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Linwood neighbors want to keep Cornerstone buffer zone
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Harold Moore, right, stands with neighbors at the end of Richard Drive in front of the buffer of trees separating the Cornerstone Commerce Center from their neighborhood. The center’s expansion plans have residents concerned about their quality of life and the size of the buffer.
Photo by: Ben Fogletto
LINWOOD — From the neighborhood surrounding Richard and Bartlett drives, the cars heading in and out of the Cornerstone Commerce Center can barely be seen from behind the thick expanse of trees and forest — and Harold Moore wants to keep it that way.
“We were always told there would be a buffer zone,” Moore said. “Now, we’ve heard about numerous plans that, to us, would just destroy the neighborhood here.”
The Richard Drive resident is one of many neighbors, both north and south of the complex, who are worried about Cornerstone’s plans to expand beyond the current complex and build either two new office-retail buildings or a combination of mixed use office/apartment buildings and townhouses.
Representatives for Karman Development Group, Cornerstone’s owner, say the plans are still just concepts — “Every single concern will be addressed, including buffers,” Blair Learn said — though they did expect that they would move forward with some combination of the concepts in the first half of 2010.
Occupancy issues
Of course, even before this month’s announcement of the “Phase II” expansion plans, neighbors (and the city) have had their differences with Cornerstone and its owner, Robin A. Karman.
“Those residents aren’t happy,” said City Councilman Tim Tighe, citing among other complaints the lack of both a sidewalk in front of the complex and the state Department of Transportation rejecting a proposal for a traffic light at the entrance to the parking lot.
Tighe said the rejection was due to to the entrance being too close to another entrance, which is against DOT guidelines, while Learn and spokeswoman Teddie O’Keefe said it was because of insufficient vehicle traffic on Route 9.
In addition, while Karman, the owner, pointed to a 98 percent occupancy rate earlier this month, Cornerstone’s retail side is losing tenants such as Mainland Fitness — which closed Thursday due to circumstances beyond its control — and The Bake Works bakery and Eurocolour hair salon, both of which are moving early next year to locations in Northfield, both before their leases expire.
Cornerstone also has yet to bring in a major retailer to anchor the property, and there has also been concern over high rents and how electric bills are handled. In addition, three restaurants at a site on the south side of the property are now being converted into a dialysis center, though the Phase II plans include the possibility of another restaurant using the property’s liquor license.
Karman, who said that there are at least two other fitness centers and three other tenants interested in the Mainland Fitness space, said that the retail space only made up 30,000 square feet of the total 250,000-square-foot property.
“It’s a very small parcel,” she said. “Right now, (even) national retailers are having problems surviving. Numerous national retailers have gone bankrupt.” Office tenants, meanwhile, including Wachovia Securities and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, “are very solid, with 10-year leases.”
The neighbors
The mixed-use concept, with its proposal to build 40 townhouses on a site along the northern side of the property, with plans for several more along the south side — and with a driveway connecting the townhouses with Richard Drive to the north also included in the plan — is the proposal that worries neighbors, as it doesn’t seem to leave much space for the forested buffer.
“There’s lots of wildlife in there,” Moore said. “I came out once and there was an eagle in there. I have a picture of a red fox walking by. But that doesn’t mean much to developers. From what we were told, there was never going to be housing or residences, It was just going to be Cornerstone.”
Other neighbors worry about the effects a new northern entrance would have on traffic. Former city Planning Board member Rick McGuire cited a number of legal precedents that he said could be used against any new expansion.
“I am all for successful development,” he said, “as long as it does not destroy, impede or cause distress in an adjacent area by allowing ingress and egress onto streets that have been established and used by neighborhood residents for over 40 years.”
To the south, where the tree buffer is much sparser, Fallingwater Drive resident Neil Goldfine said that the proposals show “an absolute callous indifference to neighbors. Why should City Council consider anything until they’ve lived up to their commitments in the past?
As Cornerstone is a redevelopment zone, Learn said that City Council would have to approve any required amendments to the redevelopment agreement before the plan goes before the Planning and Zoning boards.
City Solicitor Joseph Youngblood said there hasn’t been any formal application filed beyond a request for one pad site, though Learn said that there would be a meeting with Youngblood in early December.
“They’re still concepts,” said O’Keefe. “Obviously, Robin Karman will be willing to discuss whatever needs to be done to satisfy (concerns). She is very amenable. She just wants to move ahead and not stand still.”
Talking to neighbors, however, that might take some doing.
“I don’t know how she can just come in and ruin the town,” Bartlett Drive resident Pat Roth said of Karman. “We were told that would be a business zone forever. And she hasn’t done anything she was supposed to do.”
Contact Steven Lemongello:
609-272-7275
Posted in ATLANTIC on Friday, November 27, 2009 11:20 pm
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