Wright City officials approved a housing development that will be constructed in three phases and will include over 100 homes. The land was rezoned as a Planned Development Area by the Wright City board at their July 26 meeting. 

According to the Wright City code, planned development areas are used to “allow flexibility in land development, road structuring, and building location in a unified manner while maintaining compatibility with the surrounding developments.”

Serenity Woods is also planned to include significant amounts of green space and common ground for residents of the subdivision, along with amenities like athletic courts. 

Forty percent of the 53 acre development is dedicated to planned green space and amenities for residents. 

Developers noted that it was uncommon for a developer to dedicate that much space as common ground when it could be used to construct more homes. 

“Leaving 40% of green space, that doesn’t really happen,” said Kyle Brown, one of the developers with the project. 

Public comment during the hearing largely centered around an emergency access road that is planned with the development. The access road runs through parts of the Carter Canyon subdivision and would serve as an emergency access route to both neighborhoods for first responders. 

That access road changed shape multiple times throughout the design process as the fire district originally wanted the road as an additional egress and requested that proposed gates on the road were removed from the plan. 

After comment at the meeting, gates on each end of the road were added to the plan at the behest of area residents. They were concerned with traffic and safety issues in the neighborhood should the road remain open to public use. 

Doug Rugh also spoke out against the development at the meeting as his family owns the adjacent property and were concerned about trespassers on their land. 

These comments led to a number of provisions included in the measure’s approval which were brought forth by Alderman Ramiz Hakim. 

Aldermen agreed that the road should remain as emergency access only and wanted gates and signage displaying it as such. They were also concerned about leaving any of the road unfinished within the city limits, in light of recent disputes over other private roads in the city. 

“I’m fine with that being in the county if it’s going to be emergency access, which it sounds like the overwhelming majority of citizens want it to be,” said Alderman Karey Owens. “So if it’s gated I agree with the signage noting the emergency access only.” 

Hakim seconded those remarks and made sure those provisions were included in the motion that approved the planned development area.

“We do not want gravel connected onto a city road in the city, so they would have to hit the city specs right at the county line, … And then gravel it out and put up a gate with signage at both of the entrances,” Hakim said. 

In total, the measure included five provisions that the developers must meet that were enumerated by Hakim, the emergency access road must meet city specs until it reaches the county line at which point it will be gated on both ends with signage stating emergency access only. He also included that any amenities being constructed in conjunction with the development must be completed at the same time or before phase two of the construction is finished. 

Finally he also included that the developers must work with the Rugh family to construct an acceptable fence along their property line that is up to city codes. 

Developers said that once they break ground, they hope to construct roughly 15 homes per quarter with construction starting at the earliest in spring of 2025.