Malia Riggs
Elmore Autauga News
The Prattville Planning Commission heard from Forge Residential Partners regarding The Cottages at Prattville, a project on Highway 82 and Constitution Avenue.
The Birmingham developers are looking to build the “new” project, which has come before the Prattville Planning Commission and the Prattville City Council many times. This project will house roughly 192 total units as opposed to the previous project’s 234 single and multi-family homes built on 44.89 acres. This roughly equates to about five units per acre, Forge confirmed at the meeting.
Both the Planned Unit Development or PUD, and the preliminary Plat were tabled from last month’s meeting and brought before the Commission Thursday evening.
The planning commission voted 4-2 in favor of approving the PUD with stipulations, after the many members of the Homeplace community openly spoke their concerns and disapproval of this project. Many Homeplace residents stated that their main concerns are crime that follows rental properties and the alleged potential traffic upheaval an additional rental complex could bring to the area.
Other members of Homeplace noted Prattville’s Comprehensive Plan, and The Cottages being inconsistent with the plan. Forge Residential openly disagreed, and stated they are fully compliant with Prattville’s comprehensive plan in their project.
The petitioner of the project and co-founder of Forge Residential, Mike Baker, stated to the Commission that they’ve read the Comprehensive Plan and the site plans. Baker stated The Cottages at Prattville fit within the 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
Baker listed four elements of the comprehensive plan where they believe falls directly in line with their vision for The Cottages at Prattville. Baker stated that the Comprehensive Plans lists housing options in between conventional multifamily and single -family homes, such as detached single -family homes on small lots, townhouses, and cottage housing.
The focus is on creating authentic, family -friendly neighborhoods featuring varied housing stock with different sizes and styles, including slow -traffic streets, sidewalks, and open common space.
The plan calls to avoid residential developments that are inward focused in lacking visual or physical connections to adjacent residential areas.
The last point Baker stated provides housing choices for people in all stages of life, married couples with children and without, young singles and older ones, empty nesters and so on.
“This Comprehensive Plan states that the key to integrating mid and higher density housing successfully in Prattville, while respecting existing neighborhoods and the community’s desired character, is directing it to transitions between activity centers. For example, Cobbs Ford Road, and lower density single -family neighborhoods, and Homeplace. Our development’s location is directly between lower density, Homeplace, and higher density park apartments, combined with the public road creating enhancement activity to the activity center on Cobbs Ford. It will represent this desired integration and transition perfectly. We view our plan perfectly matches what’s called out in the comprehensive plan,” Baker said.
Prattville Mayor Bill Gillespie was openly against voting in favor of the PUD Thursday evening, stating that there were still a lot of unknown challenges with the PUD and an alleged lack of trust. One of the main topics of discussions in voting for the PUD was if the road going directly through the proposed plans was going to be a private or city street.
Gillespie and planning commissioner Robert King voted against the preliminary PUD plan.
“The path of least resistance to determine profit is not always the best choice. Let me be clear that profit is not always a bad thing. I’d like to ask everybody here to go back to work the path of least resistance and put the safety and wellbeing of Homeplace, the shoppers of Academy and Parks Place residents before profit,” Gillespie said in closing comments before the PUD vote.
The PUD was approved with the following stipulations, that the street cutting through the development is a private street that also has traffic calming measures.
The Plat for the Cottages at Prattville was tabled yet again. The request to table was put in by Barrett Simpson with Forge Residential. His request for the table was to make modifications to potential access easements and to show a proposed sewer easement along with any other notes from the Planning Commission.
Simpson stated he would like all of that shown in the preliminary plat. Gillespie and King both voted in opposition of tabling the preliminary plat, but the vote passed 4-2.
The next Prattville Planning Commission meeting will be held September 19th at 3 p.m. in the City Hall chambers.
