By Andrew Edwards
Staff Writer
The Pine Creek Apartments in Prattville have been a part of the community since 1999, providing excellent comfort and care to residents.
While the apartment complex has stood the test of time for the past 20-plus years, it was decided by owners that it was time to plan for a renovation and rehabilitation project.
“They are very nice apartments, and the people who live there are more than comfortable. However, they certainly look like they are from 1999. Our client decided that it was time to upgrade,” said Blake Rice, engineer for Barrett-Simpson, Inc.
Due to a zoning anomaly that happened within the city back in the late 90s, the area was zoned to B-2, or general business. In order to upgrade their facilities, the location’s property needed to be rezoned to R-4, or multi-family residential. At last week’s meeting for the PrattvillePlanning Commission meeting, the zoning amendment was passed by majority vote. It will go before the city council in April.
“The next step for the apartments, after being approved by city council, would be to apply for funding,” Rice explained. “There are currently no plans to add any extra units to the already existing building, nor are there plans for extra construction at all.”
If funding is met, the apartment complex would plan on interior and exterior modifications. Rice did note that while no units will be added to the structures, the potential for a gazebo or something likewise could be built on the property.
The current cost for a potential renovation is unknown.
Glennbrooke Neighborhood in Prattville also found themselves in the middle of a planning commission meeting again, as it’s been one of the fasting growing areas in the community since their phase one project started over seven years ago.
And now it will become even larger.
At the Thursday Prattville Planning Commission meeting, engineers associated with the project presented a preliminary plat that would bring 92 more homes to the neighborhood.
The plat was approved and passed by the planning commission unanimously.
“There’s several subdivisions in Glennbrooke that have been worked on for a number of years now, and we still have plans for a few more,” said Blake Rice, engineer with Barrett Simpson, Inc.
This portion of the project will be known as “phase eight” and will be one of the larger additions to the neighborhood.
As for a timeline, Rice says that preparation and land clearing could start immediately.
“Before we start any sort of construction, we have to build the sub-division. But, now that the preliminary plat is approved, we could technically go out there as early as tomorrow and start work if we wanted to,” Rice explained.
A subdivision of this size would take around 4-5 months to properly build, Rice said.
There are also plans for more hard scape amenities, which are recreational areas such as pools, splash pads, etc. Currently the neighborhood has two pools, a splash pad, and a park with soccer nets.
However, Rice says that plans for that would not be in this phase, but rather in phase nine.
