Thursday, March 25, 2010

Historic Ventures project has passed

The town commissioners approved the Historic Ventures project this time around. Per The Enquirer-Journal:
This time around, Historic Ventures got the “yes” it needed to move forward with their multiuse development.

Commissioners approved the project 3-1, with Commissioner Erin Kirkpatrick as the dissenting vote.

Eight pages of conditions were attached to the approval. For instance, there can only be construction during certain hours Monday through Saturday and never on Sundays. Also, the developer can’t submit plans for the undeveloped part of the land for two years.

The development will include a hotel, civic center, fitness center and other buildings.
I'll admit to not following this very closely since the first attempt fizzled, so it appears Historic Ventures made enough changes to their plans to pacify a significant portion of the initial opposition. But the article suggests this was significant:
But between that public hearing and this one, the town switched over from conditional use zoning to conditional zoning, opening up the lines of communication between all parties involved.

The developers also removed the proposed apartments and day care center from their plans.
I won't pretend to know the significance of switching from conditional use zoning to conditional zoning, so I'm just going to assume that removing the apartments was a more significant catalyst towards the recent vote in favor of Historic Ventures project. NOTE: I can't imagine the proposed day care center causing much consternation. Since Chesterbrook Academy is coming into town, a day care seems very financially viable in Waxhaw. And considering how much daycare extracts from from my family's finances, I imagine you'd feel the same if you aren't already feeling the same pinch.

But the one-time proposed apartments were always less bothersome to me than the still proposed hotel. I just have a hard time believing a hotel can keep its occupancy full enough during the week, if not during the weekends, to remain financially viable. If they build it, will they come?

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