If you want to witness a big crowd at a Jefferson County Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, you’re almost guaranteed to see one when development near the Eureka area of Jefferson County is proposed.
Such was the case March 10, when the P and Z board considered rezoning and preliminary plans for a 101-home subdivision on 39.1 acres on Hwy. FF between High Trails Drive and Jim Shell Drive-Haas Road.
The lot is just south of the Windswept Farms and Mirasol subdivisions, both of which brought standing-room only crowds to the Jefferson County Administration Center in Hillsboro when they were being proposed.
The hearing for the newest subdivision in the area, to be called the Polo Grounds, didn’t attract that kind of crowd, but about 70 people attended.
In anticipation of a large crowd, the county planning staff before the meeting restored the seating in the assembly room to its pre-pandemic capacity of about 125. For most of the last two years, single seats were spaced out because of social distancing concerns.
Many attending expressed displeasure after the P and Z board voted 4-3 to recommend approval of the proposal.
The County Council, which has the ultimate authority to rezone land in unincorporated areas, likely will take up the request in April.
Katherine Moore, who represented the developer, the McBride Berra Land Co. LLC of Chesterfield, said the company had pulled an earlier request after meeting with nearby residents and redrew the plans to address their concerns.
“The original plan had 118 homes and less common ground, less buffering,” she said. “After working with neighboring property owners, who had quite a few concerns, we asked the county to remove it and we went back to the drawing board.”
She said the revised plan dropped 17 lots and pushed the larger lots to the back and sides of the subdivision to provide a transition to the homes on large lots that surround it. The lot lines along Jim Shell Road, she said, will match the lots across the road.
An existing barn on the site, which formerly included a polo field, will be converted into a clubhouse. A lake in the front of the site along Hwy. FF will double as a stormwater detention pond.
Moore said she expected homes in the Polo Grounds to sell from “the high $300,000s to $600,000.”
“These will be luxury homes, with two- and three-car garages,” she said. “This site will allow current residents to upgrade their homes and stay in Jefferson County and attract new residents.”
One local resident spoke in favor of the plan.
“I drive past this site multiple times a week,” Bill McLaren of Pacific said. “I have seen the improvements that (Mirasol and Windswept Farms) have brought. People want to live here. Better to have a subdivision with public water and sewer service rather than three-acre lots with septic tanks.”
Most of the rest of the crowd, however, wasn’t sold.
Samantha Hoene of Hoene Springs questioned whether the land was suitable for residential use.
She said her father considered buying the property years ago but passed because “it was too wet to farm.”
Michael Faulkner of the Sterling Co. of St. Louis County, which drew up the plans, said tests of the area were sent to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which responded that “no applications were necessary” to that agency to proceed with development.
Brian Wrather, who lives across High Trails Drive from the site, said he worried about the light pollution the new subdivision would inflict upon its neighbors.
“Not everybody wants to live in area with bright lights,” he said. “You cannot ignore that this is a rural area. Approving this kind of zoning will destroy our way of life. It’s at the bottom of a valley. A lot of residents will be looking down on it.”
Moore said the fact that surrounding properties are higher than the Polo Grounds will help minimize the effects of lights.
Bill Berthold, who also lives in the area, agreed with Wrather.
“This zoning is totally out of character with the area,” he said. “If we wanted to live next to a high-density development, we wouldn’t have moved here.”
Donna Dillon, who lives in the LaBarque Creek area down Hwy. FF, also agreed.
“I’m opposed to this zoning change, as I was with Windswept Farms and Mirasol. But they (those two subdivisions) are an anomaly to this area. This doesn’t fit.”
Moore countered that Mirasol and Windswept Farms aren’t anomalies.
“They have proven to be extremely popular and desirable places for homeowners,” she said. “But this is not a similar project. It is much less dense and has more common space and amenities.”
Planning commissioners Danny Tuggle, Larry Adkins, Chris Hastings and Trisha Fribis voted to recommend approval, while Tim Dugan, Jessie Scherrer and Mike Huskey cast dissenting votes.
Planning commissioner Greg Bowers abstained because he works for Consort Homes, which will build homes in the site if it is approved.