Rezonings approved for town house development in downtown historic area

Mar. 3—A planned town home development that has a shared parking lot and that overlaps a historic section of downtown Decatur has passed the second and likely most important step toward approval after the City Council agreed to rezone the property.

The council's desire to spur residential growth while improving what is now concrete left over from a demolished warehouse outweighed opposition from neighboring Old Decatur residents.

Armistead Pollard Real Estate Services, led by Decatur native Steve Armistead out of Brentwood, Tennessee, and Capstone Real Properties LLC are planning 18 town houses, to be named McGhee Square, between Vine and Walnut streets in Northeast Decatur.

Armistead is planning to spend roughly $5 million on the two-story town homes, which will be between 1,200 and 1,500 square feet each. He plans to sell them as single-family properties at roughly $280,000 each.

The parcels combined for the project had two zoning districts on half of the 0.6 acre of property that were R-3 and R-3H, and the council voted 4-1 to change the zonings to B-5.

A number of neighbors protested the development at a Planning Commission meeting in January but only one, Steven Merino, also showed up at Monday night's City Council meeting. Merino has been vocal that he doesn't want the development because it would add so many people right beside his Canal Street home.

"It's a little bit frustrating; there are seven plots of land (nearby) and they chose this one for their development," Merino said. "The population of the area will grow by 300%."

Merino said he is concerned there won't be enough parking and also about the use of the public alley off Walnut Street as one of two entrances into the development's parking lot.

At the Planning Commission meeting, some Old Decatur residents complained that the development isn't having to meet the standards of the Historic Preservation Commission. They also feared the development will add too much traffic in the area.

Councilman Billy Jackson said he voted against the rezonings because everyone who contacted him about the town home development was against it while those who spoke for it Monday didn't live near the development.

"A lot of people I've had conversation with feel like, in some way or another, their property values are going to be impacted adversely," Jackson said. "Regardless of what we think, we don't live in that neighborhood. I'm not saying nothing should change, but people who live in that neighborhood should have a reasonable expectation when they purchase the property that ... it's going to be the same throughout time."

However, Crystal Brown, of the Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce, and a number of other citizens spoke in favor of the development.

Brown pointed out the city has been struggling for years with residential growth so the chamber formed a residential task team in 2018 "to create an environment that would foster builders and developers willing to build in the city."

Brown said the city should embrace the opportunity presented by a "credible and competent developer" who is willing to build residences in downtown Decatur.

Public input

Council President Jacob Ladner and fellow councilmen Kyle Pike and Carlton McMasters said they got multiple emails and calls in support of the development. Pike said he received 13 contacts, including five from the neighborhood, who support the project and only three in opposition.

Miracle Osborne, a member of the chamber task force who lives on Way Thru The Woods, said she would have loved to have had the option of purchasing town homes like these when she moved back to Decatur. She also pointed out that the need for housing was mentioned 186 times in the One Decatur comprehensive plan approved in 2018.

"As an HR manager, I'm seeing a lot of people want to live here but then end up in Huntsville or Madison because they can't find the home they want," Osborne said.

Realtor Jody Peterson said the "ugly piece of property" is what she views every day from her desk at her office on Bank Street.

She said there were some buildings on the property that should have been condemned and demolished many years ago. She said the old buildings became homes for the homeless that she "had to dodge" when entering and leaving her office.

"Anything would be an improvement," Peterson said. "And building $280,000 town houses would be a major improvement."

City Chief Code Enforcement Officer David Lee agreed, saying the building's roof was caved in and the building was in bad shape when they demolished it.

"I don't see that a new development could do anything but help," Lee said.

Peterson said she believes the development "will help downtown prosper" and boost local property values.

The city's Historic Preservation Commission met with representatives of the developers multiple times, starting in November, and Caroline Swope, Decatur's historic program coordinator, said the commission suggested some changes that were made.

"We were pleased with the results," Swope told the council.

Only one of the two parcels was in the historic district and the rezoning takes it out of the district. Blake McAnally, of Pugh Wright McAnally Engineering Services, said at the Planning Commission meeting that even though the rezoned development won't be subject to the Historic Preservation Commission, the developers will comply with Historic Preservation Commission requirements.

Swope said the City Council could expand the Historic Preservation Commission's authority and require properties in the business district in historic Decatur to submit to design reviews, a step she said would help preserve business owners' ability to receive historic tax credits for making improvements to historic buildings.

Planning Commission Chairman Kent Lawrence said the development is experimental in that it uses a shared parking lot. McAnally said the parking lot will have 41 or 42 parking spots. Morgan County also owns a public lot next to the development that can be used for overflow parking, he added.

The developers now enter the technical portion of the city approval process as they have to get the architectural plans and final plat approved by the Planning Commission and its technical committee. The project won't go back to the City Council.

— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432. Twitter @DD_BayneHughes.