Lakewood Neighborhood - What do you think about the proposed zone change for Osprey Townhomes?

I am very concerned that there is insufficient vehicle access for the proposed population of the development. The entrance on 500 West is on a sloping curve with limited visibility. 300 cars trying to exit the property each morning through that one bottleneck will be a nightmare. The residents' other option will be to exit via 730 West. That will send them into a quiet residential neighborhood where small children play in open front yards. 730 is NOT designed to support morning and afternoon rush hour traffic. There will need to be stop signs, perhaps speed reduction pads, etc. The only reasonable alternative is to find a way to let people enter and exit via Lakeview Parkway somehow. That gets people into the traffic flow without turning a residential neighborhood into an on-ramp.

Given the access limitations, I believe the zoning should be single family residential, similar to the adjacent Osprey Point subdivision to the north. The developer should still be able to realize a tidy profit and the development would impose less of a burden on infrastructure. Access is not the only problem in that area. Sewer, schools and other infrastructure elements are at or above capacity.

I don't necessarily disagree with the townhomes being built, however I do disagree with changing the existing roads to accommodate them. I currently live on 730 W, and there is talk of opening up 730 W to the parkway, which I WILL fight. I moved to 730 W from 500 W, which was a terrible road to live on after they extended it out to Lakeview Parkway. I refuse to once again see the road I've bought a home on turned into a major throughway.

I live north of the berm that will be the south boundary of the new town home subdivision. Just like our current division of Osprey Point, there are three main roads coming into our development off 5th West. I believe the town home project should have access off 5th West, 1100 West and an additional entrance from Lakeview Parkway, allowing the new subdivision to have unlimited access to the main streets in the area. If they are only allowed access through Osprey Point, it will burden the streets too heavily and make for unsafe walking, bike riding, kids on skateboards, etc. Thank you for considering adding additional streets to the new development.

I am not in favor of this high density townhomes project. I live in Osprey Point and the layout seems like the builder is trying to stack as many people into this area as possible. Why can't this be a continuation of the Osprey Point single family homes or at least reduce the density of this subdivision to duplexes? I would prefer this property stay agricultural land. I think this proposed design will greatly lower the property values in Osprey Point and make it a less desirable location...especially with the significant addition of traffic through our peaceful neighborhood. We have already seen increased traffic on 1560 S and 500 W. It seems like there would be a way to safely create a right-turn only exit to the south or southwest portion of this subdivision onto Lakeview Parkway. The proposed plan does not have enough visitor parking or green space. If one looks at the big picture with all of the other surrounding housing, this kind of housing seems out of place. I think the builder will be much more successful putting in custom homes on 1/4 acre lots that are $500K+. Also, isn't this land in a floodplain? How will that issue be addressed with townhomes? What are the proposed values of these townhomes? I would like to see a lot more research and discussion regarding this decision.

I definitely prefer the zone change to be changed to more single family residential homes as opposed to low-density town homes. I have concerns about adding too many homes/traffic for the space available, and causing bigger problems with traffic safety, safety for families/kids riding bikes walking, and taking away from the more peaceful family neighborhood feeling.

If it is changed and town homes go in, I agree with a lot of the other comments that the best access to the townhomes (for the osprey point neighborhood already here and those of a future town home neighborhood) that access to it would be best off of Lakeview Parkway, NOT through the neighborhood. There are lots of families and kids in the neighborhood and adding that amount of traffic on the roads would really take away from the safe, family friendly neighborhood that is in place.

I think this subdivision needs a entrance from Lakeview parkway. I do not like that one of the two ways to get in to the townhomes is through a neighborhood street. I live on that road and I do not like the idea of a lot more cars making my road busy. I moved to this neighborhood to get away from busy streets so my kids can play safely outside. I think making a way for cars to get in from Lakeview parkway since it is already a main road is a good idea.

Please approve these changes. Density in sensible places is needed in order to add housing supply to our area.

Being right by the freeway and a major arterial road (Lakeview Parkway), I believe this is an extremely sensible location to add density.

This will help with affordability and help preserve the neighborhoods where people enjoy and want to maintain their single-family housing.

I am very much in favor of building new row homes, townhomes, condominiums, and apartments along the South 500 West and Lakeview Parkway corridors especially east of 1600 West. As you're aware, Provo is in desperate need of more housing, and low-priced housing is extraordinarily rare. If we do not build more high-density housing in Provo, we will drive most young families and professionals into neighboring communities. This is causing Provo's own residents to lose having their children and grandchildren live nearby.

I feel it’s very important for residents/those with an interest in the zone change to note that IF the zoning is changed to become the “Low Density Residential” zone, this will allow the builder to build the maximum number of dwelling units permitted by the zoning, in large part regardless of the wishes expressed by those in the neighboring communities and irrespective of what the builder “says” they will/won’t do in “proposals”. The Low Density Residential zone permits a maximum of 15 dwelling units per gross acre. The minimum twin home/duplex lot size is 8,000 sq ft (which is 4,000 sq ft per dwelling unit, or .09 acres - more than doubling the density of dwelling units in a given acre when compared with the neighboring Osprey Point neighborhood). https://maps.provo.org/home/, https://provo.municipal.codes/Code/14.10.020, https://provo.municipal.codes/Code/14.14A.020

I strongly oppose changing the zoning of the land into anything that would allow dwelling units to be more densely packed than the adjacent R1.8 zoning (8000/sqft/.18 acre minimum lot size). The proposed higher density zone (even though it’s named “Low Density”) would introduce a significant increase on the already-present strain on local resources - sewer, schools, roads, etc. I and my family moved to the neighborhood adjacent to the parcel of land in question to get away from the higher density housing present in other parts of Provo and the problems that come with such proximity - increased danger for pedestrians, pets, children; higher crime rates; lower overall sense of community; a “transient” feeling among the residents; increased vehicle traffic (and the noise associated with such traffic); etc. Introducing higher density housing right next to a single-family neighborhood, will decrease the overall value of the neighborhood as some of the perceived “transient” feelings associated with higher density housing bleed into the existing neighborhood. Provo, and our neighborhood specifically, should be a place that people want to make a home and live, not a place full of transient dwellings, where people are constantly looking to the moment when they can finally “move on” to bigger and better things.

Additionally, though anecdotally to the main issue - regardless of the change in zoning, having the ingress/egress points for the new neighborhood be within the Osprey Point neighborhood is annoying at best, and dangerous at worst. Such a proposal is painful to even consider, given the fact that other, better, options (500 W, Lakeview Parkway) for the ingress/egress points exist. Consider for a moment one of the more positive outcomes of the zone change where the zoning is changed to match that of the neighboring area. The new land would provide space for approximately 72 more dwelling units. If each unit had on average 2 vehicles, this would be 144 additional vehicles using the Osprey Point roads - roads which are frequently used by pedestrians, children, pets, and others. If each car leaves and comes back once a day (which is probably low) that’s 288 more opportunities for our children, spouses, pets, friends and relatives to be involved in car accidents (accidents which generally prove harmful/fatal for those not protected by one of the vehicles). If the vehicles leave and return once a day (again probably low) that’s an average of an additional car potentially striking a loved one along a neighborhood road every 5 minutes (and that’s averaged over the whole 24 hour period in the day, 2.5 minutes if the evening/nighttime hours are excluded). Even if none of those drivers were ever distracted, intoxicated, rushed, tired, etc, the odds of literally or figuratively running in to one of these vehicles greatly increase. Now, consider if the zoning was changed to “Low” density residential - more than doubling the number of dwelling units. In the outlined proposal (210 units), if each unit had 3 cars on average (not unlikely given that higher density housing is generally rented to more than “single families”, legally or otherwise), there would be 630 more cars. That’s nearly one car per minute, if averaged over daytime hours. Certainly not a neighborhood I’d feel safe letting my kids play in the front yard in (and that’s only considering the probability of being struck by a car - not the other considerations that come with strangers driving by in cars).

To conclude, if anyone is in favor of changing the zoning to the so-called “low density” housing, please realize that this doesn’t mean the builder will abide by anyone’s wish to have fewer units on the land than the builder has proposed - it likely means that they’ll pack the maximum number of units onto the land as allowed by law (take a look at the Osprey Point neighborhood which was built by DR Horton, where houses are mere inches within the legal setback requirements). I am in favor of whoever owns the land being able to build on the land; however, changing the zoning to allow dwelling units more densely packed than the neighboring zones is tantamount to stealing from landowners in neighboring zones by detracting from the value of property in the neighboring zones. Additionally, more homes (whether single family residential, or “low density” residential) introduce a myriad of infrastructure and safety issues that should be concretely addressed before anything “final” is done - let’s fix problems we have now, before creating new ones.

I understand the need for different housing structures in the city. I would prefer that this were zoned for R17 or R18, but if the decision is made to make this LDR then I have the following suggestions.

- Don't add any access roads into Osprey Point's single family residential neighborhood. There are a lot of small kids in this neighborhood who ride bikes, play basketball in the road, etc.
- Add two access roads on 500 West.
- Add an inlet for westbound traffic off of Lakeview Parkway
- Reduce the number of units.
- Add additional parking.
- Add a walking path to the Osprey Point single family homes at 730 West