TD tentatively denies ‘The Grove’

The appeal hearing centers around The Dalles Community Development Department’s decision to approve Legacy Development Group LLC’s application to build 69 “dwelling parcels” and a 11,724 square-foot community park on a 6.92 acre lot located at 2845 E. 12th St. City Council was to determine whether or not the application fulfills all of the City’s code requirements, and decide whether to uphold the appeal — meaning that the City would rescind its approval of Legacy Development’s application  — or to deny the appeal, which would mean that the application maintains its City approval. 

While the tentative decision to uphold the appeal was unanimous, Council Member Darcy Long-Curtiss stated that she was in favor of denying the appeal.

 “I believe the (application) criteria has been met, but in the interest of not rushing things, I will vote in favor of this motion,” said Long-Curtiss during the City Council’s Aug. 31 appeal hearing. The meeting was the City Council’s second on the appeal; the first took place on Aug. 24 and was continued to a later date. 

During the public comment section of the appeal hearing, 18 The Dalles residents gave verbal testimony against the proposed subdivision, and two residents gave testimony in favor. 

“It’s always a problem when you have public sentiment in this regard,” said Mayor Rich Mays at the end of the public comment section of the hearing. “The public sentiment on this particular subdivision is running probably 100 to 1. Many people are against it. Unfortunately with a quasi-judicial hearing … popularity is not a valid or an appropriate reason for upholding an appeal — nor should it be.”

Comments in favor of “The Grove” centered around the need for affordable housing in The Dalles; most who spoke out against The Grove cited concerns about pedestrian safety on the surrounding streets — particularly the intersections of Richmond St. with 10th St., 12th St. and Old Dufur Road — and overcrowding at the nearby Dry Hollow Elementary School, as well as concerns that the high-density development would be incompatible with the surrounding rural neighborhood. 

“It would be irresponsible in my mind to allow developments without severe infrastructure improvements,” said resident Karen Murray. “Most of the residents agree that this property was zoned incorrectly.” 

The lot in question is has been zoned high-density since 1998, according to The Dbut Legacy Development is the first developer to attempt to utilize the high-density zoning.  

Said resident Nate Stice in favor of The Grove, “You guys were ahead of the pack in establishing code that says, ‘We welcome people here’ … I’m afraid that if we deviate on our values and the code, this sends a message that we don’t want new people here.” 

“If it’s high density, then why don’t we have the infrastructure in this plot of land? Why do I have to walk my kid to the bus stop through a ditch to make sure she’s safe?” said resident Anna Gatton, reading from testimony that had been prepared by her father. 

“I grew up on that street, I know what those hills are like,” said Shelly Anslinger. “If you’re going to add so many more houses and cars coming and going, it’s just going to make it worse.” 

Ultimately, Mays and five members of City Council cited safety concerns on the surrounding streets as their primary reason for upholding the appeal. 

“I agree these streets are narrow, with no sidewalks and each have several blind hills. The subdivision will have an estimated 238 new people, more than 100 new cars, and 82 additional peak-hour trips. I think that adding these people and automobiles to an already tense situation on 10th and 12th, and Richmond, is a recipe for disaster,” said Mays.

“It is, in my opinion a safety issue,” said Councilor Linda Miller. “It isn’t only a safety issue for that intersection, it’s a safety issue for Old Dufur Road, and Richmond, and for Thompson … and 10th Street,” said Miller. 

Legacy Development’s application did include a Traffic Safety Study (TIS) that confirmed the new development would not have a significant safety impact on surrounding streets, but several city councilors agreed with the appellants that the study — which looked at three intersections (Freemont St. and Richmond St., Thompson St. and 10th St., and Thompson St. and E. 12th St.) for one hour between 4-6 p.m. on a Thursday to determine existing conditions and looked at the most recent five years of available crash data from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) — was insufficient. “I think safety has not been addressed on a thorough and comprehensive level and when my heart aches on something, I just know that I have to listen to it, and safety is the big, big item,” said Councilor Rod Runyon. 

“Safety is the big issue, I think,” said Councilor Scott Randall. “And we’d be remiss to ignore the pleas of the citizens who are concerned about safety.”

While Long-Curtiss agreed with her colleagues’ safety concerns, she did not agree that those concerns were reason to uphold the appeal and deny Legacy Development’s application. 

“I really struggle with this because, just looking at it … I’m not sure we have the right to deny the project to go forward because they did meet what is in code, and we put it there.” 

To support their decision, City Council cited sections of The Dalles’ land use code that allow the City to require off-site improvements to pedestrian and street facilities as a condition for land use approval — but those off-site improvements are only required at the City’s discretion.

While Legacy Development’s building plans for The Grove include sidewalks and improved infrastructure on the property itself, those improvements do not extend into the surrounding neighborhood. 

“I don’t see how we can expect the developer to put in sidewalks and pay for that all the way down 10th and 12th, I think that’s on City Council,” said Long-Curtiss, later adding that “They (Legacy Development) did what we said we wanted when we said we wanted high density there, and they did what was in our code.”

“I just think that, yes, we followed the letter of the law and that’s the ordinance, we’re following all the criteria, but we don’t enter the human element,” said Randall. “I think we have to sometimes sit back and be reasonable and be human in some of the decisions and also include that in our decision-making process.” 

Agreed Miller, “Whatever happened to common sense.” 

“Reason,” added Council Tim McGlothlin. “We’re reasoning things out. We all know that we need more housing, we all know that we need more affordable housing, we know all of those things, but going to the next step and going to the extreme, is that the answer? I don’t think so … we want a better city, we don’t want to create large volumes and more problems for people that live in that area.”

City staff was instructed to compile more information on relevant sections of The Dalles’ land use code for the councilors to review at their upcoming Sept. 14 meeting before taking a formal vote. 

While Cameron Curtis, owner of Legacy Development and co-owner of Curtis Homes with his wife, Emily, disagreed with City Council’s tentative decision to uphold the appeal, he said that he is still dedicated to making The Grove a reality. 

“Curtis Homes and Legacy Development remain committed to developing the property with the original vision which was to meet the needs of the community. We have a passion for serving people and our desire has been to help meet the needs of our community by building high quality attainable homes for the missing middle. We believe there are hard working people in our community that cannot afford to live here, so our dream has been to break the barrier of home buying and reduce rental cost by offering a more diverse housing product,” said Curtis. “We feel strongly that we have followed the clear process set forth for developing land in the City The Dalles. We are 100 percent committed to seeing the project through and excited to offer great homes to many hard working families in The Dalles. We believe everyone deserves a place to live and The Grove will serve a great new community to help our new neighbors thrive.”