tony jeter dot com

On Friday the Telegram did an article about a zoning case coming before the P&Z today.  You can read my comments in the article. Since that article came out I have had several discussions with folks for and against the NS zoning.  The Nays think that the area should be zoned for single-family homes ONLY. They go on to say that we will end up with everything from lawn mower repair shops to Laundromats.  This is entirely incorrect. Click here to see the acceptable (and unacceptable) uses within an area zoned NS.  The Ayes would like to see increased investment in the area. They believe this strategy could help transition the area from an area with a lot of rental homes to one that is seeing a new vibrancy that comes from investment from both homeowners and neighborhood businesses.

I believe I have come up with a good solution that could also be seen as a compromise between the two sides. Lets move forward and rezone the area Neighborhood Services AND require all commercial establishments to have to have a conditional use permit “CUP”.  This process will afford the City and neighborhood a tremendous amount of control to what kind of development occurs in the area. It’s a win-win in my opinion.

My wife and I are heading up the Temple Historic District’s Bloomin 5K and Fun run.  I can honesty say that this has been a lot more work than I imagined, especially for my wife.  One of Shana’s jobs was to find stuff to put in the runner’s goody bags. On a lark she asked one of her fellow Junior Leaguers that works at McLanes to see if she could get some sunflower seeds and beef jerky donated.  She triumphantly called me to inform me that McLanes was “on board”.  When she went to pick up the goods she was met by a nice guy named Mike who helped her load…. and load…. and load… and load all kinds of great stuff into her Expedition.  By the time they were done loading her truck was completely filled.  What a pleasant surprise! Thanks McLanes!

Click here to register for the race.

Below is a question I received today from a Temple Telegram reporter in reference to house being built on North 3rd.  I thought I would kill two birds with one stone by answering his question in a blog post.

Tony,

I spoke to Kim about 1014 N. 3rd St., and she said that the design plans for the site have been passed so far and that it has been issued all of its certificates of appropriateness.  Do you have concerns at all about the parking designs there? The information I received seemed to make it look like you had some concerns.

I will admit I am disappointed with what will be the final product.  Now don’t get me wrong I think the appearance of the house is OK.  My beef is that house was not situated on the lot in such a way as to be in keeping with the rest of the homes on the block.  Thus “appropriate” in appearance ala a “certificate of appropriateness”. All of the other homes on the block have side drives with additional parking in the rear.  The original site plan had no side driveway but instead was going to have front parking that would resemble a commercial establishment. To me this was unacceptable.  City staff tried to mitigate my concerns and got the builder to agree to not have a front drive but to instead build a side driveway. I applaud the builder for his flexibility but this change was being made after the house was already framed thus there was no moving the house. The space that is left is just not enough to afford the necessary space for a fully functional side driveway. This situation could have easily been avoided had the house been positioned on the lot similar to the other houses. The builder bears no blame in my book they got their permits and went to work. My bet is that cars will eventually end up parking on the driveway as well as on the grass in the front of the house.  Which I don’t believe is in keeping with the spirit of a “certificate of appropriateness”