Here are some notes from the very messy meetings held between representatives of the Beth-el Mennonite Church as developers of the northern property on Union Meadows and Steve Castle, Scot Hume and Jim Hunter representing the neighborhood and open space interests. The two meetings lasted nearly 7.5 hours and did not succeed in any compromise positions that the neighborhood representatives could accept. So the church will press forward with the development process. The next step will be a neighborhood meeting to discuss details of their plan with a larger audience. With our base of supporters, I suspect that Larry Larson at City Planning will hear more of the same issues raised in the small group sessions.

The meetings were very heated on both sides. The plan is almost identical to their plan of two years ago that folks in the neighborhood hated. The key change is that the housing units are removed. However, no assurance that they would not be built at a later date could be secured. The trail will be gone and the church wall is so close to the hillside that it will be right on top of the trail. Parking and church activities will tower over the open space park just to the south. Access will only be allowed along a small strip at the SW corner. The church proposes a trail over the hill. However, the steep grade necessary to get down makes this impractical. So the trail would terminate at another private parcel and we have not secured access to that parcel. It would be a disaster for access to the park.

From a neighborhood perspective, there are some other messy issues. Access is limited to the site. So 100 percent of visitors will have to come through the neighborhood coming in or leaving. This would be the only commercial development in our entire areas that forces cars towards a neighborhood. The church's own traffic reports put the estimated Sunday traffic at over 800 trips and daily traffic is estimated to be 150 trips. Their traffic study only covers the two immediate intersections and does not address their impact on the overall neighborhood.

Drainage is an interesting issue. They propose using a 1 ft dam to protect the property from max flows of 350 cfs. That is about the winter flow of the Arkansas river. To accomplish this water management, the developer proposes that the City install expensive drainage systems. Their total expense for drainage items that I can find listed is only $4,500.

It is important to understand that we do not want a land rights battle. We do not believe in any way that we own the land. While feeling that the church should not have bought this locations without further research, we acknowledge their right to exist and would be willing to work towards alternative locations up on the north section of the property. That is why we have been pursuing a TOPS purchase of the land for a park. We feel that if the church is going to join our neighborhood, the issues that are important to us will also be important to them. And we would welcome a compromise solutions. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be position to compromise at this point. We are hopeful that a good showing in the City Planning Process can help encourage them to work with us towards a joint project.

Please feel free to give me or Steve a call with any questions.

Scot Hume