ROCKFORD — A proposal to develop townhouses and apartments on land across from Alpine Park may be scaled back from its original plan to create 32 new residential units.
Zaher Qassem set out to build four 4-unit townhomes and two 8-unit buildings on his property at 515 S. Alpine Road, but the proposal faced resistance from neighbors who said it would create congestion and sink existing homeowners’ property values. Then, it was rejected in a 4-2 vote of the Zoning Board of Appeals last week. The ZBA’s vote against the project means a supermajority of 10 of the 14 City Council members would be needed for approval.
The City Council’s Code and Regulation Committee gave preliminary approval to the plan on Monday night, but that came with the recognition that work would be done with the developer on the size of the project…