So what did we learn from young Master Mollenhour at the community meeting on July 13? Not much really. In his defense, he was only given 10 minutes on the agenda and he spent over half of that informing us what he wouldn't be able to tell us this time but would be able to tell us in three weeks. We did get to meet his Daddy, though. He's real proud of Junior. He, too, lives in the neighborhood. He was the only one in the room to raise his hand when a community member at the meeting took a straw poll to see if anyone in the room of over 100 wanted this thing. Pop reminded us that sonnyboy Jordan, whilst growing up, probably mowed many of our lawns. And many of us might remember young Jordan when he worked at the Garden Fresh Market on Chapman. And did we know that Jordan was responsible for building the nice yellow and green shelves at the market? Yes, the very ones. But I digress.

What we learned was that Mollenhour Homes has a contract on the 14.5 acres that run along Magazine, Sarvis, Cilla and Mapleloop. They wil be seeking to have the area rezoned from R1 to RP1. My understanding of the significance of the zoning change, gleaned from others in the room, is that RP1 would allow condos and apartments, whereas R1 would not. I have to check on this because I want to know the minutia. With rezoning in place, Mollenhour's plan would be to build 20 to 30 single family, detached homes and 30 to 40 townhouse style condos. He stressed to the community that the purpose behind the attached style housing would be to preserve as much green space as possible. I'm sure it has nothing to do with cramming-as-many-units-in-as-small-a-space-as-possible-to-get-the-most-money-you-can-with-the-least-amount-of-regard-for-the-integrity-of-the neighborhood-and-the-people-and-animals-and-woods-that-live-there. No, not our native son. The size of the units would range from 1400 - 2000 sq ft. They would be sold starting at $150,000 and go up to $250,000. Now if you know anything about Colonial Village, you know that there are very few homes there that would sell for $250,000. In fact, I'm not sure if there are any. I live on one of the nicest streets in the Village. Houses around me have recently sold in the range of $100-$135,000. Jordan Mollenhour blabbed on about how his planned development could only increase the property value of the houses around it as if this would draw a collective sigh of relief, thumbs-up, goodnight we can go home now response. While this may have titillated a few, many of the folks in the room - and a lot of them heading toward or already in their retirement years - are not that interested in increasing property values, because we'd rather have our neighborhood as it is and we're not planning on selling. I think its fair to say that many of us plan to leave this neighborhood not in the mover's truck, but in the mortician's. And as for increasing property values, well along with that comes increasing property taxes. And that's a whole nother story.

Now after Jordon finished his spiel, he took questions from the floor for about 20 min. I don't want to go into all of the "she asked" "he said," because I can't remember it all and I don't want to type that long and he basically deferred most of his answers for the followup meeting. But basically people are concerned about the rezoning that would allow condos and whatnot; the historical flooding and drainage issues related to the property; the unwielding sinkholes found there; the capacity of the elementary school to take in more kids; and the nightmare traffic that would happen on Magazine/Stone Rd.

And what about the trees? I managed to get the first question asked and that was my question. Jordan Mullenhour replied that it was in their best interest to preserve as many trees as possible because trees are very expensive to remove and replant. And this was his first certifiable lie. If you want to see what Mollenhour Homes thinks about trees, just drive over to his current project under development "Colonial Estates." Its on Sevierville Pk. Take Lindy (the road behind Kay's Ice Cream on Chapman); follow it to Seveirvill Pk; turn left and there is will be on your left. You'll recognize it by the 10 or so cookie cutter houses that look exactly freakin alike. And there is not one damn tree within the development.

Next up, I'll post some pictures and tell you about a conversation I had with a woman who lives on Centeroak across the street from the new and under development Colonial Estates. Its an earful, but not at all surprising.

For background on this story, see my first post.

Michele