Second and Final Vote Set for November
BLYTHEWOOD – A proposal before Blythewood Town Council Monday night to annex 314.75 acres on Mount Valley Road into Blythewood and rezone both that property as well as the in-town 61-acre Berrian property to R-5 (5,000 square-foott lots) appeared to be defeated when council members voted 3-2 against it.
Moments later, Councilman Donald Brock, who had voted against the request, made a surprise motion to reconsider.
Council then voted 4-1 to resurrect the requested annexation and R-5 rezoning for both properties on first reading, sending it for a second and final reading next month.
Brock said he called for the reconsideration because he wanted to talk with the developer about amending the rezoning proposal but only on the 61-acre Berrian property.
After the meeting, Brock told The Voice he hopes to meet with the developer to renegotiate the zoning for the 61-acre Berrian property from R-5 to R-12 zoning, which calls for slightly larger lots than R-5. He said he is not looking to amend the annexation and R-5 rezoning of the 314.75-acre Mt. Valley property.
This was the second time the request for R-5 rezoning of the Berrian property has come before town council. It was denied by Blythewood Town Council in a 4-1 vote five months ago on May 26. While a denial requires a one-year delay before a developer can reapply for the same zoning, it was brought back before the Planning Commission Oct. 5 through a workaround designed by town staff that included certain conditions—no on-street parking on the main road, limited number of homes, two-car garages and others. Because of the addition of the conditions, Town Manager Doug Polen said Town Attorney Pete Balthazor okayed the second appearance before council within a year was not subject to the one-year limitation.
Polen said council members Andrea Fripp and Rich McKenrick, who have been outspoken in support of the R-5 rezoning and annexation request were the sponsors of the request on the agenda. During discussion, both Fripp and McKenrick argued that the annexation would give the town greater control over development of the Mt. Valley property and would reduce the number of homes built there.
It is unclear, however, what the actual reduction of the number of homes amounts to.
Polen warned that the county’s current R-3 zoning of the Mt. Valley property would potentially allow 1,800 homes. County zoning officials told The Voice that 1,800 homes is not possible since that number would necessarily be decreased by about 30 percent to account for setbacks and infrastructure such as roads and right-of-way, leaving room for only about 1,200 homes. But Brandon Pridemore, who represented R. Joe Harris & Associates and developers South Fork Ventures LLC, insisted that he would not have built that many homes on the Mt. Valley acreage.
“Is it reasonable to get 900 or 1,200? Absolutely,” Pridemore said. “But that was never our vision for this site.”
Polen said that under conditions negotiated by the Town, the combined number of homes on the two properties would be limited to 718: up to 625 on the Mt. Valley property and 93 on the Berrian property.
Since Pridemore has not revealed exactly how many homes were planned on the Mt. Valley property, neither the Town nor Pridemore have disclosed the actual number from which the 625 homes were reduced.
Polen said the developers were willing to accept limits and design conditions on the two properties in exchange for council’s approval of the annexation and R-5 zoning.
Pridemore said the Mt. Valley development would move forward even if the annexation failed.
“We’ve spent a lot of money to buy the property, so Mt Valley’s going forward, irrespective of what happens here tonight,” Pridemore said.
Call for slower growth
Seven citizens spoke during public comment to urge council to follow the Blythewood Planning Commission’s recent recommendation to deny the request.
Bobbie Young, who said the proposed homes would be across the street from her house, asked council to consider a temporary building moratorium.
“You placed a moratorium on any new businesses coming to town,” Young said. “We should wait [on approving more homes] until after we get Blythewood pulled together enough that you guys can make a logical decision for all of us, not just things that you feel personally about, where you might have some personal agenda to attend to, but rather that you’re going to be paying attention to what the people in the community want.”
Ben Pacheco said he understood that growth would continue but urged council to first plan for its effects on the town’s residents and resources before voting for immediate growth.
“We know we’re going to get more residents or development, but let’s do it with a considerate plan that embraces the current and the future residents,” he said.
Randy Corn, who lives at the corner of Mount Valley and Fulmer roads, said traffic is already heavy and will worsen with additional development. Required turn lanes, he said, would be “just a Band-Aid” for the larger problem.
“We’ve got to do something with the traffic up here,” Corn said. “It’s absolutely horrible.”
Donna Mears cited traffic congestion, road conditions, school capacity, emergency response and the loss of natural landscape. She said her family moved to the area in 2006 because of its charm and country feel.
“But we feel like all of this is being destroyed between all of these zoning requests and annexations,” Mears said. “It’s all being destroyed before our eyes.”
Darnell Jones, a retired disabled veteran, described difficulty getting out of his neighborhood onto Wilson Boulevard and asked how residents could bring about changes to road conditions.
“I just want to live a peaceful life out here,” Jones said.
Cam Oswald questioned whether revenue from additional development would cover the cost of infrastructure, schools and emergency services, or whether existing residents would bear the burden.
“We’ve just lost so much woodland that have made Blythewood what it is,” Oswald said. “So, I’m quite concerned about that.”
Cindy Merritt asked council to “slow the roll,” saying the community was already dealing with construction and growth before Scout Motors had begun producing vehicles.
“Put a moratorium on 29016. Let’s take a breath,” Merritt said. “You just need to slow down.”
Council Divided
Fripp said she had opposed the earlier proposal but approached the developers afterward to see whether it could be improved. The revised plan, she said, would give the town a say in the number and design of homes.
“It’s not ideal, but it’s better than what you presented us to start with,” she told the developers. “If we sit and just say no, then what happens? We leave it up to the developer to make the decision for themselves.” She did not say how that could happen without Council’s approval of a rezoning.
McKenrick said he opposed high-density R-3 zoning but supported the higher-density R-5 request because of the proposed conditions.
“Of course, it’s R-5. But it’s with conditions. That is the reason for it,” he said.
“We have to try to, tonight, take a horrible situation that this town has been dealt and make it better,” McKenrick said.
Mayor Sloan Griffin said he remained concerned about traffic, public safety and what area roads could handle.
“All of us moved here for this rural character,” Griffin said. “And we see it changing, and that’s hard.”
After his motion for reconsideration of the vote to deny, Brock said he wanted the issue to get to second reading, scheduled for late November.
“Before the second reading, I want to find out if [the developers] would do something other than R-5. I think we can,” Brock said. “We can’t have those discussions if it gets voted down tonight. I’m going to make a motion to approve first reading, and I’m actually going to change my vote to ‘yes,’ simply to get to a second reading.”
“This doesn’t mean I like it,” Brock said. “If it dies tonight, then we can’t make any changes.”
Still, some of those who attended and spoke at the meeting, said afterward that they didn’t see the conditions touted by McKenrick and Fripp or a change from R-5 to R-12 zoning for the Berrian property as making much difference in density and design.
The annexation and rezoning are scheduled to return to council for second reading (vote) at 6 p.m., Nov. 23, at Doko Manor.