More Density in Northern South Park!
June 21, 2022
Dear Town Councilors,
Thank you for reviewing the Northern South Park (NSP) plan and sharing your feedback with your colleagues at the County.
The NSP preferred alternative is a great plan to house our local workers (and families and retirees), and we are thrilled to see so much potential for new homes for our community members—especially our neighbors with lower incomes and higher need. Now, we see an opportunity to make it even better with more homes and a higher percentage reserved for locals.
The current “preferred alternative” proposes adding 1200 additional homes at 70% local ownership, on top of the already-allowed 118 market-rate homes. That’s a great start.
By increasing the density, the county could both increase the percentage of community benefit (workforce and affordable homes reserved for locals) and provide a net benefit to the landowners. This could entail 1800 additional homes at 75% local ownership, 2400 homes at 80% local ownership, or another breakdown in between.
| Current proposal | Opportunity for more | Even more | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Existing zoning (market-rate) | 118 | 118 | 118 | ||
| New homes (market-rate) % | 30% | 25% | 20% | ||
| New homes (market-rate) # | 360 | 450 | 480 | ||
| New homes (workforce+affordable) % | 70% | 75% | 80% | ||
| New homes (workforce+affordable) # | 840 | 1350 | 1920 | ||
| Total new homes | 1200 | 1800 | 2400 |
We encourage you to ask the County Commission to look at increased density and increased community benefit percentage, in order to best serve our community and the landowners. Please also review our attached more-technical comment letter from the previous round, since most of those comments are still timely and relevant.
Sincerely,
Clare Stumpf
ShelterJH Coordinator
For the ShelterJH Board: Mary Erickson, Nikki Kaufman, Skye Schell, Iván Jiménez, Elizabeth Hutchings, Kelsey Wotzka, Whitney Oppenhuizen
