Change at Fairview, Tour Gaiety Hollow: In the Neighborhoods

Well shoot. Yesterday's news that the Managing Partner for the Lindburg Green project at Fairview had passed away seemed sure to bring other news, and it turns out some of that news was already discussed at the Morningside Neighborhood Association. They meet on Wednesday the 11th, and in last month's minutes there's information on the transition:

Richard Berger, with Mountain West Investment Corp., announced his firm's plan to develop a 180 unit multi-family apartment complex on (Sustainable?) Fairview land (Sam Hall's group.) They plan to name it "The Grove at Fairview" in deference to the many trees the design is intended to save. This will be a three-story design, and will be exclusively for rental occupancy. It will be of similar design to the new "Fairway on Battle Creek" complex developed on the old Battle Creek Golf Course. It will have amenities such as a clubhouse and a swimming pool for its tenants. Questions posed: Does the plan/design address Reed Road impacts? Some discussion ensued on the topic, including use of System Development fees, and the planning process.

This makes the whole southeastern half of the former Fairview project, the part paralleling Reed Road, look pretty cookie-cutterish.

Simpson Hills July 2012 Refinement Plan (detail)

Here's part of the last public plan for the Simpson Hills project (about which I have not written much since it was more conventional and less interesting than the other projects at Fairview). It's got a ring road system enclosing a compound, "streets" that are really just pieces of parking lot, and walkup apartments in various configurations. It remains very autoist.

The piece just north of this at the top of the map would be part of the "grove," and its pattern appears to be heading towards something like this Simpson Hills project.

Presumably a new refinement plan will need to be approved and at the Planning Commission we will get to see the new concepts in much more detail.

But at the moment it looks like the whole "sustainable" and "new urbanist" focus is being lost and the resulting development will be much closer to conventional 20th century auto-oriented suburban development, and a real disappointment. There was a chance for something innovative here, and we are losing it. (See McNary Estates for a comparison.)

The Morningside Neighborhood Association meets at Pringle Creek Community Painters Hall,  3911 Village Center Drive SE on Wednesday the 11th at 6:30 PM.

SCAN

A fancy back yard! Lord & Schryver's Gaiety Hollow
(last month, via Facebook)

SCAN also meets on the 11th, and if you've wanted to see Gaiety Hollow, the home and garden of Elizabeth Lord & Edith Schryver, now's a good time:

our South Salem Association of Neighbors will hold their July 11th meeting at Gaiety Hollow, 545 Mission Street. We have arranged for a viewing of the famous Lord and Schryver garden beginning at 6pm followed by our meeting at 6:30pm. Our meeting will feature a presentation by Stacy Nelson from the City of Salem about the City's "Clean Streams and Clear Choices Initiative."  [link added]

Rubble and ferns: A demolished house and proposed parking lot

SCAN has some criticism of the proposal for a parking lot at Jerris and Commercial:

The Committee does not believe the brief proposal and maps sent with the Notice of Filing meet the approval criteria for a class 3 site plan review or class 2 adjustment.

We are specifically concerned about the requested class 2 adjustment to reduce the setback abutting a residential zone from the required 15 feet to 9 feet 8 inches on the east side of the proposed parking lot....

Given the importance of a 15- foot setback to separate a commercial vehicle use area from a residence, we believe the purpose of developing additional parking spaces almost to the maximum allowed (29 of 30 maximum allowable) does not justify the potential negative impacts of noise and pollution on the residence next door.

We also note that there is no left turn lane for Commercial St. southbound traffic to turn onto Jerris Ave to access the parking lot. If a smaller or redesigned parking lot is approved, we ask Public Works to consider impacts to traffic safety from another parking lot on this block.

You may recall the sudden demolition of a house here in April and May, and it remains true that demolishing people housing for car housing is one of the absolute lowest transitions in land use possible.

SCAN meets at Gaiety Hollow at 6pm on Wednesday the 11th.

At the same time, our Citizens Advisory Traffic Commission will meet to evaluate the proposal for "Three Hour Time Restricted Parking East Side of Church Street SE." There's more on that here and here. It was an opportunity to install meters and to pilot some kind of local benefit district, but people want "free" parking. (CATC seems to look at only parking disputes, not anything truly about traffic or road design, and it may be the most under-utilized committee in the system.)