Lafayette Planners will consider a proposal to build duplexes in the heart of Old Town this week, plans expected to garner some resistance from homeowners who have long called for the district's preservation amid the region's building boom.

The sketch plan is for a residential project where 25 duplexes (50 total units) would be built on about 8 acres of land located south of E. Cleveland Street at S. Foote Avenue, west of S. Burlington Avenue, and north of the alley behind E. Chester Street, according to city documents.

Residents opposed to such a project have pointed toward the development's potential for high-density units, traffic-burdened roads, and unaffordable prices for its clashing with Old Town's aesthetic.

The developing portion of the property is 5.68 acres have a gross density of 8.8 dwelling units per acre, Nick Jacobs of Diverge Homes, wrote in the development's staff report.

Such plans could bump up against a push by city officials to address a rash of new development in Lafayette's Old Town neighborhoods. However, amendments to the district's zoning code may soon usher in updated regulations for the area's growth.

"The plan falls very short in terms of the actual built environment — the size, scale, density, and character in relation to Old Town," resident Seth White wrote in comments from a community meeting held for the development plans. "The proposal itself is a row of 25, 2-story duplexes, approx. 4000-square-foot buildings."

Calls to preserve the character of Old Town's vintage feel — the funky, often-eclectic home styles harken back to the city's agricultural and mining roots, according to residents — have persisted for decades.

The sketch plan for the Carbone subdivision includes extending and paving S. Foote through the property, converting the alley behind E. Chester into a street with modified standards, but including paving, two-way traffic and parking on the north side, and the addition of an alley, according to the staff report.

"The claim is that only duplexes are financially viable for them," White wrote. "This is the standard, tired, and unoriginal statement by seemingly all developers working in Old Town today. I do not believe this, and I am sick of hearing it. This development team needs to do better."

When asked to identify their top three compatibility issues with respect to building mass and form in Old Town, nearly 80 percent of respondents indicated "overall scale and massing." More than 52 percent indicated height, and 42 percent indicated attention to shading of neighboring properties.

In recent months, an accelerated effort has occurred to protect the district from what some residents in the neighboring southern reaches of the city have called the advent of "urban sprawl" in the area.

Anthony Hahn: 303-473-1422, hahna@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/_anthonyhahn

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