Wally world@rock prarie and bypass

[zaphod]

I got word that there is a good chance a super walmart could pop up at the corner of rock prarie and the bypass (the southeast corner across from the motel).

just curious, how is all this going to work? will it be part of a shopping center or will it be just walmart? i wonder if it will have aesthetic touches or if it will be a plain vanilla version?

I figure that traffic wont be a problem since the feeder roads on that side dont back up like the ones coming off northbound do(when its busy that light and the merging by the National Bank and wolf pen car wash is pain in the ass).

What thoughs does everyone have on this? i think they should instead have put it farther south since we already have a krogers over here. I will miss the weenie walmart@2818 because its so much more convienient than the uber one in bryan but i guess times must change.

[rcj0618]

This issue has been going on for a while now:

http://www.theeagle.com/stories/070806/local_20060708005.php

College Station council to consider land usage

By APRIL AVISON

Eagle Staff Writer

The College Station City Council could make a decision this month on whether to side with its staff and planning commission by recommending approval of a controversial land use change on the east side of Earl Rudder Freeway.

The decision is long in coming, but it's not the only major decision the council will have to make this summer. Another proposal that has drawn the ire of neighboring residents is a request to rezone about 50 acres at the southeast corner of the freeway and Rock Prairie Road.

The developer has expressed interest in building a Wal-Mart SuperCenter if the rezoning is approved by the City Council.

The city's Planning and Zoning Commission recommended denying the Rock Prairie rezoning at a meeting Thursday that drew more than 300 residents.

The city's planning staff had recommended approving that request, as well as the land use change in the Sebesta Road area between the freeway and the Woodcreek subdivision.

The proposed land use change has a history that dates back more than a decade, when landowners with the East Bypass Development Group determined they would need to change the land use in order to sell 36 acres. They worked with neighbors to try to reach a compromise and failed until the issue took a turn about a year ago.

Over the past several months, a committee of transportation specialists, residents and other interested parties has met to talk about what potential uses would be acceptable on the land. Most of those involved agreed to a plan that would allow retail businesses and offices on the land, as long as "big box" projects like Wal-Mart were excluded.

But what they couldn't agree on was how to mitigate the potential traffic that new development would bring through the nearby neighborhoods once the area is developed.

During a meeting that lasted until 1:30 a.m., the Planning and Zoning Commission voted Thursday to recommend approving changing the land use from a largely agricultural and industrial designation to office use and "planned development," which essentially allows a watered-down version of retail uses and would exclude big-box development, said Transportation Planner Ken Fogle. An additional layer of staff review and public hearings is required before construction can occur in a planned development zone.

If the land use change is approved by the City Council, the acreage near Sebesta Road could be used for things like churches, health-care facilities, art studios, hotels, theaters, country clubs and retail stores.

Attorney Wayne Rife, who represents some of the homeowners in the area, said Friday he was comfortable with the planning commission's recommendation, but traffic concerns still exist.

"[Planned development] is the most restrictive of all land use designations because when [developers] come back for a rezoning, they have to say we're going to put this here and this here," Rife said. "They have to do a lot more planning."

Residents expressed concerns at the commission meeting Thursday about traffic and circulation if a Wal-Mart is built at Rock Prairie Road.

Bill Stockton, a Texas Transportation Institute engineer who lives in the Sebesta area, said earlier this week that the potential Wal-Mart development "dwarfs" the land use issues on the east side of the bypass.

Brent Mann, a Texas A&M University graduate and the senior vice president of Houston-based Weingarten Realty, applied for the rezoning at Rock Prairie Road.

"Based on research, this is the area best suited for development," Mann told the planning commission Thursday. "I would not do anything to hurt this community, as I have a great love for it and its university."

Weingarten Realty developed the Kroger shopping center and Best Buy-Barnes & Noble property in College Station.

Even though the planning commission recommended denial of Mann's request, it wasn't necessarily because its against the rezoning, Fogle said. The commission appeared to be headed toward tabling the issue at Thursday's meeting but was asked by Mann to make a decision so he could move forward and take his request to the City Council.

If the item had been tabled, it would have been another two weeks before the commission could discuss it, and it wouldn't reach the City Council until next month.

Residents' concerns about the potential Wal-Mart development included site aesthetics, landscaping, lighting and noise, but traffic tops the list, Rife said.

"We have major concerns about traffic flow, especially through Foxfire Drive, especially since it looks like there will eventually be a big development at Rock Prairie Road," Rife said Friday. "What we'd like to see, that we haven't seen yet, is a traffic impact study that takes into account the development at Sebesta and the development at Rock Prairie.

"Once that development happens at Rock Prairie, you've created two large magnets, and the only way to move between those two developments is our neighborhoods."

The frontage roads on either side of the freeway are one-way, and there aren't enough north-south thoroughfares to relieve traffic in the area, Stockton said earlier this week.

"We will become a funnel from the north to the Weingarten development," he said of the neighborhoods in the Sebesta Road area.

The City Council will devote two upcoming meetings to the land use and rezoning issues. A public hearing on the Sebesta-area land use changes will be at 7 p.m. July 19, followed by a public hearing at 7 p.m. July 20 on the Weingarten Realty rezoning request.

Both meetings will be at the A&M Consolidated High School auditorium.

[BlkMex20]

I was watching T.V the other day and i stopped on channel 19 C.S. city view it was the (Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting) from July 6 about the Super Wal*Mart on Rock Prairie/ Hwy 6, I strongly recommend

you catch the next one they been playing it all day, but if you cant watch the whole broadcast because its so long i suggest you try and watch it when the floor is open to the public, After watching it maybe 3 times i came to the conclusion of 3 things....... 1. People in that area of woodcreek/ foxfire and surrounding community arn't against development at that spot they just dont want a (Sprawl*Mart) and this has to do with how Wal*Mart wouldn't fit the image of this area as 1 lady stated ( we live in FoxFire we dont need a wal*mart) ....... 2. People are concered about how horrible the traffic will be if this proceed and if you been to the area you can understand how they feel about traffic problems already especially after 5.pm now imagine what a 3,500 parking lot would do ...... 3.(and this one kinda confused me) people were concerned about crime, again as 1 person stated (we don't want and i quote (those people) driving up and down our streets), now i know what he meant and i'm sure you can understand what he was trying say, i just dont understand do they think people who shop at wal*mart will see there nice houses and cars and will rob them, the lady on the Commission board said she wants to see a study of crime that wal*mart causes to the surrounding area within distance and she soon followed up again i quote (NOT BRYAN they have a different cliential) me being from Bryan kinda took offence to that but they took shoots at Bryan all night, So in conclusion they want development there just not wal*mart

[Scotch]

Seems like the stuck up professor types still hold power in College Station. Foxfire and Woodcreek used to be fairly large subdivisions as far as the area goes, but they are now dwarfed by Pepple Creek and Castlegate, and I am actually surprised that they can create a stranglehold on development in that area.

I need to watch the meeting, but from what I have read here and elsewhere there were plenty of elitist and veiled racist comments, such as the "We don't want those people driving through our streets" mentioned above.

The further south big box retail is forced to build along Rudder in College Station, the more likely that SuperTarget, etc. will locate in south Bryan. Therefore, I fully support the opposition to large retail north of Greens Prarie Rd.

[BlkMex20]

Well Well Well.... I guess we wont see a Super Center Wal*Mart for some time to come, maybe ever, interesting meeting last night now my first impression was this group of concerned citizens was some what different than last time at the ( P&Z) meeting you didnt have the (we dont want thoses people here) comments at this meeting, now first is it me or is the college station citizens and council members to some degree using traffic issues to cover up the plan and simple fact that they just dont want a Wal*Mart, no matter how fancy its looks with the nice trees and different color on the building then the usually blue and gray color and even the A&M star on the ground where the seating area was purposed in the front, no matter how nice it looks its just not good enough for College Station maybe Bryan but not here, i agreed with Gay towards the end of the meeting, how will this look when business want to relocate to College Station if College Station don't keep there word and (unless your development meet our standards and intergrity than your not welcome to come) that's basically why Wal*mart isn't getting build no matter what they said about traffic, also its going to be interesting to watch what is good enough to be built at that corner of 6/ Rock Prairie because development will occur there also 1 more thing as from what i heard will Wal*Mart/ Weingarten take it's proposal north of C.S. all around im sure the majority of the people got what they wanted... well not Weingarten of course