03-31-2021, 06:52 PM
Had something similar happen to a neighborhood I lived in when I first evacuated up here to Central AR from New Orleans for Katrina. About 2 years ago, +/-, it was announced that a big plot of land abutting the little country-esque road was being sold to a trucking company to develop as a distribution warehouse.
The area is near the interstate (I-30 E/W) so it was desirable, but they were buying the land behind that plot -- i.e., they were going to develop the land on the subdivision side, not the service road side, which would seem to make more sense.
The neighborhood fought for the two years and they started clearcutting while things were still being argued. Once they started with the survey of the building layout, it was a done deal.
Now, if you dig a little deeper you find out why that plot got sold rather than the service road side: a councilman owned the land that was closer to the subdivision. It got rezoned quietly. It all stinks.
They tried to do something similar to the land behind the subdivision I live in; about a block away, there was land that was originally being developed for a small subdivision (which failed; long story); my neighborhood soon discovered that someone was pushing through a permit to build a multi-story 8A apartment complex on the land. I have no dispute with the need for 8A housing but, first, it would be several subdivisions in, so traffic would be untenable and second, there is a multi-year moratorium on apartment building in the city (there's a large glut of apartments).
Again, digging, you find out that it was the former mayor's uncle who was going to build the complex and profit from the situation, so he was getting her (the mayor) to push through zoning changes and a special exception for the moratorium. Luckily, several lawyers live in my subdivision and jumped all over it. One told me they had some information regarding the mayor's tenure that would change the situation and, sure enough, it got shut down pretty quick once it all came to light.
Good ol' boy politics & profiteering is alive and well.
The area is near the interstate (I-30 E/W) so it was desirable, but they were buying the land behind that plot -- i.e., they were going to develop the land on the subdivision side, not the service road side, which would seem to make more sense.
The neighborhood fought for the two years and they started clearcutting while things were still being argued. Once they started with the survey of the building layout, it was a done deal.
Now, if you dig a little deeper you find out why that plot got sold rather than the service road side: a councilman owned the land that was closer to the subdivision. It got rezoned quietly. It all stinks.
They tried to do something similar to the land behind the subdivision I live in; about a block away, there was land that was originally being developed for a small subdivision (which failed; long story); my neighborhood soon discovered that someone was pushing through a permit to build a multi-story 8A apartment complex on the land. I have no dispute with the need for 8A housing but, first, it would be several subdivisions in, so traffic would be untenable and second, there is a multi-year moratorium on apartment building in the city (there's a large glut of apartments).
Again, digging, you find out that it was the former mayor's uncle who was going to build the complex and profit from the situation, so he was getting her (the mayor) to push through zoning changes and a special exception for the moratorium. Luckily, several lawyers live in my subdivision and jumped all over it. One told me they had some information regarding the mayor's tenure that would change the situation and, sure enough, it got shut down pretty quick once it all came to light.
Good ol' boy politics & profiteering is alive and well.