Planning Commission Agenda and Packet 2016 09 08

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Planning Commission Meeting Minutes July 14, 2016 Page 6 of 33 Louisville since the beginning of the company. I live nearby in the community and neighborhood with my wife and business partner, and our two sons. When I first came before the Louisville Planning Commission in 1997 to seek approval of the BRC project, Louisville had no senior living facilities at all. In fact, if you look at the transcripts of those first hearings in 1997 before the Planning Commission and City Council, there were vigorous debates as to whether Louisville even wanted a community for seniors. Abundant concerns were raised about ambulance noise, the appropriateness of a senior living community in a place with citizens as active as Louisville, and overbuilding in general. Skepticism was expressed by the then mayor and others on both the PC and Council. Today's controversy and resistance among some is nothing new for us. Ultimately, we did get approval and moved ahead with three other communities in Louisville. In the instance of the BRC, the then City leaders finally came to realize that a vibrant healthy city needed to take care of their seniors. In many instances, the homes those seniors were vacating would become available to people moving into the city with growing families who needed the space that a single family homes provided. The traffic generated by the first community and subsequent ones proved to be exceedingly light and the property's quiet activities never created a nuisance to the neighboring businesses and residences. Tonight, we will have several residents come up and offer their experiences of living at Balfour, and express their desire to see a new, state of the art assisted -living community built near their current home at Balfour. It would provide them with a superior living experience than is possible to offer in our nearly 20 year old building at BRC. Today, Balfour has four of its five communities in Louisville. Of the five senior living communities in Louisville, four are Balfour and one by a different company. Three of those communities, two independent living and one assisted and nursing care, were all developed ground up by Balfour and are on parcels totaling 12 acres in the Alvenus Park subdivision adjacent to North End. They were developed in 1997 to 1999, 2003 to 2005, and 2007 to 2009. A fourth Balfour community, one on McCaslin Blvd, was purchased out of bankruptcy after its developer, a nationally publicly traded company, went bust. Balfour turned that project around in under one year. At this point, I think it might be helpful if I provided a few definitions of terms. Staff thought it might be useful. There are four categories of commonly lumped together terms of "senior housing." The first is active adult and this is essentially an apartment building that has age restrictions on who can live there. It is typically 55 years old which is the federal law. These are properties that have virtually no services at all, probably have a building maintenance person, and a leasing agent. They have about 15-20% stairways, hallways, and very little open space. The second type from no services to in depth services is independent living. Balfour has two buildings, the Lodge and the Residences. These are unlicensed buildings with neither the federal government nor the state licensing them. There is no medical or nursing care provided by the owner. There is an array of services and amenities such as table service dining, fitness activities, transportation, assembly rooms, and housekeeping. Typically, they come with one or two meals per day included. Common areas in these buildings are typically 30-40%, non - rentable space. The third type which is most pertinent to what is before you this evening is assisted living. This is licensed by the state but with no federal oversight. It has around-the- clock coverage by a caregiver. In our case, that is always a nurse or health professional. In a lot of buildings, it may be a nurse's assistant. There is a high ratio of staff to residents, three meals a day, and a full range of amenities because the residents usually have some form of mobility challenges. As a result, common areas typically represent 40-50% of the space because it is important that folks get out of their apartments and have activities and spaces to go. Unlike the independent living folks, assisted living folks do not get out and about. Virtually, nobody in