47 Story Tower At 6th And Sahara To Be Presented To Planning Commission

Greg Brown, from the Beverly Green Neighborhood Association wrote the following, and encourages anyone with something to say about this project to attend the planning commission meeting where it will be introduced. The meeting will be Thursday 1/10 6pm.

This has the biggest impact on Beverly Green and Southridge Neighborhoods, but in light of it being an excellent example of how development affects ALL of our neighborhoods, the more involvement from our neighbors that we have, the better prepared we’ll be for what ever the next development project is. We reported on the proposal and gave our opinion last month.

Here’s Greg’s Summary of the issues and details.

Dear Neighbors,

On Saturday you should have received in the mail a series of cards from the City’s Planning Department giving official notice of a the Planning Commission hearing on the evening of January 10 of the proposed high-rise commercial/residential tower on Sixth Street. The cards asked for responses in support or opposition to the project. Because its become clear in talking to many neighbors over the weekend that the cards were not sent out to everyone in the neighborhood, and since so many people are away from home for the holiday, I’m sending the information via email — and encouraging everyone to please pass this information along to anyone else in the neighborhood who has an opinion on this project.

The project, as presented earlier this month, is for a 500-foot tower that would occupy the sites that are currently the Sixth & Sahara shopping center, the vacant lot to the north of the shopping center, and the Christian radio station on Sixth. The building would include approximately 1100 residential units and 180,000 square feet of commercial use. The portion of the building that would run along Sixth would be 12 stories high and all vehicles would enter and exit on Sixth.

The developer has requested that the land along Sixth that is currently zoned for “R-1” (single family homes) and “R-PD25” (low-rise apartments) would be rezoned for C-1, which would allow the current or any future owner to develop the land along Sixth for commercial and retail use, which is contrary to the existing Southridge/Beverly Green neighborhood plan. The building’s height, of 500 feet, and of 12 stories directly adjacent to single-family homes, would also be contrary existing Southridge/Beverly Green neighborhood plan. As part of the application, the developer has requested waivers from the existing height restrictions, including the normal requirement that a building must be built 3 times as far away from the nearest homes as the building is high — for a 500-foot building, that would be 1500 feet. The developer’s proposal is that it would be 100 feet away from the nearest homes.

The Planning Commission is scheduled to hear this application on Thursday January 10, at 6pm, at the City Council chambers. If you would like to make your views known to the Planning Commission, you may do so at the hearing on the evening of January 10 and you should send back in the response card that you received in the mail — if you received one. If you did not, you can fax the Planning Department directly at 385-7268 or  call the Planning Department office at 229-6353.

If you do wish to express your views to the Planning Commission, please be sure to send your response or make your call before Wednesday January 9 — and be sure to reference all of the following agenda items, each of which is part of the developer’s application.

SDR-25773 (request for a waiver of normal requirement that a building of this height to be built adjacent to a residential home be 1500 feet from the nearest home; the request is to allow the building to be built 100 feet from the nearest home.)
SUP-25775 (request for a special use permit to build a 500-foot high building, where the ordinary limit is 175 feet)
ZON-25776 (request to rezone the land on 6th street for commercial use)
VAR-25778 (request for a variance from the normal requirement of a “stepback” from the edge of the property)
SUP-25779 (request for a special use permit for mixed-use development on land currently designated for residential use)

best wishes for a happy and healthy new year,
Greg Brown