By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
A new 23-building, 88-unit apartment complex at Loop and Military roads came closer to reality as the Jacksonville Planning Commission last week approved the landscaping and site plans and the preliminary plat.
The seven-acre project still must get its final plat approved, but all the issues about the apartments were worked out at last week’s commission meeting.
The apartment complex, called Courtyard Cottages, will include 22 four-plex buildings and a community-center building.
The main issue was street improvements.
Initially the city wanted the developer, Terry Burress, to make street improvements including curb-and-gutter work along Loop Road the length of the project.
The developer felt he was not responsible for the improvements because none of the units opened up to Military Road and cited numerous subdivisions that did not have to do the improvements.
The commission approved a compromise, having the developer do improvements between the entrances and exits to the complex.
Commissioner Susan Dollar said the commission needed to get together on the subject and be consistent on requiring street improvements.
“I hate to see us set a precedent,” Dollar said.
In other commission business:
Commissioners approved a request by Tommy Dodson to tear down an old home at 1516 S. Hwy. 161 that was grandfathered in many years ago when the highway property was rezoned commercial.
He plans to build a duplex on the property and needed commission approval since once a grandfathered structure is torn down, anything new is supposed to match the new rezoning, in this case commercial.
“This will be an improvement to the area,” said city Engineer Jay Whisker.
The commission approved a re-plat of a piece of property owned by Jim Durham, director of city administration.
In essence, the re-platting allows Durham to bring in a piece of neighboring land into his Red Fox Lane property all on one tax bill.
Durham said this is often done administratively and that commission approval wasn’t really necessary, but it was brought to them as part of the mayor’s transparency policy.
