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Assembly refers telecom proposal for Whitcomb Heights to Planning Commission, approves phased-sale amendment drafting
Summary
The Assembly debated a request to allow sale of a Whitcomb Heights lot for telecommunications without completing roads and utilities and whether to permit phased lot sales. After public concern over slide risk, members referred the telecom suitability question to the Planning Commission and directed staff to draft a phase-development amendment for Blocks 8 and 9.
The Assembly considered two related requests from Sound Development for Whitcomb Heights (the Benchlands): (1) allow sale of Lot 18 (Block 8) for telecommunications infrastructure without first installing roads and utilities, and (2) allow phased development and staged sale of lots in Blocks 8 and 9.
Planning and Community Development Director Amy Ainsley said the lot in question is roughly 12,000 square feet and is classified as moderate slide risk per a 2016 Shannon & Wilson study; she advised that any sale for a telecommunications tower would require a Planned Unit Development (PUD) amendment by the Planning Commission and that the purchase and sale agreement would need to be amended as the landowner’s contract document.
Several neighbors and public commenters pressed the Assembly for additional geotechnical review, citing a past slide in the area that killed three residents. Robin Sherman, a neighborhood resident, urged the body to "have more information on the stability of that land and how we can mitigate slide risk before anything is developed there to protect lives and property downhill." The safety concern became a central point of the debate.
The Assembly split on process. One approach — approved in an earlier motion that failed on a 3–3 tie — would have directed staff to draft an amendment now, contingent on Planning Commission approval of a PUD amendment. Opponents argued that would oblige a developer to proceed with a lengthy Planning Commission process without any guarantee the Assembly would amend the sale agreement afterward.
Instead the Assembly voted 5–1 to refer the question of location suitability for telecommunications infrastructure to the Planning Commission and directed that if the Planning Commission recommends approval, staff should then draft the sale-agreement amendment to allow sale of Lot 18 without installed utilities. The Assembly also approved directing staff to draft an amendment allowing phased development and sale of lots in Blocks 8 and 9.
The referral ensures the Planning Commission conducts a public regulatory review of PUD suitability, including hazard and use considerations, before the Assembly takes final landowner action on any sale exceptions.
What’s next: the Planning Commission will evaluate site suitability, slide risk and PUD amendments and return recommendations; if it recommends approval, staff will draft the purchase-and-sale amendment for Assembly consideration.
