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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPZ 2010-11-04 MinutesMINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TEXAS NOVEMBER 4, 2010 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chairman Randall Shiflet at 7:OOp.m. 2. ROLL CALL PRESENT ABSENT Chairman Vice - Chairman CITY STAFF Managing Director Of Dev. Director of Planning & Dev City Manager Asst. Planner Director of Economic Dev. Recording Secretary Randall Shiflet Bill Schopper Don Bowen Mike Benton Kathy Luppy Steven Cooper Mark Haynes Dianna Madar Svcs Mike Curtis John Pitstick Mark Hindman Chad VanSteenberg Craig Hulse Teresa Koontz 3. Pledge of Allegiance Kathy Luppy led the Pledge of Allegiance. 4. Approval of Minutes from the October 21, 2010 Planning & Zoning Commission Meeting. APPROVED Don Bowen, seconded by Bill Schopper, motioned to approve the minutes of the October 21, 2010 meeting. The motion carried unanimously (4 -0). Page 1 11/04/10 P & Z Minutes ance Chairman Shiflet opened the meeting and said C ° who wan Dr. tedgo arth was in be present this evening. There were other Council members not able to attend. In addition, two members of the Planning and Zoning Commission were absent due to business obligations d and one absent due t a at the November 18 , 2010th. He said the Public Hearing will most likely be continue 5. ZC 2010 -05 Public Hearing and Consideration of a Request from The City of North Richland Hills for changes to the Town Center Regulating Plan and the Town Center Zoning Ordinance for the eastern portion of Home Town generally located in between Boulevard 26 and Mid Cities Boulevard. John Pitstick said this was the ninth time we have met and had a series of Work Sessions with significant input and wanted to update what progress has been made. Basically we are talking about updating the Town Center Regulations directed by City Council. He said this is a city initiated zoning including quality upgrades to the Town Center Development Standards and the developer is proposing the residential densities in the development. In updating the Town Center Regulations, we borrowed from our Transit Oriented Development completed in 2009 architectural controls public regulations, incorporated several private introduced new quality building amenities and new administrative controls. He showed the current 2004 Regulating Plan and compared to the proposed 2010 Regulating Plan. In terms of maintaining quality and protecting property values we have introduced site design criteria, architectural design criteria, new quality building amenities, required open space, administrative control for concept and final site plans o approved by the Development Review ohave membership e on l al private a a r chitect d ugal t the P &Z and City Council, y ou d committees. Mr. Pitstick said the site design criteria would have a new section taken from the private design guidelines to the regulated by City, specific architectural standards for apartments, townhomes and cottages, 50% of first floor of block face would be in brick, stone or stucco. There are new proposed housing types on the east site which would be cottages only to substitute for Townhomes and Live/Works only on Bridge Street east of Parker. The proposed cottages have new architectural standards to include porch railing, gable feature, window molding, shutters, attic windows, eave trim, roof top features, lighting sconces and picket fences. The Live/Works could be up to 12 foot on first floor height up to 3 story to include professional offices and 5 sq ft blade sign attached to the building. Page 2 11/04/10 P & Z Minutes Public Open Space will be required with a 5% percentage of gross area for public open space. The Quality Building Amenities added include conformance with the latest version of the International Energy Code, elevators, enclosed stairways and corridors, fire alarm and sprinkler systems and HVAC units on roof tops, except for single family. Administration of Town Center Ordinance would include a new section for clarifying enforcement and appeals, City Council approves regulating g g plans and any zoning amendments, City Staff (DRC) approves concept and site plans based on enhanced building and development standards, all applications requesting development flexibility or modifications or incentives shall be reviewed as "special development" plans and subject to P &Z recommendation and Council approval. Regarding adequate traffic controls, streets would be increased from face of curb to face of curb, 11 ft. wide drive lane on commercial two way streets, 12 ft. wide drive lanes on one way streets, 10 ft. wide drive on residential streets, 8 ft. wide parallel parking and 17 ft. wide angled parking, wide sidewalks and parkways, 50 -27 residential road — 7.5 ft. wide parallel parking and 12 ft. yielded drive lanes, no parking areas established along major streets for fire staging areas and shared parking standards. Traffic Impact Studies indicate adequate street system. The commercial streets in the core area have wider drive lanes and angle and parallel parking, Parker Blvd does not serve as a cut through, Hawk Avenue becomes the primary access from Mid Cities Blvd, proposed pedestrian bridge connecting Riverdale to Cardinal across the Lakes, new pedestrian connectivity to the school, civic and commercial core areas. Creating a viable civic and commercial town center we have added required commercial ceiling heights on all mixed use buildings, wide sidewalks with outdoor seating, variety of sign creating a lively, inviting street scene, required commercial space with potential retail anchor and parking garage, TIF funding commitment for civic center facilities (Library, Recreation Center and Performing Arts Center. The developer commitments for minimum of 125,000 square feet of commercial space in Core area 55,000 in Venue 1, 70,000 in Venue II. NYTEX and NRH2O will create a regional draw, staff anticipates additional entertainment and restaurant anchors within commercial core, Civic Core will most likely be the major regional draw. Controlling density and encouraging owner occupancy will require open space, reducing maximum building heights, restricting apartments to adjacent to major thoroughfares, alternative building types and specific density caps by tracts. Town Center density caps have changes in each tract as proposed on the presentation, with core commercial space and flexible first floor units in core subzone built to commercial standards. Mr. Pitstick said garden apartments compared to Town Center design have been reviewed over time and we have tried to keep high quality and value in the proposal. The Town Center type developments create higher values with open space, commitment from City for major public facilities and active participation by HOA. 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 Page 3 11/04/10 P & Z Minutes typically develops its own community standard. Quality of life and protecting property values for any land use requires ongoing commitment by the developer, the city and citizen property owners. After the presentation, Mr. Pitstick said citizens are welcome to send their comments to the dedicated website 24 hours a day. All comments will be forwarded to the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council. He said it would our recommendation tonight to listen to the comments and continue the Public Hearing on November 18, 2010. Chairman Shiflet opened the Public Hearing to the citizens. John Osborne, 8528 Bridge St, came forward with concerns with traffic on Bridge Street and property values. He asked if there is a traffic study and how long ago was it done. Don Bowen answered that there is a new traffic impact analysis currently being completed. Mike Curtis answered the City has contracted with a civil consulting firm to conduct a traffic impact analysis. The T.I. A. will monitor and count the existing traffic and make projections on the future impacts will be based on the development proposed. Regarding traffic around the school, the street network is not on the east side and he agreed that is does create a problem on the west side. Because there are less than approximately 200 students live in Hometown, they probably would have the opportunity to walk to school, but Walker Elementary has the capacity of about 650 students. That means the majority of the students attending Walker are being driven in from outside of Hometown. So as the east side develops, you will get more students from Hometown and in theory, that would reduce the amount of traffic coming over to the school because there would be more opportunities for the students to walk. Mr. Osborne said he doesn't agree that a decision can be made on this development without the traffic impact study being completed and reviewed by Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council. Chairman Shiflet answered that the city had recently provided us with a traffic study, which is different from a traffic impact analysis. But as they got further into the process, they felt that was more appropriate so that is underway now. He said he will not vote until he sees what the T.I.A. has to say. The other commission members agreed that they would not take a vote until that study is completed. Mr. Osborne asked about the zoning change signs he has seen posted. Mr. Pitstick said this is a city initiated zoning request to change the Regulating Plan on the east side which includes about 93 acres of property. The signs have been posted in accordance with state law for this Public Hearing. Before this would be approved, the Planning and Zoning Commission has to hold a Public Hearing and make recommendations to City Council. Then City Council has to hold a Public Hearing and they would vote on it then. Maureen Gayle, 6204 Lakeway, came forward with concerns not wanting apartments. Page 4 11/04/10 P & Z Minutes Jennifer Mathews, 5813 Lakeway, came forward with parking concerns at the school and requests that new economic developments study. She also states concerns with the proposed cottages and they are not a good fit for this neighborhood and asked for zero flex space and no decisions be made until all the studies have been completed. Bill Bailey, 6200 Lakeway, said the HOA is opposed to any apartments across the lake with concerns of traffic congestion and crime. Matt Shaffstall, 8524 Olmstead Terrace has concerns with density, ratio of mix of units to types of units, the high density apartments being proposed compared to the other areas within the City. Sam Akins, 8600 Beetlenut said he had concerns with density and multifamily. He said he not against apartments, but he is against this many in one development in North Richland Hills. Charles Koonce, 6113 Lake Way, did not speak but against the zoning change proposal. David Byczek, 8608 Olmstead Terrace, did not speak but against zoning change proposal. Beverly Hunt, 8613 Beetlenut Lane said they agree on the updated economic development plan and the independent traffic study, and asked Planning and Zoning Commission not make any recommendations to City Council until all the information is available from the studies being done. She said they feel they were lied to and information was withheld by the builders and caused the homeowners to make a decision based on false premises. Wendy Davis, 600 W. 6th St. Suite 300, Fort Worth, came forward representing a number of residents in Hometown about the proposals being presented. The main concern with the community is the traffic concerns and wants to see economic development feasibility study. Karen Parsons, 8624 Bridge St, did not speak but against the zoning change proposal Don Ney, 8612 Lantana, did not speak but against the zoning change proposal. Sean McGaughey, 6229 Sherbert Dr. said he feels the requests toward the developer has had no concession. So the requests about the economic feasibility and traffic analysis will help the City to make a better decision for Hometown. He also requests no further Public Hearings until those studies are completed and presented before the community. Carol Palazzolo, 8617 Nichols Way said she is thankful for the independent study with statistical evidence that can help understand and address the problems. She asked if the parallel parking on residential streets, will there be room for two way traffic between Page 5 11/04/10 P & Z Minutes the cars, mainly fire trucks ? She request further consideration on the density and a new economic plan. John Pitstick answered yes, fire trucks and other cars can have access on the residential streets proposed. Dan Quinto, representing Realty Capital and Arcadia, 602 Northwood Trail, Southlake thanked the homeowners for coming out. It shows a lot of community pride in a development that has been created. There is a very unusual gap between the development and the distrust of the developer. He suggests that the quality and the process that created the west side of the development would also apply to the east side and we have been working on a method to get to the point of designing. There are a number of issues surrounding this case — it is not a straight zoning case. We are all working on the same end, to get a vibrant and pedestrian oriented community and town center but we have different views on how to get there. One thing I want to identify is the T.I.A. which was developed in 2009. We have developed a concept plan that goes along with the regulating plan and we h ave tried t ed as the information plan. on it and show be dev eloped one of the potential solutions that might p Clearly we are trying to keep the densities to the north and to the south away from the center of the site, keep the commercial core as vibrant as possible and close to Highway 26, keep the single family along the lakes. In this plan the Recreation Center has moved which would draw the traffic away from the center of Hometown. The Performing Art Center is located on the park where it was originally sited. We feel if this were up and running currently, all the concerns now would be answered. We would like an opportunity to show you each side can be as wonderful, in order to do this, we have past to get some of the zoning issues worked out esd ict onsvqualityeand have been a two years in making concessions to density, number of increased regulations in terms of producing quality control that was not there before. There are increased controls on signage, outdoor activities, building types and heights, uses, etc. One of the most significant restrictions is that the city will become a participant in the deed restrictions. They are extremely powerful tool for overseeing the quality and the outcome of the development. This gives the citizens a voice in the process of reviewing and approving designs. Finally, Mr. Quinto said there has been some talk of cottages and Katrina cottages. This is not what we are talking about. Ever r single fa mi l y home that goes into this development will have real foundation, roof a The rules we have been working on the past few years with the city in this packaged solution will apply to any developer that com ules uni�ersal appl pto anyone represent decide to sell to someone else, these who buys. Beverly Osborne, 8528 Bridge St. said no one has addressed the traffic from Davis Blvd down Bridge Street to get to Highway 26. She said it is a thoroughfare morning to night and would like it addressed. Page 6 11/04/10 P & Z Minutes Debbie Brooks, 7925 Sheffield Ct, spoke regarding density and how it impacts the quality of the schools in BISD. The proposed apartments create mobility in the school population and how many years it takes for them to recover from one district or school to another. She also stated that traditionally there is less revenue and more children coming in with apartments which creates a negative impact on the district. Collette McGinley, 8605 Bridge, spoke regarding Birdville High School and the impact of teenage drives going to their activities at the high school. This could be another negative impact on the traffic issues. Chairman Shiflet said the Public Hearing tonight is a beginning to many more meetings in order to hear the concerns of the citizens. Don Bowen said that until we get into a Public Hearing and officially hear testimony, please know we are listening to everything you say and do our best to make a decision that is best for all the citizens. APPROVED Don Bowen motioned to continue the Public Hearing until November 18, 2010, seconded by Mike Benton. The motion carried unanimously (4 -0). 9. ADJOURNMENT There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 8:58 p.m. Chairman Secretary O'Randy Shiflet owe 1 Page 7 11/04/10 P & Z Minutes