I watched the City Council on television. The Divinity Hotel proposal was passed by the Council. I was very impressed with the council members. It was very obvious that this was a very difficult decision for them. On the one hand, people were concerned that a building that tall would not fit in with the character of Dickson Street. There were also concerns about traffic on Dickson, which is narrow. Shirley Lucas made an interesting point. The city has spend quite a bit of money asking for citizen input about the vision of the city. She said that if this passes, it would be a slap in the face of those people who participated and suggested to limit buildings to 6 stories.
Those for the project mostly spoke of the economic benefits that it would bring. Don Marr said that he could not ask for people to vote for sewer, roads and trails in September and then turn down a $70 million building.
What ever happens on this site the city of Fayetteville will have to deal with it. If this hotel fails, it will be just another business that has failed on Dickson. Something else will eventually come along. Dickson Street will always be changing. It will be different 20 years from now. For better or worse, who knows?
No comments:
Post a Comment