It's been years since Lexington Fines Homes president John Cochnour first proposed turning the former site of Magnolia's Briarcliff Elementary School into a 39-home luxury-housing project.
It's also been years since neighbors calling themselves the Magnolia Action Group lost an appeal over an approval of the project by the Department of Planning and Development.
The controversial project faced opposition because normal zoning for the area would allow only 29 homes to be built on the property just a block orso down West Dravus Street from the water tower. Traffic impacts were of special concern for the action group, they said at the time.
The project also needed the OK from a city Hearing Examiner for an Administrative Conditional Use Permit and from the City Council for a subdivision. "So we finally got our approvals in November or October," a relieved-sounding Cochnour said.
A general contractor was hired, work has begun, and the site has been cleared and graded, he noted. "So now they're planning to put in the storm-drain system."
Also planned for the site are water and sewer lines, power, telephone hookups and DSL hookups, Cochnour added. "We expect all the (site) development work will be done sometime this summer."
There's one final detail. Lexington Fine Homes still needs to get building permits for the homes, he said.
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