TOO Much of a Good Thing???

Time has passed and the Downtown IT project doesn't seem to be progressing fast enough for most people. There have been any number of reasons why the project has progressed at the pace it has. Some due to the developer, others due to town requirements, and lets not forget the County, State, and DOT.

The two lane road (Indian Trail Road) and all the traffic that utilizes that road causes the biggest problem for the project. Why do I say that? Because of that road, the DOT is involved, the location of the site to the railroad, and the traffic studies (3 so far) that have not proven favorable yet. In research I have done about the downtown project as well as others in the area I would like to offer a comparison between the projects:

Promenade 450,000 sqft 52.25 acres 8,612 /sqft density per acre 8 lanes of traffic
Stonecrest 467,000 sqft 60.81 acres 7,679 /sqft density per acre 8 lanes of traffic
Arboretum 601,000 sqft 67.75 acres 8,870 /sqft density per acre 8 lanes of traffic
Carolina Place 1,089,161sqft 83.26 acres 13,081/sqft densityper acre 8 lanes + access 485
South Park 1,752,066sqft 95.50 acres 18,346/sqft densityper acre 10lanes of traffic
Village Comm 360,000sqft 44.00 acres 8,181/sqft densityper acre 4 lanes of traffic

Downtown IT 1,026,100sqft 47.16 acres 21,757/sqft densityper acre 2 lanes of traffic

Current ratios 740,500 sq ft for residential or 72.17 %
285,600 sq ft for commercial or 27.83 %
Traffic counts on Indian Trail road range from 10,000 to 15,000 daily trips approximate #.

Delays are inevitable in any project and the Downtown project is no exception. If everything goes as planned this project will take a minimum of two years according to the developer. The micro managing that is talked about so often is more accurately described as quality control by the planning department. The rules are there for all projects, not just the downtown project. Though, all projects in the downtown overlay district will actually have tougher standards to comply to and that is for quality control.
The information was compiled from Char-Meck Shopping Center Study.
The Village Commons Phase II.
Town of Indian Trail =Sup2006-014M_000