When Hurricane Sandy rolled through town and shut-down governmental buildings for a couple days last week, she locked inside letters to the property owners surrounding the Bergman’s dry cleaner site. The letters were official notification that the Planning Commission would consider the Bergman’s site for redevelopment on Nov. 5.
By a couple of days, the letters were too late to the store owners, so the commission legally could not address the plans on Monday. The plan made it onto the commission’s agenda, but it should not have.
It will also appear on the county board’s agenda next week, so the Planning Commission has to pen a letter to the board asking them to delay discussions and decisions to December, as well.
The commission has already received about a half-dozen letters and emails concerning the site. Most, like the Waverly Hills Civic Association, are protesting the plan for a 10-story mixed use building.
The plans call for 200 apartments and 13,000 square feet of retail, including, potentially, a Mom’s Organic Market. The project is in the North Highlands Civic Association. Waverly Hills wrote, not because the project is near their neighborhood, but because they are afraid of the precedent the plan sets.
As well, the Planning Commission voted to defer consideration of the 211,000 square foot residential building at 1720 S. Eads Street in Crystal City.
