News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Cookeville Planning Commission approved the preliminary plat for a 49-lot development off Mine Lick Creek Road Monday night.
Community Development Director Jon Ward said the project is called the Bungalows at Cookeville. It contains an easement from the TVA for power lines, as well as flood plains that cannot be built on. Ward said the plat would require a variance, as the normal regulations state that no dead end street can be longer than 1,200 feet or serve more than 20 lots.
“The planning division’s analysis recognizes that approximately twenty-six acres of the approximately sixty-five acre property is encumbered by floodplain and TVA easement,” Ward said. “The property also has areas of slope in excess of 20 percent.”
Ward said the developer attempted to establish another access point to the neighborhood by connecting to the nearby Apple Valley Drive, but have been unsuccessful thus far.
Attorney Michael Savage spoke on behalf of the developer and said this situation is a classic case for a variance due to the multitude of challenges on the property.
“We did try to talk to people on the back side to try and get an easement,” Savage said. “They wouldn’t even let us talk money. They just said they weren’t interested.”
Ward said the lots in the plat are meant for single-family housing and vary in size from .5 acres to 5.3 acres, with an average lot size of 1.22 acres. Ward said the developer has included a 50-foot easement alongside Cane Creek in order to maintain a trail the city is planning to create that will connect Lee Seminary Road to Cane Creek Park.
The plat was conditionally approved, meaning the developer will need to to complete a series of tasks including handling the construction of a sidewalk on Mine Lick Creek Road, adding building setbacks to the plat, coordinating water improvements and sewer extensions, and scheduling a pre-construction meeting before the work begins.
In other business, the commission approved the annexation of 129-acre piece of property located on Tennessee Avenue for the Putnam County Fairgrounds. The commission also approved two separate plats across the street from one another at South Franklin Avenue and Hughes Street, with one being 22 lots and the other being 5 lots. The commission rezoned of a piece of property adjacent to the medical buildings Tier 1 is building south of Jackson Plaza for use as a parking lot in the future.
