Sometimes it is easy to accept the idea of progress. Examples abound. Other times, the idea of progress seems tainted and passe. The latter feeling is particularly sharp when we progress toward generic office buildings and away from the history and people that make our communities unique.
The proposed Elm-Cornwallis rezoning would do just that. The developers have proposed office buildings and parking in spaces where generations grew, thrived and contributed.
As I mentioned in my first post, developers want to destroy the Commencement House - a very special space indeed.
The house was built by Women's College students in 1958. The story of the house is much deeper than that surprising fact and is told best on UNCG's web site - http://www.uncg.edu/iar/modernism/commencement.html. Since it's purchase by "Elm Cornwallis LLC', it has apparently been occupied by a series of short term renters.
What do you think - office buildings and parking or homes and a wonderful part of Greensboro's heritage?
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We learned from the developers at the meeting at Sherwood that they are proposing nearly 50,000 square feet of office space. That could translate into roughly 50 examination rooms.
ReplyDeleteIncluding staff and patients leaving the buildings at rush hour, additional traffic onto Cornwallis or Elm would be increased. Leaving the buildings' parking lot, drivers may not be able to turn left or right onto Elm because traffic will be backed up to and beyond the driveway. They also won't be able to turn left onto Cornwallis for the same reason. The logical alternative seems to be a right turn onto Cornwallis.
The city's leaders have gone to some effort in recent years to slow down traffic on Cornwallis by adding bike lanes, pedestrian right-of-way crosswalks, and reducing the speed limit. I assume one of the goals was to reduce traffic on Cornwallis by slowing it down. The proposed buildings will do just the opposite; they will increase the number of vehicles on Cornwallis.
The developers stated that a traffic study was conducted and the conclusion was the additional traffic from the medical buildings would not increase traffic flow "significantly" (whatever that means). I beg to differ. With most of the cars leaving the buildings turning on Cornwallis at rush hour, would we not exacerbate a problem we've been trying to eliminate?
Speaking of problems, my across-the-street neighbors' (whose name I won't mention out of respect for their privacy) yard will back up to the developers' proposed parking lot. They'll have a lovely view of the two-story parking structure the developers have planned. On weekends, when the lot isn't in use, they'll have to worry about vagrancy in the covered lot and theft of their property by ne'er-do-wells who jump the fence. If you don't think this will be a problem, talk to folks who live or have lived in Latham Park on Cridland near Wendover. Their homes back up to medical buildings. They get their personal property stolen from their back yards often, when they forget and leave it outside.
Sarcastically I'll add that no one told me that I was buying a house in an area that might be developed commercially one day. I personally prefer neighbors who live in homes at all hours of the day and night, instead of doctors, nurses, and support staff who spend eight hours a day five days a week in my neighborhood. Commercial neighbors clog up the streets and are not around at nights and on weekends to help deter a criminal element.