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Yes, it’s crazy town time again. A commercial developer was forced to do an environmental impact report by the threat of a lawsuit from the so-called Friends of Herbert Green School.
This is not a major shopping center we are talking about. Due to the county’s burdensome oak ordinance and an appellate court overruling its pay-to-fell program the developer downsized his small strip center to 8,760 square feet. It originally was 30,570 square feet.
At 8,700 square feet it’s sized more like a McMansion than a full service commercial and office center. It’s a waste of money to do an EIR for such a small development.
It’s a benefit to Herbert Green School because it will result in a sidewalk along Forni Road where there is none currently. The middle school produces a traffic jam of parents picking up children at the end of the day, with cars backing up to Missouri Flat Road and interfering with regular traffic turning onto Golden Center Drive and exiting from Golden Center Drive.
The school kids either ride home with parents or ride a school bus. There just aren’t walkers for schools not located in the city or in subdivisions. To claim that this center facing Missouri Flat Road creates a problem for Herbert Green School is specious.
What it will do is generate sales tax revenue for county government. It will also filter runoff from the parking lot into the seasonal creek.
Creekside Plaza at the northwest corner of Forni and Missouri Flat roads will improve a corner that has been used by itinerant venders, mobile advertising and campaign signs. It will provide a bus stop going in the opposite direction and some services easily accessible for those northbound on Missouri Flat Road.
If a person can’t build a commercial center on Missouri Flat Road after all the traffic improvements made there the county might as well roll up the white line at night and call the area hick town.
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