Residents oppose rezoning on Friendly Ave

A rezoning request in a Friendly Avenue neighborhood has residents upset.

More than 350 residents from the neighborhoods of Hamilton Lakes, Hamilton Forest and Starmount Forest gathered at Westminster Presbyterian Church on Monday in opposition to design plans to place a townhome community within the single-family, detached home neighborhood.

Hutchinson Court is a planned unit development for 22 attached, luxury, rental townhomes on three adjoining lots that have now been combined into a single 4.40-acre tract on Friendly Avenue, west of the Friendly Shopping Center. The former use of the property held three single-family homes.

To construct this new community, developer Glenn Drew of CZS Development, LLC has submitted a rezoning request to the city to rezone the area from R-3 (residential) to a Planned Unit Development. A planned unit development, or PUD, is a community of single-family homes, and sometimes condos or townhomes, where every homeowner belongs to a homeowners’ association (HOA). A PUD may include a mix of housing for homeowners with different price points along with convenient access to workplaces and amenities such as shopping, education and recreation. The current proposed development does not include such amenities on site.

The rezoning request consists of eight conditions: no more than 22 attached townhomes, each townhome will have a driveway connected to a garage; building height not to exceed 35 feet; building materials must be consistent with the community aesthetics and no vinyl siding; perimeter setbacks should be at least 20 feet, and the front perimeter setback should be at least 35 feet; a buffer planting yard with a width of 15 feet; developer will employ design variations for each home; and the neighborhood will not have vehicular access to adjoining neighborhoods or properties.

Drew was not at Monday night’s meeting; instead, his attorneys, Bo Rodenbough and Jamey Lowdermilk with Brooks Pierce Law Firm, shared plans and took questions from area residents in attendance. The rezoning plan Rodenbough shared was an updated version after Drew withdrew his initial request in July, due to neighborhood opposition. It was at that July meeting where more than 300 people in opposition to the development came out to voice their concerns during the Greensboro Zoning Commission meeting.

The neighborhood’s legal representation, Marsh Prause with Allman Spray Attorney and Counselors at Law, was not present at Monday’s meeting.

Since the plan’s initial introduction, a vast coalition against the rezoning has built a website, planted hundreds of lawn signs, and packed meeting halls with the hopes of impacting the city’s decision. Neighbors also expressed frustration that the revised plan only reduced the number of planned townhomes from 26 to 22 and did not properly address the neighbors’ concerns.

During a heated exchange between community members and the Brooks Pierce attorneys on stormwater management, a man in the crowd addressed the lawyers asking why they didn’t spend time talking to residents about the stormwater management system and what they experience daily, to which Lowdermilk replied,
“We don’t have an obligation to talk to everyone here.”

Later adding, “We understand that everyone in this room doesn’t want to be here and doesn’t like this proposal. We’re not here to change minds.”
CZS Development says that rent will start at $3,000 a month. While they insist the townhome community will blend into the neighborhood and attract empty-nesters and young professionals, one resident called the proposed architectural elements “low-budget housing,” to an eruption of applause from the crowd.
Rodenbough responded to the crowd saying, “We believe this is an attractive development that will enhance the value of the community and also add to the much-needed housing stock in the City of Greensboro.”

The City of Greensboro has been pushing for more affordable housing; however, the rental price of Drew’s development would be twice the city’s current median rent. The development company also promises that each two-story townhome will have plenty of shrubbery and trees.

Residents asked for a guarantee that a majority of the existing trees and shrubs would be saved during construction, to which lawyers from Brooks Pierce responded that only five percent of the trees are required to be saved based on city development requirements, which brought boos from the crowd.
Monday night’s meeting comes after a long fight between the neighbors and the developer stretching over several months. Opposition from homeowners stems from concerns on things like the street setbacks of 35 feet not being far enough, when some homes near the 4400 West Friendly location have a setback of 112 feet. Other community members expressed frustration at the fact that the townhomes would be for rent, instead of for sale.

“I don’t think it will decrease the value of your homes,” said Rodenbough.

Drew’s plan also calls for a ‘gentle density increase,’ which is a concept that promotes increasing neighborhood density by the addition of townhomes, two-to four-family homes, and small-scale apartment or condominium buildings. However, residents raised concerns about how the developer, or the city, would address increased traffic in a growing neighborhood, if there are no known plans to reconstruct the roadway system.

Many residents said at the meeting that they are not anti-development, but they are against the rezoning and this development plan for their neighborhood.

Jenny Kaiser, a member of the Friendly neighborhood coalition, asked Rodenbough if the developer would be willing to increase the size of the lots to mirror the Villages at Windsor, an R-5 community (5 single family homes per acre), which are about three- and four-tenths of an acre, and build only 13 homes instead.
Rodenbough responded that it “wouldn’t be economically viable.”

Both the developer and residents are set to share their positions before the Greensboro Planning and Zoning Board meeting on Monday, November 20, 2023. If the plan is approved by a zoning board majority, it is expected that the losing side will appeal the decision to the Greensboro City Council, which would decide the plan’s fate.

More information from the neighborhood is available at www.preservefriendlyavenue.com.