Great step forward. Loving that Stormie and Branch both came out with such strong appeals to support.
Folks who are upset, please remember, this was not a building permit approval, siteplan approval, urban forestry approval, storm water approval, land clearing approval, utility plan, or any other approval of specifics. There is plenty of red tape between Kane and an actual building. 
10 Likes
Look no further than Richmond , Virginia for the consequence of looking for ‘perfect’. Now they’re building a suburban stadium a la PNC arena and Richmond does not receive any tax entitlements as the project will be 100% Henrico County.
Corey Branch, mad respect.
7 Likes
But it allows the financing to begin. The City isn’t going to screw around with them after they approved this step.
7 Likes
We’ll see how everything turns out on Thursday
3 Likes
I hope Kane will name one his new roads in the project something like Stef Mendell Blvd 
5 Likes
The answer to this is probably what @trueurbanist is hinting at: tonight’s vote only talked about the rezoning case, and didn’t mention anything about all the unanswered policy questions. After that, Council unanimously voted to put tonight’s meeting on ice and get back to “additional details” about this rezoning case this coming Thursday at 1pm.
So I’m hoping all those loose ends will get resolved this Thursday, but who knows 
This vote might be enough for some money to start moving around like what @UncleJesse suggested. But if I were Kane, I might not know what my next steps are, exactly, until after “part 2” of this hearing is over.
EDIT: N&O published article about the DTS rezoning case. Most of the information isn’t new (unless you didn’t watch the proceedings yourself), except for maybe this:
1 Like
I gotta say, I love that it was Cory and Stormie that led the charge for this. I’m also not surprised one bit that Cox was the only one in opposition. And his district is the furthest from this project, is it not?
8 Likes
So is it approved or not? This confuses me. Seems like if one person comlains, whcihc you know they will, there will be round 2 on Thursday??? 
Yes, it was approved 7-1
1 Like
I count myself as among those who think this should have been submitted as a plan development, but I am not necessarily upset that it was approved last night.
Since I was unable to watch the meeting live last night, and I probably won’t be able to watch the recording for some time, could somebody please fill me in on whether blocks A and B (the area west of Saunders and south of 40) were discussed at all last night?
3 Likes
Basically, it was partially approved
1 Like
I think it means they’re just re-reading the rezoning application as a formality. They approved it once, and Stormie Forte’s cards are now up on the table; it’ll probably pass “again” and for good.
I think the idea is that the 24hr comment period could present new, unexpected information that could make a councillor change their minds. If that’s true, it’s like the Electoral College: technically you could overturn the earlier vote, but it’s really not worth the effort.
The re-zoning is approved, but that does not mean Kane is done with run-ins with City Council.
Last night’s vote, for example, does not mean Kane will get tax breaks through TIGs, or the City will get that last-minute Opportunity Zone grant. The success or failure of each of these parts could affect what actually gets built in the DTS project. An approved rezoning just makes them legally okay to do.
Like @evan.j.bost said earlier, I think we’ll keep seeing DTS on the news for a while before shovels are in the ground.
7 Likes
I think we’ve talked about this in the past but is there any chance that this stadium could replace Walnut Creek amphitheater? I’m fine with the city giving money for the stadium if it can be used as often as possible.
4 Likes
God I hope so. I’ve only been to see one show there (DMB) and everything except the show itself was a nightmare.
2 Likes
It’s been years since I was at Walnut Creek, but after discovering actually purchasing a seat, I’ll never sit on that hill again.
2 Likes
We went to Hootie/BNL a few years ago… Never again!!!
1 Like
So realistically when is this bad boy going to be done? Sounds like it won’t get started for 2-3 years at the earliest
1 Like
Seems we may see tandem Kane development with SmoHo Phase III and DoSo starting up.
5 Likes
Something I noticed was that LeVelle Moton referred to the project as Down South multiple times when speaking yesterday. Does anyone else like that name better?
1 Like
No, enough times for 20 characters.
5 Likes