Neighbors raise flooding, traffic and noise concerns as Planning Commission recommends M2 zoning for Shady Grove site

The Finley City Planning Commission voted April 9 to recommend an initial M2 (multifamily high-density) zoning designation for a roughly 40-acre site currently used as Shady Grove Golf Course, subject to annexation to the city and later detailed site-plan review.

City planning staff told the commission the M2 district is intended to provide a transition between State Route 224 and lower-density residential areas and that the parcel’s location and surrounding uses make M2 an appropriate initial zoning. Staff noted the land is not in the mapped 100-year floodplain and described the city’s post-2007 stormwater detention standards that developments must meet.

Neighbors who live adjacent to the site urged the commission to slow the process and press for protections. “I see the flooding that has occurred just from everything that is going on in that area,” said Roxan Luplo, a resident who lives across from the golf course, describing standing water after recent storms and asking how emergency vehicles would safely use Township Road 237 if more units were built. Diane (Linda) Hutton, another nearby resident, told the commission she was told the project could be “400 apartments” and said that scale would overwhelm local roads and property values: “How can we handle 400 apartments…Has the infrastructure even been tested?”

Commissioners and staff responded that this meeting was deciding only the parcel’s initial zoning assignment on the date of annexation. Rob Martin, the city’s service safety director who chaired the meeting, told speakers that detailed design questions — driveway and curb-cut locations, lighting, sound mitigation, drainage retention and building elevations — would be addressed in subsequent site-plan review and public hearings, and that neighbors would receive additional notices and opportunities to comment when site plans are submitted.

On density, staff noted M2 rules and open-space requirements limit impervious coverage and that, while a theoretical M2 calculation could allow a high unit count across the entire 40 acres, initial conversations with the developer indicated phased construction and an early submittal likely for roughly 200 units rather than an immediate build-out of the full site. Staff emphasized the difference between mapped floodplains and poorly drained soils, and said the city’s current detention standards would require engineered retention to avoid increasing creek levels.

After discussion the commission voted to recommend approval of ZA-05-2026 (M2 multifamily) to city council; commissioners emphasized that the recommendation is only the next step in a multi-stage process and that council will make the final zoning decision. The annexation, formal site plans and any BZA variances or additional approvals will be the subsequent opportunities for detailed review and public input.

The planning commission’s recommendation now goes to the City Council’s planning and zoning committee and then to the full council for final action. If and when developers file formal site plans, staff said neighbors within 500 feet will receive mailed notice and the plans will return for public review.