Omaha, Nebraska – The contentious Digs housing project in Omaha, which highlighted issues related to parking and the city’s urban evolution, is now set to proceed following an approval vote by the Omaha City Council on Tuesday.
In addition to granting permission for the project, the city’s main governing body also endorsed the developer’s plea for $4.1 million in public tax-increment financing.
As per the scheme proposed by the developer Uptown Properties, the Digs market-rate apartment complex will occupy 1.5 acres in a residential area southeast of 31st and Marcy Streets, adjacent to the Leavenworth Street corridor. This district has been garnering interest due to its close proximity to downtown and the expanding University of Nebraska Medical Center campus.
Parking, however, has been the main source of discontent for those against the project.
Uptown Properties intends to offer 147 parking spaces for the 188-unit complex, which will house 239 bedrooms.
The City Planning Department endorsed this non-standard allocation of parking slots on the grounds that the project location is in the urban core, and within an approximate eight-block radius of the ORBT and the future Omaha streetcar routes, both initiatives led by Metro Transit.
At the Tuesday meeting, Steven Held from Uptown addressed the council members and stated his team’s ongoing efforts to ease the neighbors’ worries about parking scarcity on the already congested nearby streets.
Among the proposed solutions is an open parking concept, which involves the developer leasing more parking spaces than required on the presumption that not all will be in use at any given time.
Held also suggested the potential implementation of an onsite car service for residents requiring transport to places such as the grocery store.
Over recent weeks of discussion around the project, the development team has stated that their targeted demographic— urban core working young professionals — are less inclined towards the costs or environmental implications associated with owning a car, and instead prefer public transportation or other alternatives.
Councilman Danny Begley opposed the vote, maintaining his stance that the project and its parking design were unsuitable for the neighborhood. The Digs falls within Begley’s council district.
Reflecting statements from city planners, Councilman Brinker Harding highlighted the dwindling availability of developable land within Douglas County, with an estimated 20 years left of supply. He emphasized the city’s need to increase density.
Harding stated, “There are some cultural changes that we will be challenged with here in Omaha that we have to be real about. Density is certainly one of those issues. If we want to continue to grow our city and maintain the level of services … that’s the reality we live in.”
