Real estate developer Fred Hoppe told the City Council Monday he usually stands before them complaining about NIMBYs – residents with “not in my backyard†sentiments regarding a planned development.
This time, he said, he’s got a YIMBY – yes, in my backyard – situation and he appealed to the council to echo that “yes†on several requests before them, despite opposition from city staff.
Hoppe bought a house about a year ago along South 84th Street, south of A street and just north of Messiah Lutheran that he wants to use for the headquarters of Hoppe Development, of which he’s one of the principals.
The house abuts several acres of undeveloped land he owns east of 84th Street, as well as his backyard.
Nearly all the neighbors who live in the area support his plans, he said, which he came up with because he wants to keep the property suitable for the neighborhood.
“This is my backyard. When I sit on my back deck I look over this property,†he said. “ We are confident, as are our neighbors, that we will develop this space tastefully ... as a neighbor would like it. Because we are a neighbor.â€
He wants to build an 8,200-square foot office building at 1620 S. Eighth St. and use the house for conferences and as a reception area.
To do that, he wants the council to approve the annexation of 4.7 acres of land west of the home, a change in the Comprehensive Plan designation for the site and the zoning, which would allow him to build the office space and use the house for up to a five-room hotel.
He told the council he doesn’t want to use the house as a hotel, but that designation would mean he wouldn’t have to remodel it.
The sticking point: The city recommended denial of all three requests, as well as a request to waive a city access policy that would require he build a right-turn lane along 84th Street, which would cost about $275,000.
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A divided Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Commission recommended approval of the zoning, annexation and Comprehensive Plan request. The City Council must determine whether to reverse the city’s ruling on the turning lane waiver.
Planning Department staff argued that the proposal is inappropriate for the area because of the surrounding residences and also that it would violate the city's access management plan because it seeks access to an arterial street for just one property.
The city typically does not allow developments to take direct access off arterial streets, and it usually requires properties that have direct access to relinquish it when they redevelop.
Hoppe told the council there are 14 other commercial users without turn lanes up and down that stretch of 84th Street, including the city's MoPac trailhead and the church. He noted that Messiah Lutheran is both a church and a school so it’s in use seven days a week and, with no turn lane, often has a police officer stationed there on Sundays when church is over.
There are 92 commercial and office uses that abut 84th Street from Old Cheney Road to Holdrege Street, he said.
Hoppe said the business employs about 30 people but only about a dozen would come to the office on a daily basis, which wouldn’t substantially increase traffic.
Lincoln Transportation and Utilities Director Liz Elliott said most if not all businesses along that stretch of 84th Street were there before 2012, when the access policy requiring the turn lane was created.
Because 84th Street is so highly traveled, the more access points there are – places where traffic slows down to turn – the more chances there are for accidents. They can’t go back and change things, she said, but the policy allows them to improve the situation moving forward.
Allowing the waiver now might not be a problem, but traffic will only get worse, she said, with an additional 10,000 vehicles expected to travel the street in less than 15 years.
Hoppe countered that in the future, 98th Street or the East Beltway could reduce traffic on 84th Street, so it won’t necessarily be worse.
Several council members seemed to worry more about what might happen if Hoppe either sells the property or changes his mind and wants to add more commercial buildings there.
Hoppe said any such change would mean he’d have to come back before the council, which would allow them to either require the turn lane or vote down any changes.
Elliott also suggested allowing the access waiver for now, but require the turn lane if any other changes occur.
The council will vote on the requests at its May 1 meeting.