OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — The neighborhood near 31st and Marcy Streets already has parked cars lining the street. A new apartment complex could bring even more parked cars and that has people living in the area concerned.
Tuesday, the Omaha City Council voted to let the development go forward.
"Sometimes you win. Sometimes you don't," Pat O'Donnell, a neighbor close to the future complex, said.
The apartments, called The Digs, got the go-ahead because the city believes it's close enough to the streetcar route. Neighbors question if tenants will really want to walk seven or eight blocks.
Councilmember Brinker Harding, who voted yes, said complexes and parking allotments like this are part of adding more people to the area.
"There are some cultural changes that we will be challenged with here in Omaha that we have to be real about," Harding said. "Density is certainly one of those issues if we want to continue to grow our city."
O'Donnell agrees that density is important to the area, but said the apartment complex is moving too fast when making certain decisions.
"We're running before we're walking. I've always been taught to walk before you run," he said.
The developers said they will be adding open parking spaces, where residents can come and go.
Over time, the developers say they can come back and analyze where they're at with parking.
"We have flexibility," Steven Held, the developer, said at the meeting. "We can tailor it to how we're seeing things when we're leasing — how parking is," he said.
Jim Thompson, a neighbor who lives close by to the future complex says the open parking concept is not a solution.
"If my space is available during the day, oh, that's wonderful. But, until that person that was parked in there during the day, or vice versa, the stall will be filled because there's not enough parking stalls," he said.
O'Donnell said he wants to emphasize that it's okay.
"We will move on. I will actually support the development in whatever way I can," he said.
For now, the plan is to have people moving into The Digs by the end of 2025. The streetcar is also expected to be finished just after the construction of the apartments in 2026.
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