McBride Homes is looking to develop a 313 new single-family homes on 99 acres off of Highway H in Wright City and came to discuss their plans with the Wright City Board of Aldermen and Planning and Zoning Commission during the board's joint work session Monday May, 4.

McBride Homes Associate General Counsel Katie Peroutka said the proposed subdivision would seek zoning under the city’s planned development area zoning designation. She said currently part of the property is in Wright City, while the rest is in the county. McBride would be looking to annex the county property into Wright City as part of the development, Peroutka said.

The subdivision would include three differently sized lots to attract homeowners at different price points consisting of 38-foot, 50-foot and 70-foot wide parcels. The proposed subdivision would also include 40.06 acres of common ground in the middle of the subdivision, with the goal to preserve as many of the existing trees on the lot as possible.

Peroutka said homes would be offered in a variety of styles under the company’s Arbor Series, Bayside Series and Oakwood Series home models. The approximate square footage of the homes would range from 1,020 for Arbor homes to 3,184-square-feet for the Oakwood homes. Arbor Series homes are two to three bedroom homes with a one-car garage. Bayside homes are two to four bedroom options with two-car garages, while the Oakwood homes feature three-car garages and two to four bedroom options. The price range would be from the $200,000s to $400,000 or $500,000 for the higher end homes, Peroutka said.

Planning and Zoning Commission member Ramiz Hakim said since the city has instituted the PDA zoning classification, four subdivisions have come before the boards for approval and two were approved while two were voted down. Hakim said planning and zoning might want to see what amenities are being offered to potential residents to get the city to lift some of the PDA restrictions in city code, which specifically relate to the number of homes and lot sizes.

Peroutka recommended the board members visit some of McBride’s other planned communities to attempt to alleviate any concerns with respect to the smaller lot sizes and large number of homes to be in the subdivision.

Mayor Michelle Heiliger said she was a “hard sale” on these types of developments, but there is currently no affordable housing for residents in Wright City who cannot afford $350,000 homes.

“The question that we have is do we provide enough of a variety of types of housing that people that live in our community can stay here,” Heiliger said.

Heiliger said more work needs to be done on the plans provided by McBride, but the company has come a long way from the original proposal submitted to the city.

As the meeting was a work session, no formal vote was taken regarding the proposal.