It was one of the biggest Public Input involvement the city council has ever seen when the Oakview neighborhood showed up ahead of the approval of the Lacey apartment complex proposed by a local developer.
In fact the movement was so huge it helped to create one of the biggest neighborhood associations in the city (almost 10x the size of other neighborhood associations in the city).
It also prompted the city to try to stomp out the public input by creating benign rules before you can testify at Planning Meetings. They also came after a city councilor for encouraging public engagement with threats of false ethics charges.
The efforts of the neighborhood killed the project. That wasn’t a bad thing. It showed when you get involved with your local government you can make a difference. But the neighborhood is NOT against redevelopment of the area, they just want to be involved with that decision. This is where they are misunderstood.
But it seems some people are not happy the citizens voiced their concerns and got involved;
“Nobody wants to even make an offer because they don’t want to go through what Kelly and Lois went through last year,†said Arlie Brende, the Browns’ attorney who’s helping them navigate the process at City Hall. “It was brutal.â€
Last year the Browns had a purchase agreement with Lloyd Companies contingent on it being rezoned for multi-family housing. The developer wanted to build an apartment complex but neighborhood opposition ended up killing the project.
So now we are comparing the public’s involvement with redevelopment a form of brutality. WOW. But Mr. Brende is famous for his quips.
The development community with the help of an anti-citizen planning department has been able to ramrod their wishes down the throats of citizens with out much resistance. The first battle occurred with the Walmart at 85th and Minnesota, and while that neighborhood is still fighting that battle, the residents of Oakview were not having it, and fired the first shots which took the developer by surprise.
Hopefully when the dust clears this time, everyone will be in agreement with the final project. Democracy is messy, but it is supposed to be, we get better government and in this case better development when citizens are involved.