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Post by Blackfoot on May 6, 2005 10:48:13 GMT -5
Ok folks....just as info. I received this today; its the first I've heard of it. Did anybody else receive this??... This is an urgent message !! Dear Aggie Family, We recently learned that a local company wants to get a special permit from the Greensboro Zoning Commission to put a junkyard (transfer station) next to campus at 1640 Sullivan Street. After all of the incredibly hard work of everyone on this campus and in the community to beautify and present an enriching academic environment, putting a junkyard next to campus would be an affront to everything that North Carolina A&T stands for. Therefore, I will be testifying in opposition to this request Monday, May 9 at 2 p.m., at the Greensboro Zoning Commission meeting. It will held at the Melvin Municipal Building, in the Council Chambers, 300 Washington Street in downtown Greensboro. Please attend the Greensboro Zoning Commission meeting this Monday. We need to be there in full force to ensure that this inappropriate request is defeated. This is really important. We must not allow a junkyard in our backyard! I hope you will join me on Monday. Thanks. Chancellor Renick James C. Renick, Chancellor North Carolina A&T State University 1601 East Market Street Dowdy Administration Bldg. Greensboro, North Carolina 27411 (336) 334-7940 (336) 334-7082 Forward this message to a friend.
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Post by A&T AGGIE 96 on May 6, 2005 11:23:38 GMT -5
When in douby verify... I checked the Greenboro City Zoning commission site www.greensboro-nc.gov/planning/boards_commissions/zoning_commission/index.htmThere is a meeting May 9th @ 2PM There is also a company Bessemer Improvement Company that wishes to get a special use permit for a Refuse and Raw Materials Transfer Point www.greensboro-nc.gov/planning/boards_commissions/zoning_commission/zone_agenda.htmThis no doubt is what the letter is refering to...the question is did it come from A&T....or is some local not pleased with what the Bessemer Improvement Company has planned. Here is the site...A&T is to the left on the other side of the Hwy. Here are the conditions: A. An ordinance rezoning from RS-12 Residential Single Family to RS-7 Residential Single Family – for a portion of the property located on the north side of Lucas Avenue between Sheldon Road and Glenside Drive – for John K. Marks. (Sheets 177, 178) B. An ordinance granting a Special Use Permit for a Refuse and Raw Materials Transfer Point with the following conditions: 1) The existing building will be retained. 2) The use will be only for receiving, disassembling and sorting of salvage materials principally of metal and metal products and removing the sorted materials to off-site locations for recycling. 3) No long-term (more than two weeks) storage of materials will be conducted on the premises. 4) A fence will be maintained along the entire site and the fence along the southern property line will be site-obscuring in nature. - for a portion of the property located at the southeast quadrant of O. Henry Boulevard and Sullivan Street – for Bessemer Improvement Company. (Sheets 3, 14)
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Post by A&T AGGIE 96 on May 9, 2005 12:07:03 GMT -5
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Post by DOOMS on May 9, 2005 13:04:16 GMT -5
It looks like it's across highway 29 from A&T. I would think that the highway would be an effective barrier to keep people from associating the transfer station with the school.
I would also think that those people whose yards will be abuting that monstrosity would raise a bigger fuss. I wouldn't begin to fathom that you could get any consideration to put a transfer station that close to a residential area, even though it is adjacent to an industrial park.
I think this part might prove problematic for us:
I'm interested to see what results. Keep us posted!
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Aggie E
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Post by Aggie E on May 9, 2005 14:44:41 GMT -5
Good point Dooms. If they could put a "sight-obscuring barrier" on the western border of the property it would be even better. That way it would limit the visibility from campus almost totally! From the way it sounds the design of the fence could end up being a big factor.
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Maxell
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Post by Maxell on May 9, 2005 17:07:43 GMT -5
Scrapyard near A&T rejected by city board
5-9-05
Matt Williams, Staff Writer
Posted 4:55 p.m.
GREENSBORO — A plan to build a metal scrapyard near the N.C. A&T campus was rejected Tuesday by a city panel, heeding the calls of hundreds of school supporters who turned out in opposition.
Demolition magnate D.H. Griffin sought to build a center to collect scrap metal in a warehouse on Sullivan street across U.S. 29 from the university campus. But when word of the plans spread across the school, students and administrators feared it would detract from the millions the school is spending to expand and beautify the campus.
Members of the city’s Zoning Commission agreed, unanimously rejecting the plans. Griffin could opt to appeal the decision to the city council.
A&T Chancellor James Renick led the school’s opposition, noting that the scrapyard would be only 120 feet from the campus and that many of the trucks carrying loose metal would filter through the crowded campus streets and thousands of students walking to and from class.
Renick and others raised the question of whether a unsightly business would be allowed next to a major university outside of predominantly-black east Greensboro.
“Would a junkyard be proposed next to UNC-Chapel Hill or next to UNCG or Greensboro College?” Renick said, prompting cheers and applause from the crowd that overflowed into halls outside the meeting chamber.
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Post by Blackfoot on May 13, 2005 11:33:18 GMT -5
Hey yall....here's another email from Renick followed by an article in the News & Record. Just as info..........
From: James C. Renick [mailto:renickj@ncat.edu] Sent: Monday, May 09, 2005 4:55 PM To: Supervisor's List Subject: Thank you Aggie Family
HR Supervisors PLEASE DISTRIBUTE to all employees.
Dear Aggie Family,
Today our voice was heard at City Hall and the request for a special zoning permit for a recycling transfer site/ (junkyard) was denied by the Zoning Commission.
While it is not a surprise to us that so many Aggies chose to voice their opposition to a junkyard in our backyard, it certainly seemed to surprise others. I want to personally thank each of you for your support. We will carefully monitor this situation and keep you advised.
Again, thank you.
Your Chancellor
Article in the Greensboro News and Record...
Zoning panel sides with A&T about scrap yard 5-10-05 By Matt Williams Staff Writer News & Record
GREENSBORO -- Chancellor James Renick had too much of a good thing for his cause.
Called by school pride and carried by a charter bus, about 300 students, professors and residents turned out Monday to oppose a scrap yard proposed next to the campus of N.C. A&T. So many, in fact, that fire marshals surfaced within minutes to ask that the doors and aisles be clear of opponents craning to see inside the chambers.
A request to make room went unheeded by the crowd until Renick walked to the front of the room to thank them for their support and coax them to watch the meeting on television in the hall.
In the end, the city's zoning commission heeded the message from the crowd: A scrap yard is unwelcome near the alma mater of thousands of Greensboro residents.
Demolition magnate D.H. Griffin sought to build a center to collect scrap metal in a warehouse on Sullivan Street across U.S. 29 from the university campus. But when word of the plans spread across the school, students and administrators feared it would detract from the millions the school is spending to expand and beautify the campus.
The school arranged for its charter bus to take students and faculty to and from the meeting, including dozens of students who stayed past final exams to oppose the plans. So many wanted to come that the bus had to make a second trip back to the campus.
Jessica Robinson, a rising senior, said she didn't want prospective students turned off by an unsightly campus.
"If you came for a campus tour and you saw a junkyard, wouldn't you question that?" Robinson said after the decision.
Renick led the school's opposition, noting that the scrap yard would be only 120 feet from the campus and that many of the trucks carrying loose metal would filter through the crowded campus streets alongside thousands of students walking to and from class.
Renick and others raised the question of whether such a business would be allowed next to a major university outside of predominantly black east Greensboro.
"One has to wonder; would a junkyard be proposed next to UNC-Chapel Hill or next to UNC Greensboro or Greensboro College for that matter?" Renick said, prompting cheers and applause from the crowd.
"Please do not allow North Carolina A&T and the surrounding residential communities to be subjugated to the problems that a transfer site will cause."
Attorney Joe Williams, who serves on the school's board of trustees, questioned how an appraiser hired by Griffin could testify that the scrap yard would not hurt the property values of houses that back up to it.
"If this was over there next to Grandover, there'd be a problem," Williams said, referring to the high-dollar housing development near Jamestown.
None of the speakers mentioned race as a factor in the case, but community members were clear that allowing Griffin's proposal would set back efforts to shake the negative image they say was forced on eastern Greensboro during the decades of segregation.
During that time, many heavy industrial uses were located there, such as the White Street Landfill, sewage treatment plants and the Lorillard cigarette factory. Community leaders have said for years that those land uses were imposed on east Greensboro because they were unwanted in the predominantly white western part of the city.
Mac Sims, who heads a city-financed effort to revive East Market Street, asked the commission to not allow a business that will scare away future investment.
"This will not help us in our challenge in this neighborhood," Sims said.
For his part, Griffin insisted that his plans would not spell doom for the campus or the businesses and homes nearby. He and his attorney, Charlie Melvin, differed with Renick's use of the term "junkyard." Griffin and city planners call the facility by a more benign term, a refuse and raw materials transfer point.
Earlier this year, the city approved a similar transfer station for Griffin in an industrial area near Piedmont Triad International Airport and another in High Point. Griffin said it would cater to small contractors who would sell small pickup loads of copper, aluminum and steel from demolitions. The company would sort the metal inside the building until they could be shipped in truckloads to Griffin's larger plant on Hilltop Road.
Griffin said his plant would make no more noise for the university and neighboring homes than the trucking terminal that it replaces.
"They shouldn't even know we're there," he said.
City planners supported Griffin's request, saying it was a good reuse of property. But commission members said it was the wrong place to put a scrap yard, voting unanimously to reject the proposal.
Griffin could appeal the decision to the City Council for a final vote.
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Post by TOPPDOGG on May 18, 2005 18:35:47 GMT -5
Well the Chairman of the Commission cautioned Chancellor Renick that in the future a more proactive stance would be needed. He noted that the area of the proposed junkyard is zoned "Heavy Industrial." As such, any number of repugnant businesses could open up without approval from the Zoning Commission. The University better get busy in finding a solution. We either need to close Sullivan Street or get the zoning changed.
I hope we follow through.
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Post by DOOMS on May 19, 2005 7:11:19 GMT -5
...or buy up the office park.
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Post by aggiemanone on May 19, 2005 11:47:54 GMT -5
The funny thing is though, if we try to buy out the businees, there's a good chance that the zoning board will deny the change in zoning to institutional on the grounds of "sprawl". It allows them to deny zoning requests where they believe the entity is taking up uneccessary space. They pulled that stunt on A&T one time before when we tried to get the old chancellor house lot rezoned for a parking lot.
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