(If you like what you read here, please post it on your wall complete with the link that leads to our blog so your friends can see it and remember to sign the petition at the fair.)
Hello, everyone, I just wanted to remind you and encourage you to let the citizens of Tucson know that petitioners for “Repeal the Main Gate Overlay” will be at the 4th Avenue Street Fair this weekend. I want to give you some insight into what it is all about. Yesterday, I was able to attend a petitioner training session, so you might see me at the fair as well because I will be there.
First of all, I am impressed with the stance the neighborhood has taken. It is not about whether or not the students get more housing, it is more about what kind of building will they be housed in and how detrimental that building could be to the surrounding neighborhood. The neighborhood wants the students to get the housing they need. They just want citizens to have a chance to vote on it, since it will be a fourteen-story building that encroaches on historical homes, makes the residents unhappy, requires a zone change that flies in the face of Tucson's culture, and is basically being dictated by someone in Chicago who does not understand Tucson.
One of the things that I noticed about the neighborhood's proposed plan (which was turned down) was that it looked a lot like the developer's plan--just with some very important changes. It spared historical buildings, it was not fourteen stories high but was still several stories, the building would staggers up in height as it gets closer to existing buildings, and it would not put a permanent shadow on some people's houses like the City of Tucson's version does. Residents do not necessarily want to stop the building, they just want it to be available for a vote and for it to be built according the the proper and zoning laws and with respect to the community.
The plan as it exists currently does not comply with the Department of the Interior's standards for development in a historic preservation zone. It overrides national, state, and local historic preservation standards, and is even missing many standards. To view the details, visit http://westuniversityneighborhood.org, scroll to the bottom, and click on the WUNA final document. Below are some illustrations of each plan so you can see for yourself what I just mentioned. I decided to add the next section of material from the neighborhood association to this post for your edification. Please read it and if it matters to you, come down to the fair, have some fun, and sign the petition.
Talking Points for Repeal the Main Gate Overlay
ARE YOU A CITY of TUCSON REGISTERED VOTER? Do you know your Ward number?
DO YOU CARE ABOUT PRESERVING HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS IN TUCSON?
Mayor & council passed an overlay/rezoning in West University that affects all historic neighborhoods in the city. It does not comply with Department of the Interior standards for development in an historic preservation zone. It overrides national, state and local historic preservation standards. This overlay zoning allows for fourteen buildings up to fourteen stories high (159' or 50' higher than the Marriott). It imperils more than a dozen historic structures by creating incentives for demolition of historic properties, replacing them with buildings up to 84 feet high. COT has created high hurdles for historic demolition for a regular citizen but made it doable for a developer. Mayor and council’s overlay (rezoning) has given a developer the green light to build a fourteen-story high-rise near the corner of Park Avenue and Speedway Boulevard. There have been no major impact studies completed for this rezoning. Who will pay for the infrastructure costs? The public?
One developer paid for a minor traffic study and has funded the urban overlay design and the lawyer who wrote it. Speedway is already rated as a “failing” street and there have been no sewer or water studies. The City of Tucson, developers, and the West University NA were in discussion for the past eight months AND the plan was just developed in the last three months after mayor and council voted in the Plan Amendment at the December meeting. Heights and historic properties were included after the Call to the Audience was over and the recommendation went to M&C.
We do not want to stop development. We do want the public to have an opportunity to vote on it and to have proper impact studies done prior to starting. We ask mayor and council to consider the West University alternative area plan which allows for heights (up to ten stories) near Park Ave. and change of use and preservation for historic properties. We do want the city to develop a winning plan with proper studies and relativity to neighboring areas.
“Repeal the Main Gate Overlay”: As you may have heard, the folks from West University are in the middle of trying to repeal the rezoning of the Main Gate District. Previously most of this the area was height-limited to forty feet. The current zoning now allows buildings of up to 159 feet. While not all of the buildings will be that tall, eventually we will see at least one fourteen-story building a half-block away from existing historic owner-occupied residential. Several others are proposed for the area along Park Ave. where Posner’s Art Store is currently, and also along Tyndall Ave. from Speedway on south.
Why are we going to all this effort and expense to fight the rezoning? We have three basic objections to the rezoning as it was passed by Mayor and Council.
Number one is the process: This project was fast-tracked to meet the time frame of an out-of-town developer trying to meet a construction schedule that has his building open for business in the fall of 2013. Unfortunately the rezoning isn’t just for this one project. It encompasses a twelve-block area from Park Ave. west to Euclid Ave. Much of what was rezoned won’t be built for years. What’s troubling about this is that zoning hearings are one of the few places neighborhoods can voice concerns and guide projects. Sure, we’ve been able to speak out now, but nobody knows what will get built in the future—and once a project does go forward, there will not be any public discussion. Let’s put a number on “fast-tracked”: From a City Council study session in June 2011 to a rezoning on February 28, 2012. The actual rezoning process was much shorter, initiated by Mayor and Council in mid-December 2011, finalized February 28, 2012.
Objection two: Scale and context. What that means is, “How does what gets built work with what is already there?” Buildings have to relate to their surroundings. Remembering that this is a rezoning intended to support the Modern Streetcar project, so it’s important to create community in a larger context, not destroy it to replace it with another.
The final objection is that large portions of the area rezoned are in a City of Tucson Historic Protection Zone, or HPZ. There are five HPZs in the city of Tucson: Armory Park, El Presidio, Barrio Viejo, Fort Lowell, and West University. An HPZ is a cohesive area with large numbers of historic structures. It’s an area that we as a city have identified as being worth preserving, and because of this we have adopted protections that encourage the preservation of the buildings in an HPZ. The Main Gate District creates an economic incentive for demolition of historic properties within the HPZ by allowing a historic building that is demolished to be replaced by a building of significantly higher density and therefore higher economic value to the property owner. Why pit the interests of historic preservation and development against each other? Why not craft an ordinance that encourages adaptive re-use and encourages a collaborative process between developers and preservationists?
