Alocal golf course/development’s approach, which officials called “unorthodox,” to developing Keene Manor Subdivision prompted much discussion at a meeting of the Jessamine County/City of Wilmore Joint Planning and Zoning Commission last Tuesday.
Corman McQueen Golf, Inc., submitted a request for approval of a final plat for lot 27 in Unit 2 of the subdivision, more than 10 years after receiving approval for the preliminary plat for Unit 2, and more than two years after a final plat for a neighboring lot, lot 29, received approval, according to a staff report submitted to the commission.
Submitting plats for one lot at a time is unusual, said Chris Woodall, planning director for Jessamine County.
Dal Harper of the Bluegrass Area Development District, a planning consultant for the commission, agreed.
“I would say that it is precedent-setting,” he said. “This would be the only county in Central Kentucky that I know of that would be doing it that way.”
Chris Horne of Horne Engineering, engineer for the development, said that, because the lots are expensive, the golf course owner is submitting plats as the lots are sold to prevent having to pay taxes on unsold lots.
Lots in the subdivision are valued at around $200,000, commission member Dave Carlstedt said.
The high price tag is unusual in the county, which is probably why the commission hasn’t had others asking for approval for one lot at a time, Carlstedt said.
But Woodall and some commission members said they worried that others will take the same approach if they approve the lots for Keene Manor one at a time.
“It could create more unorthodox situations in the future,” Woodall said.
But Horne said the requests adhere to existing ordinances and regulations.
“There are no regulations in place that they’re skirting,” he said. “Unless you want to drum up a regulation prohibiting them, then I don’t see how you can prohibit them.”
The final plat was approved, with commissioner member Don Colliver abstaining and all others voting yes.
A request for a bond extention and reduction for Units 1 and 2 of Keene Manor also was approved by the commission.
Corman-McQueen obtained a $110,360 bond in February 2007 to cover unfinished work, including sidewalk work and seed, among other items, according to a letter submitted to the commission by Horne.
The only item remaining is sidewalk work at $61,088, the letter states.
A bond or letter of credit is required when a final plat is approved before all work is completed, Carlstedt said. It must cover the estimated cost of the work, plus another 25 percent. Developers then have a deadline in which to complete construction, unless extensions are granted.
The construction deadline for the Keene Manor units lapsed in 2008, according to a staff report, and later was extended to November 2010. It again lapsed, according to the report.
The request for a six-month extension was approved, as was the request to reduce the bond to $76,360.
Cell-phone tower
A request for an extension on an application for approval for a cell phone tower also was approved at Tuesday’s meeting.
The attorney for New Cingular Wireless submitted a letter asking for an extension to the application for the tower, which it wishes to locate at 1701 Wilmore Road in Nicholasville.
A prior request for a cell phone tower at that location, as well as another tower at another location, was denied by the commission in March 2011. At that time, commission attorney Bruce Smith presented a document to commission members stating that the application for a tower at 1701 Wilmore Road did not meet requirements to adequately notify surrounding property owners. Smith also wrote that the tower would be located on church property and would expand the activities conducted under the church’s conditional-use permit, which requires approval from the commission. The proposed tower also would not have agreed with the county’s comprehensive plan, according to Smith.
Commission members voted in 2011 to deny each application, with Dave Carlstedt casting a lone dissenting vote in favor of the Bethany Road tower and the motion to deny the Wilmore Road tower passing unanimously.
The application was extended to the commission’s April meeting, scheduled for April 9 at 7 p.m. in the fiscal court room of the Jessamine County Courthouse.
