Following up to this post, this evening we had a meeting with Tim Crockett of Crockett Engineering Consultants and Dave Fenton, new owner of the land where Total Environments Landscaping was on Old Highway 63.
Mr. Crockett outlined what the plans are for the site, and where they are at with the process to seek rezoning and development. Mr. Fenton, owner of Columbia Car Care (currently located at the corner of Providence and Business Loop 70), would like to build a new car care facility (to replace his current one) on the northern section of the property, where the old brick maintenance/storage building currently sits. The current structure where Total Environments had their retail space would be renovated and leased for professional use (a physical rehabilitation/therapy service was discussed). The rest of the lot (about 1/3) on the south/east portion of the property would be left as green space, with the intent to not develop it. Overall, 60% or more of the site would qualify as “green space”.
The new car care facility would be about 10,000 square foot in size, with brick/dryvit construction on the front and east, commercial metal lap siding on the rest. There would be no external storage of vehicles or parts/equipment. The facility would meet or exceed all city standards for landscaping and storm water retention, as well as the relevant OSHA/EPA requirements. There would be no body or painting work done on the site, and any noisy equipment (mostly compressors) would be confined to one area of the building with appropriate sound abatement. Entrance on/off Old Highway 63 would use extant driveways, and the traffic impact would be minimal. Likewise, signage would be minimal. Hours of operation would typically be Monday through Friday 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM, with possibly some Saturday morning hours. In order to reduce light pollution, the builder will seek city permission to eliminate the parking-area lighting, and only have security-type lighting around the facility. There would be vegetation screens (large white pine trees or similar) on the east and south, to minimize impact on the surrounding houses.
Mr. Crockett and Mr. Fenton both seemed eager to work with the neighborhoods adjacent to the property, and said that they wanted to meet with us to hear our thoughts *before* even starting the formal paperwork with the city to seek rezoning of the relevant parcels to C-P, with the C-3 allowance of having a car care facility only. They were willing to completely and forthrightly answer all questions, and welcomed feedback.
Overall, I was pleased with the meeting and the presentation. My personal opinion is that they would be good neighbors, and a good addition to the area, and so long as their formal application does not significantly deviate from what was presented tonight, it would be a good thing for our Neighborhood Association to support. The members of our neighborhood association (and we had about 2/3 of the attendees) agreed that it was not necessary to have a formal meeting to discuss the proposed development, since everyone was satisfied with what was presented to us.
One item which was raised with me at the end of the meeting was a request to have the north side of the facility, which would be partially exposed to Old Highway 63, to have the same sort of brick/dryvit construction as the west and south sides. If you have any additional questions, or would like to offer your opinions in the matter. do please feel free to send me an email ( jim@afineline.org ) or post a comment here.
Jim Downey