Board approves apartment complex

Published 3:00 am Friday, July 17, 2015

A 30-unit upscale apartment complex will be constructed in the 700 block of Three Notch Street.

Walter Stell presented a request to the Troy Board of Adjustment during its Thursday meeting for a special exception and variance to allow for the construction of the 30-unit structure in a C1 Commercial Zoning District. Stell said the three and a half acre property, located near Kentucky Fried Chicken, more than adequately accommodates the apartment complex.

“All of these would be one-bedroom units, “ Stell said. “We are asking for 30 covenant units … These will be just like the ones on Elm Street that are there already. It will be an upper-end type of apartment.”

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Stell compared the design of the complex to the E Mark apartments on Elm Street. The drawing for the complex allotted for 42 parking places, but the requirement is two parking places per dwelling. Perry Green, Board of Adjustment member, said the complex would need 18 additional parking spots to bring the total to the required 60 spaces.

“I understand these are for individual tenants, but you may also rent to a couple and they each have a vehicle,” Green said. “It’s in your best interest making sure tenants have a place to park.”

Stell said there would be two entrances to the complex, and the front of the complex would face Three Notch Street.

“If you’re coming down Three Notch Street, it’ll be angled so you’ll be facing the front of it,” Steel said. “If you are heading south (on Three Notch Street), you will see the side of the unit.”

The request was approved under the stipulation that the 18 additional parking spaces are added.

The board also approved the request for a variance to allow for the placement and residential use of a manufactured home at 109 Adams St. in a C1 Neighborhood Commercial Zoning District with stipulations

John C. Jones is in the process of moving back to Troy and wanted to place a manufactured home for his use on his property located on Adams Street. Jones said the trailer would be 16 feet in length and 70 feet wide.

Green also raised concerns for this case dealing with erosion control and runoff from a hill that is across from Jones’ property and the upkeep of Jones’ property. A city employee reported that there had been issues in the past in that area with property owners not maintaining a clean yard. Jones said he had just purchased a tractor in hopes to clean up some of the overgrown areas of the property.

“I’ve had a lot of land and dirt cleaned off already. The abandoned vehicles that were in the area were not mine. I donated the cars, and I had all that cleaned up there,” he said.

The board approved Jones’ request with the stipulation that Jones complies with city guidelines expressed by the city engineer, including having a skirt around the bottom of the manufactured home.

The board also approved a request from Troy-Pike Habitat for Humanity for a front-yard setback variance to allow for lot conformity with the houses on either side of its lot located at 207 W. Fairview St.

Dan Dawson, a member of Troy-Pike Habitat for Humanity board, said the organization purchased the lot to build a home for someone in needed and hoped to be able to match the houses on either side of the lot with the front-yard setback.

“We just think it’s the right thing for the neighborhood,” Dawson said. “It would look wrong, we believe, to set the house back because of the way the other houses are facing.”