City council OKs rezoning for old Hanesbrands plant

Source: Winston-Salem Journal, N.儲存C.Sept. 04--A plan to renovate the idle Hanesbrands textile plant on South Stratford Road and improve traffic conditions in the area sounded like a good deal Tuesday night to the Winston-Salem City Council.The council voted unanimously to rezone the 27-acre factory site near the intersection of Stratford Road, Ricks Drive and Bethesda Road for business use. The owners of the property plan to demolish the factory buildings and redevelop the land for retail businesses and offices.Although city planners said the redeveloped property could add another 8,000 cars to Stratford Road, city leaders believe the redeveloped property could nonetheless improve traffic flow on Stratford Road.That's because the plan calls for a new street to enter the factory property from Stratford Road to the north of the existing Ricks Drive intersection, along with the widening of Stratford Road to provide turn lanes into the redeveloped area.The widening of Stratford Road also will make it possible for the city to create a left-turn lane for southbound Stratford Road traffic onto Bethesda Road. That intersection creates bottlenecks now as drivers wait to turn left."The thing that is so appealing is that it helps address one of the chief bottlenecks -- Bethesda and Stratford," said Dan Besse, the council member who represents Southwest Ward.Tim Dockery of The Crown Companies 新蒲崗迷你倉LC of Dobson, one of the owners of the site, said that demolition would take place during the first or second quarter of 2014.Paul Norby, the city-county planning director, said that one key element of the plan for the site involves a redesign of the Ricks Drive intersection.Ricks Drive traffic would be able to turn right onto Stratford Road to go south, but a left turn onto northbound Stratford would not be allowed.Instead, drivers planning to go from Hanestown, the neighborhood around the plant, north on Stratford would proceed along a new road passing through the redeveloped property and would be able to get onto Stratford Road at the new intersection on Stratford Road to the north of Ricks Drive.Planners said that retail and commercial uses for the site should be concentrated toward the Stratford Road side of the property. No residential uses are planned for the property, Norby said, because it would be too expensive to remediate what is an old industrial site for residential use.In other action, the council unanimously approved the Southeast Winston-Salem Area Plan, a development guide for an area bounded by U.S. 52, Business 40, Salem Lake and Interstate 40.wyoung@wsjournal.com(336) 727-7369Copyright: ___ (c)2013 Winston-Salem Journal (Winston Salem, N.C.) Visit Winston-Salem Journal (Winston Salem, N.C.) at 2.journalnow.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage