Developer doesn’t get it

The Oakview neighborhood was successful, for today anyway;

Lloyd Company plans to withdraw its application to rezone this land at 6th and Bahnson at the next city council meeting after hundreds of neighbors complained.

So what were those main concerns the neighbors had? They were really simple; density, drainage, traffic, crime. They have gone to several council meetings and expressed these concerns to the council after the Planning Commission was tone deaf;

. . . it’s just more about the density and the affects of that rippling down to water, traffic and overall safety,” Burke said.

So how did the developer respond to these very simple requests, that’s right, by ignoring the 700 Pound Gorilla(s) in the room;

Lloyd Companies went on to say it has a long standing history in Sioux Falls of building and managing apartment communities that provide safe, clean and affordable housing.

The statement goes on to say ‘While we appreciate the neighborhood’s concerns and have withdrawn our request to rezone the land, despite having taken the time to address key points from the neighborhood, we know that the end result of our project moving forward would have meant that families had an opportunity to live in an area where their kids could get to and from schools, a community center, a park and a library safely – which is something that we believe is incredibly important and should all want for our community.

Huh? The neighbors never really brought up affordable housing, but they did talk about density. Their major concerns were evident. Drainage and Traffic.

Why is it so difficult for developers or better yet our planning department and planning commission to wrap their heads around the fact Sioux Falls is built on a pancake? It can only soak up so much syrup before it starts running off the sides of the plate. It time the planning department faced the facts and grow up already.