North Forty Redevelopment

By: Mr. Wilson on June 30, 2006
The North Forty golf course is disappearing, and developers want to built it up with homes and stores, including a large grocery store. Which is great, except the land is currently zoned agricultural. The developers probably don't face too many hurdles getting the residential portion of their plan built, but the commercial side could be tough. The two east corners of the intersection of 84th and Adams are already zoned for commercial use, and the city's land use plan would have to be modified. Mayor Seng already infamously shot down another project across the street; will she have any desire to do the same here? Some property owners are complaining that they paid a premium to live near a golf course, and that their property values will drop if the course disappears. Boo hoo. I don't mean that to sound snarky and uncaring, so let me clarify. The premium they chose to pay is above and beyond what their property is actually worth. I have no desire to involve government in protecting that sort of "luxury tax". It's a bonus, not a given. If developers were planning to put in a toxic waste dump on the corner, then I would feel the adjacent property owners' pain. Such a plan would drop their property values substantially below the "real" value, and that could be seen as unfair. I view the present case as little different from the good neighbors moving out, and annoying neighbors moving in, pink flamingos in the yard and all.

Comments

See what your friends and neighbors have to say about this.

KJ
July 1, 2006 at 4:31AM

Comments from a NE Lincoln resident—

While I love the idea of a new development in that area….........

It will be very interesting to see how Ms. Seng and the City Council view this area so near the proposed ‘superstore’ that was shot down.  If I remember correctly, the opponents of that development cited increased traffic (among other reasons such as fear of more city sales tax revenue) as being a big drawback to that intersection at 84th and Adams. 

I would guess Coleen uttered a big ‘OH CRAP’ when news of a possible grocery store/ commercial/retail stores came up so close to the last one that she essentially shot down.  Now we may truly find out if it was actually a “Wal-Mart thing” that ultimately killed the first project.  If a grocery store does end up there, it would almost have to be Hy-Vee wouldn’t it?  Will the owners of Russ’s fight this as hard as they did the other?  What about the small business owners in Havelock?  With that grocery store will come the other smaller businesses—competition—that the Carol Browns of Lincoln fear so much.

On a separate note, I do feel for the residents who live on or very near the golf course.  But not too much.  There have been on-and-off rumors of the demise of North 40 for quite some time now.  These folks had to know this wasn’t going to be there forever.  But nonetheless it would be painful to look out your back window and see the parking lot of Hy-Vee instead of the golf course.

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