Drugstores: A Success Story in Memphis
Tennessee | Posted: 09/12/2002The Threat
In the fall of 2001 the Southern Office of the National Trust was contacted by constituents in Memphis regarding a proposed change in zoning to accommodate the construction of a new Walgreens drug store along the southeast corner of East Parkway and Summer Avenue. Issues central to the case were the impact to surrounding National Register eligible apartment buildings and the setting of a dangerous precedent for future rezoning along the parkway.
The Preservation Effort
Although atypical for the National Trust to comment on local zoning matters, the Southern Office urged the Office of Planning and Development Land Use Controls to deny the change in zoning and to affirm its Residential Corridor designation due to the significance of this proposal. The Southern Office respectfully requested that Walgreens remain on its original site or seek an alternate location along Summer Avenue, thereby avoiding East Parkway.
In the 1970s, the Memphis City Council identified the city’s parkways as significant resources and enacted a Scenic Drives Ordinance as a means to protect the parkway’s residential character. The deletion of a 180-foot section along the East Parkway for the proposed Walgreens would have represented the first alteration in the corridor since the ordinance’s inception, and set a dangerous precedent for future, incremental re-zonings located along the parkway’s length.
Equally import was the potential impact to the historic apartment buildings located to the east and south of the proposed site. The Overton Apartments, Forest Park Apartments, and the Parkway Apartments are architecturally significant resources, determined eligible for listing to the National Register of Historic Places. As residential properties, these buildings reinforce the intent of the Scenic Drives Ordinance by providing housing in a mid-town neighborhood and serve as proto-types for multi-family dwellings now located along East Parkway. The demolition of these properties would not only create an unknown atmosphere in this neighborhood; it would most likely have opened the doors to sprawl development as well.
The Result
In October of 2001, the Memphis City Council rejected the rezoning proposal necessary to build a new Walgreens in that location. A letter from the City Council Chairman to the National Trust cited that the vote for rejection was a direct result of the Trust’s involvement in the governmental process and that the numerous letters and calls the council received in opposition to the application were additionally influential. The vote resulted in the upholding of the Scenic Drives Ordinance protecting the city’s significant parkways and gave Memphis an opportunity to retain its unique character by avoiding the intrusion of larger commercial interests.
For more information contact:
Nancy Tinker
Southern Office
National Trust for Historic Preservation
843.722.8552
soro@www.preservationnation.org
