Neighborhood Protection Overlay Update

-
Planning Commission Recommends Approval of our Neighborhood Protection Overlay

Vote: 9-1

The Joint City-County Planning Commission voted to recommend our proposed NPO for adoption by the City Council. By a 9-1 margin, planning commissioners supported the goals and the bulk of the language of the NPO. They lauded our efforts to protect our unique and extensive tree canopy against unstudied development, and agreed with most other provisions in the NPO.

They also recommended that language in the NPO pertaining to commercial properties be clarified to better explain how the NPO affects commercial properties not converted from residential houses. We believe this clarification to the NPO language will help the few businesses who have not yet completely seen the benefits of the NPO come to understand its purpose. We will work with them and the Planning Department in the coming weeks, doing our best to extend the broad consensus we have worked to achieve throughout this process.

We could not have done this without consonant diligence and care from the rest of neighborhood. Close to fifty people came out to the hearing to support the NPO. The Planning Commission was visibly impressed when NPO Committee Chair Frances Kerr asked those supporting the NPO to stand. Several of the commissioners thanked us for the hard work we have done.

As we celebrate this success, we know that the process is not yet complete. The City Council must vote to adopt the changes outlined in the NPO. Stay tuned to this Web site and the TLNA list-serv for the date and time of the City Council meeting when the Tuscaloosa-Lakewood NPO will be on the agenda.

City Council Public Hearing Soon
We'll need your support more than ever at the City Council meeting. Look for announcements coming soon.

For questions or comments, contact Frances Kerr: francesnc@gmail.com ; 490-6942.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Meadowsweet Creek Clean-up

-
Image
Article by Jonathan Nyberg In June of 1999, my wife Rebecca and I begin looking for a house to buy. Starting out from our rented room on Duke Street, we wound through a few neighborhoods before heading down James Street from Lakewood Avenue. We liked the street immediately, and when we got to the bottom of the hill we saw a For Sale sign, with a telephone number, nailed to a tree. Looking down the driveway we saw a small blue house surrounded by nice woods and a creek. Two months later we closed on the house, our new address, 1613 James St. In the summer of 1999 the creek dried up. But right under the square concrete pipe where the creek emerges from under James St. there continued to be a pool of clear water. "There must be a tiny spring," we concluded with great excitement. When Hurricane Floyd struck, a large chunk of earth slid into the creek. That's when we discovered the source of our urban spring, a leak from a nearby fire hydrant. It turns out this leak had underm
Read more

Second Chris "Disco" Chambers National Night Out Picnic

-
Image
For the second year, TNLA partnered with our neighbors in Long Meadow Neighborhood Association (LMNA) for the Chris "Disco" Chambers National Night Out Picnic. This year LMNA hosted in a nice shady picnic area in the 1700 block of High Street. We had about 125 participants, including several representatives from the Police Dept, plus Diane Catatti from City Council. Chuck Clifton (LMNA) and Myers Sugg (TLNA) welcomed everyone and spoke briefly about Neighborhood Watch and other neighborhood programs. Myers brought free low-energy light bulbs to distribute from QOL. Nearby neighbors rolled their grill down the street for hot dogs. Kim Hanauer (TLNA) went home with a few apples left from her own tree, plus home-grown figs from a neighbor and a low watt light bulb! See you next year, when TLNA hosts again in a new location.
Read more

University Market Survey

-
New Development for the old Kroger Shopping Center next to South Square Developers Need Your Input A proposal for a mixed-used development called University Marketplace was approved by the City Council on September 3. The developers want to have a "Fresh Market" or similar small specialty grocer as one of the anchor businesses. The problem is that Fresh Market is opening a new store on NC 54 at the intersection with the 15-501 by-pass around Chapel Hill (across from Glen Lennox), so they want to see if they can serve the Durham market from there. The University Marketplace developers think the south Durham community can support its own stores. They predict that a good specialty grocer as an anchor would attract other desirable tenants. They have prepared a short survey and are asking residents to fill it out, indicating their preferences. Besides Tuscaloosa-Lakewood, this survey is going to neighborhood associations in the surrounding area. Here's the link to the survey:
Read more