A MESSAGE FROM THE REV. J.C. AUSTIN: THE RIGHT WAY TO DO IT
Friends, as I mentioned in worship last week, our next Community Meeting regarding the “Building Community” campus redevelopment project is being postponed from April 23 because of concerns from a few neighbors about the potential conflict of that being a primary election day.
Out of an abundance of concern for these meetings to be 
as accessible and inclusive as possible, the Strategic Mission Steering Committee has postponed that meeting until Thursday, May 23 from 5:30 – 7 p.m. Please do mark your calendars to attend that meeting, as it will be revealing the “preferred concept design” for the project, based on the feedback we have received from the initial concept designs that were presented back in February.
Speaking of neighbors, you may have noticed that a few of our neighbors on Center Street have put up signs this week encouraging people to “Oppose High-Density Development at First Presbyterian.” The good news is that nobody needs to oppose us on that basis, nor can they, because we’re not proposing any high-density development!
As we have already repeatedly stated in the Community Meetings and in our information distributed by print and the website, all of the of the concept designs we have considered from the very beginning are light to medium density. The reality is that we have never even considered any high-density project, in part precisely because that would be inappropriate to this neighborhood.
The residential areas immediately surrounding the church include densities of 3, 5, and 10 units per acre (Rural Residential, Single Family, and Medium Density Residential Zoning), while the density of Kirkland Village is around 20 units per acre (Residential Retirement Complex Zoning). Our three initial concept designs range from 7 to 10 units an acre to remain in keeping with what is already around us.
We will continue to invite our immediate neighbors to participate in the discussion process around these designs, including on May 23. We are grateful to have been able to hear and begin to address the initial concerns of many neighbors at our Community Meetings and thus enable them to be much more open to our goals and ideas as they see us responding in good faith.
But, as these recent opposition signs attest, there also continues to be some misinformation and even disinformation circulating about our project in certain circles that is unfortunately misleading some people. So if you hear anyone repeating this sort of thing, please encourage them to come to the Community Meeting on May 23 to hear the truth in detail, and point people to our website to learn the truth about our overarching goals and commitments for this project in the meantime. And we are putting up our own signs on Center Street to encourage people to do exactly that, too!
In terms of general concern and even opposition, though, we don’t expect everyone to be on board at this early stage of planning. Many of the concerns that have been raised so far have been both legitimate and understandable, and we have committed to addressing them effectively in any final plan we create (as reflected on the website).
That kind of openness and transparency will continue to be a hallmark of our work, both because it is “the right thing to do and the right way to do it,” and because it can only help us do a more faithful and effective job as we sharpen our plans. Hope to see you at the next Community Meeting on May 23 as we take the next step in this process!
Grace and Peace,
J.C.