Council approves changes to Milford Ponds

Terry RogersGovernment, Headlines, Milford Headline Story

Milford City Council approved the fifth change to Milford Ponds at a recent meeting

Milford City Council approved two requests for changes to the Milford Ponds development. The first was a request to remove Phase IV, an apartment area from the Planned Unit Development (PUD) and the second was approval of a revised preliminary subdivision plan for Phase II of the project.

“The applicant is seeking permission to amend the Milford Ponds development by removing Phase IV which was the multifamily apartment area, completely from the planned unit development, and adding townhouses to the Phase II area, the proposed unit mix would be 462 single family detached dwellings and 94 townhouses for a total of 556 dwelling units,” Rob Pierce, City Planner, said.

The change would reduce the number of housing unit from 722 which were approved in 2004 to 556. Under city code, these changes require 75 percent of the lot owners within the PUD who are adjacent or share a common property line with the area where the proposed change would take place. The signed document was provided to council for review.

An extensive history of the changes made to the Milford Ponds development was provided by Pierce, explaining that removal and addition of dwelling types had occurred four times since the project was originally approved.

“The Planning Commission reviewed the amended planning development application at the October 15 meeting and recommended approval upon a vote of five to two to proceed with allowing the PUD change,” Pierce said.

Councilwoman Nirmala Samaroo asked if Pierce knew why the two planning commissioners voted no to which Pierce explained that their main concerns were deviations and the continued comping back with revisions. There were also concerns about some of the waivers requested. Councilman Dan Marabello asked if all the signatures had been obtained.

“Yeah, but we keep issuing building permits every day out there, so I think we would, before this gets recorded, we’d have to ensure that it meets the 75% mark,” Pierce said. “So, we would double check that before signing it for them to record the plat before council approves it.”

Tim Metzner of Davis, Bowen & Friedel, explained the reasoning behind the changes to the development.

“The purpose for this is we looked at the townhouses in this area along the street initially and this is what we originally proposed. That was the original PUD and then even again, I believe, in the 2018 modification,” Metzner said. “That location for townhouse had already been designed that way previously. We’re just going back to that to essentially add the diverse housing type, the overall layout doesn’t change, the road configuration, the lot locations, the open space, all that remains the same from the original PUD.”

According to Metzner, this version of the development was similar to what was originally proposed. Metzner also explained that the apartments would still be constructed but would be a completely separate project from the rest of the development. Councilman Jason James asked about the reasoning for the waivers that were requested.

“To make it is consistent with the rest of the development. The main collector roads that come into the development off of both 113 and South Walnut Street are a little wider than the 22 feet, but otherwise the smaller minor roads, including both of the roads that are in Phase II are 22 feet,” Metzner said. “Again, that ties into the existing roads that have already been constructed so that that roadway is consistent with the with the character throughout the development.”

During the public comment portion of both requests, no one from the public spoke for or against the requests. During a roll call vote, council approved both requests unanimously.

“I vote yes. It’s within our comp plan. Meets all the PUD requirements, and all of the department agencies have signed off on it,” Councilwoman Katrina Wilson said. “I have one other comment. I hope I’m allowed to say this. When we do get to the next phase of the apartments and everything, I hope that I just want to go on record and say, all the developers and future developers, we are in housing crises, and we want to someday accommodate all of our citizens at all economic levels within our city. So just want that put that out there.”

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