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HomeMy WebLinkAboutstaff report march meetingMarch 30, 2006 ITEM NO.: 24 FILE NO.: LU06-18-02 Name: Land Use Plan Amendment - Ellis Mountain Planning District Location: 19618 Lawson Road Request: Single Family to Service Trades District Source: Pat McGetrick, McGetrick Engineering PROPOSAL / REQUEST: Land Use Plan amendment in the Ellis Mountain Planning District from Single Family to Service Trades District. Service Trades District provides for a selection of office, warehousing and industrial park activities that primarily serve office service or industrial businesses. The accompanying Planned Zoning District requested is for a Contractors Yard. Staff is not expanding the application since Staff could determine no logical area of expansion. EXISTING LAND USE AND ZONING: The property is rural, undeveloped, currently zoned R2 Single Family and is 2 acres t in size. The location is outside the city limits. The areas to the north, west and south are rural in nature. Most of this area is zoned R2 Single Family with some AF Agriculture and Forestry zoning. The City zoned these areas as part of the initiation of extra -territorial zoning. To the southwest is one tract zoned Planned Commercial Development. Along Lawson Road both to the east and west are a few legal non -conforming uses zoned R2 Single Family. There are also homes along Lawson Road zoned R2 Single Family. To the east along Lawson Road is a more density though rural development pattern of homes with a few businesses. FUTURE LAND USE PLAN AND RECENT AMENDMENTS: July 20, 2004, a change was made from Mixed Use to Mixed Office Commercial along the north side of 36th Street between Bowman Road and 1-430, about a mile east of the site. This change was made as a result of a rezoning request for office zoning. April 6, 2004 a change was made from Single Family to Suburban Office at the southeast corner of Kanis and Pride Valley Road, over two miles to the north of the site. This change was for redevelopment of a structure for an office use. February 4, 2003, a change was made from Multifamily to Mixed Office March 30, 2006 ITEM NO.: 24 (Cont.) FILE NO.: LU06-18-02 Commercial south of Brodie Creek west of 1-430, about a mile to the north east of the sire. This change was made to incorporate all the land south of Brodie Creek into one large proposal for a shopping center development. January 7, 2003, a change was made from Low Density Residential to Multifamily at Cooper Orbit and Capital Lakes Blvd., over two miles to the north of the site. This change was made to accommodate a plann4d development for apartments. July 3, 2001, a change was made from Low Density Residential, Mixed Office Commercial, and Neighborhood Commercial to Single Family — over a mile to the north of the site. This change was made to replace the proposed 'Brodie Creel New Towne' development with the 'Woodlands Edge' residential subdivision. The Land Use Plan shows Single Family for this site and all the surrounding area. There is a small Public Institutional Use area shown to the southeast. The only other non -Single Family use area east of McHenry Creek along Lawson Road is from Church to Colonel Glenn Road. This area is shown for Office use with a small amount of Commercial at the intersection of Colonel Glenn and Lawson Roads. MASTER STREET PLAN: Lawson Road is shown as a Minor Arterial on the plan. The primary function is to move vehicles through and area the area, not to provide access to adjacent properties. These roads tend to be four or five lane roads with sidewalks on both sides. Currently this section of Lawson Road is not built to standard. Additional right-of-way and street improvements will likely be required as part of the development process. BICYCLE PLAN: The Master Street Plan, Bicycle section, shows a Class I Bike route along Mc Henry Creek to the south and south west of the site. A Class I bike route has a separate paved path for the sole use of bicycles. PARKS: The Little Rock Parks and Recreation Master Plan does not indicate that the site is within 8 -blocks of an existing public or private park or open space. However the Plan's 'Take it to the Extreme' Trail is proposed to follow McHenry Creek in this area and with this addition the site would meet the Plan's 8 -block goal. 2 March 30, 2006 ITEM NO.: 24 (Cont.) FILE NO.- LU06-1 HISTORIC DISTRICTS: There are no city recognized historic districts that would be affected by this amendment. CITY RECOGNIZED NEIGHBORHOOD ACTION PLAN: The property under review is not located in an area covered by a City of Little Rock recognized neighborhood action plan. ANALYSIS: The request area is outside the city limits within the Little Rock Planning and Zoning area. The section of Lawson Road from Church to McHenry Creek is a typical rural development pattern near an urban area. That is primarily single- family homes lining the road with a scattering of non-residential uses. The use pattern has been in place for many decades. It should be noted that it appears that one or two single-family homes have been added in the last few years along this corridor. There is one large business area east of Duvall on the north side of the road. This is a contractors office and yard, with an automobile repair facility. A second contractor office with yard is located on the south side of Lawson Road west of Duvall halfway to McHenry Creek. This application area is for a third such use. This would be on the north side of Lawson almost to McHenry Creek. Lawson Road is classified as a Minor Arterial road. The road is currently two - lanes with open ditches. An arterial design standard is for four lanes with curb and gutter and sidewalks. The road is significantly under design. Additional right-of-way will be required with redevelopment and widening is likely. The 2004 traffic count for this section of Lawson was 6700 vehicles a day. The volumes are approaching levels where the additional lanes will be necessary. The City policy for land use is to develop using the `node' concept. That is, retail, commercial and businesses should be group around major intersections. These uses should not line major roads. This is done in part to reduce traffic issues along the major roadways. Lawson Road is a major road and just non-residential uses should be clustered or grouped at major intersections. A major intersection is one with another arterial or a collector road. The recent addition of single-family homes indicates a continuing demand and desire for residential along Lawson Road. It should be noted that in the last five years significant development of non-residential uses has been occurring at the Colonel Glenn Road —1-430 Interchange. This is just over a mile to the east of KI March 30, 2006 ITEM NO.: 24 (Cont. FILE NO.: LU06-18-02 the site. There remain abundant undeveloped areas zoned for commercial and office uses at this location. The immediate area is rural in nature. With the ridgelines to the north and south along with McHenry Creek, high density or urban density development is not likely. The topography is likely to also reduce the likelihood of future north -south road development. The area to the south and southeast, which is still outside the city limits, is the most likely candidate for a more urban development pattern. And this is not likely without annexation to the City. With a rural development pattern less non-residential use is needed and the separation between such uses is greater. In this section of Lawson Road the primary use is Single Family. Homes currently exist and are well maintained. There are, as noted, a couple of non- residential uses in the general vicinity. However they are the exception not the development rule. They existed prior to the City implementing land -use regulations (zoning) in the area. The City has allowed via the Planned Zoning District process the expansion of one of these uses. There have been actions over the last five years, which have increased the available Commercial, Office and Service Trades uses in the vicinity to the east. Much of this land still has not been developed. There appears to be demand for single-family use based on the occupancy and maintenance of the properties. The request is to change the Land Use Plan from Single Family to Service Trades to allow a new use to locate on Lawson Road. The site has been used for single family in the past. The overall area is rural in nature. Lawson Road will have to be widened in future years. With the topography and lot depth a single- family home could be built on this site. NEIGHBORHOOD COMMENTS: Notices were sent to the John Barrow Neighborhood Association. Staff has received no comments from area residents. STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS: Staff believes the change is not appropriate. 2 Vicinity Map Plan Amendment Case: LU06-18-02 Location: Lawson Road West of Duvall N Outside City Limits PD: 18 CT: 42.07 0 212.5 425 850 Feet TRS: T1NR13W20 Area Vicinity Map ZJonin Case: LU06-18-02 Location: Lawson Road West of Duvall N Ward: 7 PD: 18 CT: 42.07 0 260 520 1,040 Feet TRS: T1NROW20