Re: [nndl] success

There was a lot to remember from last night but what I recall Jamil
saying was that if the NA didn't support the variance, then he wouldn't
be able to build VMU and he wasn't interested in building anything
other than VMU.  You may be right, Clay, and he did say he wouldn't go
to the BoA, but my brain isn't remembering it.  I do remember him
saying that he didn't want to fight the neighborhood on it so maybe in
the end it all adds up to the same thing. But the previous paragraph was just a digression...I'm curious to hear
what aspects of the "cartoon" (Jamil's word, not mine) that they
presented last night wasn't in line with the neighborhood plan vision
as you understand it?  And to be clear, I'm asking this honestly,
sincerely, and not at all snidely because I would really like to hear
your point of view. Kirsten Clay Crenshaw wrote:

Patrick -

Jamil Alam stood in front of the Neighborhood Association last
night and promised us that he will not go to the Board of Adjustments
if the variance did not pass. It did not pass. It was a simple majority
vote.

If he sneaks around our backs and takes his case to the BOA on
Monday anyway, then he will probably have a serious problem on his
hands. That won't be good for anyone in the neighborhood who hopes to
work with him in the future. (Me included.) He would lose all
credibility. Jamil knows that he just needs to work with the
neighborhood to get some different parameters established for the
development, put that plan up for a vote, and go to the next BOA
meeting with his approval letter.

And to clarify, "success" means that our neighborhood still has
real bargaining power, the power to influence more than just cosmetic
changes to this project. 

As far as I know, there aren't any fast food moguls lined up
just yet to buy this land for the millions being asked for it.

CC

On Oct 2, 2007, at 3:01 PM, Patrick Goetz wrote:

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Martin Thomen wrote:

So the headline on the website says
"Success"- on what exactly I'm
really not sure. Success in driving
away a developer who obviously
values the neighborhood? Success in
refusing to negotiate?

I'm really not trying to be mean, but
calling the vote last night a "Success" for the folks opposed to
granting a variance shows a very high level of inexperience with these
sorts of processes.Specifically,
if this were going to city council instead of the BOA, the developer
would be virtually assured, at this point, of being granted the
variance. Here's why:currently,
the city is collecting $10K-$15K per year in property tax from those 2
parcels.If the Endeavor
deal goes through, they (+AISD, etc.) will start collecting over
$750,000/year in property taxes instead.(Let's not even bother to
mention service fees, sales tax, etc..) Now, put yourself in the shoes
of a city official with thousands of causes/issues/problems clamoring
for money every year. Would you rather have a what's there now bringing
in $15,000/yr or -- at no cost to you -- have the same parcel pulling
down $750,000/yr?This is
really a no brainer for them -- they want to allow these deals to
happen, but also want to get re-elected.Consequently if an NA is
adamantly opposed to a project and hundreds of people show up at city
hall with pitchforks and torches, they have no choice but to say no.In this case, a 78 to 79 vote
gives them the perfect cover to point out that the neighborhood is
evenly divided on the issue, but they have to make a choice after all,
so why not give the developer (and the property owner) what they want?The BOA is mostly immune from
these kinds of financial considerations, which is why this is the one
case where this isn't an automatic win for the developer.However, the Planning
Commission, BOA, and City Council see these sorts of cases every week
and are well aware that people who oppose a project are almost always
more highly motivated then those who support it, and factor that into
their decision making.Like
I said, if this were anything but a BOA case, this would be a slam-dunk
win for the developer.I
was frankly shocked at the outcome and am proud of the neighborhood for
thoughtfully considering this issue.

Back to the tax thing.$750,000 clams every single
year is a lot of simoleons; money that would pay for an awful lot of
sidewalks and neighborhood amenities. One of the things to consider in all this is requesting that
the city set up a TIF for these kinds of very high density develops in
the neighborhood, so that a good chunk of the money comes directly back
to us for us to invest in our infrastructure.This might even include buying
up land for a neighborhood park (to cite one of my favorite examples),
a community center, what have you.

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