land use

Lane Street Project: a response concerning the future land use map and 2043 Comprehensive Plan.

This morning, I followed up my email to Councilmember Gillettia Morgan with an email to all of council, the mayor, and city manager. The email included the graphics contained in my March 3 post and this explanation of my query:

It is my understanding that the Planning and Development Committee passed the Plan (and this map) as is. Per the Wilson Times: “All the cemeteries were put into the open space and environmental overlay,” Planning and Community Development Manager John Moore said. “They’re all recognized on the map. The land use classification of them is not changing. They’re not open for redevelopment or anything like that. We didn’t think they were appropriate to classify in the residential, commercial or base zone. That’s why they’re in the open space category. They’re certainly recognized as cemeteries. Nothing is changing to them.” 

I have asked Mr. Morck [not Moore] to clarify this apparent discrepancy, as all cemeteries are NOT recognized on the map. I also ask that, in your consideration of approval of the Plan, you require proper designation of Vick Cemetery (and Odd Fellows and Rountree Cemeteries, which create one contiguous cemetery space) as Open Space.

Within hours, I had this email from Assistant City Manager Rodger Lentz:

I appreciate the Assistant City Manager’s prompt response and detailed explanation and am glad to know the Future Land Use Map will be recalibrated in response to issues raised at the public hearing.

Thanks again to Castonoble Hooks, R. Briggs Sherwood, and Lisa Benoy Gamble for showing up and advocating passionately for our cemeteries. This is how we save sacred spaces.

Lane Street Project: future land use?, follow-up.

Lane Street Project representatives attended last night’s public hearing about the 2043 Comprehensive Plan to express concerns about the future land use designations for the LSP cemeteries. The city’s presenters were receptive to questions, and, while some members of the planning board were sympathetic to our concerns, the board passed the Plan for consideration by Wilson City Council.

One thing that has been clarified since my original post: the map included in the Times‘ March 2 article about the hearing (and reproduced in my post) was not the 2043 future land use map, as labeled. Rather, it was the City’s 2030 land use map. The Times has since corrected the cutline in their online edition.

On the actual 2043 future land use map, the term “Vacant” has been replaced with “Open Space.” Here’s how the Plan defines Parks and Open Spaces:

Here is the portion of the 2043 future land use map that shows Bishop L.N. Forbes Street. (I added the labels for clarity.) Notice that Rest Haven, Masonic, and Hamilton Cemeteries and the run of Sandy Creek are hatched in green — the Parks and Open Space Overlay. Rest Haven, of course, is a public cemetery. Masonic and Hamilton are private, but neither is larger than ten acres. Also notice that neither Vick, Odd Fellows, nor Rountree Cemetery is designated as Open Space, despite the fact that Vick is a public cemetery. (And, collectively, the three cemeteries are 10+ acres.) Rather, they are shaded the maize of Medium-High Density Residential, like all the neighborhoods around them.

If this sounds familiar, that’s because I complained about this oversight in a blogpost back on September 17. Masonic, Hamilton, and Rest Haven were “fixed,” but the Lane Street Project cemeteries remain in future-use limbo.

How can the Parks and Open Spaces overlay be correctly applied to Vick, Odd Fellows, and Rountree Cemeteries before the 2043 Comprehensive Plan is approved by Council?

Lane Street Project: a request to Councilmember Morgan for information.

If you’ve been down Bishop L.N. Forbes Street in the last few months, you will have noticed the gravel laid alongside the Lane Park ballfields under fluttering pennants and, occasionally, mass staging of heavy equipment at the site. Last night, I submitted the letter below to Councilmember Gillettia Morgan, requesting information about this development; about potential utility work by Piedmont Natural Gas on B.L.N.F.; and, of course, the mysterious designation of Vick and Odd Fellows Cemeteries as “vacant” on future land use maps.

If you head down to City Hall in the next twenty minutes, perhaps you can ask Morgan these questions in person. Let me know.

Lane Street Project: future land use?

Back in September, Black Wide-Awake remarked upon the curious coloring of the Bishop L.N. Forbes’ cemeteries on the City of Wilson’s 2043 Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map. Shortly after, Rest Haven, Hamilton, and Masonic Cemeteries were changed to blue, the “institutional use” designation that matches Maplewood. Vick Cemetery, strangely, remained the maize of medium-density residential. (Presumably, the color change was acknowledgement of an error, as I have not seen any notice of rezoning for the cemeteries.)

I recently noticed the map below in a bundle of documents attached to the 18 January 2024 city council agenda. The documents were assembled in support of the proposed conversion of the old Happy Valley golf course into 600+ houses and townhouses. (I have a lot to say about this folly, but it’s off-topic for BWA, so I’ll spare y’all.) This Future Land Use Map was pulled from the City of Wilson 2030 Comprehensive Plan and also shows Rest Haven, Vick, and Odd Fellows Cemeteries in maize. (Rountree Cemetery is appropriately blue.)

Then, on 2 March 2024, the Wilson Times published an article, “Planning board sets public hearing on 2043 Comprehensive Plan,” that includes this map:

It’s a little hard to see, so:

(1) is Maplewood Cemetery, designated red for “commercial.” So is (2), Rest Haven Cemetery. “Commercial” is odd, but (3) is absolutely chilling. “VACANT”? Vick Cemetery is a lot of things, but vacant is not one, as the 4,224+ bodies lying beneath its bland surface attest.

What in the magic kaleidoscope is going on here?

I did a little digging on the Wilson County GIS website. Rest Haven Cemetery’s Main Improvement Description is “Business-Mortuaries/Funeral Home.” Maplewood Cemetery’s Main Improvement Description is, oddly, “Business-Office Building.” (On a hunch, I checked Evergreen Memorial Gardens’, too. It’s the same as Maplewood.) Masonic, Hamilton, Rountree, Odd Fellows, and Vick Cemeteries’ Main Improvement Description is “Vacant.”

Maybe there’s no meaningful distinction among these differing descriptions for parcels of land dedicated to the burial of the dead, but I don’t see how any good can come of describing cemeteries as vacant, and, in my 2020 voice, stay woke.

Public hearing on the final draft of the 2043 plan is 6:00 PM, Tuesday, March 5. Y’all go down there and ask some hard questions.