By Bill Short
The Millington Board of Mayor and Aldermen has passed an ordinance on final reading that establishes a Planned Unit Development district on the city’s Zoning Map.
Board members took the action during their Sept. 13 regular monthly meeting on a motion offered by Alderman Jon Crisp and seconded by Alderman Al Bell.
The motion was passed by six affirmative votes, with Alderman Don Lowry absent.
The ordinance was unanimously passed on first reading at the board’s Aug. 9 meeting.
It re-zones 76.26 acres northeast of Centennial Park from M-P, Planned Industrial, to PUD, Planned Unit Development, which allows commercial and mixed-use commercial, multiple-family, townhouses and open space.
At its July 19 meeting, the Millington Planning Commission voted to recommend that the board approve the re-zoning request with certain conditions.
The commission also approved a required Outline Plan for the project that is included in the ordinance as an attachment.
The PUD will have some commercial on the ground floor and multiple-family on the second and third floors. There are sites for a hotel, commercial, a large area for townhouses as well as a park, open space and a stormwater detention basin.
Charles Goforth, planning consultant for the city, told the board on Aug. 9 that a PUD is a two-step process. After the zoning is approved, architectural design and detail must be a part of the Master Development Plans.
Those plans, along with Engineering and/or Site Plan submissions, will be required on each phase of the project as it is developed.
Goforth said the developers have prepared a phased plan on how the project will be developed. He also said the stormwater detention basin has been redesigned.
At the planning commission’s Aug. 16 meeting, Goforth said the planning staff met with the applicants in July, and they were able to “work out quite a few” of the conditions.
He noted that, after working with City Manager Ed Haley and the city’s Public Works Department, they agreed that the common open space that will serve the commercial and mixed-use parts of the project will be private streets.
Both East and West Navy Circle and East National Street will all remain public streets.
Because the park will remain open for the whole development, Goforth said part of the open space will be available during the entire construction process.
“And additional sections will be developed,” he noted. “So, there will be adequate open space to meet the 20-percent requirement.”
Goforth said the applicants had initially requested some four-story buildings. But they have agreed that none will be taller than three stories, except for the hotel, which will have four.
This project can proceed because the board has also approved an ordinance that authorizes “Planned-Unit” developments instead of “Mixed-Use” ones.
That ordinance was passed on first reading at the board’s Aug. 9 meeting and on final reading at its Sept. 13 meeting.
