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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPZ 2010-08-05 MinutesMINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TEXAS AUGUST 6, 2010 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Randy Shiflet at 6:30p.m. 2. ROLL CALL PRESENT Chairman Vice - Chairman Ex- Officio Randy Shiflet Bill Schopper Don Bowen Mark Haynes Steven Cooper Mike Benton Dianna Madar Kathy Luppy CITY STAFF Managing Dir. Dev. Svcs. Director of Planning & Dev Chief Planner Asst. Planner Civil Engineer Recording Secretary Mike Curtis John Pitstick Eric Wilhite Chad VanSteenberg Caroline Waggoner Teresa Koontz Steven Cooper led the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. General Discussion regarding Amendments to the Town Center Zoning Ordinance Chairman Shiflet said tonight's meeting is a work session with an opportunity for stakeholder input and giving the Commission the best information in order to make a recommendation to the City Council and Mayor. The Commission has received a copy of the meeting of July 27, 2010, all the emails that have been submitted to the City and the up to date ones received since the packets went out last week. Since this is not a Public Hearing, they felt the best approach is to afford the stakeholders and developers the opportunity to give the best information they can. Page 108/05/10 P & Z Minutes John Pitstick gave a summary of the concerns being the overabundance of apartments and townhomes on the east side. There were several comments about depreciating property values, crime, quality of life. Traffic congestion and parking seemed to be the second biggest concern. The third area being the burdens on the elementary school and general comments about what the commercial and civic core would look like. Generally most of the comments were in support of an upscale with open space core trying to create an identity. There was a power point presentation regarding the comments submitted. Mr. Pitstick said they are trying to present facts only for the Commission. There was a study observed by Brookings Institute Study and saw the issues of changing households with men and women delaying marriage and having fewer children. In 2020 they estimate that 60% of the population will either single or married without children. Growth in urban areas and quality amenities are some of the reasons why people came to Hometown. City Staff have added new additions to the Town Center regulations to build quality control, including a new section on site design criteria that describes the street scape, public realm, architectural standards, requirement of public open spaces and significant issues with quality building amenities. The text revisions include making the Town Center revisions as high as quality as we can. There was some confusion about the conventional garden apartments versus traditional neighborhood design. Land use, access, traffic, open space, amenities, design and marketing concerns were compared between the types. He said staff cannot deny that depreciating property values degrading quality of life could happen for any use, but in our minds the Town Center design apartment complex would have a much better way of retaining their value. The value of apartments in current rental rates per square foot in area apartments was reviewed. Based on the chart comparisons, the Town Center projects have a better ability to retain the value. The density of apartments (dwelling units per acre) was reviewed with local apartment complexes. Mr. Pitstick said the demographics support ongoing demand for multifamily housing, the Town Center type developments could create higher values. "There is no ideal mix of land uses or established residential densities for town center type developments. Each community has unique circumstances and demographics and typically develops its own community standard:" He said just building single family doesn't guarantee ever increasing property values. The City is committed to quality of life and protecting property values for any land use but requires ongoing commitment by the developer, the City and citizen property owners. "Home Town is a strategic development area with an established commitment for major public facilities, substantial building and architectural controls and an active and concerned citizenry." The City sees Home Town as a strategic area for the city with commitment to services and major public facilities. Page 2 08/05/10 P & Z Minutes Chairman Shiflet said there would be thirty minutes allocated for each side to make a presentation. Sean McGaughey, 6229 Sherbert Dr, NRH came forward on behalf of the stakeholders and are excited about the City and Developers are working together for the negotiations for the development of Hometown. Mr. McGaughey discussed "Creating the Dream of Home Town" and "Why the current proposal doesn't live up to the expectation or dream sold to them. Daniel Rusnak, 5816 Arbor Rd, NRH came forward and discussed the results of the "Neighborhood Survey." He presented a detailed power point presentation with concerns on each Tract. Matt Sheffetall, 8524 Olmstead, NRH came forward with "Land Use Concerns." There are three main concerns they are addressing the proposed development. First they feel it is too dense, bad ratio of single family to townhome to apartment units, and it is not a "town center' but rather a collection of multi family venues. Chairman Shiflet said that the way the stakeholders would be notified in the future would be through the Public Hearing process in the future. He encouraged them to use the City email address to communicate concerns and stay in touch with City Staff. Mr. Sheffetall said they would hope that before these concern get past P &Z and taken to City Council that these issues get addressed. Dan Quinto, Realty Capital, representing the property owner, 602 Northwood Tr, Southlake, TX. Mr. Quinto gave a presentation which addresses the primary concerns of the letters received from the stakeholders. He said what is clear from the letters is the community is very active and committed to the future of Hometown. Mr. Quinto stated that everyone involved wants the same thing — a genuine Town Center, a strong sense of place and downtown gathering place. In summary, Mr. Quinto reassured the stakeholders that the City will enforcing architectural controls, limits on residential density, the Thoroughfare Plan and parking requirements, special land uses and occupancy types through the Permitted Land Use Tables and the enforcement of private deed restrictions through Property Owner's Association. There are a lot of the protections for the homeowners. John Pitstick told the Commission that they would be happy to answer any questions. Our goal would be to come back on August 19 2010 for the meeting and be prepared to discuss the school and traffic issues. Chairman Shiflet said that since August 19, 2010 would be another work session, and if needed there could be time set up to have selected people from the Homeowner's Association and the Developer to discuss the school and traffic. Page 3 08/05/10 P & Z Minutes Don Bowen asked that the comments be stipulated on those specific issues and not a repeat of the comments tonight. Chairman Shiflet said the density concerns were addressed tonight and the traffic thoroughfare and schools will be discussed at the next Work Session on August 19, 2010. There was a general discussion regarding the allowed usage on tracts for density caps and the proposal from the Developer. It was stated that the goals that Staff has presented are to keep as much density away from the core areas as possible so everything fronting the lakes would have single family. Mr. Pitstick said possibly by the next meeting we would have a drawing showing what the new Recreation Center would look like in connectivity to the wider sidewalks through the Civic Core. Bill Schopper asked how the apartment units connect to the rest of the community in relation to the proposed Urban Core? In addition he suggests that apartments need to be all tied in together as apposed to being operated and owned by different property owners. Mr. Schopper said he felt frustrated and was not ready to make any decisions at this point. John Pitstick commented that the Staff feels comfortable with the Text Revisions and the architectural and site controls that we have. The plan being reviewed is from the Developer and the City is working to add the controls and commitment needed and trying to work with the Developer with an agreement. Dan Quinto said that regarding Tract 1 there is a level of frustration on all sides. The Developer is feeling frustrated that he has to work on property rights instead of design, the investors are requiring effort by securing property rights. Until this issue calms down, it is difficult for the Developer to put a design in front of you and have the property rights tied to the one design because that won't satisfy all parties involved. Mike Benton asked John Pitstick if there had been any contact with the school district regarding overcrowding at Walker Creek Elementary and Birdville High School and who will do the study to find a solution? John Pitstick said yes, the City will contact the school district and bring this information back on August 19 There was a general discussion regarding flexible 1 st floor units in Core subzone built to commercial standards. Chairman Shiflet asked if there are any major concerns from the Commission on the Core Commercial Space and Flexible 1 St floor units. Dianna Madar said she had concerns about the flexible 1 St floor plan in regards to tenants under lease in their homes and when the market comes back around they are told they have to leave their homes. Page 4 08/05/10 P & Z Minutes John Pitstick said there has been a general discussion about that if they would be able to fulfill their leases before they were moved out. If the property owners feel the market is coming back, they would fill shorter leases assumingly. Don Bowen said since this is not a Public Hearing he wishes to abstain until all the facts are known at a later time. John Pitstick said that is seems Tract 1 and Tract 4 are the major concerns and how they will be developed. Chairman Shiflet commented that the Planning and Zoning Commission has been completely outside the loop on the litigation issue. They are not aware of the details of the law suit other than what they might read in the paper, so they are working outside the parameters of that. Obviously City Staff and the Developers are trying to work some type of strategic plan acceptable to all sides involved. That the is reason the City Attorney was requested at the last meeting to keep the Commission from jeopardizing all parties involved and it is an added level of protection for all. He said in the past there was an urgency to find a solution and he feels a slow down has occurred and it is a better way to proceed. John Pitstick said that there is only one more work session scheduled with P & Z and we will follow their lead if we need more studies or information. He said the City Staff have been wearing 3 different hats, the lawsuit mode where they are aggressively trying to present the Cities case, the negotiating mode to bring things together and rezoning the property. He feels things are moving forward and will eventually all come together. Steven Cooper asked if they would get the stakeholders presentation electronically since the copies are not very clear. S. ADJOURNMENT There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 8:27 p.m. Chairman Secretary e (). - - /-) *44-'-/ dy iflet en Page 5 08/05/10 P & Z Minutes