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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutesJune 11, 2009 ITEM NO.: 10 FILE NO.: LU09-19-01 Name: Land Use Plan Amendment — Chenal Planning District Location: northwest corner of Chenal Parkway and Wellington Hills Road Request: Neighborhood Commercial and Office to Commercial Source: Springfield Holdings, Owner, Crafton Tull PROPOSAL / REQUEST: A Land Use Plan amendment in the Chenal Planning District from Neighborhood Commercial and Office to Commercial. Commercial represents a broad range of retail and wholesale sales of products, services and general business activities. The applicant is currently proposing a rezoning at this site for an automotive center. Prompted by this Land Use Amendment request, the Planning Staff expanded the area of review to include the parcel east and adjacent to the applicant's property. With these changes, the entirety of the Neighborhood Commercial would be amended to Commercial. It is thought that the additional area would make the boundaries more logical. EXISTING LAND USE AND ZONING: The property is currently zoned 0-3 General Office and Planned Commercial Development. The western portion is vacant and wooded. The eastern portion is approximately eight acres in size and is half vacant and half developed with a Walgreens store. A mini -storage warehouse sits in a Planned Office Development northwest of the amendment area. A vacant tract of land is located in a C-1 Neighborhood Commercial zone north of the amendment area. A radio station is located north of the amendment area and is zoned 0-1 Quiet Office. The property to the east is zoned C-2 for a car dealership. To the west of the amendment area is zoned R-2 and is the Highland Valley United Methodist Church. South of the amendment area is a Planned Commercial Development for National Home Center. There is also a bank zoned C-3 General Commercial located southwest of this area at the intersection of Kanis Road and Chenal Parkway. FUTURE LAND USE PLAN AND RECENT AMENDMENTS: The amendment area is currently shown as Neighborhood Commercial and Office on the Future Land Use Plan. Public Institutional is shown to the west and Commercial is shown to the south and the east. North is planned for Office. Ordinance 19798 on August 6, 2007 amended this amendment site at the northwest corner of Chenal Parkway and Wellington Hills from Mixed Office June 11, 2009 SUBDIVISIO ITEM NO.: 10 (Cont.) FILE NO.: LU09-19-0 Commercial to Office and Neighborhood Commercial for a Walgreens development. Ordinance 19577 on August 15, 2006 amended the area at the southeast corner of Chenal Parkway and Arkansas Systems Drive from Office to Mixed Office Commercial. This was to allow for the development of a bank and a three-story building with 31 percent commercial. Ordinance 19581 on August 15, 2006 amended the area at the northwest corner of Rahling Road and Chenal Valley Drive from Office to Mixed Use for a shopping center at this location. Ordinance 19559 on June 27, 2006 amended the area on either side of Wellington Hills Boulevard, east of Kirk Road from Office, Neighborhood Commercial and Low Density Residential to Mixed Office Commercial to allow for future development of the area using the PZD process. Ordinance 19292 on April 5, 2005 changed multiple areas. An area on Chenonceau was changed from Mixed Office Commercial to Commercial. On Ranch Boulevard, one area was changed from Single Family to Public Institutional and another area was changed from Mixed Office Commercial to Commercial. The property at 5800 Ranch Drive was changed from Mixed Office Commercial to Office. At the northeast corner of Katillus and Cantrell an area was changed from Transition to Suburban Office. Further south on Katillus was changed from Transition to Single Family. All four corners at the intersection of Chenal and Cantrell were changed from Park/Open Space to Commercial. South of Cantrell on Chenal was changed from Park/Open Space to Single Family. At Cantrell Road and Highway 300 was changed from Public Institutional, Neighborhood Commercial, and Single Family to Suburban Office. On the south side of Cantrell Road at Highway 300 was changed from Public Institutional to Single Family and Low Density Residential. At the northeast corner of the intersection of Highway 300 and Cantrell a change was made from Single Family to Office. These amendments were part of a review of the Highway 10/Cantrell Corridor as requested by the Little Rock Board of Directors. Ordinance 19039 on January 20, 2004 amended the Office at the southwest corner of Rahling Road and Champlin and on the south side of Rahling Road approximately three hundred feet east of Champlin to Mixed Use for future development. 2 June 11, 2009 SUBDIVISION ITEM NO.: 10(Cont.)_ FILE NO.:_LU09-19-01 MASTER STREET PLAN: Chenal Parkway is shown as a Principal Arterial with Reduced Design Standards. The primary function of a Principal Arterial is to serve through traffic and to connect major traffic generators or activity centers within urbanized areas. Entrances and exits should be limited to minimize negative effects of traffic and pedestrians on Chenal since it is a Principal Arterial. Wellington Hills is shown as a Minor Arterial. A Minor Arterial provides connections to and through an urban area. Their primary function is to provide short distance travel within the urbanized area. These streets may require dedication of right-of-way and may require street improvements. BICYCLE PLAN: A Class I bike route is shown on Chenal Parkway. A Class I bikeway is built separate from or alongside a road. Additional paving and right of way may be required. PARKS: According to the Master Parks Plan, this site is located within eight blocks of a park or open space. South of this property is the Rock Creek greenbelt. 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 Rock Creek Neighborhood Action Plan. The Office and Commercial goal states "aggressively use Planned Zoning Districts (PZDs) to influence more neighborhood -friendly and better quality developments." ANALYSIS: This site has been the subject of three land use plan amendments in the past. In 1989, Commercial was shown on both sides of what was then called Wellington Village Drive with frontage along Chenal Parkway. The applicant wanted a larger amount of Commercial shown on the east side of the intersection to allow for a large commercial development. After a lengthy discussion at that planning commission meeting, the Land Use Plan was amended to Office on the west side E June 11, 2009 SUBDIVISION ITEM NO.: 10 Cont. FILE NO.: LU09-19-01 of the intersection and a larger section of Commercial on the east side to reflect the zoning changes. Then in December of 1999, a land use plan amendment was filed for the current amendment site to change it from Office to Commercial for a Saturn dealership. After much discussion and many deferrals, a compromise was reached. The future land use plan was amended to Mixed Office Commercial on the west side of the intersection at Wellington Hills Drive and Chenal Parkway to allow for the car dealership. The dealership was never developed. Most recently, this site was amended in 2007 from Mixed Office Commercial to split the northern portion as Office and the southern portion as Neighborhood Commercial to accommodate a Walgreen's store. Staff expanded that application to include the entirety of the Mixed Office Commercial planned for this intersection, so that part of it is Neighborhood Commercial and the northern part would be amended to Office. Staff thought this amendment was reasonable because it would allow for the same mixture of office and commercial uses, but the future land use plan would represent it differently. Wellington Hills Drive is a major entryway for a large single-family home neighborhood located north and east of this amendment area. Neighborhood Commercial at this site is appropriate since Neighborhood Commercial is designed for "limited, small scale commercial development in close proximity to a neighborhood, providing goods and services to that neighborhood market area." Based on this history of the site, staff feels that a change to Commercial would not be appropriate. This area's land use has already been compromised by the change from Mixed Office Commercial to Neighborhood Commercial and it needs to be protected from further Commercial expansion. There have been many new developments along Chenal Parkway in recent years. The City of Little Rock has tried to guide Chenal Parkway's development so as not to line the Parkway with intense commercial uses. Commercial uses that are acceptable are those that are designed to serve the surrounding neighborhood. There is still some undeveloped office and commercial use areas along Chenal Parkway. This area of Little Rock still has nearly 100 acres of undeveloped Office within a mile of this application and approximately 40 acres of undeveloped Commercial and Neighborhood Commercial along Rahling Road. The existing commercial and office is part of a large 'node' around the Chenal Parkway-Rahling Road intersection and includes intersections of these roads with Kanis Road, Kirk Road and Wellington Boulevard (all Arterials). 11 June 11, 2009 SUBDIVISION ITEM NO.: 10 {Cont.} _ FILE NO.: LU09-19-01 NEIGHBORHOOD COMMENTS: Notices were sent to the following neighborhood associations: St. Charles Community Association, Parkway Place Property Owners Association and The Villages of Wellington. Staff has received no comments from area residents. STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS: Staff believes the change is not appropriate, PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: (JUNE 11, 2009) Walter Malone, Planning Staff, reviewed the history of this site back to the mid-1980s. The area had shown Commercial and the City after much discussion agreed to move the entire Commercial to the east side after intersection. Then about eight to ten years later the City agreed to change from Office to Mixed Office Commercial on the site. Then after the Walgreen's development a change to Neighborhood Commercial for the frontage along Chenal Parkway and Office behind was approved. Staff does not believe since the area of the original agreement is not fully developed that the Plan should be changed back to Commercial now. Commissioner Yates asked about the differences between Neighborhood Commercial and Commercial. Generally Neighborhood Commercial is smaller in scale and oriented more to the immediate area — a smaller service area. Donna James of Planning Staff reviewed the related Planned Commercial Development request (Z-8458 — Item 10.1) — see that minute record for a complete review of the items. The applicant did indicate that they believe this is a neighborhood commercial use and thus appropriate without the change. The limited hours of operation, high quality of the development, local `ownership', and limited customers and services provided make it neighborhood friendly. Ms. Ruth Bell, League of Women Voters, spoke against the change and called it an example of 'nibbling away' on the Plan. Commissioner Laha, indicated that a lot of time had been spent on the Plan in the area when he was on the Plans Committee and he could not support the charge based on all the efforts made in that process. A motion was made to approve the Land Use Plan Amendment, by a vote of 2 for 7 against the amendment was denied. F7 Vicinity Map Land Use Amendment Case: LU09-19-01 Location: Chenal Parkway From NC and O to C Ward: 5 PD: 19 CT: 42.10 TRS: TIN R13W6 N 0 75 150 300 Feet Area r-' Vicinity Map L.jVlllll Case: LU09-19-01 Location: Chenal Parkway From NC and O to C Ward: 5 PD: 19 CT: 42.10 TRS: TIN R13W6 N A] 0 70140 280 Feet