than 24 feet in width must provide “no parking / fire lane” striping or signage, or curbs painted red for “no parking.”
- The Central Oregon Irrigation District’s (COID) B Lateral Waste has an easement of 50 feet and traverses the subject property. The applicant shall contact COID for additional discussion and requirements for the quitclaim process.
- The applicant shall submit for review and approval information demonstrating compliance with trash receptacle standards found in Section 8.3035(4)(E)(8).
- The applicant shall revise plans to incorporate a greater amount of common open space and amenities. This standard is found under Section 8.3035(4)(E)(10). Revised plans must be submitted for review and approval.
- Each dwelling unit shall have a minimum of 48 square feet of private fenced yards to comply with Section 8.3035(4)(E)(11).
- Each dwelling unit shall have one assigned, securable storage area, a minimum of 18 square feet, but shall be of a minimum size and dimension that is suitable to accommodate one bicycle of average size. The applicant’s architectural plans will have to be revised, reviewed, and approved to show compliance with Section 8.3035(4)(E)(14).
- Necessary to protect the aesthetic character of the adjacent neighborhoods, and to provide security and privacy for the occupants of the multi-family complex, sight-obscuring fencing or evergreen hedges shall be required along the development’s northern, southern, and eastern boundaries.
- The parking areas and property lines are abutted by landscaping. Shrubbery required for screening must be at least 3 ½ feet higher than the finished grade of the parking area.
- The applicant shall revise and resubmit for approval plans that meet the required setbacks found under Section 8.3035(4)(E)(2) or submit a variance application for review and approval.
- Transportation: All public streets shall be designed, constructed and dedicated to current City of Redmond Standards & Specifications and Transportation System Plan (TSP) standards and extended to the limits of the project or each phase unless otherwise specified or approved. Street and right-of-way centerline shall match existing. Five (5) ft. minimum width public utility easement.
