HomeMy WebLinkAboutstaff reportMarch 11, 2010
ITEM NO.: 8 FILE NO.: LU09-02
Name: Land Use Plan Category Amendment
Source: Staff
PROPOSAL/REQUEST:
The Planning and Development Staff was asked to review all categories of the Future
Land Use Plan after the residential categories were changed in 2009. The categories
were mostly still applicable, but staff does have two changes to recommend. Staff is
proposing to eliminate the Community Shopping (CS) category from the Land Use Plan
and to combine all current property shown as CS into the Commercial category. Staff is
also proposing to eliminate the Business Node category and to rename all property
shown as Business Node as Mixed Use. The currently adopted categories and
definitions are as follows:
Community Shopping --CS
This category provides for shopping center development with one or more
general merchandise stores.
Commercial --C
This category includes a broad range of retail and wholesale sales of products,
personal and professional services, and general business activities. Commercial
activities vary in type and scale, depending on the trade area that they serve.
Business Node --NODE
This category provides for the existence of a sufficient concentration (minimum of
3) of long-term established businesses on both sides of a major street. The
businesses must be contiguous or in close proximity. A Planned Zoning District
is required.
Mixed Use --MX
This category provides for a mixture of residential, office and commercial uses to
occur. A Planned Zoning District is required if the use is entirely office or
commercial or if the use is a mixture of the three.
The Planning Staff is now proposing to combine the Community Shopping category into
the Commercial category and to combine the Business Node category into the Mixed
Use category in an effort to make the Future Land Use Plan more understandable. The
Planning Staff had originally included Community Shopping to serve as a different type
of Commercial, but over the years these two categories have been used as if they were
the same category. It now seems superfluous to have both categories listed on our map
since they are being used for the same purpose. This proposal would change all
properties currently shown as Community Shopping as Commercial on the Future Land
March 11, 2010
ITEM NO.: 8_ _(Cont.
FILE NO.: LU09-02
Use Plan, and the Community Shopping category will be eliminated. There are about
fourteen areas scattered throughout the city that are currently shown as Community
Shopping. When staff reviewed the areas, the use and zoning proved to be similar to
the use and zoning mix for 'Commercial'. This review lead to the decision that there
was not enough differences in how Community Shopping areas were treated relative to
Commercial areas to justify different categories.
The second change would eliminate the Business Node category completely. There are
currently only three areas shown in the City of Little Rock as Business Node. They are
located along Crystal Valley Road, Cantrell Road and Colonel Glenn Road. They were
originally developed when the city expanded into the extraterritorial jurisdiction area to
handle existing areas of commercial activity that were away from major intersections or
other logical places for commercial uses. After studying the Future Land Use Plan
categories, staff is proposing to combine these three areas shown as Business Node
into the Mixed Use category. Mixed Use has been used along corridors that are still
mainly residential but are shown on the Master Street Plan as higher classifications of
streets. Changing these areas to Mixed Use would be consistent with what we have
done in other areas of the city. Mixed Use still allows for some commercial uses, but it
also allows for potential office or residential uses. The Mixed Use category and the
Business Node category both require a Planned Zoning District, so these areas would
still enjoy that added layer of protection through the zoning review process.
Both of these changes can be seen as 'clean-up' type changes and have had good
response from the property owners. All property owners that are currently shown as
Community Shopping or Business Node were notified of this proposed change by letter
in October 2009. After receiving good feedback from these property owners, staff sent
a second notice to all property owners with the public hearing date and information.
STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS.-
Approval
ECOMMENDATIONS:
Approval
PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: (MARCH 11, 2010)
The item was placed on the consent agenda for approval. By a vote of 9 for and
0 against the consent agenda was approved.
V4
March 11, 2010
ITEM NO.: 8 [Cont.1 FILE NO.: LU09-02
Use Plan, and the Community Shopping category will be eliminated. There are about
fourteen areas scattered throughout the city that are currently shown as Community
Shopping. When staff reviewed the areas, the use and zoning proved to be similar to
the use and zoning mix for 'Commercial'. This review lead to the decision that there
was not enough differences in how Community Shopping areas were treated relative to
Commercial areas to justify different categories.
The second change would eliminate the Business Node category completely. There are
currently only three areas shown in the City of Little Rock as Business Node. They are
located along Crystal Valley Road, Cantrell Road and Colonel Glenn Road. They were
originally developed when the city expanded into the extraterritorial jurisdiction area to
handle existing areas of commercial activity that were away from major intersections or
other logical places for commercial uses. After studying the Future Land Use Plan
categories, staff is proposing to combine these three areas shown as Business Node
into the Mixed Use category. Mixed Use has been used along corridors that are still
mainly residential but are shown on the Master Street Plan as higher classifications of
streets. Changing these areas to Mixed Use would be consistent with what we have
done in other areas of the city. Mixed Use still allows for some commercial uses, but it
also allows for potential office or residential uses. The Mixed Use category and the
Business Node category both require a Planned Zoning District, so these areas would
still enjoy that added layer of protection through the zoning review process.
Both of these changes can be seen as 'clean-up' type changes and have had good
response from the property owners. All property owners that are currently shown as
Community Shopping or Business Node were notified of this proposed change by letter
in October 2009. After receiving good feedback from these property owners, staff sent
a second notice to all property owners with the public hearing date and information.
STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS:
Approval
2