Developers and neighbors working together

At the joint request of developers and opponents of the proposed Foxfield Meadows subdivision, Suffolk City Council has put a two-month hold on a decision about the project.

Attorneys for the developers and a group of opponents who live in a neighboring subdivision told council on Wednesday they are working toward a solution to some of the concerns the neighbors have raised during the process.

The neighborhood already has been approved for 128 single-family homes and 114 multi-family units. However, the developers, Cloverleaf Development, want to increase the number of multi-family units to 158, reduce cash proffers for schools and alter minimum square footage and design standards for single-family dwellings.

The opponents in nearby Westhaven Lakes say the changes would create a substandard development that offers less money for infrastructure, while at the same time putting more of a burden on that infrastructure. Neighbors along Pitchkettle Road have expressed concerns about increased traffic on the two-lane highway.

Westhaven Lakes residents, too, had said they were worried about increased traffic within their neighborhood because of a proposed connector road. However, the developers are hoping to move the connector road elsewhere, attorney Whitney Saunders said Wednesday.

“There is one issue that must be resolved,” Saunders told City Council members. He noted that the resolution of that issue, the connector road, could lead to other issues and requested the 60-day extension. The new connector road proposal would not go through Westhaven Lakes, he said.

Attorney Fred Taylor with Stallings and Bischoff, who is representing the Westhaven Lakes Homeowners Association, concurred with the delay.

“We’ve been in deep discussion over the past few weeks,” Taylor said. He noted that it would be beneficial to the community and the city to come up with “something that we can all be satisfied with.”

The public hearing on the matter will be held at the Sept. 21 meeting.

In other business, City Council members approved the following items:

• A mixed-use, multi-family building at 111 W. Washington St., where developers plan to build loft apartments above ground-floor retail spaces.
• A public assembly space in the old White Marsh Plaza shopping center, where Marcus Williams plans “Boogie’s Family and Friends Outreach Organization/Lodge,” which would be available for groups to rent. City Council members changed the hours of the business to allow it to remain open only until midnight on Friday and Saturday nights, but deleted a requirement for Williams to install a surveillance system.
• A new childcare facility, Books and Puzzles Childcare, in the Bennett’s Creek Square area.