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2,800 homes proposed next to Deer Valley, Ross Bridge

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Map courtesy of Nequette Architecture & Design.

Rendering courtesy of Nequette Architecture & Design.

Rendering courtesy of Nequette Architecture & Design.

A plan by Signature Homes to build up to 2,800 new homes and 600,000 square feet of commercial space next to Deer Valley and Ross Bridge is moving on to the Jefferson County Commission for final approval after getting a green light from the county’s zoning board.

The zoning board gave its approval for a rezoning plan for the 833 acres off Alabama 150 on Sept. 10 when Signature Homes amended its plan after meeting with Ross Bridge residents.

The county’s Department of Development Services received an estimated 200 emails and letters opposing the development in advance of the hearing, but Signature Homes made some changes and persuaded the commission to vote in its favor.

Since its initial filing with the county, Signature has agreed to maintain a 500-foot-wide undisturbed buffer between the new 2,800-home development and Ross Bridge and limit the “medium-density” part of its development (closest to Ross Bridge) to single-family detached homes, Signature representative Richard Johnson said.

Initially, plans for that portion of the development included a mixture of single-family detached homes, town houses/row houses, lofts, duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, cluster homes and patio garden homes.

Signature also indicated a willingness to reconsider a proposed road that would connect its development with Ross Bridge and seek a different second access point.

Signature Homes President Jonathan Belcher said his company acknowledges the need for a second access road (other than the main entrance on Alabama 150) and believes other options could include a second connection with Alabama 150 or a connection to Shannon Road to the west.

The county zoning board’s approval was contingent on a second access road being identified at a later date.

SCHOOL IMPACT

Some county officials questioned Signature about the impact its development would have on county schools. Belcher said Signature has not talked with the Jefferson County Board of Education about the development yet because the first 750 dwellings would be limited to people age 55 and older and covenants would prohibit residents from having children younger age 18 living with them for more than 30 days.

That portion of the development would contribute zero children to Jefferson County schools, Belcher and Johnson said.

Also, it likely will be two years before the first house is built and six to eight years for that section of the development to be built out, Johnson said. It would be premature to approach Jefferson County about adding children to schools because the other parts of the development won’t happen for several years, Johnson said.

Belcher said it would be at least three years before any homes with school-age children would be built.

ZONING PLAN

The 833-acre property is currently mostly zoned for I-3 heavy industrial use, which would allow for things such as cement plants, iron and steel mills, railroad shops and timber and logging operations.

But some of it is zoned for R-2 single-family residential use, which in Jefferson County requires lots of at least 10,000 square feet and at least 60 feet wide, and single-story homes of at least 900 square feet or two-story homes of at least 1,000 square feet, with at least 800 square feet on the first floor.

Signature Homes is asking the county to rezone the 833 acres as an R-7 Planned United Development for mixed use, with four primary areas:

Johnson noted that Jefferson County’s land use plan, adopted in 2006, calls for this area to have high-density development and even identifies this particular property as an ideal place for a “town center.”

In December 2006, the county approved a mixed-use plan for up to 6,728 housing units and more than 1 million square feet of commercial property on this same land, but the zoning for that expired after years of inactivity, Johnson said.

The previous plan called for up to eight housing units per acre, and the new one calls for 2.4 housing units per acre, he said.

Signature Homes also has reached an agreement to pay fire dues to the Hoover Fire Department for fire coverage and was working on a similar proposal to pay the Hoover Police Department for police protection, Belcher said.

RESIDENT CONCERNS

Mickey Wright, a resident of the Glasscott area of Ross Bridge, said he thought Signature Homes had done a good job of addressing many concerns of Ross Bridge residents with its amended plan, but they still had deep concerns about the potential for a road to connect to Ross Bridge.

“The roads in Glasscott are not designed to be used as a main thoroughfare to get to Lakeshore Parkway,” Wright said. “Both Alabama 150 and Ross Bridge Parkway are much better-equipped for that kind of traffic.”

Cindy Woods, a resident of Trace Crossings, said even though this new proposed development is not currently planned to be in the Hoover city limits, it still would impact Hoover residents and others who live in that area. She is particularly concerned about adding to traffic on Alabama 150.

Johnson said a proposed new Interstate 459 interchange near South Shades Crest Road should help alleviate some of the traffic congestion on Alabama 150 and said the new development should generate about $8 million worth of infrastructure improvements.

“It also should generate $5 million worth of new property taxes, sales taxes and sewer impact fees per year and create 200 new jobs,” he said.

Deer Valley resident Stan Marks told the zoning board he was “not overwhelmingly against” the new development, but asked the zoning board to at least delay a vote to give other residents more time to talk with Signature about its plans. He was particularly concerned that a more definitive plan has not been established for a second connector road.

Marks also asked what the environmental impact would be on the Shades Creek watershed because Shades Creek flows just to the east of the development. Michael Morrison, the zoning administrator for Jefferson County, said Signature does not plan to develop in the floodplain or floodway.

Jeremy Wright, a builder in Ross Bridge, said plans for this development have been in the works for more than 10 years and a lot of work has gone into the planning. He thinks it will have a low impact on the land and schools and generate good tax revenue for Jefferson County.

MARKET DEMAND

All the property is on the north side of Alabama 150, across from Lake Cyrus. It is currently being referred to as “Lake Cyrus North,” but that is just a placeholder for identification, Belcher said. A different name would come later, he said.

Belcher said the primary focus of this development is to fill a void for affordable housing in the metro area, especially for the “active adult” — or 55 and older — market, young couples and young families. Signature Homes found especially strong demand for the 55-plus market when building new homes in Trace Crossings, he said.

He also sees the potential to develop a trail system that could connect to the Moss Rock Preserve nature park and also extend underneath Alabama 150 to the Lake Cyrus community.

The land is currently owned by Marbury Properties and CCN Asset Management, according to rezoning notices sent out by the county, but Signature Homes has a contract to buy the property and plans to close on it in the next few months. The contract is not contingent on getting the property rezoned, Belcher said.

Several years ago, Signature Homes let an option to buy this property expire because the company was not confident enough that Hoover would annex the land, but now Signature Homes doesn’t think annexation into Hoover is necessary, Belcher said.

He knows the Hoover school system can’t support additional homes other than those already on planning documents, without some type of plan to address such growth, and right now there is no solution for that, so Signature Homes is prepared to develop the property in Jefferson County.

Belcher agreed to meet with more residents as the rezoning proposal heads to the Jefferson County Commission for final approval. That hearing is scheduled for the commission meeting at 9 a.m. on Oct. 8 in the Jefferson County Commission chambers.

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