Council Approves Sam's Club Special Area Study and Renames it to Midway South

At its August 9 meeting, the City Council adopted the Sam's Club Special Area Study, a long-range planning policy guiding future development and the provision of infrastructure and social amenities within a 79+/- acre area bounded by Belt Line Road to the north, Hornet Road to the south, Midway Road to the east, and existing residential neighborhoods to the west. The Sam’s Club Special Area Study began in 2014, in accordance with policy direction provided within the 2013 Comprehensive Plan, and included an area of land generally running from the former Sam’s Club site south along the Midway Corridor, including the Midway Square Shopping Center and Office in the Park. At the conclusion of that process in 2015, the City Council only provided direction on the portion of the study area that was the former Sam's Club property. The vision for the other areas within the study area was never finalized. In April 2021, the City Council approved a professional services agreement for a planning consultant and appointed a project advisory committee to complete the study. With the establishment of a 17-member project advisory committee for this re-initiated special project, the City Council directed staff to expand the study area further south to include commercial properties between Office in the Park and the Greenhill School campus.

After multiple meetings with the advisory committee and public input sessions, a draft plan was developed and made available for public review and feedback beginning on June 17. At the August 9 City Council Meeting, Director of Development Services Ken Schmidt addressed the public feedback the Town had received on the draft study. As a result of this feedback, Council directed staff to remove the "vehicle connections" to both Proton Drive and Hornet Road as conditions of approval for the plan. Council also renamed the area to "Midway South" to define the study by its location rather than as a former retailer.

Many thanks to the residents and members of the business community who volunteered their time and their talents to the project advisory committee:

Al Cioffi
Nancy Craig
Sue Halpern
Peter Jessiman
Judy Lindloff
Steve Loras
Sue Milholland
Marvin Perez
Eileen Resnik
Lorrie Semler
Austen Spoonts
Ron Whitehead
Nancy Williams
Kathie Wood
Alex McCutchin
Bill Park
Dan Stansbury

You can watch Council's Sam's Club discussion here and read the presentation here.