Aberdeen has a number of new developments moving forward or on the drawing board, an exciting time for the city, as Mayor Patrick McGrady noted recently.
Site work has begun on an apartment complex off Beards Hill Road near 84 Lumber, and city officials are anticipating that a commercial development planned at the I-95/Route 22 interchange will finally be moving forward, following some significant plan revisions approved by the City Council Monday night.
The council also voted to annex a commercial property at the junction of Route 22 and East Bel Air Avenue, which is expected to boost city tax revenue.
The apartment project, known as the Summerlin development, will have 198 units and is being built between I-95 and the Beards Hill Plaza Shopping Center, according to Phyllis Grover, director of planning and community development for the city.
Grover said workers have started site clearing and utility work, and grading and sediment control are also under way.
McGrady and the council members approved a revised preliminary site plan for the Stadium Towne Center retail development off Route 22 between Long Drive and Gilbert Road.
The council and the city's planning commission had approved a preliminary site plan last October, but the developer had to revise the scope of the project since a portion of the property on the northeast side designated as forest on the site is now classified as a wetland, on which disturbances are limited.
"It has been determined by state regulatory agencies that this area has now become a non-tidal wetland," Dudley Campbell, president of Bay State Land Services, a Forest Hill engineering firm working, told the council.
Campbell said developers must go through a process of reviews and determine how they will mitigate any impacts on the wetland and protect the soil and the water table.
Campbell said the plan "has probably lost approximately 25 percent of the total improvements" which had previously been approved, such as dropping a hotel from the plans.
A proposed day care center that would have been built near the hotel in the northeast quadrant has been moved to the northwest quadrant of the property.
Proposed retail stores, restaurants and a convenience store will remain in the plan, Campbell said.
An intersection with a traffic signal, which has been approved by the State Highway Administration, will be built at Route 22.
Campbell said he expects to return to the council with a subdivision plan if prospective tenants seek their own lots.
McGrady noted the council approval of the preliminary plans will start the "long and laborious process" of getting additional approvals for the intersection and stormwater plans.
"I look forward to seeing how we can get to construction on this, maybe before it freezes," the mayor said. "I'll keep my fingers crossed."
The resolution annexing a one-acre property at 249 E. Bel Air Ave., the site of a Hardy's Self Storage, was approved unanimously.
The property is owned by Hardy Family Series LLC, which is seeking city water and sewer service. A public hearing was held on the request June 6, when a lawyer representing the owners pointed out the annexation would bring in additional property tax revenue to the city.
No one from the public spoke about the annexation during Monday's meeting, and the council approved it without additional comment.
The resolution will take effect 45 days after Monday's approval, the mayor said.