Tuesday, January 9th, 2007...5:48 pm
North Central News Covers Chapman BMW Site
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The December 2006 issue of North Central News carried an article regarding Chapman BMW and the former Toys-R-Us site. We’ve scanned it and made it available in PDF format. Click the image to read the article.
The article describes the first neighborhood meeting with Chapman BMW and their legal representatives, and accurately covers neighbor’s concerns and perspectives.
1 Comment
January 19th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
As a follow up regarding the zoning case…I have spoken with the attorney hired by Chapman (that we met when we attended the first neighborhood meeting) to see them through the planning process.
As the article above indicates, residents of the townhomes North of the site had expressed some concerns about their access to sunlight. The architect for Chapman has since prepared a sight line study (that I have verified as accurate) that shows that the Chapman buildings will not shade the townhome properties, even during the low-sun winter months.
I will be posting a document prepared by Katherine Coles, the Village Planner, that was presented at the Village Plannning Committee on January 9, 2007. Further stipulations have been added since the meeting and I will continue to share those as I receive them. I think Katherine has made some very keen comments that will serve us well. Further, I will be preparing a letter in support of her stipulations and adding our general concerns about the possibility for increased traffic in our area due to the property use.
Another important thing to know about this case is that this rezoning is attached to this site, not the owner, so any future owner will also have to abide by these restrictions. Any changes requested by a new owner would have to go through this same type of rigorous public hearing process.
We have received email from a neighbor that is adamantly opposed to this rezoning, mainly for the reason that she feels it further downgrades this area. I continue to believe the opposite - we already have a very prosperous area that will have car dealerships around for a very long time. It is naive to believe that our area can be changed to some other type of business use. Allowing another dealership in this area is no hardship beyond what we are already familiar with and I believe that we should try our hardest to establish a trusting and beneficial relationship with the good businesses in our area. These meetings and hearings related to rezoning are public and anyone can attend and make their opinions known. Since I (and others in our active group) have made the effort to attend the meetings, talk with neighbors, talk with the City and the Attorneys, I feel I have done the research and due diligence associated with this case and will continue to try to represent the opinions of those people who actually participate in the process.
I will be attending the next City meeting, which is a Zoning Hearing Officer Meeting, which will be held at the City Council Chambers, 200 W. Jefferson St., January 22, 6:30pm.
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