As one of the proposers (Wellington Gardens) for the development opportunity at Wellington’s K-Park property, I read with interest your Dec. 26 article, which provided a brief summary of each of the six competing K-Park proposals. Thank you for providing this valuable service to the Wellington community.
Although the general narrative description of each project in the article was fairly accurate, there was an important part of the analysis of each project that had the potential to highly mislead. That related to the breakdown of land uses in each project between what was defined as “commercial use,” “residential use” and “open space.” I understand and acknowledge that the analysis provided was not your own and that it was simply made available to the Town-Crier for use in the article.
On that point, we performed our own analysis of each proposal in terms of: 1) public open space/green space provided; 2) publicly accessible vs. private space; and 3) the type of residential use that is planned. I believe that this analysis is consistent with the public’s more general understanding of these concepts.
Based on the above (in alphabetical order):
• Bainbridge/Brefrank (780 apartment units) provides for zero acres of public green, open space; zero acres of single-family residential, 47 acres of multi-family (apartments); and 9 acres of public space (all commercial strip center).
• DiVosta/JKM provides for zero acres of public green, open space; 46 acres of single-family housing (may be largely senior housing); some multi-family; 16 acres of public space (commercial mixed use);and a 90 bed assisted living facility.
• Lennar provides for approximately one acre of public green, open space; zero acres single-family residential; 47 acres of multi-family duplexes; and 19 acres of public space (commercial strip with four outparcel restaurants).
• Reinvent America offers one acre of public green, open space; zero acres of single-family residential; 17 acres of multi-family residential; 30 acres of public commercial space; and 7 acres of assisted living facility.
• Stiles/Standard Pacific/Allegro offers zero acres of public, green open space; 49 acres of single-family residential; zero acres multi-family; 14 acres of public space (commercial strip center); and 7 acres of assisted living facility.
• Wellington Gardens offers 21 acres of public, green open space; 15 acres of multi-family residential (condo and senior active adult apartments); and 55 acres of public space (34 of which are commercial use fronting on central park).
By this analysis, our Wellington Gardens plan makes approximately 80 percent of the total site (55 of 70 total acres) accessible and usable by the public. That is compared to an average of less than 25 percent made publicly accessible in the other proposals. The least made available to the public in any proposal is 13 percent of the total land area.
An even more striking contrast exists among the proposals for what the public would likely consider “open space/green space.” Wellington Gardens’ plan devotes 21 acres to area specifically designated public park and public gardens (approximately 30 percent of the total site). By comparison, no other proposer dedicates more than 1.5 percent of the K-Park site to this valuable type of public open space. In fact, three of the proposals have offered zero public green open space.
Thank you, in advance, for the opportunity to share and clarify this information with our Wellington residents. We welcome public interest and participation on K-Park at the Jan. 27 Wellington Village Council meeting. If anyone has further interest, comments or questions, I would be glad to personally respond to all inquiries via e-mail at chuckmineo@att.net.
Chuck Mineo, Deer Run
