Community meeting draws 25
Published 10:33 pm Thursday, December 9, 2010
About two dozen residents received more information on the proposed Four Farms development a community meeting Thursday.
A group of opponents of the project hosted an open house at the East Suffolk Recreation Center to inform their neighbors of the massive proposed development. About 20 to 25 people stopped by throughout the night, organizer Lory Lagoyda estimated.
“I didn’t talk to anybody that was for [the project],” Lagoyda said. “All in all, it was a good thing.”
The group, Suffolk Citizens for Responsible Growth, is fighting the proposed Four Farms development, which would include about 2,000 single- and multi-family housing units and 164,000 square feet of commercial space. The project would sit on 462 acres south of downtown between Hosier and White Marsh roads, with a northernmost boundary near Seminole Drive.
A rezoning and comprehensive plan amendment connected to the proposal have been stalled in Planning Commission since September. That body has postponed a vote twice to give residents, the developers and the city time to get more information.
Further discussion, with a possible vote, is scheduled for the Dec. 21 Planning Commission meeting. If planners vote this month, the issue then goes to City Council in January for a vote.
Lagoyda said the meeting drew both residents who already knew about the project and those who had only heard about it and needed more information.
“It was just to make sure people are aware,” Lagoyda said, adding that she didn’t mind if some of her neighbors approve of the project. “As long as they know about it, they can make a decision.”
The development would include space for office, grocery and retail establishments, a variety of parks, lakes and open spaces, and a 19-acre site for an elementary school. The development could attract more than 5,000 residents by the time of its projected completion in 2018. Single-family detached houses would cost between $175,000 and $350,000, depending on the market when they are completed.
Lagoyda said many people who live in the area that will be most affected still do not know about the project, which is one reason the group organized the meeting.
“We’ve been knocking on doors,” she said. “I don’t want to look back after it’s all said and done and say, ‘I wish I’d done that.’”
For more information on the citizen group, visit www.suffolkresponsiblegrowth.com.