Acreage development first challenge for new council members; mayor

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By DEENA WINTER / Lincoln Journal Star

After Chris Beutler is sworn in as mayor Monday, one of the first big issues he may have to decide is whether to allow a controversial acreage development to be built east of Lincoln.

If the development passes muster with the City Council on Monday, it would fall into Beutler’s lap. The current council will vote on the development before two new council members are sworn in Monday, tipping the balance of power from Democratic to Republican.

The council must decide whether to change the zoning to allow up to 48 upscale homes to be built on about 125 acres at the corner of 134th and A streets, south of the Crooked Creek Golf Course. The planning department has recommended denial; advice the planning commission agreed with in March.

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The area is ideal for a new acreage development because it’s right on the edge of the future city limits and near an urbanized area at 134th and O streets, argued attorney Peter Katt, representing developer Steve Champoux.

Katt said Champoux has owned the land for more than a decade and for the past five has been waiting for new standards for acreage development to come out of the planning department, as suggested by the city-county master plan in 2002.

“It’s been five years (and) that has not happened,” Katt said. “I think the current preference in the planning department is not to see any future clustered development.”

He said the master plan envisions clustered acreages such as the one proposed.

Champoux has been working with the parks department to set aside land for a future neighborhood park and ball fields and would pay to extend 134th Street to the development, Katt said.

But people who already live in the area have concerns. Gary Summers, who has lived on the south edge of the proposed development for 20 years, said he represented 13 neighbors with concerns. Among them:

n Groundwater availability. Although the developer says there’s plenty of water now, he questions future availability.

n The city-county master plan calls for the land to remain agricultural until the city grows to it, which isn’t expected to happen for at least 25 years. The plan also calls for only 6 percent of new housing to be outside the city limits, and that’s already been exceeded, with 10 to 14 percent of new lots outside the city.

n They question the need for more new housing when there are more than 2,000 homes for sale in Lincoln and about 4,000 apartments for rent, according to statistics he gathered.

“I’m all for growth in Lincoln, but I want it to be done in a responsible manner,” Summers said.

City-county Planning Director Marvin Krout said the city sometimes makes exceptions for acreages outside of designated areas in unique circumstances, but he doesn’t think this situation is unique enough to depart from policy.

The proposed lot sizes of one-third to one-half acres are close enough to urban sizes to compete with homes for sale in the city, Krout said. And, he noted, the city wouldn’t collect sales, property or wheel taxes on the homes until the area is annexed, he said.

Even though the acreages would be built in the county, the City Council must approve the zoning change because the area is within the city’s three-mile zoning jurisdiction. The zoning change does not have to go before the County Board.

The council will vote on the zoning change Monday, and if it approves the development, it then goes to the mayor, which by then will be Beutler.

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.