July, 2021
Lincoln — "Affordable housing" is a current focus in Lincoln city government, but what this means and at what sacrifice of environmental values are considerations not getting much attention.
The Urban Development Department has proposed a tax-increment-financing (TIF) area in northwest Lincoln that would destroy habitat-rich prairie parcels in order to build residential housing. It is doing its best to ignore a scientific report by the UNL Center for Grasslands Studies that calls for these parcels to be protected because they are part of, and essential to, a larger prairie ecosystem known as the Nine Mile Prairie environs.
One might think, with the widely reported collapse of bird and pollinator populations, and the ever-more alarming prospects of climate change catastrophes, that destroying carbon-storing prairies would not be high on the city's agenda. Not so. The city seems ready to give the go-ahead for housing on the two parcels such as pictured below. The photo is of other recently built affordable housing in northwest Lincoln. Note the expanses of concrete and what the future of existing riparian streams might look like after the bulldozers are done with them.
Where else to build, instead?
Not far away from the area in dispute is a better alternative, which the city has already designated for commercial development. It could and should become mixed-use or multifamily housing because the area does not need more vacant strip malls. It needs housing with a vibe, even trendy.
The city is already planning, for good reason, to move NW 48th street over to NW 46th between West Adams and West Cuming. Creative housing there would add a new walkable community deliberately integral to Arnold Heights and to the shopping center immediately to the south. By building on this site rather than on the disputed parcels, vehicular traffic generated by housing would not constantly enter and exit the Arnold Elementary School area, endangering the children. The disputed parcels can be accessed only through the school area, which is another reason the city should not build there.
Because the city is already planning to move NW 48th and develop the adjacent land, it is plausible that the land could be considered a part of Arnold Heights for purposes of TIF financing. This would not be a case of possibly illegal TIF gerrymandering, as is the current TIF proposal.
Below is a city planning document showing the road redesign for moving NW 48th traffic to NW 46th for a few blocks. This is a good idea. Just change the ensuing zoning designation from commercial to a category allowing affordable housing.
There are other places for affordable housing, too, which do not insert vectors of bird-killing cats, pollinator-destroying pesticides, and glaring streetlights into the heart of Lincoln's rare remaining grasslands, while creating traffic jams. We just need to look for them.
