Rejection of the preliminary plat for an upscale subdivision does not mean the project will not be built, Orange Planning Director Kelvin Knauf told the Orange City Council Tuesday.
The council unanimously voted to follow the lead of the Planning and Zoning Commission earlier this month to reject the preliminary plat for Oak Allie subdivision on Allie Payne Road.
Knauf said businessman David Hinds, who owns the property and submitted the preliminary plat, is working with his surveyor to meet the city requirements for the plat.
Knauf, in a memo, outlined reasons the preliminary plat was rejected. The submitted plat did not follow the city ordinances in that it did not include the name or names or the owners of the subdivision.
In addition, the plat did not give the proposed utilities to be installed or and outline of the proposed drainage plant. The plat also needed a legal description of the land and an explanation of the phasing of development.
The Oak Allie subdivision will have two-story houses designed in an old New Orleans style, Hinds told the Planning and Zoning Commission. The subdivision will be on Allie Payne Road west of Meeks Drive and east of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
The city’s Economic Development Corporation two years ago agreed to spend nearly $660,000 to extend water and sewer service to the area. It is part of the city’s long-range plan to eventually install water and sewer all the way along Allie Payne Road to MLK Drive.
In other business, the council approved on second and final reading an ordinance for the city to abandon the alley surface around the old Long Warehouse Furniture off Main Avenue and 15th Street. The owner is remodeling the building to be an event center. The alley south of Main and between 14th and 15th will help accommodate parking. The city keeps its rights to access its utilities under the alley property.
The council also approved a change in 2014 federal Community Development Block Grant allocation. Grants Planner Sandra Wilson said $5,690 had been granted to the Christian Women’s Job Corp. However, the non-profit group has not been able to take on the new project for which the grant was awarded. Instead, the council approved giving the money to the non-profit Orange Christian Services.
The council also approved a 20 percent homestead exemption on property taxes for 2018. The city has long had the 20 percent exemption for houses declared by the owner as homestead. The 20 percent is the maximum the state allows.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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