MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF LAUREL DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT 8103 Sandy Spring Road Laurel, Maryland 20707 (301) 725-5300 Web: http://www.citvoflaurel.orq E-mail: ecd laurel.md.us DATE March 4, 2019 AGENDA ITEM NO. 4 TECHNICAL STAFF REPORT TO: City of Laurel Planning Commission FROM: Robert Love, Deputy Director CASE: Revised Conceptual Site Plan for Westside Application No. 891 GENERAL INFORMATION APPLICANT: Strittmatter Contee LLC 9102 Owens Drive Manassas Park, VA 20111 OWNER: Strittmatter Contee LLC 9102 Owens Drive Manassas Park, VA 20111 LOCATION: Westside Boulevard & Van Dusen Road Laurel, MD 20707 ZONE: Mixed Use Transportation Oriented (M-X-T) REQUESTED ACTION: Revised Conceptual Site Plan Approval PREVIOUS ACTION: July 23, 2012: Annexation into City of Laurel (Annexation effective 9/6/2012) January 28, 2013: M-X-T Conceptual Plan Approved for 39.87 acres (Ord. No. 1764) April 22, 2013: M-X-T Conceptual Plan Approved for 19.89 acres (Ord. No. 1770) June 11, 2013: M-X-T Final Site Plan Design Approved on Parcel C for 484 Multi- Family Units (Resolution No. 13-10-PC) May 12, 2015: Final Site and Landscape Plan Approved for Westside Townhouses (Resolution No. 15-10-PC) December 8, 2015: Final Subdivision Plat Approved for 56 townhouse units (Resolution No. 15-13-PC)
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The Applicant (Strittmatter) is seeking Revised Conceptual Site Plan for approval to revise their current site known as Westside to reduce the retail area to 40,000 sq. ft. maximum and include an additional eighty-one (81) townhouses on the site. The subject property is located at Van Dusen Road and consists of approximately 59.76 acres of land. The current zoning of the property is Mixed Use Transportation Oriented (M-X-T). The property was previously approved for 200,000 sq. ft. of commercial space. The Westside project consists of four phases, Phase 1 consists of 484 multi-family units and Phase 2 consists of 56 townhomes both of which have been constructed. The current application will be Phase 3 of the project and Phase 4 is a proposed hotel pad site. The property was annexed into the City in July of 2012. The Westside Property abuts Interstate 95, the major north-south connector expressway on the East Coast, along its northern and western boundary. To the east are Wilshire Estates, single family homes outside of the city limits. To the south is the Avalon Laurel apartment complex which is also located in the M-X-T zoning district. Below is an overhead of the subject properties. 154 Modera Westside- 2
Below the following Agencies and City Departments were notified. Department of Agency Comments Received City of Laurel Department of See Comments Below. Public Works (3/27/19) City of Laurel Police Chief No Issues with the project (3/11/2019) City of Laurel Department of Parks No Issues with the project and Recreation. (3/27/2019) City of Laurel Fire Marshal No Issues with the project (3/19/2019) Washington Suburban Sanitary No Issues with the project Commission (WSSC) (3/25/2019) Prince George's County Health Department Maryland State Highway (SHA) No Issues with the project (3/6/2019) Prince George's County Public Schools Department of Capitol Programs Prince George's County Council, District 1 Member (Councilman Thomas Demoga) See attached letter from Prince George's County Councilman Demoga (3/26/19) Prince George's County Office of the Clerk of the Council Maryland Department of Planning Maryland-National Park and Planning Commission (MNPPC) Prince George's County Department of Public Works and Transportation "It is recommended that the site plan reflect the center line of abutting rightsof-way, and a dimension from the subject site's frontage to the centerline, to demonstrate that no further dedication is necessary." (3/27/19) Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) Verizon
COMMENTS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS: "This Department has reviewed the revised Conceptual Site Plan for Westside, a development located on the northwest corner of Van Dusen Road and Konterra Drive. The original approved conceptual site plan for Westside included 500 multifamily units, 80 townhome units, a 150-room hotel, and 200,000 square feet of commercial retail. Currently, 484 multifamily units and 56 townhome units have been constructed. The Applicant is seeking approval to reduce the commercial area from 200,000 square feet to 40,000 square feet and add an additional 81 townhome units. The following comments and recommendations are offered at this time. The proposed roadways in the townhouse and commercial areas must all be maintained privately, either by a homeowner association (HOA) or the commercial property owner. The Applicant needs to provide a refuse and recycling collection plan to this Department for review as soon as possible. Inclusion of these additional townhomes may require the hiring of an additional refuse/recycle crew. If this area will have refuse and recycling collection provided by this Department, the roadway needs to be built to allow our trucks to safely turn around during the collection. The townhomes and commercial areas must use the existing apron and entrance for ingress and egress. No additional curb cuts along West Side Boulevard are expected at this time. If any roadway closures or public sidewalk closures are needed on a City Street, the Applicant must contact this Department for approval prior to the start of work. If any utility cuts are performed on a City Street, the restoration work must follow the City's standards that require the permanent patches in the cut area with a 2" mill and overlay from curb-to-curb and a minimum of 25-feet in each direction of the cut. If any decorative crosswalks are damaged they must be restored to their original state. The Applicant must obtain a road hauler permit and is responsible for any damage within the public right-of-way and the scope of the restoration work will be determined by this Department. According to the submitted statement, the revised Conceptual Site Plan reduces the generated trips and the transportation impact will be less than originally presumed and approved. The Applicant's traffic engineer is preparing to update the study, which will be filed later. If there is any property to be added to the City's open space, then the Department of Public Works would need an area to install a salt barn." ANAYLSIS: The Applicant (Strittmatter) is seeking Revised Conceptual Site Plan for an M-X-T Zone Approval to revise their current site known as Westside to reduce the retail area to 40,000 sq. ft. maximum and include an additional eighty-one (81) townhouses on the site. The current application is revising 16.9 acres of the Westside project, with 9.4 acres of proposed new townhomes and 7.5 acres of commercial use. The current application seeking Revised Conceptual Site Plan for an M-X-T Zone Approval meets the requirements of Section 20-12 of the Unified Land Development Code. The information required for a Concept Site Plan per Section 20-12.5 are included beginning on page 11 of the Applicants Statement of Justification. The project conforms to the purposes of an M-X-T site per Section 20-12.1 of the Unified Land Development Code as stated below: 4
(a) To promote the orderly development and redevelopment of land in the vicinity of major intersections, and major transit stops, so that these areas will enhance the economic status of the county and provide an expanding source of desirable employment and living opportunities for its citizens; This project is bounded on its west side by Interstate 95, the new "On" ramp for the Interstate 95/Contee Road interchange and a future portion of Maryland Route 201. This project is situated in the vicinity of major transportation intersections. The proposed combination of apartments, townhomes, retail, and hotel uses could add desirable employment and living opportunities for the citizens of Laurel and could enhance the economic status of the City of Laurel and Prince George's County. (b) To conserve the value of land and buildings by maximizing the public and private development potential inherent in the location of the zone, this might otherwise become scattered throughout and outside the City. to its detriment; Westside is a large, mixed use project that will bring together a variety of uses for the community. (c) To promote the effective and optimum uses of transit and other major transportation systems; This property will be part of a development that abuts Interstate 95, with 484 residential multifamily units, potentially 137 townhomes, 40,000 sq. ft. of retail and up to 150 hotel rooms with access to Interstate 95 is promoting effective and optimum use of a major transportation system. (d) To facilitate and encourage a twenty-four hour environment to ensure continuing of the project after workday hours through a maximum of activity, and the interaction between the uses and those who live, work in, or visit the area; The Westside mixed use project contains two types of residential uses, commercial retail uses and proposed hospitality uses. The retail uses will provide an opportunity for both residents and visitors to the Westside project to secure retail goods and services which are envisioned to include food and beverage items as well as restaurants and other retail service uses. (e)to encourage diverse land uses which blend together harmoniously. Retail uses will be proposed to be located toward the south end of the project near the Van Dusen and Contee road frontage. A wide public access road, Westside Boulevard, has been constructed through the project to provide access to the entire Westside development. This will allow for all the uses to blend together. (f) To create dynamic, functional relationships among individual uses within a distinctive visual character and identify; While the four uses being proposed in the Westside project are individual and distinct, they should create a mixed use project in which each individual use is supportive of the other uses. For example, the retail uses will provide opportunities for food, entertainment and services for the residential uses. Conversely, the residential uses could provide a customer base for the retail uses. The same is true with regards to visitors of the hotel as well as visitors from outside the development. 5
(g) To promote optimum land planning with greater efficiency through the use of economies of scale and savings in energy beyond the scope of single-purpose projects; The overall Westside project proposes commercial retail uses, multifamily residential uses, townhome residential uses and a hotel. Placing these various uses on a single parcel promotes economy of scale. While the commercial retail uses can obviously serve consumers beyond its immediate surroundings, the opportunity for residents living within the Westside project to walk to commercial retail services which will include food and retail offerings is being created. Similarly, the residential uses within the Westside project could provide a customer base for the retail. In addition, immediately abutting Westside are a single family detached subdivision and a townhome subdivision. These residents too could either walk or drive a very short distance to obtain access to the commercial retail component of Westside. (h) To permit a flexible response to the market; The residential market is being shaped by an increased demand for apartment rental units and townhomes. The residential portion of this project is focused solely on these two property types. The hotel will have frontage on Interstate 95. The retail component will serve residents of the Westside project, hotel guests and motorists coming off of Interstate 95 as well as others in the region. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the City of Laurel Planning Commission APPROVE the Revised Conceptual Site Plan for the Westside property with the following conditions: (1) All construction shall conform to this ordinance, as well as the final M-X-T Plan as approved by the City of Laurel Planning Commission. (2) The Applicant shall obtain Final Site and Landscape Plan Approval for the proposed townhouse portion of the project from the Planning Commission. (3) The Applicant shall obtain Preliminary Subdivision Plan Approval for the proposed townhouse portion of the project from the Planning Commission. (4) The Applicant shall obtain Record Plat Approval from the Planning Commission for the additional townhouse portion of the site. (5) The Applicant shall obtain Subdivision Plan Approval for each individual pad site within the proposed commercial area from the Planning Commission, if applicable. (6) The Applicant shall obtain Final Site and Landscape Plan Approval for each individual pad site within the proposed commercial area from the Planning Commission, if applicable. (7) The Applicant shall comply with all applicable local, state and federal laws and regulations in the development of the Property. 6
ATTACHMENTS: -Concept Site Plan -Statement of Justification - Letter from Prince George's County Councilman Tom Dernoga SUBMITTED: *stian L. Pulley irector 7