B-05 (NPA-2020-0031.01 - 8803 N Mopac; District 10) — original pdf

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Planning Commission: May 12, 2020 DATE FILED: January 31, 2020 (out-of-cycle) NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN AMENDMENT REVIEW SHEET NEIGHORHOOD PLAN: North Shoal Creek CASE#: NPA-2020-0031.01 PROJECT NAME: 8803 N. MOPAC PC DATE: April 14, 2020 ADDRESS: 8803 N. MOPAC Expressway DISTRICT AREA: 10 SITE AREA: 3.31 acs OWNER/APPLICANT: SemMaterials Partners LLC % BKEP Materials AGENT: Drenner Group, PC (Amanda Swor) CASE MANAGER: Maureen Meredith STAFF EMAIL: Maureen.meredith@austintexas.gov TYPE OF AMENDMENT: Change in Future Land Use Designation PHONE: (512) 974-2695 From: Industry Base District Zoning Change To: Commerce Related Zoning Case: C14-2020-0013 From: LI To: CS NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN ADOPTION DATE: PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION: May 12, 2020 - STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Recommended. BASIS FOR STAFF’S RECOMMENDATION: August 23, 2018 1 of 20B-05Planning Commission: May 12, 2020 LAND USE DESCRIPTIONS EXISTING LAND USE ON THE PROPERTY Industry – The industry district is found in areas with established light industrial and office uses or in areas where those uses may be appropriate in the future. The district is generally not compatible with, nor should it be located adjacent to residential uses. Residential uses are not allowed in this district due to noise, vibrations, truck traffic, emissions, and storage of hazardous materials. This district is appropriate for individual sites or smaller groupings of industrial uses. Character and Intent • Entirely industrial/office/services, no residential uses. • Typical Land Uses: o Primary Uses: Light Manufacturing centers, distribution and warehousing, technology/data centers, flexible industrial spaces, contractor yards. o Secondary Uses: Commercial, office, civic, and institutional uses; ponds and storm water facilities. Industry District Features The following features were identified as characteristics that should be typical to the Industry District: • Offices, warehouses, industrial parks with truck loading facilities • Building heights generally one to three stories • Adequate parking, visible from street • Storage yards or containers screened from view of street • Deep front setbacks • Landscaping along street frontages. PROPOSED LAND USE ON THE PROPERTY Commerce - This character district accommodates commercial activities such as retail entertainment venues, or campuses located mostly along highway frontage roads. Although these sites should allow for internal pedestrian connectivity, their overall design is fashioned to the needs of people arriving by car. Residential uses are inappropriate due to a lack of external connectivity. Character and Intent • Entirely commercial, no residential uses. • Typical Land Uses o Primary Uses: Office, retail restaurants, services, car dealerships and multitenant commercial. 2 2 of 20B-05Planning Commission: May 12, 2020 o Secondary Uses: Entertainment, recreation, institutional uses, ponds and storm water facilities. Commerce District Features The following features were identified as characteristics that should be typical to the Commerce District: • Auto-oriented, region-serving commercial with frontage road access • Building heights up to six stories where not adjacent to Residential Core • Heights should step down to be compatible with adjacent residences • Placement of windows should respect the privacy of neighboring residences • Landscaping and fences to buffer adjacent residences • Adequate parking, visible from street • Multi-lane drive-thru facilities. IMAGINE AUSTIN PLANNING PRINCIPLES 1. Create complete neighborhoods across Austin that provide a mix of housing types to suit a variety of household needs and incomes, offer a variety of transportation options, and have easy access to daily needs such as schools, retail, employment, community services, and parks and other recreation options. • The property is located within the edge of the North Burnet Gateway Regional Activity Center. The proposed zoning of CS does not allow residential uses. Public transportation is not conveniently located near the property and is not conveniently located near schools, retail, parks, community services and recreation options, although it is near office buildings. 2. Support the development of compact and connected activity centers and corridors that are well-served by public transit and designed to promote walking and bicycling as a way of reducing household expenditures for housing and transportation. • The property is located within the edge of the North Burnet Gateway Regional Activity Center. Public transportation is not conveniently located near the property and is currently not conducive for pedestrian or bicycling activities. 3. Protect neighborhood character by ensuring context-sensitive development and directing more intensive development to activity centers and corridors, redevelopment, and infill sites. • The property is within the edge of the North Burnet Gateway Regional Activity Center where office and commercial uses are appropriate. 4. Expand the number and variety of housing choices throughout Austin to meet the financial and lifestyle needs of our diverse population. • The applicant is not proposing residential uses. 5. Ensure harmonious transitions between adjacent land uses and development intensities. 3 3 of 20B-05Planning Commission: May 12, 2020 • The proposed land use of Commerce is appropriate for this area. 6. Protect Austin’s natural resources and environmental systems by limiting land use and transportation development over environmentally sensitive areas and preserve open space and protect the function of the resource. • The property is not located in an environmentally sensitive area. 7. Integrate and expand green infrastructure—preserves and parks, community gardens, trails, stream corridors, green streets, greenways, and the trails system—into the urban environment and transportation network. 8. Protect, preserve and promote historically and culturally significant areas. • To staff’s knowledge at this time, this is not an historic or culturally significant • Not applicable. property. 9. Encourage active and healthy lifestyles by promoting walking and biking, healthy food choices, access to affordable healthcare, and to recreational opportunities. • The property is located in an area that that is not conducive for walking and biking as it is developed now. 10. Expand the economic base, create job opportunities, and promote education to support a strong and adaptable workforce. • Not directly applicable. creative art forms. • Not applicable. 11. Sustain and grow Austin’s live music, festivals, theater, film, digital media, and new 12. Provide public facilities and services that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, decrease water and energy usage, increase waste diversion, ensure the health and safety of the public, and support compact, connected, and complete communities. • Not applicable. 4 4 of 20B-05Proximity to Imagine Austin Activity Corridors and Centers Planning Commission: May 12, 2020 5 5 of 20B-05 Proximity to Parks Facilities Planning Commission: May 12, 2020 6 6 of 20B-05Planning Commission: May 12, 2020 Proximity to Public Transportation IMAGINE AUSTIN GROWTH CONCEPT MAP Definitions Neighborhood Centers - The smallest and least intense of the three mixed-use centers are neighborhood centers. As with the regional and town centers, neighborhood centers are walkable, bikable, and supported by transit. The greatest density of people and activities in neighborhood centers will likely be concentrated on several blocks or around one or two intersections. However, depending on localized conditions, different neighborhood centers can be very different places. If a neighborhood center is designated on an existing commercial area, such as a shopping center or mall, it could represent redevelopment or the addition of housing. A new neighborhood center may be focused on a dense, mixed-use core surrounded by a mix of housing. In other instances, new or redevelopment may occur incrementally and concentrate people and activities along several blocks or around one or two intersections. Neighborhood centers will be more locally focused than either a regional or a town center. Businesses and services—grocery and department stores, doctors and dentists, shops, branch libraries, dry cleaners, hair salons, schools, restaurants, and other small and local businesses—will generally serve the center and surrounding neighborhoods. Town Centers - Although less intense than regional centers, town centers are also where many people will live and work. Town centers will have large and small employers, although 7 7 of 20B-05Planning Commission: May 12, 2020 fewer than in regional centers. These employers will have regional customer and employee bases, and provide goods and services for the center as well as the surrounding areas. The buildings found in a town center will range in size from one-to three-story houses, duplexes, townhouses, and rowhouses, to low-to midrise apartments, mixed use buildings, and office buildings. These centers will also be important hubs in the transit system. Job Centers - Job centers accommodate those businesses not well-suited for residential or environmentally- sensitive areas. These centers take advantage of existing transportation infrastructure such as arterial roadways, freeways, or the Austin-Bergstrom International airport. Job centers will mostly contain office parks, manufacturing, warehouses, logistics, and other businesses with similar demands and operating characteristics. They should nevertheless become more pedestrian and bicycle friendly, in part by better accommodating services for the people who work in those centers. While many of these centers are currently best served by car, the growth Concept map offers transportation choices such as light rail and bus rapid transit to increase commuter options. Corridors - Activity corridors have a dual nature. They are the connections that link activity centers and other key destinations to one another and allow people to travel throughout the city and region by bicycle, transit, or automobile. Corridors are also characterized by a variety of activities and types of buildings located along the roadway — shopping, restaurants and cafés, parks, schools, single-family houses, apartments, public buildings, houses of worship, mixed-use buildings, and offices. Along many corridors, there will be both large and small redevelopment sites. These redevelopment opportunities may be continuous along stretches of the corridor. There may also be a series of small neighborhood centers, connected by the roadway. Other corridors may have fewer redevelopment opportunities, but already have a mixture of uses, and could provide critical transportation connections. As a corridor evolves, sites that do not redevelop may transition from one use to another, such as a service station becoming a restaurant or a large retail space being divided into several storefronts. To improve mobility along an activity corridor, new and redevelopment should reduce per capita car use and increase walking, bicycling, and transit use. Intensity of land use should correspond to the availability of quality transit, public space, and walkable destinations. Site design should use building arrangement and open space to reduce walking distance to transit and destinations, achieve safety and comfort, and draw people outdoors. BACKGROUND: The application was filed on January 31, 2020 which is out-of-cycle for neighborhood planning areas on the west side of I.H.-35. The applicant received permission to file out-of-cycle from the North Shoal Creek Neighborhood Plan Contact Team. The applicant proposes to change the future land use map from Industry to Commerce for professional offices. There is an associated zoning change request to change the zoning from LI – Limited Industrial to CS – Commercial Services. When the neighborhood plan was adopted, staff did 8 8 of 20B-05Planning Commission: May 12, 2020 not add the NP to zoning to the properties in the planning area. For more information on the zoning request, please see the zoning case report C14-2020-0013. PUBLIC MEETINGS: The ordinance-required community meeting was held on Monday, March 9, 2020. Approximately 273 meeting notices were mailed to people who own property or have utility accounts within 500 feet of the subject property, in addition to neighborhood organizations and environmental groups who requested notification for the area. Seven people attended the meeting, included two people representing the applicant and one city staff member. After city staff gave a brief presentation on the planning process, the applicant’s agent, Dave Anderson, gave the following presentation. Dave Anderson, one of the agent’s representing the property owner, said that property is currently an asphalt emulsion plant. It is a 3.3 acres tract zoned LI – Light Industrial. The proposed zoning is CS. The existing future land use is Industry and the proposed land use is Commerce for an office use. The proposed zoning with the land development code is MU- 5B-Q which is the equivalent of CS zoning. The owner wants to move the use to a commercial/office use and away from an industrial use. After his presentation, the following questions were asked: Q. What kind of building will be built there? A. An office building. Q. You said the new code proposed zoning is MU-5B-Q. Can you talk more about that? A. The new land development code is being written as we speak. If the property is rezoned to CS, the code staff said we would get the MU-5B-Q zoning. It is not our intent to build residential on the property because it is not a good location for residential. We are OK to prohibit residential uses. It could potentially be office or retail, but it would probably be office and not retail because of access issues would not make it a good location for retail. Q. If the proposed use is an office use, why are you asking for CS? Why not, LO, GO, or GR? A. Those zoning districts allow for light industrial uses. Q. Who owns the property? Do they still own it? A. Blueknight Energy owns the property. I don’t know if they plan to flip it. Q. I’m concerned about the high-traffic in this area. I could be dangerous to add more traffic. A. I understand you concerns. Q. The proposed zoning of CS allows for 95% impervious cover. MU-5B allows for a maximum of 90%. A. If you look at the property today, it’s probably at about 80-90% IC today because it’s compacted gravel. We want to be consistent with other land uses for the area. 9 9 of 20B-05Planning Commission: May 12, 2020 Q. The majority of the traffic from the property will have to go Braker Lane because it misses the overpass. That would add a lot of traffic. A. Now we are still trying to figure out how to use the property for office and to look at set- backs, detention ponds, etc. Q. Does the City look at these traffic issues? A. We wouldn’t be able to get a permit until the traffic impact is done and any mitigation is looked at to address any traffic impacts from the development. Q. This is an unusual time to rezone because the new LDC is still in process. There are some CS uses that are not allowed in the MU-5B, like residential, hospital uses, and educational facilities. A. The applicant would be happy to meet with you to limit uses. Q. There would be a lot of noise because of the highway. A. Noise would be another issue as to why residential would not work. Any developer would need to build to address this issue. Comments: I would prefer office use. I would like some pedestrian and bike safety amenities, sidewalks and bike lanes. • • • The issues we have are: o We prefer low-density uses o Why not light-industrial as a zoning option because of less traffic impact. o Concerns about the property flipping to new owner o Traffic issues o Impervious cover issues o Also, concerns about FAR. Not sure the property could support this much office use. CITY COUNCIL DATE: Not scheduled at this time. ACTION: ACTION: 10 10 of 20B-05Applicant Summary Letter from Application Planning Commission: May 12, 2020 11 11 of 20B-05Planning Commission: May 12, 2020 12 12 of 20B-05Out-of-Cycle Letter Authorization from Neighborhood Plan Contact Team (NPCT) Planning Commission: May 12, 2020 13 13 of 20B-05Planning Commission: May 12, 2020 Letter of Recommendation from the North Shoal Creek NPCT From: NSC Contact Team Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2020 3:42 PM To: Meredith, Maureen <Maureen.Meredith@austintexas.gov> Cc: Greathouse, Stevie <stevie.greathouse@austintexas.gov>; Amanda Swor <aswor@drennergroup.com>; District10 <District10@austintexas.gov>; District 7 <District7@austintexas.gov> Subject: Re: Case Number NPA-2020-0013.01 This pertains to Case Number NPA-2020-0013.01, Application for Neighborhood Plan Amendment for 8803 N MOPAC EXPY SVRD, On March 12, 2020, the North Shoal Creek Neighborhood Plan (NSCNP) Contact Team approved a resolution to recommend approval of the neighborhood plan amendment, identified as Case Number: NPA-2020-0031.01, to change the future land use/character districts for the property at 8803 N MOPAC EXPY within the North Shoal Creek neighborhood plan from Industry to Commerce. Kenneth Webb, Chair, NSCNP Contact Team 14 14 of 20B-05Planning Commission: May 12, 2020 15 15 of 20B-05Planning Commission: May 12, 2020 16 16 of 20B-05Planning Commission: May 12, 2020 17 17 of 20B-05Planning Commission: May 12, 2020 18 18 of 20B-05Planning Commission: May 12, 2020 19 19 of 20B-05Planning Commission: May 12, 2020 20 20 of 20B-05