A residential development in Stanton Springs was put on hold Tuesday, as the Newton County Board of Commissioners (BOC) voted to table a zoning hearing on the proposal.
Developers of the proposed subdivision requested the hearing be delayed before the public meeting began at 7 p.m. After discussing it, the BOC agreed to hold the hearing during the Feb. 2 meeting.
Developer Kippy Clarke and his partners are looking to build a new neighborhood in Stanton Springs, but zoning changes are needed to allow for a town center overlay and residential neighborhood. The area is currently zoned mixed use business park district.
The county’s planning and zoning department heard the petition last week, and recommended that it be denied. Earlier in the week, the Joint Development Authority (JDA) granted sale of the land in Stanton Springs to developer Kippy Clarke, Chandler & Brown and Bullard Land Planning to build a new residential neighborhood.
During Tuesday’s BOC meeting District 5 Commissioner Levie Maddox requested a work session to bring the board up to speed on the JDA’s decision on the proposed neighborhood.
“I think we should immediately engage the JDA and other partners,” Maddox said.
Zoning regulations questioned
The BOC tabled another zoning issue Tuesday night, and referred it to interim county attorney Ken Jarrard, of Jarrard and Davis.
The developer of the Autumn Trace subdivision off Hwy. 278 near Deep Step Road is seeking 57 lots on a 115.85-acre tract.
The project, which began 16 years ago with a single family residential rezoning, was approved for 116 lots in April of 1998. In May of 2003 the Alcovy Watershed was adopted and regulations limited developments to 57 lots. However in a watershed, the regulations required lots to be 2 acres on average, reducing the proposed Autumn Trace subdivision to 33 lots.
For that reason, planning and zoning denied request for the zoning petition.
“Basically it’s semantics in the language,” Zoning Administrator Judy Johnson said. “The language is stating a minimum lot size but it is the director’s interpretation that it also must meet the average lot size.”
While the county’s planning and zoning department ruled on the side of the 2-acre average per lot for 33 lots, the attorney for the developer said the project should go through based on the zoning maximum of 57 lots.
“My client came in in in the summer of 2015 and said we want to resurrect this,” said Kathryn Zickert, attorney for REO Funding Solutions LLC and developer CAL Land. “All of the infrastructure is in place and the ordinance hasn’t changed.
We are still entitled to do a 57-lot subdivision. There has been an extraordinary expenditure of funds and determination by our predecessor (Newton One Properties). All we’re asking for is to allow us to do what predecessor was allowed to do.”
Several area residents spoke out against the development, citing concerns over water flow in the area.
Spears Lane zoning approved
Spears Lane has been rezoned to agriculture residential Tuesday after the developer laid out plans to increase lot sizes in the future neighborhood in the east end of the county to the BOC.
Originally the subdivision was approved for 48 lots on 137.25 acres on Spears Lane and Hwy. 11, resulting in around one home per 2.8 acres. The developer requested a change to no more than 30 lots, which would bring the lot size to one home per 4.58 acres.
Each single-story home in the proposed neighborhood would be a minimum of 2,100 square feet, with 2,500 square feet as the minimum size for a two-story home, pushing the zoning above the minimum 1,800 square feet required for agricultural residential zoning.
Unlike two previous zoning petition requests on Tuesday night’s agenda, which were both tabled, this one was passed unanimously.
“This is exactly the kind of development we’re looking for in the first district,” District 1 Commissioner John Douglas said.
“I want to see you hold to this one house per two acres and keep this development down,” said Ann Zimmerman, a property owner near the area in question. “When you add more driveways and more septic tanks this is going to add to the runoff that goes to the Deerfield property to Alcovy Road.”
After the public hearing was closed, Lanier Sims, District 2 Commissioner, made a motion to give the interim county attorney time to review the regulations. That motion passed 3-1 with Levie Maddox voting against and John Douglas abstaining.
