Edens Bluff gets nod from Planners
Posted on Thursday, May 8, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/61616/
BENTON COUNTY — What was once a proposed site for the Beaver Lake condos is now closer to becoming a subdivision.
The Benton County Planning Board Technical Advisory Committee reviewed a final plat for Edens Bluff Lake Estates, a 34-acre parcel of land on Ervin McGarrah Road near Lowell. The site was once eyed for the Grand View Heights Condominiums, which was proposed for a 177-acre tract off Guyll Ridge Road, east of Avoca. Developers are now seeking an alternate use for the Guyll Ridge Road site.
To prevent any future largescale developments, neighbors Steve Lewis and Dan Andreasen purchased the property and opted to create a subdivision.
The final plat will go before the board at its May 21 meeting.
In other business, the board will likely approve a tract split for three pieces of property on Rocky Dell Hollow Road, adjacent to Tyson Swine Farm and owned by the Tyson family.
Tyson attorney Craig Jones noted that the board approved a preliminary plat variance for a tract split on the same piece of land in 2007, but the property has not sold.
County Planning Director Ashley Pope said planning staff recommended that a subdivision be established, but Planning Board Chairman Tim Sorey expressed concern.
Sorey explained that in the eye of a developer, the houses on the tracts of land would serve the best purpose if they were demolished and perhaps rebuilt as another type of development.
“ If we go ahead and force a subdivision at this point, I think you’re almost locking yourself into a bunch of other little junk, ” he said.
Pope noted that when the board approved the variance in 2007, it notified Tyson that any further requests for the area would have to be for a subdivision.