B-07 (NPA-2020-0027.01 - Twin Liquors Maudie's Rezoning; District 10).pdf — original pdf

Backup

NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN AMENDMENT REVIEW SHEET Planning Commission: December 8, 2020 DATE FILED: September 10, 2020 (out-of-cycle) 2602, 2604, 2606, 2608, 2610 W. 7th Street and 701, 703 Newman Dr. NEIGHORHOOD PLAN: Central West Austin Combined (WANG) CASE#: NPA-2020-0027.01 PROJECT NAME: Twin Liquors-Maudie’s PC DATE: December 8, 2020 ADDRESS/ES: DISTRICT AREA: 10 SITE AREA: 0.75 acres OWNER/APPLICANT: TASC Properties, LP (Tracy S. Livingston) AGENT: CASE MANAGER: Maureen Meredith, Housing & Planning Dept. PHONE: (512) 974-2695 STAFF EMAIL: Maureen.meredith@austintexas.gov TYPE OF AMENDMENT: Change in Future Land Use Designation Thrower Design (Ron A. Thrower and Victoria Haase) From: Neighborhood Commercial To: Commercial Base District Zoning Change Related Zoning Case: C14-2020-0024 From: To: CS-NP (2,285 sf) for liquor sales. NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN ADOPTION DATE: September 23, 2010 PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION: December 8, 2020 – Pending. CS-NP to CS-1-NP (5,327 SF) and CS-1-NP 1 NPA-2020-0027.01 1 of 30B-7Planning Commission: December 8, 2020 STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends the applicant’s request for Commercial land use, but Staff would also support Mixed Use land use. BASIS FOR STAFF’S RECOMMENDATION: Staff supports the applicant’s request for Commercial land use because the property is within 150 feet of the Lake Austin Boulevard which is an activity corridor as identified on the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan’s Growth Concept Map. As the comprehensive plan notes, activity corridors are 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. For this reason, staff would also support Mixed Use land use, which would also be appropriate for this location. Objective 1: Preserve the existing single family neighborhoods of Central West Austin. Objective 2: Preserve or enhance, as appropriate, existing multifamily housing and neighborhood-serving commercial districts. 2 NPA-2020-0027.01 2 of 30B-7Planning Commission: December 8, 2020 Objective 3: All development should be compatible with the character of the adjacent neighborhood and should be guided by green design principles. Objective 4: Encourage the northeast corner of Windsor Road Planning Area to become a mixed use, urban neighborhood, respecting and providing amenities to the Bryker Woods and West 31st Street neighborhoods. 3 NPA-2020-0027.01 3 of 30B-7Planning Commission: December 8, 2020 LAND USE DESCRIPTIONS EXISTING LAND USE ON THE PROPERTY Neighborhood Commercial - Lots or parcels containing small‐scale retail or offices, professional services, convenience retail, and shopfront retail that serve a market at a neighborhood scale. Purpose and 1. Accommodate low‐intensity commercial services that serve surrounding neighborhoods; 2. Encourage small‐scale retail within walking distance from residential areas. Application 1. Appropriate for areas such as minor arterials and collectors, small parcels along major arterials that abut single‐ family residential development, and areas in environmentally sensitive zones where high intensity commercial uses are discouraged; and 2. May be used to encourage high intensity commercial to transition to residential uses. PROPOSED LAND USE ON THE PROPERTY Commercial -Lots or parcels containing retail sales, services, hotel/motels and all recreational services that are predominantly privately owned and operated for profit (for example, theaters and bowling alleys). Included are private institutional uses (convalescent homes and rest homes in which medical or surgical services are not a main function of the institution), but not hospitals. Purpose 1. Encourage employment centers, commercial activities, and other non‐ residential development to locate along major thoroughfares; and 2. Reserve limited areas for intense, auto‐oriented commercial uses that are generally not compatible with residential or mixed use environments. Application highways; and 1. Focus the highest intensity commercial and industrial activities along freeways and major 2. Should be used in areas with good transportation access such as frontage roads and arterial roadways, which are generally not suitable for residential development. 4 NPA-2020-0027.01 4 of 30B-7 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 applicant’s proposed zoning of CS-1-NP and CS-NP along with a future land use map request for Commercial land use does not allow for residential component, although the property is near a commercial corridor. 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 near the Lake Austin Boulevard activity corridor. The property is near public transportation that runs along Exposition Boulevard and Lake Austin Boulevard to the west of Exposition Boulevard. 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 located within 150 feet of an activity corridor where commercial and mixed use land 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’s proposed zoning request of CS-1-NP and CS-NP does not allow for residential uses. 5. Ensure harmonious transitions between adjacent land uses and development intensities. • Commercial and Mixed Use land use is appropriate in this location. 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, such as the Drinking Water Protection Zone. 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 the best of staff’s knowledge, the property has no historic or cultural • Not applicable. significance. 5 5 of 30B-7 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 within a walkable and bikeable area that has access to parks 10. Expand the economic base, create job opportunities, and promote education to support a 11. Sustain and grow Austin’s live music, festivals, theater, film, digital media, and new creative and commercial uses. strong and adaptable workforce. • Not directly applicable. art forms. • Not applicable. 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. Proximity to Imagine Austin Activity Center and Activity Corridor 6 6 of 30B-7 Proximity to Parks 7 7 of 30B-7 Proximity to Capital Metro Bus Routes and Urban Trails 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 fewer 8 8 of 30B-7 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 applicant was filed on September 10, 2020 which is out-of-cycle for neighborhood planning areas located on the east side of I.H.-35. The Central West Austin Combined Neighborhood Plan Contact Team allowed the application to be filed out-of-cycle. Please see the letter in this report. The applicant proposes to change the future land use map from Neighborhood Commercial to Commercial. The applicant proposes to change the zoning on the property from CS-1-NP to CS-NP on 2,285 square feet (Tract 1) to CS-NP to CS-1-NP on 5,327 square feet (Tract 2) for a liquor sales. 9 9 of 30B-7 PUBLIC MEETING: The ordinance-required community meeting was virtually held on October 26, 2020. Approximately 427 meeting notices were mailed to people who live or have a utility account within 500 feet of the property, in addition to neighborhood groups and environmental organizations who request notification for the area on the Community Registry. Thirteen people participated in the meeting including two city staff members and Victoria Haase from Thrower Design representing the property owner/applicant for both the zoning and plan amendment applications. After city staff gave an overview of the plan amendment and zoning change requests, Victoria Haase from Thrower Design gave the following presentation. Her presentation is at the end of this report and a recording of the virtual meeting can be found at https://www.speakupaustin.org/npa. Victoria Haase said the first time they came to the neighborhood with a similar request the plan was when Maudie’s was going to move to the other side of the building in the shopping center and Twin Liquors was going to move towards the grocery store to the west. However, there were issues during the site planning process so now Maudie’s will stay where they are and expand into the Twin Liquors site. Twin Liquors will move down into half of the space where Goodwill Industries was located. She said they are asking for a FLUM change from Neighborhood Commercial to Commercial on the entire tract because CS-1 zoning is not allowed in the Neighborhood Commercial land use. The City does not allow footprint changes to the future land use map, however the City does allow zoning change requests for a building footprint, which is why the FLUM change request is for the entire tract of land. She explained how the CS-1 zoning from February 2019 application that was approved by City Council is shown on the left map below and the propose CS-1 zoning is requested on the map to the right. She said they are trying to move a piece of the CS-1 from the western half of the property further to the southeast as what is shown on the map to the right. 10 10 of 30B-7 After her presentation, the following questions were asked. Q: In the far western part of the property, what is the intended use for the part along Newman Drive? A: Maudie’s will stay there and the building footprint will stay the same, but the intention is to rearrange the tenants in the space. Q: The city charter does NOT prevent the Neighborhood Commercial FLUM from being more restrictive than the approved CS-1 zoning, correct? In answering this question, please note that the originally approved neighborhood plan included a Neighborhood Commercial FLUM designation that was more restrictive than the existing CS zoning. Also, please note that the city council’s decision on this property also approved this discrepancy between FLUM and zoning. A: The City Charter, Article X, Section 6 which describes the authority of the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan, which generally says that regulatory decisions, such as zoning, needs to be in alignment with the Comprehensive Plan. Since the land use category of Neighborhood Commercial was not in alignment with that Charter requirement, that is why they are asking for the FLUM change today. Also, initially the original case was advised by the Law Department that when the Council makes decisions, the zoning and the FLUM needs to be in alignment with the Charter. Q: Do you have the formal legal opinion on this? A: Here’s the section of the Charter mentioned above: § 6. LEGAL EFFECT OF COMPREHENSIVE PLAN. Upon adoption of a comprehensive plan or element or portion thereof by the city council, all land development regulations including zoning and map, subdivision regulations, roadway plan, all public improvements, public facilities, public utilities projects and all city regulatory actions relating to land use, subdivision and development approval shall be consistent with the comprehensive plan, element or portion thereof as adopted. For purposes of clarity, consistency and facilitation of comprehensive planning and land development process, the various types of local regulations or laws concerning the development of land may be combined in their totality in a single ordinance known as the Land Development Code of the City of Austin. Q: Some of us have concerns not so much about Maudie’s itself, but concerns if those tenants are no longer there and what the change of zoning means to the neighborhood. What happens if someone buys the property, razes the buildings and replaces it with something that may fit the scope of the zoning but is not appropriate for the neighborhood. Can you talk about that? A: If sometime in the future these tenants go away, the CS-1 is just the footprint, so technically any business allowed in the CS-1 zoning district could go into that area, which is only the footprint. Also, all the uses allowed in the CS zoning district would also be allowed in the CS-1, but with CS-1 the only additional use is liquor element, there is conditional use permit process for a cocktail lounge. Q: Is there a height difference? A: There is no height difference between CS and CS-1, the maximum height is 60 feet. 11 11 of 30B-7 Q: Under CS-1 zoning, how does the allowed height limit (60 feet tall) interact with the footprint of the zoning request? A: The height is the same between CS and CS-1, technically someone could redevelop the property, but compatibility standards would be triggered by the single family uses around the property. But the property owner is not interested in turning over tenants. Maudie’s and Twin Liquors have been there a long time, although we do recognize in today’s economic climate, things could change. Q: How high is the HEB? Is compatibility with that going to be the future? A: I don’t know anything about the new grocery store. It’s zoning LO – Limited Office, but it is UT property. LO allows 40 feet or three stories, but because it is UT property, they have ability to do what they want. CITY COUNCIL DATE: January 27, 2021 ACTION: Pending 12 12 of 30B-7Applicant Summary Letter 13 13 of 30B-7Out-of-Cycle Authorization from Neighborhood Plan Contact Team (NPCT) 14 14 of 30B-7Applicant’s Letter Referred to in Michal Cannatti’s Letter 15 15 of 30B-7 16 16 of 30B-7Letter of Recommendation from the Central West Austin Combined NPCT From: Mike Cannatti Sent: Tuesday, December 01, 2020 9:10 PM To: Meredith, Maureen <Maureen.Meredith@austintexas.gov> Cc: Graham, Mark <Mark.Graham@austintexas.gov>; Victoria <Victoria@throwerdesign.com>; Ron Thrower <ront@throwerdesign.com>; 'Blake Tollett' 'Roya Johnson' 'Brady Pedneau' 'mark nixon' ; 'August W. Harris III' 'Diane Umstead' 'Tina Weinberger' 'j1406v@ 'Michael Curry' 'Joyce Basciano' 'Tomas Pantin''Teddy Kinney' Subject: RE: CWACNPCT Rec: NPA-2020-0027.01_Twin Liquors-Maudies *** External Email - Exercise Caution *** Greetings Maureen, In connection with our October 26 virtual community meeting meeting to discuss the proposed amendments to our Future Land Use Map (FLUM) for 2608 W. 7th St, I am writing on behalf of the Central West Austin Neighborhood Plan Contact Team (NPCT) to provide the contact team’s recommendation that the FLUM amendment request be denied (because Applicant has not met City Code requirements for a FLUM change) and that the zoning change to CS-1-NP be granted (to allow the proposed uses for the Maudie’s and Twin Liquor businesses). As detailed in the attached letter, we realize that this recommendation results in a tension between the existing FLUM and underlying zoning, but we approve of this result because the requested FLUM amendment is unnecessary and is not supported by the City Code requirements for the reasons detailed in the letter. More importantly, this tension has been in place since our neighborhood plan was first created by City Council, and was confirmed by City Council at the most recent request to rezone this property last year. In our view, any disconnect between the existing “neighborhood commercial” FLUM designation and the proposed CS-1-NP zoning is something the neighborhood plan can tolerate far more readily than the changing the FLUM to “Commercial” FLUM without the required showing under the City Code. At the same time, our neighborhood enjoys, values, and appreciates the Maudie’s Tex-Mex Café and Twin Liquors businesses, and would like to see these businesses continue to succeed and thrive. If this means that a CS-1 zoning change is granted that is inconsistent with the existing Neighborhood Commercial FLUM designation, we would prefer this outcome to altering the FLUM to “Commercial.” Accordingly, we recommend that the FLUM amendment be denied because the proposed land use is in direct conflict with the relevant goals and objectives to retain “neighborhood-serving commercial centers” at this specific location. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Michael Rocco Cannatti Chair, Central West Austin Neighborhood Plan Contact Team 17 17 of 30B-7 18 18 of 30B-7 19 19 of 30B-7 20 20 of 30B-7 21 21 of 30B-7Letter from WANG Neighborhood Group From: Holly Reed Sent: Monday, May 11, 2020 3:51 PM To: Victoria <Victoria@throwerdesign.com>; Ron Thrower <ront@throwerdesign.com> Cc: Holly Reed < >; WANG <Wang-Board@ > Subject: FLUM amendment for Twin Liquors/Maudie’s @ 2608 W. 7th Street Dear Victoria and Ron, Thank you for attending our April 13th 2020 Board of Directors meeting to present plans and discuss the re-zoning application and NPA request needed to move forward in this case. The West Austin Neighborhood Group Board of Directors has subsequently considered the NPA, and has voted electronically to oppose a FLUM change from Neighborhood Commercial to Mixed Use Zoning. WANG would prefer that the Neighborhood Commercial FLUM designation be retained at this site for the many reasons you will recall from the NP planning process. And, as you have indicated that no residential plans are intended to be added to the site, we hope that you will find a way to support the Neighborhood Commercial FLUM designation moving forward, if the neighborhood agrees to support the CS-1 commercial zoning that is needed for the project. Sincerely, Holly Holly Reed West Austin Neighborhood Group (WANG) 512-413-0188 22 22 of 30B-7 23 23 of 30B-7 24 24 of 30B-7 25 25 of 30B-7 26 26 of 30B-7 27 27 of 30B-7 28 28 of 30B-7Applicant’s Presentation at the Oc. 26, 2020 Virtual Community Meeting 29 29 of 30B-7 30 30 of 30B-7