The rezoning of the back half of the proposed Highway 54 condominium project will be voted upon Monday evening at 7pm at the City Hall. The rezoning of the cleared area on Fayetteville Rd. at Massey Chapel Rd., I think to expand a daycare, will also be voted upon. I think the proposal to sell part of the old Lowes Grove Elementary School grounds for commercial development is a County and not a City issue, but that is another local development concern right now. Some in the community are against the government giving public land to private interests when the site's location by two schools and the future location of what is now the Parkwood Branch Library make it useful for public projects.
Of the rezonings, I am most concerned about case the condominium request, rezoning from
commercial neighborhood to office and institutional, supposedly for condominiums on Highway 54 in front of Parkwood at Blanchard Rd., near the intersection of 55. I have heard that the developer proposes to build condominiums on the side by 54, with the rezoned portion to be less impacted. When I saw that the house on the site, in a yard with large Willow Oaks, was for sale, I expected that it would just be sold to another homeowner. I had a dream once that the site would be levelled, but I didn't expect it to happen, but that now seems likely. The hilly site will probably require a lot of grading to be built upon and much of it is mature hardwood forest with large oaks and relatively rare spring wildflowers, such as Fringe Tree, Mayapple, Rue Anemone (Windflower). There is some English Ivy and Vinca creeping in, but it seems pretty pristine (more so than a lot of Parkwood's public green spaces. The site is cut by a tributary of Northeast Creek, and the Creek's
floodplain is near or touching the area to be rezoned. It is bad for the area's biodiversity and scenery to cut this woods, probably left over from a larger hardwood forest cut for Parkwood. Any grading that is done will further harm the water quality of NE Creek and Jordan Lake from silt and later the additional polluted stormwater runoff and flood surge from the development. Siltation means the loss of topsoil and is bad for aquatic organisms. You can see how much silt NE Creek is burdened with when it flows yellow-brown into Jordan Lake at 751 after storms. I am surprised that none of the neighbors are opposing this rezoning. I wrote to Mayor Bell and the City Council to urge them
to get written assurances about what the developer intends to build, to minimize grading, to preserve the wooded back part of the property (and as many trees as possible), and to add a sidewalk (and a bikelane if 54 will be modified). Given the hilly nature of the site, stormwater control would also be good. At least the development is proposed along bus routes and is not a gas station (that is apparently the Parkwood Association's argument, but why did it oppose Audubon Park then, which is supposed to be the reason why the area north of Sedwick Rd. was clearcut?). I don't see how the development would benefit the community. Also, will it be lower cost housing or will it be more expensive, but poorly situated housing, like some of the neighborhoods along Grandale Rd., for example where a house was built in a partially filled-in seasonal pond?
The other area, on Fayetteville Rd. by Massey Chapel Rd., is being requested rezoned from rural residential to transitional office overlay. The Council could require the owners to replant a
buffer on the east side of the clearcut property to buffer the neighbors and a pond on a tributary of Crooked Creek, which also flows into Jordan Lake. Given the amount of development along Fayetteville Rd., I expect Crooked Creek is getting pretty silty now and has stormwater problems. I heard that the clearcutting might have been in violation of the rules, but that might be allowed under rural residential zoning.
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