Board transmits Lake Asbury interchange plan with condition to keep new housing north of Verbena Parkway

The Clay County Board of County Commissioners voted on Feb. 24 to transmit to state review a comprehensive plan amendment and map change that expands the Lake Asbury Interchange Village Center (IVC) at Henley Road from 18.75 to 52 acres. Staff said transmittal sends the proposal to state review agencies and is not an adoption of final zoning.

Planning staff and the applicant, SLF Consulting’s Susan Fraser, said the expansion is intended to increase nonresidential capacity for services and retail that would serve the beltway traffic and nearby neighborhoods. Fraser told the board the request is limited to the Henley Road site, not the other IVC at State Road 16: “We’re here to ask you to expand the acreage of the location at Henley Road only,” she said.

Multiple nearby HOA leaders and residents urged the board to prohibit higher‑density residential uses adjacent to their neighborhood; residents pointed specifically to a half‑moon parcel that abuts Village Park. Planning staff and the applicant proposed — and the board accepted — a modification to the transmittal that would confine any future residential uses to north of Verbena Parkway so the area closest to the homeowners remains commercial or buffered with ponds and vegetation.

Because transmittal sends the amendment to state agencies for comment, the board’s action is an early procedural step; a later hearing will pair the comprehensive‑plan change with a rezoning and include the state comments for a final local decision.

The motion to transmit with the north‑of‑Verbena Parkway residential limitation passed on a majority vote.