Neighborhood Needs and Plans
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Population Changes
Much of our neighborhood population is elderly. There are fewer traditional families with children, and singles, partnerships, and young professional couples are moving in. Racial diversity is beginning to occur.
Housing
Most of our houses are 1950 and 1960 era ranch style, thus approaching 50 years old. Renovations and additions are everywhere. New housing developers are applying for zoning to allow two and three story buildings on smaller lots. That incompatible height and mass is causing objections from other residents. Long term residents are beginning to move out as they age, and many of them or their heirs are retaining their houses for rental purposes.
Community Services and Facilities
This neighborhood is acknowledged to be poorly served by public facilities. We have no parks or public recreation centers. We do have a public library and a fire station. We have a multitude of churches, which are expanding into non-religious services such as recreation facilities and schools not provided by the County. A private elementary school is being built on Clairmont Rd. The impact of all that has become another issue.
All our original schools built to serve a family oriented neighborhood have been converted to other uses. The backbone of the neighborhood, Fern Creek, is in most places kudzu choked and inaccessible. It should be converted into a neighborhood asset through the Greenspace program and tied into the former Margaret Harris School as a community center.
Internal Circulation
This is a neighborhood of cul de sacs and dead end streets. This tends to create an attitude of isolation and lack of concern for the larger neighborhood by the residents of those streets. Many dead end streets have access only onto one of our perimeter thoroughfares, creating a dangerous situation and a service problem for the residents.
Sidewalks and internal pathways are needed to encourage people to move about without auto dependency and to facilitate walking, jogging, and biking safe from automobile traffic. The sidewalks we do have are not designed for our current life styles, but were oriented to the original school system.
Automobile Traffic
We have a poor street system. Some streets are regularly used for through traffic, while others are not part of any circulation system, only providing access to abutting houses. A county proposal for traffic calming measures proved unpopular. An extensive system of speed tables (speed humps) has been judged to not be a solution to the basic problem of having a mix of different and incompatible traffic and circulation activities competing for the same space.
Fern Creek
Essentially the whole neighborhood occupies the Fern Creek watershed. Fern Creek is the center of the NDHRA area and provides the essential function of area drainage. The valley it has created among our higher elevations along with our invaluable tree cover gives this neighborhood its outstanding environmental character. Our environment is our most valuable asset and that has been in large part created by Fern Creek.
Fern Creek is not a problem -- it is a valuable asset that has been neglected far too long. It is past time for this neighborhood to recognize and exploit its potential. Fern Creek should be the most important element in a Vision Plan for this area.
