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Residents urge scrutiny of 150-acre Maple Hill Road proposal; developer ties and density questioned
Summary
At the council's year-end meeting, residents pressed elected officials to scrutinize a combined rezoning/plan request for two tracts on Maple Hill Road, alleging undisclosed developer relationships and disputing claimed densities; planning staff said unit counts will be set in the area's SP zoning document.
At the Lebanon City Council's final meeting of the year, several residents urged the council to scrutinize a proposed residential development on Maple Hill Road, saying the application understates who is behind the project and understates its cumulative impact.
Eric Dawson, of 106 Chapman Drive, told the council the filing combines two proposals — a 150-acre tract and a 96-acre tract — and asserted the 150-acre proposal is linked to a developer not previously disclosed to the public. "Summit Development LLC was created in 2024 and is a hidden arm of Signature Homes in Birmingham," Dawson said, adding he would return at the Jan. 6 meeting with a diagram to illustrate the wider development context. He warned of traffic and land-use consequences if the area is developed piecemeal rather than in consideration of adjacent acreage.
Another nearby resident, Philip of 914 Maple Hill Road, told council members he was concerned the public has received mixed information about density. He said, "it was quoted in the newspaper that this project is actually 427 homes less than what could be built there," and said that characterization was misleading. Both commenters noted that different regulatory scenarios would yield different maximums: county rules, if the land were unannexed, call for much larger minimum lot sizes, while the city's SP (special planned) process sets the number of units in the SP itself.
Christian Bridal, executive director of engineering and planning, and a planning staffer responded during the meeting to clarify how unit counts are determined. The planning staff said, "The proposal's an SP, so the number of units would be set in that SP," and that the larger raw maximum sometimes quoted comes from multiplying total acreage by the future land-use density — a theoretical maximum rather than a typical buildout.
Councilors and staff said the item will return to the council in January for formal consideration. Mayor Bill noted that the planning department earlier recommended against the project and that the planning commission voted to recommend approval; council members said they will review materials, hear additional public comment and consider the SP application at the scheduled meeting.
The meeting record shows three distinct public-comment speakers on the topic and staff clarification that annexation is not automatic: "It's in our growth boundary, but we do not have to annex it," a staff member said. No formal action on the Maple Hill proposals was taken at this meeting; the council directed that the item remain on the upcoming agenda for additional review.
What happens next: the council will take up the Maple Hill SP(s) at its next regular meeting on Jan. 6, when the public and council will have another opportunity for discussion and potential motions on permitting, annexation and SP conditions.
