A majority of Elon’s town council has given the all-clear to a Wake County developer’s plans for a mixed-use project at the southwest corner of North Williamson Avenue and University Drive.
Known as “Parc Village,” this 50-acre mixed use development is the third venture that Raleigh-based GreenHawk Development has been authorized to construct at this increasingly bustling road crossing on Elon’s northern periphery.
GreenHawk’s representatives had previously dubbed Parc Village as the “crown jewel” of these three projects – which also include a 129-home subdivision called Parc East and Parc Northwest, which combines 385 residences with a dollop of commercial development.
According to the company’s reps, Parc Village will put a far greater emphasis on non-residential development than either of their two earlier forays into Elon. Although GreenHawk’s plans for Parc Village include up to 600 multi-family dwellings, they also call for as much as 92,500 square feet of office space, a grocery store with a maximum footprint of 45,000 square feet, up to 43,000 square feet of additional retail, and a hotel or motel with at most 110 rooms.
Elon’s town council ultimately approved this eclectic mix of potential uses on Monday when it signed off on a conditional zoning request that allows Parc Village to take shape under a very specific set of parameters.
The self-imposed conditions that appear in this rezoning request include a number of features that GreenHawk had proposed in the hope of winning favor with municipal officials. To this end, GreenHawk has agreed to set aside more than 10 acres of open space within the development, build a network of sidewalks and bike paths that ties into the town’s own infrastructure, set up a charging station for electric vehicles, and establish a bus stop for Burlington’s Link Transit bus system. In return, the council has agreed to give GreenHawk a break on some of the town’s development standards for things such as street widths, driveway lengths, and landscaping.
The council had originally received a full-rundown of these various conditions during a state-mandated public hearing on March 11. On Monday, its members voted 4-to-1 to approve the whole package as it had been pitched at the hearing following a brief debate about a couple of the developer’s requested allowances.
The debate that preceded Monday’s decision was touched off by Elon’s mayor pro tem Monti Allison, who admitted that he had a couple of quibbles with what he otherwise deemed a commendable effort on the part of the developer.
Overall, it’s a great plan,” the mayor pro tem said before he delved into his objections, “many of us have envisioned an area being developed like that.”
Allison went on to object to the developer’s request for 18-foot-long driveways in lieu of the 19-foot minimum which appears in Elon’s LMO, or land development ordinance. He also took issue with the non-standard “tree islands” that GreenHawk also proposed in some areas. On both counts, Allison argued that the developer had requested departures from standards which the council had enshrined in the town’s development rules for good reason.
“That’s my concern,” he added; “we keep whittling away at what our LMO was intended to do.”
Allison’s concerns about GreenHawk’s tree islands were largely shrugged off by the rest of the council. His colleagues nevertheless gave a much fuller hearing to the mayor pro tem’s objections to the proposed one-foot offset from the town’s minimum requirement for driveway lengths.
Allison went on to argue that even a 19-foot driveway, which meets the minimum standard, is insufficient to accommodate some popular vehicles, like the Ford F-150 pickup, which reached a length of 19-feet-4-inches in some model years. He added that the council’s formerly lackadaisical attitude to driveway standards has led to situations in some neighborhoods where parked vehicles block sidewalks and drivers back out into the roadway with little warning to oncoming traffic.
“Cable Square is a good example where the development [standards] didn’t fit the neighborhood,” he added in reference to one subdivision where residents have recently complained about back out hazards, “but we still allowed it.”
In response to Allison’s grievance, Elon’s planning director Lori Oakley observed that the council had seen fit to permit 18-foot driveways in one of GreenHawk’s previous projects. Allison nevertheless attributed that concession on the council’s part to the long, arduous review process that had led to that particular project’s approval.
“We just kinda got worn down,” he recalled.
Allison proceeded to question GreenHawk’s representatives about the reason they’ve pressed for a one-foot reduction in Elon’s 19-foot length limit in the case of Parc Village. Jeremy Medlin, an executive with the Raleigh-based firm, explained that the preference for 18-foot driveways is driven, in part, by concerns about “impervious surface” – which, in turn, has spillover effects on the project’s requirements for runoff controls.
“It would generate more impervious surface, more than likely,” Medlin went on to say of the town’s 19-foot standard. “It would also add cost…and it runs against the grain of what we’re trying to create with this project, which is an urban-feeling environment.”
Medlin eventually offered to revert to the town’s 19-foot standard if it proved enough a sticking point for Elon’s town council. Yet, none of Allison’s colleagues were willing to join the mayor pro tem’s offensive against the requested 18-foot length.
The developer’s proposal raised no qualms, for instance, for councilman Randy Orwig, who declared himself more troubled over the drainage issues caused by impervious surface. Meanwhile, councilman Quinn Ray concurred with Medlin’s conclusion that an 18-foot length will be better suited to the compact, urban ambiance that GreenHawk has sought for Parc Village.
Even Elon’s mayor Emily Sharpe, who had initially commiserated with the mayor pro tem’s objections, conceded that shorter driveways are the norm in urban settings.
“I like my big, long driveway,” she added. “But I also live in a very different community…and I know people who live in Charlotte, where you back out of your garage and you’re literally out in the road.”
Allison went on to make a motion to approve the developer’s rezoning request minus the proposed one-foot deviation from the town’s minimum driveway length. The motion failed for lack of a second.
Councilman Michael Woods then made a motion for the zoning request as it had been presented during the hearing on March 11. Woods’ motion passed by a margin of 4-to-1, with Allison casting the lone vote of dissent.
