Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com

Published - Sunday, April 13, 2008

Decision on housing complex a mistake

By Darrell Ehrlick, editor, on behalf of the Winona Daily News editorial board

The Winona City Council’s decision on Monday night to reject plans for a new apartment complex n ostensibly privately owned student housing — is more than a little perplexing.

And what’s even worse was city councilmember Deb Salyards’ logic.

The proposal before the city council would have torn down an old railroad freight house, which if not ramshackle is at least an eyesore. From the southwest corner of the property you can see the Winona State University campus unfold. A new proposal would have knocked the freight house down and put up a 17-unit complex with up to 60 off-street parking spaces. That’s 60 more cars that wouldn’t clog Winona’s side streets.

Besides the $13,000 in property taxes the new housing would have brought, the plan was about as good as could be hoped for. We hope councilmember Tim Breza brings the proposal back to the body and this time someone has the foresight and courage to second the motion. Monday night’s dismissal was surprising, if not stunning.

While we understand the city’s position on density of rental units in a neighborhood, we’ve said previously that a 30-percent rental cap may not make sense in all parts of the city. And nowhere so is that more evident than near the university.

Winona produces an unending supply of stories of petty vandalism and momentary thoughtlessness. Most of these incidents get pinned on college students. The bulk of the blame goes to Winona State students because of the campus’ proximity to non-student housing. From using the bushes as makeshift toilets to lawn ornaments tipped and flowers uprooted, there’s a certain amount of exasperation and resignation for non-students living near campus.

Things such as parking and the occasional party will be perennial issues so long as there are universities in town. We wonder if the 30-percent rule, which limits the number of rental properties on a city block, really solves a problem or just pushes the problem into other neighborhoods, while clogging streets with parked cars. At the same time, it makes older, larger houses nearly impossible for property owners to sell as single-family residences and gives landlords with current rental properties an oligarchy.

This recent decision by the council seems to underscore the flaws the 30-percent rule. We can’t help but wonder why wouldn’t the city want to put up new, modern student housing so close to campus? Why not keep student density as close as possible to the university? These neighborhoods are already full with college students, why not keep them together?

We give credit to the developers who even found requisite off-street parking that would seem to alleviate the congestion on side streets and on campus.

Councilmember Deb Salyards proclaimed, “It’s not my job to furnish dorms for Winona State University.”

That’s true. But this was not a Winona State proposal. More importantly, her job should not be to stand in the way of individual entrepreneurs who seem to have come up with a sensible off-but-near-campus housing. We wonder if Salyards, whose home sits right across from Winona State, might not be literally suffering from a not-in-my-backyard politics.

Finally, this most recent decision from the city council seems to continue a long, but unfortunate tradition of going against the city’s planning commission. It seems like the planning commission made a solid recommendation to approve this project only to have it snubbed by an inconsistent — if not fickle — council.

It makes us think back a couple years ago when the so many members of the planning commission resigned there was no longer even a quorum. That was after repeated proposals were sent through the planning commission only to have them die strange and inexplicable deaths at the council level.

It’s probably only fitting that most of the city council members sat silently as the motion died. That would have been a perfect time to speak up about another, better idea. But we’d suggest there was no better alternative.

It’s ironic the same city council, which has seemed

too excited to leverage taxpayer dollars to fund a new housing project, Applewood Pointe in Winona, would turn away an opportunity for $13,000 annually in the tax coffers.

That seems to send a powerful, even if not intentional message to the community that college students are somehow lesser citizens. At the same time, the council would be wise to remember the huge economic impact those same students have.

Guess it’s not a surprising vote for a council whose average age is 62.

The Winona Daily News editorial board also includes publisher Rusty Cunningham and online

editor Jerome Christenson. To comment, call 453-3507 or send e-mail to letters@winonadailynews.com.