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HomeMy WebLinkAboutapplicant letter with itemDepartment of Planning and Development 723 West Markham Street Little Rock, Arkansas 72201-1334 Phone: (501)371-4790 Fax: (501)371-4546 Planning Development Building Codes November 24, 2020 Brian Dale, White Dates & Associates 24 Rahling Circle Little Rock, AR 72223 Re: A338, Hastings Annexation Dear Mr. Dale: Please find enclosed the staff report for your annexation to be heard at the December 3, 2020 Planning Commission Hearing. As a result of the Mayor of Little Rock's declared health emergency Planning Commission hearings now start at 4:00 PM and takes place in the William Grant Still Ballroom of Robinson Center, 426 West Markham. There is a virtual option for the meeting. If you wish to attend virtually, no later than 24 hours prior to the meeting email Irzoning(Wittleorck.gov and disclose: a) email address (with video and mic options) to receive WebEx meeting info, and b) telephone number suitable for texting. Any presentation must be received at least 24 hours prior to the meeting. Presentations should be emailed to wmalone@littlerock.gov. At the hearing not only will you have the opportunity to explain your request for annexation, but also others will have the opportunity to give reasons why the City should or should not accept this annexation. After the Planning Commission meeting you will receive correspondence on the next step in the City's review process. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at (501) 371-6819, or wmalone@littlerock.gov . Sincerely, Walter Malone, AICP Planning Manager Enclosurl033e December 3, 2020 ITEM NO.: 3 FILE NO.: A-338 NAME: Hastings Annexation REQUEST: Accept 40 acres plus or minus to the City LOCATION: Along and south of Cooper Orbit Road, west of the Cooper Orbit /Kirby /Kanis Roads intersection (approximate 14200 through 14600 BLKs of Cooper Orbit Road) SOURCE: Brain Dale; White - Daters Associates - agent GENERAL INFORMATION: • On November 1, 2020 the Pulaski County Judge signed the Judge's Order verifying that the applicant had meet all the requirements of the 100% annexation process and approving the annexation. • The Tract is mostly wooded with the ruins of a house and out buildings. • There is one property owner. This is a '100- percent property' Owner annexation. • The site is contiguous to the City of Little Rock along the south, north and east sides. • The annexation request is to obtain City services. • The site is basically rectangular (NE1/4 NE1/4 of Section 7 T-1-N R-13-W), approximately 1266 to 1316 feet along the north and south property lines and approximately 1317 to 1307 feet along the west and east property lines. • The site is zoned R-2, Single Family District. AGENCY COMMENTS: Public Safety: Fire: Little Rock Fire Department indicated they "do not see any significant issues" with the proposed annexation. Police: Little Rock Police Department indicated no issues or concerns with the proposed annexation. Infrastructure and Community Facilities: Rock Region METRO Transit: No Comment Received. December 3, 2020 ITEM NO.: 3 (Cont.) FILE NO. A-338 Parks and Recreation: No Comment Received. Public Works: Little Rock Solid Waste Division induced they have no issues or concerns with the proposed annexation. The Engineering Division has indicted they have no issues or concerns with the proposed annexation. However they have noted issues with Cooper Orbit Road related to the poor condition of the road and flooding problems. Pulaski County Planning: No Comment Received. Arkansas Geographic Information Office: AGIO expressed no concerns with the annexation and noted the applicant had followed ARK CODE 14-40-101. Utilities: Central Arkansas Water: No Comment Received. Entergy: No Comment Received. Reliant- Energy: No Comment Received. Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority: No Comment Received. AT &T: No Comment Received. Schools: Little Rock: No Comment Received. The annexation area is not within the Little Rock School District. Pulaski County Special: No Comment Received. The annexation area is within the Pulaski County Special School District. ANALYSIS: The Tract requesting annexation is contiguous on three sides, the north, south and east. The City of Little Rock annexed the area to the east in 1982 as part of a General Election (City initiated) annexation (Ordinance 14302). The area to the south was added in 2008 with Ordinance 19909 (Rocket Development Annexation). And to the area to the north was added with Ordinance 20948 in 2014, the 'Sachs Suburban Tract 24 Annexation'. Based on aerials of the area, the Tract had been developed in the past. The northeast half of the Tract was once cleared with a house and several out buildings. By 2000 most of the cleared land had become over grown with only the central portion of the Tract still cleared (around the home site). Since then the site has become fully wooded with the structures falling into disrepair — becoming ruins. 2 December 3, 2020 ITEM NO.: 3 (Cont.) FILE NO. A-338 The northeastern third of the site is relatively flat with about a 10 -foot elevation change, rising from southeast to northwest. Two ridges move across the southwestern two-thirds of the Tract in the same southeast to northwest orientation. The first ridge rises over 60 feet. The high point of the Tract is at the western terminus of this ridge (on the western boundary of the Tract) approximately a third of the way south from the northwest corner of the Tract. Cooper Orbit Road traverses the Tract from east to west just south of the northern boundary. It is constructed as a two-lane county road with open ditches. The property is currently zoned R-2, Single Family Residential District. The Tract is overgrown and wooded with ruins of a single - family house and out buildings. To the southeast, south and west the land is zoned R-2, Single Family Residential District. The Woodlands Edge residential subdivision is located to the south. To the west, the adjacent Tract has a large warehouse and home on it. Further to the west are large- tracts with houses, on R-2 single - family zoned land. The land to the north is zoned Planned Development Residential District and C-1, Neighborhood Commercial District. The McKenzie Apartment complex is located on this land. To the east is land zoned Planned Commercial District and wooded. There is also a Planned Commercial District zoning to the northeast across Kanis and Kirby Roads. That land is currently cleared but vacant. The structures having been removed several years ago. The Land Use Plan shows the site as Residential Low Density (RL) with a small area of Mixed Office Commercial (MOC) at the northeast corner. The MOC is part of a larger area around the Kanis /Kirby /Cooper Orbit Roads intersection. Most of the MOC area is not developed. Suburban Office (SO) is shown to the north but is developed with an apartment complex. Land to the south, west and southeast is shown for Residential Low Density development. The Woodlands Edge Subdivision is to the south and southeast. This is a mostly developed single - family subdivision. Generally larger tract single - family homes are to the west. The applicant has several applications before the City of Little Rock for this site and the land immediately to the east. These applications consist of two single family developments for the annexation site. They are a Planned Residential Development (PRD) for the northern portion of the annexation area. This PRD consists of a proposed 80 plus detached garden patio homes and attached townhouses. A subdivision for some 65 single-family detached houses is proposed on the southern portion of the site. Both developments would be accessed via the round -about on Woodlands Trail to the east of the site. The applicant proposes to reclassify the land east of the annexation area from this new access road north to Kanis Road as C-1, Neighborhood Commercial District and C-3, General Commercial District for future commercial development. The applicant has provided the City with a letter from the Arkansas GIS Office (AGIO) confirming the request meets all the requirements of section 14-40-101 (dated October 9, 2020). The applicant has also provided the Judge's Order, signed on November 1, 2020. This confirms that the area requesting annexation is contiguous to the City of Little Rock; will be used for an urban purpose; the petitioner does own 100 percent of the land; 3 December 3, 2020 ITEM NO.: 3 (Cont.) FILE NO. A-338 and all requirements of Arkansas Law have been fulfilled. The Judge's Order does include all adjacent and traversing road rights-of-way (Cooper Orbit Road). Over 1300 linear feet of Cooper Orbit Road are included in this annexation. Cooper Orbit Road is a county road. It is a two-lane road without shoulders and with open ditches on both sides. This section of Cooper Orbit Road is not shown on the Master Street Plan due to a roadway re-alignment proposed to the west of the annexation area. Thus this segment of Cooper Orbit Road would be considered a 'Local Street' by the Master Street Plan. The road does not meet Little Rock Master Street Plan standards. The standard for a Local Street is 26 feet of pavement (back of curb) with curb and gutter, underground storm drainage and a sidewalk on one side of the roadway. After annexation there would still be a section of Cooper Orbit Road to the west that would remain outside of the City. (There will be approximate 2000 linear feet of roadway remaining outside the City Limits from the annexation area west to south of Brodie Creek). The Little Rock Solid Waste Division of the Public Works Department has indicated they have no issues or concerns with the proposed annexation. Solid Waste is a self- supporting enterprise fund and should not impact the general fund. That is the service is designed to be self-funding. The Public Works Department, Civil Engineering Division has indicated that Cooper Orbit Road is in `poor condition' and has flooding problems. Both of these will have to be addressed by the City if the roadway is annexed and becomes part of the City street system. It should also be noted that the long term plan is to abandon this section of Cooper Orbit Road when the connection to Panther Branch Drive is made. The necessary right-of-way to make this connection has been acquired by Pulaski County. The area of the connection will remain outside the City after this annexation and to the City's knowledge no funding has been identified to construct the connection. A 24-inch water service line exists along the east boundary of this annexation. A 12-inch service line exists along Cooper Orbit Road which traverses the Tract just south of the northern boundary. A 24-inch wastewater service line is along Brodie Creek to the south- southwest of this property. There are one to three properties between the wastewater service line and the property involved in this annexation (depending on the alignment a service line connection would make). As part of the development of the land, the developer will have to extend these services from the existing service lines to any new development. The closest fire station (Station 23) is located at 300 Oak Meadow Drive. From this station via existing streets is just under two-thirds of a mile to the annexation area. With the proposed new road pattern for the development this would become approximately 0.9 of a mile. Station 15, at 8915 Kanis Road, is the next closest station with runs of approximately 3.25 miles to the annexation area with current road and 3.5 miles with the proposed road pattern. The Fire Department indicated they "do not see any significant issues" with proposed annexation. The Little Rock Police Department responded they have no concerns or issues with this annexation. Both east and west of the annexation 4 December 3, 2020 ITEM NO.: 3 (Cont.) FILE NO. A-338 area there are areas where police patrols must serve. The patrols currently traverse the annexation area via Cooper Orbit Road to serve both the Capitol Lakes Estates and Spring Valley Manor neighborhoods. The annexation would increase the linear feet of road where the Department might have to respond to traffic issues. Since there are no businesses or homes within the annexation area and the area is wooded, neither public safety agency expects much demand. Staff Recommendation: Approval of the annexation- 6