Item 3: Ordinance Concerning Jefferson/Far West Plan Amendments

Home Browse Search

/:z,15ICJ~ Good Evening. My name is Rene Kane and I live at 254 West 14th Avenue. I'm a co~chair of Jefferson Wests ide Neighbors. I'd like to talk a bit about Area 15 and its history... and more importantly its future. When Jefferson residents crafted the Jefferson/Far West Refinement Plan in the earlY1980s, they included in Area 15 an intact, healthy single-family section of the neighborhood that spans both north and south of the Amazon Canal. Both sections of Area 15 share common characteristics of older homes with similar setbacks, lot plans, and architectural features. A walk around Area 15 today confirms that residential development on Jefferson and Washington streets remains relatively uniform both north and south of the Amazon Canal, and there is no natural division between the character of these two sections of Area 15. Consequently, without an adequate public process to assess potential changes to the boundaries of subareas defined in the Jefferson/Far West Refinement Plan, Area 15 should not be partitioned by any amendment being considered. Splirting Area 15 would be contrary to the intent of Jefferson residents on the planning team that developed a vision for this neighborhood's future, and would unnecessarily fragment the neighborhood. I'd also like to talk a bit about how important this part of the Jefferson neighborhood is to those of U$ who live outside those 15 blocks. All of us, inside and outside Area 15, appreciate our that area's character and have a large stake in its stability and future. This year I had more trick-or~treaters at my door than in the previous 14 years. There are families with children in this neighborhood and many of them live in Area 15. lUke that and if we are to have true diversity in JWN, we must accommodate families. In my experience, triplexes and four-plexes shoehorned into backyards don't do that very well., and this type of thoughtless, destabilizing development no more belongs anywhere in Area 15 than it does in th.e rest of the JWN's heritage neighborhoods. There's another reason we need to think carefully about how Area 15 (and the rest of Jefferson neighborhood) is developed; I've lived on the Amazon canal for 15 years and I've seen the surges in high water flow become more dramatic over the last 10 years. It was 1 foot from the top earlier this year and even higher during the 1996 floods. If we cut in half the amount of pervious surfaces in our neighborhoods by adding more rooftops, more driveways, and more onsite parking that willbe necessary with R2~scale development, we'll inevitably see a subsequent rise in water volume in the Amazon. I hate to lose the capacity of our urban ^ landscape to cope ,,yjth fluctuations ill stormwater. Finally, remember this is a temporary fix. Neighbors are poised and ready to take the next step to guide sensible infill in our neighborhoods. We just don't want to lose this one in the meantime. 111..44