Council Invites Consultant to Discuss Options for Village Place

As of Friday, October 26, 2012

The Pinehurst Village Council will speak with a consultant about how to develop a key 19-acre section of the village that has been nearly void of significant change for nearly a decade.

Council members on Wednesday will invite Ian Colgan to their Nov. 13 meeting to discuss Village Place, the area between the Village Center and Rassie Wicker Park. That area was formerly known as NewCore.

A rendering of what the renovated steam plant in Pinehurst may look like. The Village of Pinehurst received a $200,000 grant to help the owners of the Railhouse Brewery renovate the building. The Hayter Firm created the rendering.

"Things haven't happened as quickly there as we would like," Village Manager Andy Wilkison told the council. "But we want to move forward."

Village senior planner Bruce Gould described the area as "woefully underutilized" and said the area has "seen very little activity" aside from change in uses for some properties.

The village is a major landowner in Village Center.

Colgan, who handles consulting services for Development Concepts Inc. in Indianapolis, was recommended by Pat Corso, executive director of Partners in Progress.

"Ian is a community developer. He can come to Pinehurst, work with the community over some months to see what they want, create a master plan, and then solicit developers to make it happen," Corso said.

Corso also said Colgan, who has done work in Chapel Hill and Durham that has been well-received, is familiar with the area.

NewCore was identified as an area for development in the village's 2003 Compre-hensive Long-Range Plan. A plan for development in the area was adopted in 2006, with updates in 2008 and 2010.

At one time, a development group out of Atlanta, which no longer exists, had designs to develop the area, but no work ever occurred.

Jane Deaton, who chaired a committee on NewCore, told the council that one of the key issues that needs to be addressed this time around is a market analysis.

"We are never going to revitalize the village unless we have an array of businesses to bring people to town," she said.

Deaton added that in the past some business owners "lashed out" and "felt threatened" by the idea of bringing business development to Village Place.

"We didn't take the second step of soliciting developers to say, 'Does anyone want to play ball with us?'" Deaton said.

Mayor Nancy Fiorillo and councilman Doug Lapins likened the situation to one that is currently happening in Southern Pines concerning the possible development of land known as the Knollwood tract.

Lapins, who is the only current council member who served back in the mid-2000s when developing NewCore was discussed, said that now, as then, there is no clear vision for the area.

"The issue, to me, is nobody still has come to us and said here's what we can do here," Lapins said.

Wilkison said the issue of how a proposed development of NewCore would impact traffic in the village was one of the key stumbling blocks in the past.

"I did worry about overwhelming our core village and I still have those concerns now," Lapins said.

Gould also recommended a corridor study for the area along Rattlesnake Drive, which is an important connector road to Village Place and, ultimately, the Village Center.

The only real major attempt at new development in the area was a plan to bring luxury townhomes to property near the entrance to the park. That project didn't get off the ground, and the land, which has undergone several zoning changes in recent years, remains undeveloped.

Contact Tom Embrey at (910) 693-2484 or tembrey@ thepilot.com.

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Easygoing 6 months, 4 weeks ago

Another consultant! How much of the taxpayer's money has been spent on consultants in the past 2 years? A bunch! This to tell them exactly what they want to hear.

tarheelborn 6 months, 4 weeks ago

@Easygoing. You are EXACTLY RIGHT! We have a MAYOR (and other council members) which were elected based on campaign promises, (just to get votes) and then as soon as the results are in and the change of power occurs, BAMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!

LIES, LIES, and MORE LIES ! ! ! !

This MAYOR will not see another term representing (or the LACK thereof) the people of Pinehurst, because the VOTES WILL NOT BE THERE! ! ! Especially Mrs. Fiorillo and not to mention a couple others on the board, don't even need to think about running again... As for Ms. Nancy MAYOR, (soon to be former Mayor when her current time expires), maybe it would have been best for the Fayetteville Observers news story to have been true, """Everyone in the world's been calling me," she said, adding, "No, I have not been abducted to London.""" She would BETTER SERVE the people across the big pond, where she ALSO knows nothing about the wishes of the Brits, (as in Pinehurst)! LEAVE PINEHURST ALONE! Just because the Village has UNDEVELOPED Property, LEAVE IT UNDEVELOPED and STOP spending our TAXPAYER Money on nonsense, helping SPECIAL INTERESTS in the PRIVATE SECTOR, (because you have access to VILLAGE TAX MONEY) to WASTE it on STUDY'S with other SPECIAL INTERESTS CONSULTANTS, to Destroy the VERY AMBIANCE of our Lil place on God's (and our) Green Earth! Go Ahead..... Do all the damage YOU can just AS FAST as you can, like (BARACK OBAMA) while you are elected, because the VOTERS which supported you for Mayor, will now see you are NOT reelected! I have been criticized on this post in past times, about using ALL CAPS and being accused as not knowing what it means in doing so. I KNOW EXACTLY what all caps mean and when I use all caps, that is EXACTLY what I am doing, (YELLING) , at these (Smarter than the Average, yet IGNORANT Elected Bears) ! God I just hate STUPID! Thank you EASYGOING! ! ! ! Someone needs to buy you a cup of Coffee, or maybe Lunch!

alladat1 6 months, 4 weeks ago

We want to spend the taxpayers money. We don't know what to spend it on. Please tell us what we need.

doughnuts 6 months, 4 weeks ago

The mayor is doing a great job! The consultant will show us the way to making this area better. When are those improvements starting on the village green?

tarheelborn 6 months, 4 weeks ago

@doughnuts.

""The consultant will show us the way to making this area better"".

"IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT"!

Many, I should say "The Majority" of residents DO NOT want to see TAX PAYER MONEY spent on Private Sector Businesses! If Bob Dedman Jr. wishes to invest and/or sponsor ANOTHER NEW BAR in this area of the Village, then SO BE IT.... But, understand NANCY FIORILLO and her other SUPPORTING ELECTED OFFICIALS needs to stop supporting anything which will change the Village anymore than it always has, therefore RISKING the loss of our National Historic Recognition ! ! !

I've been told the old building IS FULL of Hazardous Asbestos and after the cost of structural repairs and everything else associated in this endeavor, the investment spent will be OVER 6.5 TIMES MORE than it is worth! ! ! ! ! But, understand, this is Exactly why most people run for elected office.... So they can RAPE the Taxpayer of all their hard earned tax money to be WASTE on nonsense just like this!

Look Voters. DO YOU RESEARCH WHEN CHOOSING ANY ELECTED OFFICIAL!

ncsnafu1 6 months, 3 weeks ago

@tarheelborn: You could have added that it came out in the 10/24 council work session that the VILLAGE is on the hook for the $400K in state grants if the new bar, and lets be honest, that's exactly what is will become, fails and the grants must be repaid. This is inaddition to the almost $300K the village is spending itself for the bar parking lot being called a "spur road". The biggest sham though is that the state grant job creation requirements for the first grant are also be considered as satisfying the second grant requirements hence NO jobs are being created by the second $200K grant.