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Commission approves 2121 Fourteenth Street townhomes amid neighbor requests for continued review of curb cuts and trees
Summary
The Planning Commission approved a four-lot subdivision and Special District review for three new townhomes at 2121 Fourteenth Street, but neighbors urged removal of curb cuts and preservation of mature street trees; petitioner and staff said design follows an existing nearby product and provided added parking.
The Planning and Zoning Commission on July 21 approved a special-district application and subdivision that will allow construction of three townhome units at 2121 Fourteenth Street (SD0425 and S6525).
Staff said the property lies in the Downtown Historic Edge (DHE) special district and showed elevations and materials; the Architectural Review Committee recommended approval. The proposal keeps an existing office on Lot 1 and creates Lots 2–4 for three townhomes, each about 1,500 square feet with three bedrooms. The applicant proposed on-street diagonal parking along 20 Second Avenue and three assigned spaces in a small private driveway.
Neighbors and the owner of the adjacent historic Deering Swain House asked the commission to continue the item so parties could confer about driveway/curb cut placement, preservation of three mature trees on 20 Second Avenue and the impact of a new curb cut on Fourteenth Street adjacent to the historic property. Opponents asked for a holistic block plan and urged the commission to honor the downtown framework and the block’s historic character.
The petitioner said the design duplicates an earlier nearby townhome product, provides nine on-street parking spaces and three dedicated spaces, and that staff and engineering standards were met. The petitioner offered to meet with the adjacent property owner; the developer said staff had not been able to resolve some outreach timing but that they would continue to work with the neighbor.
Despite public requests for a continuance, the commission approved both the special district design and the four-lot subdivision. Staff will require standard LDP submittals and a landscape plan at the development-permit stage; engineering and planning will finalize sidewalk and street-parking stripe details. The commission’s approvals included the condition that final materials and landscaping conform to DHE standards.
