Proposed West End Townhomes Clash with Neighborhood, DRB Says

 A proposal to build nine townhomes in the West End would clash with the neighborhood and create bad parking conditions, according to the Design Review Board.

"I really wanted to like this project," board member Jeff Kent said at Tuesday's meeting. "But I don't really think this project is in the context of this cute little neighborhood."

The project included nine townhomes at 21 G St., with seven to be built on Ida Street and two on G Street. Each building would be 35 feet tall with two stories for the living area and the ground floor for the garage. There would be 14 covered parking spots and two guest spaces. The project also requests for two tandem parking spots for each unit, where one car would be parked in front of the other.

Jeff Wilcox owns in the West End. With a new yoga studio moving in the area and the proposed housing, parking is going to be worse than ever, he told the board. 

"Parking already is a nightmare." Wilcox said.

Other neighbors worry about the size of the building in a mostly residential area with two-story homes.

"We're going to have this structure towering over our house and towering over our yard," said Liz Fordyce, who lives next to where the proposed building would be constructed.

"They said it looks massive at first glance. Well, it's looks massive at second and third glance too," she said.

The board was not required to vote on the proposal since it was the initial concept for the buildings. See the full staff report on the right.