WS Chronicle

A change to Winston-Salem zoning ordinances that would allow residential development in Highway Business districts is receiving opposition from neighborhood groups.

A proposed zoning amendment would allow residential, multifamily and town home construction in Highway Business (HB) and General Office (GO) districts and would eliminate the need for such projects to go through the zoning process, which includes a public hearing and approval by the City Council. The move is supposed to encourage residential development in those areas, allowing residents to be within walking distance of goods and services. Other major cities in the state like Greensboro, Raleigh, Charlotte, Durham and Chapel Hill already allow this.

The reaction to the proposed change has been mixed, causing it to get a tie vote from the Planning Board, who sent it to the city’s General Government Committee with no recommendation. During a Planning Board public hearing on it, the North Carolina Housing Foundation, Piedmont Triad Apartment Association and the Realty Commercial Alliance supported the change, which will allow mixed-use development. Opposition has come from neighborhood groups like the Neighborhood Alliance, New South Community Coalition and the Ardmore Neighborhood Association, who say that making these projects go through the rezoning process gives residents a voice in them.

“We want to keep the whole zoning process of public hearings, going before the Planning Board and the City Council,” said Carolyn Highsmith with the New South Community Coalition.

There were also concerns expressed by residents about gentrification. City/County Planning Director Paul Norby said that no one would be displaced by this ordinance change because no one currently lives in those zoning districts. While there may be higher-end housing attracted to these districts that could drive up near-by real estate values, Norby believes they’ll attract a variety of housing. He said some developers have expressed interest in doing affordable housing in HB districts.

The areas of the city affected by this are relatively small, with HB districts existing along some parts of University and Peters Creek parkways and Stratford and Reynolda roads. HB districts already allow dozens of uses which include hotels, hospitals, colleges, shopping centers, car washes, cemeteries, landfills, indoor shooting ranges and schools.

Planning staff already altered the proposed amendment to require residential development to happen on land that’s at least an acre in size and said Norby, that requirement may get larger.

During last week’s committee meeting, City Council members said they like the intent of the amendment, but felt it needed more changes and there needs to be more discussions with concerned residents to get the community onboard.

“I’d like to hear more specific concerns from neighborhoods other than ‘We want a voice in the process’ because it’s tough to build a specific policy around that as much as it is to come up with specific standards, set backs and things like that,” said City Council Member Jeff MacIntosh.

The matter is expected to back before the General Government Committee in the coming months.