Milton council debates next steps with Merriweather development

Milton Town Council tabled discussion of amending the final site plan for the Merriweather subdivision to allow the applicant to update those plans after receiving feedback.

Located at the end of Collins Street, the Merriweather subdivision has been in some stage of development since the early 2000s. The original final site plan was approved in December 2003. It then went through a series of owners. Half of the eight lots were built on, but punch list items are still not completed for the streets to be turned over to the town. The subdivision has since been purchased by Realtor Lee Ann Wilkinson.

Appearing at council’s April 6 meeting, engineer Carlton Savage asked council for three changes to the site plan. First, to eliminate the center island at the main circle, as Savage said it creates an obstruction for emergency vehicles and gets run over by snowplows. The tree on the island would be preserved and moved to another location.

Savage said ownership reached out to the homeowners to ask their opinion and all who responded wanted to keep the island. He said that put the developer in a tough spot because the conundrum is that while it is aesthetically pleasing, the island isn’t worth the maintenance. 

Brian Miller of town engineer Pennoni Associates, said if the island were to stay, it would need to be repaired due to damage from trucks and that whenever the town takes over maintenance, the island would require continuous repairs. 

Joel Leidy, a resident in Merriweather, said the island was run over once and then repaired, but the repairs were not properly done. He said he did not think the island should come out.

Second, Savage requested to remove the sidewalks in front of Lot 8, an open lot left of the entrance to the development. The sidewalk had been proposed to run along to the stormwater management pond, but Savage said after the stormwater pond was installed, a lot of vegetation and trees have sprouted up, making it hard to build a sidewalk without cutting down the trees. In addition, he said the sidewalk would essentially lead to nowhere.

Leidy said he also wants the developer to put in the sidewalks around Lot 8 as planned. 

Finally, Savage asked to remove a sidewalk in front of Lot 1, which has been built on, because prior record plan adjustments removed right-of-way for the sidewalk construction. Savage said the home on the lot was built in 2016, but the sidewalk was not fully completed at that time, in part due to trees and other obstructions along Coulter Street, which runs adjacent to the house. 

Mayor John Collier said the town experienced a similar situation in Chestnut Crossing, which like Merriweather went through multiple owners over the years, where a sidewalk was eliminated because the town had granted relief to the homeowner as the sidewalk did not serve any purpose. 

Councilman Scotty Edler said he agreed that the sidewalk should be removed at Lot 1, but did not think there was a real hardship in removing the sidewalk from Lot 8.

“This is new construction. We’re very clear that new construction has a different standard. The streets have to be a certain width and they have to have sidewalks,” he said.

Edler added that if residents in the development want to keep the island and maintain it, the island should stay. 

Councilman Robert Gray agreed with Edler and proposed that when the streets are dedicated to the town, a carve-out should be made so the island is maintained by the homeowners. 

Savage suggested taking the plans back and revising them to incorporate the input of council and residents. Council agreed and tabled the discussion for a later meeting.