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GREENSBORO — The developer of a proposed Walgreens drugstore at Lawndale and Cornwallis drives has abandoned that plan after facing stiff resistance from neighbors.

And after those plans were withdrawn Friday, the city councilman who recused himself from talking on the issue finally spoke up, suggesting the conflict may point to a broader problem with one of the city's key planning tools.

Residents in the Kirkwood and Old Irving Park neighborhoods protested the rezoning — which was on the Jan. 15 City Council agenda — and posted signs against the plans in their yards.

Now they want to make sure the property doesn't go commercial in the future.

"We're already asking to amend the city's comprehensive plan," said Anne Hummel, one of the main neighborhood organizers.

Their homes are near busy commercial strips along Battleground Avenue that, she said, puts enough traffic through the neighborhood already.

Greensboro Councilman Robbie Perkins had

previously excused himself from speaking on the issue because he's president of NAI Piedmont Triad, which represents Charlotte-based developer Tribek Properties.

The developer is currently building a Walgreens on Spring Garden and Aycock streets.

On Friday Perkins wondered if the city's 2003 comprehensive plan for growth needs to be updated.

"That developer in Charlotte was relying on our own comprehensive plan in selecting the site," Perkins said. "The neighborhood is upset about it, and then they say that they're upset about the plan. You might have to look to change the plan."

Tribek's request to rezone the property from residential to commercial went to the Greensboro Zoning Commission Nov. 12.

The planning staff report recommended denying the request, which the commission did on a 4-4-1 vote.

Tribek had intended to appeal the vote at the next City Council meeting, but on Friday a letter was hand-delivered to the office of Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson requesting to drop the appeal.

Perkins says this case points to a problem that could crop up in many areas of the city.

"That's not something that's unique to this corner, in this neighborhood," Perkins said.

"Are you preserving the spaces that need to be changed for the overall good of the city?" Perkins said of the issue of rezoning property across the city.

Between new rezoning requests across Greensboro and residents' wishes for their own neighborhoods, a five-year-old comprehensive plan could be outdated, he said.

"And while this is the hot issue of the month, what are we going to do with the rest of the city?" Perkins added. "I think the conversation needs to be held."

Phone messages left Friday with Tribek and their attorney, Henry Isaacson, were not returned.

Contact Gerald Witt at 382-8522, or gerald.witt@news-record.com