The Montgomery County Board of Commissioners handed down mixed rulings on requests to rezone farmland for proposed housing additions.
Commissioners voted unanimously Monday to change the zoning classification for a former agricultural homestead in southern Montgomery County, but denied a second developer’s bid for rezoning land in the northern part of the county. Developer Nathan Slavens plans to build a 12-lot subdivision on South C.R. 600W near Lake Holiday and Ratcliff Inc. sought to develop a 13-lot addition on West C.R. 650N outside Elmdale.
More than a dozen neighbors spoke out against the requests during a public hearing in the City Council chambers. Neither developer attended the meeting.
Residents near the planned Ratcliff project, which currently sits on 14 acres of row crops, said the neighborhood is plagued with drainage issues and voiced concerns about traffic. The road is already a popular route for three nearby North Montgomery schools.
“A subdivision messes up the harmony of the country,” said Heather Gayler, who lives northeast of the proposed development and whose father farms near the site.
Neighbor Fred Krebs, a retired engineer, echoed Gayler’s concerns about the traffic. He also warned that, due to the faulty drainage, septic systems in the subdivision could be compromised.
“I remember learning early on in my engineering career: Just because you can doesn’t mean you should,” Krebs said.
Speaking before the Plan Commission during a hearing on the request last month, project designer Roger Azar said the lots comply with the county’s old stormwater ordinance, but that the designs would have to be edited to meet newer stormwater requirements.
Commissioners ruled that the plans don’t fit the typical definition of a subdivision.
“Personally, I do not call this a subdivision. I call this … a row of 13 houses being built on one road,” commissioner Jim Fulwider said.
The board was more supportive of the Slavens project, which would be built near an old schoolhouse bordering the Pine Hills Nature Preserve. The rezoning request covers 45 acres of land, but the subdivision would encompass 23 acres.
Commissioners said the new homes would benefit area property values.
“I do think that if you put $300,000-plus homes in the neighborhood, you’re going to increase the value of the current homes,” commissioner John Frey said.
When nearby resident Stacie McClure considers a rise in property values, she thinks about property taxes going up. McClure lives about a mile from the proposed subdivision.
“I bought this place because this is the place I want to be able to retire at, so why should I have to pay more property taxes because somebody else wants to make some money off of a subdivision?” she said.
Developers plan to build the addition on a road pegged for reconstruction. County engineer Jim Peck said C.R. 600W received the lowest rating on a pavement inventory. The pothole-marked road is included under the frost-freeze law that bans heavy trucks on rural roads in the winter.
Neighbors said construction vehicles would make the road worse.
“The numbers just don’t add to me that it would be financially reasonable for the county to do this,” said Darryl McArthur, whose home is less than a mile from the site. “With the amount of tax dollars coming back, it is not going to repair the roads that will be ruined by construction traffic.”
