The Cold Spring City Council approved a zone change on the former DAV headquarters site from an industrial park to a mixed-use development and neighborhood commercial zone, making way for medical buildings and possible restaurants.
The council voted four to two to approve the zone change, with council members Cindy Moore and Dave Guidugli voting no, noting concerns about traffic and possible housing density in the future development portion of the site.
The area is approximately 27 acres on the corner of Alexandria Pike, also known as U.S. 27, and Industrial Road. The site, which has the working name “Cold Spring Town Center,” by developer Al. Neyer LLC, was approved by the Cold Spring Planning and Zoning Commission in May for two proposed medical office buildings with three retail and/or commercial buildings on the east side of the development.
The developer has agreed that aside from the city’s planning and zoning commission, the city council will also get a say on the density of the property, even though it is not required. The city has an ordinance that requires 20% of the property to remain green space, and the city council included the 20% in their vote for approval to avoid any requested variances by the developer.
“Density, I’d like to see a text amendment added to the mixed-use planned development zone (part of the future development area) so that we can control the amount of buildings, apartments, condos on one acre,” Moore said. “If we don’t control it now we’re never going to control it.”
She said there are a lot of one-acre lots attached to the property that would automatically change to a mixed-use planned development zone.
The future development area, as well as the three retail/commercial buildings, will require a stage one plan review when it is considered for development. The uses must comply with the mixed-use planned development zone and could include office, commercial, and/or residential uses. The developer must also return to the planning commission and city council for approval. The area is about 10 acres.
“The DAV property is the beginning of the city,” Guidugli said. “The whole piece of property is viewable from U.S. 27, and depending on what they do, there is going to make a world of difference to the entrance of our city.”
He said the 10 acres of future development could make way for many apartments to go up, and in his opinion and others that he spoke with, that’s not what they want to go there. He said if the 10 acres were kept industrial, he wouldn’t have a problem with it.
Moore also brought up traffic on Industrial Road, also known as 1998, where a proposed separate entrance and exit will be utilized. She said she recently sat behind seven semi-trucks waiting for the light.
“You want to make this entrance and exit off of 1998 to these medical office buildings, restaurants and whatever else on the east end of that property,” Moore said. “I come up that road and sit behind seven semis already. A deceleration lane isn’t going to help that.”
Moore also questioned the traffic study submitted by the developer. She said the roads named in the study do not connect to U.S. 27, where the traffic concerns are.
“On this traffic study, I’ve got quite a few concerns,” she said. “They’re talking about improving traffic flow on 27 through the installation of a deceleration right turn lane on U.S. 27 at Monterey Lane and a right in, right out lane opposite of Sonoma Court. Both of those are in Chardonnay (condominiums). They don’t even connect to 27. So, how much is this report worth? There is not a connecting road from Chardonnay to 27. Come on people, don’t blow smoke.”
Moore said she thinks there needs to be another road study.
“I would think people here higher up than I am would realize that,” Moore said. “It don’t take a rocket scientist.”
Cold Spring City Council Member Adam Sandfoss asked Moore what she wants to see done with the property instead of the current proposal.
“For example, let’s say it stays industrial (zone) and becomes a factory,” he said. “Well, then you might see even more semis coming out of that going onto 1998.”
Moore said the city hasn’t had issues with the industrial businesses already residing on 1998. She said the buildings look nice, and there aren’t 400-500 cars in and out daily.
“With this, as far as the city is concerned, we’re making a lot of money on payroll taxes,” Sandfoss said. “If you’re not having a lot of employees—a lot of those factories are implementing robots and technologies with less employees, then all of a sudden the amount of money that is available, which was the whole reason for this to have an influx of money so we can keep taxes low while providing amazing services for the city.”
Many residents have been outspoken against the development at various meetings that have been held. Cold Spring residents have even started a petition to, “postpone, suspend vote on zoning change relating to the DAV/Neyer development,” which has been shared with LINK nky.
There are currently 162 signatures on the petition. It reads, “We, the citizens of Cold Spring, petition the Cold Spring Mayor and the Cold Spring City Council to postpone action on the zone changes relating to the Neyer/DAV development plan until city council executes a more effective, more informative notification/communication with all the Cold Spring citizens who might be impacted by the proposed zone changes which are driven by the proposed Neyer/DAV development. We believe adequate notification of Cold Spring citizens should precede action, especially approval, of such significant, consequential deviation from the current/existing comprehensive plan.”
During the meeting Monday night, Senior Vice President Real Estate with Al. Neyer Ryan Reardon said, “We take our obligations to the city to the stakeholders, to the constituents very seriously. We consider ourselves to be a responsible developer, and we do our best to address all of the concerns raised in public settings.”
Former Cold Spring Mayor Mark Stoeber said that there was a past city development in which the developer held public meetings, received input and tweaked their stage one plan with the community.
