STARKVILLE — When Mayor Lynn Spruill asked who was with the Highland Estates homeowners association at Tuesday night’s board of alderman meeting, two dozen hands went up.
The HOA brought a petition with 58 signatures, 17 emails and themselves to oppose a request for a special exception to build townhouses in a new development at the southeast corner of the intersection of Mockingbird Road and Highway 182.
The area, which backs up to the Highlands Estates subdivision, is zoned for single-family residential development. The request had already passed through the city’s planning and zoning commission on a 3-2 vote.
Clint Markham with Pritchard Engineering appeared before the board on behalf of developer Charles Morgan to ask for an exception to put townhouses on the western 15 acres of the 50-acre project.
“It’s something that’s spread across the city,” Markham said. “This is a common use exception that’s across the city, like Richmond Property or Guest Drive. This isn’t something brand new.”
Instead of putting close to eight houses per acre in the area, which is acceptable under current zoning, the rest of the single-family homes in the development could be spread out on about 87 one-acre lots, Markham said. The one-acre lots would be more consistent with the neighboring Highland Estates subdivision than crowding more houses on smaller lots, he said.
“He believes it’s better suited for slightly larger lots with bigger houses,” Markham said. “It’s not going to be the same as Highland Estates, but he’d like to do what he can to get there, toward that direction instead of piling them in as tight as he can.”
Markham said he had previously met with the Highland Estates homeowners association, and Morgan was willing to make concessions, including removing two buildings from the proposed site plan to create a 300-foot gap between the new development and the subdivision.
He also proposed eliminating a connector street between the neighborhood and the site plan and enforcing a density restriction in the remaining lots to the east to try to alleviate some of those concerns.
Amanda Jacobs, one of the HOA’s two spokespeople, said she had concerns about raised population density, flooding being exacerbated in the area — displaying a video of rainwater flowing behind her home during a storm — and keeping the area’s housing harmonious.
“I did come tonight to ask when each of you make this decision … based on what the UDC says, not what a conceptual site plan says,” Jacobs said.
Vice Mayor and Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins questioned City Planner Daniel Havelin on whether the development would impact traffic, the existing neighborhood, availability of public services, property values, and consistency with the city’s comprehensive plan. All five are criteria for special exception review and approval in the city’s code. In all cases, Havelin said he believed the new development would have an impact.
Perkins also questioned City Attorney Berk Huskison, asking a series of questions on a 2023 legal case from Moss Point, where a property owner requested to build a recreation area in a single-family residential zone.
While the Moss Point board granted an exception, Perkins said, the case went to the state’s Supreme Court, which reversed the decision and remanded it to the circuit court.
“They found it was not a fair and reasonable instruction and application of its own rules,” Huskison said.
Ultimately, Ward 2 Alderwoman Sandra Sistrunk moved to deny the special exception, saying it did not meet the city’s criteria and does not meet the city’s vision for its western entrance.
“While it will be townhomes, most people would not be able to distinguish between that and an apartment complex, and the back of those buildings is not necessarily going to give us the look that we want as we come into the city,” Sistrunk said.
She also expressed serious concern for the flooding in the area, since Federal Emergency Management Agency maps for the area will not be released until May 2025.
The board voted to deny the request for special exception 6-1, with Ward 4 Alderman Mike Brooks as the only no vote.
On Wednesday, Markham told The Dispatch that without a special exception, the development will comply with the code, including only single-family homes. But it will need to also stay closer to the code’s house per acre limit, instead of including the larger lots.
Following the townhouses decision, aldermen also voted unanimously to accept the low bid of about $38.3 million from Burns Dirt Construction for work on the Highway 182 revitalization project.
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