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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report_MinutesNovember 10, 2005 ITEM NO.: C FILE NO.: LU05-02-01 Name: Land Use Plan Amendment - Rodney Parham Planning District Location: West of Shackleford Road, between Markham Street and Maralynn Road. Request: Single Family and Office to Community Shopping Source: Tom Chambers The applicant has requested a deferral to the November 10, 2005 Hearing. Staff supports the deferral request. PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: (SEPTEMBER 29, 2005) The item was placed on the consent agenda for deferral to the November 10, 2005 Planning Commission meeting. A motion was made to approve the consent agenda and was approved with a vote of 10 ayes, 0 noes and 1 absent. PROPOSAL/REQUEST: Land Use Plan amendment in the Rodney Parham Planning District from Single Family and Office to Community Shopping. The Community Shopping category provides for shopping center development with one or more general Merchandise stores. The applicant plans on removing an existing home to construct a commercial strip center. The PCD would allow for C-2 (Shopping Center District) uses. Prompted by this Land Use Amendment request, the Planning Staff expanded the area of review to include area between Markham Street and Shackleford Drive west of Shackleford Road. This change would better represent the existing zoning and uses in the area between Markham Street and Shackleford Drive. EXISTING LAND USE AND ZONING: Area One is located north of Beverly Hills Drive and west of Shackleford Road, currently zoned and is 1.3 acres t in size. North, south, east and west. November 10, 2005 SUBDIVISION ITEM NO.: C (Cont.) FILE NO.: LU05-02-01 FUTURE LAND USE PLAN AND RECENT AMENDMENTS: May 6, 2003, Multiple changes were made in the area including changes from Single Family to Public Institutional immediately north of the application area; Single Family to Low Density Residential less than one quarter mile west of the application at Mimi Drive and Nan Court; and Single Family and Low Density Residential less than a half mile west of the application along Mesa Drive to recognize existing conditions and provide for future development. This application consists of two areas. Area One is located at the northwest corner of Shackleford Road and Beverly Hills Drive. This area is shown as Single Family on the Plan. To the north and northeast is shown as Public Institutional. To the east is Community Shopping. Immediately south of Area One is an area of Single family following Beverly Hills Drive. Area Two is south of Area One and located between Shackleford Drive and Markham Street west of Shackleford Road. An area shown as Office lies to the north. East and west of Area Two is shown as Community Shopping. Properties south of Markham Street are shown as Commercial. MASTER STREET PLAN: Shackleford Road is shown as a Collector on the Master Street Plan and is built to Minor Arterial standards through this section. A Collector street's primary purpose is to link Local Streets and activity centers to Arterials. Beverly Hills Drive is shown as a Local Residential Street on the plan and not built to current street standards because it is lacking sidewalks. Beverly Hills Drive will require dedication of right-of-way and may be required to be built to Local Commercial Street standards. The primary function of a Local Street is to provide access to adjacent properties. A Local Commercial Street is built to Collector Street standards. Shackleford Road may require dedication of right-of-way and may require street improvements. BICYCLE PLAN: Existing or proposed Class I, II, or III bikeways are not in the immediate vicinity of the development. PARKS: This application is in the West Little Rock Park Planning District. The Master Parks Plan identifies a lack of public parks in the west Little Rock area and recognizes private neighborhood parks and recreation facilities as parkland in the 2 November 10, 2005 SUBDIVISION ITEM NO.: C _(Cont.) FILE NO.: LU05-02-01 west Little Rock area. This specific application is located adjacent to Terry Elementary School which can provide recreation for people in the area. Less than a half mile southwest of the site is a Birchwood park (a mini -park) with a basketball court and playground. Approximately a half mile southeast of the application is Weidman Park which remains undeveloped. Just under a mile east of the application area is undeveloped parkland adjacent to Rock Creek. The Parks and Recreation Master Plan does not indicate any new proposed public parks for the area. HISTORIC DISTRICTS: There are no city recognized historic districts that would be affected by this amendment. CITY RECOGNIZED NEIGHBORHOOD ACTION PLAN: The applicant's property lies in the area covered by the Walnut Valley Neighborhood Action Plan. The Community Redevelopment (Land Use) Goal states, "Maintain and reinvigorate existing retail areas to provide active retail for local residents." This application could complement and strengthen the existing retail uses in the area. The Infrastructure goal is to "Maintain the public rights-of- way and streets to assure safe and pleasurable use." An action statement relates to a need to increase maintenance activity on streets and sidewalks throughout the area. This development should require construction of a sidewalk on Beverly Hills Drive, and improve sidewalks on Shackleford Road. ANALYSIS: This area is located in a west Little Rock and is developed in a suburban fashion. Shackleford Road can be considered as the eastern entrance into Little Rock's regional shopping area. Markham Street west of Shackleford Road is lined with big box retail stores, national chain stores, furniture stores, automobile related stores, and restaurants. Non -Local traffic primarily enters the area using Markham Street and Shackleford Road south of Markham Street. North of Markham Street Shackleford Road maintains its multiple lane design, but quickly dissipates into a two-lane road meandering into a residential area. The Current Community Shopping area along Shackleford Road more or less provides services for local residents while the Community Shopping area along Markham Street provides services for more of a regional draw. Currently Area One is developed with a commercial strip center, a parking lot servicing the strip center, and a single family home. Currently the commercial activities are not recognized as part of the plan and the change would recognize 3 November 10, 2005 SUBDIVISION ITEM NO.: C (Cont.) FILE NO.: LU05-02-01 those uses. However, the change would also decrease the amount of single family in the area, and introduce Community Shopping activities in close proximity of an established Single Family area. This expansion would leave only a small amount of Single family on the west side of Shackleford Road, which could become vulnerable to non-residential uses in the future. At the present time a parking lot exists adjacent to the Beverly Hills and Shackleford Road intersections. Between the parking lot and an existing home, to be removed, there is a significant elevation change. By expanding this development west, and into the single family neighborhood a larger elevation difference would result. This change in elevation would expose more homes on Beverly Hills Drive to Shackleford Road. The Community Shopping category could allow for future requests for straight zoning resulting in commercial or office development that may be incompatible with the nearby neighborhood. Utilizing a category that requires a PZD (Planned Zoned Development) for office or commercial development at this site could protect the nearby residential area. The PZD process could better control aspects such as heights, sounds, hours of operation, use, etc. The current rezoning request is for a PZD, which would be consistent with staffs recommendation. However, the category of Community Shopping could allow for a future change to blanket zoning which would not allow for careful evaluation of a development's relationship to adjacent single family residences. Staff expanded this application to include the area surrounded by Shackleford Drive, Shackleford Road, and Markham Street. This area is known as Area Two and is currently shown as Office on the Future Land Use Plan. Currently land in this area is zoned C-3 General Commercial District and has developed with a furniture store, hotel, and several regional restaurants. Staff feels the expansion to the south would be more in character with the actually land use in that area. The new Community Shopping area will better define the types of uses that currently occupy the land. The resulting land use pattern will show Community Shopping on the north side of Markham Street from Bowman Road to interstate 430. The entirety of the Community Shopping area is buffered from Single Family Uses nearby by a series of Park/Open Space, Multifamily, and Public Institutional. The newly added land will utilize an existing Office area to buffer it from the nearby Single Family neighborhood. NEIGHBORHOOD COMMENTS: Notices were sent to the following neighborhood associations: Walnut Valley Neighborhood Association, Echo Valley Property Owners Association, Colony West Homeowners Neighborhood Association, Treasure 12 November 10, 2005 SUBDIVISION ITEM NO.: C (Cont.) FILE NO.: LU05-02-01 Hills Neighborhood Association, Sturbridge Property Owners Association, Beverly Hills Property Owners Association, Santa Fe Heights Neighborhood Association, Rainwood Cove Property Owners Association, Woodland Hills/Aspen Highlands P. O. A., Pleasantree Recreation Association, Birchwood Neighborhood Association, and John Barrow Neighborhood Association. Staff has received two comments from area residents. One is supportive and one is opposed to the change. STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS Staff believes the change is not appropriate. PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: (NOVEMBER 10, 2005) The Applicant requested the commission defer their item due to the opposition. After a short discussion, the Commission voted 0 for 9 against deferral. Walter Malone, Planning Staff reviewed the two proposed changes. Mr. Malone explained the area use pattern and zoning. Staff has a major concern with the loss of a single-family home and the resulting 'chipping' away at the small single- family neighborhood. The second change is designed to better reflect the existing and likely future zoning and use pattern. Staff can not support the proposed amendment. The zoning item was reviewed and both were discussed together. For a complete review of the minutes see item C.1 Z -3419-B. By a vote of 0 for, 9 against and 2 absent the item was denied. 5 0 Vicinity Map PLAN AMENDMENT tw! Case: LU05-02-01 Location: NORTHWEST CORNER OF SHACKLEFORD AND BEVERLY HILLS 0 & SF TO CS Ward: 5 PD: 2 0 175350 700 Feet CT: 22.05 TRS: T1NR13W4 Vicinity Map AREA ZONING N Case: LU05-02-01 n Location: NORTHWEST CORNER OF N SHACKLEFORD AND BEVERLY HILLS Ward: 5 PD: 2 0 175350 700 Feet v CT: 22.05 TRS: TlNR13W4