Despite opposition from residents from the neighborhood, the Planning Commission on Monday afternoon approved a mandatory referral to relocate a pre-existing sewer line in order to facilitate development on the 400 block of Druid Lane.
“This developer has clear-cut two lots on Druid lane, with little evidence they have the expertise to develop them, or that anyone would want to buy houses in a drainage ditch,” one of the Zoom callers said.
“At the very minimum, this request should be denied until they develop and sell the lots they’ve already cut.”
A second caller expressed concern about how development will affect erosion, as he said the slope next to the road is at a 45-degree angle. He also said the existing development in two already-cleared lots close access to their homes for an hour or more, which he said poses a danger to public safety, as emergency vehicles do not have access to the roads. In addition to this, this speaker had issues with how the current developer (Arrowhead Investments) has handled their sewer work in other lots.
“The contractor has not shown they have the ability to re-route a sewer line, nor that they care about water quality or runoff on Druid Lane and did not until people complained about it, and they will continue to cut corners if they can get away with it. If the sewer work is done poorly by this contractor, they can end up flooding the homes they are building and existing homes,” the caller said.
He asked for an independent study to be conducted before any work is done. He said he did not want “our road” to wash away if the property is clear-cut. Another resident also expressed a lack of confidence in the developer’s ability to follow regulations and rules.
“I also live on Druid Lane, and have been here for six years, and have seen extensive development done by smart developers who appear to have the capacity to follow the rules of development. I’ve had the opportunity to see how the current developer is not keeping in line with those same steps, and does not have the same skillset as the other developers in the past.
“Some of the issues I’ve noted with the current lots are illegal fill. There are currently concrete waste and debris sitting on the lot that is apparently being used as fill material that does not meet the guidelines for fill material. I think that’s important in understanding the future ramifications of granting this sewer line rerouting would be, given the runoff issues.”
The last speaker shared many of the same concerns the other two speakers brought up to the l Planning Commission. He also said developers left branches and debris outside of the property when trees were cut down, which he said showed a lack of concern or care about staying within property lines.
“We have received significant amounts of runoff coming into the ravine,” the speaker continued saying. “Every time I go out there I see it. Developers did not implement any erosion control until the last month or so. They were digging and letting dirt accumulate in the ravine area. I have a lot of concerns they are not following code requirement.”
Ethan Collier, Planning Commission chairman, told the callers they should and can contact the city about their complaints. Councilman Darrin Ledford said he will be speaking with Councilman Jerry Mitchell about the concerns they shared.
The city is responsible for making sure the rules and regulations are being followed as to how they do their work. So for those of you who are in opposition, you can call and they can address those complaints, callers were told.
However, in the end the Commission did approve the mandatory referral. Bryan Shults said “All this person is doing is relocating it, and not cutting sewer off to any lot. So that’s why staff would recommend approval. If it was cutting off sewer access to one of those lots, staff would move to deny until they could prove there is sewer to any lot that would not have public sewer.”