The Cottonwood Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved a design review application for a 15-unit apartment complex on Mingus Avenue during its meeting on May 20.
The proposed complex, Apartments on Mingus, would be located on 0.56 acres at 1416 E. Mingus Avenue, a block west of Main Street, and include three efficiency units, three one-bedroom units and nine two-bedroom units in two buildings with 27 parking spaces.
“We are presenting this proposal in an effort to provide a much-needed workforce housing/apartment solution for the Cottonwood area,” the applicant, Jeff Jenson, stated in his letter of intent.
“We are really targeting [it] to be an affordable project,” Jenson said at the meeting, adding that people have different interpretations of what is affordable. This would be his company’s second project in Cottonwood, the first being a 40-unit, four-building project that is currently under construction.
“We’re trying to provide a product that allows for the workers here in Cottonwood to be able to afford to live there,” Jenson continued. “We see a huge lack of product in that area.”
Commissioner James Glascott said that the proposal would be a good infill project and a necessary build to support the local people who wanted to work in the area without pricing them out, while Commissioner George Gehlert was concerned with the visibility of people’s belongings on the balconies facing the street and recommended a view obscuring enclosure instead of vertical rails.
Vice Chairman Randy Garrison similarly speculated that the second-story windows would overlook neighboring single-family residences but then said it would be a great use of the space and that the project should be used to set a high bar for future development in the area.
Chairwoman Lindsay Masten agreed that it was a valuable infill project and commented that having the units facing the street with the parking lot in the back will make the corridor feel less like a strip mall.
Before approving the design review, the commissioners added a stipulation that the applicant provide vegetation or screening for the staircase that would face the intersection of Mingus Avenue and 14th St.
