Significant grading and dirt work is underway just south of the new fire station being built at 555 S. Main Street in Newcastle. The site is the Newcastle Farms Addition, a planned unit development.
Director of Planning and Community Development Janay Greenlee said this area will have commercial fronting Main Street and single-family housing behind that. She said the first phase is underway, but only the dirt work portion at this time.
Greenlee said she expects the project to come before the City Planning and City Council in the near future to seek final plat approval. It has been approved for a preliminary plat. Final approval will include infrastructure needs such as water, paving and drainage plans.
Greenlee said the first phase will include the commercial portion, and also approximately 90 single-family lots of about 7,200 square feet each. The total development is preliminarily approved at 259 single family lots on 65.63 acres. The commercial area is 4.11 acres and will front the entirety of the plat on Main Street.
A construction entrance they are using on Main Street will be the main entrance, planned to be a boulevard, into Newcastle Farms Addition. Another new street will be cut between the liquor store and the vacant property to the store’s north. They’ll also have emergency access to the rear of the addition, but this will not be a public access point.
During the April meeting earlier this year, City Manager Kevin Self reported that an agreement had been reached with Crafton Tull for the Newcastle Farms Addition to share with the City the cost of the sanitary sewer line to serve the new fire station and Newcastle Farms. A bore will be necessary across State Highway 62.
Newcastle Farms will pay for all materials, and engineering is already done. The bore costs will be split between the two, and the City crews will install the line, according to Self. At the time, Self told the City Council that water crews have already started laying water line for the fire station, and are getting ready to lay the line for the storm sewer. The Newcastle Farms Addition portion of this work will still have to be approved by council in the final plat.
