Neighbors of Langley’s soon-to-be first affordable rental apartments in over 35 years are unsatisfied with some of the finer details of the project’s design.

A total of 36 residents of Saratoga Road, First, Second and Third streets and DeBruyn and Park avenues objected to the proposed Generations Place housing development, a project of Island Roots Rousing, in a letter that has been circulating around the community, and beyond.

Signers of the letter, dated March 10, worry about the surrounding neighborhood being negatively impacted by the apartments and claim that the plans submitted to the city deviate from the project’s original design intent.

“The plan calls for 14 family-sized units within three apartment buildings, all built on two city lots, offering minimal privacy, no private outdoor space, limited shared outdoor space, and insufficient parking,” the letter stated.

Though the letter is titled “Details Matter,” it appears that some of the stated concerns were false.

Rose Hughes, managing director of Island Roots Housing, said a lot of misrepresentations were made which seem intended to create controversy where there is none. For example, the letter claims Island Roots Housing has no property management plan in place, yet Hughes said Ad-West Realty Services was selected in January to fulfill this role.

“If anyone looks at our website they will see two people holding up the original schematic design at a public workshop in 2023 – the only significant changes have been to reconfigure units to improve the open space,” Hughes said, adding that all buildings have porches, which is something the letter purported that the design lacked.

In addition, Hughes said she learned this past week that the letter has been sent to project funders at the city, county, state and federal levels, as well as to each of the hundreds of people who have donated to the cause.

“Those are not the actions of someone who wants to ‘improve’ the project, but rather to defund it entirely,” she said.

A portion of the concerns seem to revolve around the very nature of apartment building living, with worries about a lack of open space outdoors and passersby’s proximity to bathroom and bedroom windows. A nearby public playground, located across a four-way intersection, is not perceived as a safe enough place for children to play.

Letter writers also believe the current plan, which allocates space for six on-site parking spaces with eight on-street spaces, is insufficient to meet the demand when Island County census data cites two cars per household in Island County.

“Imagine a parent with two children coming home with groceries, circling the neighborhood searching for a place to park,” the letter stated.

In response to the letter, other community members have voiced their support for Generations Place. One neighbor, Hughes said, wrote a strong rebuttal before Island Roots Housing staff was even aware of the letter’s existence.

“Our community has a housing crisis and this project offers the first realistic and timely solution that we have seen since we first started talking about this over 15 years ago,” Jenn Jurriaans, owner of two Langley restaurants, said. “I’m devastated to think that this project has hit a standstill because of unrealistic concerns and demands.”

Fred Safstrom, the project’s development consultant, pointed to the impending closure of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development offices, reneging of federal funding contracts and the supply chain and cost impact of escalating tariffs as all being genuine causes of concern, for any further delay is a real threat to the completion of Generations Place.

Groundbreaking for the project is planned for this summer; residents are expected to move in starting winter 2026.