Shops at Wyndham Village part 2

Some notes on public comments at the October 31st public hearing regarding rezoning for Mark Carstensen's proposed Shops at Wyndham Village commercial development:

• Personal observation: middle-aged to elderly upper middle class people lust after the idea of a Sendik's food store in their community the same way someone like me longs for an Apple Store close to home. That is to say, they love them some Sendik's.


• The old "evil developer" trope does not apply here. Mark Carstensen is held in high regard even by those who disagree with him, and has a reputation as a man who listens to and responds to the concerns of nearby residents.


• Of the people who spoke, there were approx. twice as many "for" as "against."


• The Wyndham Ridge Neighborhood Association evidently learned the specifics of the Carstensen plan only 2 weeks earlier, and submitted a letter against the plan (mainly because of the 11th hour Target possibility). They'd met on the previous Saturday.


• Interesting line in the Neighborhood Association letter: "The city cannot allow bus lines to extend to this area."



• The owner of the Speedway station west of the potential development plans to sell and sees the commercial development as good for the area.


• A professor of engineering made some pointed observations about some of the materials Carstensen showed. In particular, he said the Drexel street designed "will get people killed." He reminded the commission that Drexel is indeed a residential avenue despite its abuse.

• Surprise: A developer is actively working on the Crossroads commercial project at Loomis and Lover's Lane - - which I thought was nothing more than a "what if" scenario - - and he spoke in support of the development. Again, geography makes these two possible developments non-relational to one another in a pedestrian sense, however.

And on and on.

The main problem - - which even the project's supporters acknowledged - - is that the development, great as it might be, is sitting in a troublesome spot from the standpoint of traffic and proximity to neighborhoods.

Knowing that much more must be done before reaching the point at which construction could start, the commission voted unanimously to recommend the zone change. Lots of work ahead ...

Comments

[christopher miller]

Wow. What the heck is wrong with these Franklin people who demand that buses not be extended to the new development? What a bunch of jerks.