Smaller Version Of Wind River Proposed By Developer
A scaled-down version of a housing development halted by city officials three years ago near Nine Mile road is back, this time drawing little public opposition.
Attacked last time for being too big for the fast-growing corner of the city, the new proposal faces a public hearing Tuesday at 9 a.m. at City Hall Conference Room 2B.
“It’s not realistic to be totally anti-development,” said Paul Eckman, who lives in the Nine Mile Road neighborhood.
“We just want to make sure no one’s dropping in an apartment complex in the middle of single-unit residences,” he said.
Eckman helped spearhead opposition to the 1993 application for the bigger version of the development, called the Wind River Village.
Developer Craig Condron had proposed changing the zoning to allow multiple-unit development and up to 144 apartments.
He has reduced the plan to 31 single homes on about 12 acres, located west of Nine Mile Road, south of Wind River Drive and north of Excel Road.
Condron acknowledged the battle three years ago took its toll. “We (my partners and I) were tired of fighting it,” he said.
The new proposal doesn’t include eight- or four-plexes as originally planned.
It does, however, call for a 40-unit assisted-living center for seniors to be built by L.E. Tokarski on a three-acre site within Condron’s Wind River Village.
A separate hearing on that project is scheduled for Tuesday at 10:30 a.m., after Condron’s Wind River Village hearing.
Eckman said he doubts many nearby residents will oppose the senior development, either.
“Actually, that would be a pretty good use of the area, since it’s going to be placed close to the highway,” he added.
The senior complex would be at the intersection of Nine Mile and Wind River Drive and would have parking for 20 vehicles.
City Hearing Examiner Greg Smith will take testimony on the proposal and then decide whether changes are needed.
Condron would then submit a final plat development for City Council review. Construction could begin this summer.
, DataTimes