CVS meeting: Wed. Dec. 7th, 7PM at Carrboro Town Hall

The CVS Developer is holding a neighborhood meeting on Wednesday December 7th at 7-9PM at Town Hall. Please come if you can.

And please submit questions ahead of time to chris.bostic@kimley-horn.com

See the earlier posts on the blog (http://centerofcarrboro.blogspot.com/) for a refresher on this project proposed for the corner of Greensboro & W. Weaver St.

 

UPDATE:
The town offered comments to CVS and then CVS revised it's plan. The changes were presented to the Planning Board a few weeks ago and changes appear to be minimal. 

 

Here is the Planning Board's Reaction to the changes.

 

Update On CVS Project

As reported in our local newspapers (see here & here), in May, CVS submitted plans to the town of Carrboro to build a large CVS and parking lot on the corner of N. Greensboro St. &  Weaver St.  This development would demolish at least 2 historic buildings, cut down many trees, create more traffic problems and the parking lot would be placed on a residential street.

The plan from CVS has been turned into the town and town staff are reviewing it and will be going back and forth on revisions. I believe any citizen in Carrboro can request to take a look at the plan submitted.  I don't expect that the Carrboro Board of Aldermen will vote on the plan and specifically the zoning changes until the fall.  The Board of Alderman do not hold meetings in July & August.

The advisory boards of the town met and heard a presentation by the CVS developer.  It wasn't a public hearing but the advisory boards all had an opportunity to give feedback and here is a link to that feedback from them: http://orangepolitics.org/2011/05/carrboro-advisory-boards-CVS-concept-plan

Please take a look at the feedback.  It is very important information.

Here are some more pieces of information that are relevant to the development:

1. CVS has a lease in its current location (next to Harris Teeter) for several years.  The current CVS building is owned by Carr Mill Mall and CVS has the right pursue expansion at that location.  It seems there is no compelling reason that CVS has to move from its current location.
2. In its plans submitted to the town, CVS is asking the town to remove the Downtown Neighborhood Protection(DNP) designation for all the properties it would build on.  CVS is also requesting to rezone 3 properties on Center St.  Without this rezoning CVS will not be able to build much of their parking lot. The alderman have the right to not approve the rezoning of the properties on this residential street.  Please let the Carrboro aldermen know if you are opposed to the rezoning of these properties.
3. The Traffic Study done by a CVS contractor has also been submitted to the town.  The traffic study was during construction on Weaver St.  I am not a traffic engineer, but this seems problematic for the study.  Also, many side streets that drivers use to avoid downtown construction traffic were not considered in the study.
4. I have put together a presentation to show what our neighborhood looks like now and put some of the changes that will occurr in downtown Carrboro as a result of the proposed CVS development into context.  Click here to see the presentation. 

Community Meeting Sunday April 3rd at 2PM

All Carrboro Citizens are invited to a community organizing meeting to discuss the potential CVS development in downtown Carrboro.

The meeting will take place on Sunday April 3rd from 2:00-3:30pm at Carrboro Town Hall.

The proposed development of the corner of Greensboro and Weaver Street is of great importance to everyone in the community. We are not anti-development and are very interested in the smart development of this corner, located in the heart of Carrboro. There are several concerns about the proposed CVS project including:
• Traffic volume and congestion
• Traffic increase into the surround neighborhoods
• Pedestrian safety
• 24-Hour parking, noise
• The demolition of historic buildings for a parking lot

Overall, this does not appear to be a good fit for a high volume, large CVS. If you are concerned about the future of this corner please join us on Sunday. We will present the status of the CVS proposal, discuss drawings of their plans, brainstorm creative ideas about what we would like to see on that
corner, and end with action items and next steps.

What is CVS proposing to do?

View in a larger map

What is happening?
CVS is proposing to build a 2 story 24,000 square foot building and parking lot in the Center of Carrboro on the corner of Weaver St and N. Greensboro St. (See Map).  In order to construct this building at least 2 Historic Mill-houses will be demolished and many mature trees will need to be cut-down.  See the developer's initial plans at this Link.

What are the consequences for Carrboro?
To name a few..

• This major development will have a huge impact on the character of downtown Carrboro. (see aerial photos).  The effects will be clearly seen from the Weaver St Market Lawn.
• Traffic volume and congestion will increase at an already dangerous intersection of downtown. This will increase danger for pedestrians and bicyclists.  Traffic will also increase into the surrounding neighborhoods.
• A high volume 24-Hour CVS will dramatically increase noise and light pollution very near to the mill-house residential neighborhood.  There will be more truck deliveries and dumpster pick-ups.

We simply believe this is the wrong place to put the highest volume CVS in the state of NC.
However, we do believe this corner could be developed by others in a smart way that would be a much better fit for downtown.

What can you do?

• Tell the Carrboro Alderman your opinion on this project.  The developer must ask the town to rezone residential and light-commercial properties on Center Street in order for them to build a parking lot.
• Attend meeting the developer is holding on  March 14th at 7PM at Carrboro Town Hall.
• Attend community organizing meeting April 3rd at 2PM at Carrboro Town Hall.
• Join out Google Groups announcement list (in lower right corner of this blog OR click here).  This will be a low-traffic list with only essential announcements.
• Discuss in comments section below and tell everyone who might be affected by this.

More Information & news articles:
http://www.orangepolitics.org/2010/10/cvs-planning-major-development-in-downtown-carrboro
http://www.carrborocitizen.com/main/2010/11/11/development-on-key-corner-gets-first-review-by-board/
http://heraldsun.net/view/full_story/10274184/article-Carrboro-may-soon-house-a-new-CVS?instance=main_article
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/11/09/792581/carrboro-board-reviews-plans-for.html#story_tab_main%23ixzz156AuRELJ

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