Master plans changed for Shoal Creek, Mt Laurel

Published 4:40 pm Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Mt Laurel's amended master plan redesignates two common areas and rezones vacant lots along Olmsted Street. (Contributed)

Mt Laurel’s amended master plan redesignates two common areas and rezones vacant lots along Olmsted Street. (Contributed)

By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

PELHAM—Master plans for Mt Laurel and Shoal Creek have been amended following approval from the Shelby County Planning Commission during a July 20 meeting.

Caroline Little, president of Shoal Creek property owner, Thompson Realty, Inc., submitted a request for approval of an amended master plan, reconfiguring the roads and lots in the proposed Hamlets at Shoal Creek.

“Everything is still within the boundaries of Shoal Creek,” Sharman Brooks, senior planner with the Shelby County Development Services and Planning Services office, said, although she added there is not a “specific area delineated.”

Brooks also noted the master plan amendments do not change zoning in the Shoal Creek subdivision, which is E-1 SD, Single Family Estate Special District.

Located near the intersection of Carnoustie Drive and Turnberry Place, the Hamlets at Shoal Creek will feature smaller, “cottage style” lots, a report to the Planning Commission prepared by the Shelby County Department of Development Services stated.

The amended master plan increases the number of lots in Shoal Creek from 235 to 287.

Changes to the master plan for Mt Laurel were also approved during the July 20 Planning Commission meeting.

The amended master plan, submitted by John Freeman with the EBSCO Development Company, rezones an area along Olmsted Street from multifamily to a single-family zone and two common areas to commercial and institutional zones.

“It’s very specific… 12 lots (along Olmsted Street) that were considered multifamily they have redesignated to… 15 single family lots mirroring the lots (across the street,” Brooks explained.

The common area adjacent to Hilltop Montessori School has been rezoned to institutional, allowing the school to use the property for expansion.

“That property has always been intended for the Montessori school,” Brooks said.

Land on each side of Kessler Avenue, which houses an office building, was rezoned to commercial.

“Master plan approval recognizes the general street layout and established density patterns for the development,” a report to the Planning Commission prepared by the Shelby County Department of Development Services read. “The two areas of change will have no effect on the character of the town.”