Emporia Metropolitan Area Planning Commissioners are recommending approval of the earliest steps in bringing a new sizeable housing development to the Emporia community but with some minor adjustments to the original plans.
During their regular meeting Tuesday evening, commissioners voted to recommend approval of a Preliminary Unit Development and preliminary plat for the proposed Cedarbrook Meadows housing development at 4500 West 18th Avenue. The project, proposed by Crosswinds of the Flint Hills LLC, of Oklahoma, not to be confused with Crosswinds Counseling and Wellness which has no involvement in the project, is seeking to build a better than 38-acre development with 120 units.
Planning commissioners raised concerns Tuesday about the initial plans namely the size of the single-family residential lots. The proposed plan was looking to construct the units on 6,000 square foot lots which planning commissioners felt were far too small with the local standard being 7,200 square feet.
Chairman Raymond Rogers stated the proposed lot sizes did not fit into the commission’s vision for housing developments in that portion of the community.
Commissioners would request that developers look to resize the lots to the 7,200 square foot standard which according to engineer Rebecca Mellies (MELL-Yes) of Professional Engineering Consultants out of Wichita would likely mean a reduction in the planned number of units.
A date for when further discussions on the project will come before planning commissioners is currently pending. Despite the proposed changes, the development, in theory, would still be considerably larger than the majority of housing developments in Emporia and would have an estimated multimillion-dollar price tag for infrastructure alone.
Those costs have raised some questions for City of Emporia leadership with City Manager Trey Cocking, during KVOE’s monthly Q&A With Trey segment Monday, noting the biggest question is how developers plan to cover said costs.
Despite having several unanswered questions, Cocking stated Monday he believes the announced investment is a win for the community Despite having several unanswered questions noting that Emporia is in the midst of a turbulent time with the recent closure announcements of Tyson Foods and Holiday Resort. He says the fact that entities beyond Emporia’s borders are interested in making such a large investment in the community, despite these troubling developments, speaks volumes.
As for if the above-mentioned closure announcements will have any effect on the development, Mellies says there are no changes connected to those situations at this time, however, that can always change as the process continues to unfold.
Once or if the unit size matter is resolved and favorable to planning commissioners, additional steps for developers before a final plat can be awarded will be an annexation request for the property at 4500 West 18th as it is located in the county and not the city limits. Developers will also have to submit a request for rezoning the property into a city zoning district, meaning it will be under the zoning jurisdiction of the city of Emporia.
In other business Tuesday evening, commissioners chose to table a request for rezoning property located at 1402, 1408, 1407 and 1401 Michelle Circle and 912 and 908 Michelle Street to allow time for further information to be gathered. Commissioners also approved a request for vacating a platted alley adjacent to 2023 West 12th Street.
Planning commissioners will next convene in January for its first meeting of 2025.
