Item 3: Ordinance Concerning Jefferson/Far West Plan Amendments

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This motion affirms that the neighborhood association encompassing the area intends the Area 15 policy be interpreted as has been suggested in the disc.ussionabove. The Area 15 policy requirement for "maintaining the character of the area." In addition to setting a density range, the Area 15 policy also imposes a key requirement that any action which allows an increase in. residential density must maintain the character of the area. This requirement is stated in the second sentence of the Area 15 policy's first paragraph: This area sJ1all be recogfJized as a . low- to medium-density residential area. The eit}' shall explore methods of encouraging an increase in residential density' m . maintaining the character of the. area. Residential densities be)lond ten tin its per acre shall be all(l14/ed, subject to al1 approved block plan or rezoning to R-2 in conJ.lJnction 11lith site revielv. Note this sentenc.e presents the encouragement (but not requirement) for development that will be more dense than the existing single-family, R-I de"velopment; and at the same time establishes the fundamental constraint on denser development, I.e., that it maintains the character of the neighborhood. The final sentence in the above section of Area 15 policy covers block planning and upzoning as mecha,nisms to allow increased density, but the policy allo\vs these mechanisms only as long as they comply with the policy requirement that the resulting de\'elopment maintains the character of the neighborhood. Thus, not any block .plan is acceptable for more dense de,velopment, nor is just any set of site revievv criteria ac,ceptable as sufficient for a rezonin.g to R-2. Only' a block plan or site revie\v c,riteria that can be clearly den1.onstrated to maintain the character of the area would c,omply \vith the Area 15 policy. Again, looking at the o\rerall picture presented by the J/FW Refinem.ent Plan and Appendix, and from extensive resident c,omments and neighborhood association actions over the ~years, the intent of the Area 15 policy to maintain the character of the area can only be interpreted as requiring careful siting, limited increase in density, and compatible scale of selected projects thatare allo\ved to be developed under any upzoning to R-2~ As mentiolled earlier, the extensi\re discussioll alld example ofbloc.k. planning in the JIF\\7 Refin.eJnent Plan Appendix provides a good picture of what tIle planning team envisioned. . 10