Planning Commission votes against rezoning prosposal in Taylor neighborhood

The City of Taylor Planning Commission voted against rezoning over 9 acres of land in a neighborhood after dozens of residents flooded Wednesday's meeting, pushing for officials to strike down the proposal.

The commission was supposed to vote on the matter at last month's meeting, but it was rescheduled after a heated exchange between residents and officials in June. 

"Residents are concerned about traffic, residents are concerned about noise, residents are concerned about property values, residents are concerned about environmental impacts," resident Matthew Streicher said.

Streicher has been at the center of the fight against a proposed rezoning by the corner of Wick and Holland roads from residential to light industrial. Streicher lives on Holland Road, just feet away from the potential rezoned land. 

"We don't want to see our property taxes go up and our property value go down because somebody doesn't want to buy a house right next to a warehouse," Streicher said during public comment.

Developer Interstate Capital proposed the rezoning to potentially build a cold storage facility. The company says those plans will still go through, but only on the 25 acres already zoned industrial, not on the additional 9 acres, if the planning commission voted against the proposal. 

"For almost 15 years, you've had a chance to look at this, and it's always been heavy industrial, so we're not asking for that. We're looking for industrial as the overlay. To bring business, to bring jobs, to bring opportunity," said Greg Dilone with Interstate Capital.

Dozens of upset residents attended the meeting, with many echoing Streicher's concerns. 

"Residential is the way, that's the master plan from many years ago, and that's the way it should stay, and that's why we're all here," said Denise Haggadone.

While another resident said, "They knew it was a residential area, they knew it was going to affect Wick Road."

Eventually, the Planning Commission heard the residents' concerns and decided against the developer's Birmingham proposal. 

"With the truck traffic we currently have going down Wick Rd, it's a single-lane road," said commission member Kenneth Stewart.

And Streicher, much like many of his neighbors, went home happy Wednesday evening. 

"It's really giving me a lot of hope for humanity because a lot of people they sit back and wait for other people to take care of things, but these people really stepped up today, and I couldn't be more proud to be a Taylor resident," he said.

Many of the residents say they are now focused on a community petition they created to help protect the city's remaining woodlands, wetlands, and wildlife habitat from future industrial development.