The Evansville Planning Commission met on Tuesday, July 5, 2005, 6pm and approved the site plan and preliminary land division application for the NEW ACE HARDWARE which will be located adjacent to the new Bank of Evansville.
There was considerable discussion on the issue of sidewalks and an additional lane for cars to get around cars that are turning into the McDonalds intersection. After much debate, the developer agreed to pay for any costs incurred in acquiring the land necessary for this lane.
On the issue of the sidewalks, the Plan Commission voted to require that Ace provide a sidewalk if one is required of the Bank of Evansville. Mr. Hammann pointed out that it made little sense after plotting all the "missing sidewalks" in the rest of Evansville that the plan commission would go ahead and create more of them. This is going to be a big destination point for shoppers and some will be walking.
I stopped in to the Ace Hardware store in Milton today since that was the "comparable" market store that the 14,000sq. ft design for Evansville was based on. The store is located on Hwy V which has no way near the traffic that HWY 14 does. The Milton store has 19,000 sq. ft. It is packed with product and has all the rental and range of product that Dave wants to see in Evansville. I called him and asked why he did not ask for more space in Evansville. He said it was simply economics. The space in Milton is much cheaper and that the space of the new Ace in Evansville must be fully utilized. He also mentioned that the Evansville store will have more brick on it and that this was requested by the city.
Good luck with this question because they all want to point their fingers at the other guy, with out any one taking responsibility for anything.
ReplyDeleteIt is important to admit to making errors when they are discovered. It appears some members of the Plan Commission believe the city made an error when the city approved the subdivision that contains the condominiums and commercial lots on Brown School Road east of J. Lindemann Dr. without requiring these streets to be classified as collector streets. Collector streets would be wider to handle the traffic to and from the businesses, and sidewalks would be required on both sides. It appears to me the city is becoming more willing to ask developers to pay for these kinds of costs on new subdivisions, but it is difficult to undo past mistakes.
ReplyDeleteJust so everyone knows this, the state and city (with special assessments to the property owners) will install sidewalk on the north side of USH 14 from CTH M, to J. Lindemann Dr., and the city has required Landmark Services and the Bank of Evansville to install sidewalks on both sides of J. Lindemann Dr. The "missing sidewalk" is on the south side of Brown School Road going east from J. Lindemann Dr.
Bill Connors
Evansville City Administrator
This is just another way of saying DON'T shop in Evansville. I'm waiting for another grocery store with a motorized shopping cart to use for handicapped people and another restaurant like CULVER'S. We really needed another DOLLAR store and a drive-thru liquor store. Also another bank is going in by Exchange Street.Really, where are we keeping shopping in Evansville?
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