Nearly two dozen individuals showed up Monday at the Bridgeport Planning Commission meeting to voice opposition to a proposed request to subdivide a parcel on Hall Street that the owner is hoping to build a new single family home one.

 

The request to subdivide the property was one of two involving Richard Greene at the meeting. The first one, which was initially addressed at the August meeting of the Planning Commission, was given a green light for property on Fourth Street in relatively short order.

 

The second request, which was new business, didn’t go nearly as smoothly. Greene was asking to subdivide a parcel on Hall Street and along with those showing up at the meeting to voice concerns was a petition with more than 30 names on it from resident of Hall, James and Long Streets also asking that the request not be approved.

 

While several people spoke, it was Morgantown resident Vincent Collins who did most of the questioning of the Commission. Collins owns the lot adjacent to Greene asked about several things that concerned him – most notable being drainage issues and recourse of the construction of the new home did damage to his property (that he leases to family) and others.

 

While the matter was delayed, Commission President Rodney Kidd pointed out that the matter at hand appeared to be whether Greene met all of the requirements by the city to subdivide property. At that point, issues relating to how the construction was handled in a proper manner would be addressed through the permitting process and inspections done regularly city staff.

 

Collins said he believed the Commission could disapprove it based on concerns and the disapproval of the community. He cited city code and asked why “would you hold a public hearing if you couldn’t disapprove something?” Kidd responded to several of Collins’ inquiries relating to the code on subdivisions that it was for major subdivision developments involving several new homes as opposed to subdividing a single piece of property.

 

While that issue was batted back and forth, Commission member Robert “Bob” Greer did ask for the delay. The delay didn’t stem from whether Greene was doing anything wrong, but rather if the construction would create a drainage issue in the area as well as one issue with the roadway.

 

“Drainage is a big concern. There have been drainage issues in that area … There’s also a need to look at a potential public safety issue there with a bend in the road that could create a site distance issue,” said Greer.

 

The Commission directed Kerr to get with City Engineer Beth Fox to do a study on what construction would do to impact drainage in the area. Also, public safety officials were to be asked to see if the construction would create any ingress or egress issues due to the layout of the roadway.

 

Kerr wasn’t sure when the matter would be brought back to the Commission, but said she hoped within 30 days. That time frame could change depending on the amount of time needed to do the studies. She did say all abutting property owners to the Greene property on Fourth Street would be notified ahead of the meeting.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Community Development Director Andrea Kerr showing a parcel map to Almeada Eddy, while Vincent Collins is shown in the second photo. Bottom picture shows Commission member Robert "Bob" Greer making a point to those gathered.