Collinsville Planning Commission Rules Against Commercial Zoning on Disputed Property
Last April I brought I did a post on an interesting dispute in Collinsville IL. In short, a developer bough a corner parcel that was a house at the entrance to a subdivision with one side of the land on an increasingly commercial street. At the time a city zoning map had apparently incorrectly noted the parcel as zoned commercial when it in fact remained residentially zoned. The developer wanted the zoning changed to commercial so they could build their planned retail store while the residents argued they did not want the edge & entrance of their residential area invaded in such a manner.
The house purchased by the developer actually occupies two original residential building lots. The developer wanted to raze the existing structure. As you can see from the image above, the area is quite commercial but not in the immediate vicinity of that parcel. The Planning Commission ruled in favor of the residents at their long meeting last night. I was unable to attend but Diane Meyer has the low down at Respublica.  The next step is the City Council.
It appears that the citizens did an excellent job of presenting their case. It is interesting to note in old St. Louis the commercial and residential were integrated in the neighborhoods.
In old St. Louis, if you walk, there is little difference in impact, if there is transit, transit is still there, but once the automobile enters the picture everything changes. Integrating the auto with daily life is a difficult task, one that still has been mastered. Part of the problem is parking lots, part is the size of roads necessary, part is safety and in the end the automobile simply conflicts with human activities.