Editor’s Note: This article is now complete.
We’re back in the saddle here at SouthsideCentral and we’re heading to Danville City Hall for tonight’s City Council meeting. We’re the only place where you can know what’s happening LIVE! We’ll have photos, commentary and happenings throughout the night. We’ll add bonus coverage when we get home as we edit the story. Be sure to refresh the page for the latest coverage.
We’ll start at 5:30 PM with a special work session to discuss a new comprehensive housing study that was just completed by a consulting firm. We’ll have a (hopefully) short business session at 6:30 PM with the only real issue being a rezoning issue for some housing on Stewart Street. There was some citizen opposition at the Planning Commission meeting but it was approved on a 6-1 vote. We may have some opposition speakers tonight. We had a lot of opposition speakers tonight. The business meeting will wrap up with approval of the latest Old West End design guidelines. We’ll move across the hall to the work session after that and deal with issues on an alleyway & more talk about procedures for council meetings. There will be a closed session after that.
Let’s get started with the housing study.
According to the study, Danville should focus their housing improvement efforts on the areas that would show the most return. Danville Estates, forget it. Nobody drives through there.
Lots of citizens here tonight. They didn’t stay for the business meeting. Fooey on that.
Gary Miller is running this work session as Vice Mayor.
The consultant says that 1800 employees within 1/2 mile of the hospital and daily visitors account for $34 million in retail spending leakage. He said he interviewed Eric Deaton before he left the city and he was about to go grocery shopping in Greensboro. I wonder where he’ll shop for groceries in the Kingsport area? The consultant advises that the city has to get tough on “toxic homeowners” with constant police and code enforcement efforts to make it too expensive for them to continue to own those properties. “Bad landlords find bad tenants. Good landlords find good tenants.”
Let’s head upstairs to the business session. Sherman Saunders is out tonight due to a friend’s death. Larry Campbell leads the prayer. Public Comment time. Duke Energy’s Davis Montgomery is here for his monthly update regarding the coal ash spill.
He reports on two ecological studies. One says the river’s mussels were not harmed. The second from NCDNR says that the river rated “excellent” both above and below the spill. I CALLED IT!
We’ve got a good crowd in opposition to the Stewart Street rezoning. The Riverwalk Trail purchase is finalized. Moving to the Stewart Street rezoning. Nine items on the same properties have to be heard and acted on separately. Gus Dyer Jr. (he of the $30K arrears in property taxes) speaks for the applicant. Weirdly, the applicant never speaks.
He’s saying that this project will be high end apartment rentals. He’s taking a preemptive strike on traffic issues since the opposition is ready. Dyer is prepared on this. Before this started, I told the opponents that they had an 8% chance of getting this rejected. Harold Garrison says 20%.
Larry Campbell challenges the traffic issue. Dyer offers examples of why he believes that’s not the case. Melanie Vaughn of 235 W. Main St. speaks against the rezoning. She asks for opponents to stand and about 20 do.
She’s offering alternatives, but that’s not in her scope to do. She says “I apologize for taking more time than I expected” but she reads that from a prepared statement.
Jack Garrett speaks next.
He makes his opposition. This guy has a great radio voice!
Next speaker is surprisingly in support of Keith Walden’s proposal. He says he’s glad for higher end housing.
Next speaker says she’s already scared to let her 4-year-old play on Stewart St. due to the traffic.
Public hearing closes and the motion to approve is on the floor. Fred Shanks asks for clarification. Ken Gillie answers his questions. Alonzo Jones is talking about remanding this back to the Planning Commission. Dyer was a little cocky and I’m wondering if that’s costing him some. Dyer points out although there’s a crowd in opposition, ther were people sending in the postcards of support. Dyer correctly says his job isn’t to make the opponents happy, it’s to educate Council. Bingo.
Buddy Rawley asks if the possible cul-de-sac is not an issue tonight. Ken Gillie says no, it is not.
8:00 PM – Sherman Saunders arrives and takes Gary Miller’s regular seat.
Denice Thibodeau isn’t here from the Register & Bee tonight. Vicky Morrison is reporting tonight.
Discussion continues. Larry Campbell seems to be against the rezoning due to traffic concerns. Lee Vogler makes a substitute motion to remand this back to the Planning Commission. Rawley opposed sending it back but the remanding will occur.
All of the items are sent back to the Planning Commission on an 8-1 vote with Buddy Rawley voting no each time. He was ready to vote.
Around the horn time is next. All give holiday best wishes.
Work session is next.
The alleyway provision will be approved at the next council meeting in January. The “rules for Council” have been gutted so much from Lynchburg’s stupid 20 pages that the only thing of note is that speakers will be limited to five minutes.
Tonight’s closed session includes human resources department head Sara Weller, so I’m guessing it’s about the Utilities department scandal.
That’s it for three meetings in one night. We’ll have a BreakDown article on this meeting later in the week.
I think Danville leaders would be shocked at the number of people in the city and surrounding county that do all or at least some of their grocery shopping in Greensboro.
The big grocery stores here are dumps compared to Greensboro. Midtown Market is good but so limited. And we had a nice fish place but the city never supported it and it went out of business.
Keith Walden owns the property not Ricky Walden.
Will correct.
City Council votes once again for stagnation, and Mr. Moving Danville Forward leads the way.
Actually Nicole, the motion I put forward was to save the project, that I stated pretty clearly during the meeting, which I assumed you did not watch. This was not a “no” vote. It was a vote for slight adjustments to be made. Had there been a vote tonight, the project was going to fail. Members of council made that very clear. The motion to send it back will allow the project to happen without making Mr. Walden start from scratch.
There will never be a project put forth to Council that will make all the people happy. This project going back for slight adjustments will still not satisfy those people that spoke at the meeting tonight. Traffic will always be an issue. People in the town have a dislike for apartments. There are always things in life you will have to deal with no matter where you choose to live, barking dogs, traffic, screaming children in backyard pools, smoke from burning leaves, etc. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and vote it up or down and be done with it. Mr. Walden is in a no- win situation since it is my understanding that if the zoning isn’t changed he can’t make any definite plans for the development. Why not vote on the zoning issue and then let him make the changes to the development plans if the intention is to let him eventually build? It just seems that Council insists on making it impossible for business people in Danville to move forward (i.e. the Vet clinic on Piney Forest Rd.) but are happy as clams to hand money to outsiders with big promises and no ties to the community.
Nicole, I can’t speak for other members of council but I can tell you that in this particular scenario, there are some slight adjustments that can be made that will satisfy most. All? Of course not and probably not all on council either, but enough to allow a needed project to happen. If the vote had happened tonight, the project was DOA. In reference to the other cases you mentioned, I have never voted against a new development happening. If you’ll recall, I was on the losing end of a vote to allow town homes to be built on 58 west where Carter’s used to be. There was opposition to that but I voted for it anyway because I believed it was a good project. Others on council disagreed and it failed. I wish we had did that night what we did tonight, because those town homes or some other needed development might be there today.
But again, others (including yourself) are inclined to differing views on this and other issues. I’m only human and make mistakes like anyone else. I can only do what I feel is best. Thanks for your time. -LV
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