GERMANTOWN

TRAVURE TRAVAILS: After years of planning, amendments, adjustments, accommodations and acquiescing, developer Ray Gill is running out of patience and diplomacy regarding his TraVure development on Germantown’s west side.

Just as it appeared the project between Poplar and Poplar Pike was going to reach a final resolution before the Germantown Planning Commission this week, another curve ball was thrown to the development.

On Tuesday night, the Germantown council chambers was packed with a standing-room-only crowd, including the bulk of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, to participate in the final commission showdown on TraVure — 10 acres of hotels, a parking garage and Class A office space on the former Kirby Farms property.

When the commission’s executive session went about 20 minutes past the official meeting start, it was evident something was up.

That “something” was a proposal by Robert Fogelman to build a road through his Westminister Townhomes, contending that concept would enhance traffic circulation in the Western Gateway. Gill and his associates disagreed with the idea — and an eventual one-month delay — countering that putting a road through Westminster matching the entrance into The Forum office complex across Poplar would benefit his competitors in the Class A office market.

Gill and Fogelman have their own spins on the benefits of the respective traffic proposals, and the city — wanting to do what’s best to enhance the gateway — is stuck in the middle.