NWCitizen Contents Home Info Correspondents
With Facts Wrong, Discussion Is Skewed
Posted - 11 am, Sunday, Oct 20, 1996
Chuckanut Ridge will not have 14.5 homes per acre, as reported bythe Herald today, but rather double that figure. The density will be28.4 homes per acre that is allowed to be developed.
And - Happy Valley does not have 43.5 homes per acre. It is farless. We expect it to be less than 12 per acre when we finishcalculating the number. Expect it to be up later this week.
The Herald does not say how they arrived at their numbers. Perhapsthey just took the word of the developer. The Herald tends to takethe word of large organizations or government bureaucrats for theirfigures without independently checking them. (We have caught themdoing it for the Port on many wrong numbers.)
How did we figure the density? Simple. Divide 1464 units ("homes"in the double speak of the developer) by the 51.5 acres - the numberof acres that will be developed. How did the Herald get the lowernumber? They divided the 1464 by 101 acres. This includes streets,open space, park land, sidewalks, etc. In other words, to make theirnumbers even lower, they could have included green areas from aroundthe site.
Where did they get the 43.5" homes" per acre for Happy Valley?Look carefully at their little map. They used a small portion ofHappy Valley with apartments for student housing on 21st Street. ForSouth Hill they used the apartments below State Street. ForBirchwood, they used the apartments along NW Avenue. The lie is theHerald labels these as if the entire neighborhoods werecalculated.
After reading the Herald, one can wonder what those "ex-hippies"in Fairhaven are so mad about. The density of the development islower than their treasured Happy Valley according to the Herald. Thetruth is the density will be the same as several dense blocks ofapartments. In the middle of swamp land.
We will post more information as we get it together.
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