A developer is asking the city of Greenwood to loosen requirements on new home building, and city council members are speaking out against the request.
Last fall, the Greenwood City Council narrowly approved rezoning a 32-acre property on the south side of Cutsinger Road, between Honey Creek and Averitt roads, where CalAtlantic Homes wanted to build 68 new homes. Now, the developer is going to a separate city board — the board of zoning appeals — to ask for approval to not follow some of the home construction rules that the council put in place three years ago.
City council members want the city board to turn down CalAtlantic Homes’ request, and said they would not have approved the rezoning had they known the developer didn’t want to comply with the city’s home construction guidelines.
CalAtlantic Homes, which got approval to develop the new neighborhood last year, is requesting that they be allowed to use thinner vinyl siding, a reduced slope pitch for the roof and allow for the garage to make up a larger percent of the total exterior of the home.
The council narrowly voted to approved the rezoning needed for the neighborhood by a vote of 5-4 last year. Residents nearby spoke out against the project, saying that it would lead to too much traffic on Cutsinger Road, which already has issues with congestion. They also raised concerns that the proposed homes, which were on smaller properties than theirs, would lower their home values.
As part of the rezoning approval, the council tacked on additional requirements. They made the developer use additional brick on some of the homes, restricted how many homes could be built per acre and required the developer to pay for a trail to be built through the property. Those requirements were in addition to standards the city council established in 2015, intended to result in better looking and higher quality homes that bring in more property tax revenue. Those requirements ranged from requiring more brick wrap around homes to details about what pitch roofs should have.
The board of zoning appeals is set to consider CalAtlantic Homes’ request next week. The board has final authority on variance requests, meaning the council doesn’t have any options to address the situation.
The city council unanimously approved having council president Mike Campbell write and deliver a letter to the board at their meeting detailing why the council is opposed to the variance request. Council members said that variance requests are intended for unique circumstances, where city rules might make it difficult to develop a property, not as a way to avoid the construction standards.
In the future, when a developer requests land be rezoned for a new neighborhood, the city council could require the developer agree to follow the home building standards, preventing them from requesting a variance, council members said.
