Published: January 25, 2008 10:59 am      

Planners oppose apartment zone on Jacks Creek

If the Richmond City Commission annexes 13.6 acres belonging to Thomas Clouse III off Jacks Creek Road, the city’s planning board wants the property zoned for single-family homes and not apartments.

The planners voted 6-0 Wednesday to recommend R-1b zoning instead of the R-3 that Clouse had requested.

Commissioner Michael Fore left the meeting before votes were taken.

The city commission will assign zoning if it annexes the property. Annexation requires passage of an ordinance after two readings.

A long line of home owners, mostly from the adjacent Fountain Park and Heartland subdivisions, spoke against the R-3 request at a public hearing prior to the commission’s vote.

Clouse’s property is surrounded by single-family homes, said Tom Broaddus, who lives on Jacks Creek Road. If zoned R-3, 100 to 200 apartments could be built on the property, he said. “That would add a lot of traffic to an already busy road and Jacks Creek’s congested intersection with Lexington Road.”

Richmond has a surplus of apartments, Broaddus said. “Today’s Richmond Register has an ad for 35 apartment vacancies.”

Few motorists observe the 35-mph speed limit on Jack Creeks Road, which is made dangerous by its many rises and falls, said Mike Smith. Homes in Fountain Park have retained their values even in the current “soft” market, said Smith, a real estate agent. If apartments are introduced into the neighborhood, property values would decline, he said.

Smith submitted a petition signed by 81 residents opposed to the R-3 request.

Broaddus and Smith were joined by 13 others who spoke against the request. Two other petitions totaling 38 names also were submitted.

Commissioner Neen Wiggins moved to recommend an R-1b zone for the property, the same as in the adjacent Heartland subdivision.

Commission Chair David Rush reminded opponents that the city commission has the final say on annexation and zoning issues.

“How will I know when it goes before the city commission?” a person in the audience asked. “Read the Richmond Register,” Wiggins said.

In addition to news coverage of local government, the Register carries legal advertisement of annexation and zoning issues.

Wiggins was the sole opponent to the zoning request of another property owner seeking annexation.

Mike and Anna Land seek to have 3.8 acres at 998 Red House Road annex and zoned B-1 (Neighborhood Business). Until recently, the property was a sales lot for the Lands’ Hillcrest Nursery.

A Columbia Gas pumping station and office sits in the middle of the property.

The property has been used for business for the past 40 years, attorney Walt Ecton said, and zoning it for neighborhood business would serve the interest of surrounding residences.

Sheila Kendall, who lives on Pleasure Drive in Hillcrest subdivision, said she had her husband chose to buy their house after moving to Richmond from California nearly four years ago because Hillcrest Nursery was a “quiet business.”

If a convenience store is built on the property, “We will have additional traffic on a street that is already way over crowded. People speed up and down Pleasure Drive all the time.” A convenience store also would lower the value of homes, and commercial strip west of the property currently has vacant stores, she said.

William Grise, who said he had lived in Hillcrest subdivision “all my life,” said a business would add to the burden of a nearby sewer pumping station that “overflows all the time.”

There was no opposition to two zone change requests.

Rondall Durham’s request that 154 acres on Duncannon Lane adjacent to the Richmond Industrial Park be rezoned from I-2 (Industrial Park) to B-3 (Highway Business).

A private owner cannot compete with a city-owned industrial park, said attorney Michael Eaves, and Richmond has more than 200 acres of vacant industrial land.

Durham hopes to build warehouses on at least part of the property would be compatible with industry, Eaves said.

KK & RR LLC seeks to change 1.5 acres on Red House Road adjacent to the Country Club Heights subdivision rezoned from R-1c to B-3.

The property lies across the road from an existing commercial zone.

The commission voted to give favorable recommendations to both requests.

Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 623-1669, Ext. 267.