After receiving much criticism of the proposed Overton Gateway, the developers altered their designs for the five-story apartment building and townhouses that would line seven acres near Sam Cooper at East Parkway.
The developers, Makowsky, Ringel, Greenberg LLC, met with concerned members of the public on Wednesday, April 26, to discuss the changes to the plans corresponding to the feedback received after the design was initially proposed.
One of the key concerns of the first proposal was the intended heights of the buildings, inconsistent with the historical Lea’s Wood neighborhood.
Blair Parker, involved with site planning and architectural design for the project, said the concerns were heard and changes were made.
However, as the group laid out the changes which included the proposed five-story building being reduced to a three and four-story complex, tensions— and eyebrows—rose in the room.
“Overton Park is an amazing influence of all in this region and we found the survey reflects that,” Parker said.
But the concerns from the first meeting like the crowd that the complex would bring to the area, as well as, the amount of traffic, were still being expressed.
One attendee at the meeting, Marty Redding, says she sees little difference reflected in the revisions and is still concerned about how dense the complex would make the neighborhood, as well as the lack of parking, and the number of people who will be forced to park on the streets as a result.
“I just think it will complicate things,” Redding said. “My daughter lives in Parkway Place and I just want to have a place to park when I go visit her.”
The group announced that before moving forward with the project, many steps have to be taken, which includes taking the conceptual plan before the land use control board next week.
