Adrian Skabelund
All part of the larger Timber Sky master planned neighborhood, the Flagstaff Planning and Zoning Commission gave the nod to a project to construct several apartments at the acres at the corner of Woody Mountain Road and West Route 66.The project, by Vintage Partners and LIV Communities, will now go before Flagstaff City Council for final approval and hopes to bring 214 rental units to about 15 acres, putting the northeast cap on the Timber Sky community.The project, dubbed LIV Timber Sky, will be made up of about 19 structures, including two community-centered buildings, such as a clubhouse and a gym that can be used by all residents of the larger master plan neighborhood.Within the 17 residential structures, 48 units would be one bedroom, 118 would be two bedroom and 48 would be three bedroom.The project also includes a dog park and a dog spa, a playground and several community lawns, a fire pit, a garden and pickleball courts.
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The buildings will be largely a mix of two- and three-story structures, and all apartments will be rented at market rate. Although the project is part of the Timber Sky master plan, which Vintage Partners has been working on for years, construction, ownership and long-term management of the project will be executed by LIV Communities.A significant amount of development has been occurring within the area over the last decade, including other parts of the Timber Sky development, expansions of Presidio in the Pines and the relocation of the city’s public works yard to the north side of West Route 66.Walter Crutchfield with Vintage Partners acknowledged that LIV Timber Sky is likely to cater to a more affluent renter, but pointed to other more affordable aspects of what the Timber Sky master plan overall will be bringing to the city.Crutchfield also said he hopes the project can send an important message by locating designated affordable housing next to luxury apartments. Crutchfield said that message is that a neighborhood must include housing for everyone regardless of socioeconomic status and that affordable housing should be at the heart of a neighborhood.“I’m at a point in my career and in delivering in Flagstaff where if we’re going to say affordable housing is an emergency then we have to act like it’s an emergency. … It appears there’s lots of theoretical conversations but not lots of actual delivery,” Crutchfield said.Just to the west of the project, other parts of Timber Sky are looking to bring designated affordable housing, including partnerships with Habitat for Humanity to construct at least 40 starter homes and the Minnesota-based developer ROERS Companies, which specializes in affordable projects, to bring 221 designated affordable rental units.To the south, Sky Cottages as Timber Sky is also including 20 designated affordable rental units out of the about 200 within that development.“Our hope is by locating low-income tax credit housing and Habitat [homes] in the middle of a master plan community, that I can look over and see $1.7 million houses [next door], that we can begin to say to people, ‘these types of housing are compatible, a real neighborhood has everyone,’” Crutchfield said.Just over 13 acres were rezoned from rural residential to high-density residential, with another 1.8 acres of county land annexed by the city for the project, and all but one commissioner voted in favor.But chair Marie Jones, who was the only commissioner to vote in opposition, said she still supported the project.Jones’ hesitance came from the placement of gates on either side of the project. Jones worried the two gates impacted connectivity and sent the message that the project was a gated community.“I would like to advocate for removing the gates, but I do think it’s a strong project, and it really satisfies a need here, I think it integrates well with your master plan for the whole community,” she said.Lindsay Schube, representing LIV and Vintage Partners, said the gates were only there to encourage pedestrian activity over vehicle traffic, and because they don’t want delivery vehicles to run rampant within the community.“I do understand that this is a community that doesn’t like gated communities; you’re an inclusive community, we get that. But we don’t feel we have a project that has a lack of connectivity,” Schube said. “We’re trying to keep out cars. It’s not fenced, people are welcome, cars are the problem.”Schube pointed out that the project is designed to be very open to pedestrians and has no fence or wall around it, and that visiting vehicles can park in front of the clubhouse.And in the end, the rest of the commission found Schube convincing, forwarding the project to the city council without the condition that the gates were removed, or another access road was constructed.Lights on?Some discussion also surrounded the possibility of a new streetlight to be added at the intersection of Woody Mountain Road and West Route 66.Nearby residents have reportedly long desired the addition of a traffic light in that location, and Vintage Partners said it would also prefer one to be installed, and have contributed money for the installation of a traffic light when it eventually occurs.But, as West Route 66 is owned and managed by the Arizona Department of Transportation, that installation is not likely until further growth in the area shows it is warranted.The area in question was somewhat of a holdout in the rural nature of its zoning. Although previously nearly all the area nearby was designated as rural residential, as various projects have moved forward over the years, the property had become an island of rural surrounded by high- or medium-density residential designation.The project area had been planned for holding commercial uses, but City Planning Manager Alaxandra Pucciarelli said given the current lack of population nearby, it makes more sense to add residential.“In this area, we really don’t have the density of residential units to support commercial at this time, so by adding residential in this area, perhaps one day we can support some commercial,” Pucciarelli said.The Flagstaff Urban Trial System will be extended along the edges of the project.The project is electric-only — which is in line with the city’s sustainability goals — and has several areas for bike parking. LIV also plans to have two electric vehicles on site that residents who may not own a car, but may need one once in a while, can rent for individual trips, as well as several areas for electric vehicle charging.
The Inflation Reduction Act was passed by Congress on Aug. 16, 2022, and this past May the U.S. Department of the Interior announced some $167 million in funds to be allocated for the restoration of landscapes in the West of Montana. A total of $29.5 million was provided to improve and care for three landscapes in the state, and $9.5 million was marked to go to helping another similar large portion of land.The money will be used to restore the landscape to what it was when the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, or CSKT, inhabited the lands. “Putting people to work on our public lands making them better for future generations, that is an investment that is going to pay off right,” explained Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning.Stone-Manning says they are investing in the people and the land in the Blackfoot corridor.”And thats real investment that is going to return. It’s not just going to put people to work, pay people to get on the ground and doing good work,” Stone-Manning said. “That work is going to pay off for literally years to come in the form of fish habitat and wildlife habitat and cold clean water.”SEE MORE: Could the Washington Commanders revert back to the team’s old name?Stone-Manning says the outdoor recreation industry brings in roughly $7 billion to Montanas economy and with this money, the plans to protect that industry through restoring and properly managing the lands.”And so we have to protect that value, we have to protect that investment and one of the ways to protect it is to restore habitat. You know the good Lord is not making more land so we should probably restore the lands that we do have to ensure that folks when they come they still have the same opportunity that we do today,” Stone-Manning said.There is also an effort to restore a plot of land near a meadow of bitterroot and camas. Both of the plants were harvested by the CSKT. Part of the $9.5 million will go towards that restoration.”And now to understand what the project is going to bring here with the camas, and it just means a lot to us as a tribe and all the work that is going goes into it,” explained CSKT Tribal Council member Carol Lankford. “Especially all the work and things that go into it, it’s very important for the tribes to know people respect what we used to have as homeland and now as aboriginal territory,” Lankford said. This story was originally published by Kathryn Roley at Scripps News Missoula.
Reporter Adrian Skabelund can be reached via email at Adrian.Skabelund@lee.net.
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