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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes May 25 meetingMay 25, 2006 ITEM NO.: L FILE NO.: LU06-19-01 Name: Land Use Plan Amendment - Chenal Planning District Location: Rahling to Chenal, Kirk to Wellington Village Request: Neighborhood Commercial, Office & Low Density Residential to Mixed Office Commercial Source: Robert Brown, Development Consultants PROPOSAL 1 REQUEST: Land Use Plan amendment in the Chenal Planning District from Neighborhood Commercial, Office and Low Density Residential to Mixed Office Commercial. Mixed Office Commercial represents a mixture of office and commercial uses, with either office or a mix of both uses with a Planned Zoning District. STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS: At the request of the Planning Commission this item will be deferred to May 11, 2006. PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: (APRIL 13, 2006) The item was placed on the consent agenda for deferral to May 11, 2006. By a vote of 8 for, 0 against the consent agenda was approved. STAFF UPDATE: EXISTING LAND USE AND ZONING: The property is vacant rural in nature with one house currently zoned C-1 Neighborhood Commercial, 0-2 Office & Institutional, and MF6 Multifamily 6 -units per acre and is 48.5 acres t in size. North of the site the land is vacant rural in nature and zoned MF18 Multifamily 18 units per acre, and R-2 Single Family. To the east is an apartment complex zoned MF18 and a single-family subdivision zoned R-3 Single Family and R-2. To the south are several Planned Commercial Districts with auto dealerships and a partial developed shopping center. To the southwest is vacant land zoned C-3 General Commercial and to the northwest is 0-2 and Planned Office District land with office buildings and one mixed office retail center. May 25, 2006 ITEM NO.: L (Cont.) FILE NO.: LU06-19-01 FUTURE LAND USE PLAN AND RECENT AMENDMENTS: May 18, 2004, a change from Single Family to Office, south of Cantrell Road between Chenonceau and Chevaux, a mile to the north of the site. This change was made related to a Planned Office District reclassification to allow for future redevelopment of the land. January 20, 2004, a change from Office to Mixed Use south of Rahling Road either side of Champlin Drive, north of the site. This change was made to allow for future development of the land (no reclassification was included at the time). June 17, 2003, changes from Office, Multifamily and Single Family to Multifamily and Low Density Residential in the same ownership as this site. These changes were made to reflect new zoning in the area for future development. June 4, 2002, a change from Single Family to Suburban Office was made south of Cantrell Road either side of Drew, a mile to the north of the site. This change was made related to a Planned Office District reclassification to allow for future redevelopment of the land. January 2, 2002, a change from Single Family to Commercial, Suburban Office and Open Space southeast of the Chenal-Northfield intersection over a mile to the northwest of the site. This change was made related to a rezoning request for the area. The site requesting a change is shown as Neighborhood Commercial on the north, Low Density Residential on the northeast and the remainder as Office use. Northeast is Low Density Residential and Single Family. To the southeast is a small area of Neighborhood Commercial, Suburban Office and Public Institutional with Mixed Office Commercial and Commercial use beyond that. To the south is Commercial and Mixed Office Commercial use on the Plan. Southwest is Commercial with Multifamily beyond that. To the northwest is Office and Multifamily with more Office beyond. MASTER STREET PLAN: There is an amendment to the Master Street Plan before the Board of Directors for this area; the major change of this item would be the alignments. Wellington Hills Boulevard and Champlin Drive are shown as Arterials on the Plan. Kirk is shown as a Collector with a request to change it to an Arterial. An unnamed Collector has been requested for removal from the Plan between Chenal Parkway and Arkansas Systems Drive. An Arterial functions to move traffic through and around the urban area or from activity centers to the Arterial system. These roads are designed to be four or more lanes and move large numbers of vehicles at high speed. They are not intended to provide access to adjacent land. A Collector functions to bring vehicles from the neighborhoods to the Arterial system as well as to provide access to adjacent property. 2 May 25, 2006 ITEM NO.: L Cont. FILE NO.: LU06-19-01 These roads are designed to be three -lane roads. None of these roads are built to standard. Right-of-way and street improvements will need to be made at the time of development. BICYCLE PLAN: The Master Street Plan, bicycle section, proposes a Class I bike route along Chenal Parkway. A Class I route has a separate pavement for the sole use of bicycles. PARKS: The Little Rock Parks and Recreation Master Plan indicates this site is currently within 8 -blocks of an existing public or private park or open space. HISTORIC DISTRICTS: There are no city recognized historic districts that would be affected by this amendment CITY RECOGNIZED NEIGHBORHOOD ACTION PLAN: The application area is within the Rock Creek Neighborhoods Plan area. The Neighborhood Plan calls for the protections and preservation of greenbelts with strict enforcement of the excavation and landscape ordinances. It also calls for the interconnection of the area with sidewalks and other non -motorized vehicle paths. The Plan calls for the completion of Champlin Drive and Villages of Wellington Road to Kanis Road, and construct the intersection of Chenal Parkway and Champlin Drive funded with a bond issue (build prior to development). The Plan asks that amendments to the Land Use Plan be rare and only with the input of the neighborhood. ANALYSIS: The site requesting a change in land use is part of what had been a dairy farm many years ago. Currently it is rural in nature. Some of the dairy farm ownership has already been redeveloped as single-family homes, churches, and commercial uses. The land all around this ownership has been developing over the last decade. The result is moderate sized office buildings to the west; commercial uses to the south, single-family uses and apartments to the east; and apartments and vacant land to the north. The Master Street Plan has recommended a north -south arterial through this property for many years. The location did start out closer to the then eastern boundary of the property. Over the years the alignment has moved to the west. Also over the years the density has increased with more office and higher density residential proposed on the site and less single-family. The area is part of what is commonly called 'west Little Rock'. Most of this area was annexed in to the city in the 1980s as vacant land. Since then subdivision of homes 3 May 25, 2006 ITEM NO.: L Cont. FILE NO.: LU06-19-01 have been constructed to the east, Villages of Wellington and west, Chenal Valley. This site was one of the last areas to become part of the city, in the mid-1990s. Most of the Single Family and Office areas have been developed. However, the majority of the areas shown for Commercial remain partial development or undeveloped. Most of this land is along Chenal Parkway. There is a large 'node' of Commercial at Rahling Road and Chenal Parkway and a smaller one at Kanis Road and Chenal Parkway. There is a proposal to construct a large commercial center at Rahling Road and Chenal Parkway. This development would consume most of the available undeveloped commercially zoned land at that location (if the development occurs). In addition very little of the Commercial at Kanis Road and Chenal Parkway is developed. In both of these locations the land is also zoned commercial, either C2 Shopping Center or C3 General Commercial. Most of the commercial development along Chenal Parkway that has developed has been approved with Planned Commercial Districts. There are still some available areas for commercial development within these projects. There have been three apartment developments constructed near the application area. Two are to the north and one to the southeast. Residential development has been limited to apartment complexes or single-family detached structures to date, even though the Plan shows some Low Density Residential use. This change would remove the last undeveloped land shown for Low Density Residential. The proposed change would also remove approximately half of the Neighborhood Commercial land on the Plan. Currently the commercial that has been built is mostly regional or community types of use, rather than retail uses designed to service the immediate neighborhood. A Conditional Use Permit has been applied for to the north of this application to construct a church complex. The uses on this land are Single Family, Multifamily, Low Density Residential and Neighborhood Commercial. The actual likely future use of the land is Public Institutional. The existing zoning for this land is R-2 Single Family, MF -18 Multifamily 18 units per acre, and C-1 Neighborhood Commercial. There will be less residential and commercial uses as a result of the church development. The bulk of the area requesting a change in use is Office on the Plan and zoned. With the loss of the Neighborhood Commercial area at Kirk and Arkansas System some additional commercial to the south is not unreasonable. The surrounding uses are Office to the west; Commercial to the south; Multifamily, Neighborhood Commercial and Suburban Office to the east; and a church to the north. The Plan has always called for the area between Wellington Hills Boulevard and Chenal Parkway to be high density with office and commercial uses. The Planning Commission has approved a realignment of Wellington Hills Boulevard, which would place the bulk of the proposed Mixed Office Commercial area south of the road. A small portion would be north of the roadway between the proposed church and existing apartments. The area between Chenal Parkway and the alignment of 4 May 25, 2006 ITEM NO.: L (Cont.) FILE NO.: LU06-19-01 Wellington Hills -Arkansas Systems is currently predominately commercial. There are two areas of office within this boundary, this site being one. The other is around Arkansas Systems Drive and is mostly developed. As noted previously there is available commercial to the west, which has been Planned and zoned for decades. There will be less commercial in this location due to the church development. In addition some Commercial will be removed from the Plan with this application. Office has been developing to the east, but areas remain further north at Chenal Parkway and Chenal Drive and to the west beyond Chenal Parkway. Of the application area approximately 30 acres is currently Office and five acres is Neighborhood Commercial. The total application area is approximately 48 to 49 acres, with the remaining 10 acres or so currently shown for residential. A change from Office to Mixed Office Commercial is not a major change. It does introduce retail as a more major possibility for the office area. In a Mixed Office Commercial area, the City and Commission can require a development to be majority office. Though historically Planned Zoning District for Mixed Office Commercial areas have been primarily commercial. Two conceptual Planned Zoning Districts have been submitted for review on this agenda. One in north of the extension of Wellington Hills Boulevard, it is a Planned Office District and south is a Planned Commercial District. These will set the percentage of office and commercial for the application area. NEIGHBORHOOD COMMENTS: Notices were sent to the following neighborhood associations: St Charles Community Association and Parkway Place Property Owners Association. Staff has not received any comments, though at the April 19, 2006 Plans Committee meeting there were a couple of interested property owners. One did express concerns about how changing the use pattern might affect improvement districts in the area. STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS: Staff believes the change is appropriate. PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: (MAY 11, 2006) At the request of Staff to allow time to resolve issues the item was placed on consent agenda for deferral to May 25, 2006. By a vote of 10 for 0 against (1 absent) the consent agenda was approved. 5 May 25, 2006 ITEM NO.: L FILE NO.: LU06-19-01 PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: (MAY 25, 2006) Items K, L, M, 2 and 3 were combined for presentation by Staff. Walter Malone, Planning Staff, reviewed this the Commission the Land Use Study begun along Kanis Road from Chenal to Dennis Road. This study was begun at the request of the Board of Directors as a result of a Land Use Plan change between Rock Creek to Kanis Road from Multifamily to Commercial. After reviewing the Study proposals, Mr. Malone reviewed each of the Land Use Plan requested changes and the surrounding Land Use Plan. Staff is supported of the changes proposed in items K, L and M. Staff does not support the changes requested in items 2 and 3. Staff could support a change from Office to Mixed Use for the area within item 3. Ms. James next made a staff presentation for the Planned Zoning District applications, items N, O and P (see minutes of those items for presentation). Mr. Moore, Planning Staff made the presentation on items J, 2.1 and 3.1 (see minutes of those items for presentation). Mr. Ernie Peters, Peters and Associates presented the traffic study information completed for both applicants. In short the development would add 500 (Deltic) and 1000 (Wisenhunt) to the PM peck. The improvements each would make would more than off set the increased demands on the road network. This is not to say that other intersection in the network would not need further improvements. Commission Allen indicated he had been called away for another meeting and thus the commission was going to have only 6 members for these items. Commissioner Rahman expressed concerns about moving foreword since the Traffic Study had just become available and he wished to have time for a more complete review. (He indicated he might now not be able to support any of the requests). Each applicant was asked if they wished to defer. After some discussion Mr. Spivey and Mr. Daters for the Deltic applicants agreed to defer items J, K, 2, 2.1, 3 and 3.1. By a vote of 6 for and 0 against the commission voted to defer these items to July 6, 2006. Mr. Downing representing the Wisenhunt applications spoke to the Commission about the issues. He indicated that he did not have the time for a deferral and wished to proceed. The Commission recessed at this point. Upon reconvening the Commission heard from the applicants and their representative on the applicants for items L, M, N, O and P. See items N, O and P for minutes record. A motion was made to approve item L. By a vote of 6 for 0 against the motion was approved. A motion was made to approve item M. By a note of 6 for 0 against the motion was approved. Ne