Two former city councilwomen are among a growing group of opponents to a proposed development for severely mentally ill people and low-income residents in a floodplain just north of the North Bottoms Neighb
DEENA WINTER / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Monday, November 12, 2007 6:00 pm
Two former city councilwomen are among a growing group of opponents to a proposed development for severely mentally ill people and low-income residents in a floodplain just north of the North Bottoms Neighborhood.
Former Councilwoman Patte Newman calls it “downright unconscionable” that the city is considering “cramming” low-income housing into a floodplain, next to a levee.
In an e-mail to the mayor and other city officials, Newman said the city would be “taking some giant steps backwards” if it declared the floodplain surplus and sold it to developers.
Joining her in the fight is former Councilwoman Annette McRoy, who lives in the North Bottoms.
The proposed six-acre Creekside Village would build 10 townhomes and 60 apartments near 10th Street and Military Road. Twenty of the apartments would be reserved for severely mentally ill people; the rest would house low-income residents.
The development would be in Salt Creek’s 100-year floodplain, which means there’s a 1 percent chance of major flooding in any given year. Unelevated areas could be swamped with one to five feet of water during a 100-year storm, according to city documents.
The planning department, public works department and state Department of Natural Resources have all expressed concern about housing mentally ill residents in a flood plain.
However, last month the planning commission unanimously approved the development, which will get a public hearing before the City Council on Monday.
The developers are Fred and John Hoppe. Fred Hoppe is president of the Home Builders Association of Lincoln and director of its nonprofit arm that builds affordable housing.
Fred Hoppe is perturbed by the insinuation the low-income or mentally ill people would be any less able to evacuate in a flood.
“Maybe there’s a tainted view of intelligence after (Hurricane) Katrina,” he said. “We don’t envision low-income people being any less responsive to a need to evacuate than anyone else. People that just want to kill the deal are coming up with concepts like that.”
He believes some are obscuring the real issue: They don’t want low-income and mentally ill neighbors.
“Most people don’t want severely mentally ill peop next to them,” he said.
The land is largely occupied by a former Naval Reserve building and also home to the city’s only public indoor shooting range and storage buildings for public vehicles. The city is considering building a new shooting range at Boosalis Park.
The state Department of Natural Resources, which generally discourages development in floodplains, has concerns about housing low-income and mentally ill people in a flood plain.
“Bear in mind that government-financed housing which is damaged by a flood will not look good for all parties involved,” Steve McMaster of the DNR wrote in a letter to Hoppe about the project.
He asked whether renters would be told of the flood risk and what plans would be made to evacuate people with “limited mobility.”
About two-thirds of the development would be within 500 feet of the top of the Salt Creek levee, a critical zone where construction must meet new criteria, according to Glenn Johnson, general manager of the Lower Platte South Natural Resources District.
After the bad experience with levees during Hurricane Katrina, the feds pay closer attention to proposed construction so close to federal levees. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will review the development to make sure it has no adverse impact on the levee and make a recommendation to the NRD.
The NRD will ultimately determine what construction would be allowed, he said. It’s clear the NRD isn’t too keen on the development, according to a letter to the City Council from Johnson.
Johnson said the NRD and city have spent a lot of time and money purchasing and preserving floodplains along Salt Creek and its tributaries, particularly close to levees.
“To turn around and sell it for private development… seems a little inconsistent,” he said.
He said unless the loss of flood storage is offset by the developers, the development will increase the flooding threat in the rest of the North Bottoms.
The levees were built in the mid-60s, but don’t provide enough protection from a 100-year flood, “so the water would be over the top of the levees operating basically as if the levees were not there,” said Mark Brohman, executive director of the Nebraska Environmental Trust, in a letter to city officials.
Normally the city strives to preserve publicly owned floodplains, as recommended by the city-county Comprehensive Plan. However, Fred Hoppe said the Comprehensive Plan also calls for more housing for low-income and mentally ill people.
And this is a good location because it’s in a qualifying census tract and close to downtown and bus routes.
“Lincoln really needs this housing,” he said.
McRoy said city policies are being “swept under the rug” and the project is on a fast-track; the developers have asked that the council vote right after the Monday public hearing, rather than wait a week, as usual.
The developers want to meet a Nov. 30 deadline to apply for state low-income housing tax credits. The total cost of the development is estimated at $8.5 to $9 million, and the tax credits could apply to as much as $8 million of the cost. The project is also expected to generate up to $1 million in tax increment financing.
Fred Hoppe said they could apply for the next round of housing tax credits in a couple of months, but most of the money is awarded in the first go-round. And he said they began working on the development two years ago.
“That’s not particularly fast,” he said.
North Bottoms residents say they got a briefing a couple of years ago but never heard much again until recently.
In order to build in the floodplain, the first floor would have to be at least a foot above the 100-year flood elevation, McMaster said.
To do that, they plan to build flow-through foundations, Fred Hoppe said.
“It’s almost like putting them on stilts,” he said of the buildings.
But McMaster sees it as a possible microcosm of what happened after Hurricane Katrina: They can build the buildings up high so they won’t be flooded, but will they be able to evacuate the people?
“It just presents some public safety questions,” he said.
Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.