Residential lots OK’D for Collierville

Developments cheered by town

Collierville’s Planning Commission, seeing an uptick in new residential lots, heard about plans Tuesday night for 254 lots in three developments.

Despite the large number, Town Planner Jaime Groce said it doesn’t mean the lots would be ready this year. “Some could be available by next year,” he said. “Gone are the days when a developer would have 100 or more lots on the ground for sale. The banks have told us they don’t want to lend for large phases.”

Stables Subdivision is the biggest planned development where commissioners heard a conceptual review of the proposed 183 single family homes on about 86 acres that will be developed in six phases.

“This parcel is one of the last remaining to be developed along the Wolf River Boulevard corridor on the north side of Collierville,” wrote Mark McGuire with McGuire Engineering. No vote was required at this stage. The property is next to Creekside, Braystone and Wellington Ridge subdivisions. The first phase would be 32 lots.

Other developments that were approved:

The Enclave at Collierville for 61 single-family residential lots on 10.6 acres on the south side of Collierville Road and west of Byhalia Road. BancorpSouth Bank owns the prop- erty and Carlos Cantu Jr. with C-5 Capital is the developer.

The Villages at Porter Farms for 10 single family lots and a mixed-used retail village center on 2.44 acres on Shea Road. John Porter of Centennial Homes is the owner and developer.

All of the projects will ultimately go before the Board of Mayor and Aldermen for final action.

In another development, the commission decided to allow the Avenue Carriage Crossing shopping center to continue its monthly Food Truck Friday venue for the rest of the year. Carriage Crossing held its first one in May. Food Truck Friday will be 2-8 p.m. on the last Friday of the month. Restaurants within the center also can sell food for the event.

During the 2 ½ -hour meeting, the board also accepted a preliminary site plan for self-storage units on eight acres on Winchester at Houston Levee. Before the meeting,

Groce said, “This is a new prospect for us.” Typically, such units are only in light industrial areas.

Storage Towne of America proposed having a retail business or office complex facing Winchester with the self-storage area behind it, but developers will not build a speculation building before the storage units are constructed. “Ideally, it would be tucked away and not be seen,” Groce said.

Two neighbors spoke on the issue. “We are not opposed to the concept,” said Milton Edens, but he added the Ivygrove neighborhood wants to be involved with the final design.

Beth Gallagher’s property backs up to the proposed storage units: “You can’t replace a 35-foot tree with a tree that is 10-feet tall. I know it will impact the value of my house.”

Said Commissioner Mark Hansen, “It seems the developer has made extraordinary efforts to ensure that the buffering is what it ought to be.”