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No more commercial rezoning on New Garden Road!!! Enough is enough, we need to preserve our neighborhoods.

City Council needs to stop endorsing and encouraging this overdevelopment of Greensboro. Residents have been very outspoken on this matter but the developers who sit on City Council have been lining their pockets for years at the expense of the residents they are supposed to help. One should simply ask a City Council member how they would feel about having a Walgreens in their backyard with high-intensity parking lot lights shining in their bedroom windows at 2AM, increased traffic, increased crime. Living near Friendly Center, my neighborhood has seen increases in break-ins and vandalism since their expansion of the Shops. Not to mention the car accidents and the now the shoppers who cut through our residential streets speeding and without concern for our children and our pets
Is there any neighborhood that is safe from this extreme overdevelopment or are the powers that be in Greensboro so greedy that tax-paying residents are destined to find themselves paved over for commercialism?

There are plenty of pharmacies in this area. The needs of the current property owners and residents of this area are not being served by a proposal for a 24-hr pharmacy. If you want to do retail in this area, why not a local market or a really great bakery/cafe space? Can't the developers think of a use that ADDS to the quality of life for nearby residents? This re-zoning request should be denied.

We already avoid areas like Wendover Ave. for this very reason... now it looks like we'll have to avoid New Garden Road, too. Unfortunately for Greensboro, money talks and developers will stop at nothing to get their hands on a prime piece of land if they can buy it, and they've got the City Council in their back pocket. And, townhomes *might* be better than having more retail developments, but if you oversaturate the housing market any more, it will collapse. But then, we have to worry about Jefferson Elementary becoming overcrowded. Greensboro needs to stop trying to be Raleigh/Charlotte and find its own identity, but I think it may be too late. Our next home will be out in the country somewhere... I'll gladly pay more for gas to get out of this City.

The council has a touch decision. It is difficult to decide what is a win for the community and a win for the people who invest in the city. I don't envy them. In my oppinion it boils down to one thing, is this the right fit? Does tearing out single family residential for a 24 hour drugstore fit at the entrance to a long established area when 1.14 million square feet of retail exists within a mile of this proposal? There is a long history to this area. I can only hope that the council, new and old, look at all of the facts not just the pretty drawings presented. Drive up Garden Lake from the neigborhood side and ask, "Is this the right fit".

The council has a touch decision. It is difficult to decide what is a win for the community and a win for the people who invest in the city. I don't envy them. In my oppinion it boils down to one thing, is this the right fit? Does tearing out single family residential for a 24 hour drugstore fit at the entrance to a long established area when 1.14 million square feet of retail exists within a mile of this proposal? There is a long history to this area. I can only hope that the council, new and old, look at all of the facts not just the pretty drawings presented. Drive up Garden Lake from the neigborhood side and ask, "Is this the right fit".

The city council must vote this rezoning proposal down (again) if they want to create the appearance of being for the people, and not for the profit! This is not only important to ensure the neighborhood remains a comfortable and safe place for its residents, but also to show all of Greensboro's residents that their voices are not only heard, but that they matter. In the face of high powered corporate attorneys, and multi-million dollar companies, residents of Garden Lake have spoken their will..three times. And while developers have the right to request to make money, they do not under any circumstances have the right to make money at the expense of the people! If the council does not stop these developers from their third attempt to override the property owners of Garden Lake, I think that the voting public can safely say that their city is being run by developers and special interests, not the people who vote. Fortunately, they can take care of that problem in the next election, can't they...

The last thing Greensboro needs is another ugly chain store encroaching into a residential neighborhood. Let's preserve some of Greensboro's character and heritage and protect residential neighborhoods!

We purchased our home on Garden lake Circle in 2000 after the Master Plan for the area had been completed. I believe the words after the study were to the effect of 'This is not going to be a Wendover'.
Then came the McKinley Place townhomes, not bad commisioners. Then the development on the east side of New Garden with Tripps, the Lowe's Food Center was already in place. Then the Hebrew Academy and the new library, again good decisions.
Then call it what you want, the wheels fell off in City Hall, greed, not caring, etc....
First with the now New Bridge building, oh forgive me, they are the savior of baseball in town, where we see their lights every evening when the sun goes down, not to mention what long time residents see out their front windows, sunrise, oh yea, we used to see those. Now we see the sun when it crests over the building.
Then massive development in the area north of Hobbs and east of New Garden, Target, Michaels, etc, etc.... all the empty spaces still in these buildings, Wait, I have a thought, why not let the drug store and bank occupy some of the empty space in what has already been built, and the sign out in front of New Bridge with 'Lake Front' parcels for lease.
Please a lake is something big enough to water ski on. These are ponds, not lakes, I have one in my back yard.
Seven Gates another nice 'attached home' new word for duplex development. Granted a very upscale development, I would expect nothing less from Stone, but the clear cutting of the land. Reminds me of my years in California, level everything and plant some small trees that in 30 or 40 years will be as large as a few that were removed.
There are by a quick count 10 banks and 4 pharmacys within a 2 mile radius. One more bank and drug store? Are the commisioners brain dead?

Please, please, please leaders of this city wake up before it is too late...........
Stop trying to force things into areas where they do not belong.
But I guess since the development on the corner of Cornwallis and Lawndale was removed from the table, they had to bring this one back up. Nice way to shift gears.
City leaders, we are NOT and never will be a Charlotte, Raleigh or Asheville.
The sooner that is realized it the better off we will be.

I have lived on Garden Lake Drive for over 34 years. I have seen a lot of changes in our area. It has changed from a bucolic, rural subdivision surrounded by trees and pasture to part of Greensboro with growing population and business.

We all are afraid of change. We don`t want our homes to change. We are especially afraid of the unknown. A few years ago when we were annexed and Jefferson Pilot announced their intention to sell the 400 acre country club, I was expecting the very worst. I imagined the worst sort of over-developed commercialism. I just knew they were going to destroy our quiet neighborhood.

It all turned out much better than I ever expected. We have the American Hebrew Academy, beautiful homes in Jefferson Woods, and Price Park which is coming along nicely, and we have a wonderful new library that I enjoy. I can walk to it in 10 minutes and not only do I enjoy the books but I`ve lost weight too. We also have Jefferson Elementary School and Jefferson Village is nearly complete now. It is well designed and has a lot of good stores and shops.

Most of the people who are so adamantly opposed to this proposal, either don`t live close by, or they have only lived here a few years. My neighbor, Mr. Oakley, for example, has only lived here since 2002. That was after New Garden Crossing was built, after Crowne Gardens, and after Highwoods built the four story office building that is now occupied by New Bridge. He can`t claim with any credibility that he did not know that this intersection was a prime commercial area. Not only that but the resale value of his house will benefit from the $275,000 town homes that will be built nearby

Change is inevitable. Instead of fearing change we should guide that change in positive directions. That is exactly what is happening here. I have watched this proposal grow from a half-baked plan three years ago to the great one that is before the city council right now. The developers have held meetings with the homeowners and really listened to our input.

We said we did not want businesses adjoining our existing homes. We said we would accept town homes because we already had apartments on one side and town homes on the other. We said make them bigger, but fewer of them, and pointed to Seven Gates. And they agreed. We said limit the signs and reduce the driveway connections to Garden Lake Dr. and they agreed. We said give us a fence and plant real trees and shrubs, not just a token scattering of a few bushes, and they agreed. They have put this all in writing as part of the conditions of the zoning so it is enforceable by the city.

I have never seen a developer who is more concerned about the impact they will have on the neighborhood.

Greensboro DOT says we have 27,000 cars per day on New Garden Rd. That`s not the fault of this proposal. It was an inevitable consequence of Bryan Blvd. and the widening of New Garden Rd. These developers did not create the problem, but they are responding in a positive way to create a better community.

I live right here in the middle of all of this and I say to the city council, "Please vote YES!" Growth and development is not going to go away. Let`s cooperate with the developers who will work with us.

We are facing more important issuses (crime, gangs, police department) that need to be addressed, but is seems that the big developers voices are always put on the front
burner ahead of citizens. Please hear our voices for once!!

The boundaries of commercial development on the west side of New Garden Road were set several years ago when City Council was convinced by developers lawyers to vote for the commercial rezoning of the Hodgins farm. This lead to the building of the Lowes Food Shopping center and the adjacent apartment complex on New Garden at Bryan. This was argued at the time that the plan created mixed use of the property where commercial development down New Garden would be limited at the boundary of the Lowes shopping center and the residents in the existing community would be protected by the transition of commercial to multi-family to single family residential. That was accepted and the plan put in place.

There is no justification to now several years later break that agreement that we all live by. It is disruptive to the local residents and their quality of life. What need do we have of yet another bank on New Garden Road? And a 24 hr drug store on the corner of Garden Lake Drive is not appropriate in an otherwise quiet neighborhood. The prospect of such development erodes our protection from commercial striping. The commitments of the past that were used at the time to justify a development and grant rezoning cannot just be swept away. For to do so nullifies the previous arguments that lawyers gave to so convince council to adopt their plans.

Well another lawyer is using the same arguments today to try and justify the continued commercial striping down New Garden Road. If the current argument bares any weight, then so does the original, and the original argument and its commitments must therefore stand, thus further commercial development down New Garden cannot be granted.

Council must be encouraged to vote against this commercial development as they did in May of 2007 by an 8 to 1 vote to deny the rezoning. Show up at City Council tonight at 5:30 pm to lend your support to defeat this rezoning application.

The zoning commissioners did not approve this rezoning. It was barely favorably recommended. Some commission members waffled, knowing that City Council would have the final say on the rezoning.

Conditions could be added to limit hours of operation of the pharmacy. Conditions could be clarified to ensure that the three re-zonings are developed with the same appearance as each other. As it stands now the conditions state that the exteriors will be unified, but not to whom they will be unified. Will all three zoning districts look a like, or will the individual sites look similar, but different from each other? Will all the exteriors be similar, or will the multi-family buildings look like the other multi-family buildings, and not look like the drugstore? Will neighbors be looking on blank walls and dumpsters?

The zoning commission has made it clear that if you are not a part of a subdivision HOA and you are located on a busy road that your neighborhood can be purchased, parcel by parcel, for redevelopment. Opponents were bought out in order to expand the scope of this project.

The New Garden-Garden Gate development is not infill development; it is a redevelopment. Redevelopment is stretching from Battleground to Friendly. Which neighborhood is next? A message needs to be sent that enough is enough. Enough with the conditions.

Vote no. A cohesive, congruent, vertical mixed-use development could be built here similar to the Village at North Elm. This is not that kind of project.

The city council and the zoning commission have already sealed the fate of developer's intentions vs. community/residential concerns. It's comical to see the same attorneys, or should I say "mouth- pieces" that come before council extolling all of the positive benefits to our city by placing development in already established neighborhoods. The very ideal of zoning protection has been lost in our city. Might as well remove the zoning ordinance and save us the aggravation.

The city council and the zoning commission have already sealed the fate of developer's intentions vs. community/residential concerns. It's comical to see the same attorneys, or should I say "mouth- pieces" that come before council extolling all of the positive benefits to our city by placing development in already established neighborhoods. The very ideal of zoning protection has been lost in our city. Might as well remove the zoning ordinance and save us the aggravation.

The city council and the zoning commission have already sealed the fate of developer's intentions vs. community/residential concerns. It's comical to see the same attorneys, or should I say "mouth- pieces" that come before council extolling all of the positive benefits to our city by placing development in already established neighborhoods. The very ideal of zoning protection has been lost in our city. Might as well remove the zoning ordinance and save us the aggravation.

I am familiar with this intersection having lived in Greensboro 30 years. The area around it used to be a beautiful rural area until the city, in effect, made the continuance of the Jefferson Club impossible through its zoning decisions. Since then, most of the land has been developed and New Garden Rd has been developed and built as a commercial/mixed use road by the city. The intersection we are now talking about is actually an extension of Hobbs Rd. There is already a stop light there, with turning lanes into Hobbs and Garden Lake from New Garden which is a divided multi-land highway with large medians.

I support this development. I can't imagine having a home on New Garden and needing to pull out directly (right turn only) on this road and go across 3 lanes of traffic to turn left on Hobbs. With the median installed, the city has already developed the municipal part of the area, and has done so as a commercial or mixed use area - not as the old residential it used to be. It has cut off Cross of Christ Church and the house still (only one) facing New Garden with a drive to it. It is very difficult to get to the church when northbound on New Garden - you can see it, but can't get to it! The U-turn you need to make further down New Garden is the most dangerous one I have ever seen. Just drive it!! I also can imagine the sound of that road and the moises coming from directly across the street (and the bright lights from there 24 hours). I live on Friendly Ave, and eventhough my house is 140 feet from the Friendly, the noise of the road and the boom boxes is substantial. What of those boom boxes when the cars are stopped at the light?

I think this is a well thought out development which is more than half residential. It has a great and thoughtful design and will provide an excellent buffer between New Garden and the Garden Lake community. With the large trees to be planted at the edge closest to the houses and the 275K townhouses on that end, the development cannot help but raise the value of the homes behind - and better sheild them from the noise on New Garden Rd. There will almost certainly be a HOA for the townhomes which will take care of the natural areas much better than what is being done now. Also, the taxes the city will received every year here on out must be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The 4.5 acres the church (which is now struggling due to the way the road has been built) generates no taxes at all. The idea that cars will cut through the Garden Lake area to the new development is without any merit at all. I tried it once just to see, and I can assure you this is not true. Just look at a map and see if you think this route is a reasonable "short cut". It is the hardest and longest way from New Garden to Fleming.

I think it's a no brainer that the city goes for this new development!!!

What about all the residential properties that still exist on Friendly, Market, Holden, etc. with traffic counts much higher than New Garden?
The single family homes on Benjamin Parkway?? If we use the traffic count criteria, we might as well pave Greensboro over. As for our neighbor who thinks this is a good thing, originally he was against this, but he sold out and is moving because his house was going to be right next to one of many versions of this development. It's fine if he wants to take the money and run, but he shouldn't be preaching to the people left in the neighborhood about what a great thing this is.

Having lived in Friendly Lakes ajacent to Garden Lake and now near Friendly Center, I relate to several of these comments. If there is anything worse than no zoning it is undependable zoning. Large home investments are made and then undermined when zoning is changed (or poorly enforced). Also similarly when school attendance zones are rearranged. I sympathize with the Garden Lake folk. No 24 hour operation should be next to a residence. But then, I really didn't expect to live next door to a doggie wash operation across from one of our prettiest parks! And watch nine barking dogs run out the back door to relieve themselves in the mornings while I'm having breakfast.

The neighbors do not want this commercial encroachment into our neighborhood. The only ones favoring this would move away and won't have it in their neighborhood after all.