This Thursday, July 13, 2006, the
City Council
, the
City Planning Commission
, and the City
Board of Architectural Review
(BAR) will be holding two worksessions related to downtown area development issues. [
See our calendar for meeting details
]
According to the agenda,
the first half of the meeting will be for the City Council and Planning Commissioners to consider the land use and transportation sections of the City’s Comprehensive Plan.
These officials are being asked to consider several land use issues raised by a number of City neighborhoods since the
2001 Comprehensive Plan
was approved. The neighborhoods include Woolen Mills, Martha Jefferson, Cherry Avenue, Rose Hill, and Fry’s Spring. Staff is seeking consensus on changes that would be incorporated into the
2006 Comprehensive Plan update
.
Click here to download the 7/13/06 meeting agenda as a PDF
Another item of business during this first half of the meeting is to review a scope of work on the transportation elements of the 2006 Comprehensive Plan update. Fitzgerald & Halliday, Inc. has prepared a proposal for the City to develop a city-wide comprehensive transportation plan. The total cost of this project would be $99,309.
Click here to download the Fitzgerald & Halliday scope of work
During the second half of the meeting, the BAR will join the meeting for a
joint worksession to review downtown development issues related to the City’s zoning ordinance which allows nine-story buildings
. Staff plans to share their concerns about this scale of development near the Downtown Mall. Jim Tolbert, the City’s Director of Neighborhood Development Services, describes the challenge as follows:
“I think this issue is much greater than a simple discussion of the merits of the
Woodard Project
. It just happens to be the first that has brought this issue to our attention. Instead it is a more fundamental issue of what we desire as the future of the Downtown Mall. Currently, our Downtown Mall zoning goes from the railroad tracks on the south to Market Street, areas of very different character. What is appropriate on one may very well not be appropriate on the other…”
Brian Wheeler
