Plans to build a subdivision at Hwy. A and Sandy Valley Road east of Hillsboro appear dead in the water.
The Jefferson County Council voted 5-2 at its Sept. 28 meeting to deny a rezoning request and preliminary plans for a 248-home subdivision with 25 duplexes on 155.3 acres at the northeast corner of the intersection.
Council members Brian Haskins (District 1, High Ridge) and Tracey Perry (District 5, Festus) voted against the resolution to deny the project.
“I want the county to grow,” Perry said. “If we say we are open for business and want people to live here, we need to embrace it.”
Haskins agreed.
“I don’t know how this county can just turn down $7.5 million (in projected real-estate tax revenue over 10 years). That means schools would get $4 million to $5 million of that over the next decade.”
Councilman Charles Groeteke (District 4, Barnhart) questioned whether the services the county provides the development, such as law enforcement, would offset the additional tax revenue.
“I think that’s a hypothetical question,” replied County Executive Dennis Gannon. “We know growth is important and we know new houses are important.”
Councilman Jim Terry (District 7, Cedar Hill) said he voted to deny the plans because of the amount of traffic the development would generate.
“Way too many people will go up Sandy Valley to Jarvis Road and other side roads to get to (northbound) Hwy. 21,” he said. “That will be a huge burden on the county, and those are very poor roads. The infrastructure impact on the county will be significant. My concern is about density.”
The county’s Planning and Zoning Commission, which advises the County Council on land-use issues in unincorporated areas, voted 5-2 Sept. 10, following a public hearing on the issue, to recommend denial of the request.
About 40 people, most of them opposing the plans from the developer, Bridle Creek Properties LLC of Ste. Genevieve, attended the Sept. 10 public hearing, and 62 people told County Council members they opposed the plans during the public hearing portion of the Sept. 28 meeting, which was held by telephone conference call.
This was the third time a subdivision had been proposed for the area.
County Services Director Eric Larson said the developer this time around had submitted a less dense plan than the original proposal in 2007.
That first plan, he said, included 191 homes and 32 duplexes on about 100 acres for an average density of 2.41 units per acre.
That application was denied by the County Commission, and the developers – a different group than Bridle Creek Properties LLC – lost its appeal of the ruling in the Jefferson County Circuit Court.
Larson noted the current plan called for 1.86 units per acre, but the developers agreed to modifications suggested by his staff that would reduce it to 1.79 units per acre.
Lockport Landing, a 176-home subdivision on 85 acres located across Sandy Creek Road from the proposed area, has a density of 2.07 units per acre, Larson said.
In 2009, Bridle Creek Properties LLC submitted a plan to develop homes and duplexes on 155 acres in the area, but withdrew it before a hearing could be scheduled because of staff concerns about density.
The recent plans included 56 acres purchased from the Hillsboro R-3 School District for $400,001 last year.
Dan Govero of Govero Land Services in Imperial, who represented the developer at the public hearing, said the proposed homes in the subdivision would have been priced at $300,000 to $500,000, with each duplex unit likely selling for around $250,000.
He also said the developers would have paid to install a traffic signal at Hwy. A and Sandy Valley Road.