Pullman planning staff have recommended denying a Texas-based company’s zoning change request to build a resort-style student housing development on Port of Whitman property along North Grand Avenue, citing a “negative effect on the community’s physical, economic and social environment.”
Aspen Heights Partners, based in Austin, Texas, first proposed the development over the summer with plans for a 212-unit neighborhood for approximately 790 residents. Port of Whitman commissioners approved selling about 25 acres of property to the developers in September, contingent on the zone change.
The city’s Planning Commission will consider the zone change request and staff recommendation in a special meeting at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 20 at Pullman City Hall. Read the entire 44-page staff report here.
“Following a thorough review of this proposal, planning staff has come to the conclusion that this zone change application should not be approved,” the report states. “[S]taff believes that granting this proposal would not promote the public health, safety, and welfare, nor be a benefit to the overall community.”
The report, from Planning Director Pete Dickinson, calls for protecting the city’s limited industrial property for future economic growth and identifies several other properties more appropriate for residential development. The report also estimates changing the land to residential would more than double potential traffic through the area from about 1,060 trips a day to more than 2,700 trips a day.
The city previously set the zoning as light industrial in 2010 to include the land as part of the port’s Pullman Industrial Park-West, but a neighboring farmer has continued to farm the property as it remained undeveloped. Port commissioners voted to sell the property for $1.26 million on Sept. 19.
Pullman Radio News reported Aspen Heights later declined a portion of the land and adjusted the purchase price down to $1.16 million. The port initially purchased the land for $5,000 an acre. The latest appraisal valued the property at $50,000 an acre.
Port Director Joe Poire told Whitman County Watch on Tuesday the port’s economic priorities had changed since it purchased the property more than a decade ago. He explained the demand for industrial infrastructure has decreased and as housing has built up around the land, port staff felt it no longer fit their mission.
Poire said it would likely cost the port close to $6 a foot to flatten and develop the land while they still have capacity to grow at their industrial property to the east.
“Land costs have soared around Pullman,” he said. “[This property is] going to have multiple dwelling units and houses on three sides of it, and it’s small.”
Poire said the port has heard from multiple out-of-state developers looking for land in the past two years. Emails and other documents obtained by Whitman County Watch via a public records request indicate Aspen Heights first approached the port through a local broker in May.
“The buyer would like to keep the offer confidential as long as possible,” the broker wrote. “Briefing the commissioners one at a time sounds like the way forward for now.”
Aspen Heights, associated with York Acquisitions, soon after submitted a letter of intent to purchase the property. Poire said staff members worked to vett and evaluate the offers, negotiating details back and forth throughout the summer.
In late June, Poire wrote to Aspen Heights about taking the project public at an upcoming commission meeting. He emphasized the public deliberation process, noting, “I have no reason to believe that the sale would be controversial.”
Port commissioners heard the initial public proposal in their July 18 meeting. The Whitman County Gazette and Pullman Radio News reported. Read the meeting minutes here.
Emails show Port staff continued to finalize its agreement with Aspen Heights until the Sept. 19 meeting when they scheduled a public hearing on the sale, amended the Port’s comprehensive plan to accommodate the sale and approved surplussing the land for sale in a single meeting. Poire signed the sales agreement later that day.
Pullman Radio News later reported those present at the meeting did not get the impression the property sale was imminent and commissioners later debated whether they should seek out more public comment on such decisions. The Whitman County Gazette reported here on that transparency discussion.
Poire said he welcomes additional public input on port discussions, but had only had four people ask him about the Aspen Heights sale. They held a hearing and advertised the matter in local media.
“We’ve talked about this for four months,” he said. “The resolution in this case was just a formal document finishing off the process. It wasn’t a document starting a process that nobody had a chance to react to, and the commissioners found that explanation to be very acceptable and we moved on.”
When asked about whether port staff had reviewed or monitored the dozens of public comments posted about the project on social media, Poire said he had not personally done so unless information was posted directly to the port’s Facebook page. You can find contact information for the port here.
A representative of Aspen Heights did not immediately respond to a set of questions on the project that Whitman County Watch sent prior to the release of the planning department’s recommendation.
The sales agreement allows Aspen Heights several months to back out of the deal if they find issues with the property or cannot secure the needed zoning and permitting for the project.
“There’s all this stuff they’re going to work through,” Poire said. “If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. If the city denies their request for zone change and we keep the land, we keep the land. We’re good partners with the city and good community members. We’ll keep doing our mission.”
In other Port of Whitman news, the state auditor’s office released the port’s 2017-2018 financial audit (31-pages) and its 2017-2018 accountability audit (seven pages) earlier this week. Neither report included any findings or modified opinions.
Update: Pullman Radio News also posted new coverage of the recommendation today.