Whippoorwill Development Appeal Denied

The residents lost their appeal on the Whippoorwill development. At the Planning Commission meeting on August 21, residents brought up the numerous problems with the development. One of the main complaints was that Lakewood does not have jurisdiction to merge these parcels, which should be done through Jefferson County. The meeting lasted five and half hours and ended in a 4-2 vote against the residents. There is no further public review scheduled.

Most of the commissioners that voted against the appeal stated that this wasn’t a site plan review so the concerns raised were not relevant. This was an appeal of the subdivision, which wasn’t a subdivision but a merger.

The master site plan will have no public review. The approval will be made exclusively by city staff.

City staff, Travis Parker and Max Kirshbaum, are the ones allowing the problems to happen. They could require the entrance and exit to be moved to Colfax.

Commissioner Steven Buckley made an impassioned plea at the end of the meeting. He said:

“I have become convinced tonight that it does meet the [subdivision] standards. And equally and firmly convinced that this project as it is currently proposed doesn’t meet, most likely, some of the  site plan approval standards.

If it was my driveway, it was in that configuration, it was in that slope, I would be  scared as hell of what is proposed.

“It is my hope, and it is my plea that the staff who is listening to my appeal and who heard that the residents came out and speak tonight …. I have seen the ingenuity and ability of engineers and architects time and again…. And I appreciate that it is a challenge to design a good roadway intersection there and a good driveway intersection at that location…. In my opinion, Y’all have missed the mark. You haven’t done it.”

SCORECARD: Whippoorwill Appeal

Elisa “Emo” Overall: Yes
Eric Grebliunas: Yes
Steven Buckley: Yes
William Furman: Yes
Jenny O’Neill: No
Kip Kolkmeier: Recused
Rhonda Peters: No