Pocatello City Council approves contentious Park Place Townhomes development project

POCATELLO — After hours of deliberation that saw a public assembly of nearly 50 local residents, many from the Ammon Park area, the Pocatello City Council on Thursday approved the Park Place Townhomes planned unit development.

The project will see the construction of 86 townhomes and two common or open space lots on 10.34 acres of land west of Interstate 15 and north of Ammon Park. The Pocatello City Council voted to approve the project unanimously.

Utah based CMJ Holdings, represented by Pocatello engineering firm Knudsen Engineering, were given the opportunity to present arguments and answer questions from the City Council during the public hearing. After deliberations and probing from members of the City Council, the meeting was opened to allow feedback from local residents.

Three were in favor of the project, three were uncommitted and over 15 spoke in opposition. Local residents were each given three minutes to present their arguments before the City Council. A number of those in contention with the development cited worries surrounding increased traffic, mentioning some of the low visibility corners and intersections in the area that could become more dangerous with the addition of more vehicles and individuals within the Ammon Park community.

Other oppositional arguments included the lack of communication for changes within the neighborhood and how many residents that reside within the Ammon Park area have had very little contact from the developer or city.

Several inaccurate rumors were dispelled at the meeting by CMJ Holdings representatives and City Council members regarding the “Save Ammon Park” flyers that circulated around that asserted the City of Pocatello donated parts of Ammon Park to the developers for the project.

Many in the audience expressed dismay when it was revealed early in the meeting by Knudsen Engineering that a “Plan B” could be enacted if the planned unit development request was denied because they already had met the requirements to construct 94 apartments. The request that was deliberated during the meeting would simply allow the allocated space to be better utilized and would ensure that the buildings that are constructed would be smaller-sized townhomes.

“Final designs and platting will begin in the next month or so, and commencement of construction anticipated to begin next spring,” Joel Dixon of Knudsen Engineering told the Journal after the meeting. “There’s still going to be a lot of city reviews. We’ve got some state reviews as well. That process is probably going to take us all winter to get approved, but I’d say no earlier than a spring 2025 construction date.”