A zone amendment proposal for a luxury apartment complex is entering the final stages, and it is now up to the Florence City Council to vote for or against the development.
The proposed project is for 340 apartments that would range in size from studios to two bedroom/two bathrooms, with rent from $1,450 to $2,850 a month. The land is unincorporated but sits between Florence and Union; for the project to go forward, the city of Florence needs to approve the zone amendment and annex the land.
The Boone County Planning Commission recommended against the zone amendment last month. Councilmember Gary Winn — the only councilmember present at a special meeting Tuesday night — said the Florence Planning and Zoning committee declined to make a recommendation on the demand. The decision then comes to the council.
However, not enough Florence city council members attended the last-minute meeting, announced the day before, so there was no discussion among council members. Even so, developers and city manager Joshua Hunt still presented on the project during the meeting.
While the annexation and the apartment complex will not happen without the zone amendment, Hunt says changes are coming to Bowman Way, either way.
“The city is purchasing that right of way for the continuation of Bowman Way to be dedicated as a public street through these parcels,” he said.
To support the annexation, Hunt pulled up the Boone County 2045 Future Land Use map, which lists the lots zoned as single family housing and high density family housing. He also argues the city of Union's own future land use map from 2000 is outdated.
Union has firmly opposed the development. The mayor and city council members have publicly criticized Florence officials for supporting the project. Union has also not allowed access to Old Union Road, which the development lists as an emergency road.
Hunt read these concerns to the council, among other concerns about traffic and development on rural land. He pointed to an August 5 public hearing by the Boone County Planning Commission, in which 12 people spoke in opposition to the project and 72 others submitted emails.
Ryan Silverman from real estate development firm Silverman & Company, Inc also spoke, saying he wanted to dispel what he said is misinformation, like claims that the roads could not handle the added traffic.
“The mayor of Union claimed that Bowman Way cannot handle the additional demands of the development, which is a false claim,” Silverman said. “We spent tens of thousands of dollars on a traffic impact study that is based on accepted traffic management science.”
Florence Mayor Julie Metzger Aubuchon said the city has multiple options — none of which could be formally discussed at the special meeting due to the lack of quorum. The city can either let the denial from the Boone County Planning Commission stand, have a super majority vote overriding the recommendation or deny the plan entirely.
“It would have to be four councilmembers who would choose to vote to overturn,” Metzger Aubuchon said. “Otherwise, as I laid out, do nothing or we could vote in affirmative to the denial. We would bring this up the next time we have a quorum.”
Read more
