Commentary: Infill is making me ill
Posted by Robert Maier on January 17, 2007
Sometimes it seems like the South and Walnut neighborhood is under siege, as waves of developers come to roost on our doorsteps.
Yet another bright orange p
lastic fence now surrounds a cute brick bungalow one block down from us on Walnut Street. Bulldozers have poked gaping holes in its walls, and soon another piece of the neighborhood will be stripped of trees and grass down to the wet red clay that surrounds the old neighborhood now.
Bulldozers growl and beep, beep beep all day, pile drivers shake the ground, and lines of idling dump trucks haul dirt in and out. Maybe the fire department will burn another old home for practice. Welcome to the New Urbanist Planner’s process called Infill.
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Rodney Graham said
I’d like to address the various falsehoods and insinuations that were made about our development of the former Reid family property on Walnut and Spring Streets.
The orange plastic fencing is there to protect trees, and if you walk the property, you will see that the majority of large trees are being saved in our project (imagine that!!). The “cute” brick bungalow? One could argue whether it is cute or not, but it is inarguable that it is in bad shape structurally. The three rental houses on the property are in worse shape, and one of them is completely covered inside with mold. Should we leave these houses “as is” to protect the integrity of the neighborhood? And the “gaping hole” you implied was bulldozed by the developer into the cute brick bungalow? Well, it wasn’t the brick bungalow, but instead the outbuilding behind it, and it wasn’t done by the developer (ie. me). It was done by the family that owned the property before we purchased it. They brought in a heavy piece of machinery to remove some personal equipment in that building. We are going to tear down the outbuilding in the next few days, so it will not be an issue.
Our development has been approved by the Town Board, and lauded by residents of your neighborhood who are familiar with the plans. In addition to the historically styled houses, we are bringing you a greenway easement and are providing an access to the greenway off of Walnut Street. We are also widening Spring Street at the request of your residents.
I recognize that development is not always good, and can often be out of control. But I am offended that you are choosing to lump our development in that category, without seeming to be informed about our plans, and without the courtesy of contacting me (one call to the Town would get you my name and number) to discuss the development prior to criticizing it.
If you are so concerned about development in your neighborhood, why didn’t you come to either of the two public charettes that we held regarding our development (I sent you a personal invitation)? Should you – or anyone else – wish to talk to me about it, I can be reached at 704-239-1124. I live in the Infill area, so it would be easy to meet personally.
Things change. The house where you now live used to be woods and farmland, until a developer came in and made it into a neighborhood. Was that OK in the 1940s, but not OK now?? Why is 2007 the magic year to put Davidson in the pickle jar? Is there really not an opportunity to make things better?
If you want to be part of making the decisions as to how that change will occur, get involved. Offer an alternative. You had the opportunity to get involved in the process at the appropriate time, but you did not.
Most people who bemoan change have no alternative other than keeping things the way they are. There is good progress and bad progress, but doing nothing is a sure route to mediocrity in all aspects of life. I strongly believe that 2007 is better than 1907, and I firmly believe 2107 will be better yet, not by the efforts of those who are satisfied with the status quo, but by the efforts of those who have a vision of how things can be better and who have the courage to strive for that vision.
I’ll end with a quote from Theodore Roosevelt: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
My experience of being in the “arena” of building houses in the Davidson Infill is that you do get roughed up a bit. But I’m very proud to be doing something positive that will be here long after I am not. Our development at Walnut and Spring is such an example. It is something that I am quite proud of, and I am confident that the vast majority of Davidson will feel the same way.