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Council Turns Down Housing Development

November 6, 2006

By LOYD BRUMFIELD, News Editor / Today NewspaperThe Cedar Hill City Council agreed with several residents who spoke out, and denied a change in zoning for homes a developer wanted to build in an existing neighborhood.The unanimous vote also confirmed a similar vote taken previously by the city’s planning and zoning commission.About a dozen people spoke out against the plans of developer Bob Shelton, who wanted a change in zoning from single family, 22,000 square-foot lot minimums to single-family, 15,000 square-foot minimums in a 44.9 acre tract of land in a neighborhood located along South Clark Road just south of Plummer Elementary.Those new homes would have been significantly smaller than existing homes in the neighborhood. Many of the residents who spoke out live on Stoney Creek Drive, Spring Hollow Drive and East Little Creek.Ottis Lee of Civil Works Engineering, representing Shelton, said the vast majority of the new homes would back up to park land and not against already developed areas.Bill Cuthberson, a 27-year resident of Cedar Hill, presented an extensive list of names against the move in a petition to the council.“I don’t like the increased traffic situation,” he said. “The developer has said there will be no thoroughfare through the neighborhood, but I just feel like it’s an infringement of my privacy.”Cuthberson also said the development would bring more children into an already-overcrowded school.Many of the residents who spoke out said they didn’t like the idea of smaller homes coming in to their neighborhoods.“If you’re going to build homes closer to the size of the homes we already have, I don’t think we’ve have much of a problem with that,” Duane Walsh said.Several residents said homes on smaller lots aren’t as well maintained as homes on bigger lots and pointed to nearby neighborhoods as an example of what could happen.“I think if smaller homes were built, you’d see homes that would end up like those on the other side of Joe Wilson Road. You’d have fences falling down and lower property values,” Joe Daigrepont said.Dave Robinson said the city would face an increased strain on its budget if the development were approved.“Are you willing to upchuck the $3-$4 million it’s going to take to widen Clark Road?” he asked the council.Carl Metzger, a 10-year resident, said he would hate to see his neighborhood fall into disrepair like his old neighborhood did in upstate New York.“Where I used to live, you couldn’t see the stars at night because of all the streetlights,” he said. “There was traffic everywhere, a lot of noise and light pollution, and it got to where it wasn’t a nice place to live.”Lee said Shelton shared the public’s concern and pledged to hold the homes to a minimum square-footage of 2,200.“I do know it’s difficult for a developer to come in and make these kinds of requests,” Lee said. “We understand the concerns of people when you have one-acre lots next to lots zoned for a half-acre.”City council member Cory Spillman said he was concerned with the lack of interaction between the developer and the residents after Lee said meetings had not been set up.Spillman also said he wanted to hold off on zoning changes in existing neighborhoods until the city took a look at changing its Comprehensive Zoning Plan next year.Council member Wade Emmert thanked the residents for speaking out.“I like to see so many people at city council meetings, and I especially like to see them at meetings when they aren’t yelling at me,” he said. “I’m concerned with lot sizes, and personally I think we need to increase lot sizes instead of decreasing them.”Emmert’s statement drew raucous applause, and with that he made a motion denying the zoning change and was seconded by council member Daniel Haydin.Mayor Rob Franke lives in the neighborhood where the new homes would have been built, and he volunteered to recuse himself from any discussion and vote on the issue, but Lee said he had confidence in the mayor’s ability to handle the matter objectively.

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