Land owner and developer David Couch’s presentation to the Summerfield Town Council has been somewhat misconstrued.
The presentation he gave on Sept. 22 included a site plan of his property with something over 400 lots laid out. For anyone watching the video of the meeting, it appeared the site plan is what Couch was proposing to develop on his property, which stretches from Pleasant Ridge Road to I-73. It was particularly confusing because the sound quality of the video made it nearly impossible to understand more than a few words out of each sentence.
The site plan actually represents what Couch could develop under the current zoning, not what his plans are for the property if he can manage to put together a lot of intergovernmental cooperation and bring Greensboro water and sewer to the site.
Couch said that if Greensboro, Summerfield and Guilford County would enter into a multi-jurisdictional inter-local water and sewer agreement, the infrastructure would be financed by a special tax district. The property owners benefitting from the water and sewer would pay for the required infrastructure with a higher property tax rate that wouldn’t affect those not receiving water. Others in the area willing to pay the higher tax rate would have the opportunity to apply for water and sewer service.
Couch said that Summerfield lacked what the Summerfield Comprehensive Plan called “affordable homes” – those in the $250,000 price range.
His plan to bring Greensboro water and sewer to the area would allow him to build homes in that price range while still preserving much of the rural landscape, provide walking trails and other amenities.
It’s a bold plan with a lot of moving parts and parts that have to be moved, and it would represent a major change for Summerfield, which has developed without public water and sewer.
Couch said bringing city water to the site would allow the development to include a senior living center as well as providing affordable homes for younger folks as well as empty-nesters looking to downsize but who want to stay in the area.
The working farm that Couch owns in the middle of the area to be developed would remain a working farm under his plan. Couch said that he couldn’t estimate the number of homes that would be built because that would take a conceptual plan and it wouldn’t make sense to invest in that unless the water issue could be worked out.
Couch said that the Summerfield Comprehensive Plan calls for the types of housing options he would like to build, but the current regulations don’t give a developer the tools needed to provide that type of housing and that his plans are fully compliant with that comprehensive plan.
I am hopeful that the powers to be will approve of this proposal. Different jurisdictions working together can bring growth and progress. If this proposal is moved forward, I am going to be very interested in looking at this property for my wife and I as our future home.
Sadly, developers over the years promise much to appease the populous, and then deliver on NONE of the promises.
One example that comes to mind from many years ago is the now Target on Lawndale Avenue. The Lawndale residents were told in a meeting, that their properties would be buffered by a nursery, and the proposed shopping center would NOT have an exit onto Lawndale (it currently has three).
Slick posters, snazzy presentations, and empty promises are rampant in meetings, and the reality (once zoning is past) is the usually what actually materializes is never as beneficial as claimed, nor is it the “truth” of what the public was “ sold, and swallowed, hook, line and sinker”
Leave Summerfield as it is.
It was INCORPORATED for a reason. There are already too many developments in the area, that has changed the intent, integrity and purpose of the incorporation.
Actually the neighborhood negotiated to have the main entrance on Lawndale not line up with Liberty and for several four way stops in the neighborhood to reduce cut through traffic.
This morning I had a discussion with Greensboro water and sewer. My bill used to be $29 to $33. Now its more like $47. I am paying more fees than usage of water. I am 70 yrs of age fixed income like a lot of my neighbors. We pay city taxes. We pay our water and sewer bills. Summerfield can start paying both of there’s.