The non-profit organizations Christ Charity for Kids, Inc. and Father Hamm’s Care for Kids, LLC received BOCC approval for zoning changes to 10 acres of property along SR 50, and to a larger, adjacent parcel of approximately 270 acres to the north. The property is 2,000 feet west of Oak Hill Hospital, and almost equidistant between Highpoint Boulevard and Nightwalker Road.
Though currently agricultural, the Future Land Use Map (FLUM) included a transition to residential. The applicant’s request, according to Paul Wieczorek, Senior Planner for the county, was to change the FLUM for the 10 acres along SR 50 from residential to commercial. Wieczorek stated the property directly to the east of this property is already part of a future commercial plan. Combined, the two parcels will allow up to 140,000 square feet of commercial space and provide a commercial node, or endcap, to the commercial area.
A portion of the larger property will be changed from agricultural to Combined Planned Development Project, consisting of office/professional, general commercial, and possibly senior housing or other multi-family units. The remainder of the property will be single family units. One developer will complete both the residential and commercial projects so the community will be coordinated architecturally and aesthetically.
Don Lacey, Senior Vice President of Coastal Engineering, who represented the applicant, explained a four-lane boulevard will be a public road which will decrease to a two-lane road along the residential area. The two lane road will end at the northeast corner of the property, approximately a mile south of Star Road. Because of the wide right of way planned, the county may develop a road up to Star Road to provide direct access to SR 50.
The four-lane road will also serve as a connector to Oak Hill Hospital, which may then create an entrance to the emergency room, and likely remove the traffic light that is currently at Oak Hill Hospital. A planned reverse frontage road will provide access across the property between the residential community and the commercial areas.
Commissioner Diane Rowden expressed concern for safety and rescue vehicle access to the future residents with only one way in and out of the community. Assistant County Administrator Ron Pianta stated that providing access roads between the communities to the west and north would not be advisable. In the short term, access would be limited, but more access points will open as the area develops further. However, Lacey and Pianta agreed that emergency access was a good idea.
Commissioner Wayne Dukes asked that the developer be required to construct the four-lane roadway “from day one”, not just the two-lane road, and agreed with Rowden that another access road was needed for emergency services. Commissioner Nick Nicholson stated he was not in favor of “dumping additional traffic” into the neighboring communities.
The entire property was previously owned by Loren Hamm, who held the undeveloped property for more than 50 years, according to Lacey. The completion of the six lanes on SR 50 and the placement of the medians presents an ideal location for a new major intersection and meets DOT guidelines and opens up the area for development. The rezoning petitions were separated, but both were approved unanimously, with the additional provisions of emergency services access to both the north and west of the development, and the construction of the four-lane collector road to the reverse frontage road, extending as the development continues to be built.