The concept plan for the Mountain Brook development was finally unveiled at the July Planning Commission meeting. The development plans go back as far as 30 years, when Mountain Brook Farm was originally annexed into City limits. Preliminary plans for the development have been approved in the past; however, the project was put on hold for unknown reasons, and it fell to the wayside.
The 160-acre property borders the eastern side by Memorial Park, existing businesses to the south, and to the north, it is zoned industrial. Wetlands, Piney Creek, and a substantial floodplain split the property in half, making a lot of the land unbuildable. The proposed development will include 30 acres of environmental open space, 12 acres of common open space, and five acres dedicated for the expansion of Memorial Park. Five acres will be dedicated for the expansion of Antrim Boulevard, with the remainder of the property used for homes.
Antrim Boulevard will run through the center of the property, serving as the main road for the development as well as a bypass around town, hopefully relieving downtown from traffic congestion. Expansion of the road will be done at the developer’s expense.
Councilman Dan Myers expressed concern over the width of Antrim Boulevard, as many of the other villages such as Meade’s Crossing and Carol Vista are too narrow in his opinion. Development planner Rick Hayne replied, "we want the road to be as narrow as possible to address environmental concerns, but also wide enough for fire access, but this early in the planning process nothing is set in stone yet."
Mountain Brook will be built in a ‘cluster style,’ which groups buildings together allowing more open space in a developed area. The ratio of single-family homes to townhomes will be 65:35. Townhomes will front face Antrim Boulevard with a 50-foot setback off of Antrim, allowing a "linear park" of bike trails, a walking path and sidewalks.
Parking for the homes will be accessed via alleys and a sub road that will run parallel to Antrim. They will also be placed against the northern industrial zone and southern business zone to create a buffer between those areas and the single-family homes. Single-family homes will back parkland, open space, or each other.
Amenities within the proposed development include an informal amphitheater, a trail system connecting the neighborhoods, picnic pavilions with parking, a playground, and a big community park as well as an existing farm pond on the property that will be preserved.
The project will be built in four phases and overall will take approximately 15 years from approval to finish. Phase ‘1A Southern’ will hopefully begin in December 2026 and last 27 months. It includes building half of the Antrim Boulevard expansion from the Francis Scott Key highway to the floodplain as well as 141 units. Phase ‘1B Southern’ will finish Antrim Blvd and also add 141 units over the same 27 month period. Phase ‘2A Northern’ adds 100 units over two years and phase ‘2B Northern’ finishes the plan with 64 units in about a year. The total number of units is 454 with 281 in the southern portion and 173 in the northern.
Councilman Tillman asked if the developer was open to shortening the phase timings, to which Hayne replied, ‘based on the market, yes".
