Thread by @socialistdogmom

and now the thrilling conclusion of last night’s planning commission meeting... please god let this be under three hours 🙏

chair calls us to order. apparently all public comment on these items took place last night, so there won’t be any tonight... but quickly decides they ought to have a quick matters by the public in case anyone couldn’t make it last night. no takers, though.

they’ve all scooted down a seat tonight. heard some whispering on the dais that the mic on the far left (gallery’s left) is staticky and... sticky? apparently after last council meeting it was all sticky and gross. that’s wes’ mic 😳

first up: the 1011 e jefferson st site plan. i’m looking at this on a map. it’s a quarter mile from here. i can’t picture the spot though 🤷‍♀️

here’s an article from this past summer about the city council approving the special use permit for this project
cvilletomorrow.org/news/article/2…

and one from 2016 about the planning commission DENYING what looks like pretty much the same project 🤷‍♀️
cvilletomorrow.org/news/article/2…

motion made to approve the site plan, as it hasn’t changed substantially since it was last presented to city council. here’s a more recent article from @seantubbs about the proposed development.

cvilletomorrow.org/news/article/2…

motion passed unanimously without much discussion. now on to a request for a certificate of appropriateness to paint a brick building white & add awnings to 912 e high st. wild stuff on the agenda tonight y’all.

wild stuff here: keller says the guidelines are against painting brick.
green: “will mr jefferson turn in his grave if we paint brick?”
keller, hotly: “i don’t think it has anything to do with mr. jefferson.”

hogg argues that painting brick is bad for the building, traps moisture. lahendro is browsing google street view to see if other buildings are painted...
i had no idea this was gonna spark so much discussion.

lahendro says it’s beyond the commission’s purview to tell a building owner how to handle aesthetic issues. the presenter is getting nervous and says the building owner is on his way down...

guys, don’t worry. there are lime-based paints that can be used on hard brick that prevent the trapping of moisture that breaks down brick in the freeze-thaw cycle.
don’t tell me you never learned anything on twitter dot com.

i could not possibly have predicted that this would be the most discussed agenda item. keller is fuming about the idea of painting the brick. “we’re going down a slippery slope. this is a dangerous thing.” SO SERIOUS.

they’ve added an amendment suggesting permeable paint.

motion passes 3-2 with keller and green dissenting. they seem fine with the other three requests (about the awning and some other aesthetic matters), but very hot about this paint!

we ‘bout to watch a powerpoint 🤷‍♀️

my dude says he’s gonna build 20 ON SITE affordable units as part of this project. wonder how he’s defining affordable though 🤔

i lasted a whole hour before i completely blanked out. i tried.
he’s got diagrams and maps and shit.
sounds like they’re just asking permission to make the building fifteen feet taller?

oh cool they’re holding the affordable housing units hostage. they won’t build them onsite if they aren’t granted this special use permit.

thank you ms dowell. asking why this huge project is only gonna include affordable units if they get this SUP, especially considering the neighborhood (10th and page) they’re building in. she’s not letting it go. 👏👏

sob stories from developers about why they need profits more than poor people need housing 😭😭

real circle jerk of self congratulation up there on how much good stuff they’re doing for the poors 🙄
10 units at 80%, 5 at 60%, 5 at 40%
so... that’s not 20 affordable units. 80% AMI is middle income you fuckwits.

buncha dudes in suits filed in during this discussion. must be here for one if the two remaining agenda items.

damn if i had $5 for every time i spaced out in a meeting and came to wondering “wait, why the fuck are we talking about trees?” i could take myself out to a fancy dinner after pretty much every meeting.

heeeeyyy @LyleSollaYates they just said your name. you’re on some committee they claim to be working with.

developer: “we hadn’t designed this building in a non-SUP scenario”
keller: “is it safe to say you see the SUP as an incentive to provide these affordable units?”
developer: (yes) laughing, “but it’s 20 instead of five!”
this is extortion.

the developer points out that they could just have easily built office space here, which would have NO affordable housing units.

keesecker is congratulating the developer on their nice presentation... he is so glad they talked to the neighborhood and responded to their needs. i, uh... i’m PRETTY SURE folks who live in 10th & page didn’t beg for half million dollar apartments? 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

great news: the tall part of the building in the SUP is on the north side of the building so it won’t be casting morning shadows on the neighborhood!
good god someone gets paid so much money to say these things.

they’re requesting a SUP for the unit # because the by-right allowance for units is the same regardless of # of bedrooms, up to 4br. so with 1-2 br units they’ll have less than half the # of BRs as a technically allowable structure with 4br units. makes sense i guess.

i don’t know what the “entrance corridor” is or why it has its own review board, but they aren’t actually voting on the SUP, just whether or not, if approved, the SUP would have an adverse impact on the entrance corridor.
everything is meaningless!

please note that the entrance corridor review board and the planning commission are all the same people, but the chair does gavel the review board in and out of session throughout the greater planning commission meeting. 🤷‍♀️

coming back from a brief recess. two things left on the agenda — please be quick about it 🙏

the buildkng that used to be at 140 emmett burned down. the owner wants to redevelop it as a “boutique hotel.” that phrase makes me feel fucking ill.

seriously autocorrect? you can’t catch “buildkng” ?! fucking useless.

you know what this city definitely does not need? more hotels. jesus christ. i’d love to see occupancy stats on the hotels we have. anybody know how we might see data like that?

oh my god this guy. his shitty old motel burned down. which is sad! but the fact that martin luther king jr once stayed in the building that is gone now has nothing to do with you building a big ass new hotel on the ruins.

relevant to their future plans 🙄

look, i’m not an architect. surely i’m missing something here. but why pay someone to design this building all over again when it DEFINITELY already exists all over town.
i swear to god i’ve been to this drawing.

the landscape architect is trying to tell us how meaningful it is that dr king was arrested just WEEKS AFTER staying at this hotel that doesn’t exist anymore. he gave the dream speech just a month and a half later! what thoughts did he think in this hotel that burned down!

on the other hand, if we had to put up a plaque at every building that dr king ever visited, there would be no monument money left over for memorializing the civil war 🤔

“we’ll have what’s called a “hot breakfast” for our guests...”
bud, that’s not an industry term.

we’re still talking about this boring hypothetical hotel, by the way.

home stretch! last item on the agenda is a hydraulic/29 transportation plan presentation. i am the only person in the gallery. feeling very conspicuous right now 😳