The Stuart Town Council approved the Stuart Planning Commission’s recommendation to rezone a property on Commerce Street and implement an ordinance change at its Wednesday, July 17 meeting.
The property was rezoned from heavy industrial to high-density residential and is planned to house six luxury apartment complexes. Each apartment is set to be three-floors with 12 units.
Mayor Ray Weiland said the ordinance change involved three variances, including an allowance for the buildings’ height to be increased from 35 feet to 45 feet.
Another variance allows for lot coverage of up to 55 percent instead of 40 percent.
“So, a bit of an increase on the lot coverage. The third allowance was the minimum distance of 10-foot to the driveway between the building and the driveway,” he said.
The property, bought by Singh Brothers Investments, LLC, is located between Stuart Forest Products and EMI Imagining on Commerce Street. The Mayo River Rail Trail goes through the property.
Singh Brothers owner Deleep Paul said he and his brother Harjot Paul grew up in nearby Stokes County, N.C.
“We are not flippers. We don’t flip our properties. We are investing into our properties to grow as a community with you guys,” he said.
Deleep Paul said the pair also own Friendly’s in the Patrick Springs area, the Stuart Laundromat, a car wash on Blue Ridge Street, and other properties in Stuart.
“We’re here to help you guys as much as we can. We’re trying to come in here and fix and remodel stuff and make Stuart more presentable. We’re not just here to collect a check. We are personally funding all of this ourselves,” he said.
Harjot Paul said architects are currently working on the site’s design. Once that is finished, a building firm will be chosen.
“We’re going to split it up into two phases. We’re looking to do one phase with three buildings and get those built and see how it goes before we start the other three. If that becomes a hit, we’ll look at another spot and see” what we can do, he said.
Harjot Paul said he and his brother are involved with Stuart and want to help it grow.
Deleep Paul added potential residents will have to complete a background check before they are approved to move in.
Town Manager Bryce Simmons applauded the efforts, and added it’s obvious the brothers are putting money back into the properties they’ve purchased.
“That hasn’t happened around here in a long time,” Simmons said.
The Planning Commission and town council also heard from several citizens about the property.
Allen Ziegler said he was requesting additional information about the project’s site plan and proposed architectural design.
Simmons said the town has the preliminary site plan for the project.
As for the final site plan, “I will at least note that at the Planning Commission meeting, the vote was to make the recommendation to accept the variances with the condition that final approval would be met by the building official, along with any other permits that would have to be received. Only then with that approval would that final zoning go in place,” he said.
Simmons said the town has also received drawings of what the buildings might look like.
Ziegler also asked who would be living in the apartment complexes.
“Are the apartments going to be ideally rented at market rents or is this going to be subsidized housing of any kind. What is the marketing plan of the complex,” he asked.
While he didn’t want to speak on behalf of Singh Brothers Investments, Simmons said every conversation he’s had with them indicated it would not be subsidized housing.
“This development is for your professional starting family and/or retirees,” Simmons said, and added the housing development will not be Section 8 housing.
“That has been a conversation (that) we as the town have been very curious about from the very beginning of the onset of the project. We did not want to entertain the idea of subsidized or Section 8 housing, especially in this part of the town. If that was the intent from the beginning, we probably wouldn’t have sold the property,” Simmons said.
Bernard Nolan said he noticed the plan for stormwater retention.
“Stormwater retention facilities have to have an outlet. They’re designed, depending on the criteria when it’s developed, to either be a 10-year storm, 20-year storm, or 100-year storm. Whatever the development is, it’s still going to have a discharge, and that discharge is going to go to the river. That might be a problem with water quality,” he said.
Nolan said the discharge is going to have to go across someone else’s property as the discharge is a state requirement.
Simmons said the discharge will go across county property. He noted an easement would also be sought to connect the apartment complex to the town’s sewer system.
Dee Nolan asked about the safety precautions that would be enacted to protect the children and pets living in the complex from the river and the currents.
“That scares me. I mean if they walk out their back doors they’re going to walk, and they could literally walk down to the river and get in. Is there going to be something that would protect the kids, and then secondary the animals,” she asked.
Simmons said it comes to an opinion of whether that is the town’s responsibility.
“What is to stop a child from getting out in the middle of the road anywhere in town,” Simmons asked.
Dee Nolan also asked what the responsibilities of the owners and the residents would be.
Simmons said it will be contingent upon the property owners.
Deleep Paul said rules would be in place as they want to keep the apartments clean.
Dee Nolan also spoke about how the apartment complexes could impact the need for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in the town and the county.
In other matters, the board:
*Heard from residents about issues of vehicles speeding on Woodland Drive.
*Heard an update on public works projects.
*Discussed town policy.
*Discussed the Virginia Retirement System (VRS).
*Approved giving $500 in cash and $500 in in-kind donations to Front Porch Fest 15.
*Approved giving the annual donation of $2,500 to the Patrick County Music Association (PCMA).
*Paid the bills.
