An Ohio developer has filed a third set of plans for White Rock Estates, near the corner of Hanford Road and West Moore Street, for what was originally intended as the city’s first gated community.
The most recent plans, reviewed by the city’s planning board in May, would have had 16 cottages and 10 larger, ranch-style single-family homes on about 10 acres. The portrayal of the cottages had evolved since the planning board first considered the development in April, when some of the houses were referred to as “tiny homes.” But Watkins told the planning board in May that the houses would not be “on wheels,” but would have foundations.
The planning board ultimately recommended unanimously, 4-0, against the developer’s rezoning request in May that would have allowed more dense development than the property currently has.
The newest plans reduce the total number of units by two – one in the cottage section of the development and one in the larger, ranch-style single-family homes, to 25 and 9, respectively. It appears to keep the gated aspect for the development but reduces the entrances from two to one.
Controversy previously surrounded whether the developer had obtained an easement from one neighboring couple, John and Joan Webster, in order to make the second entrance sweep through a 5,000 square foot corner of their property. The newest plans omit that second entrance altogether.
When the item came up on the city council agenda Tuesday night, the council concluded that since the plans had changed from those reviewed and voted on by the planning board, the review process should begin anew, with both the city’s technical review committee (TRC) and planning board re-starting the review process altogether.
Developer Michael Watkins had described the community to the planning board as a “premier” development of “affordable micro homes.” Indeed, he told the planning board he intended to move into the development himself.
In his original description to the planning board, it was said that the smaller homes, deemed cottages, would have 900 to 1,200 square feet, while the larger, custom-built ranch homes would have 1,200 to 2,500 square feet.
One issue that befuddled the planning board in May was the assertion by Debra Huey Boone, who sold the property to Watkins, that the “intensity and incompatibility” of the proposed development was at odds with other nearby homes. Boone is the daughter of 92-year-old Mildred Huey, who lives on an adjacent property.
Discussion in May surrounded an alleged stipulation in the deed that Boone included when the property was conveyed to Watkins. Interpretations varied, but it appeared to indicate that only a single or as many as three 2,500-squre-foot homes could be built on the property.
Boone said that the 26 homes then being considered represented a “high-density development.” She said that this property and others “once lost to high-density development, are gone forever.”
However, Cameron West, the city’s planner, told the planning board that month that the seemingly inconsistent issue of the developer’s plans versus the deed for the property he had acquired was a private issue, which could be litigated between the former property owner and the current one.
During May’s meeting, planning board member James Stockert, who has since left the board, questioned the sewer pump station that would be needed for the project. “I’ve never met one that didn’t smell,” Stockert said.
Stockert ultimately made the motion to recommend denial of the rezoning request to the city council, which was first scheduled to consider the plans at its June 9 meeting. Voting for Stockert’s motion for disapproval were vice chairman John Wooten (who had presided in the absence of board chairman Dean Ward), Mike Benesch, Lisa Kirkpatrick, and Stockert; also absent was board member Tony Bailey. The city council’s consideration of the project was postponed in both June and July, but recurred on the agenda this week.
Graham planning board member Chad Huffine had asked to be recused from the discussion in both April and May so that he could appear on the other side of the dais as the engineer for the project being proposed by Watkins of Troy, Ohio.
The planning board is next scheduled to meet next Tuesday, August 18, but it was not clear whether the developer’s plans would be reviewed then or at a September meeting.
