To link to NCCTV video of the meeting, click here.
July 11, 2008
Reiterating that it was never their intention to capture real estate offices in the town board’s list of prohibited first floor uses, the board changed its 18-month old statute to allow real estate offices to settle where they want, where landlords are willing. “Financial institutions” and “professional offices” remain prohibited.
Many small communities looking to increase downtown vibrancy
Supervisor Barbara Gerrard began by reminding the assembly that all across the country, communities are dealing with the issue of “revitalizing communities where there isn’t enough foot traffic to justify the merchants’ expenditures and rents.” Many believe, she said, that the way to encourage foot traffic is to encourage retail and restaurants, and discourage financial institutions and professional offices.
At the start of the hearing, board member John Buckley recused himself, since he is a licensed agent with Houlihan Lawrence, the real estate agency whose application to move into nearby first floor space was denied by the building inspector, causing the board to reexamine the local law. At its required public hearing to amend the law, half a dozen residents spoke in favor of keeping real estate from in habiting more first floor retail space.
Merchants ask board to leave real estate out of the mix
Owner of Greeley Home and Hardware, Gina Gore, pleaded with the board to leave real estate in existing constraints. She characterized the downtown as “not retailer friendly.” She told the board that the real estate agency Houlihan Lawrence has a deeper pocket than she, as an independent retailer, could hope to compete with for space. Retailers have a hard enough time making a living, she contended, and said she feared that real estate agents would take up ever more retail parking space if the law were amended.
Gore’s landlord, Bill Holmes, owner of Holmes & Kennedy, another real estate agency in the downtown, told the board that he believed financial institutions such as Chase bank were a better use of first floor rental space than more real estate offices, since banks draw the foot traffic vital to the commercial success of a downtown.
Architect Chuck Napoli also militated for more retail, which he defined as places that have “product on shelves, places you leave carrying bags of something.” He characterized real estate agencies as “basically call centers” with no product, and whose workers take up the parking that would serve the town better if it were available to shoppers.
Suggestion for architectural review when businesses change hands
Resident Ed Frank, a house inspector, proffered his advice for an improved retail atmosphere. “For example,” he said, “the car wash across from D’Agostino’s looks like something I might see in a depressed area of Miami. There should be some kind of architectural review board, so that when there’s new building or a change in proprietorship, it has to pass thought an architectural review. If you want foot traffic it has to be a good looking town and right now it isn’t.”
Appeal for “a vision”
Citing high rents and relatively few land owners, Jane Holmes of Crown House Antiques told the board, “For me, business has never been harder, for all small businesses probably. Rent is very high per square foot. Maybe Starbucks can [pay the high rents].” Holmes continued, “But there are experts in revitalizing towns. They come in and they say, you need a grocery store, a liquor store, some signage, and that’s more positive to say ‘This is the kind of business were looking for,’ and give them a little break, not take months to get their signs approved. You need a vision and you need to go for it.” She urged the board to “have a vision for the next five years, and say ‘Here’s where we’re going to go.’”
At the end of Holmes’ appeal, the board voted to adopt the statute that will allow real estate uses in first floor space.
Moratorium to reconsider all uses other than retail
In its July 22nd meeting, the board has said, it will set a date for a public hearing to decide whether to call for a six-month moratorium in autumn, freezing all but out-and-out retail uses (such as restaurants or shops) in order to take time to consider in what direction they want to take the town. Supervisor Barbara Gerrard maintains that during the moratorium everything will be “on the table” and that, at the end of the six months it may be that new financial institutions will be permitted and real estate agencies will not. The purpose of the moratorium, she said, is to study the issues and decide what’s best for the town.
Attorney Richard Burns opined afterwards, “This is the wrong way to plan for the town. Restrictions shouldn’t apply. Arbitrarily prohibiting uses in the hope that something better will come along is unwise and unfair. People should have the right to use their properties as they see fit.”
To view the town board’s meeting of July 8, 2008, on NCCTV, click here.
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