Apartments on former State Hospital Site at Planning Commmission

On Tuesday the 7th the Planning Commission will consider the latest site plan review for 246 apartments at the North Campus of the State Hospital.

Apartment blocks in blue; private drive and parking lots
off cul-de-sacs; single detached homes line D and Park

I'm having a hard time thinking about it, though. This will just be a shallow overview, therefore.

I thought we were done with WWI
June 29th, 1914

The Staff Report is also a little confusing.

Staff Recommendation is not strong and gives two choices

Initially it recommends denial, but then says, but if you don't want to, that's ok, and here's an alternative.

Proposed conditions, pt 1

Proposed conditions, pt. 2

Of interest in the proposed conditions are ones for trees, sidewalks, and a couple of intersections.

It was great to see Cherriots call for sidewalks. Maybe they have done this before, but I don't remember seeing them call out something like this so specifically.

Cherriots weighed in

Because the project has private streets, parking lots and driveways, and is conceived as a kind of enclave on a superblock, sidewalks provide important connectivity for non-auto travel including people biking.

Two main sidewalks instead of internal streets

The main reason for denial is the request for an adjustment reducing a required 10-foot setback, but I can't find anywhere on the site plan with less than a 10-foot setback. This corner shows 10.5 and 12.5 foot setbacks, and I don't understand the problem. (If and when I do, I will edit and update here as necessary.)

Overall it's not a very high quality project, but it's now almost certainly too late in the process to improve it very much. It's a cookie-cutter set of three story walk-ups set on a parking lot and superblock, and we missed an opportunity for something more urban in form.

Maybe there will be more to say later.