A rezoning request that would allow for 10 town homes to be built on Brand Avenue in Salem did not gain approval from the city council during its meeting Monday.
Patrick Snead with Riverland Oaks LLC applied to rezone .33 acres at 19 Carey Ave. from residential single family to residential business. Snead also owns an adjacent piece of property on Brand Avenue, zoned residential business. The site plan shows 10 town homes on the site, grouped into two three-unit buildings and one four-unit building.
A rendering of the proposed development on Brand Avenue in Salem, which would consist of ten townhomes.Â
A motion by the Salem City Council to approve the rezoning request failed, with just Mayor Renee Turk and Councilman Randy Foley voting in favor of it. Since the rezoning did not pass, there will not be a second reading of the ordinance.
Without the rezoning, Snead can still build six town homes on the Brand Avenue property and two single family homes on the Carey Avenue property. The rezoning narrative states that single family homes are not ideal for the Carey Avenue property, though, as it is landlocked.
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Snead proffered that only town houses would be on the property, and that there would be no vehicular access to the property from Carey Avenue. However, neighbors’ concerns primarily had to do with stormwater management at the site.
During the public hearing on the matter, eight residents of the neighborhood expressed concerns about existing stormwater management issues. Many claimed that water pools in their yards after heavy rain, and others said that while they don’t experience flooding or standing water on their property now, they’re worried that development at the site could cause them issues in the future.
Residents of Carey Avenue attended the Salem City Council meeting on Monday to speak during a public hearing for a rezoning request that would allow 10 town homes to be built in their neighborhood.
“My whole yard floods out, all the way up to my shed,†resident Kenneth Griggs said. “It takes sometimes three to four weeks for that water to recede out of there, so I need something done about it.â€
Related to the concerns about stormwater management were existing frustrations about the number of mosquitoes in the neighborhood due to all of the standing water.
“I have three kids … I live next to where it’s ponding, and it’s a struggle to be outside,†Fawn Robbins said. “We have to do a firepit, tiki torches, spray our yard — spend money that is unnecessary.â€
Chris Burns with Balzer & Associates said he feels that this project has “kind of shone a light on some of these issues†that the neighborhood has been experiencing. Approving the town home development would provide a comprehensive and cohesive solution for the stormwater problem, he said.
“Whether the rezoning is approved or not, the drainage issues are what they are,†Burns said prior to the vote. “The property can be developed, whether it’s town homes or single family or whatever that looks like, and these issues would need to be addressed at the site plan development stage either way.â€
The city is aware that, on top of being an issue for neighbors, the pooling water threatens the integrity of the roadways, Chuck Van Allman, director of community development, said.
“Since that’s public, we can put the infrastructure in to keep the water from ponding or getting in there and settling in on Carey Avenue,†he said.
The neighborhood lacks areas to drain water, Van Allman said, so the city plans to create a drainage system for the road. Neighbors will be allowed access to tie into this system to drain water off of their properties if they wish.
“What we want people to understand is we can’t go into private property and take the water out,†Van Allman said.
“The city cannot really do any construction on private property,†he added. “However, we can do construction on the roadway and the public way, and that’s what we’re going to do.â€
Foley made the motion to approve the rezoning request, stating that while he understood the neighbors’ concerns, those concerns would still be there regardless of whatever is built on the property. Turk seconded the motion.
However, Councilman Hunter Holliday said that he would prefer to table the matter until the city had a timeline for installing the stormwater drainage system. To address concerns, any new construction would need to be able to tie into the drainage system before it starts, he said.
“This has been going on for decades, and it’s not getting any better,†he said. “Adding new construction to a problem that’s already existing without any way to fix it, to me, is not fair to our citizens.â€
Holliday, along with Councilman John Saunders and Vice Mayor Anne Marie Green, voted against the rezoning request. Green said she shared some of Holliday’s concerns.
“I understand that possibly doing this project may actually be the catalyst for the city to go forward with what we’ve been trying to do for a while, it seems like they go hand in hand,†she said. “But I am concerned about going forward with this project without knowing what’s going to happen with the city project at the same time.â€
