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By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer

HELENA – The Helena City Council gave the public an opportunity to voice their opinion and concerns for a potential annexation during a regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, March 24.

During the council meeting, the final order of business prior to comments and adjournment was to carry out a first reading for an ordinance that will pre-zone the property located at 660 and 680 Aviation Road SE as Special District Mixed Use.

The request, submitted by Parrish Building Company, was placed with plans of developing houses as a transition into a retail and restaurant component. 

Following the first reading of the ordinance, the council allowed members of the public to provide comments on the request, to which people spoke both for and against. 

Kathy Hammond, a resident in Silver Lakes right next to where the property is located, was very complimentary of what Parrish has done in its planning and discussed how this could benefit her own property.

 “My family is very much in favor of this project,” Hammond said. “Its price per square foot is higher than our property currently, and we anticipate that it will raise our property value. The Parrishes have been very forthcoming in answering any and all questions that we’ve had. They have tried to undo the mistruths that have been stated and they have worked very well with our community to assist in any questions and answers.”

There were also concerns against the pre-zoning request, as there is a worry that the request might be premature. Some members want to see more studies be done on the land that the development will be going on, showing how it will affect traffic and environmental factors.

Zac Parrish, who put in the request, was present at the meeting and assured residents that the proper studies would be done in due time and that they would give the city their full cooperation through the process.

“We do recognize that traffic studies and engineering and storm weather management and all those standard steps that we’re accustomed to taking will have to be done,” Parrish said. “Typically this is the first step that we take to make sure that the entitlement is there available for us to get approval for the use of land, and then we completely acknowledge that we will have to work with the city to go through all those steps to approve us through that.”

As far as housing goes, the development will hold 60 houses, but Parrish wanted to make it clear that there is a complete reason for the request of this property being a mixed use.

“There is no industrial use proposed with this property,” Parrish said. “This is a commercial and office flex use. It’s a more official professional office building and a retail and restaurant component with residential housing that will transition from the existing R-1 zoning into a more commercial atmosphere.”

At the beginning of the meeting, Mayor Brian Puckett used his municipal operations report to announce Mike Wood as the new police chief for the Helena Police Department, who comes over from Bessemer after 30 years of service.

In other news, the council approved a budget amendment to add $6,000 that will go towards an HVAC repair for the Parks Department. 

The council also approved annexations for Jeffery Burdette, who lives at 145 Chestnut Lane, and Erika and Kyle Singletary, who reside at 4316 Tishberry Trail, allowing them to receive services from the city of Helena.