The signers of this petition are opposed to Case PD 17-24 before the Memphis and Shelby County Land Use Control Board (LUCB). The application, scheduled to be heard at 10:00 a.m. on February 8, 2018, would permit the owners of Yorkshire Shopping Center (YSC) to lease space fronting Quince Road to Budget Car and Truck Rental.

YSC’s owners have framed the application as a minor change to a Planned Development. This is a distortion of fact. Zoning laws and development restrictions have changed more than once since the property was developed in the 1960’s. YSC is not and was never defined as a Planned Development. More correctly, the owners are seeking a Special Use variance for CMU-2 zoning, which is intended to support neighborhood-friendly mix of residential and commercial uses. Car and truck rental is not permitted under CMU-2 zoning, and requires a Special Use variance even in the higher-intensity commercial zoning CMU-3.

Approval of the LUCB application would:

1. Destroy the character and ambience of a now-successful neighborhood shopping center to provide a service that is neither needed nor desired by nearby residents and is opposed by the existing retail tenants.

2. Further the downward slide of Quince Road, constructed and planned as a residential – not commercial – corridor, which will destabilize multiple neighborhoods east of Perkins and south of Park.

3. Increase crime and unwanted commercialization in a still-desirable but vulnerable residential area of East Memphis, causing property values and home ownership to decrease, and prompting more property tax payers to move outside the city limits. This is a story that has been repeated over and over, and hurts all the citizens of Memphis.

4. Destabilize one of Memphis’ last remaining middle class residential areas and cause harm to multiple stakeholders, including small business owners, neighborhood associations, churches, schools, and nearby Quince Road assets such as Lichterman Nature Center and Ric Nuber YMCA.

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