No 55-and-up community for Marion developer

No 55-and-up community for Marion developer

Planning & Zoning nixes proposal following concerns

news@theeveningtimes.com

Marion Planning and Zoning heeded the opposition of residents in the Riverwest subdivision to a proposed gated community for residents 55 and older and denied a request to re-zone the property to accommodate the dwellings.

About 50 residents packed the chamber at City Hall on Tuesday to air their concerns and present petitions opposing the development.

“We’ve not been this popular in a long time,” P& Z Chairman Rob Rash joked.

Realtor Kathryn Pirani, who represented the developer, asked planners to approve their request to rezone the property from R1 to R2S single family only to allow for development of 32 homes for residents 55 and older.

The proposed homes would be would be gated and range from a minimum of 1,700 square feet to a maximum of 2,500 square feet.

“There will be a gate in front of Riverwest Drive that will be gated and have a punch code and you cannot get into this unless you are living in the 55 plus subdivision,” Pirani said.

An additional ten lots at the back end of the proposed 55 plus subdivision would remain R1 zoning for homes 2,500 square feet or more that are currently allowed in the subdivision.

The Planning and Zoning Commission approved the preliminary plat back in April contingent on the developer resolving questions over emergency vehicle access into the gated community.

One resident who spoke in opposition at the hearing asked who would enforce the 55 plus age restriction.

She pointed out that other subdivisions in Marion had homeowners associations at the start but no longer exist to enforce the restrictions.

“I’ve lived in two subdivisions and neither of them kept their covenants up to date,” she said. “We can go to both of those subdivisions now and see what they look like. They weren’t kept up and anything you want to do, you can do. And it will not stand up in court if you don’t have a homeowners association.”

Pirani said the deeds will be age restricted and will be subject to a homeowners association.

“There will be a homeowners association in this subdivision,” Pirani said.

“And they will have dues there. There will be an architectural committee there watching everything. There are some pretty strict guidelines.”

The resident asked what guarantees they had that it would stay a homeowners association.

“When Rivertrace was built there were so many things you were not allowed to do,” she added.

“Before, you could not have an above ground pool. You could not have a basketball goal in your front yard. You could only have so many cars. You could not build an extra room in your garage. Now you can.”

Another resident expressed concerns about the effect smaller homes and lots would have on property values. “What will that do to the price of homes in Riverwest building that new subdivision?” he asked.

Pirani said existing homes would not suffer a loss of value because they aren’t comparable to the 1,700 square foot homes that will be used when determining market value.

“Those 1,700 square foot homes are not a comp to Riverwest at all,” Pirani said. “When you sell your home and they sell their 1,700 foot home, my 1,700 square foot house and the value of it is not allowed to be used as a comp for your house or your neighborhood.”

Tom Donaldson, a Marion attorney representing members of the Riverwest Estates Homeowners Association, argued against the rezoning because residents bought their property with the understanding that all future development in the subdivision would be consistent with the R1 zoning the city approved in the original plat.

Donaldson also brought up concerns about drainage and allowing the roads in the gated community to be private, and questioned whether the homeowners association would have enough money to keep them well maintained.

“Those of you on the city council know that streets are expensive to maintain,” Donaldson said. “So what does that mean? You’re either going to have deteriorated streets and further deteriorated property values, or you’re going to end up tearing the gates down and just be an expensive repair bill and the folks who bought in to a gated community will get a surprise their streets need to be repaired and they are no longer in a gated community.”

Donaldson said residents in Riverwest are not opposed to the development of the property but strongly believe it should be developed in a manner consistent with the R1 zoning.

“And for those reasons Adams Nichols, who lives at 678 Riverwest Circle, presented the Planning and Zoning Commission with a petition signed by more than 40 of the 78 homeowners in Riverwest who are opposed to the rezoning.

“I went to every house in Riverwest and got the signature of everyone who is against,” Nichols said. “So I just wanted to share that with you all.”

Jim Smith of Sorrell Smith Engineers who did the original design of Riverwest, addressed the drainage concerns and said that the original detention pond was built much bigger to handle the runoff for all three phases of the subdivision.

“I looked at the amount of coverage of the additional lots and homes and it only increased the runoff coefficient by less than ten percent,” Smith said. “It was like 6.7 percent increase in the amount of impervious areas. That was negligible because they oversized the pond in the first place.”

The motion to re-zone the property died for lack of a motion and was greeted with loud applause.

“There is no motion,” Rash said. “Therefore, the rezoning is denied.”

By Mark Randall