The Starkville Planning and Zoning Commission has given preliminary approval to a zoning change for a new mixed residential/commercial development in east Starkville.
The development, which Hattiesburg-based developer Bennett York seeks to build, is on about 22 acres of land off Highway 12 near the Walmart Neighborhood Market and the La Quinta hotel.
Commissioners approved splitting the land’s zoning. The land is presently zoned R-1 residential, and York requested to rezone the bulk of the property R-5 residential, to allow for higher-density housing, and a western portion of the property part of it C-2 (high density) commercial.
The rezoning will now go before the board of aldermen for final approval.
John Granberry, an engineer with the Collierville, Tennessee-based firm McCarty Granberry Engineering, said the development is currently planned to be built in two phases.
“Phase I will include the west half,” he said. “Right now there’s 19 units. They’re designed as duplex units right now.”
City Planner Daniel Havelin said the plans for the units show them as two-story duplexes with one unit on each floor.
Granberry said the development will include a pool and common area, with a pond in the middle of the property. He also said plans are for the commercial portion of the property to have some sort of mixed-use commercial building.
Commissioners unanimously approved the rezoning and a preliminary plat for the project. During discussions, Assistant City Planner Emily Corbin said the Community Development Department staff felt the zoning fit with recent re-zonings in the area, such as a 2013 rezoning for the Haven 12 apartment complex to the south.
Commissioner Jeremiah Dumas, who moved for both the rezoning and the preliminary plat approval, said after the meeting that he thinks it’s good to see continued growth in east Starkville.
“It’s exciting any time someone buys 26 acres of land and we can collectively plan that,” Dumas said. “I think that area is staged for a lot growth and it’s an exciting project.
“I think this continues the growth out there and I think we’re just going to continue to see even more development out that way,” he said. “That applicant is from Hattiesburg. He’s done great projects in Hattiesburg that have really catalyzed things over there. I think we’ll see the same here too.”
York Developments has overseen a number of developments such as the Cranebrake Golf Community and Country Club in Hattiesburg, Cross Creek Villages in Hattiesburg and the Bellegrass neighborhood in Bellevue.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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