The Midlothian City Council Tuesday night approved a pair of zoning requests — one with a more rural feel, the other neighboring an industrial area — totaling a combined 101 acres and 187 new lots.
First, the council unanimously approved the rezoning of 50.958 acres along the south side of West Highland Road from Agricultural to a planned development with a base zoning of Single Family-4. The Highland Village subdivision will consist of 50 lots with four homeowner association open space lots, including a 1-acre lot with a detention pond.
The development was denied by the City Council without prejudice in July due to the lack of amenities and lack of a stub-out to the Mockingbird Springs neighborhood, but the new design adds more amenities and includes the stub-out as it now consists of a winding central street with two cul-de-sacs.
City planner Arden O’Connell told the council that Sardis-Lone Elm Water will serve the subdivision, and each home will have an on-site septic system. The property is surrounded on three sides by similar low-density neighborhoods and is consistent with the city’s future land use plan.
The northern edge will be screened from Highland Road by an HOA-maintained 15-foot shrub buffer zone, a wrought iron fence, and trees. Councilmember Mike Rodgers objected to the use of wrought iron fences in general, saying he would rather see a masonry fence to give homeowners’ backyards more privacy, but voted along with the other five councilmembers present in favor.
The second item was approved 5-0, with councilmember Wayne Shuffield not voting. It modifies a 49.76-acre portion of the existing Redden Farms planned development and adds a concept plan for Phases 2A and 2B of the subdivision, which is currently-undeveloped land south of Grove Branch Boulevard and west of Summer Grove Drive.
O’Connell said the proposal reduces the subdivision to 137 single-family lots, down from 171 lots in the original proposal, and eight open space lots. An 8-foot masonry fence will be built along the western edge of the development, abutting an area that is zoned Industrial, and trees will be planted in the open space no more than 40 feet apart.
Rodgers voted to approve, but pointed out that a concrete batch plant and a manufacturing facility adjacent to the western edge of the development create noise in predawn hours that could annoy homeowners.
“There’s quite a bit of noisy activity that starts between 1 and 3 a.m. on the other side of that brick fence,” Rodgers said.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark Wickliffe was the only councilmember not present.
