Wednesday, April 11, 2001
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Wednesday, April 11, 2001 |
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P&Z 'barely' recommends Whitewater addition By DAVE
HAMRICK
It wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement, but Cypress Development Company's plan to add 60 homes on 127.5 acres to the Whitewater Creek community received a positive recommendation from the county Planning Commission last week. "I think this barely meets the requirement of a PUD," said commission member Bill Beckwith, who voted along with Fred Bowen and Al Gilbert to recommend that the county Board of Commissioners approve the plan. Commissioners will consider the rezoning request at their April 26 meeting, 7 p.m. at the County Administrative Complex. Planning commissioners Jim Graw and Bob Harbison voted against the recommendation. "They just have not shown me what is different about this," said Graw, adding that the PUD Planned Unit Development zoning category allows smaller building lots in exchange for creativity in drawing those lots. Graw said he also had hoped to see the number of homes reduced to between 50 and 55. When developers presented the plan last month, they were talking about 63 lots, and Graw told them he would like to see more variation in lot sizes and fewer lots. Harbison pointed out that, as drawn, the plan still has more homes per acre than the land use plan calls for in the area. And he, too, called for more creativity. "I still see a subdivision like any other subdivision in the county," he said. "We could probably take this thing and nitpick it apart," said commissioner Al Gilbert. "But there's something in me that, when I see quality, I want to reach out and grab it." "I think the developers have done a credible job in trying to accommodate what we suggested," added Beckwith. Cypress and its engineering firm, Integrated Science and Engineering, plan homes of at least 3,200 square feet with fencing and architecture to match Whitewater Creek, and common streets joining the new section to the old. In presenting the plan, Cypress representative Carl Westmoreland said the community would have 16.84 acres of open green space, five times what is required. There's also a 30-acre unbuildable flood plain. In a recent meeting, members of the Whitewater Creek Homeowners Association voted to support the plan. "We feel like adding this 60 lots will just enhance our neighborhood," said Margaret Suggs, president of the association. If the plan is approved, residents of the new section will be members of the Whitewater Creek Country Club and will be bound by the upscale subdivision's restrictive covenants.
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