A Letter to the Editor from Rhino Times Reader Alan Marshall
The County Board of Commissioners, minus two, has decided that putting a big truck park on Sheraton Park Rd. just outside the town limits of Pleasant Garden is a good idea.
They don’t care that the increased heavy truck traffic will have severe adverse effects on the town, creating serious traffic and safety problems. One particular intersection, that being Pleasant Garden Rd and Neely Rd. has businesses and an elementary school surrounding it. The roads and the intersection are not equipped to handle large trucks without causing potential traffic accidents and almost constant property damage to the businesses and school. A tractor trailer literally could not make a right turn onto Neely Rd if there is traffic at that intersection. The same applies to trucks trying to turn left onto PG Rd. It would have to intrude into the parking lot of the business that sits there. The same applies to the intersection of PG Rd. and Sheraton Park Rd.
Add in the parents that pick up and drop off their children at the elementary school along with the school bus traffic and the two churches that hold services and you have a real mess.
Neely Rd. has many blind spots along it where feeder roads are coming out of housing developments and given the speed the few trucks currently using it drive, the potential for serious accidents or even a death will grow exponentially.
What priority will PG have with the NCDOT when it comes to road repairs in this area? And BTW, widening these roads is not an option without doing away with the businesses at the intersection.
Quite frankly, this whole deal comes as close to passing a smell test as living next to a pig farm. It’s obvious the Commissioners did not even bother to look at anything before giving Roy Carroll what he wanted. And it’s also obvious that with the exception of two of the Board, they don’t care about PG.
If this goes through, I want to encourage citizens of PG to get out on Sheraton Park Rd., PG Rd., and Neely Rd and simply drive the posted speed limit, be it 35 or 40 MPH. Come to a full stop and make sure you check real good before proceeding and keep in mind that rapid acceleration is not good for gas consumption and is dangerous. And report tailgaters.
Carpe Diem
Alan Marshall
This is one where I have to agree with Alan. That location is too far off the highway and too deep into residential areas. Heck, not far from where I used to live. Guess another reason I am glad I moved on.
Hope it doesn’t happen. Best of luck fighting it.
And I thought we might, for once, get a Letter without hearing Chris’s opinion on it….
Silly me!
Thank you, Chris, for your words of support.
In April of 2024, a subsidiary of The Carroll Companies requested a 48-acre parcel of land at 209 E. Sheraton Park Road, Greensboro, be rezoned from agricultural to light industrial use. Currently, the land is wooded. Rezoning would allow a trailer storage facility to be built on the site. At that time, wisdom prevailed, and the Guilford County Planning Board unanimously denied the rezoning request. The planning board’s decision was appealed and the rezoning issue was brought before the Guilford County Commissioners at their meeting on May 15, 2025. In an astounding display of poor judgement, total disregard for the planning board’s decision, and complete lack of concern for the residents of Pleasant Garden and surrounding communities, the Guilford County Commissioners voted 7 to 2 to approve the rezoning. Only two commissioners, Alan Perdue and Pat Tillman, had the good sense to recognize that a trailer storage facility at 209 E. Sheraton Park Road was a bad idea. They supported the area residents, and courageously voted “no.” The Shameful Seven who voted for rezoning are: Melvin “Skip” Alston, Carlvena Foster, Kay Cashion, Carly Cooke, Frankie T. Jones, Jr., Mary Beth Murphy, and Brandon Gray-Hill. None of these seven ever deserve another vote from the people of Guilford County. The areas surrounding 209 E. Sheraton Park Road are residential. Many of the roads are hilly, with sharp curves, and clearly were not built to accommodate heavy truck traffic. It is estimated that about 100 trucks a day will bring trailers to park at the storage facility, some may be tandem trailers. What type of cargo the trailers contain is also questionable. Supposedly, nothing hazardous will be in the trailers. Who will monitor and confirm that? If a fire or other emergency should occur, how will our first responders safely handle it? Safety issues alone should have been adequate for the commissioners to deny the request, but apparently they were of little concern. There is also a large lake nearby and a creek that feeds into Randleman Lake, so environmental concerns are significant to most reasonable people, but of no interest to seven of the Guilford County Commissioners. Trailer storage facilities, such as the one proposed by The Carroll Companies, belong beside interstate highways, not in residential neighborhoods. The Shameful Seven did not represent the people of Southeast Guilford County. Please remember who they are at the next election.
Thank you AT for the detailed information and support. The problem we’re dealing with is a classic case of the ‘good ole’ boy” system at work.
There is no way any member of the County Commissioners outside of those two have been out here in a blue moon. And if they have, it’s obvious they DON’T CARE about anybody out here. It’s also a personal observation that they are voting based on another reason other then having seen the situation. Maybe a bug in their ear or a dropped suggestion?
AT, the only problem with your last sentence is the Shameful Seven can’t be voted out by those of us in SE Guilford. They answer to the their areas and one other person.
Like I had said earlier, if this fiasco comes into being, we in SE Guilford, in Pleasant Garden. need to do the passive resistance thing while playing by the rules of the road…literally.
Those 7 can’t be voted out by most of us in the County who prefer to protect our homes and property from “growth”, which is ruining our lives and costing us financially.
As for the decision on this facility, it’s stupid. This isn’t a NIMBY issue. What will happen is a widening of the road, which will destroy this area of PG forever. It’s a small, peaceful, rural town, and widening the road to accommodate Mr. Carroll’s newest tax offering to the County will change this into the next industrial revenue area for the Commissioners. It’s disgusting. (Yes, I’m a naysayer.)
Thank you, Alan. Yes, the majority vote was so far removed from even the slightest degree of common sense that it makes one wonder if “other factors” were involved, whatever they may be.
I don’t wonder AT, I’m SURE there are.
I have taken pictures of the intersections and road and sent them to Scott Yost.
Scott, where or how can I send some pictures of the various intersections roads in question?
Alan, please send to same address where you send letters to the editor.
Thank you Scott.
Thank you, Deborah. While it is a fragile hope, I still hope that voters in other districts of Guilford County will eventually realize that Alston, Foster, Cashion, Cooke, Jones, Murphy, and Gray-Hill care nothing for the residents of Guilford County, which was quite clear by their vote for rezoning to allow the trailer storage facility in a residential area. Their lack of concern for the negative impact to our community is appalling.
Vote for leftist democrats and you get the results they bring. They trade on liberal virtue signalling to get in office and then, anyone who has the moolah to sway their vote later. In addition to turning PG into an 18 wheeler truck terminal, there has been little notice of the two lane roads (cow paths) in SE Guilford. Overwhelmed with heavy multiaxle work trucks and 18 wheelers trying to run 65 mph on across hiway 62 (that is randomly posted mostly 45 mph), all in a big hurry to get to the wonderful Battery Plant… No cops in sight, except when it’s time to untangle the twisted metal.
Correction:
With a sincere apology and a “thank you” to Kay Cashion, please note the following corrections: voting against rezoning were Kay Cashion and Alan Perdue.
Voting for rezoning were Alston, Foster, Cook, Jones, Murphy, Gray-Hill, and Tillman.
Really…Tillman voted to screw over the people of PG? Tillman voted with King Skippy and his minions?
There is a term for that…what was that again? Oh yeah…RINO!!!
Hope you’re proud Guilford County GOP.
The May 15 Guilford County Board of Commissioners meeting that discussed the trailer storage facility at 209 E. Sheraton Park Road can be located at the following website: https://guilford.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=1897
The storage facility discussion begins at approximately the 1-hour mark of the meeting and lasts approximately 1 hour 45 minutes. The company requesting the rezoning is Sheraton Park Investors, LLC (SPI) and is owned by Roy Carroll.
After the G.C. Planning Board had denied the rezoning request (Agricultural to Conditional Zone-Light Industrial) by a unanimous 7-0 vote in February, the Board of Commissioners officially voted 7-2 at the May 15 meeting to reverse their decision and allow the storage facility to be built. I use the word “officially” since Roy Carroll’s attorney, Mr. Mike Fox, mentioned early in his presentation that Skip Alston’s staff had agreed to approve his rezoning request in 2023.
Mr. Fox claimed that no environmental impact study was required nor performed even though run-off from the site would most certainly flow into Polecat Creek and ultimately into the Randleman Lake Reservoir – a major source of drinking water for local cities and towns. Mr. Fox also stated that no traffic impact study was required but they hired a small firm from Winston-Salem to provide an assessment. The findings were minimal impact even though it was projected an additional 100-150 tractor trailers would utilize the surrounding secondary roads each day, mostly during the time school buses were picking up/returning children from school and citizens were going/returning from work. The hours of facility operation were stated to be 7:00am to 6:00pm, seven days a week.
Mr. Fox stated, at the request of the neighbors, a decision was made to exclude 31of the permitted activities allowed in the CZ-LI guidelines as those activities would not be part of their operation. It was later mention by Mrs. Gullick, an attorney supporting Pleasant Garden, that all of the worst activities had been retained by SPI. Three more “excluded uses” were presented to the Board during the meeting for removal. They no longer planned to build a heliport, perform light manufacturing or add a trucking or freight terminal to the site. Imagine if you will, their original proposal included an airport/landing site for helicopters in a residential neighborhood. Were they planning on flying in storage containers or trailers?
One activity that the CZ-LI does not allow is the operation of a truck stop and that has extremely close similarities to what will occur at the proposed site. The same traffic flow, the same sounds of trucks attaching/disconnecting trailers, the same beeping noises when trucks backup, the same reving or straining of engines when pulling out of the site onto the street, the same smell of diesel fuel, etc.. The proximity of their planned use of the site and it being so similar to a truck stop should have disqualified their zoning request, in my opinion. But it was not addressed at this meeting due to the original agreement having been made to approve the site in 2003
Mr. Fox claims the maximum use of the site will end at phase two with 587 trailer spaces available.
He also claimed that the site would not have running water or sewer since the land would not perk but later changed course when challenged regarding the facilities for the around-the-clock security guards saying that it would perk enough for them to have water and sewer.
Pleasant Garden’s Pro Tem Mayor Kim Rayle discovered that between 2003-2008 SPI removed all of the good topsoil from the 49 acres of land and either used it elsewhere or sold it. Not a good steward of the earth She also discovered that the original owner, Oakwood Mobile Homes, found the land would perk and had planned on building a second phase to the adjoining trailer parks but ultimately filed for bankruptcy. It is believed the land would not perk for SPI due to the damage done when the topsoil was removed. Ms. Rayle referred to SPI’s action as a rape and ruining of the land.
Understand the over-riding motive for building a trailer storage facility on the site was due to the land being considered as unusable by SPI. Understand also, that the G.C. Board of Commissioners came across as having an urgent need to assist Roy Carroll with his problem.
With all of the findings presented to the Board of Commissioners, they agreed to look the other way in order to allow Roy Carroll’s organization to proceed with the project. The Board majority showed no concern for the impact on the citizens, the infrastructure or the environment. The surrounding neighborhoods and local communities will now be tasked to adapt to whatever changes are revealed by SPI and carry that mostly unknown burden for years in the future.
There is absolutely no benefit that will come to any citizen by having the storage facility located on 209 E. Sheraton Road.
Thanks for the update Buddy.
I still believe there should be a movement of passive resistance here in PG. Doing the speed limit, getting SOs enforcing the speed limits, slowing at every curve and turn, noise and speed complaints to the Sheriff’s Department, property damage complaints and suits, if you’re involved in a traffic accident at the numerous blind spots on Neelly Rd sue the pants off the drivers and their company.
Personally I think Roy Carrol is still POed over Pleasant Garden incorporating and cutting him out. Just my opinion.
“They paved paradise, put up a parking lot.”
-Joni Mitchell, 1970.
Those are just a few of the pics I took. I also have pictures at PG Rd across from the cemetery.