Hoover zoning board OKs plan for 1,150 houses on 1,527 acres in Blackridge

The Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission tonight gave a thumbs up to rezoning 1,527 acres to accommodate 1,150 houses in a development in southwestern Hoover to be called Blackridge.

The property is just southwest of the 500-house Lake Wilborn property that Signature Homes is developing at the end of Stadium Trace Parkway. It is between Lake Wilborn and Shelby County 52, east of South Shades Crest Road and north of the Cahaba River.

The property currently is zoned for either agricultural use or is not zoned at all. Signature Homes and a company called Riverwoods Holdings are asking for it to be rezoned as a Planned Unit Development, which gives the developers flexibility in how the land is developed.

Now that the zoning board has recommended approval of the rezoning, the matter goes to the Hoover City Council for a final decision.

Signature Homes President Jonathan Belcher said his company wants to build 650 houses on the 700 acres it owns right next to Lake Wilborn. Up to 362 of those houses can be built on “medium-density lots” with a minimum lot width of 60 feet. The other 288 will be on lots of at least 15,000 square feet and at least 75 feet in width.

Signature Homes plans to put the larger homes around a 100-acre lake. Signature’s portion of the property would be a gated community with private roads, bounded on both sides by railroad tracks.

Further south, Riverwoods Holdings plans to put 500 houses on 823 acres between the second set of railroad tracks and Shelby County 52.

Some people have expressed concern about adding 1,150 more houses in Hoover, saying the school system can’t handle that many more houses right now.

Belcher said the 1,150 houses is a much smaller number of houses than originally approved for the property when it was annexed into Hoover around 1994. The annexation agreement allowed for 2.25 houses per acre. With 1,527 acres, 3,435 houses would have been allowed under that formula, and that was the number for which school officials were originally told to plan, he said.

But the new proposal calls for just .75 homes per acre, Belcher said. Signature Homes is willing to give up about 1,000 home sites but is asking that 1,232 lots be reserved for Signature to develop on other property it may develop in the future, with approval of the city.

Land donations

The annexation agreement for the property requires the landowners to donate an acre of land for recreational use for every 100 residents, assuming 2.5 residents per dwelling, Belcher said. That would amount to about 29 acres, and Signature is proposing to create a 60-acre park on adjacent land it owns next to the Cahaba River, with 4,000 to 5,000 linear feet along the Cahaba.

The annexation agreement also requires the landowners to donate land for a public safety building (fire station) and build the station for the city. It also requires that the developer donate a prepared school site for every 1,800 dwellings, assuming one student per three dwellings.

This development would not contain 1,800 homes, but the developer has agreed to include these home sites in an overall count of homes developed by Signature Homes on other property in the future, Hoover Executive Director Allen Pate said.

And just like other property owners, these landowners must pay a fee of $1,500 for every house built, Pate said. That fee is then forwarded on to the school system.

Riverchase resident Arnold Singer tonight told the zoning board that with increases in the Consumer Price Index, the building permit fee should now be $2,410.

“I think it’s time after all these years to increase the $1,500, and that would provide some additional help to the Board of Education,” Singer said.

Road plan

Zoning board members and others had questions about the road plan for the property. Belcher said a traffic study indicated a two-lane road would be sufficient for the extension of Stadium Trace Parkway as the main thoroughfare. Making the Signature Homes portion of Blackridge a gated community should prevent the road from becoming a cut-through from Shelby County 52 to John Hawkins Parkway, Hoover planning consultant Bob House said.

Only six lots of the Blackridge property would have access to South Shades Crest Road, and they would be on a cul de sac with no connection to the rest of Blackridge, House said.

The plan is to vacate most of Elvira Road, which extends deep into the property off Shelby County 52, and build a new road in its place. The current Elvira Road would turn into a cul de sac at the Hoover city limits, Belcher said.

A Mountain Brook man who owns property off Elvira Road was concerned about gaining access to his property if Elvira Road is vacated. Belcher said Signature Homes’ plan would grant him access to his property either inside or outside the gate — whichever he prefers.

The companies that own the land in Blackridge also agree to preserve at least 365 acres as a tree canopy, House said. All the houses would be either on septic tank or the Jefferson County sewer system, he said.

The rezoning case now goes to the Hoover City Council.