Georgetown Planning Department

Transcription

1 Georgetown Planning Department Planning & Zoning Commission Cover Memo Meeting Date: September 18, 2013 Item: 3 File No.: REZ Item Description Public Hearing and possible action on a Rezoning of acres in the Lewis J. Dyches and Francis A. Hudson Surveys, from the Agriculture (AG) District to the Multifamily (MF) District, located on FM 1460 south of Southeast Inner Loop. Item Summary The applicant seeks to rezone the surveyed, and unplatted, piece of property from the Agriculture (AG) to the Multifamily (MF) District. The subject property is undergoing voluntary annexation into the City, which will designate it with the Agriculture zoning district; final approval of the annexation by City Council is anticipated for September 24, The property is part of a larger landholding generally referred to as Longhorn Junction, which comprises mostly undeveloped, and unannexed, land in the vicinity of Interstate 35, Southeast Inner Loop, and FM 1460; see Exhibit 1. Staff Recommended Motion Recommend to the City Council approval of the Rezoning for acres in the Lewis J. Dyches and Francis A. Hudson Surveys, from the Agriculture (AG) District to the Multifamily (MF) District. Attachments Staff Report Exhibit 1 Location Map Exhibit 2 Future Land Use Map Exhibit 3 Zoning Map Exhibit 4 Aerial Map Submitted By Mike Elabarger, Senior Planner and Andrew Spurgin, AICP, Planning Director Vantage at Georgetown Rezoning Cover Memo

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3 Georgetown Planning Department Staff Report Report Date: September 11, 2013 File No: REZ Project Planner: Mike Elabarger, Senior Planner Item Details Project Name: Location: Total Acreage: Vantage at Georgetown West side of FM 1460, approximately 1,500 feet south of Southeast Inner Loop. (See Exhibit 1) Acres Legal Description: acres in the Lewis J. Dyches and Francis A. Hudson Surveys (to be platted as Vantage at Georgetown per PP ) Applicant: Property Owner: Contact: Existing Use: Existing Zoning: Chris Weigand Longhorn Junction Land and Cattle Company LLC Chris Weigand Vacant Proposed Zoning: Multifamily (MF) Future Land Use: Growth Tier: ETJ to be annexed on September 24, 2013, with default zoning of the Agriculture (AG) District Employment Center (EC) Overview of Applicant s Request Tier 2 (Intermediate Growth Area Years) The applicant seeks to rezone the property from the annexation default Agriculture (AG) District to the Multifamily (MF) District. Based on the applicant s submission of a Utility Evaluation and Preliminary Plat, the stated intention is to develop an approximately 288 unit apartment complex. Based on Unified Development Code (UDC) standards, such a development would constitute at least 12 buildings and provide a minimum of 453 parking spaces. The subject property is a surveyed tract out of a larger landholding generally referred to as Longhorn Junction, which comprises mostly undeveloped, and unannexed, land in the vicinity of Interstate 35, Southeast Inner Loop, and FM The Citicorp data center, the underconstruction Rock Springs Hospital, and the Jimmy Jacobs office building reside within land once owned by the Longhorn Junction LLC, and are incorporated into the City. Vantage at Georgetown Rezoning Page 1 of 10

4 Information Property History: The applicant is currently seeking to annex undeveloped land in the Lewis J. Dyches and Francis A. Hudson Surveys per a concurrent application (ANX ), which would designate the newly annexed land with the Agriculture (AG) zoning district, anticipated to occur on September 24, Additionally, an application for a Preliminary Plat (PP ) to create a single lot has been submitted, with review to follow the outcome of the annexation and rezoning. Location: The property is located west of FM 1460 and south of the Southeast Inner Loop, and would be set back from FM 1460 by a long driveway. See Exhibit 1 Location Map. Physical Characteristics: The property is partly cleared (north side) and partly treed (south side), and generally slopes downward from the east to west to the western boundary, which coincides with the floodplain of a small stream that runs south to north through the greater property. The southeast corner would be the highest point on the property. See Exhibit 4 Aerial Map. Surrounding Properties: The property is surrounded by undeveloped land to the north and south. To the west, the previously mentioned floodplain separates it from the lot created for the Citicorp data center (zoned Office District) and the under-construction Rock Springs Hospital (zoned Public Facilities District). Across FM 1460, at the crest of the hill, is a small day care / school, and some scattered ETJ residential uses exist further to the south and east. See Exhibit 4 Aerial map, and the chart below which further describes the surrounding conditions. Location Zoning Future Land Use Existing Use North C-3 - General Commercial Community Commercial Undeveloped East AG Agriculture, and ETJ Community Commercial and Mixed Use Community Undeveloped, rural ETJ uses South ETJ Employment Center Undeveloped West (across floodplain, which is ETJ) OF Office, IN Industrial, PF Public Facilities Open Space (the floodplain) and Employment Center Undeveloped (the floodplain), data center and hospital Vantage at Georgetown Rezoning Page 2 of 10

5 2030 Comprehensive Plan Land Use: The property is overlain with the Future Land Use designation of Employment Center (EC), and is just outside of a node of Community Commercial (CC) at the intersection of FM 1460 and Southeast Inner Loop. The 2030 Comprehensive Plan describes the EC designation as follows: Vantage at Georgetown Rezoning Page 3 of 10

6 The 2030 Comprehensive Plan was developed with considerable thought towards reserving large tracts of land in strategic areas for the future development of job centers that would position Georgetown for the future. Community leaders recognized the need for a balanced tax base with defined areas that were well-suited for both retail and employment space. The result of this effort was the development of the Employment Center land use category, which were to be prioritized for utility and transportation improvements and used as a tool for economic development. Georgetown has long been considered a bedroom community due to a small private industry sector, and the 2030 Plan consistently reiterates the need for sustainable economic development through recruitment of desired industries and employers and the need to reserve well-located sites to meet the long need for economic diversification. The long-term CAMPO transportation outlook due to projected population increases in the Austin area forecasts a significantly burdened roadway network if surrounding cities have not generated adequate local employment activity. The 2030 Plan has carved out approximately 4% of the Georgetown city limits and ETJ, in 3-4 general locations, that are optimized for employment generation due to transportation, utilities and configuration of land. Growth Tier: All areas of the City and ETJ are placed within a Growth Tier policy category that identifies where to stage contiguous, compact, and incremental growth over a period of the next two decades or more. These Tiers dictate where the delivery of municipal services may be focused, and thus, where growth is desired. The Utility s Master Plans use land use modeling based on projected growth and intensity to forecast the service demands on the overall systems. The Growth Tier model contributes to CIP programming by helping prioritize improvements and funding thereof. This property is in Tier 2, which comprises areas outside the current city limits but within the ETJ, where infrastructure extensions based on growth are envisioned over a year horizon. Utility Evaluations are used in the development process to determine whether capacity exists at the time and whether improvements might be necessary to serve the project. Utilities The site is within the City water and wastewater services area, and the applicant submitted a Utility Evaluation - a measure of existing conditions and future modeling of the infrastructure request from the Georgetown Utility Systems (GUS). Based on the development described within that evaluation request (288 multifamily units), there is adequate capacity to serve the property with water and wastewater services. Electric utility to the site is currently dual-service between the City and TXU Energy, with the ultimate provider to be determined at the time of development. Transportation The subject property is proposing a flag driveway entrance onto FM 1460 as depicted on the attached exhibits. A Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) has been provided with the Preliminary Plat for review, and indicates this driveway would be shared with a neighboring commercial center to the north (associated with a proposed HEB grocery store on the southwest corner of FM 1460 and Vantage at Georgetown Rezoning Page 4 of 10

7 Southeast Inner Loop). The only access to this property would be from this one point on FM 1460, unless a future connection to the west (across the floodplain and onto the Citicorp property) or south (the future of which is entirely unknown) is established in the future. The City is in the final stages of acquisition of FM 1460 right of row for a TxDOT project that will commence in 2014 and significantly expand the size of the existing roadway. The City s Overall Transportation Plan (OTP) does not call for any other public roads in this vicinity to serve the property; see Exhibit 2 Transportation/Future Land Use Map. Review of the submitted TIA will be conducted with the platting and site plan approval processes, and any required improvements by the developer will be determined, and implemented, at that time. Proposed Zoning District Multifamily (MF) The applicant seeks to rezone the property to the Multifamily (MF) District, which is described in the Unified Development Code (UDC) as: The Multifamily District (MF) is intended to provide areas for Multi-family residential development, such as apartments, townhouses, and associated uses. The MF District is appropriate in areas designated on the Future Land Use Plan for higher density and mixeduse and may be located along major thoroughfares. The MF District is appropriate adjacent to both Residential and Non-Residential Districts. Permitted uses include, but are not limited to: townhouse, apartment, home-based businesses, a variety of group living situations, day cares, public schools, parks, utilities, and religious facilities. Section of the UDC contains the lot and dimensional standards that would govern development in this District. Notable standards are a building height limit of 60, unit limits for apartments of 24 units per structure and/or acre, unit limits for townhouses of 6 units per structure, and impervious coverage limitations 1 of 50% would apply. Future Application(s) If rezoned to the Multifamily District, the property will be limited to the permitted uses and subject to the regulations in Chapter 5 of the UDC. Subdivision platting, site and construction plans, and building permits would be expected with most development. STAFF ANALYSIS Application Completeness Check Process / Background Upon receipt of any development application, Planning staff must complete what is referred to as a completeness check per Section of the UDC. This rezoning application went through an extensive period of completeness check, to determine consistency with the Comprehensive Plan (Section (E.)(1.)). Staff requested that the applicant provide justification of consistency for the request, as the Multifamily zoning district is not clearly consistent with the intent of the 1 The site is within the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone. Section of the UDC regulates impervious cover limits by zoning district designation, not a particular use. Per Section (B.), the Multifamily District qualifies as residential development; the waiver options per Section are only available for non-residential development. Vantage at Georgetown Rezoning Page 5 of 10

8 Employment Center future land use category. The Comprehensive Plan states that the Employment Center designation is intended for: undeveloped land located at strategic locations, which are designated for well planned, larger scale employment and business activities, as well as supporting uses such as retail, services, hotels, and high density residential development (stand-alone or in mixed-use buildings) as a conditional use. With this description, a stand-alone 20-acre surveyed piece of property proposed for an apartment development clearly did not meet the intent of an Employment Center. However, Staff recognized this property as part of the larger Longhorn Junction landholding, and that a Development Agreement was forthcoming by June 30, 2013 that was to define a development vision for their entire landholding, including this subject piece of property. It was mutually agreed that the forthcoming submittal of the Development Agreement for the Longhorn Junction project would suffice as justification in order to get this rezoning request past the necessary step of the completeness check. Following the completeness step, Staff could then better analyze the proposed rezoning request; it was not, though, to be construed that submission of said Longhorn Junction Development Agreement would equate to staff support for the rezoning request. The first draft of the Development Agreement was submitted by the Longhorn Junction representatives ahead of the aforementioned date, and the rezoning request was able to move to a public hearing before the Planning and Zoning Commission, with the review of the Development Agreement becoming the basis of the staff recommendation. Review of Development Agreement First Draft, prior to August 6, 2013 Planning & Zoning Commission Meeting Staff performed a cursory review of the submitted Development Agreement to assess whether it set out to describe an Employment Center development as described in the Comprehensive Plan. The second paragraph of the Employment Center category states: Primary uses include offices, flex offices, and technology research and development, as well as environmentally friendly manufacturing. These uses should be encouraged to develop in a campus-like setting with generous, linked open space to maximize value, promote visual quality, and encourage pedestrian activity between employment areas and areas of supporting uses such as retail, restaurants, and residential. The proportion of uses office, commercial/retail, high density residential proposed in the initial submission of the Development Agreement was found to be too heavily weighted on commercial and retail, with flexible language that could result in the large landholding to be a primarily retail and service development, and not an Employment Center as envisioned and described in the Plan. The past and present path of development being taken within the Longhorn Junction landholding Vantage at Georgetown Rezoning Page 6 of 10

9 has been through piece-meal, disconnected annexation and development agreements, with the existing uses not developed in the aesthetic vision of the Employment Center: Given that the balance of the Longhorn Junction property is outside of the city limits, the City does not have an approved overall master plan and, thus, no land use control for the remaining property. The goal of a Development Agreement, absent annexation and zoning, was to establish a comprehensive vision for the rest of the land that would be a guide for future development decisions. While part of the land is designated for regional commercial retail purposes, most of the property is planned for Employment Center. Staff was seeking a justification through the agreement that multifamily might be appropriate as a supporting, conditional use to what would ultimately become a destination for sustainable nonservice sector jobs. Given the existing development pattern and the weight on which commercial and retail uses dominate the submitted Development Agreement land plan, there was no basis on which to qualify the present iteration of the Development Agreement as meeting the Employment Center vision adopted for this area by City Council through the 2030 Comprehensive Plan. As stated in the Plan, an Employment Center is a locus of office, technology research and development uses as well as some manufacturing. It was envisioned that a small amount of retail services and multifamily may be cohesively planned with the Employment Center anchors to carry out a mixed use destination of integrated and supporting uses. Stand-alone retail and multifamily without any orientation to the future employment center is contrary to the adopted 2030 Plan. Review of Rezoning Request, prior to August 6, 2013 Planning & Zoning Commission Meeting With the above assessment of the first draft of the Longhorn Junction Development Agreement done in order to quickly provide a basis for review of this rezoning request, it was clear that this rezoning request was at this time unable to be supported due to the fact that the Longhorn Junction landholding presented to staff was not equating to the Employment Center concepts of the 2030 Plan. The addition of a high density residential community to the south of an approved future retail development (HEB approved by City Council on April 9, 2013 and recorded in Williams County Document # ) does little to substantiate the development of an Employment Center. If the Development Agreement for the Longhorn Junction landholding ultimately is updated to Vantage at Georgetown Rezoning Page 7 of 10

10 reflect a locus of uses consistent with an Employment Center, with some limited supporting residential and retail uses then, at that time, Staff might support of the Longhorn Junction land plan, and, in turn, this proposed rezoning to Multifamily for the 20 acre subject tract. Review of revised Development Agreement, submitted August 23, 2013, and Rezoning request. Following the August 6, 2013 recommendation of denial by the Planning and Zoning Commission, a meeting was requested by Councilmember John Hesser with representatives of Longhorn Junction and City staff. The meeting was scheduled on August 20, 2013 and all Councilmembers were invited to participate. In this meeting, the applicant requested to not have the rezoning ordinance go forward to City Council for a first reading and public hearing, as planned, on August 27, 2013, with both staff and Commission recommending denial. The Longhorn Junction ownership then agreed to revise the proposed Development Agreement in accordance with the Staff comments made prior to the rezoning request coming before the Commission. The general consensus reached at the meeting was to accept the request for reconsideration of the rezoning pending the changes to the Development Agreement to result in staff support. Staff also agreed to the request by the Longhorn Junction representatives to expedite the first reading of the rezoning ordinance to the September 24, 2013 City Council meeting; normal procedure for an ordinance receiving recommendation by the Commission on September 17, 2013 would result in a City Council first reading and public hearing on the ordinance on October 8 th, with second reading and final approval available on October 22 nd, The updates to the draft Development Agreement were subsequently submitted to staff, with the understanding that if staff found that the revision met the intent of an Employment Center, then staff could offer support to this rezoning request for the Multifamily zoning district. After some comments from staff and further revision by the representatives of Longhorn Junction, staff was able to come to a position of support of this version of the Longhorn Junction Development Agreement, and thus, able to support the rezoning request on that basis. RECOMMENDATION The above described draft Development Agreement provided by the Longhorn Junction property owners that is under staff review is the sole basis for this staff recommendation. The draft Development Agreement has not been reviewed nor approved by the Planning & Zoning Commission, nor the City Council. At this point in time, the rezoning request for this acre property is still for a stand-alone, 100% multifamily/apartment use within the Employment Center (EC) land use category, which is inconsistent with the intent of the EC category if not considered in context with other existing and proposed employment-supporting land use. Should the Development Agreement not be finalized, nor approved by City Council, approval of this rezoning would allow a stand-alone 288 unit apartment complex without the employment-supporting land uses contemplated in the 2030 Comprehensive Plan adopted by City Council. Vantage at Georgetown Rezoning Page 8 of 10

11 If staff, the Planning and Zoning Commission, and City Council, in good faith believe that the current version of the Longhorn Junction Development Agreement is suitable as the basis for supporting this rezoning request, then the request is supportable. Should the Development Agreement for Longhorn Junction be altered, not be approved by City Council, or be changed in the future in a way that would not lend support to this request for Multifamily zoning then the burden of that change would fall on the Longhorn Junction ownership, with the detrimental impact being the potential future lack of support from staff, Planning and Zoning Commission, or City Council for subsequent legislative applications sought for the balance of the Longhorn Junction development. Thus, the faith in this current version of the Development Agreement that is being extended by staff could be lost if the desires of the current ownership changed direction in the future in regards to the land use mix for the Longhorn Junction properties. Therefore, due to the revisions that were made to the Longhorn Junction Development Agreement after the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended denial of the rezoning request at their August 6, 2013 meeting, staff can now offer a tentative recommendation of approval on the basis that the current draft version of the Longhorn Junction Development Agreement identifies the subject acres as the only location for high-density residential within the larger Longhorn Junction landholding. Consequently, a rezoning to the Multifamily district would be consistent within the Employment Center future land use category, because the draft Development Agreement for the Longhorn Junction development itself appears to carry out the intent of an Employment Center designation adopted by City Council as part of the 2030 Comprehensive Plan. The preference of Staff is to finalize the Development Agreement and obtain approval by City Council of it before any rezonings within the area of the Development Agreement are considered and acted upon. The reconsideration of the item is at the request of the sellers of the subject property, the Longhorn Junction ownership, pursuant to staff s understanding of the discussion at the August 20, 2013 meeting. Note: The City no longer considers or approves the conditional rezoning of properties, and therefore, cannot rezone the property for any specific use(s), or concept plan, presented by an applicant (unless the rezoning is submitted as a Planned Unit Development [PUD] request). Likewise, no specific development features such as distance buffers, walls, or additional landscaping can be associated with, or tied to, this rezoning decision. Staff must consider the impact of all the permitted uses in the requested Multifamily (MF) district and the associated standards of development within the UDC for those uses - when evaluating a rezoning request. Public Notice / Comments For the first public hearing on this application, held August 6, 2013, a total of six (6) notices were sent out to the owners of property within 200 feet of the subject property, and public notice was posted in the Williamson County Sun newspaper on July 21, Prior to that meeting, two (2) written comments in support, from the same person noting two addresses, were submitted to staff. Vantage at Georgetown Rezoning Page 9 of 10

12 For this public hearing, to be held on September 17, 2013, the same six (6) property owners within 200 feet of the subject property were sent letters, and public notice was posted in the Williamson County Sun newspaper on September 1, As with the first public hearing, the same two (2) written comments from the same person, noting two addresses, were submitted to staff, both in favor. Attachments Exhibit 1 Location Map Exhibit 2 Future Land Use / Overall Transportation Plan Map Exhibit 3 Zoning Map Exhibit 4 Aerial Map Meetings Schedule September 17, 2013 Planning and Zoning Commission September 24, 2013 City Council First Reading (pending expedited to this meeting) October 8, 2013 City Council Second Reading (pending) Vantage at Georgetown Rezoning Page 10 of 10

13 REZ Exhibit #1 Legend Parcels City Limits RABBIT HOLLOW LN RABBIT RUN COTTONTAIL LN SE INNER LOOP FM 1460 Georgetown ETJ REZ HILLVUE RD Leander Rd S Austin Ave SE Inner Loop Southwestern Blvd Sam Houston Blvd CR 166 ") 1460 ") 111 ³ City Limits Street ") 111 Westinghouse Rd Coordinate System: Texas State P lan e/c entral Zone/N AD 83/US Feet Cartographic Data For Gen eral Planning Purposes Only 0 1,100 2,200 UNIVERSITY Feet GRANDE ANIMAS DR M ES A D R

14 Future Land Use / Overall Transportation Plan REZ Exhibit #2 Legend Parcels City Limits RABBIT HOLLOW LN RABBIT RUN COTTONTAIL LN SE INNER LOOP \\\ FM 1460 Georgetown ETJ Legend Thoroughfare REZ EC EF EMA HILLVUE RD EMIA ERF PC PF PFR PMA PMIA PR Future Land Use Institutional Regional Commercial Community Commercial Ag / Rural Residential Employment Center HIgh Density Residential Low Density Residential Mining Mixed Use Community CR 166 Leander Rd S Austin Ave SE Inner Loop ") 1460 Southwestern Blvd Mixed Use Neighborhood Center Moderate Density Residential Open Space Specialty Mixed Use Area ³ City Limits Street Westinghouse Rd GRANDE ANIMAS DR M E SA DR Coordinate System: Texas State P lan e/c entral Zone/N AD 83/US Feet Cartographic Data For Gen eral Planning Purposes Only 0 1,000 2,000 Fe et

15 Zoning Information REZ Exhibit #3 Legend Parcels City Limits RABBIT HOLLOW LN RABBIT RUN SE INNER LOOP MOURNING DOVE LN COTTONTAIL LN SE INNER LOOP FM 1460 REZ HILLVUE RD Leander Rd S Austin Ave Southw estern Blvd CR 166 SE Inner Loop 1460 ³ City Limits Street Westinghouse Rd 1460 LA CONTERRA BLVD GRANDE MESA DR FM 1460 Coordinate System: Texas State P lan e/c entral Zone/N AD 83/US Feet Cartographic Data For Gen eral Planning Purposes Only 0 1,000 2,000 Fe et

16 REZ Exhibit #4 Legend Parcels City Limits RABBIT HOLLOW LN RABBIT RUN SAM HOUSTON AVE MOURNING DOVE LN COTTONTAIL LN SE INNER LOOP FM 1460 REZ HILLVUE RD Southwestern Blvd Leander Rd S Austin Ave CR 166 SE Inner Loop 1460 Coordinate System: Texas State P lan e/c entral Zone/N AD 83/US Feet Cartographic Data For Gen eral Planning Purposes Only 0 1,000 2,000 Fee t ³ City Limits Street Westinghouse Rd LA CONTERRA BLVD GRANDE MESA DR ANIMAS DR