The Zoning Board of Appeals will consider the variance for shared parking of the 315 West Ponce developer tonight at 7:30p in the city hall meeting room. A big turnout is expected.

The application for the parking variance is posted on the Livable Growth website. In it, the developer asserts that the shared parking idea is in response to the neighborhood’s concerns about the mass and scale of the project. As seen above, the parking deck currently sits near the property line of Fairview residents with a green buffer between them.

Needless to say, this should be a very interesting meeting. Aside from expected tensions between the developer and residents that want a larger deck (either because of neighborhood parking concerns or because they simply want to prevent the development), it will be interesting to see how unified the neighborhood is on this project. Also, how will Fairview residents react to the prospect of a larger parking deck?  How many residents outside the neighborhood will weigh in?

This is the first of three upcoming meetings concerning this hotly debated development. If the variance is approved, the project is scheduled to go before the Planning Commission on Thursday, Sept. 4th and before the City Commission on Monday, Sept 15th.

Let the games begin.