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I kind of got the feeling from the letter sent to Brightleaf at the Park residents that nothing had changed and that they were going to just re-present the same info, which I too find very odd. I wonder if the plans have to go back through the planning commission at any point, or if it was a one time thing.....
Seems to me that one of the primary concerns for the city council (and residents as well) was traffic impact. I can't imagine that it will be met with less resistance from them if the traffic plan hasn't changed (and I really don't think that there is enough time for them to do another traffic study to present with the rezoning info).
Awesome! I just read it on Bull City Rising as well. I hope the start asap on the site.
Agreed... I was there to speak as a proponent last night, and I was happy it passed unanimously. The council represented the residents' interests well (i.e. the developers can't put a drive through ATM in one specific spot and they're going to start with larger trees for the landscaping buffers).
One of the Council members said this to the dissenting Brightleafers and it was pretty spot on: "you might not agree with this now, but when you go to sell your house and write 'near Brightleaf Commons' in the ad, hopefully you'll see the value".
Agreed... I was there to speak as a proponent last night, and I was happy it passed unanimously. The council represented the residents' interests well (i.e. the developers can't put a drive through ATM in one specific spot and they're going to start with larger trees for the landscaping buffers).
One of the Council members said this to the dissenting Brightleafers and it was pretty spot on: "you might not agree with this now, but when you go to sell your house and write 'near Brightleaf Commons' in the ad, hopefully you'll see the value".
And speaking in support of this, where do you live?
I'm not trying to be cheeky, but it's VERY easy to see this as a one-sided issue if you don't live right in the shadow of it.
And, do you find it a bit interesting that the planning commission strongly disagreed with the project *7-2 against* while the council strongly approved 7-0? To me that speaks largely to the fact that its an issue of "Good" versus "Profitable" and the council doesn't have the luxury of ignoring the latter.
I am fully in agreement that the area needs development, and if they were putting the whole thing right up against Ravenstone or Ashton Hall instead of Brightleaf, to me personally it wouldn't be a gray issue - it would be black and white. Even still, I am cautiously optimistic about the project, but would still have preferred it to at least appear more tasteful on the plans.
Even my opinion is probably more tempered than most because I live in a part of the community that will be mostly unaffected by this development.
Still, I always laugh a little bit when people talk about how great something is because it's not in their back yards. I'd be all for a Subway station with a stop in Ravenstone that would take me to RDU and RTP, but I bet the people in Ravenstone wouldn't be so keen on the issue.
You can't please all of the people all of the time. The land it said in an article was planned for this for a while, if the residents didn't do all there research or were lied to by brokers, etc, then sorry for them. The area needs a shopping center (with a HT hopefully and a lowes type store), so hopefully it will get one. I doubt a PF Changs would ever go in there, there is once close enough and they don't put those type of resturants that close to eachother.
There really is not another plot of land they could put this development in (in the immediate area), and that is always a risk you take when buying in an area that is just starting development, and you have to be ready to accept that, not just complain about it because you decided where to buy a house.
You can't please all of the people all of the time. The land it said in an article was planned for this for a while, if the residents didn't do all there research or were lied to by brokers, etc, then sorry for them. The area needs a shopping center (with a HT hopefully and a lowes type store), so hopefully it will get one. I doubt a PF Changs would ever go in there, there is once close enough and they don't put those type of resturants that close to eachother.
There really is not another plot of land they could put this development in (in the immediate area), and that is always a risk you take when buying in an area that is just starting development, and you have to be ready to accept that, not just complain about it because you decided where to buy a house.
Again, I am not arguing that they should not put anything there - I knew full well that they were planning to put something there. That was never the issue, though I know some other residents have said they were NOT aware of this plan.
My issue was with the REzoning. The area was, when we bought our house, zoned for a mix of retail and residential. This would have been fine with me...the REzoning is the issue that I had, and the fact that it seemed to have been done with the sole goal of maximizing how much leaseable space could be squeezed into the place.
Yes, it does have to go somewhere and I, for one, recognize that.
My point is two-fold
1) It's very easy to be in support of something when it's not in your back yard (and to an extent, this is not in my back yard....though it is in some of my neighbors')
and
2) The plan, as it stands, could have been done more tastefully in my opinion. I would personally join up with their team and make sales calls to tenants if they would have re-worked the plan to take into account some of the concerns/suggestions of both the residents and the planning commission. Hell, I'd volunteer to help them dig ditches if they did this.
Time will tell, of course...but the argument that "residents should have known what was going in when they bought" holds no water simply because this is not an issue of getting a plan on the books approved for building, they REzoned land adjacent to homes into commercial land, and there's no way any residents could have known that would happen.
Anyone who says they didn't know any commercial development would be there I agree it's their own fault for not doing the research...but if the re-zoned areas are what they object to, then I can support them there.
One thing I DO have tremendous faith in is that the plaza itself WILL be done tastefully...objectionable footprint or not. I don't think I've seen a new plaza on this magnitude built within the last 5 years that did NOT look nice - Hope Valley Commons at 54 and 751, the Wal Mart on 54 in Morrisville, etc - all of these look nice...and I have no doubt it will be a financial help to the area and I will enjoy (hopefully) riding my bike to stores, food, etc, but again, I do not think this is all roses for those that live in immediate proximity...and at the same time I understand how for those who do NOT live in the community it would in fact be all roses - I am just trying to address both sides.
I understand where you are coming from a little more from the post. However, even if it was zoned for mix use, you (others) have no clue what is actually going to be built there, as a buyer you should have been more cautious if it was an area of concern for you. Rezoning happens quite frequently. Just as easily an ugly mixed use community could have gone in (not saying it would have). Only time will tell how it looks or even how long till they build it.
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