The Jefferson County Planning and Zoning Commission has given the OK to plans for a new housing development in the Fenton area.
The development, called Hillcrest, at 801 Romaine Creek Road near Hwy. 141, would include 40 housing units with duplexes, triplexes and one quadplex on nearly 9 acres of land.
Mike Vonderheide with Terra Design Solutions in St. Louis County said the selling prices for the townhomes and villas range from $325,000 to $350,000.
According to the petition, Rezo House Buyers LLC in Wildwood applied to have the property rezoned from single-family residential to planned residential and submitted the development plan.
The P and Z commission voted unanimously June 13 to recommend approval of the petition. The commission advises the Jefferson County Council on land-use issues in unincorporated areas. The County Council, which has the sole authority over rezoning, will consider a resolution to approve the rezoning request and development plans at a future meeting.
The developers asked for a modification in the setbacks for the proposed development; the county requires developments to be 25 feet from the road and 6 feet from the property line to the side of the property’s front-facing homes.
The petition requested the county allow a 20-foot setback from the road and a 5-foot setback to the side of the property line for the development.
Vonderheide said the modification was necessary due to the steep grading on the site.
“There’s a lot of slope to this site,” he said. “The 5-foot setback is a critical issue for us, and we have reviewed it extensively.”
A mobile home is located east of the property and a veterinarian clinic to the west.
The developers said they will maintain some of the property’s tree masses to provide privacy for residents, Vonderheide said.
“Right now the site is mostly treed,” he said. “That additional foot (for the setbacks) on each side for each front home probably is going to eliminate, if not all the trees, most of the trees, so it’s important for this development to try to keep the aesthetics of the side, kind of screen it from some of the surrounding properties for sales purposes.”