Neighbors urge safety study as planners and developers present 82‑unit Jay Road townhome plan

City planning staff and the applicant presented a site‑review‑stage proposal for the 2801 Jay Road redevelopment and the Transportation Advisory Board pressed for clearer transportation mitigations and neighborhood safety measures.

The project team said the 4.6‑acre parcel at the northeast corner of 28th and Jay would be redeveloped with 82 attached homes: 49 market‑rate and 33 permanently deed‑restricted affordable homes. "The property is 4.6 acres and was annexed to the city in 2025," said Charles Farrow, senior planning manager in Planning and Development Services. The applicant's representative, Bill Rigler, described unit types, EV chargers for each garage and 39 on‑street spaces, and a transportation demand management package that includes three years of EcoPasses for residents.

Why it matters: a neighborhood petition asking for a safety and speed study on Jay Road and 47th Street brought the meeting into sharp focus on crash risk and pedestrian and bicycle access. "Please don't wait to act. I respectfully ask the transportation advisory board to embrace this petition and keep our streets safe," said Millie Marshall of the 4 Mile Creek neighborhood, who delivered a petition signed by 25 households describing recent crashes and two fatal or severe collisions near Jay Road.

Board members asked whether the proposed multiuse path should be constructed immediately or deferred for cash‑in‑lieu until adjoining development can extend it. "Staff has asked for the path to be built," Farrow said, noting the annexation agreement allows either construction or cash. The applicant and its civil engineer said they proposed to provide funds for future construction and initially offered a 10‑foot multiuse path easement plus cash to build later. Dash, a partner at SiteWorx, said the team's intent was to shift alignment to coordinate with adjacent parcels and to avoid building a "path to nowhere." The city's engineering manager, Mark Garcia, said staff prefers construction now but acknowledged practical concerns about a partially built path and rising construction costs.

Traffic impacts and design: the applicant cited a traffic study projecting about 34 additional peak‑hour vehicle trips and said most historical crashes near the intersection had occurred on 28th Street, not the site access. The team said they would restripe a buffered bike lane on the north side of Jay Road across the new entrance and add raised crosswalks and turn‑median enhancements. Tom Pankow, the transportation review engineer, said the HOA would administer EcoPasses after the developer's three‑year financial guarantee period.

Open questions and board feedback: TAB members expressed consistent concern about pedestrian and bicycle permeability into the development, noting several exterior lots currently would present the backs of homes to public paths. Members suggested relatively limited design changes — widening internal pathways, adding gates to rear yards, and ensuring the north‑side multiuse path is built where it connects to high‑activity park or transit nodes — to avoid creating a "fortress" that discourages walking and biking. A few members said they favored building the multiuse path now rather than relying solely on cash in lieu.

Next steps: staff will record TAB's feedback for the planning board during site review. The applicant said technical document review would follow site review and construction would likely begin after permits in late 2027. No formal decisions on the site review were taken by TAB at the July 13 meeting.