At its last meeting on September 3, the Stevensville Planning and Zoning Board took a step back from considering the subdivision application for Burnt Fork Estates. It was announced at the meeting that the developers, after meeting with the Town staff, had made some modifications to the proposal to address certain concerns and that those changes have not yet been incorporated into the staff report.
The developer’s representative, Andy Medford of PCI Engineering, said that it made sense to grant an extension of the town’s time limit on handling the application so that the staff and the public have a chance to digest the new changes.
As a result, the already scheduled public hearings before the Town Council were cancelled and another meeting of the Planning and Zoning Board has been set to consider the amended plan on October 7 at 6:30 p.m., tentatively at the school or possibly at the North Valley Public Library. The next Planning and Zoning Board meeting is tentatively planned to accommodate in-person attendance, following some distancing and masking requirements, as well as virtual participation for those who do not feel comfortable attending in person.
The original application, submitted by Dwight and Ralph Hooley, proposed creating 78 single family lots, 43 multi-family lots and 16 light commercial lots on the 57.68 acre parcel. The development lies adjacent to Creekside Meadows and runs south along Logan Road to Middle Burnt Fork Road. The single-family lots are planned to go in adjacent to the Creekside Meadows subdivision and the multi-family lots will be installed to the south. The commercial lots will be developed on about 10 acres further south alongside Middle Burnt Fork Road. The subdivision is planned to be completed in phases with a phase completed every other year starting with Phase 1 expected to be completed by December 31, 2022 and the final phases in by December 31, 2030.
The subdivision proposal has come under fire from neighboring residents in Creekside Meadows who have a long list of concerns covering things such as high groundwater in the area, serious water right issues, drainage issues, and direct impacts on their own subdivision by the proposed roadway connections, as well as impacts on traffic along Logan Road.