Two Sides Pulling Zoning Plan In Opposite Directions

There wasn’t much that the two sides in a Valley zoning dispute could agree on at Tuesday’s county commissioners meeting.

One thing they made clear, though, is that neither side much likes the Pasadena Park neighborhood plan.

Developer Mike Kinney wants to build more houses on a 58-acre site than the plan permits. Neighbors opposing Kinney’s proposal want him to build fewer than the plan allows.

This week’s hearing was an appeal of action by the county hearing examiner committee, which in May reclassified the land from suburban zoning, which allows one house per acre, to the zoning specified in the 1993 Pasadena Park neighborhood plan, which allows up to 2.8 houses per acre.

Kinney had originally proposed building 179 houses on the site, which is north of Wellesley Avenue between Argonne and Lehman roads. The land has been farmed for about 100 years by the Fraser family.

The hearing examiner committee approved development of the parcel, but allowed just 164 homes.

Neighbors unhappy with the hearing examiner’s decision appealed, asking commissioners to keep the suburban zoning. The developer reacted by asking once again for permission to build all 179 houses.

Commissioner Steve Hasson thought the protesters were on “great ground” when fighting to keep net density from exceeding 2.8 houses per acre. But he questioned why Pasadena Park residents would go against their own neighborhood plan by opposing the zone change.

“Why would you want to retreat in order to defend your position?” Hasson asked.

Trish Standish, the leader of the neighborhood campaign, replied, “Consider the rural characteristics of the neighborhood … you’re quadrupling the density by approving the zone change.”

Standish said neighbors aren’t happy with the Pasadena Park plan, and that they thought the zoning changes it allows wouldn’t become reality for at least 20 years.

“I now believe we were quite naive in our thinking,” Standish said.

Jane Cox, another neighbor opposed to the development, showed slides of the area’s wheat fields and pastures. She said the area is semirural, rather than urban. Many residents of the area around the proposed development live on small acreages and keep livestock, she said.

Cox said she was worried that residents of a new housing development might not like the smells of large animals.

“Some people don’t like the smell of horses,” she said. “I love the smell of horse manure.”

After her presentation, she began to cry at the podium.

“It’s hard,” she managed to say.

Although the land had been farmed for a century by the Fraser family, family member Herb McIntosh said farming isn’t the best use for the land anymore.

“The time has come when it’s no longer economical or feasible to farm,” he said.

“We want to see something nice done with that land, and right now the best use is family housing.”

The commissioners’ decision is expected to be announced at their Aug. 15 meeting.

Whatever the outcome, McIntosh said he’ll be glad to see the dispute end.

“I just want to put this behind me,” he said.

, DataTimes