Property owners adjacent to the proposed Bent Grass subdivision received notice in January that the developer, Rivers Development Inc., has requested an amendment to the plans originally approved in 2006.The area is west of the new 7-Eleven on Meridian Road, north of Owl Place. The total development acreage is 141 but the area of concern in the notice is a 32.64-acre area located south of the newly constructed Bent Grass Meadows Drive and immediately north and west of the houses along Owl Place. A new ìcovingî design has been proposed for the 32.64 acres that will increase the number of single-family plots from 386 to 411 on the total proposed subdivision acreage.ìRather than the traditional subdivision design, this (amended area) does a coving design,î said Ron Bevans, project manager with N.E.S. Inc. ìIn theory, it provides more efficiency of street use. Due to the serpentine aspect of it, it creates a better neighborhood environment. It gives more flexibility for meandering sidewalks, varies the depth of homes from the frontage viewpoint and slows down traffic.ìThere were about 5 acres of the original PUD that were intended to be commercial but werenít ever zoned that way so it was converted to a residential zone. Twenty-five more lots were able to be added due to the additional 5 acres and the new coving design.îSeveral homeowners on Owl Place have voiced their concern about the proposed subdivision. In particular, concerns have been raised about the lack of consistency in the proposed setbacks around the perimeter of the subdivision.Owl Place resident Kathy Hare said the proposal includes 35-foot setbacks for the single-family lots to the north and west of the proposed development but not for the property owners to the south, where she resides. A setback is the distance measured from the building line to a property line.ìWhatís the difference between Falcon Meadows 5-acre lots (to the north) and Owl Place 5-acre lots?î Hare said. ìThere is absolutely no setback in this plan for our area. Itís certainly not quite fair that one 5-acre subdivision gets it but not another.îìWe are maintaining the standard 20-foot setbacks,î Bevans said. ìThe lots are fairly deep with the coving design. We just maintained the current setback conditions that were there.îGloria Kirkpatrick, another Owl Place resident, has concerns as well. ìMy concern is how they change the way we live on our own property by not having a buffer so that trash doesnít blow and noise doesnít affect us when theyíre moving dirt, with the constant beep, beep, beep at 6 in the morning.ìIím not living in an apartment; Iím living on 5 acres. As long as they intend for us to live with the trash and the noise, I intend that nothing will stand in our way to voice how we feel.îBevans said no buffer had been planned for that area, and there arenít any existing buffers there, either. Kirkpatrick said adding a buffer would go a long way to making the lifestyle of the people on Owl Place closer to what they had intended it to be when they moved there, before all of the new development.ìWeíre going to have progress, I understand that,î Kirkpatrick said. ìBut people might not be able to afford their taxes once the development has gone in because the property has become too valuable. Do they plan on putting out the money that will make it possible for us to exist in our town so we arenít priced out of our homes? If we donít want to sell, why should we be inconvenienced by the developers who see the potential in what they want to earn?îBevans said the developers had originally planned to start ìmoving dirtî this summer; however, because the plans are still in the middle of the approval process, it may be late summer before they start creating the infrastructure. He said the plans will probably get to the El Paso County Planning Commission in May.There is a Bent Grass Metropolitan District already in place, but it will only be used to maintain some of the open space included in the development, not for supplying utility services, Bevans said.ìThe intent is that they (the Bent Grass subdivision) will be part of the Woodmen Hills district so the infrastructure will have to be installed for that, and it will extend from the nearest location, although Iím not sure which location that is right now,î he said.
