More from Bud Kennedy this morning:
Hi Steven,
Forgive me if I sent this yesterday.
But this is the actual plan already approved 8-0 for an office-industrial park in the Trinity Trees site, long before the current gas well proposal.
This is what will be built if the gas well falls through.
Thanks for your reply, Bud. I hadn't seen that yesterday, but I had heard that reasoning before. In fact, Jim Marshall and Rick Collins addressed that issue in an interview they did on my blog last week. Here's what they said:
"That, too, would have resulted in a tragic loss of this special green space. Often the argument is made that the destruction that Chesapeake is planning is not as bad as what the developer was planning. However, it doesn’t have to be an either/or decision. There exists a third alternative. If you check our Web site you’ll see we have sent a letter to the Mayor and City Council proposing said alternative: Chesapeake decides to move its pad site to the already industrial area a few hundred feet to the north; the developer agrees that putting in its buildings is not the best use of the grove of trees; steps are taken to convert the eight acres to a public park. To make this happen, we need three things from all vested parties (including our city leaders): consent, cooperation and compromise."
7 comments:
I would also like to point out that in Mr. Kennedy's original "blog b.s." column, he said that one of the zoning designations on the tree site was MU-2, and identified that as an "industrial" zoning.
That, of course, is not correct- MU-2 is High Density Mixed-Use, ala Magnolia Village/7th Corridor/etc.
Just pointing it out. :)
Thanks for the tip! I e-mailed Bud.
From Bud:
MU-2 is a mixed-use industrial designation.
You are welcome to review the city zoning ordinance.
There are 4 industrial zoning designations:
Industrial Districts
I
Light Industrial
MU-2
High Intensity Mixed-Use
J
Medium Industrial
K
Heavy Industrial
Actually, MU-2 has two designations: an Industial zoning designation and a separate mixed use designation. Spliting hairs, but still.
And I'll say again - MU-2 is *not* an "industrial" zoning. MU-2 is High Intensity Mixed-Use, which only permits a handful of selected light industrial uses. Its main focus is mixed residential and commercial development in an urban setting. It is not a primarily industrial zoning.
So, yes, it technically allows industrial - of a small number of selected types. But I wouldn't call it "industrial" zoning.
You beat me to it a bit. I just felt the need to point out that MU-2 is not really an "industrial" zoning per se - lest this confusion take root and we have people freaking out that their neighborhood is being zoned for industrial use in places like the Cultural District, etc.
Permitted MU-2 uses include museum, day care or school. So right now, with no rezoning required, a nature museum dedicated to say ... Trees along the Trinity River ... could be built with no rezoning required.
Doesn't this sound like it would be preferable to a gas well?
And doesn't it sound like it cuts the legs out from under Bud's column? Or is it just me?
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