35-lot plat OK’d by council

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Julian welcomed to first meeting

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The Sulphur Springs City Council rang in 2021 at their Tuesday night meeting with approvals regarding duplex developments in two areas that will create 78 housing units in the future.

The larger of the two projects is 35 lots with duplexes on each, and the council approved its plat request filed by Kenneth Dority. The subdivision will be located at the corner of Fisher and Spence, and a new street, Twin Oaks Drive, will be created along with a sewer and water main.

“The public improvements have been reviewed by the city engineer,” community development director Tory Niewiadomski said. “They found the plat and engineering plans for the development are acceptable with additional details needed for easements to address drainage.”

Twin Oaks Drive will be narrower than a typical street at 24 feet, Niewiadomski noted, and there will be no on-street parking to allow emergency access. Each Twin Oaks duplex will have four parking spaces, and city manager Marc Maxwell signaled his desire to insert language into the plat to have them paved with concrete, not asphalt. City attorney Jim McLeroy cautioned that move.

“As far as specifying concrete over asphalt, we need to look at that because the [state] legislature limited municipalities’ ability to specify building materials,” McLeroy said. “Some cities had passed that you couldn’t use metal in town. They [the legislature] said we can’t specify in building codes or in enforcement of building codes what materials to use.”

The council also approved a community facilities contract with Joe Ardis who plans to build four duplexes on the corner of College and Lundy.

“It’s similar to the ones directly to the north of this property on Lundy Street,” Niewiadomski said.

A dead-end water main serves the duplexes to the north, and an extension of the main is needed for the project, Niewiadomski noted, hence the contract. The cost for the extension will be Ardis’ responsibility.

“From the staff’s perspective, with Lundy already having a dead-end main, this does help solve an issue that we have with the water situation over there,” Niewiadomski said.

Dead ends in water mains can lead to problems with corrosion or water quality, according to the American Water Works Association.

The extension will be placed on the property to allow future service to a nearby lot, and Niewiadomski said he worked with Ardis to permit the duplexes to be individual homes in future if wanted.

At the end of the meeting, mayor John Sellers welcomed newest council member Jay Julian to his first meeting and added it was “ quite refreshing” have all seven places filled on the council.

“Thank you for the welcome, and I look forward to serving with everyone,” Julian said.