Just a quick update on how the the City Planning Meeting for the Beth-el Mennonite Church plan at Grant School went. We had an outstanding attendance and totally packed the gym. I would like to thank everyone for coming out. I know we impressed the City folks who were there.

Dave from Land Patterns is the land use consultant for the Mennonite Church. He gave a 45 minute presentation about the project. This was much longer than we had anticipated and unfortunately cut a number of questions off at the end. The key point of the church's argument is that the land is zoned for 112 apartment units and their plan is better than what could go in. Larry Larson from the City had to agree that the development plan for the 112 units has not been valid since 1988. So this threat will not be realized in the manner that Dave and the church present.

BJ Doan, Steve Castle and Scot Hume each gave short presentations on the counter points from the neighborhood and open space perspective. Steve's rousing commentary was particularly interesting. BJ emphasized the Hillside Overlay and how views and steep hills are supposed to be preserved. Steve, as neighborhood president, focused on the messy issue of traffic going through the neighborhood, developer promises and neighborhood buffering. Scot Hume indicated that the hillside is not a "no-build" zone because the church is so close to the trees that a 150-200 ft defensible space can not be created without significant clearing. Also, the trail needs to be located at the toe of the hill because the over the hill route will terminate in private property or go down a steep hillside. There should be better buffering of the new open space park below so that the church does not tower over the park.

Finally, the audience was invited to ask questions and make comments. The vast majority are in favor of all open space with no traffic through the neighborhood. There were a couple opposing views. Lee Milner spoke in favor of a compromise solution. The after meeting discussions were rather messy as one would expect. Even the opposing consultants were impressed that so many people would be interested in civic participation.

Please feel free to give me a call at 598-6106 with questions about the meeting or the planning process.

Scot