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Planning commission approves Eagle Point golf course rezoning

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The property that formerly housed Eagle Point Golf Course and Driving Range is now zoned entirely for single family housing.

At the June 6 Shelby County Planning Commission meeting, all present commissioners approved a request to rezone the 144.02-acre property from R-5 Multiple Dwelling District and R-1 Single Family District to R-2 SD, Single Family Special District. Commissioner Amy Smith was absent. The request to rezone the property was submitted by Connor Farmer with Highpointe Investments LLC, who said he was approached by a broker when the owners of the golf course chose to put the property up for sale.

“I can tell you that a lot of other people that it was offered to, that made offers on it, their business is apartment development,” Farmer said. “My business is not developing apartments.”

As part of his request for a rezoning as a special district, Farmer was required to go through engineering and planning to present a plan for the property to the planning commission. The plan included 304 single-family residential lots, ranging in size from .15 acres to 5.03 acres. The breakdown of these lots included 122 60-foot-wide lots, 129 80-foot-wide lots, 51 100-foot-wide lots and two large area lots in addition to natural open spaces and a clubhouse and community center. This proposal included a gross density of 2.1 units per acre, said senior planner Sharmon Brooks, while the former zoning of R-5 and R-1 could allow for a gross density of 4.9 units per acre.

“I think we’ve come up with a great plan that will only increase values in the neighborhood, especially versus what is was currently zoned for,” Farmer said.

Farmer also thanked the Eagle Point homeowners association board, which he said worked with him to relay concerns and work out a plan that benefitted both parties.

Ripon Britton, an attorney representing the HOA, spoke in support of the rezoning request. When news that the golf course was being sold got out a few months ago, Britton said there was concern in the neighborhood regarding the loss of a central feature of the development. At that time, the HOA put together a committee to work on a plan and open communication with Farmer regarding the property.

Several meetings with Farmer and representatives from Shelby County followed, Britton said, and worked out a memorandum of understanding to meet and address homeowner concerns.

“Obviously as with anything of this nature, there was some give and take between the developer and the homeowners association,” Britton said.

In the memorandum of agreement, Farmer and the homeowners association agreed he would use best efforts to enter the development via the U.S. 280 and to work to avoid the Lee Branch area and potential congestion, to have considerate building practices and limit activity to the daytime, to keep roads and lakes clean of dirt and debris and to repair and maintain all common areas (including roads, signs, shrubs, etc.).

The agreement also included a request for a 20-foot buffer and a berm with natural plantings to be built between the former golf course property and adjacent, existing home lots.

“Based on that agreement, Mr. Chairman, the homeowners association is in support of this,” Britton said. “They would love a golf course, but they definitely do not want the apartments.”

Following Britton’s presentation to the planning commission, multiple meeting attendees applauded. While no one spoke against the rezoning, several residents from the area surrounding the property in question expressed concerns to the planning commission.

Attorney Michael Odom, who was representing homeowners who live around the lower lake and along roads that would connect to the new development, said his clients were concerned about safety, traffic issues and storm water drainage.

Odom said he had spoken with Farmer and some of his engineers regarding requests to meet a storm system requirement higher than that mandated by the county or to consider a bond against sediment being dumped in existing ponds and other bodies of water, but Farmer had not definitively agreed to any of those measures.

He also discussed potential traffic issues. The proposed plan included connecting to three stubbed streets existing within the Eagle Point development. Odom argued those connections would increase traffic in an area with high speeds due to hills and preexisting traffic issues.

“Opening up all these roads will create a traffic problem in a neighborhood that already has traffic problems,” he said.

Two residents echoed Odom’s point on traffic issues, noting that a high cliff off of Eagle Nest Circle, the location of one of the stubbed streets, would mean a new road would likely have a steep incline and lead to increased speeds.

Resident Donna McFeeters, who lives off of the lower lake, said she and her neighbors are concerned about sediment runoff flowing into the lake. Over the years, sediment has built up and formed an island in the lake, she said, and a new development has residents concerned the issue would increase in the future.

Resident Virginia Brown said while she understands traffic can be difficult and there are a few questions regarding specifics in the plan, it was important to make sure the rezoning was approved, a statement members in the audience applauded.

“The county has very capable personnel to handle the flooding and the traffic, and they’re very professional in what they do,” said planning commission chairman Ken Wilder. “The commission, we’re a land use planning commission, and that’s what we’ll decide tonight is this land use. Because right now, if it stays like it is, you get four houses per acre. If it’s rezoned for what Mr. Farmer and them have asked for, you cut it in half.”

Following Wilder’s comment, no other attendees came forward to speak in opposition to the rezoning. The commission unanimously approved the request, and Wilder commended the HOA, residents and developer for working together to bring a concerted effort before the commission.

Also at the meeting, the planning commission:

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