Good ideas can come in small packages, workforce housing advocates say.
Arlington City Council voted unanimously June 11 to approve a rezoning request to allow the owner of the property at 2331 Ascension Blvd. to build a cottage community, a development of small homes that he hopes will be rented by city, county and state employees, particularly first responders.
According to documents filed with the city, among the 14 planned homes for the site will be nine one-bedroom and five two-bedroom units.
The site currently is zoned Planned Development for Neighborhood Commercial uses and owner George Jensen is asking to change it to Planned Development for Residential Medium-Density. Architect on the project is Galen Howard Laing of Arlington.
Laing said there will be a property manager living on-site.
Jensen said he has a simple vision for the homes.
“The people who serve their cities should be able to live in the city where they serve. Our shared vision is to bring affordable housing to those who bring so much hard work and perseverance to our communities,” Jensen said.
Jensen is the co-founder and director of Sheltered By Love Foundation. According to the nonprofit’s website, Jensen is seeking to directly “help communities impacted by homelessness and joblessness by bringing well-paying jobs and quality, affordable homes to the deserving people in his own surrounding neighborhoods.”
City documents show that the one-bedroom units are 760 square feet of floor area and that the two-bedroom units are 920 square feet in size. A dog park is proposed in the southeast corner of the property as well as a green space proposed with a pavilion, grill and trail network.
The property, which has an existing small office building on it, is about 1.22-acres of land and is located east of Ascension Boulevard and south of Brown Boulevard. The 14 cottage homes would result in a maximum density of 12 units per acre, Laing told the council.
The property was largely undeveloped until a multifamily development and commercial development were constructed in the early to mid-1980s to the north and west of the site. According to city documents, by 1997, the lots surrounding the site were developed. The commercial building on the site was developed in the late 1990s, the document said.
The site is adjacent to Nichols Junior High School on the south, Laing said.
The original plan for this property in 1998 was “The Simmons Center,” an office development for two standalone buildings and surrounding parking lots, city documents said. The buildings were to be developed at separate times. The smaller of the two buildings was completed in 1999. The second building was never built, the documents show.
Laing told the council that Jensen recently bought the property.
“We really want it to be a cottage community in the literal sense,” Laing said. “These are classic cottage designs that (Jensen) has envisioned for this site. They are all 100% masonry on all sides.”
District 2 council member Raul Gonzalez told Jensen and Laing that the project is an excellent example of a type of housing the city needs.
“We all talk about cottage communities, and I think this is what we envision,” Gonzalez said. “You’re putting a high-quality product in. I was thinking about, ‘Would I let my mother live there, and, yes, I would.’”
Gonzalez called it a “quality project” that he supports.
“That is land that’s been sitting for a long time. I’m proud to support this one,” Gonzalez said. “I think it’s what cottages should look like to fill the need of something we do need in the city.”
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