The Wright City board sent a zoning change request from Houston Homes LLC back to the Planning and Zoning Commission following a public hearing. 

The board decided to send the development back to the Planning and Zoning Commission with Aldermen Ramiz Hakim and Don Andrews voting for the change to return to P&Z and Alderman Kim Arbuthnot voting against. Alderman Karey Owens was attending the meeting via zoom and did not vote. 

The request was to rezone roughly 58 acres of land in Wright City from M-1 light industrial to a mixed use planned development area. The planned development would have included 190 residential units as well as commercial lots at the front of the development on Roelker Road. 

The developer had also chosen to remove their zoning change request from the meeting’s agenda, postponing a final decision on the change regardless of the public hearing. 

During the public hearing on the zoning change, citizens voiced their displeasure at the changes and felt the city would be making far too many concessions to allow the development to move forward. 

Under the plan as it was presented, the city would have allowed a number of exceptions including cutting the minimum lot size requirement from 8,400 square feet to 4,632 square feet, significant cuts to minimum setbacks and an increase to the minimum lot coverage. 

It was also earmarked as low-income housing. 

One citizen at the meeting felt the change would be too cramped, and compared it to similar zoning changes that had been made in his subdivision. 

“I’m totally against this,” said Phil Cooper. “What happened in my subdivision, the fifth plat got changed by zoning, and they’ve crammed houses so close together it just doesn’t look good.”

The concessions requested by the developer would have been a significant departure from Wright City’s zoning code. 

Alan Davis, a property owner near the proposed development, felt that the changes would devalue the city’s zoning code. 

“If we pass this, we are stating, the board is stating, that the zoning can’t really be used to protect yourself from your neighbors, that at any time we can go in and rezone that piece of property,” said Davis. 

There were some citizens who spoke out in favor of the development, acknowledging the need for affordable housing in the area, especially as the city continues to grow. 

“We have to be careful with how we treat our neighbors, and to have diversity in our community is healthy, so that we have room for everyone, everyone together, from veterans to single parents to those who live in middle class, all kinds, from top to bottom,” said Kim Purl. 

She did concede that she would also like to see some changes in the development to walk back the number of units on the property and described it as “greedy” although she did say she thought it would be a net positive in the end. 

“So yes, it will feel crowded, but there is a need for more rooftops at the same time,” said Purl. 

Hakim felt that the development was not ready to go to the board and felt that there were still far too many questions to move forward. 

“This is a planned development area where the city gives up concessions, and in return the developer has to reciprocate some concessions,” Hakim said. “As this stands right now, in my opinion, the city is extending a lot of concessions, with none of that being reciprocated.”

Hakim also stated that he was “disappointed” with what he saw as the lack of questioning that was made by the Planning and Zoning Commission, which Arbuthnot, who sits on the P&Z board, took exception to. 

Mayor Michelle Heiliger also pointed out a similar development that the board turned down earlier this year that would have seen industrially zoned land changed to allow for affordable housing. 

“We had almost the exact same conversation with a different developer, and we very clearly and unanimously, told that developer that we were guarding our commercial properties because that is our sales tax development,” said Heiliger.