‘Parklands’ master plan earns approval

The Camas City Council last night approved a development agreement and master plan for a proposed 36-acre mixed-use development near the Camas Meadows Golf Course clubhouse. Parklands at Camas Meadows would develop as one project a 20.9 acre parcel zoned single-family residential, and a 15.5 acre parcel previously zoned business park. "Leaving the two parcels to develop separately would result in a lower quality residential neighborhood with very little market interest in the business park, as the infrastructure costs would make commercial development prohibitive," a city staff report states. On Monday, the city council also approved a re-zoning of the business park portion of the proposal. The new overlay zoning allows for a mixed-use planned development. According to the proposal, Parklands at Camas Meadows would bring to the 15.5-acre portion five commercial buildings with a total of 90,000 square feet of space, 24 living units on the top floor of one of the buildings, and 18 single-family residential lots. The 20.9 acre parcel would be turned into 24 single-family lots, each a minimum of 15,000 square feet, with 11 acres of open space.An extension of Camas Meadows Drive is also included in the plans. Paul Dennis, the project planner for applicant Parklands at Camas Meadows LLC, said the master plan evolved during the past 16 months. "The idea is to diversify the area and provide flexibility for some of the housing, and provide some density out there, as well as employment," he said. Dennis said there is the potential for the development to create at least 300 jobs. A handful of citizens who live near the proposed development expressed concerns about the plans. Some of their comments focused on their desire for additional setbacks and buffers between currently existing residential homes and the future commercial buildings. "I don't really feel like this development is maintaining the small town character of Camas," said Mark Castle. The proposed project is located two-tenths of a mile east of the Camas Meadows Golf Course clubhouse, and northeast of the intersection of Northwest Payne Road and Northwest Camas Meadows Drive. It sits north of the Northwest Larkspur Street dead end. Several people who testified, and some members of the City Council, voiced concern about the development's potential impact to traffic on Larkspur Street. According to Dennis, that is not expected to be an issue. "From a traffic standpoint, we're not looking to impact Larkspur with this project," he said. As part of its approval of the development agreement, the City Council voted to include in the language a requirement that the road remain closed between Larkspur Street and the Camas Meadows Drive extension, until Larkspur Street is improved and traffic safety studies have been conducted. "I think the development itself looks good to me, but from where I'm standing at this point I would like to see that barrier be there for a long time until we come up with an answer for the flow of heavy traffic," said Councilman Steve Hogan.

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