Gary Wilkinson and Josh Paulsen on KVNU’s For the People with Jason Williams on Oct 13th.
PROVIDENCE — Last week on KVNU’s For the People we heard from Jeff Jackson the CEO of the development company behind a housing project underway in Providence. The debate has produced a citizen-driven proposition and the opposition to that proposition.
On For the People on Wednesday we had two individuals against the continued project known as Vineyard, attorney Gary Wilkinson and Josh Paulsen.
Paulsen explained his opposition is as a private citizen and not in his official capacity as a member of the Providence City Council.
“The no vote for Proposition 1 is about not continuing this development which includes a fair amount of high density in Providence city. And the reason that we believe that (it) should be a NO vote is because this development is so large and significant that it substantially fundamentally changes the character of Providence. It is not a small development,” he said.
Paulsen said in fact it constitutes a nearly 20 percent growth in Providence with one single development. Wilkinson lives in River Heights but the development is right across the street.
“But I think one of the things that is challenging for this development is the infrastructure. With high-density housing one of the things that you want to plan for is the ability to access the property and whether you are going to be able to access the property. If you go visit the development like Josh said, I think you’ll get a good idea. If you’re increasing the population or the overall household size by 20 percent, you only have two roads to access this property, and one of them doesn’t even sit in Providence. So you don’t even know what River Heights is going to do to allow access to such a sizeable development.”
Proposition 1 will be on the ballot in Providence on Election Day, November 2nd.
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