Controverisal Tudor Rose will test City Hall's commitment to smart growth, in-fill development

Tudor Rose -- a three-story, 60-unit condominium project proposed on six acres that had been home to the former, west-side Baumhoefener Nursery -- is coming back in front of City Hall for a new look.

In August, the City Council declined to approve an updated plan for the project, which required John Baumhoefener III to wait until at least February to once again submit the plan.

Neighbors who live in newer, single-family homes next to the proposed Tudor Rose project have resisted the plans, saying it is incompatible with the existing neighborhood.

On Monday, Dick Ransom, president of Hall & Hall Engineers Inc. and the Tudor Rose project engineer, says he already has met with neighbors to inform them that Baumhoefener is bringing the project back to try to win city regulatory approval for it.

The neighbors still oppose the project, he said.

Ransom acknowledged that the developer's hope is that the City Planning Commission and City Council now will look more favorably on the project in light of the city's new support for smart growth and in-fill development and  the city's interest in containing urban sprawl.

"We believe a project like this is representative of the kind of well-planned and well-designed facilities that would match up with the smart growth and in-fill policies of the city," Ransom said.

Tudor Rose is planned for the corner of Johnson Avenue and Wiley Boulevard NW. The existing Tudor-style home on the six acres will be renovated and used by those buying the condominium as a meeting place, Ransom explained.

The project is now slated to go in front of the City Planning Commission on April 29.

Baunhoefener needs to win approval to change the city's land-use map from low-density residential to medium-density residential and to change the zoning to allow for the condominium project.