More details needed
Published 2:28 pm Thursday, August 3, 2017
It’s our hope that the restarting of the process of introducing the proposed 195-bed student apartment complex at the intersection of High and Appomattox streets will allow the community more specific information about the proposal.
The process in considering the project is restarting because Robert R. and Sherry P. Martin — who own the just more than one-acre property at the busy intersection where the five-story, 95,000-square-foot building could be situated — have withdrawn their original request to change the density regulations in all R-3 Zoning Districts and now wish to rezone their property to R-3A, along with changing the density regulation to allow for more units per acre.
The Farmville Town Council will now have to refer the matter back to the town’s planning commission, which will set a public hearing rather than holding a previously agreed to hearing later this month on the previous request.
During the reintroduction, it’s our hope that during their presentations to town council and the planning commission, both Developer Mike Kelley, of Kelley Properties, and Chris Phillips, with architectural and engineering firm Thompson & Litton, both of whom are working with the Martins, will present detailed data and plans to the appointed and elected officials.
Notably, the community is looking for details on entrances and exits, parking, construction and building design options and evidence of the demand for additional student housing.
Specific and detailed information pertaining to these topics weren’t offered during earlier presentations by the two.
It’s also our hope that members of the community concerned with the proposal will take Kelley up on something he offered numerous times during the late July planning commission hearing — holding a community meeting and taking the results of what the community is most concerned about and implementing that into the plans for the proposed building.