CITY PLANNING COMMISSION CITY OF NEW ORLEANS MITCHELL J. LANDRIEU MAYOR ROBERT D. RIVERS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR LESLIE T. ALLEY DEPUTY DIRECTOR City Planning Commission Staff Report Zoning Docket: 050/16 Executive Summary Applicant: City Council Motion M-16-107 Request: This is a request to rescind Ordinance No. 13,369 M.C.S. (Zoning Docket 16/89- establishing an RPC Residential Planned Community ) as the RPC as written in 1989 is obsolete and no longer necessary under the current zoning laws and should be removed from the Official Zoning Map. Location: The petitioned properties are located on Square 2, Lots A-J, and Square 3, Lots A- G (Proposed lots 1-21), in the Third Municipal District, bounded by Warrington Drive, Filmore, Saint Anthony and Mirabeau Avenues. The municipal address of Square 3 is 1917 MIRABEAU AVENUE. Square 2 has MULTIPLE MUNICIPAL ADDRESSES. (PD 6) Summary of Proposal: Zoning Docket 050/16 is a request for the rescission of the ordinance, Ordinance No. 13,369 M.C.S. (Zoning Docket 16/89), which placed a Residential Planned Community (RPC) overlay upon the subject site. The site consists of two squares, zoned S-RM1 Suburban Multi-Family Residential District, in the St. Anthony neighborhood of Gentilly. Both squares were originally developed as a large multifamily development, consisting of 58 buildings, known as the Mirabeau Garden Apartment complex. The multi-family structures were heavily damaged from the floods of 2005 and were subsequently demolished. While the buildings on one square have since been rebuilt, the other square has remained vacant. The owner of this portion of the site proposes to redevelop the site with affordable two-family dwellings, which are permitted by right in the underlying S-RM1 District. Since the RPC applies to a former development which no longer exists, the staff finds the existing RPC ordinance obsolete. In order to redevelop the site, a rescission of the RPC ordinance is necessary, and the staff is in support of such action. ZD 050/16 1
Master Plan: Recommendation: Rescissions of ordinances are procedural matters that are not addressed by the Master Plan. The staff recommends APPROVAL of Zoning Docket 050/16, a request to rescind Ordinance No. 13,369 M.C.S. Reasons for Recommendation: 1. Ordinance No. 13,369 M.C.S. is obsolete. Its rescission will allow redevelopment of a vacant site for two-family development. 2. The proposal meets the standards of Revocation of Planned Development as set forth in Article 4, Section 4.4.J of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance. ZD 050/16 2
City Planning Commission Meeting CPC Deadline: 07/23/16 Tuesday, May 24, 2016 CC Deadline: 60 days from receipt City Council District: D Brossett Zoning Docket: 050/16 PRELIMINARY STAFF REPORT To: City Planning Commission From: Robert Rivers, Executive Director Stephen Kroll, Assistant Planning Administrator Prepared by: Nicolette Jones Date: May 17, 2016 I. GENERAL INFORMATION Applicant: City Council Motion M-16-107 Request: This is a request to rescind Ordinance No. 13,369 M.C.S. (Zoning Docket 16/89- establishing an RPC Residential Planned Community ) since the RPC as written in 1989 is obsolete and no longer necessary under the current zoning laws and should be removed from the Official Zoning Map. Location: The petitioned properties are located on Square 2, Lots A-J, and Square 3, Lots A- G (Proposed lots 1-21), in the Third Municipal District, bounded by Warrington Drive, Filmore, Saint Anthony and Mirabeau Avenues. The municipal address of Square 3 is 1917 MIRABEAU AVENUE. Square 2 has MULTIPLE MUNICIPAL ADDRESSES. (PD 6) Description: The petitioned site encompasses two squares, Square 2 and Square 3, located in the St. Anthony neighborhood of Gentilly. The petitioned site is currently zoned S- RM1 Suburban Multi-Family Residential District. Both squares were part of a multi-family residential development known as the Mirabeau Apartment complex built in the late 1940s. The former apartment buildings incurred significant damage in 2005 since they were located next to the levee breach of the London Avenue Outfall Canal. The buildings on Squares 2 and 3 were subsequently demolished, but the buildings on Square 2 have since been rebuilt as multi-family units while the parcels within Square 3 have remained vacant. The owner of the parcels within Square 3 proposes to redevelop the site with 41 two-family residences. The applicant has secured tentative approval by the ZD 050/16 3
City Planning Commission for the major resubdivision request to resubdivide Lots A through G into 41 lots, Proposed Lots 1 through 20, Lot 21-A, and Lots 22 through 41. 1 Figure 1: Zoning Map The site, however, is overlaid with a Residential Planned Community (RPC) which was adopted in September of 1989. The enactment of the RPC requires that any redevelopment of the site be approved through amendment of the initial ordinance by the City Council as well as plan review by the City Planning Commission in accordance with Article 4, Section 4.5.F Changes to Approved Plans of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance. The property owner wishes to construct multiple two-family dwellings on Square 3 which would be permitted by right in the base zoning district. This makes rescission of the RPC overlay advisable since it is now obsolete considering the site has been cleared and vacant for approximately a decade. 1 SD 130-15 was granted tentative approval by the City Planning Commission at the December 8, 2015 meeting, and SD 013-16 was granted tentative approval by the City Planning Commission at the April 12, 2016 meeting. The applicant has yet to receive final approval by the City Planning Commission. See attached resubdivision surveys at the end of this report. ZD 050/16 4
Why is City Planning Commission action required? The City Planning Commission is required to make a recommendation on all proposed zoning ordinances and amendments prior to City Council action, in accordance with Section 5-406 Zoning Ordinance of the Home Rule Charter of the City of New Orleans. II. CONTEXT A. Description of existing conditional use ordinance Zoning Docket 16/89, per City Council Motion, was a request for a map change from the existing zoning classification of the site at that time, RM-2 Multiple Family Residential District, to RS-2 Single Family Residential District. The request was brought forward in part as a response to the deterioration of the then-existing multi-family structures and out of concern for the public welfare. The City Planning Commission recommended denial of the map change because it would cause the existing multi-family development on the site to be non-conforming. The City Planning Commission, however, recommended the application of a Residential Planned Community (RPC) overlay on the site as an alternate method in providing a cap on the density and size of the development. The RPC was subsequently adopted by the City Council through Ordinance No. 13,369 M.C.S. It was later amended in 1994 with the adoption of Ordinance No. 16,450 M.C.S. B. Purpose of rescission Since the adoption of the RPC in 1989, the former multi-family development was completely destroyed as a result of damage incurred by flooding experienced during Hurricane Katrina. Also, since the adoption of the original RPC, the City has adopted a new Master Plan in 2010 and a new Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance in 2015, both through an extensive public process. The new plan and zoning ordinance have set out a new vision and guidelines for future development at this site. Because of all of these reasons, the RPC is, at this time, obsolete. As mentioned previously, the multi-family structures on Square 2 were rebuilt in 2009. The parcels on Square 3, however, have remained vacant for over a decade. The new owner of the Square 3 portion of the site plans to divide the square into 41 individual lots to be developed with two-family residences, the majority to be rented at affordable rates. Per the S-RM1 District regulations, a two-family dwelling is permitted by right in the district. The purpose of the rescission of Ordinance No. 13,369 M.C.S. is to allow the current property owner to move forward with the resubdivision and development proposal which complies with the current Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance and which has been granted tentative approval by the City Planning Commission. ZD 050/16 5
Figure 2. Aerial imagery shows the current condition of Square 3 which remains vacant and undeveloped. III. COMPLIANCE WITH APPROVAL STANDARDS Compliance with Article 4 of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance Article 4, Section 4.4.J Revocation of Planned Development of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance states that a residential planned community may be revoked through the adoption of an ordinance by the City Council after finding that any one of the following condition exists, or after the occurrence of any of the following events: 1. Any of the provisions of this Ordinance or any of the terms and conditions of the conditional use approval are violated. 2. A request is made by the property owner to revoke the conditional use. In this case, the second event has occurred since the property owner sought the movement of the City Council, and the City Council has requested, under Motion M-16-107, that the existing RPC be rescinded. ZD 050/16 6
Compliance with the adopted Master Plan A land use action is consistent with the Master Plan if it furthers, or at least does not interfere with, the goals, policies, and guidelines in the Land Use Element of the Master Plan and is compatible with the uses, densities, and intensities of the designation of its site on the Future Land Use Map. Chapter 14: Land Use Plan of the Master Plan designates the future land use of the petitioned site as Mixed-Use Low Density. Mixed-Use Low Density Goal: Increase neighborhood convenience and walkability within and along edges of neighborhoods with low density residential and neighborhood-serving retail/commercial establishments. Range of Uses: Low-density single-family, two-family and multifamily residential and neighborhood business; typically businesses in residential scale buildings interspersed with residences. Uses can be combined horizontally or vertically (ground floor retail required in certain areas). Limited light-industrial uses (craft and value added industry and passive warehousing and storage) may be allowed in some areas. Development Character: Height/mass and density of new development varied depending on surrounding neighborhood character. Rescissions of ordinances are procedural matters that are not addressed by the Master Plan. Approval of the request would allow for the rescission of the RPC overlay ordinance which applied to the former multi-family development constructed at the site. The rescission of the ordinance would allow the current property owner to redevelop the vacant site with affordable two-family dwellings, uses consistent with those described in the Mixed-Use Low Density future land use classification. IV. SUMMARY Zoning Docket 050/16 request is for the rescission of the ordinance, Ordinance No. 13,369 M.C.S. (Zoning Docket 16/89), which placed a Residential Planned Community (RPC) overlay upon the subject site. The site consists of two squares, zoned S-RM1 Suburban Multi-Family Residential District, in the St. Anthony neighborhood of Gentilly. Both squares were originally developed as a large multi-family development, consisting of 58 buildings, known as the Mirabeau Garden Apartment complex. The multi-family structures were heavily damaged from the floods of 2005 and were subsequently demolished. While the buildings on one square have since been rebuilt, the other square has remained vacant. The owner of this portion of the site proposes to redevelop the site with affordable two-family dwellings, which is permitted by right in the underlying S-RM1 District. Since the RPC applies to a former development which no longer exists, the staff ZD 050/16 7
finds the existing RPC ordinance obsolete. In order to redevelop the site, a rescission of the RPC ordinance is necessary, and the staff is in support of such action. V. PRELIMINARY STAFF RECOMMENDATION 2 The staff recommends APPROVAL of Zoning Docket 050/16, a request to rescind Ordinance No. 13,369 M.C.S. VI. REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATION 3 1. Ordinance No. 13,369 M.C.S. is obsolete. Its rescission will allow redevelopment of a vacant site for two-family development. 2. The proposal meets the standards of Revocation of Planned Development as set forth in Article 4, Section 4.4.J of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance. 2 Subject to modification by the City Planning Commission 3 Subject to modification by the City Planning Commission ZD 050/16 8