Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Bellingham Residents Unhappy With Proposal of University Ridge


BELLINGHAM- Ambling University Development Group’s proposal to build a 527-bedroom student-housing complex known as University Ridge has raised concerns among members in the community who feel the project would affect them directly

The complex would be constructed between Puget and Nevada Streets at 4413 Consolidation Avenue, on a 5-acre lot surrounded by single-family homes.

Dick Conoboy, resident of the next-door Samish neighborhood, had much to say regarding this proposal.

“Crowding almost 600 students in a four buildings on five acres is a recipe for disaster,” Conoboy said. Referring to a “riot” that occurred near Western’s campus, he said, “You only need to look at last Saturday to see what happens when a large number of students are concentrated in an area with virtually no supervision and easy access to alcohol.”

David Baines, a retired Puget neighborhood resident, believes all the qualities of living will be degraded if the proposal is accepted.

“Neighborhood tranquility, relative security, good air, problems that are manageable at present level, will all be adversely impacted,” Baines said.

With 576 new residents, the developers plan to have a 24-hour on site management as well as quiet hours to manage noise and disturbances among the neighborhood.

During the Public Hearing on September 11, Ambling’s architect Glen Peterson addressed how there is a significant demand for off-campus housing, and how many single-family homes in Bellingham have been converted to houses filled with students.

“We are here to provide desirable upper end housing for students. We want to provide easy access to the University and to shopping. Our goals are to minimize impact to the neighborhood,” Peterson said.

Some residents have had a tough history dealing with existing student rentals, with “sleepless nights from noisy parties, car doors slamming, and motor bikes careering through,” Baines said.

The streets of Nevada consist of few sidewalks and streetlights. There is one exit/entrance onto Consolidation, and this raises safety concerns to members in the community in the case of an emergency.

“Imagine fire or emergency vehicles trying to get in as people are fleeing in cars or on bikes, along with additional parked vehicles clogging the streets,” Baines said.

The Traffic Impact Assessment by Ambling responded to the traffic concern by an assumption that most residents will use public transportation. Since the residents will mostly be WWU students, they believe bus transportation will be the most used because of proximity to bus access. Also, according to the Developers, this shouldn’t be a huge problem since most students do not follow an a.m./p.m. schedule.

Ambling developers do not have any direct affiliation with WWU but plan to restrict the complex to student residents only.

Gaythia Weis, President of the Puget Neighborhood Association, is apprehensive about the Developer being subject to fair housing laws and does not believe it could be legally limited to students.

The Hearing Examiner questioned the Developers about the possible violation of fair housing laws by restricting the renters to students, but it is still unknown if the Hearing Examiner will make a pronouncement about this aspect of the application.

According to the National Wetlands Inventory report, the projected site contains no wetlands. The report also shows that there is no priority habitats or species located on the property.

“The construction would certainly disrupt wildlife. There are deer and other animals there, and I have seen raccoons,” Weis said.

For purposes of planning, what would matter is if there was any endangered species on the land but that is not the case.

As a ten year resident, Baines has witnessed a variety of wildlife from his home.
He has seen deer families, coyote, raccoons, bobcat, squirrels and the trees are home to red tailed hawk’s nests.

“Wildlife and birdlife will disappear,” Baines said.

The Hearing Examiner has to decide on many aspects of this project, so the final ruling could be out in weeks or months from now. In the meantime, numerous residents are voicing their concerns and sending petitions to the Mayor and members of the City Council opposing University Ridge.












For further information regarding University Ridge Project , visit:

http://www.cob.org/services/planning/neighborhoods/puget-uni-ridge.aspx

You can hear a podcast of the Hearing Examination here: