Former Eagle Point golf course, driving range rezoning coming before county Planning Commission, June 6

Published 1:39 pm Tuesday, May 17, 2016

The Shelby County Planning Commission will hear a request to rezone the former Eagle Point golf course and driving range property during a June 6 meeting. (Contributed)

The Shelby County Planning Commission will hear a request to rezone the former Eagle Point golf course and driving range property during a June 6 meeting. (Contributed)

By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

NORTH SHELBY—A request to rezone the former Eagle Point golf course and driving range property is scheduled to come before the Shelby County Planning Commission during a June 6 meeting.

The driving range portion of the property is currently zoned R-5 residential for apartments, and the golf course portion is zoned R-1 residential for single-family homes.

The current zoning has been in place since the late 1980s, before the property was a golf club, Shelby County Chief Development Officer Chad Scroggins said.

The property was purchased for development by Highpointe Properties in April. Highpointe Properties is requesting the land be rezoned to R-2 Special District to accommodate the company’s Griffin Park development plan.

The proposed Griffin Park development calls for 304 single-family homes of varying sizes, including garden home-type residences on the former driving range location, Scroggins said. The homes would be zoned for the Oak Mountain schools.

Scroggins said the county Development Office has received comments from the residents of Eagle Point.

“Certainly traffic is one of the major concerns in the development of the (property),” Scroggins said.

A traffic study has been performed to compare the impact of a combination of apartment and single-family home zonings versus the requested R-2 single-family home zoning. According to Scroggins, the study showed the requested zoning would be “more advantageous than R1 and R5.”

Highpointe Properties is awaiting the planning commission’s decision on the rezoning request before setting any timeline for development, Shelby County Development Services and Planning Services Senior Planner Sharman Brooks said.

If the rezoning request is denied, the current zoning will remain unchanged as a combination of R-5 apartment zoning and R-1 single-family home zoning.

Anyone with questions about the rezoning is urged to email Brooks, sbrooks@shelbyal.com, before the June 6 meeting, Scroggins said.

The June 6 meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. in the Community Room on the second floor of the Shelby County Services Building in Pelham. The meeting is open to the public.