Meeting for the first time inside the new City Council chambers, the Midlothian Planning and Zoning Commission last Tuesday unanimously denied a zoning change to allow for a single-family residential planned development off Ashford Lane.
The 48.59-acre property, previously zoned Agricultural, was to be rezoned to a planned development called Ashford Estates that would include 36 one-acre-minimum lots with two common area lots.
City assistant planning director Colby Collins said the application for the rezoning was filed before the City Council updated Midlothian’s comprehensive plan in October. Therefore, the developer will be held to a one-acre minimum lot size standard under the “country module,” rather than the two-acre minimum under the new plan.
An emergency gate was proposed for the west end of the project, but Collins said the city received about two dozen letters of opposition to that, mostly from the adjacent Rolling Wood subdivision. Staff’s main concern about that, Collins told the commission, was traffic connectivity.
Planner Trenton Robertson told commissioners he saw restricted traffic as a plus. Robertson said the intent of the emergency gate was to limit traffic through the neighborhood to and from Rolling Wood while still allowing access to emergency vehicles.
Two commissioners spoke against the project from different perspectives.
Commissioner Jackie McDonald was concerned about the existing 90-degree turn on Ashford Lane on the northeast corner of the proposed project, citing a traffic hazard. McDonald was also against the 1,900-foot straight main road.
Commissioner Dan Altman said he wasn’t opposed to letting traffic flow freely through the new neighborhood because traffic will follow a better option in the area. While McDonald said she was OK with the lot sizes, Altman favored larger lots, up to two acres.
Five nearby residents spoke against the development, citing the possibility of the gate being removed in the future, the effect on wildlife in the area, and the increased density that the new subdivision would bring. Several others sent letters of opposition.
The final decision will be made by the City Council at a future meeting.
In other action, the commission denied a specific-use permit for a secondary dwelling at 4010 Underwood Lane in Four Trees Estates. The size of the dwelling, which was to accompany a 4,500-square-foot home, fell within city standards but drew concern. The proposed use of a separate septic system for the new dwelling also ran counter to the city’s standard of one septic system serving both homes.
