Olive Branch planning commission backs amendments to Center Hill Plantation PUD, asks developer and staff to refine curb‑cut plan

The Olive Branch Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend that the Board of Aldermen approve proposed amendments to the Center Hill Plantation planned unit development, moving the project forward to a public hearing on Sept. 16, 2025. The motion included a request that staff and the applicant try to address driveway/curb‑cut impacts on Center Hill Road before the aldermen review the proposal.

The amendment request, filed by Michelle Yee of DT Design Studio on behalf of property owner David Halley/Center Hill Plantation Partnership, would revise the PUD project text and preliminary development plan for the roughly 751.67‑acre site around Center Hill Road. The package would increase common open space acreage, add senior‑housing and medical office allowances, add self‑storage as a permitted use internal to the commercial parcel, and restore most of the residential lots from a 2018 reduction while keeping the total slightly below the original 1999 approval.

Staff said the PUD was annexed into Olive Branch in 2021 and that no development has occurred on the property since the 1999 approval and a 2018 amendment. The current amendment would raise common open space from about 127.04 acres (roughly 20% of the project) to about 137.19 acres (roughly 22% of the project) and would re‑add about 110 single‑family lots so the total PUD lot count would be about 1,130 (the 1999 approval was 1,133; a 2018 amendment reduced the number to 1,020).

The amendment divides the PUD into several areas. Area 1 (around the Goodman/Center Hill intersection) would shrink the previously conceived commercial acreage and add senior housing, medical/professional office frontage, and a permitted self‑storage use internal to the site. Area 3 (east of Center Hill Road) would see revised single‑family lot layouts and the re‑addition of approximately 110 lots; the perimeter lots along DeSoto Road and Center Hill Road would remain at roughly 40,030 square feet. Staff also described proposed lot sizes by subarea: area 31 would contain 20,000‑square‑foot lots, area 32 15,000‑square‑foot lots, and other inner areas 12,000‑square‑foot lots; streets in the readded sections would include curb, gutter and sidewalks (a typical 50‑foot residential cross section).

Speakers at the public hearing raised traffic, school capacity and utility questions. Multiple neighbors asked for traffic studies and said existing traffic, including heavy trucks, already creates noise and safety concerns; residents asked whether Center Hill Road and DeSoto Road would be widened and whether the project would require right‑of‑way or property acquisition. Staff and the applicant responded that the city’s long‑range plan designates Center Hill as a five‑lane section and that the PUD text includes language requiring frontage and intersection improvements to be addressed in phase‑by‑phase subdivision approvals. Developer David Halley said he would work with the city on timing of construction and agreed on the record to delay building the one‑acre (approx. 40,000‑square‑foot) frontage lots until an additional lane or equivalent traffic improvements are in place if necessary to avoid unsafe driveway conditions.

Commissioners and staff noted the applicant has proposed to donate two acres for a future fire station on the site. Staff recommended approval with two conditions: (1) any future amendment to single‑family areas west of Center Hill Road should consider extending Fox Lane as a minor collector to Center Hill Road per the city engineer’s cross‑section, and (2) post‑approval submission of a final, clean project text in both hard copy and electronic formats. The commission’s motion added a request that staff and the applicant work between the commission meeting and the Sept. 16 Board of Aldermen hearing to further refine mitigation for curb cuts onto Center Hill Road.

The commission’s recommendation carries no immediate effect on building permits; staff said development ‘‘is not expected to proceed for several years’’ and will require phased preliminary/final plats and infrastructure construction before home‑building begins. The final decision rests with the Olive Branch Board of Aldermen at the public hearing scheduled for Sept. 16, 2025.

Residents’ comments and commissioners’ discussion were recorded in the public hearing. The commission’s vote was unanimous to forward the amended PUD to the Board of Aldermen with the staff conditions and the additional direction on curb‑cut mitigation.

Less urgent details: staff said the amendment reduces overall commercial acreage at the Goodman frontage, enlarges the senior‑housing parcel and adds senior‑oriented accessory uses (fitness, medical/professional offices), and inserts traffic calming (several proposed traffic circles) in the new residential areas.