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GREENSBORO — City Council members unanimously approved a rezoning that will allow developer Kotis Properties to build 234 apartments in a mixed-use complex south of Spring Garden Street in the Lindley Park neighborhood.

The proposal was originally protested by nearby Sherwin-Williams Co., but the developer and the paint factory worked out a compromise before the issue made it to the council.

The land at 2610 Oakland Ave. is surrounded by a mobile home park, a railroad and Sherwin-Williams.

Kotis added landscaping and eliminated a driveway on Howard Street to limit the impact of the complex on the paint factory. Sherwin-Williams protested the rezoning until the developer made those concessions.

Attorney Tom Terrell, who represented the paint company, submitted a letter to withdraw the protest petition at the council meeting. Terrell said the paint company has invested $13 million in the property, where it operates 24 hours a day.

“Sherwin-Williams has only been concerned with protecting its investment,” Terrell said. “Sherwin-Williams has never been interested in or desired to stop good development.”

Contact Amanda Lehmert at 373-7075 or amanda.lehmert@news-record.com

News and notes from the City Council meeting.

Veterans remembered

Council members honored city veterans from a variety of wars in anticipation of Memorial Day.

For the council’s first invocation since Mayor Bill Knight chose to replace a moment of silence with prayer, Knight read a poem dedicated to veterans by the Rev. Dennis Edward O’Brien, USMC.

“It is the soldier, not the reporter, /Who has given us freedom of the press.

“It is the soldier, not the poet, /Who has given us freedom of speech.

“It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, / Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.

“It is the soldier/Who salutes the flag, /Who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag/Who allows the protester to burn the flag.”

Speakers on the move — again

The City Council voted 6-3 to move the public comment section to the end of regular council meetings.

Mayor Bill Knight moved the speakers-from-the-floor session to the end of council meetings shortly after taking office. But council members overruled him and made it the first item of the night.

In the wake of an onslaught of speakers protesting the police department, council members moved the public comment section to nearly the last item on the agenda again, at the request of Councilman Danny Thompson.

Council members Jim Kee, Robbie Perkins and T. Dianne Bellamy-Small voted against the move.