There was a meeting last night for University Heights residents held by yet another developer who wants to build on the lot at the end of the street. This one wants to put 33 high-end single-story condos up. To give him credit, he really does want to maintain the integrity of the neighborhood, pricing them out of the range of student housing (how he's going to sell them is another question altogether - there are lots of houses in that price range languishing in the IC market) and building several different designs inspired by houses already in the neigborhood.

The bad news is three-fold: 1) he wants to connect Olive and Leamer Cts., so that instead of two dead-end streets, we're going to be a U, 2) they haven't done a traffic study to determine the effect of traffic on the streets and 3) he anticipates the project taking 3-4 years. I don't want to live in a frickin' construction zone for 3-4 years! Ridiculous!

They basically have to get approval from IC Planning and Zoning (if you remember, the odd thing about this Iowa City property is that the only access is through University Heights) and he can start. Doug has done some reasearch, and if a certain percentage of people who live within 400 feet of the project object, the Committee needs a super-majority to pass it, so that's our first step.

I wish everyone in UH could just chip in $50,000 and buy the property ourselves.