The residents of the Williamsburg subdivision dodged a close call as their neighborhood was spared a new townhouse community at Monday night’s city council meeting.

Rincon’s city hall overflowed with concerned residents of the subdivision during a public hearing to hear a petition filed by Ernest Homes LLC for approval of a revised land development plan.

The original master plan stated that the 19.77 acres located on the west side of the 77-lot subdivision would be used for “professional development” for such businesses as doctor and attorney offices. However, the developers were seeking to build a townhome development there instead.

In addition, the master plan called for 54 units. However, the new change called for 140 units.

Mayor Ken Lee explained that the council denied the change because the homeowners purchased homes there based on the original master plan. And so he felt that it should be honored.

Furthermore, the council is concerned about the amount of traffic already on Fort Howard Road and with this many units it stands to worsen.

“The traffic is increasing steadily on that road,” Lee said.

In June the council denied a petition by CORR Development to rezone 19.94 acres from R5 (single family residential) to R11 (multi-family residential) due in large part to the amount of traffic it would create.

“We’re trying to be consistent in what we do,” said the mayor.

Homeowner association representative Tim Crawford presented the council with reasons why the residents opposed the development. They included proposed buffers, noise, traffic, loss of recreation area, privacy and density.

Crawford said the required 30-foot buffer is not sufficient for the proposed two-story development. It would turn the backyards of homeowners into fish bowls, he protested, for those second-level townhouses.

“They are literally backing their buildings up to the buffer,” he said.

In the master plan seven buildings were proposed, with  separation from the homeowners’ lots by a buffer, roadway, grass and a parking lot.

Crawford said that the homeowners look forward to Rincon growing.

“I really feel like as citizens we should be concerned about providing all types of housing for all types of individuals,” he said, adding that his group is all for apartments, townhomes and single family residences

However, he noted that Rincon already has enough townhomes with three other developments on Fort Howard Road.
He stressed the homeowners want to preserve the close-knit, family-friendly neighborhood they currently have. 

Benjamin Miles with Ernest Homes LLC said his group has addressed the residents’ buffer concerns, noting he told the residents that he would construct any type of buffer they want.

He added the traffic problem is an issue regardless of his company building the townhouses. More of them will be built along the road like the others, he said.

“We’ve tried to be as understanding and conceding as we can be,” said an exasperated Miles.

Councilman Levi Scott said that building the townhouses there would destroy the “integrity” of the neighborhood. that when Williamsburg was built the city was very proud of it because of its character and design. 

Miles accused the council of doing an about-face. He told them that he spoke to them individually and as a group before and they gave him their support.

“Integrity means keeping your word,” Miles shot back. “We have done everything we were asked to do.”

“We have noticed that noise has increased,” Crawford said. “We’re concerned that they come in and develop as it is that noise level will increase.”