Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

During its final May meeting, the LaGrange City Council approved a request to rezone approximately 75 acres next to Bryant Lake Boulevard to remove previously enacted zoning restrictions.

The decision rezones the property from Traditional Neighborhood Residential (TN-R) to a zoning designation of the same name, but it removes special zoning restrictions placed on the property dating back to February 2019.

The change removes restrictive zoning that had forced the current owner, Keith Newberry, of Keystone Custom Homes to stick to a 148-home concept plan for the development. Now the developer will be allowed to build homes and other amenities in a different configuration that the plan approved in 2019.

The new zoning removes the restrictive concept plan and the property can now be developed as any other property in LaGrange with TN-R zoning. 

Newberry proposed upwards of 193 single-family homes the property, which city officials say would equate to similar density as allowed in the current Bryant Lake subdivision.

One sticking point for the change was the previous restriction required the homes to have two-car garages. The new zoning removes the garage requirement, but Newberry has said he plans for the new homes to have at least a one-car garage and some will have two-car garages.

During work session discussions, Mayor Jim Arrington said that with the restriction lifted, the property could be sold and another developer could build homes with no garages at all.

Council member Tom Gore questioned if the requirement for garages would change the community’s appearance, as people might elect to park on the street.

“If you had no garages, everybody’s going to be parking on the street, and it’s going to give a very different visual to the neighborhood compared to the surrounding neighborhoods. If you have one garage, that visual is improved, but it doesn’t keep somebody from parking on the street,” Gore said.

During the previous public hearing, several Bryant Lake residents raised concerns about about additional traffic in the area and the potential need for a red light at the entrance on Hamilton Road.

Newberry said he has not had a traffic study done, but indicated he believes entrance to the property is already adequate.

“You’ve got a four-lane divided highway, going into a four-lane divided highway. Those traffic concerns don’t come close to meeting what [the Department of Transportation] would even consider waking up for and getting out of bed,” Newberry said.

Newberry indicated the primary impetus for the change was to remove the configuration restrictions.

“Without the rezoning, he can’t change anything about that design. He can’t put any amenities or anything else in. It’s kind of like you’re set to those standards that we approved, [six years ago],” Arrington said.

The council ultimately voted to approve the zoning change, but it was not unanimous.

The council approved the change 4-2, with councilmen Leon Childs and Quay Boddie in opposition.