The Troy Planning Commission on Tuesday approved the rezoning of several parcels of land to allow for the construction of connector roads and a new commercial development on U.S. 231 and heard concerns from residents along Enzor Road regarding the rezoning plan.

Walter Stell of Survey South represented Frank Thomas, Malcom K. Fearing, III, Carlina Girls LLC and William E Ware along with Harbert Realty Services, in the request to rezone 368.18 acres of land located south of U.S. Highway 231, east of the Oak Park Subdivision and north of Enzor Road from a reserved residential designation to a medium density R2 zone.

The rezoning will allow for the construction of two connector roads adjoining Oak Park Subdivision and Eznor Road with Franklin Drive and George Wallace Drive. The road project was announced recently as part of a project that also includes a new Publix shopping center on U.S. 231 near George Wallace Drive. The road project is key to the retail development and is the first phase of the development project.

Residents are concerned about the impact of rezoning from a low-density to a higher density zone, which would allow for multi-family residential units, such as apartment complexes. Several spoke at Tuesday’s hearing, including Jerry Spurlock, a property owner in the concerned area.

“Nothing bars a road from going in,” Spurlock said. “I still go back to when the Sportsplex was built. The people on Enzor Road were promised the Sportsplex would not change the character of the neighborhood, that this will enhance the character of the neighborhood. Is this R3 going to enhance the character of the neighborhood as it is now? I’m all in favor of Publix, but to sum it up I’m not opposing it, but I’m not in favor of it. It’s changing the characteristic of the neighborhood.”

Other families who along Enzor Road also voiced their concerns about rezoning the area from a lower density residential area to a designation that could potentially facilitate larger apartment complexes coming into the area.

“I really am glad to see the expansion of Troy and I enjoy that,” said Bryan Phillips, another concerned citizen. “I think it would be great, except I would like to see the … parcel at the bottom to remain residential, single family residential. I would like to see the other side of my road to stay the same as this side of the road. We all have kids, young kids, we don’t want to see a bunch of traffic where we have to worry about out kids.”

Stell said the area would have a 50-foot wide buffer.

“I really appreciate you offering that, but you’re going to see a two-story, three-story apartment complex,” Phillips said. “I work with timber and you can see through trees. You’re going to have to have a lot wider buffer if you think you’re going to block an apartment complex with some trees.”

Bill Hopper, Planning Commission chairman, said the access road to the area behind Enzor Road would decrease some of the traffic on Enzor Road.

“My own opinion is that the access road will remove a lot of traffic from Enzor Road since it goes straight into the Sportsplex,” Hopper said. “Anything that would be developed would access that access road directly with the exception of that one little corner.”

The commission ultimately approved the request to rezone 176.25 acres to a C2 General Commercial zoning district, 45.44 acres to a M1 Light Industrial zoning district, 4.07 acres to a CO Commercial Office zoning, 26.26 acres to a C4 Highway Commercial zoning and 61.51 acres to a R3 High Density Residential zoning.

The 61.51 acres approved for a R3 rezoning did not include the 35.95 acres of Parcel D that received majority disapproval from community members in attendance to the hearing.

The rezoning requests will be sent to the city clerk over the next few days and will then be placed on the Troy City Council’s agenda for an upcoming meeting. While the commission did not recommend the rezoning of the 35.95 acres of Parcel D to a R3 zoning, Stell will have the opportunity to go before the city council on behalf of those he representing and request the council approve the requests.

The commission also heard a request by Stell representing Delta Land Company for final plat approval for Phase IV of the Deerstand Hill Subdivision, located at the north end of the Whitetail Way or Prospect Ridge Subdivision. The commission unanimously approved the request.