Industry and development projects top Troy Council meeting
By Devese “Dee” Ursery
Housing and industrial development was the focus of the Tuesday meeting of the Troy City Council, as officials discussed several issues related to future growth.
Linda Taake, building and zoning coordinator for the city reported that there will be five public hearings on the night of March 9. All will be to discuss rezoning and future development plans.
The first public hearing to be heard will be for a special-use permit for the property at 105 Borders Street. Taake said that Lindow Investments is proposing to tear down the existing structure which housed five apartments in order to build a new four-family building.
“It’s currently zoned as a C-4 and multi-family dwellings are considered special-use, so we have to have a public hearing for that,” Taake said.
Taake continued that there are similar circumstances for the next public hearing for the property at 110 W. Market Street.
Jeff Thomas, owner of that property, is proposing to draft a single-family apartment behind an existing commercial-use building, formerly known as Star Bakery. That is also considered a special-use dwelling in a C-4 zone and that’s why it needs a special-use permit, Taake said.
The third public hearing that will be discussed is a zoning map amendment for the rezoning of 42466 Formosa Road.
Taake said Cade Osborn of CPO Investments is proposing a change in zoning. She wants to switch from R-1 single-family residential to R-2 family-residential on the remaining nine-acres of the most recently approved storage units.
“They’re doing the southern nine acres wanting to build 18-2 family villas which would mean a total of 36 dwelling units,” Taake said.
Taake said that there is a Planned Development Residential hearing scheduled next. She said Shawn Hartmann, of Belle Rose Manor, LLC is planning to build a development consisting of seven buildings with four units and six buildings with five units for a total of 58 town homes on almost three-and-a-half acres, located at 110 W. Center Street.
The final public hearing for March 9 will be another development. Osborn Development is planning to build 25 detached villas on a nearly eight acre sight that is currently zoned I-1, Light Industry. The property is located at the end of Auburn Trace in Waterford Place.
Taake also reported that on Feb. 23 the building and zoning department will be conducting another workshop, where they are hoping to complete the C-1 zoning class amendment.
Taake explained that one of things the Planning Commission has talked about is having outdoor dining and drinking. As of right now there is nothing in Chapter 116, Alcoholic Beverages that addresses that without a special-use or special event license.
Tom Cissell, city engineer followed Taake’s report, as a few of the projects she spoke of were part of his update to council members. He said that the Bella Rose project will be located at the old LPR Lumber yard.
Cissell said his only concerns about Kate Osborn’s development are density and greenspace. When asked if there were any drainage problems, he said that residents at Bouse Road mentioned drainage problems and residents around Bella Rose have not said anything about drainage issues. He also mentioned that they haven’t been able to come to any meetings yet, but they are expected to be at the March 9 meeting.
Cissell also discussed the Waterford detached villas project. His report stated that Osborn is requesting a seven-acre, 24 lot single-family residential expansion at Waterford Place at the intersection of Formosa Road and Bouse Road. The Planning Commission appears to support the proposal that will complete the Auburn Trace cul-de-sac and convert three I-1 lots to 24-R-1 lots.
Cissell reported that he finalized the STP grant to improve Bousse Road from an oil and chip road to a 30-foot wide concrete street with a curb, gutter and sidewalks. .
“That’s huge because we have shown three developments happening on Bouse Road in the last month,” Cissell said. “We need a new road out there and we’re hopeful that we get a positive result out of this grant application in a couple of months.”
Cissell also said that he met with representatives from RLP and they are proposing a six to eight house development in the open field at Country Lane and Troy O’Fallon Road. Cissell informed the Council that the city received $100,000 from the Agency of Community Transit for the Wynona Trail project.
The City also received a MERPD grant somewhere in the range $220,000 for the lighting and sidewalk project downtown, according to Cissell’s report.
“The lighting engineer, Rob (Hancock) and myself met with Ameren,” Cissell said. “We laid out a plan to install the sidewalks around the Pfund site in June with the remaining sidewalks and lights tentatively scheduled for fall construction.”
Rob Hancock, director of public works said they had three bids for the Lion’s Drive project, with the lowest bidder being Groundworks Contracting coming in at $206,820. The other two bidders were RCS and Keller Constructions.
Hancock said that staff did more check references because this is the first time working with them. Hancock also reported that the last manhole was installed on Byrn Street on Tuesday.
Assistant Chief Chris Wasser reported that the License Plate Readers and body cams have been finally activated. The body cams were activated on Feb, 6 and the LPRs were activated within the same week.
“Everything is up and running fine, Wasser said. “Software issues have been all squared away.”
Jay Keeven, city administrator, reported that one of the partners for the Dispensary shared with him that anticipated construction will be done by the end of February. The facility should be operational by the end of March.
According to Keeven there were some issues with signage and the logo/name. Their first name request they were making was “High Temple” with the picture of a temple.
“We told them that we didn’t like the verbiage and the logo or the sign itself,” Keeven said.
The replacement name that they are suggesting is the “Green Temple” for their signage and they are thinking of using the same logo for their business.
