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The prior article is below this update. I was not in attendance at this meeting, however I was sent these notes by a concerned citizen ...
The meeting went well. It was standing room only as residents even took their spot in the doorway and the hall outside. The town presented their maps, their zoning and vision for the property, they agreed it should remain RE-1. The attorney for the developer spoke kindly and represented his ideas for the property. Then several citizens took a stand and were along the same comments. Most stood and talked about why they moved to Fairview and it was to stay away from planned streets with all of those conveniences. It seems we are all willing to drive to get to those things as long as we can have the peace and surroundings we all came in search of. Another citizen made the comment if we do it for one property, then we are constantly going to get requests to do it again for another property. This request for rezoning is setting a major precedent for future tracts of undeveloped property. Each member of the council spoke and was of the same opinion as the residents, and they voted to keep it RE-1. As I understand it, there is now an official vote before the planning and zoning commission of Fairview next Tuesday at 7:30. If things go as expected this property will remain RE-1 and the developer will have to wait one year before coming back to the city and his plan must be completely different from the original.
Prior Article
In a recent article, I wrote about the benefits of the millions of square feet of high end retail coming into Fairview at the NEC of Stacy Rd and Hwy 75. That location is ideal for that kind of development. What I did not mean to intimate was retail should be allowed further into Fairview, and in particular, along Stacy Road east of Hwy 5 (Greenville Ave.)
Stacy Road is the "golden corridor" into Fairview, so it is a very desirable retail location. Although Fairview cannot control what Allen does on their side of Stacy Road (south side), hopefully it will look very carefully at what it allows on their north side of the road.
One of my long-time Fairview "moles" told me about a proposal to build a day care center at the NWC of Stacy Road and Meandering Way. We don't live in Fairview so I cannot voice my concerns with their city council or Planning and Zoning, but if you do, and this is an issue which is important to you, I hope you will do so.
From the P&Z 2/14 Agenda:
9. Discussion regarding a Conditional Use Permit permitting a day care facility on approximately 2 acres out of a 13.9 acre tract located at the northwest corner of Stacy Rd. and Meandering Way, currently zoned One-Acre Ranch Estate Zone (RE-1).
Comments from a Concerned Fairview Citizen (And I concur)
The rezoning issue will be on the agenda for the “public hearing” phase of this rezoning issue on Thursday, 2/28/08 at 7:00 PM. The public hearing is the meeting where we as citizens/homeowners are allowed to voice our opinion. (Last night, citizens/homeowners were only allowed to listen). There must be a strong show of support from our community that we are is opposing this type of rezoning. We MUST show up in numbers. PLEASE make plans to attend.
Our town needs to stay true to the comprehensive plan and the current zoning. The town has promised to limit commercial development to the Commercial Planned Development District (CPDD). The comment last night from the developer and legal rep was that this piece of property (NW corner) was undesirable for homes because of the proximity to Stacy Road. However, there are plenty of residential neighborhoods that back up to Stacy Road: Bridlegate, Oakwood , Hawkswood, Silhouette, Lost Creek, Stacy Ridge, etc. Obviously there is no problem with building residential homes on Stacy so there is no need to change zoning. It seems developers want the NW corner of Stacy/Meandering because the land is cheaper than the currently zoned business property on the south side of Stacy.
Regarding the general discussion for the day care facility. A representative from RLM Commercial Developers gave a presentation to the committee on behalf of his client, Nobel Learning Communities. This is the link for their website. http://www.nobellearning.com/ During the presentation, he mentioned that RLM had completed the Nobel project for a center in Frisco, off of Gaylord Parkway. This is the link for that school. http://frisco.merryhillschool.com/page.cfm?p=4278. The proposed enrollment for the Fairview facility would be 185 students, plus faculty and staff. Translation – a lot of vehicles in the morning and a lot of vehicles in the afternoon! Not to mention, what about the light pollution??? This was not even brought up last night. During the discussion, one of the staff members mentioned the widening project for Stacy Road and the fact that it would be growing to a four lane divided highway with a median. The representative stated that he knew he would have to meet with the City of Allen regarding the median entrances. Yikes… traffic and more traffic.
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