Brookmere promoted along Virtue near WCGC
Homestead Land Holdings, LLC., has presented a concept plan for Brookmere, a new subdivision across the street from Willow Creek Golf Club off Virtue Road.
John Mohney of Homestead Land Holdings and Russ Rackley, owner of Rackley Engineering, presented a proposed concept plan for the 87.34-acre property during a Farragut Staff-Developer meeting Tuesday, Feb. 27.
Homestead Land Holdings, LLC., has presented a concept plan for Brookmere, a new subdivision across the street from Willow Creek Golf Club off Virtue Road.
John Mohney of Homestead Land Holdings and Russ Rackley, owner of Rackley Engineering, presented a proposed concept plan for the 87.34-acre property during a Farragut Staff-Developer meeting Tuesday, Feb. 27.
The proposed plan is expected to go before Farragut Municipal Planning Commission at its Thursday, March 15, meeting.
Glen Glafenhein, owner of Honors Real Estate Services, previously was developing the plat, known as the Harville property.
Mohney, whose company now has an option to buy the land, said a road improvement cost agreement with Town of Farragut will be signed when the sale on the property is finalized.
“I think the language between our attorney and [Town attorney] Tom Hale has been finalized, but we don’t physically close on the property until May,” Rackley said.
“We have two options,” Mohney said. “We can sign that agreement when we close on the property or put some verbiage in the agreement that it’s conditional upon our closing.”
Farragut Community Development director Mark Shipley said one of the conditions of the property’s rezoning was to execute the cost share plan for improvements to Virtue Road.
The plan shows Homestead Land Holdings plans to build 143 lots on the property.
“They’ve done a good job on this plan, especially with the limited amount of grading on the roads,” Shipley said. “They’ve tried to work with the contours of the topography of the property.
However, the staff did have some concerns.
“They will have to work on getting the crossing of Little Turkey Creek,” Shipley said. “That’s something they will have to work through with the Town to meet requirements on that.”
Another concern was a secondary access road for fire apparatus that would be located off West Kingsgate Road.
“Your comment implies that you want that to be a public street,” Rackley said.
“A public access, yes,” Shipley said. “I would be OK, at the staff level, if it’s OK with [Farragut fire marshal] Dan [Johnson], if we recommend a variance on the width, given the context, because I know you are trying to run it to Kingsgate.”
“[Johnson’s] already agreed with 20 foot,” Rackley said.
“I just don’t want to see it restricted to just a secondary emergency condition,” Shipley said. “I think it needs to be a functioning public access … open to the public.”
“I don’t know that [making the access a public road] is going to work,” Rackley said. “The traffic study we had done did not assume that Kingsgate [residents] would be using that as a thoroughfare.”
“I don’t see it as a cut-through for anyone,” Shipley said.
“There’s a large percentage of [Kingsgate residents] that would cut through there,” Rackley said.
“I think Russ is right,” Mohney said. “It’s going to cause traffic there.”
However, Shipley said, “It’s not going to be an issue.”
Another change Shipley indicated was a road that ended as a cul-de-sac in the development, citing the Town’s drive for more connectivity between subdivisions.
“I understand your drive for connectivity, but it would not benefit the [future] residents [of Brookmere] at all,” Rackley said.
West Kingsgate subdivision resident Jen Albright also wanted a change to the site plan and asked for an additional 25 feet of open space, which is in addition to the present 25-foot buffer required by the Town.
“Our property backs up to the property under development,” her husband, Mel Albright, explained.
