The Sunset Hills Board of Aldermen has rezoned a 23.9-acre tract of land at 13165 Maple Drive — near the intersection of I-44 and I-270 — to an R-1 Residence District. It was previously a Planned Development Mixed Use District. The rezoning was formalized during the Feb. 10 board meeting.

Currently, there are two “long-established” single-family homes on the property. According to Sunset Hills’ staff report, this property has been part of the city since its incorporation in 1957, and minimal development has taken place on the property. 

The applicant, Mike Whalen of Whalen Custom Homes, plans to demolish one of the existing homes and build a new one in “a similar area” on the property.

“Rezoning the property to the R-1 Residence District would align the zoning with the existing and intended single-family residential use and establish clear development standards,” stated a memo on the ordinance.

Whalen also requested that this property be approved as a minor subdivision, which established a boundary between the two residential lots at 13165 Maple Drive — this was also approved on Feb. 10 by the Board of Aldermen. 

According to the city of Sunset Hill’s Comprehensive Plan, which charts out the preferred land uses on a long-term scale, the subject property would preferably be a multi-family designation, which does not align with the recently approved R-1 zoning. The Comprehensive Plan marks surrounding lots as ideally single-family designations, though currently, many of those lots are also Planned Development Mixed Use Districts.

“According to the Comprehensive Plan, there are very few multi-family uses within Sunset Hills, limited to only a few larger developments and smaller individual structures scattered throughout the community,” the staff report states. 

The report goes on to read, “While the multi-family designation does not align with the proposed R-1 zoning, the request is consistent with the long-established single-family residential pattern in the surrounding area and reflects the long-standing use of the property as two large residential lots.”