INC NEWS - Ideas presented for Ninth Street (N&O)

[John Schelp]

Ideas presented for Ninth Street
By Anne Blythe, News & Observer, 3 Nov 2006

Although commuter rail may seem like a slow train
coming, local planners have a vision for how Ninth
Street should look like if a depot were built just
south of the commercial district.

Some worry that new development pressures could arise
if a station were built as proposed off Erwin Road,
north of Duke Hospital near the Sam's Quik Shop.

So merchants, designers, neighborhood advocates and
others have spent hours figuring out what they would
like to see on and around Ninth Street.

On Thursday night, designers presented a form-based
zoning proposal that included five building types:

* Two-story shop fronts characteristic of eastern
Ninth Street;

* Commercial blocks, from two to four stories high;

* Townhouses;

* Towers not exceeding eight stories in height; and

* Flats with stepped-back stories.

"What you see tonight is not part of a final, perfect
document," Frank Duke, the city and county planning
director told the dozens at Asbury United Methodist
Church.

Designers developed the vision from eight plans
created during several daylong brainstorming sessions.

The area is bound by Broad Street to the east, Trent
Drive near Greystone Baptist Church to the west, Green
Street to the north and Main Street to the south.

The planners tried to enhance what people cherish
about Ninth Street, a commercial district with mostly
homegrown businesses.

"Everything that we thought about doing was to improve
Ninth Street as that great living room for the
community," said Steve Gattis, one of the designers.
"I don't expect to see the east side of Ninth Street
change very much."

The plan calls for 14-foot sidewalks with trees close
to the street, much wider than the existing eight-foot
walkways. It calls for shops with big windows.

Trucks and commercial traffic would be rerouted from
Hillsborough Street to Main Street.

Merchants and neighborhood advocates lauded parts of
the plan, but were troubled by potential negative
impacts.

"The planning is important," said Carol Anderson,
co-owner of the Vaguely Reminiscent clothing store.
"But it's important to build on what's successful and
emulate that. I have reservations about form-based
zoning without additional stipulations."

Form-based zoning regulates only the building form. It
does not regulate uses, although land-use regulations
could be added.

"I heard a lot of concern about losing the local
flavor of Ninth Street," said John Schelp, a
neighborhood advocate. "It is very, very special. It's
one of the few local shopping districts left in the
Triangle."

Several people suggested adding historic preservation
to discourage developers from tearing down shops, the
old Erwin mill and churches.

Although the design work was done in anticipation of
commuter rail, several property owners already have
plans in the works.

Glenn Dickson said he was developing plans for a
55,000- to 75,000-square-foot mix of residential and
office or retail space on the 800 block of Ninth
Street between Elmo's Diner and Green Street.