The vote cleared the way for redeveloping the city’s central business district with an urban flair — buildings up to six stories high, pedestrian-friendly streets and a mix of uses that allows residents to live above offices and stores.
The urban heart cultivated by the Smart Growth plan will encompass about 380 acres, but a standing-room-only crowd of about 200 at the board meeting was largely concerned with only 14 of those acres.
Known as the Owen Tract, Smart Growth rezoning of the triangular slice of undeveloped woods and residential properties formed by Cordova, Neshoba and Germantown roads drew a last-minute thunderstorm of opposition from neighborhoods.
They are concerned that concentrating townhomes, retail space, offices, and a residential health care facility would overburden the neighborhood.
The board, however, didn’t let the critics or their signs rain on the third and final vote for Smart Growth rezoning.
Mayor Sharon Goldsworthy, backed up by silent aldermen given two opportunities to say otherwise, told the audience that the rules allowed citizens to speak only on items not on the agenda.
The Commercial Appeal reports the entire story.
