Growth – Is Central Ready?

    Next week the mayor and city council will meet concerning the final approval of the Settlement at Shoe Creek, a new neighborhood on Sullivan across from WalMart to include 447 homes, 250 apartments, and 100,000 square feet of commercial buildings.  I have one question: Is Central Ready?
    Let me say up front that the developer proposing this project does these Traditional Neighborhood Developments very well, and ones they have done elsewhere are attractive and successful.  If Central is to grow in this manner, at this pace, I’m confident that this developer will do it well.  But Is Central Ready?
    Connectivity, density, and overcrowding are the big words cities currently use to talk about one-entrance neighborhoods, big apartment complexes, and lack of classroom space in schools.  All of these are issues Central faces in every new development in our growing city.
My first concern was the city council’s initial decision not to require this large new development to connect to an adjoining neighborhood.  While I fully understand the concerns of the homeowners in that existing subdivision, there are seven or eight more future connections to adjacent properties planned for this development.  Will connections be required to those properties in the future?  Central’s Master Plan is to require connectivity.  Central has forced connectivity in other developments.  Is Central Ready to require it now?
    The city’s staff report on this project recommends approval, but also points out that “…the density exceeds the recommended levels that were planned in the Master Plan.”  We need to all remember that the Master Plan is NOT a law, it is a plan.  As such, Central’s elected officials can deviate from it whenever they see fit.
    Approving this development raises the number of apartments allowed on this property from 41 to 250, creating the density greater than the Master Plan suggests.  If Central is truly ready for 250 apartments, this developer is probably among the best to build them.  I’m not a big fan of apartments because of the decline in maintenance, rental rate, and attractiveness that most often is the fate of apartment complexes.  The questions before our elected officials next Tuesday are: Will these apartments be the exception to the rule? And Is Central Ready for this type of growth?
    In my opinion, the challenge of building classroom space to accommodate population growth is not the job of the City of Central, it is the job of the Central School Board.  Even so, we are all citizens of the City of Central in addition to living in the Central school district.  What affects one affects both.  The vote Tuesday night is not being made in a vacuum, so the last question is the same as the first one: Is Central Ready?