Large Walker townhouse development tabled following neighborhood, staff concerns

Large Walker townhouse development tabled following neighborhood, staff concerns
A rendering of a proposed townhouse that would be part of a 186-unit development in Walker.

WALKER — City planning officials have tabled the site plan review for a 186-unit residential townhouse development proposed at the former Greenridge Country Club golf course.

The Walker Planning Commission on Wednesday paused its review of the proposal from CWD Real Estate Investment LLC. Multiple parcels at 402 Dakota Drive and 740, 350 and 330 Greenridge Drive are owned by Jade Pig Ventures LLC’s Scott Wierda, who also serves as CWD’s principal and managing partner.

The site — just east of the M-37 and 4 Mile Road intersection — served as the former home of the Masonic Country Club from 1921 to 1931, and later the Greenridge Country Club. 

A previous developer with a similar condo plan received local approval for a separate project that never came to fruition. Prior to that approval and rezoning, neighboring property owners had sued the developer, Greenridge Limited Partnership, leading to a 1989 consent judgment that required any future development to adhere to a 150-foot green belt along the property line that’s adjacent to a single-family residential neighborhood. 

“There are a lot of environmental concerns on this site as it pertains to steep slopes and challenging topography,” Walker Planning Director/Zoning Administrator Tricia Anderson said during the Wednesday meeting. “Generally we don’t want to mess with steep slopes. There is also an Alpine/Walker drain that runs through the property.”

The new plans call for 186 two-story residential townhouses that would be split among 19 six-unit buildings and 18 four-unit buildings. The project would be constructed in three phases, which the developers hope to start this fall, according to planning documents filed with the city.

City staff recommended that the planning commission table the preliminary site plan review based on unaddressed concerns involving outdated information in the proposal as well as the significant amount of opposition from concerned neighbors, Anderson said.

Several residents spoke in opposition to the development during a lengthy public comment portion of the Wednesday planning commission meeting. Planning commissioners shared similar concerns, which mostly centered around the site’s challenging topography, litigation involving the previous developer, and developing a high density condo project on greenspace near single-family neighborhoods. 

“In my opinion we are nowhere near moving forward with this,” planning commissioner Tyler Korfhage said. 

CWD Real Estate Investment will oversee the development and management of the townhome project, while Progressive AE Inc. serves as the designer and engineer.