City council approves rezoning for 230‑home Walnut Hills subdivision after public hearing

The Jefferson City Council voted to rezone 80.04 acres on Rock Ridge Road from RU (rural) to PUD (planned unit development) and approved a preliminary PUD plan and preliminary subdivision plat for the Walnut Hills subdivision, a 230‑lot single‑family development, after a public hearing and discussion on engineering, traffic and stormwater.

The proposal from McBride Homes seeks to build 230 fee‑simple, single‑family detached homes divided into three product villages with about 45% of the site preserved as common open space. ‘‘This is 230 single family for sale homes,’’ Jeannie Allmiller, president of McBride Homes, told the council, describing three home series and the company’s intent to offer varied price points and extensive landscaping.

Planning staff described the project's requested exceptions under the PUD, including reductions in minimum lot size (from 6,000 to 4,000 square feet for some lots), lot width (50 to 38 feet), side yard setbacks (7 to 5 feet) and rear setbacks (25 to 15 feet). Staff said roughly a third of the development would use the smaller lots; the average of those smaller lots would be closer to 5,000 square feet. Staff also noted five new stormwater basins plus an existing pond shown on the preliminary plan and described the stormwater work as ‘‘preliminary’’ pending final engineered plans.

McBride’s engineering consultant, Mike Faulkner of Sterling Engineering, said the development will use ‘‘stack basins’’ that provide detention and a biocell for water quality treatment to meet EPA and state DNR requirements. ‘‘We make sure that what we're proposing in stormwater meets and exceeds city requirements,’’ Faulkner said.

Neighbors urged caution. Chris Baker, a Southampton Drive resident, said opening Southampton Drive to the development would turn a quiet dead‑end street into a through street and ‘‘fundamentally change the character of our neighborhood.’’ Don Hamilton, also of Covington Gardens, urged McBride to redesign the area adjacent to Liverpool Drive so that Leeds Drive would not become a primary exit for up to 150 additional vehicles.

Supporters, including Jefferson City Regional Economic Partnership executive Paul Sampson and representatives of the Chamber of Commerce, said the city needs housing across price points and that the project would add units quickly. Sampson told the council that Jefferson City averaged about 21 new homes per year over the last three years and that Walnut Hills would materially increase inventory.

Council members and staff clarified the approval’s scope: the council’s action was on the preliminary PUD and preliminary plat; final engineering, a traffic impact analysis, detailed stormwater plans and final plats must be submitted and reviewed before construction permits or infrastructure approvals. Staff said traffic and stormwater studies would be required with the final improvement plans and that the developer had agreed to include an analysis that specifically considers Covington Gardens.

After the hearing and questions, the council approved the ordinance on a roll call vote. The vote record in the meeting transcript shows the council voting yea on the preliminary PUD and plat.

The approval allows McBride Homes to proceed to final engineering and permitting; the developer must return with the final PUD, final plat and engineering drawings, including the detailed stormwater design and traffic study, for administrative and council review where applicable.

Residents with specific drainage or stormwater concerns were advised to contact the city public works/engineering staff for inspection and follow up if the existing neighborhood facilities require maintenance or repair.

For now, the development’s key next steps are submission of final engineering drawings (stormwater, sanitary, street design), administrative review of those materials, and final plat approval before construction begins.