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Planning commission OKs revised development plan

Construction could begin next month

Mike Dektas, standing, with Miller Valentine Residential Development, discusses the proposed Reserve at Edison Hill development before the Parkersburg Municipal Planning Commission Friday as, from left, city development secretary Tammy Bunner, commission member Tom Evans and Parkersburg Development Director Rickie Yeager, listen in the large conference room on the second floor of the Municipal Building. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

Parkersburg City Planner Sam Tuten describes a proposed housing development in south Parkersburg with the aid of an aerial photo of the site during Friday's Municipal Planning Commission meeting at the Municipal Building. (Photo by Evan Bevins) Hillcrest Street resident Jeff McCrady asks questions about a proposed housing development near his south Parkersburg home during Friday's meeting of the Municipal Planning Commission at the Municipal Building. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

PARKERSBURG — The city’s Municipal Planning Commission on Friday approved a revised preliminary plat for the planned $7.5 million Reserve at Edison Hill subdivision.

Before the vote, residents living near the proposed 30-unit affordable housing development expressed concerns about the project’s impact on their neighborhood and property.

A plan for the five-acre site off West Virginia 95 and Rayon Drive was approved by the commission in March, but Cincinnati-based Miller Valentine Residential Development had to make substantial changes in an effort to cut costs and minimize topographical changes, said Mike Dektas, developer with Miller Valentine. One of the biggest was going from 23 townhome units and seven single-family houses, to 30 townhomes, single-family dwellings with shared walls.

“A single-family home takes up a larger footprint,” Dektas said.

The subdivision will include two new roads planned to be dedicated to the city — Edison Hill Drive to provide access to the development from Rayon Drive and Hillcrest Street, now a cul-de-sac, and Lily Lane, running through the development.

Hillcrest resident Jeff McCrady asked whether the development would be low-income housing, which he said would increase crime in the area.

“We need a tax base, not a tax burden, on south side,” he said.

“What benefit is this going to add?” McCrady said later. “It’s none.”

Dektas explained that federal low-income housing tax credits help fund the project. Because of this, rent for the accommodations must be maintained at an affordable level based on a percentage of the area’s median income for a period of 15 years. Depending on which unit is rented, the monthly cost will be between $550 and $850, including utilities, Dektas said.

After 15 years, the occupants of the units will be given the right of first refusal to purchase the home, with credit for the number of years they’ve lived there, he said.

Parkersburg Development Director Rickie Yeager, a member of the commission, said the development will help address the need for affordable housing in the city.

Commission member Sean Andrews said the goal is to bring in people looking to eventually purchase housing. He added that at one point, the property had been considered for a truck stop.

“Me personally, I’d rather have housing around me,” Andrews said.

Ninth Avenue resident Tom Riddle said he could see pros and cons to the project.

“I agree with everything he (Andrews) said — so build it next to his house,” Riddle said.

Erie Street resident Dave McCrady, Jeff McCrady’s father and a Parkersburg City Council candidate, expressed concern over the effect of opening the cul-de-sac to traffic from nearby Martin Elementary and Edison Middle schools.

“Has anybody looked at this at all, to see what we’re going to create for the kids?” he said.

City Planner Sam Tuten said opening the cul-de-sac creates opportunities for future development, including adding more needed sidewalks in the area.

Other residents asked about water runoff from the property. It’s already a big problem for Hillcrest Street resident Chris McBride.

“My yard looks like the Little Kanawha River when it rains,” he said.

Mark Welch, engineering manager with Pickering Associates, said the drainage features in the development, including two retention ponds, will actually divert a great deal of water from the Hillcrest area.

“It won’t solve your issue, because there’s a big hillside we’re not touching, but it will help your problem,” he said.

The plan was accepted with no one voting against it, although two commission members were absent and member Tom Evans abstained because he works for John Bosley Enterprises, which owns the property.

Dektas said Miller Valentine hopes to start construction next month, with as many local workers as possible, and finish the development by October 2017.

The commission also approved a petition to rezone 1204 Division St. from an R-3 residential district to a B-2 commercial zone.

Greg Smith, managing partner of B&G LLC, which owns the property, said it is bordered to the north by industrial property and he believes it is better suited, and will be easier to sell, if zoned commercially.

Stewart Street resident Lee Coulson said the change would disrupt the quiet nature of the area and hurt aesthetics if the many trees were removed. Stewart Street resident Tim Young said he was concerned that someone developing the property would level it and put a retaining wall against his land.

Smith said after the meeting that all that could be done even if the land remained zoned as residential.

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