I wholeheartedly agree with Paul Lohman's thoughtful post. I live close to 1920 LaSalle and have been fighting Plymouth Church's proposal for two reasons.
First, as Paul states there is a hyper-concentration of supportive housing facilities in Whittier, Stevens Square and Phillips. Such concentration is not good for social service clients, and is not good for our neighborhoods. The quarter mile spacing requirement is good public policy. Second, granting Plymouth Church a "zoning waiver" makes a mockery of our zoning code. There is no such thing as a "zoning waiver." The spacing laws in this case clearly forbid this project from going forward. Nevertheless, Councilmembers Goodman and Niland are attempting to do a political end run around our carefully drafted zoning laws. Campbell did the same thing with the Padilla Speer project. Its not right to selectively apply our zoning laws!!! -Dave Harstad Whittier --- Paul Lohman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > With all of the discussion about affordable housing > on the list (especially > the project at 53rd and Lyndale) I have been > somewhat surprised at the lack > of discussion about Plymouth Congregational Church's > Lydia House project at > 19th and LaSalle. For those who may not be familiar > with the proposed > project, Plymouth Church is proposing to convert the > former LaSalle Nursing > Home into a 40-unit residence of supportive housing. > On the surface, of > course, is sounds like a wonderful project, and it > is, except for the fact > that there are 16 such group facilities within a > quarter mile. > > As one who attends Plymouth Church this project has > personally been a very > difficult one for me to sort out -- nearly > paralyzing. The need for this > type of facility is so very real, yet too great a > concentration of these > kinds of residences can cause harm to a > neighborhood. The city in fact > passed a law that requires a quarter-mile between > these types of supportive > housing residences. The purpose of that law is to > avoid this very kind of > hyperconcentration. Lisa Goodman and Jim Niland > both support giving the > church the necessary waiver to proceed. The Stevens > Square and Wittier > neighborhoods have come out in opposition. > > After a great deal of soul-searching I have come a > position of agreement > with the neighborhoods on this one. I don't think > that it is good for the > neighborhood. It flies in the face of the carefully > designed law drafted > to prevent this very type of situation. And it > makes no sense to me to > tear down all the concentrated, low-income housing > on the north side simply > to shift it to another location in the city. > > What other thoughts are out there? > > Here's a link to the Strib article on the project. > http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/694049.html > > Paul Lohman > Lynnhurst - Ward 11 > > > Paul Lohman > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Listen to your Yahoo! Mail messages from any phone. http://phone.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
