City Planning
By Casey Chaffin, West Side Newspaper
A proposed housing development near West Salem High School, known as Cherry Hill, has already been met with community pushback. Concerns about urban sprawl and traffic congestion have been raised during community meetings about the potential development.
However, there’s a long way to go before any new homes will go up on that property. As of September 8, no permit applications have been filed for the Cherry Hill property, according to comments provided by Nicole Miller, a City of Salem spokesperson.
To receive permits from the city to begin developing the Cherry Hill land for residential use, the property developer will have to work with the City to develop a plan to install public street, water, sewer, and stormwater infrastructure.
“The property developer works with the City throughout the development application and permitting process to identify the public infrastructure, such as street improvements and utility main extensions, needed to serve the development, determine how new infrastructure will connect to existing City systems and ensure the improvements meet applicable City standards,” Miller wrote. “The City reviews and approves the infrastructure plans and inspects the improvements during construction.”
The primary funder for these infrastructure installments is the property developer, with some exceptions. Miller noted that if the City requests infrastructure to be built with more capacity than their specific residential development requires, the developer could potentially receive reimbursement for some of those additional costs.
As there has not yet been a residential land use application filed for Cherry Hill, there’s currently no information on how the city government may be asked to support the development financially. However, Miller noted, the Cherry Hill property is not in an Urban Renewal Area, so will not be eligible for URA grants, nor is it in an area that qualifies for tax breaks.
Private developers are generally fully financially responsible to raise the money necessary for building, although in the case of affordable housing, developments can become eligible for federal Department of Housing and Urban Development funding or other public assistance aimed at increasing affordable housing stock. It’s not yet known whether the Cherry Hill development will include affordable housing.
Concerns over increased traffic have repeatedly been raised during meetings discussing the Cherry Hill property. Mitigating the impact of increased traffic congestion is the dual responsibility of the property developer and the City, Miller wrote.
“Developments expected to generate a significant number of new vehicle trips, such as the proposed Cherry Hill development, are required to provide a Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) prepared by a qualified traffic engineer,” Miller wrote. “The City reviews the TIA as part of the development review process to determine whether the existing transportation system infrastructure can accommodate the increase in traffic associated with the proposed development. If the current infrastructure can’t accommodate the increase in traffic, the appropriate transportation improvements will be required as part of the development plans or as conditions of approval.”
In addition to assessing how individual developments will impact traffic, the City is also in the process of evaluating how the current transportation needs of the City are or are not being met by current infrastructure across the board, through updates to its Transportation System Plan.
“Larger transportation improvements that address broader community growth are typically planned and prioritized through this process rather than being the responsibility of a single development,” Miller wrote.
The developer will have to submit many permits and proposals to the City before any new housing can go up on the Cherry Hill property, and there’s most likely several years between now and the completion of any new homes. The community will continue to have opportunities to provide feedback as the developer progresses through the City permitting process.