Although I enjoyed writing yesterday's post on "abstention fever," I kicked myself a bit because it is the sort of silly intramural City Hall stuff that distracts from how local government really affects our lives.
We have an interesting real-world issue here in Kingfield. Our local hardware store, Ace Hardware at 38th & Nicollet, recently purchased two houses due south of them. Their plan is to demolish both houses and build a parking lot. Last month, they came to the neighborhood board (King Field Neighborhood Assn., which I'm president of), asking for our recommendation to the council that the two properties be upzoned from residential to commercial so the lot could be built. This is not the normal black-hat scenario - at least, there are some interesting complications. First, Ace is a much-loved neighborhood business (and a terrific urban hardware store, for those of you who have never been there). They employ a rainbow coalition of neighborhood residents, support neighborhood activities religiously, and are even an affordable housing provider - 5 units above the store, just like the city's recent urban plans recommend on arteries such as Nicollet. They have leveraged MCDA loans, some NRP business-fa�ade money, but mostly their own sweat into a fine business. Meanwhile, the houses they can somehow afford to buy and knock down are NOT affordable -they rent for $1600 apiece. But of course, the loss of any supply affects the overall market, and the road to the affordable housing crisis has been paved with destruction. Also, while there are parking lots in that immediate vicinity, they are controlled by private owners who are quite diligent about NOT letting customers park there. Our neighborhood association (KFNA) did a local-business survey recently that identified parking as the number-one business-node problem. For what it's worth, Ace has promised extensive landscaping on what will be a 23-car lot, and brought nice site-plan drawings to prove it. Thus ensued the board's debate. Most of us didn't know about Ace's proposal until the day of the meeting (our zoning committee only heard it the day before), so the house-loss issue was a surprise. Adding to the head-in-the-vise feeling, Ace had already purchased the properties and was itching to get going. Their case is that they lose a lot of business from people who can't find nearby parking and they need the lot to prosper. Although they are large for a neighborhood store, they are no Home Depot, and competing with the big guys gets tougher all the time. A small 23-car lot, they said, is a small concession to helping them stay competitive. And if they stay around, city folks can use them and not have to drive to the 'burbs or the Quarry, making everyone's roads and highways less congested. Meanwhile, the housing arguments were staring us in the face. I'm proud to say that as a neighborhood, we have not been a roadblock to affordable housing projects, including Hollman units in Kingfield. However, I'm chagrined to say the supply hasn't really zoomed, either - open lots are either bought by commercial developers or market-rate projects. We're pretty sure we can turn the vacant Good Samaritan home at 44th & Nicollet into an affordable development, but that hasn't happened yet. As a neighborhood group, we've done no harm but not a lot of good yet, either. So enabling the destruction of two homes really stuck in many members' craws. Ace said they'd called several organizations about moving the homes - they later identified two, neither of which had much experience doing that sort of thing. Some board members asked for a delay, and there was some logic to doing this since it was being sprung upon us. However, Ace's good citizenship and the idea that the fundamentals wouldn't really change led the board to ultimately approve the upzoning recommendation 9-2 (with, he notes wryly, one abstention - not mine...I don't vote except in ties). The vote was very real-world. It was really interesting that one of the "yes" votes came from a board member whose family sold their only car and now uses a customized recumbent bike, walking, and the bus to get around. On the other hand, the board member that I respect the most voted no, wanting to delay at least a month to get more leverage to save the houses, Ace's cash flow be damned (if they were pressed for time they should have given us more notice). The matter is now before the City Council. Robert Lilligren, in whose ward the houses are, and Dan Niziolek, whose ward is across the street, have been great about staying on top of the situation and helping everyone figure out how to save the houses. And there's an epilogue: as a board, we are scrambling to see if those houses really can be moved. Ace is open to this, though they've given us a very tight two-month timeframe. Our neighborhood executive director has recruited PPL, who has inspected the houses (we're awaiting their estimate). Simultaneously, the Lyndale Neighborhood Development Corp. has come forward. They are interested in moving the houses onto sites in Lyndale as part of the first in a new land trust that would guarantee long-term affordability. Our neighborhood NRP committee has voted to spend up to $50,000 to facilitate the house-move, if feasible. In my opinion, this is a good buy at $25,000 a unit, especially since we would be converting market-rate houses to affordable (that is a pre-requisite for spending our NRP money). PPL said they will probably need our money to proceed; LNDC officials, amazingly, say they won't - though the sticking point here is that the Land Trust in question isn't up and running yet, and this IS a race against time. If people are interested, I'll keep you posted on what's happening. But again, these are the sorts of things we grapple with at the neighborhood level - few heroes, much uncertainty, frustration, competing interests, honest second-guessing and hope. David Brauer King Field - Ward 10 _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.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
