I attended a community meeting tonight that was called by Bo Rodenbough. It was held at the Westminster Presbyterian Church. Rodenbough is an attorney with the Brooks Pierce law firm who represents Glenn Drew– the former head of American Hebrew Academy– in his efforts to rezone a property on Friendly Avenue to allow much denser development.
The Brooks Pierce law firm handles many zoning matters and is tightly aligned with the city of Greensboro.
When Drew acquired the property, he knew what the existing zoning restrictions were. He obviously felt he would succeed in his efforts to get the city to change the zoning. It was revealed at the meeting tonight that the city’s Planning Commission has already approved the development.
Area residents at the meeting asked the attorney where Mr. Drew lived; and Mr. Rodenbough did not respond.
I used the NC Board of Elections voter look-up tool and found a Glenn Drew who resides at 4010 Hazel Lane in the New Irving Park neighborhood. Here is a picture of the property, courtesy of Google:
A Greensboro Zoning Commission meeting on this proposal takes place next Monday evening. Mr. Drew made minimal concessions to the community; and insists on building a much higher density development than the current zoning allows.
The meeting room was packed tonight. Neighborhood residents were livid with Rodenbough, who attempted to make it appear that Drew’s concessions were substantial. But in fact, they completely ignored the community’s primary concerns. One of the neighborhood group’s leaders stated that their four top concerns were ignored.
A female attorney working with Rodenbough openly made the statement that they do not have the obligation to talk to area residents. They are obviously trying to make it appear to the city that they made an effort to meet with neighborhood residents even though they were obdurately refraining from making significant compromises or engaging in substantive give-and-take.
Looks like it is a done deal. Is there an appeal process to the Commissions decision ?
If the zoning commission approves the rezoning, the City Council still has to vote, Fred. The crowd was exasperated with Rodenbough because they felt that he was repeatedly being disingenuous with them. But brazenness sometimes can be an indication that an “inside track” exists to get the desired outcome.