Final plans for a $350 million equestrian center in Republic could get a green light in June if zoning for a preliminary planned development is approved by Republic City Council on April 9, according to Republic Planning and Development Director Gail Noggle.
The council held a March 26 public hearing of a zoning change for the Eclipse Event Center, which calls for a hotel with more than 300 rooms, a 15,000-seat arena, 60 cottages, manmade lakes with 64 lakefront cabins, 30 condos, an RV park, a spa, a fitness center and an 11-mile cross-country course. Noggle said one individual said he was very supportive of the plans and two expressed concerns about traffic, and questions were asked about water table levels.
CJW Transportation Consultants LLC is handling the civil engineering work on the project, and Kelly Short, project manager, was on hand at the March 26 council meeting to serve as a consultant for city staff. He said CJW has performed some preliminary site development work thus far, as well as a traffic study and a water balance study.
He said preliminary plans call for widening of Sawyer Road, Farm Road 97 and a portion of MM Highway. Short said the water balance study determined that the manmade lake could be sustained with rainwater and would not require another source of water in an average year. He declined to provide estimates on the cost of the work CJW would do for the developers, saying work would begin in earnest after April 9, assuming preliminary plans are approved.
The Republic Planning and Zoning Commission helped forward plans for the Eclipse Event Center on March 19 when it voted unanimously to recommend a zoning change to Republic City Council.
Nearly 1,000 acres southwest of James River Freeway and Interstate 44 would become part of a planned development district and shed its current agricultural zoning designation should council members approve the transition. Noggle said council cannot approve final plans for the center until the preliminary district is established.
The public hearing came roughly eight weeks after Republic City Council voted unanimously to approve annexation of the land under contract with private developers, known collectively as Eclipse Event Center LLC.
Carl Scott, a representative of the developers, said in January the equestrian center has financial support from three groups of investors representing more than 50 individuals from as far away as Arizona and Detroit. Scott did not return calls for comment on this story.
Noggle reached out to Scott and Coldwell Banker real estate agent Tim Chancellor – another representative of the development group – last spring to suggest they bring the equestrian center to Republic after the group scrapped plans to develop 477 acres south of Rogersville in Christian County due to infrastructure challenges.
If council approves the zoning for the preliminary planned development, Noggle said the planning department could begin the formal review process and start to receive detailed drawings from the center’s developers. In all, she said it could take as few as 60 days until final plans for the planned development would head back to council for approval.
“This is a little bit different than getting your typical rezone,” Noggle said.
She said details of the preliminary development plan demonstrate the basic concept, character and nature of the entire proposed planned development. Council will not receive the detailed development plans or engineering drawings until planning officials have reviewed those through the formal review process. The preliminary plans, Noggle said, set the foundation for a final approval by council of a planned development district.[[In-content Ad]]
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