Morgan City officials approve new housing development, hold off on another

On March 28 Morgan’s city council approved a 22-unit development of two 11-plexes on 2.75 acres at 550 East 700 North. The developer, Wardell Brothers Properties, is leasing some city-owned land from the city for a roadway to provide access to the property. The developer will maintain the road.

That evening City Councilmember David Alexander expressed concern that the developer is unwilling to obtain service from the city water system’s high-pressure site which city planning officials had recommended. 

The city water tank has an undersized line which he has been told the city wants to upsize and bring down to another development on Jenny Lane, developer Jordache Wardell responded. While the current water pressure is not ideal, the development does meet minimum [water standards] he said. “We didn’t want that to hold our project up because it sounds like it’s going to take a minute.” 

City Manager Ty Bailey acknowledged that hooking into the city water tank could be problematic for the developer. Tying the two water zones together is on the city’s capital improvements list, he said. “Jordache can’t necessarily go through other people’s property to bring the line through … so we’d have to make that a city project.”

After the discussion, the city council approved the development. Wardell said the units will not be constructed until spring 2024; the developer will complete infrastructure this summer.

That evening the city council held off on giving a preliminary go-ahead on Valley Vista, phases 2 & 3, a 33-unit townhouse development at Sunset Drive and Jenny Lane (750 North 800 East). The development by Wall Brothers Construction is located in a multi-family zone.

It is unclear if the units will be sold or rented. Some of the property is sloped more than 30 percent but since the project’s development agreement was approved prior to the city’s new sensitive lands ordinance which went into effect in January and which addresses that issue, the council did not have an issue with this.

However, they were concerned about the width of two internal streets which the developer proposes be 50 feet.  The city’s road department supports this width because those roads would not be as steep as 60-foot roads, City Councilmember David Alexander said. 

“It works better in the steeper terrain,” developer Danny Wall said of the narrower width. “The wider your road is the harder it is to create building lots so that’s beneficial to us and it requires less retaining as well. If we can narrow that road up, there will be less retaining walls on the site.” Going with the narrower width would mean there would only be sidewalk on one side of these streets, he said. Parking would not change. 

City Manager Ty Bailey supported allowing the roads to be 50 feet but said they should be privately owned because it would take the city crew significantly longer to plow the narrower roads. But Wall would like to see the city take ownership of the roads because its problematic to put together a homeowner’s association to maintain them, he said.

In the end, the city council decided to postpone the issue until the April 11 council meeting so they could get further information from city staff about the proposed roads and be able to read the development agreement between the city and Wall.

“I think it’s important for the city and developer to get it right,” Mayor Steve Gale said. “I think it’s wise on the motion so we get to look at things.”λ