STARKVILLE – Aldermen approved a special zoning exception Tuesday allowing a proposed RV park to be located near the intersection of Old West Point and East Garrard roads, despite concerns from nearby residents about traffic and safety.
The board approved the exception on a 5-2 vote, with Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins of Ward 6 and Ward 5 Alderman William Pochop opposing the measure.
The development, called Traditions Motorcoach Park, is planned to sit on approximately 13.5 acres on the southeast corner of the intersection and would include about 72 RV lots. Conceptual plans also include pickleball courts, a dog park, a pavilion and a shower and restroom facility.
Jim Defoe, an attorney representing developer Hal Parker of HPM Development LLC, said the lots will be privately owned and resold for about $100,000 each, with a homeowners association overseeing maintenance and safety.
“The development, we believe, is designed to serve both the city of Starkville and Mississippi State University with their alumni, their donors, their fans and all of the major university and city events that are occurring yearly,” Defoe told the board. “… We think it’ll contribute positively to Starkville’s event-driven tourism and actually to the tax base.”
Parker said he hopes to see construction on the site begin within the next six months.
During the public hearing on the matter, two nearby residents raised concerns focusing primarily on traffic, safety and potential impacts on property values.
William Morgan, who lives on Trotter Lane across Old West Point Road from the proposed site, asked about subleasing, oversight of the park and how the development would be policed. He also expressed concern about traffic congestion and safety, particularly for large vehicles navigating turns along Old West Point Road.
Lucy Center, another Trotter Lane resident, echoed those concerns and questioned whether the development could negatively affect nearby property values.
“When it was asked will this have any detriment on property values nearby, the answer was minimum,” Center told the board. “… So I would like to know what research was done to ensure that there would not be a decrease in property values, because all you have to do is go on the internet and ask Google, ‘Do RV parks diminish property values?’ And you will see that, yes, they do. … We’ve owned this home since 1966, and now this is going in. We’re going to have problems with roads. We’re going to have problems with the bridges. We’re going to have problems with city services, I assume, coming in, police (and) ambulances. Way noisier than this little country house used to be.”
Ward 4 Alderman Mike Brooks moved to approve the request, Ward 1 Alderwoman Kim Moreland seconded.
“Most of these RV guys are like me, we look for the simplest and easiest way in and out of these places and where we make a turn,” Brooks said. “… I think that some of the traffic concerns will just not materialize because … these people are going to know the best way in and out.”
City Planner Daniel Havelin said preliminary work evaluating the safety of the intersection has been completed.
“They’ve already looked at a lot of that stuff,” Havelin told the board. “… We still haven’t gotten down to the nuts and bolts of it yet.”
Following the meeting, Pochop said he supports the concept of the RV park but voted against the request because he felt traffic concerns along Old West Point Road were not sufficiently addressed
“That’s a very busy road that doesn’t have a shoulder right now,” Pochop told The Dispatch following the meeting. “It doesn’t have a turn lane, where you would typically have a turn lane is currently a ditch. I trust our engineer and our planner first and foremost … and if they say it can work, I believe them, but I don’t know that it was clearly addressed tonight on how that’s going to happen.”
Other business
In other business the board:
■ approved 17 changes to the city’s Unified Development code, including corrective updates for clarification and technical standards. The amendments also add four new requirements for food trucks, outdoor storage, architectural design variety in new subdivisions and heating requirements for rental housing units;
■ accepted a $120,000 grant from the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks for the design and construction of a new skate park at the Starkville Sportsplex; and
■ amended the city’s alcohol ordinance to extend hours of service at restaurants to begin an hour earlier on Sunday, at 10 a.m., by a 5-2 margin (Perkins and Ward 7’s Henry Vaughn opposed).
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