Arm Wrestling over Acres

With the unveiling of the new "hybrid" plan that is being touted as the "last" iteration of a plan for OLF-8---now begins the final push by various factions to get the acreage they want for the purposes they desire...

A hybrid OLF-8 plan that I feel represents a good start at a compromise has been put forward last week by DPZ.  Again, I think it is a good start at a compromise, not a finished product by any means.  I want to see more acreage dedicated to good job creation, and much less toward residential.  I think the 45 acres for "public" uses, (school, park, walking trails, tennis courts, post office, etc.) could be increased a bit as well, to 50 acres.

But as we all know from the document dump of emails--there are factions working at cross purposes that do not want any commerce and good jobs at all--or the very bare bones minimum possible.  They want something different.

So now the rubber hits the road and here is where we complete this thing.  

And now it will be a battle of factions over space and acreage.  An arm-wrestling match over Acres.  

One very strong faction, Navy Federal Credit Union, apparently wants  lots of retail, residential, and amenities for their employees and the minimum amount of space as possible allocated for good, clean, high-tech jobs for the rest of the county and the region's benefit.  Perhaps they don't want to compete for talented employees with similar high-paying large employers should the county be able to land one or more for the field?  Seems plausible--but it is an educated guess solely because publicly they (NFCU) are silent as a mime on their true intentions/wants for this land.  The county's consultant, DPZ, marches lock step with what NFCU wants.  So do about a hundred and fifty nearby residents.

Another faction of SOME nearby residents hate all development generally, dislike NFCU and their growth and impact on Beulah particularly,  and bemoan all the residential growth in Beulah. These folks want the field to remain undeveloped.  They want no more development period, and wish Beulah had not ever grown the way it has.  There could be several thousand folks that feel this way.  They definitely want NO housing on this field.

Then there are the rest of us who want a good compromise, something for everyone, and for everyone to get a win.  This faction wants no or the absolute MINIMUM amount of residential construction on this field that was acquired for job creation--not to source land for residential developers to get richer with.  These level headed folks realize the power of job creation, and the value of the Triumph Grant that is achievable if sufficient land on OLF-8 is reserved for creation of at least 1000 good jobs. So they want land, a good portion, reserved for clean-tech, high tech jobs.  And finally, folks in this camp, like me, want community amenities, a park, a 15 acre school site, a walking trail, tennis courts, a sheriff's substation, some high end retail and nice restaurants and shops along with a post office if possible and a medical (urgent care) clinic--all in a nicely designed portion of the southern part of this parcel, in the south east corner, along 9-Mile road. 

So I believe the factions have to have their say, and what comes out of the hopper after will be the compromise we will live with.  the current plan looks like this: 

I am going to push for a minimum of 319 acres to be reserved for commerce/job creation.  I'd like to see 50 acres for public amenities and the school site, and the remaining portion of no more than 55 acres dedicated to the retail up front on 9-Mile Road with shops, restaurants, etc. along the frontage of 9-mile road in the South east portion of the field.  If high-density, high-intensity 4-story luxury rental apartments are a drop-dead, must have amenity upon which I have to compromise, then I would hold my nose and accept as little as possible of this, in the extreme north east portion of the parcel, right adjacent to NFCU's campus.  I would also apply impact fees to any such development so that such a developer would have to pay for the widening of Frank Reeder road to accommodate their impacts.  Maybe 15 acres tops for this, which would come off of the amenities and retail acreage--NOT from the commerce portion.   This is what I think would be fair and equitable.

But hey, 5 of us, the elected commissioners, will eventually be the ones who vote on this.  

We will see where it goes.  

I've put my cards on the table here, though.  I can't wait to finish this.