Christmas Village Idea Nixed in Favor of Homesites

Folks concerned about the plans for a Christmas market and resort near Carmine can breathe a little easier.

Back in February, California developer Dirk Winter came to the Fayette County Commissioners Court with plans to develop a 100-duplex Christmas market and resort on a 150-acre property along Fuchs Rd.

A different developer, Jim Kastleman of Modern Country Management LLC of Houston, appeared at the Commissioners Court meeting last Thursday with new plans for the property. Instead of a Christmas market and resort, the new developer wants to split the property into 19 tracts and offer them for sale as homesites.

Winter’s plans called for the Christmas resort to get water from the City of Carmine via a pipeline to be installed at the Winter’s expense. In addition, the development would have likely required improvements for increased traffic on Fuchs Rd. and SH 237. The plans came as a surprise to many in Carmine. A large contingent of area residents appeared at a Commissioners Court meeting on March 24 to oppose the development.

The property has sat idle since then.

Commissioners approved a preliminary plat from the new developer, Modern Country Management. The subdivision application says the company expects to purchase the property by August 31. The plans call for 19 residential lots. Fifteen of them will be five acres in size.

The other four are larger lots ranging in size from nine to 25 acres. The subdivision application states that the property will still get water from the City of Carmine. The company said it is attempting to obtain easements from neighboring property owners for the water line.

The application further stated that the lots would include deed restrictions.

“There will be standard restrictions common to residential subdivisions,” the application stated. “We will also restrict the taking of trees other than (for) the original home site.”

In addition, the developer will build a new public road to access the 19 tracts that will be divided from the 150-acre parent tract. The road will be built to county specifications at the developer’s expense.

Commissioners unanimously approved the preliminary plat.