Aug. 10 – The Lebanon City Council has voted to deny several requests involving an unaddressed property on Highway 109 North.

Requests were made by Donald Crabtree to change the future land use plan by changing an unaddressed property on Highway 109 North from Rural Preservation Open Space to Suburban Commercial and Light Industrial and to adopt a service plan for the annexation of the property. Crabtree had also submitted a request for zoning approval to the Suburban Commercial and Planned Business Industrial Park.

“I spoke to Mr. Crabtree a couple of times,” said Ward 6 City Councilman Phil Morehead. “I told him I didn’t see any real economic value to the city or to the surrounding residents, and if he came to me with a plan that would be feasible, I would be very happy to work with him, but to have this annexed and changed to suburban trade, I was not in favor of that at this time.”

Lebanon Zoning Code Amendments

An amendment to add multifamily standards to RD9 zoning in Lebanon’s zoning code was approved on first reading.

“Over the past few years, we’ve updated our zoning code and our design standards,” Lebanon Planning Director Paul Corder said. “We’ve done some things for townhouses and multi-family homes, and we’ve done some things for single-family homes.

He said city officials noticed the multifamily component of RD9 was missing.

“We’re just adding it to match the rest of the city and make sure that anyone who was in the RD9 district and wants to do more than single family or duplex has to meet the city’s standards,” Corder said.

Horn Springs Road development not moving forward

Morehead said David Weekly Homes will not move forward with its controversial development proposals on Horn Springs Road. The proposals received a negative recommendation from the Lebanon Planning Commission on 23 July.

“Weekly has now said they will no longer explore that property at all,” Morehead said.

The proposed 274-unit development on Horn Springs Road had prompted a lengthy public comment period during the Planning Commission meeting, both from Horn Springs Road residents and residents of the nearby Five Oaks subdivision.

“For anybody listening, if you’re in Ward 6, some people accused people that it either had to be on its way or something had to have gone wrong for it to happen,” Morehead said. “But I just wanted to let you know that the system worked. Everyone listened to you. There were a lot of good, valid reasons why it shouldn’t happen, and it was defeated and I withdrew my support at that time.”

The proposals included a future land use plan approval from rural open space to mixed-use residential at 2352 Horn Springs Road and an unaddressed property, a service plan approval and annexation approval for the property at 2352 Horn Springs Road and an unaddressed property on Horn Springs Road. and zoning approval for these properties to be zoned as the Meadows at Five Oaks Specific Plan.

The applicant had the opportunity to request approval from the Lebanon City Council following the negative recommendation from the Planning Commission but chose not to make that request.