Proposed Standards

Brown Town / Cornwallis Neighbors,

Last January, the steering group asked if neighbors should continue working toward a Brown Town NCO. Sixty neighbors or about 23% of homeowners responded. Fifty-five or 89% said we should continue.

The steering group recently reviewed and edited draft NCO standards that could apply to our neighborhoods. Click here to access these proposed standards on the City's website.

The next step is for neighbors to review then comment on this draft. Please do so by emailing your comments and questions to elmcornwallis@gmail.com.

If you would like a printed copy of the draft, please send your request to elmcornwallis@gmail.com or call 691 0691. You can also comment by letter to Russ Clegg at 300 W Washington St, Greensboro, NC 27401-2624 or call Russ at (336) 373-2211.

At summer’s end, we plan to hold public meetings to discuss the comments and plan for petition signing and eventual review by the Planning Commission and City Council.

Zoning Commission Meeting - Monday, October 12, 5:30 PM

It's almost here. The Zoning Commission will hear Stratton Development's rezoning request on Monday. We should have a large turnout from Brown Town, Fountain Manor and Newlyn at the meeting. (You're invited!)

Click here to reach the Zoning Commission's web site. It contains both the agenda and the staff's report. Interesting reading.

The steering committee for these three neighborhoods met Wednesday evening, considered the zoning conditions Stratton requested and agreed on several changes necessary for the neighborhoods to support the rezoning. Sadly, the committee could not see a way that the Commencement House could be saved on its site.

In a meeting this morning, Stratton agreed with most of the changes we requested. We could not agree on two important points.

First, the steering group believes the conditions should include the depictions of the buildings Stratton plans to build. In other words, the buildings eventually built on the site by Stratton or any other developer should look substantially like the buildings Stratton intends to build today.

Second, the steering group believes the buildings should not be higher than the Regions Bank on the corner of N. Elm and Cornwallis. That building is roughly 50 feet high.

Discussions on these two issues will likely continue through the weekend.

Regardless of the Zoning Commission's decision, City Council will also hear Stratton's request because the request requires a change in the Comprehensive Plan.

Please make time to attend on Monday evening.

More soon.

DeveloperMeeting 9/24, 5:30 at Sherwood Clubhouse

Elm Cornwallis LLC is back in the person of John Stratton of Stratton Development.

Stratton will hold a meeting for the community from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Sherwood Tennis and Swim Club Clubhouse on Thursday, September 24. That's tomorrow night.

Stratton Development mailed notices of the meeting to a small subset of the neighborhood last Friday.

In spite of short notice to a relatively few neighbors, we should have a good turn out from the rest of the neighborhood for Stratton's presentation at 6:00.

He will make another presentation later if attendance warrants.

More to come.

Quiet Summer, for the most part

It has been a very quiet summer for our neighborhoods - at least regarding the four homes owned by Cornwallis-Elm LLC. There was a bit of activity in late July but there was apparently no follow-up.


108 W. Cornwallis 106 W. Cornwallis

2209 N. Elm

The homes on West Cornwallis and at 2209 N. Elm are occupied. The Commencement House continues to suffer from the lack of care shown by Cornwallis Elm LLC.


Commencement House Front and Side

Councilman Matheny recently made comments to City Council regarding lack of maintenance on homes in District Three. Could he have been thinking of the Commencement House?

So why has it been so quiet? Could it be that the pending election is influencing Cornwallis-Elm LLC's plans?

Maybe our next update to this blog will have news.

No news except for time passing, paint peeling, trees falling...

Cornwallis Elm LLC remains quiet. Maybe they'll file a new request for the April Planning Commission meeting or maybe they won't.

In the meantime, here are a couple of recent photos of the homes most directly affected by their assault on our neighborhoods.

The Commencement House still needs help. In addition to the peeling paint above, limbs from last weekend's storm litter the front lawn.

The folks at 2209 North Elm are taking good care of that home. Glad they're in our neighborhood

This tree apparently found the storm a bit much and toppled onto the Regions Bank lot from the back of 106 West Cornwallis. Wonder if Regions is trying to get Cornwallis Elm LLC to clean it up.

106 West Cornwallis looks great. Glad these folks are in the neighborhood too.

108 W. Cornwallis looks pretty sad with leaves from last fall still in abundance and probably clogging gutters, peeling paint and still for rent.
In case you're wondering, 336 358 3239 rings at NAI Triad.

Stay tuned.

Greg Young's Cornwallis Traffic Blog

Greg has written a good commentary on Cornwallis Traffic. I particularly like his comment on "pacing."

It's about two miles from Elm to Lawndale. Increasing your speed by five miles per hour saves about 30 seconds. Hardly worth the risk of not being able to stop for a car, pet, bicyclist, runner, pedestrian or child.

Greg and Holly have a good perch from which to comment at the corner of Elmwood and Cornwallis.

Thanks, Greg.

Cornwallis Elm LLC Withdraws...

It's official.

Mr. Isaacson withdrew Cornwallis Elm LLC's request for Conditional District-Limited Office zoning at today's Zoning Commission meeting.

If I understood him correctly, he said that the LLC had concluded the originally requested zoning did not allow the developers to carry out the type of residential development they wish to do.

Therefore, they withdrew that request and will put in a residential zoning request soon.

Stay tuned.