In a dramatic turn of events at tonight's City Council meeting, Dilworth succeeded in battling back a proposed rezoning that would have put a Walgreens on the corner of Morehead and Kenilworth. DCDA's position was that the rezoning was in direct contradiction with the recently adopted plan for that corridor, which restricted development to office/residential. 

As they did last month, developer Lincoln Harris threatened today to push through a deferral of the vote, a move which Dilworth fought hard behind the scenes to prevent. Lincoln Harris withdrew the request in the final hours before tonight's meeting. 

Dilworth's council member Patsy Kinsey then introduced a motion to defeat. Although only 4 votes were needed to block the rezoning, 8 council members along with Mayor Foxx voted to defeat the rezoning request. Only Dulin, Cooksey and Howard voted with the developer. It was a stunning and unexpected defeat for Lincoln Harris, and brought the large crowd of Dilworth residents in attendance to their feet applauding.

Thanks to Dilworth opposition leaders Cindy Schwartz, John Fryday and Jill Walker, to the over 1200 residents who signed the e-petition, to the hundreds who emailed City Council members, and to all those who attended tonight's meeting and many other public meetings over the last months as this rezoning was carefully evaluated. 

A special thanks to the protest petitioners on Belgrave Place, who made the point that the City's plans which the neighborhood had spent so much time on should be followed. They withstood great pressure from the developer and held their ground. 

As Walker said, "Land Use takes a village. We finally had a village."