By Gary Lloyd
Building homes in the Carrington Lakes subdivision in Trussville is delayed again.
Michael Madden of Rialto Capital Management withdrew a request at last week’s Trussville City Council meeting that would have possibly amended the zoning for new homes.
“If the council had voted it up or down and voted it down, the developer would not be able to bring back that same zoning request for another year,” said Mayor Gene Melton. “He can change his zoning request and make a new application for a new type of zoning, but he can’t come back with the same zoning request. The guy elected to just put it off and not get a vote up or down, and probably in hopes of tweaking this particular zoning that would accommodate, appease everybody. For now, it’s a moot issue. He has to come back before Planning and Zoning all over again with either a new zoning or a new plan.”
There is no timetable for when the request must come back to Planning and Zoning for review, Melton said.
The issue centered around changing some of the setbacks requirements for homes under a different zone in the Enclave area of the neighborhood, Melton said. Under the change, the zoning section would change from single family homes to garden home zoning. That would mean the new homes would be developed to meet regular zoning requirements but will be set up closer to the street, and the homes would be given some leeway regarding placement of a connecting garage.
“The discussion and the concern was if we rezone the lots that are not built to accommodate him, then technically (the homes) would not be uniform on the street,” Melton said.
Madden said he may have to look for a new builder if this request is not met. He said he wasn’t sure if he could find a better builder than he has now, Stone Martin Builders.
“I think this is a good opportunity,” he said.
About 25 Carrington Lakes residents were on hand for last week’s meeting. One Enclave Drive resident, who has lived there seven years, said he wants a builder in Carrington Lakes but wants it done the right way.
“That is not uniformity,” he said of the possible zoning change
. “That does not look good to me.”
Another resident didn’t mind the change.
“It’s time that we move forward,” she said.
The room was split almost down the middle with residents for and against the change.
“The real nuts and bolts of the thing is, the majority of the folks up there just want to see somebody come in and start building similar-type value houses,” Melton said. “I think this guy had some people throw out there if he couldn’t get this approved, he would have to look for other builders and they may not like the builder he selects versus the one he has now. They sort of split. There was a group there that just wanted to let him go ahead and build those $300,000 to $350,000 homes, and then you had the other group that says he’s trying to do something different to the neighborhood that will destroy its property value. It’s one of those deals. You can’t please everybody.”
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.