Below is the testimony in opposition by two residents living within the projects boundaries, both with grave concerns over issuing of public incentives for a project that has not yet even been designed properly and with no concerns for neighbors or the Streetcar transit node.
[Neighbor 1] Good Afternoon. I'm Kathy Marincel and I'm a resident of Union Hill at 2931 Walnut and I'm very passionate about my neighborhood.
I'm requesting that the city requests be held before the planning development review is complete. This is so important to the neighborhood, community and city that we get this right. I have concerns that at a transit node for a street car, that I'm paying taxes on, a project will be receiving incentives for non-shared parking.
I am concerned there is no public benefit to this building and it does not anchor the residential investment and revitalize walkability character of the corridor.
I am concerned this project does not provide balanced transition to the Union Hill neighborhood, creating a safe environment, increase walking traffic. We need in this most important and desirable location, a place that connects the neighborhood through this area, increases streetcar ridership from North to South, to this transit node. Thank you for your consideration.
[Councilman Barnes] Thank you.
[Neighbor 2] My name is Tom Marincel, I'm a resident of Union Hill at 2931 Walnut Street.
I'm a retired professional engineer and a member of the Union Hill Special Business District Board.
On the issue of the incentives, I need to echo the others concerns that this incentive should not be approved until we have a development plan, that's further along. That this to me, it seems like we're putting that cart before the horse by giving out these incentives without knowing more details on what the project is going to be.
Secondly, I have a real, hard time understanding the need for the incentives at all considering the location of this property and the high visibility and the marketability of this piece of property.
It would seem that that the taxpayers would not need to support this project at this prime location and the fact that we're considering doing that does not seem right to me. Thank you for your attention.