“What we have committed to is eight units of housing,” Clark said.
By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
A full house was on hand during a meeting of the City of Parsons Council April 2nd. Among the items on a full agenda, representatives from Woodlands Development Group presented a series of proposals for the vacant lot at 193 Main Street. The building that previously sat on the lot was the first to be demolished by the City through a civic improvement initiative funded by a state grant. Woodlands Development Group Executive Director Dave Clark and Architect Bryson Van Nostrand addressed the Council on behalf of Woodlands.
Woodlands compacted with a previous Council under Mayor Judy, according to Clark. As part of the agreement, the City of Parsons loaned Woodlands the funds to purchase the property. Under a State grant funded initiative, the existing building was demolished. Clark said that Woodlands had also agreed to a Council request that Woodlands provide the option for those individuals who had resided in the old building to move into the new building. “We agreed to basically build back something similar to what was there,” Clark said. “So commercial and residential space.”
As part of the agreement with the City, Woodlands would also lease the property next to the lot. Clark said the agreement emerged from the need for designated parking. Clark said that most of the funding for these kinds of projects is often connected to housing and has specific requirements for parking. In the case of the Parsons project, Clark said the new building would be required to provide 1.5 parking spaces for every housing unit and at least one ADA compliant unit with designated parking. “Council also agreed then to lease us the adjoining space,” Clark said. “Because we knew to get any financing for the housing side we had to have committed parking.”
Clark said the funding has taken two years to acquire, but through at least six committed funding sources, the project has been funded. “It is going to be about a $3 million project,” Clark said.
Clark said that with the funding in place, the next step is to decide on a design for the project. Clark and Van Nostrand brought four different designs for the space to the Council for consideration. According to Clark, the Council will have input on every step of the process going forward. “We are now at a point where we need to make some decisions about how this is going to look and how we want to go forward,” Clark said.
Van Nostrand presented the four designs to the Council and public in attendance. Clark said that the funding attached to project has determined that need for eight housing units on the site. Each of the four designs integrates the eight housing units and the designated parking. However, the number of commercial units located on the site varies with each design. “What we have committed to is eight units of housing. There will be at least one commercial space and there could be more,” Clark said.
Clark said the commercial space provided will include entrepreneurial and community support services, regardless of the design selected. “In that commercial space, we have to supply some entrepreneurial services and some general community support services,” Clark said.
The options presented by Van Nostrand differed slightly based on location of the building and parking as well as the green space to be provided. Two versions of an “Option C” were presented that proposed two buildings side by side at the back of the lots with parking located in front. The difference in the two versions hinged on whether both buildings would be three stories or have one two story building to the right and a three story building next to the Memorial. “Option B” places a three story building on the corner lot owned by the City and parking on the Woodlands owned lot next to the Memorial.
“Option A” places the building in the same location as the previous building, next to the Memorial, and parking in the corner City owned lot. Van Nostrand said he felt the placement to be problematic and encroached too much on the border of the Memorial.“It seemed problematic to me,” Van Nostrand said. “I really like the Memorial and it seemed problematic to me that the old building, you know where the Memorial wall pretty much butts right into it and to rebuild the building there, would, I think, not be as nice as it could be as it relates to the Memorial.”
Van Nostrand also said he felt that if the building were rebuilt up to the sidewalks that it would feel like it was “out in the middle of an open area.” This Van Nostrand attributed to the fact that the building would not be connected to any other buildings in the area. “Its going to feel like its in the middle of an open area,” Van Nostrand said. “It will no longer be beside another a building that comes up to the street, as used to be the case years ago.”
Van Nostrand said he felt that the options outlined in “Option C” would be best as it pushed the buildings back against the retaining wall at the rear of the properties. According to Van Nostrand, he felt the option would be the most aesthetic options and would also provide extra windows in each living unit. As a result, Van Nostrand said he felt that both “Option A” and “Option B” were “an island in a river.” Van Nostrand equated his thoughts to his gut reaction to the location and options put forward. “When we build that building in either ‘Option A’ or ‘B,’ I kind of got a feel like its just kind of an island in a river in a way,” Van Nostrand said.
Council Members voiced concerns over the traffic light in the area and the impact the parking area would have on traffic in the area with traffic entering the property from Main Street. “Then we started thinking about, there’s a light there,” Mayor Bruce Kolsun said. “You’re pulling out into traffic flow. You have three lanes there and you’re pulling out into that third lane. So, that was a real concern when we were talking. Several people brought that up in our meeting.”
Council Member Melissa Jones also expressed concerns over a main power pole at the site. Van Nostrand said that the lines would be 20 feet from the entrance. “So, its about 20 feet from the entry point,” Van Nostrand said.
No decisions on the design of the project were made at the meeting. Official decisions by the Council are slated to be included in the next meeting agenda. Construction on the project, according to Clark, is slated to begin late this summer with an anticipated date around July or August.
The next meeting of the Parsons City Council will be held Tuesday, April 16th at 6 p.m. at the Charles W. “Bill” Rosenau Municipal Building located at 341 Second Street in Parsons.
