A developer’s plans to build a 152-unit apartment complex just outside the Arnold city limits have dimmed.
The Jefferson County Planning and Zoning Commission voted 5-0 Aug. 25 to recommend denial of a rezoning request from KAB Construction of Imperial, which has proposed building eight apartment buildings on 9.43 acres on the southwest corner of Old Lemay Ferry and Miller roads.
The P & Z board recommended that the County Council, which has the ultimate authority on rezoning matters in unincorporated areas of the county, reject KAB’s request to rezone the parcel from single-family residential to planned mixed residential. The developer needs the rezoning to build the development, which would be called the Arnold Apartments.
The County Council likely will consider the rezoning request in September.
Arnold city officials have opposed the development, saying it should not be allowed because the plan does not comply with fire codes.
Council members voted unanimously Sept. 1 to pass a resolution opposing the development.
“The streets are not wide enough and culs-de-sac are not big enough to meet the requirements,” Arnold City Administrator Bryan Richison said. “If the plan would meet the fire code and all the other rules, there is nothing for us to say. My chief building inspector has reviewed and consulted with the (Rock Community Fire Protection District), and it is our belief it is not compliant.”
County planning officials say when the developers submit detailed plans for the complex, they will have to comply with any fire codes.
The preliminary development plan submitted with the rezoning request did not specify how the units would be split between one- and two-bedroom apartments, but the developer, Larry Barnes, who owns KAB Construction, said the majority would have two bedrooms.
Barnes, who said he intended to manage the complex, said rent for a two-bedroom unit could be $1,500 a month.
About 70 people attended the public hearing, with nine speaking out against the plans.
Gene Fribis of Heneghan and Associates of Arnold, who represented the developer, reminded the planning commissioners that despite the large turnout, deciding zoning matters shouldn’t be a popularity contest.
“The neighbors have to prove that they would suffer monetary damage” through a rezoning and subsequent development, he said. “The issue is not that they simply don’t like a project. The truth is that the opposite happens, that development improves everybody’s property values.”
Those who spoke were clear they didn’t like the project.
Arnold Ward 2 Councilman Tim Seidenstricker said 148 residents of the Villages of Strawberry Ridge, which is north to the property in question, have signed a petition against Barnes’ plans.
“This is not the right development at the right place,” he said.
Joseph Landeau, who lives near the site, agreed.
“They’re talking about a detention pond,” he said. “That’s a magnet for mosquitoes. This is out of character with the surrounding area (which primarily is made up of single-family housing). The density of this development is out of character and it should not have a single entrance.”
The plan has one entrance on Old Lemay Ferry Road.
County standards call for more than one entrance if a subdivision has more than 99 lots, but the standards do not address multiple entrances for multi-family housing.
Fribis said a second entrance on Miller Road was considered.
“We concluded that we didn’t want to put more traffic on Miller Road,” he said.
A traffic study concluded that the apartment complex would generate 70 additional vehicles during morning rush hour and 86 more in the afternoon.
Sue Erbe of Imperial said the Arnold Apartments are unnecessary.
“There are many other apartment complexes already in Jefferson County,” she said. “This will destroy the ecosystem and contribute to flooding and make Jefferson County a bad place to live.”
Peter Erbe, also of Imperial, said the property is better suited to single-family homes. “I’m sure someone out there would build single-family homes there,” he said.
Valerie Leonard and Frank Atkinson, who both live on streets off Miller Road across from the development, said they feared stormwater runoff would damage their homes.
“All the water will come straight down to us,” Atkinson said.
Leonard also noted that the Fox C-6 School District has announced it will not provide bus service to elementary students who live within a mile of a school, and the area is close to Simpson Elementary.
“There are no places for kids to walk to school,” she said.
Ron Hopmeir, who said he has lived for 72 years in a home across Old Lemay Ferry Road from the site, seemed to sum up planning commissioners’ concerns.
“This seems like a lot of development,” he said. “This is too dense.”
Planning commissioner Tim Dugan was absent from the Aug. 25 meeting.
Tony Krausz provided information for this story.