What was described by the developer as a scaled-down plan to rezone 9.67 acres at 1470 Troy Pike from A-1 agriculture to R-1C single-family residential (R-1C) in order to construct 25 houses did not quiet neighbors’ opposition to approving more development.
During a public hearing on Dec. 11, the neighbors urged the Versailles-Midway-Woodford County Planning Commission to deny the zone change request because adding 25 homes will still worsen existing traffic woes on Troy Pike.
Coupled with the residential developments that have already been approved for hundreds of apartments and single-family units, “Do we really need more development right now until we catch up and take a pause on what all we’re doing,” asked Mark Williams.
“I think we need to keep Woodford County the kind of place we want it to be,” he added. “Not the kind of place some of these surrounding counties are.”
Vision Engineering (Jihad Hallany) previously withdrew a plan to rezone the entire property – all 22.5 acres – from A-1 to single- and multi-family residential. The original plan had proposed 227 apartment units, which were removed in the revised plan in response to concerns raised by neighbors.
The new application to rezone the property, which is located inside the urban service area, was submitted on Nov. 20 and only proposes single-family units.
Hallany said an existing house and MacDougals Garden Center will remain on the portion of the property (1460 Troy Pike) not being developed into single-family lots. Also, he pointed out Versailles has a housing shortage.
“I need to do something with that property,” said Hallany. “This is a property that has been in the urban service boundary for 47 years, 48 years. … It’s the last piece of property that has not been developed” in this part of the county.
With the additional housing developments previously approved on Troy Pike and elsewhere in Versailles, Mark Pearson asked, “… How many is enough?”
Given the large amount of traffic that backs up in front of the proposed subdivision during student pickup at Southside Elementary in the afternoons, “This is an accident waiting to happen,” said Dean Stoops, who identified himself as a resident of Helmsley Estates and a retired Army aviation safety officer and accident investigator.
Even though the proposed subdivision has been scaled down, Planning Director Steve Hunter told the commission that Vision Engineering’s plan still includes a left-turn lane into the development and three lanes exiting the site.
Hunter noted that a traffic study was not required with this zone change request because this plan creates fewer than 50 lots.
However, neighbors urged the commission to pause taking action on this zone change and other proposed residential developments until its own traffic study has been completed.
Chad Grant, who moved to Mortonsville because he loves this community “exactly the way it is,” told the commission, “I’ve lived in four small towns in my life, and they’ve all been ruined by this exact thing. Slow, slow, slow, slow urban sprawl, and then it’s gone.”
After the hearing was closed, the commission voted to table action on the zone change request for a month to review the testimony given.
The vote came after Commissioner Randal Bohannon said, “We need to sit down ourselves and just map out how many houses have we approved in this county.” His suggestion to the other commissioners was met with applause from those at the public hearing.
Commissioner Chris Sharp recused himself from the hearing because of what he described as a possible conflict of interest or appearance of a conflict. Commissioner Whitney Stepp was absent.
Midway U field house
A development plan to construct a second field house near the athletic fields on the Midway University campus was approved. A conditional use permit (CUP) was approved to allow the field house on property zoned as A-1 agricultural and medium-density residential.
In order to avoid having to apply for CUPs in the future on development projects, Hunter said the university may want to rezone the campus property to professional office, which he described as the best zone for a university/college.
The commission’s approval of the development plan for the field house was conditioned on a drainage plan being submitted.
Paynes Crossing
The commission approved a major subdivision plat creating 78 single-family residential lots (Ball Homes) in the Paynes Crossing subdivision. The property being developed backs up to the Bluegrass Parkway, but is located on the rear portion of property on Lexington Road.
Clifton Road plat
The commission approved a minor subdivision plat (Jo Carol Carter property), creating two small community (A-4) lots: 6.172 acres at 10351 Clifton Road and 5.832 acres at 10393 Clifton Road.