Development plan keeps minidorms out of UA-area neighborhood
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With a unanimous vote Tuesday, the Tucson City Council approved the development plan for Jefferson Park, a University of Arizona-area neighborhood whose proposal opposed all building that would increase density, including "minidorms."
Miramonte neighborhood beat Jefferson Park to the first-such-plan-in-the-city punch, but Jefferson Park's plan has been heralded as the model of future plans because it faced head-on the questions that come with downtown and "infill" development.
The outcome, however, seemed to contradict the city's development goals - ending the sprawl that razes the desert and increasing density to give Tucson more of an urban feel.
Because Jefferson Park is just north of the University Medical Center end of the planned streetcar route, the plan could also affect the rezonings planning experts consider critical to the economic stimulus Rio Nuevo is intended to bring.
To balance the competing priorities, the Planning Commission recommended a density study along major roads in and around Jefferson Park. Although the study is mentioned in the plan, the council would have to pass an amendment to add higher-density areas, planning officials said. The result is a speed bump.
The plan may also fall short of doing what neighborhood residents most want: ending building of student apartments in what were single-family homes.
Neighborhood association president Dyle Lytle has no illusions about that. "The plan is an advisory, not regulatory document," he said. "I noticed no developers showed up (at the public hearing), so they must not find it too threatening."
Also Tuesday, Mayor Bob Walkup announced that federal funding for the streetcar project is being considered by the House Appropriations Committee. Tucson is expected to get at least $25 million of $75 million it sought, he said.
You can say that again. So, where should they build student housing, as far away from the school as possible? Red Rock has open space.
Maybe they liked it better when Polo Village was still in the neighborhood. For those who don't remember, Polo Village was a hundred or so military surplus Quonset huts used for student housing, THE MINI-DORM OF ITS DAY.
Ironically, it was located in this same neighborhood.