Standard Communities outlines 306-unit affordable Warman's Mill Court plan; seeks floodplain and forest-conservation flexibility

Standard Communities presented a revised final site plan and preliminary forest-conservation plan for Warman's Mill Court at a city Planning Commission workshop on May 19.

Bruce Dean, attorney for the applicant, and Judd (last name as stated in the transcript) from Standard Communities outlined a multi-building, mixed‑use, workforce housing project that the applicant said will be financed with 4% low‑income housing tax credits and provide units affordable at about 60 percent of area median income. Dean said the company has committed $1,200,000 toward design and construction of the city's rails‑to‑trails phase 3 as part of the development agreement.

The applicants described a constrained, roughly 11‑acre site that contains wetlands and FEMA‑mapped floodplain. The plan calls for engineered fill, retaining walls and a pedestrian bridge to make both sides of the site developable and to connect buildings across the wetland area. "The only way we can get to a density that supports that kind of infrastructure cost is to try to build as close to that edge as possible," the applicant said, noting that the…