NIMBYISM or legitimate concerns about Bohn Farm townhouse development?

When residents of Longmont’s Bohn Farm neighborhood participated in an informational Zoom meeting with city of Longmont planners, developer Mark Young and Young’s team of planners and architects, one individual called in to claim that he was in favor of the proposed 70-unit development on the Bohn Family Farm site on Spruce Street. The caller charged that the previous callers, who had unanimously spoken against the townhouse project, were expressing NIMBYISM or “Not In My Back Yard” syndrome.

Another participant then looked up the caller’s name online and found someone by that name listed as a partner on the F9 Productions website along with Alex Gore, who was the architect presenting on behalf of the development team.

The man calling in had charged that residents and government representatives of Longmont often speak favorably of “affordable housing” but oppose any such development when it is in their own neighborhoods. Nevertheless, the caller, despite his failure to identify what appears to be a relationship to the development team, did raise an interesting question:

When are neighborhood complaints or concerns about a housing project legitimate, or can any and all opposition simply be attributed to self interest or NIMBYISM?

For example, one Grant Street resident whose own one-story ranch home would abut the proposed three-story townhomes voiced her concerns about the roof-top decks that had been proposed for the three-story townhomes. The resident, who had recently purchased her home, would not only have sunlight and her view of the mountains obscured by the project, but might also be subject to new residents peering down into her own backyard and windows from their three-story perches. Are those legitimate concerns or just NIMBYISM?

Other residents spoke of the inability of local streets to handle the influx of an additional 140 cars should each unit have two cars. One hundred forty additional cars with two or more trips per day would mean approximately 280 trips per day —not counting delivery and construction vehicles.

According to the site map for the development, the 200 block of Sherman Street would serve as the only direct conduit in and out of the development. However, Sherman, like many of the surrounding streets in the Bohn Farm Neighborhood, consists of numerous homes that were constructed over 100 years ago. In fact, several homes on Sherman, mine included, have a stone horse hitching post and metal tie ring out front to accommodate local parking and traffic of that era. Are those streets with their obvious limitations in this predominantly historic neighborhood able to accommodate the additional daily traffic as well as construction and delivery vehicles? Or are any objections about potential traffic and safety just NIMBYISM?

Intersections at Sunset and Spruce as well as Third and Francis are already hazardous. Will the developer be upgrading these thoroughfares feeding into the project? Or will the city’s existing residents bear those costs? NIMBYISM?

Other residents spoke about preserving the neighborhood park at the corner of Spruce and Grant while others expressed their desire to preserve the old Bohn farmhouse and barn. Legitimate concerns?

Furthermore, the caller’s charges raise the question of what is “affordable housing”? Despite rising home values, many Bohn Farm neighbors would consider their own bungalows to be affordable in relation to other areas. Although no price points were discussed at the informational meeting, would three-bedroom townhomes at $650,000 be deemed affordable? Is the objective of “affordable housing” to cram as many units as possible onto a site in order to bring down unit costs at the expense of the safety of current residents?

Finally, the city’s Envision Longmont Multimodal Comprehensive Plan maintains that the city and or developers should “work with residents to define and preserve desirable characteristics of neighborhoods” by “encouraging infill development that is designed to be compatible with the scale and character of the City’s existing neighborhoods, especially in designated historic districts.”

Needless to say, one might need more than a lookout from a third-story deck to find a compatible development to that being proposed for the historic Bohn Farm neighborhood.