PC Minutes 4/21/14 DRAFT
ITEM NO. 5 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AMENDMENT TO HORIZON 2020 CHAPTERS 6 & 14; REVISE MAXIMUM RETAIL CAP (JSC/AAM)
CPA-14-00059: Consider a Comprehensive Plan Amendment to Horizon 2020, Chapters 6 and 14 to revise the maximum retail cap from 72,000 SF to 122,000 square feet to permit a proposed grocery development in Bauer Farm, located at 4700 Overland Drive.
ITEM NO. 6A PCD TO PCD; 8 ACRES; 4700 OVERLAND DR (SLD)
Z-14-00057: Consider a request to rezone approximately 8 acres from PCD-[Bauer Farm] to PCD-[Bauer Farm Northwest], located at 4700 Overland Drive. The zoning application proposes modifying the uses in the PD (Planned Development) from a mix of residential, office, with 14,440 SF of retail space to 45,048 SF retail space, 6,150 SF office space, and no residential use. Submitted by Treanor Architects, for Free State Group, LLC and Bauer Farms Residential, LLC, property owners of record.
ITEM NO. 6B PRELIMINARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR BAUER FARM; 4700 OVERLAND DR (SLD)
PDP-14-00055: Consider a Revised Preliminary Development Plan for Bauer Farm and Bauer Farm Northwest, and Bauer Farm Residential to include the addition of a 108 room hotel and two retail stores and one mixed use building in Bauer Farm Northwest, located at 4700 Overland Drive. The plan proposes 45,048 SF of retail uses where 14,440 SF was previously approved. Changes to Bauer Farm Residential include a revision to the number of residential dwelling units from 272 to 342, removing a street connection to Overland Drive, and revising the building form from row houses to apartments along W. 6th Street and Overland Drive. Submitted by Treanor Architects, for Free State Group, LLC and Bauer Farms Residential, LLC, property owners of record.
STAFF PRESENTATION
Mr. Jeff Crick presented item 5 and Ms. Sandra Day presented items 6A and 6B.
APPLICANT PRESENTATION
Mr. Matt Murphy, Treanor Architects, said he agreed with the staff report.
Mr. Bill Fleming, Treanor Architects, said the project retained new urbanism elements with the buildings being pushed to the street. He said internal streets were built to reduce curb cuts on the periphery and that land was donated for Theatre Lawrence. He said there was limited demand for office uses and that the change was in response to the market.
PUBLIC HEARING
Mr. Jonathan Becker, Briarwood Community Association, said Bauer Farm was too big. He said the original Horizon 2020 proposal was for a regional node for 350,000-450,000 sq ft in the area and unfortunately the south side of 6th Street was immediately developed and 300,000 sq ft went in. He agreed with the new urbanism design from 2005 because it would buffer from the intensity of 6th and Wakarusa. He said there would be a 70% increase in the square footage allowed. He said the regional node was surrounded by apartment complexes. He felt it was unfortunate that the promises made in 2005 would not be kept.
APPLICANT CLOSING COMMENTS
Mr. Fleming said 40,000 square feet was only 10% of the total amount of commercial at the node now. He said some of the residential counts included Meadowlark Estates with approximately 120 beds.
COMMISSION DISCUSSION
Commissioner von Achen asked staff to respond to the change in the philosophy of design.
Ms. Day said to be able to have the previous kind of design would be great but the change was due to the reality of the market today. She said so much of commercial development was based on a known interest in a particular piece of property. She said the change was trying to be responsive to market conditions.
Commissioner Josserand inquired about the previous history and asked about the need for increased residential density to the east.
Mr. Fleming said he was trying to meet the existing allowed density under PCD2, which was about 25 units per acre.
Commissioner Josserand inquired about the area next to 6th Street on the south end that used to be RO zoning.
Ms. Day said the Code had changed. She said under the old Code residential districts never got filled and that filling the office space had been a challenge.
Mr. Fleming said the plan had always contemplated higher density along 6th Street in the nature of apartments. He said the PCD zoning on the property was initiated by City Commission over their objection. He said it was part of the Wal Mart development.
Commissioner Kelly asked if an allowable use for the retail portion was sale of liquor, beer, and alcohol across from a school.
Ms. Day said that was allowed today.
Commissioner Kelly asked if the Comprehensive Plan was being changed because the market didn’t deliver or if conditions had changed.
Mr. McCullough said the Comprehensive Plan was one reasonable scenario in a development area. He said this was a unique node. He said times had changed and Commission members had changed since the genesis of developing the north side of 6th and Wakarusa, with Wal Mart on the west and Bauer Farm on the east. He said that was pre-recession and had there not been a recession the Bauer Farm development could have had the opportunity to represent new urbanism development. He said there were still nuggets of what the new urbanism elements called for with Theatre Lawrence and the senior housing. He said the commercial veered from smaller scale.
Mr. Fleming said Horizon 2020 did not match up with the market place demand. He said the limitation of 62,000 sq ft on retail did not make it successful for true urbanism. He said he did not think after this was over that the size of the node would expand because it had reached its natural limit.
Commissioner von Achen asked staff to respond to Mr. Kirk McClure’s letter regarding Planning Commissions responsibility about deciding whether the community could handle more retail.
Mr. McCullough said the retail market study showed there were not steep trends in blight or vacancy rates. He said there were no policies about studying individual sectors of retail and providing recommendations regarding the hotel industry or burger industry, for example.
Commissioner Culver asked if rezoning condition 2 would not exceed 50,000 sq ft maximum and that no single retail or commercial building would be larger than 50,000 sq ft. He also asked if that would protect the area from having a big-box type of development.
Ms. Day said that was correct.
Commissioner Britton said it was hard to balance holding out for planning aspirations or responding to the market. He said the overall increase of commercial in the node was just 10%. He said there may be character change of the corner but not so much of the node because there were buildings with parking lots out front. He said if they were not careful it could start looking like 23rd Street from Iowa to Louisiana Street.
Commissioner Josserand said he had heartburn about increased residential density. He said previous Commissioners had spent a lot of time on this topic. He said he was reluctant to support a motion of approval.
Commissioner Kelly said he had high aspirations for this property and he was disappointed with the development so far. He said the entire node had struggled with the amount of retail that was going in. He said he struggled with the idea of a hotel and liquor and beer sales across from the high school. He said the Comprehensive Plan had a more suitable use to translate from the commercial on the other three corners into the high school. He said he was not ready to let the north side look just like the south side of the street.
Mr. Mike Treanor said mixed use projects had struggled all over the country. He said the project had been financed for 12 years. He said there was a retailer that had come forward that would be good for the area. He said mixed use projects were being developed in the downtown area.
Commissioner Culver said the reality they were facing was a changing market. He felt it would be detrimental to wait 10 more years and have the parcels still vacant.
Commissioner von Achen said she was not sure how she felt about this overall but said increasing density in the same footprint would reduce sprawl.
Commissioner Rasmussen said he would support the staff recommendations for approval. He said since this project had span for 12 years he trusted staff and their professional recommendation. He said he liked the denser development and liked having agriculture land surrounding the city.
Commissioner Struckhoff said he was inclined to support the staff recommendation. He said he would like the area to be conducive to pedestrian and bicycle traffic. He said he was inclined to support a motion for approval due to the market change.
Commissioner Rasmussen asked the applicant about excluding liquor, wine, and beer sales from the motion.
Mr. Fleming said it was already permitted and that the language was just being clarified. He said it was not a new request it was just clarifying the use already permitted.
Mr. Murphy said Bauer Farm was the most walkable corner in that node and that there were sidewalks within the development.
Commissioner Liese inquired about liquor stores in proximity to schools.
Mr. McCullough said he thought the distance requirement was 400’ from door to door.
Commissioner Leise said he feared stagnation more than abandoning aspirations.
Commissioner Britton felt if they were going to depart from the plan it should be for a good reason and he thought this may be a good reason. He said density versus capacity for the community were two different things. He thanked staff for their work on the report. He said he would support a motion to approve.
Commissioner Josserand said he did not see the need for increased residential density just to approve increased commercial.
ACTION TAKEN on Item 5
Motioned by Commissioner Rasmussen, seconded by Commissioner Liese, to approve the Comprehensive Plan Amendment (CPA-14-00059) to Horizon 2020 Chapter 6: Commercial Land Use, Chapter 14: Specific Plans, and the Area Plan for the Intersection Area of West 6th Street & Wakarusa Drive to revise the retail/commercial gross square-footage cap from 72,000 gross square feet to 122,000 gross square feet, and recommends forwarding this Comprehensive Plan Amendment to the Lawrence City Commission with a recommendation for approval.
Motion carried 8-2, with Commissioners Josserand and Kelly voting in opposition.
ACTION TAKEN on Item 6A
Motioned by Commissioner Rasmussen, seconded by Commissioner Struckhoff, to approve rezoning approximately 8 acres from PCD-[Bauer Farm] to PCD-[Bauer Farm Northwest] based on the findings presented in the staff report and forwarding it to the City Commission with a recommendation for approval subject to the following conditions:
2. No single retail or commercial building shall be larger than 50,000 gross square feet of space.
3. All residential uses are prohibited.
4. The permitted list of uses shall be included as part of the rezoning ordinance to specifically include:
a. Licensed Premises; and Liquor, wine and beer sales for consumption off the premises.
b. Hotel and Motel
5. The permitted uses include uses listed on the approved Final Development Plan for Bauer Farm in the following Use Groups, except as specifically prohibited here:
a. Use Group 7 – Community Facilities – Public Utilities, are permitted except the following uses are prohibited: Halfway house or service-oriented rehabilitation center or residence; Hospital, general, not including animal; Rehabilitation center for persons with disabilities; and Sewage disposal plant, private;
b. USE GROUP 9 – PROFESSIONAL OFFICES; are permitted
c. USE GROUP 9a – LIMITED SERVICES; are permitted
d. USE GROUP 11 – INNER NEIGHBORHOOD COMMERCIAL USES; are permitted
e. USE GROUP 12 – RETAIL STORES – PERSONAL SERVICES, are permitted except the following uses are prohibited: Automobile service stations; Department store; Food convenience store, including gasoline sales and single bay auto wash; Furrier shop, including the storage of furs; Hat blocking and repair; Pawnshop; Reading room; Surgical and dental supply sales; Similar Uses; and Accessory Uses;
f. USE GROUP 13 – AUTOMOTIVE SERVICES; RETAIL SALES; OTHER, are permitted except the following uses are prohibited: Aircraft sales, rental, service; Ambulance service; Auction room auctioneer; Automobile service station; Baseball park, commercial; Boat and marine sales, rental and repair; Carnival or circus; Carting, crating, express hauling, moving and storage; Eating establishment, providing only drive up service or no seating facilities; Exterminator, pest; Food convenience store, including gasoline sales; Food locker plant, for consumer use; Funeral home, mortuary, or undertaking establishment; Garage or parking for common or public utility vehicles; Glass sales and cutting shop; Linen supply, diaper service, uniform supply; Liquids, flammable, underground storage of; Lumber, limited sales; Media Store (Ord. 7226); Mobile homes, sales and service; Motorcycle sales, service and rental; Photostatting; Sex Shop (Ord. 7226); Sexually Oriented Media Store (Ord. 7226); Taxidermist; Telephone answering service; Theatre, drive-in; Trailer sales and rental; Transit vehicle storage and servicing; Truck rental and sales; Similar Uses; and Accessory Uses; AND
g. USE GROUP 15 – AMUSEMENT, RECREATIONAL AND CULTURAL FACILITIES, are permitted except the following use is prohibited: Race Track.
Motion carried 9-1, with Commissioner Josserand voting in opposition.
ACTION TAKEN on Item 6B
Motioned by Commissioner Rasmussen, seconded by Commissioner Liese, to approve the revised Preliminary Development Plan for Bauer Farm Planned Development based upon the findings of fact presented in the body of the staff report and subject to the following conditions:
1. Provision of a revised plan that includes the following notes and changes:
a. Revise General Note 39 to correctly reflect the variances and waivers granted with this revised Preliminary Development Plan.
b. Show the extension of the Access and Utility Easement in Block 1 north to Overland Drive.
c. Label the water line on the north side of Bauer Farm Drive as existing or proposed, as applicable.
d. Show and label all proposed easements such that all proposed water lines are located within right-of-way or in a utility easement.
e. Provide additional easement along the south side of Overland Drive to complete a total of 15’ wide utility easement for the sanitary sewer.
f. Show and label the sanitary sewer service line for the proposed hotel use.
g. Revise the sanitary sewer alignment extension to Block 9, Lot 5 so that it is not located within the Bauer Farm Drive right-of-way.
h. Show and label all sanitary sewer easements.
i. Revise General Notes on page 4 as they related to the proposed duplex uses.
j. Show and note the correct off-street parking summary for the residential uses.
k. Revise General Note 43 on page 4 to indicate that the maintenance agreement shall be reviewed, modified and re-executed as applicable to each Final Development Plan for Bauer Farm.
2. Provision of an exhibit to show the location and amount of open space in the commercial and residential portions of the development
Motion carried 9-1, with Commissioner Josserand voting in opposition.