WGPA

A quick update from this afternoon's LPC public hearing (the short answer being that no action was taken).

After a long presentation and even longer public testimony, the Commissioners asked questions and made some comments, but agreed to reconvene in the next few weeks for a formal commentary. The comments that we did hear from the Commissioners made it clear that none of the Commissioners are ready to stand up and support a five-story rooftop addition on the refinery. Some Commissioners seemed to be comfortable with an addition of two or possibly three stories, assuming that such an addition was more architecturally integrated with the historic refinery and the rest of the new development (very close to WGPA's position). The Commissioners who spoke also did not seem to like the storefront design (again, WGPA's position).

Public testimony was generally split along two lines - those who felt that the proposal was appropriate because affordable housing was paramount, and those that felt that the proposed plan was not appropriate because it did not meet basic preservation standards. WGPA falls into the latter category, but as we noted in our testimony, the affordable housing issue is a red herring. The project does not need the rooftop addition in order to succeed; even if LPC finds some (or all) of the addition to be inappropriate, the developers can reallocate that floor area within the 11.5 acre project site (there are dozens of small towers on the site, and the lost floor area from the refinery could easily be reallocated there).

So this will be back at LPC soon, at which time the latest chapter (but hopefully not the whole story) will be finished. Stay tuned.