[Neighbors] Regarding building heights - my final comment about the IDO!

Davis, Pat via Neighbors_nobhill-nm neighbors_nobhill-nm at mailman.swcp.com
Mon Jul 31 09:54:01 MDT 2017 

Thank you, Susan.

We’ll hold our first public hearing on this at LUPZ later this month, but we anticipate several deferrals to allow us to dig into the document and take public input in committee and then several times at the full Council.  We should get this right and that can’t be rushed.

pd

From: Susan Michie <sgmichie at yahoo.com>
Reply-To: Susan Michie <sgmichie at yahoo.com>
Date: Monday, July 31, 2017 at 9:17 AM
To: "Davis, Pat" <patdavis at cabq.gov>, "Foran, Sean M." <seanforan at cabq.gov>
Cc: neighbors_nobhill-nm <neighbors_nobhill-nm at mailman.swcp.com>, Tandi Hufnagel <tandiwe76 at gmail.com>, Nancy Bearce <nancymbearce at gmail.com>, Charlie Bennett <cb4innm at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Neighbors] Regarding building heights - my final comment about the IDO!



Tandi - thank you for starting this conversation - but it fails to mention that there is also a policy buried in the IDO that allows "unlimited building height" after 100 ft. from any residential property line (including the street) in the MX-M and MX-H zones (which is the new zoning designation for Nob Hill).

Including policies in this way is problematic as they are not mentioned in the city presentations or the zoning maps that show old and new zoning changes. Thus, the true building heights that are allowed are misrepresented for zones that will allow "mixed use" (MX) which are prime targets for higher buildings. The old C-2 (commercial only) zoning allowed unlimited heights but the incentive of mixed commercial/residential was not allowed for commercial zones.

Who knows what other policies like this are buried in this huge document that is virtually impossible for the average citizen to read and comprehend? The unwieldiness of a single document is why they switched to sector plans in the first place!

That being said.,,,yes, the zoning code needs updating. I support more density and I think some change would be very good for Nob Hill. BUT many properties along Central need updating and some limits on building heights would work better at accomplishing more property renovation than allowing "unlimited heights" for some large building projects. In addition, excessive building heights inflate the value of the property and encourage destruction of historic architecture.  As I have said before, heights can easily go up in the future, but it is near impossible to bring them back down.

My final comment about the IDO....

I attended the very first public meetings for the Comp Plan and IDO. I have attended at least a dozen meetings since then and submitted many comments. But, I don't think the current version of the IDO truly supports the Comp Plan and I don't think public input from neighborhoods carries much weight with this administration. I think it is fair to say that we would get a better result if the IDO approval process is postponed until after the mayoral election in November.”  We don't want urban renewal we want to blend the old and new in an integrative, creative ways that preserve the character of our neighborhoods!

Best,

Susan




From: Sara via Neighbors_nobhill-nm <neighbors_nobhill-nm at mailman.swcp.com>
To: Flora Silva <silva_f65 at yahoo.com>
Cc: neighbors_nobhill-nm <neighbors_nobhill-nm at mailman.swcp.com>; Tandi Hufnagel <tandiwe76 at gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, July 31, 2017 8:03 AM
Subject: Re: [Neighbors] Need your voice regarding building heights - please reply with input

Thank you Flora, I just sent an email to Pat Davis.
Sara Friederich

Sent from my iPad

On Jul 30, 2017, at 7:31 PM, Flora Silva via Neighbors_nobhill-nm <neighbors_nobhill-nm at mailman.swcp.com<mailto:neighbors_nobhill-nm at mailman.swcp.com>> wrote:

Listed below are the email addresses to members of the LUPZ Committee as well as Sean Foran, Councilor Davis' right hand man:


  *   Trudy E. Jones, Chair                       trudyjones at cabq.gov<mailto:trudyjones at cabq.gov>
  *   Diane Gibson                                    dgibson at cabq.gov<mailto:dgibson at cabq.gov>
  *   Isaac Benton                                     ibenton at cabq.gov<mailto:ibenton at cabq.gov>
  *   Patrick Davis                          patdavis at cabq.gov<mailto:patdavis at cabq.gov>                 seanforan at cabq.gov<mailto:seanforan at cabq.gov>
  *   Dan Lewis                                          danlewis at cabq.gov<mailto:danlewis at cabq.gov>

On Sunday, July 30, 2017 4:10 PM, Anthony Hunt via Neighbors_nobhill-nm <neighbors_nobhill-nm at mailman.swcp.com<mailto:neighbors_nobhill-nm at mailman.swcp.com>> wrote:

Philip Dale has a very sane analysis of the building heights which acknowledges the need to increase the living space in Nob Hill. In general I find myself in agreement with his reasoning, though I believe both #2 and #3 are out of character, with #3 verging on the absurd for this neighborhood to call itself a "neighborhood".

Tony Hunt
Hermosa NE


On Jul 29, 2017, at 10:56 AM, Philip Dale via Neighbors_nobhill-nm <neighbors_nobhill-nm at mailman.swcp.com<mailto:neighbors_nobhill-nm at mailman.swcp.com>> wrote:
I too am very grateful to Tandi for laying out the proposed changes so clearly, and making it easier for more of us to chime in.  I’m probably in the (tiny) minority here, but I am a bit more sympathetic to the changes, though not to their scale.
I think it is in the interest of both Albuquerque in general (avoiding sprawl, improving work-home transportation connections) and Nob Hill in particular (in such a heavily retail-based neighborhood, we need more people *living* here, not just coming here for the bars and restaurants) to have somewhat increased population density. And it makes sense to concentrate it around the major transportation corridor. But this is just too big a change, and ‘freezes’ a distinction between East Nob Hill and the rest of Nob Hill which is undesirable.
So I favor #1, and a reduced version of #2 (whatever the numbers would be to make the limit four stories), while opposing both aspects of #3.
Philip Dale


From: Neighbors_nobhill-nm [mailto:neighbors_nobhill-nm-bounces at mailman.swcp.com] On Behalf Of Tandi Hufnagel via Neighbors_nobhill-nm
Sent: Friday, July 28, 2017 1:05 PM
To: neighbors_nobhill-nm at mailman.swcp.com<mailto:neighbors_nobhill-nm at mailman.swcp.com>
Subject: [Neighbors] Need your voice regarding building heights - please reply with input

Hi neighbors,

I'm sure you've all seen the updates from Gary and others about the proposed changes in building heights in Nob Hill.

I wanted to summarize them because sometimes all the language in the codes can be hard to understand.

Here are three major changes that could dramatically change the streetscape in Nob Hill:

1.  The first change is to raise the existing building height limit from 39' to 45'.  That would include all blocks along Central in Nob Hill from Girard to Aliso.


2.  The second change is to add an additional 20' to the height limit in the areas near ART stations.  In Nob Hill that includes the stations at Bryn Mawr and Solano.  This would raise the height limit from the proposed 45' up to a 65' (a five story building).  The increased height zone would include a block in either direction (East-West) from the station.  So this would apply along Central from Aliso to Hermosa, and Richmond to Wellesley.

*Pat Davis, maybe you can comment - has the additional height has already been nixed for the Bryn Mawr station?  In any case it is still being proposed for the Solano station zone.


3.  The third change is to allow the additional 20' height within 660' of the Washington station.  This would cover Morningside to Monroe.  So the majority of East Nob Hill could be built up to five stories.  Also, the proposal includes another 12' for any "Workforce" projects for a grand total of 77' allowable building height!  That's at least a six story building.


Here's what is needed:  Please reply to this email with your feedback on these proposals before this coming Wednesday.

Also, please tell our councilman Pat Davis what you think!  His email is:  patdavis at cabq.gov<mailto:patdavis at cabq.gov>.  I think he reads these neighborhood emails too.

As our representative it's up to Pat to help make the final decisions for our neighborhood, and without your input he won't know what the neighborhood prefers.

This is easy, you don't need to go to any meetings, just reply to this email and/or email Pat.  If you do feel strongly and wish to go to the meeting to add your voice, it will be August 16th in the evening.  Please contact Gary Eyster for more info at:  meyster1 at comcast.net<mailto:meyster1 at comcast.net>.

Thanks!

As I have written before, I think these building heights are completely out of character for Nob Hill.  They do not fit the historic architecture or human-scale texture of the neighborhood, and they are unnecessary.  The only people who benefit are developers.  Three stories is a good limit for any commercial development along Central.  I do support increased density to help small local businesses survive, however it has to be done with respect for the existing neighborhood.  Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Tandi Hufnagel, Aliso NE
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