Emporia’s Metropolitan Area Planning Commission has now given its approval to the nearly 40-acre Cedarbrook Meadows residential and commercial development in northwest Emporia.
Planning Commission members voted unanimously to approve both the final Planned Unit Development and final plat, or layout, for the property officially in the 4500 block of West 18th.
The votes Tuesday reverse the Planning Commission’s original conditional approval of the development, which was based on lot frontage and lot sizes. For months, the Planning Commission had asked developers to adjust its original lot sizes up to 7,000 square feet. and they voted to recommend conditional approval of the project — but developers, although they adjusted the lot sizes, only increased the sizes to 6,240 square feet. At their meeting in early August, Emporia city commissioners sided with developers. In the process, they limited the scope of Tuesday’s conversation to whether the final plat and PUD adhered to the preliminary versions as approved by the City Commission. Planning Commission Board Chair Raymond Rogers explains:
There has been some discussion among Planning Commission members about whether the board should have recommended denial of the preliminary plat and PUD. Looking back at how things have unfolded, Rogers says he personally would recommended denial.
Rogers also says the City Commission’s decision “met us halfway.”
Ever since developers offered the plan for Cedarbrook Meadows late last year, there has been conversation about the development on a standalone basis — as well as the city’s zoning regulations, notably for so-called greenfield areas versus established or “infill” residential areas. Rogers says that’s a conversation worth having.
Professional Engineering Group spokesman Lance Onstott, who spoke in favor of the development Tuesday, says the adjusted lot sizes mean 124 homes will be built on around 30 acres as opposed to the original goal of 128. A construction timetable has not been finalized, either for the residential component or the commercial space along the east side of Road G. Plans for a much larger development, extending north to 30th between G and the Kansas Turnpike, have not been presented in detail to city officials.
