Seeing the big picture is something the Greensboro City Council is accused of not doing well, but sometimes it’s not their fault.

Two annexation and original zoning requests on McConnell Road are a prime example of that.  The requests one for 15 acres for a Penske Truck Leasing Company refueling station and sales, service and facility.  The second is for Linder Equipment to build a heavy equipment leasing sales and service center on 19 acres.

The two sites sit between McConnell Road and 500 acres that according to a study being done by the Guilford County Economic Development Alliance (GCEDA) is one of the top corporate park development sites in Guilford County.

One commercial realtor said he couldn’t imagine a better site for corporate park development in Guilford County and added that if you were looking for a potential Piedmont Corporate Park in Greensboro this was the site right at the intersection of the interstates.

According to experts in economic development, having a trucking facility and a heavy equipment leasing facility at the entrance will make any development of that 500 acres as a corporate park far more difficult.   One said it was like putting your tool shed in your front yard,

The report being done by the GCEDA has reportedly not been made available to the City Council, although it appears this is information the City Council should be considering when making the decision on whether to annex and rezone the two parcels on McConnell Road.

If making the decision on annexing and zoning two parcels for trucking and heavy equipment facilities is going to hamper the development of one of the top sites in the county for corporate park development, isn’t that something the City Council should at least be aware of in it’s deliberations.  The Penske facility is reportedly going to bring 38 jobs to the area, and Greensboro needs jobs.  But the development of a 500 acre corporate park would bring far more than 38 jobs.

The two parcels are on either side of the Innsbrook Village Apartments owned by the Carroll Companies which also own this publication.  Carroll opposed the zoning requests at the Zoning Commission meeting last month.