Signature Homes seeks to revise Trace Crossings Village Center plan

Signature Homes is asking the city of Hoover to rezone 53 acres in the heart of Trace Crossings to accommodate changes in plans for a commercial and residential area next to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.

Jonathan Belcher, president of Signature Homes, on Monday night presented his request to the Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission and asked the zoning board to vote on it at its Sept. 14 meeting.

The 53 acres is located on Stadium Trace Parkway across from the Hoover Met, between Discovery United Methodist Church and the Abingdon residential community for people ages 55 and older.

The Hoover City Council in June 2017 rezoned the land for “planned commercial” use, but with provisions that allow for mixed use development with up to 74 residential units mixed in with commercial development.

The rezoning, which included restrictions on what type of commercial development would be allowed there, was the subject of great debate because numerous residents raised objections to having more commercial development that deep into Trace Crossings.

Signature Homes now is planning to buy that property from U.S. Steel and wants to remove the “mixed use” designation and separate the residential and commercial parts of the land.

The company is seeking “planned commercial” zoning on about one-third of the property (18 acres fronting Stadium Trace Parkway) and PR-1 residential zoning on the two-thirds of the property (35 acres) that is closer to the Chestnut Ridge community. The entire property is now being referred to as the Trace Crossings Village Center.

Signature Homes also is asking that it be allowed to increase the number of houses allowed on that particular piece of property from 74 houses to 118. The extra 44 houses would be pulled from other sectors of Trace Crossings yet to be developed along Brock’s Gap Parkway, Belcher said.

That would leave U.S. Steel 23 more housing units to be built either along Brock’s Gap Parkway across from Creekside or above Scout Lake, Belcher said.

Belcher said most of the houses his company is proposing would be 1,800 to 2,800 square feet single-family houses on lots that are about 65 feet wide. They likely would cost $400,000 to $500,000, but he hopes he could get some of them below $350,000, he said. It’s hard to say because the homes would not be ready to go to market for at least another year, Belcher said.

Signature Homes has had good success with its new subdivisions restricted to residents ages 55 and older (Abingdon and Abingdon by the River), but the company is not ready to say whether the Trace Crossings Village Center would have similar restrictions, Belcher said.

Mac Martin, Hoover’s city planner, said this type of subdivision helps meet some of the need for smaller and less expensive homes in Hoover, identified as the “missing middle” sector of housing more suitable for older residents looking for smaller homes or young professionals just getting a start in adulthood.

The plans submitted by Signature Homes for the Trace Crossings Village Center also are different than typical subdivisions in Hoover because some of the houses would have a common green area and sidewalks in front of them and be accessed by vehicle from “lanes” in the rear similar to alleys, Martin said. There would be no street in front of many of the homes.

Zoning board Chairman Mike Wood said he likes the layout but is concerned whether there would be enough parking.

Signature Homes’ plan calls for most of the houses to have a two-vehicle garage and enough space for two more vehicles in the driveways at the rear of the houses. However, no parking would be allowed on the lanes accessing those driveways.

Belcher said the proposal would allow residents to use parking in the commercial part of the Trace Crossings Village Center when needed.

Also, Belcher noted that there would be no changes in the buffer zone between Chestnut Ridge and this development, nor any changes in the types of businesses allowed.

Prohibited businesses still would include freestanding fast-food restaurants, auto dealerships, building material sales, domestic equipment rental, a hospital (though a freestanding emergency department would be allowed), car wash or automotive services. Nothing more than four stories tall would be allowed.

Belcher presented his plan to residents of the adjacent Abingdon and Chestnut Ridge communities this past Thursday and Friday in online meetings and is still working to address concerns raised in those meetings.

Jim Baxley, an Abingdon resident who came to Monday’s zoning board meeting, said Signature’s plan is great in a lot of ways, but he has concerns about how runoff and traffic will be handled.

There already are flooding and erosion problems in Abingdon, he said. He also is concerned about whether smaller homes will negatively impact property values in Abingdon, he said.

His wife, Jennifer Baxley, questioned why Signature should be allowed to increase the number of homes on the property and said Abingdon residents also are concerned about people using proposed street connections between the Village Center and Abingdon as a cut-through to and from Bumpus Middle School.

Councilman Mike Shaw, a member of the zoning board, said he likes how this plan provides a transition between commercial property and homes in Chestnut Ridge and moves some of the homes currently planned for Brock’s Gap Parkway. However, there still are some concerns, and more thinking needs to go into how the commercial and residential uses would work together, Shaw said.

City Administrator Allan Rice said he appreciates that Belcher took his plan to the adjacent neighborhoods before coming to the zoning board. Belcher said he plans to bring any plan revisions to the Sept. 14 zoning board meeting, when the zoning request is set for a vote.