Habitat project is right fit for area

A lesson learned early and often when following the goings-on in

local government is that there usually are multiple sides to every

issue. No debate is clear-cut. Maneuvering through the issues is

nuanced, as no one ever has a monopoly on the truth. No side is

entirely right. None is entirely wrong.

There are always exceptions, of course. And we are having a

difficult time finding the debate about a low-income Habitat for

Humanity project behind Harbor Center to be anything other than

one-sided. We cannot help but believe the residents opposing the

proposal for eight homes are wrong.

Such a statement is not one we make lightly. We understand why

people have concerns about the quality of their neighborhoods and

their homes. But the arguments in this case fail to stand up to

reason.

The project calls for five single-story and three two-story homes,

each with two-car garages and individual driveways. It would involve

a general-plan amendment changing the land-use designations from

commercial and high-density residential to low-density residential.

What is there now is an empty lot that serves as a buffer of sorts

between the shopping center and neighboring College Park.

Residents claim that at eight homes, the project has too many

houses. But right next to the site is an apartment complex that is

certainly large enough that eight homes wouldn’t make a noticeable

difference in traffic or parking.

That residents say six homes would be OK also is befuddling. How

can such a small reduction be meaningful? Could it be because at six

homes the project would not be economically sound, according to Scott

Bell, president of ICI Development, which owns the properties and

would donate them to the nonprofit group?

Their arguments about how dire parking would become are similarly

unbelievable. Might there be a parking problem in the area?

Certainly. And we hope the city and residents can work on a solution.

But would eight homes really push the problem beyond a tenable level?

It is difficult to believe.

We also are skeptical that Habitat homes would reduce neighboring

property values. Anyone who has seen Habitat projects knows how

excellent they are and that the group extensively checks into the

people moving into the homes. There are few nonprofits that enjoy the

respect and admiration that Habitat for Humanity does.

We’re even skeptical of city staff members’ contention that the

project is a bad fit because there would be too much noise from the

backside of Harbor Center. A major road would be louder, more often,

for instance. And the relatively unappealing nature of the site is

obviously part of why it is a possible location for low-cost housing.

As Planning Commissioner Chairman Bruce Garlich argued, the decision

on whether it is a good place for Habitat homes should lie with

Habitat officials and the eventual homeowners.

Setting all the arguments aside, we are concerned that an unsaid

worry is left: Habitat for Humanity serves people on the low end of

the economic scale. We hope that the opposition to this project is

not battling to keep poor families from moving into the neighborhood.

Taking this side, of course, lumps us in with the majority of

those supporting Habitat’s cause -- we aren’t College Park residents.

And, again, we don’t lightly -- or with any pleasure -- back a plan

that neighbors are against.

But the facts seem to be that the project serves a need in an area

where it would fit.