B-15 (NPA-2021-0016.01.SH - Libertad; District 3).pdf — original pdf

Backup

Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN AMENDMENT REVIEW SHEET 900 Gardner Road NEIGHORHOOD PLAN: Govalle/Johnston Terrace Combined (Johnston Terrace) CASE#: NPA-2021-0016.01.SH DATE FILED: February 24, 2021 (out-of-cycle) PROJECT NAME: Libertad PC DATE: March 8, 2022 ADDRESS/ES: DISTRICT AREA: 3 SITE AREA: 8.47 acres, as amended on January 31, 2022 (Previous area was 6.0 acres) OWNER/APPLICANT: Austin Housing Finance Corporation AGENT: Civilitude, LLC (Alejandra Flores, E.I.T., Project Engineer) CASE MANAGER: Maureen Meredith STAFF EMAIL: Maureen.Meredith@austintexas.go TYPE OF AMENDMENT: Change in Future Land Use Designation PHONE: (512) 974-2695 From: Civic Base District Zoning Change To: Mixed Use To: GR-MU-NP Related Zoning Case: C14-2021-0020.SH From: P-NP NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN ADOPTION DATE: March 27, 2003 CITY COUNCIL DATE: To be determined PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION: March 8, 2022 - ACTION: 1 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Recommended for applicant’s request for Mixed Use land use. BASIS FOR STAFF’S RECOMMENDATION: The property is an 8.47-acre tract of undeveloped land located on previously owned City property but is now owned by the Austin Housing Finance Corporation. The applicant proposes a 140-dwelling unit multifamily development with townhomes and amenities. The development will provide much needed affordable housing for the area and the city. The Govalle/Johnston Terrance Neighborhood Plan calls out this property for affordable housing. 2 2 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 3 3 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 4 4 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 LAND USE DESCRIPTIONS EXISTING LAND USE ON THE PROPERTY Civic - Any site for public or semi‐public facilities, including governmental offices, police, fire facilities, hospitals, and public and private schools. Includes major religious facilities and other religious activities that are of a different type and scale than surrounding uses. Purpose 1. Allow flexibility in development for major, multi‐functional institutional uses that serve 2. Manage the expansion of major institutional uses to prevent unnecessary impacts on 3. Preserve the availability of sites for civic facilities to ensure that facilities are adequate for the greater community; established neighborhood areas; population growth; 4. Promote Civic uses that are accessible and useable for the neighborhood resident and maintain stability of types of public uses in the neighborhood; 5. May include housing facilities that are accessory to a civic use, such as student 6. Recognize suitable areas for public uses, such as hospitals and schools, that will minimize dormitories; and the impacts to residential areas. Application 1. Any school, whether public or private; 2. Any campus‐oriented civic facility, including all hospitals, colleges and universities, and major government administration facilities; 3. Any use that is always public in nature, such as fire and police stations, libraries, and museums; surrounding non‐civic uses; 4. Civic uses in a neighborhood setting that are of a significantly different scale than 5. An existing civic use that is likely or encouraged to redevelop into a different land use should NOT be designated as civic; and 6. Civic uses that are permitted throughout the city, such as day care centers and 5 5 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 religious assembly, should not be limited to only the civic land use designation. PROPOSED LAND USE ON THE PROPERTY Mixed Use - An area that is appropriate for a mix of residential and non‐residential uses. Purpose 1. Encourage more retail and commercial services within walking distance of residents; 2. Allow live‐work/flex space on existing commercially zoned land in the neighborhood; 3. Allow a mixture of complementary land use types, which may include housing, retail, offices, commercial services, and civic uses (with the exception of government offices) to encourage linking of trips; 4. Create viable development opportunities for underused center city sites; 5. Encourage the transition from non‐residential to residential uses; 6. Provide flexibility in land use standards to anticipate changes in the marketplace; 7. Create additional opportunities for the development of residential uses and affordable housing; and 8. Provide on‐street activity in commercial areas after 5 p.m. and built‐in customers for local businesses. Application 1. Allow mixed use development along major corridors and intersections; 2. Establish compatible mixed‐use corridors along the neighborhood’s edge 3. The neighborhood plan may further specify either the desired intensity of commercial uses (i.e. LR, GR, CS) or specific types of mixed use (i.e. Neighborhood Mixed Use Building, Neighborhood Urban Center, Mixed Use Combining District); 4. Mixed Use is generally not compatible with industrial development, however it may be combined with these uses to encourage an area to transition to a more complementary mix of development types; 5. The Mixed Use (MU) Combining District should be applied to existing residential uses to avoid creating or maintaining a non‐conforming use; and 6 6 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 6. Apply to areas where vertical mixed use development is encouraged such as Core Transit Corridors (CTC) and Future Core Transit Corridors. 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 less than ½-mile from three activity corridors, Airport Blvd., East 7th Street and East Cesar Chavez Street and less than 1-mile from the Springdale Station Neighborhood Center. This area has many commercial services and transportation services. The proposed affordable multifamily and duplex development will provide a mix of housing types and incomes. 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. • There is a bus route less than ¼-mile north of the property on Bolm Road. The property is located less than ½-mile from three activity corridors, Airport Blvd., East 7th Street and East Cesar Chavez Street and less than 1-mile from the Springdale Station Neighborhood Center. 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 considered an infill site. 4. Expand the number and variety of housing choices throughout Austin to meet the financial and lifestyle needs of our diverse population. • The proposed multifamily residential and duplex development will expand the number and variety of housing types in the planning area and the City. 5. Ensure harmonious transitions between adjacent land uses and development intensities. • 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 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. 7 7 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 • The property is less than ½ mile from the Govalle Neighborhood Park and less than one mile from the Bolm District Park and the Colorado River Park Wildlife Sanctuary. 8. Protect, preserve and promote historically and culturally significant areas. • To staff’s knowledge there is no historic or cultural significance to this 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 within walking and biking distance to several parks. 10. Expand the economic base, create job opportunities, and promote education to support a strong and adaptable workforce. • Not 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. 8 8 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 Proximity to Imagine Austin Activity Corridors and Centers 9 9 of 31B-15 Proximity to Public Parks Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 10 10 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 Proximity to Public Transportation 11 11 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 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 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. Regional Centers - Regional centers are the most urban places in the region. These centers are and will become the retail, cultural, recreational, and entertainment destinations for Central Texas. These are the places where the greatest density of people and jobs and the tallest buildings in the region will be located. Housing in regional centers will mostly consist of low to high-rise apartments, mixed use buildings, row houses, and townhouses. However, other housing types, such as single-family units, may be included depending on the location and character of the center. The densities, buildings heights, and overall character of a center will depend on its location. Activity Centers for Redevelopment in Sensitive Environmental Areas - Five centers are located over the recharge or contributing zones of the Barton Springs Zone of the Edwards Aquifer or within water-supply watersheds. These centers are located on already developed areas and, in some instances, provide opportunities to address long-standing water quality issues and provide walkable areas in and near existing neighborhoods. State-of-the-art development practices will be required of any redevelopment to improve stormwater retention and the water quality flowing into the aquifer or other drinking water sources. These centers should also be carefully evaluated to fit within their infrastructural and environmental context. 12 12 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 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 plan amendment application was filed on February 24, 2021, which is out-of-cycle for neighborhood planning areas located on the east side of IH-35. The out-of- cycle application was allowed because it is a S.M.A.R.T. Housing Certified development. The letter is on page 18 of this report. The plan amendment application is a request to change the land use on the future land use map from Civic to Mixed use for a 140-unit multifamily and townhome development. The original application was for 6.0 acres, but on January 31, 2022 land area was increased to 8.47 acres. The zoning change application is a request to change the zoning from P-NP, Public- Neighborhood Plan to GR-MU-NP, Community Commercial district – Mixed Use – Neighborhood Plan for a 140-unit multifamily and townhome development. For more information on the proposed zoning case, see report C14-2021-0020.SH. 13 13 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 PUBLIC MEETINGS: The ordinance required community meeting was virtually held on April 6, 2021. The recorded meeting can be found here: https://www.speakupaustin.org/npa. Approximately 216 notices were mailed to people who rent or own property within 500 feet of the subject tract, in addition to neighborhood and environmental groups who requested notification for the area on the Community Registry. Two staff members attended the meeting, Maureen Meredith and Jesse Gutierrez, in addition to Conor Kenny from Civilitude, Jennifer Hicks, Financing Consultant, Mark Roger, Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation (GNDC) and Mike Tuttle, from The Vecino Group. After staff gave a brief presentation outlining the proposed change to the future land use map and the zoning change request, the following people associated with the application provided this information. NOTE: The plan amendment and zoning change applications were amended on January 31, 2022 to increase the land area included in the applications from 6.0 to 8.47 acres. Jennifer Hicks, True Casa Consulting: • This site is six acres, four acres of the site will be multifamily residential. Two acres will be the homeownership site that’s being developed in partnership with the Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation. • Project was born out of a Request for Proposal (RFP). Property was owned by the State of Texas. The City of Austin purchased the site and then transferred it to the Austin Housing Finance Corporation to utilize it for an affordable housing project. • There was an RFP in July of 2020. Our team worked together to submit a response which was ultimately selected by the City Council. • Our response was guided by key principles that were specific to help prevent displacement in the neighborhood. As you know, there is rapid displacement there a lot of the units that are coming online that are unaffordable, so the incomes we target for this project provides deep affordability, but then stair-steps to affordability that would allow for the transition to homeownership. • We intentionally focus on families who want to remain in the neighborhood to raise their families in the neighborhood. We are also intentional for family-focused project so instead of just delivering efficiency units and one bedroom, we wanted to provide multi-bedroom units so approximately 58% of the units are two- and three-bedroom units. • Our project also family-focused community features, such as walking trails, playground, and Community center. With each rental and homeownership side there is also a supportive service component, working with Any Baby Can and Caritas of Austin. • We met with the neighborhood plan contact team, and they completed a survey so we could listen to the neighborhood. We asked questions about affordability, number of units and building height. 14 14 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 Mark Tuttle from The Vecino Group provided this information: • We are devoted to development for the greater good. • It’s all about the neighborhood from start to finish. We wanted to look at the adjacent single-family neighborhood, the small businesses to the north, also the animal services, the transportation and development trends and the broader context of the parks, other neighborhoods, schools, the river and the wildlife down there to really get the feel for why people live there now and why they would want to live there in the future. • We realized that we needed to have two components to the site. There is the rental part and the home ownership part. GNDC portion is closest to the neighborhood because of the smaller scale of those buildings. It is separated from the single-family neighborhood by a nice buffer of landscape, a detention pond and a pavilion, which will serve the neighborhood for events and outdoor classroom nature studies and relaxation. There is a walking trail around the development this will be accessible to the neighborhood. • There will be a sports court, bike storage, a playground, which is an outdoor expansion of the Child Learning Center. • Building A has 82 units and Building B has 58 units with green space between them and the duplexes. The green space is really important because it provides a safe open zone where kids and families can plan and enjoy the fresh air. • On the north end of the project, the buildings will be three-stories, as you go down to the southern end, the buildings will be four-stories, which means the top of the building will be 46 feet in height. There is approximately 144,000 square feet of gross square feet between the two buildings. The apartments are very open and livable. Conor Kenny, Civilitude: • When we submitted our RFP, we wanted a proposal that would be welcomed by the community, so the first thing we did was look at the neighborhood plan, which called for this property to be affordable and compatible with the single-family housing. We didn’t want a large multifamily development looming over you, so we put together this development, but as we started planning the development with the multifamily zoning, we found the site development standards were hard to do, so we looked at the GR-MU zoning, but we proposed a conditional overlay to prohibit uses we do not need. We don’t need the 60 feet of height to 40 feet on the northern part of the property near the single-family homes. • There will be a 25 foot no-build zoning where there will only be vegetation and a walking trail. Q: What did you mean City Council has already approved this? A: City Council has already voted to accept the proposal because this is city-owned land. However, because this project needs a zoning change, it will go to the Planning Commission and to City Council for final approval. The date has not been scheduled yet. 15 15 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 Q: Do people who live within 500 feet get a say in this? A: There is a Govalle/Johnston Terrace Neighborhood Plan Contact Team who will provide a recommendation to Planning Commission. You can talk to Daniel Llanes who is the Chair, who will write a letter stating if they oppose or support the zoning change. You can also email the Planning Commissioners; their emails are public. Note: City staff responded that this person could email staff for information on the valid petition process. Q: Is this limited to being an affordable housing project? A: This is much more a mixed-income development because we have low-range affordable to up to 80% MFI. Q: Is the pond negotiable, because ponds would attract mosquitos and we already have enough of them around here. A: We understand your concerns, but there will be an agitator, sort of like Mueller Lake, that prevents eggs from hatching. Otherwise, without a pond it will be a big empty area. Most people like having the pond, but we can continue to talk to you about this. 16 16 of 31B-15Applicant Summary Letter from Application Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 17 17 of 31B-15 S.M.A.R.T. Housing Letter (If applicable) Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 18 18 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 19 19 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 20 20 of 31B-15Letter of Recommendation from the Neighborhood Plan Contact Team (NPCT) Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 (No letter as of March 1, 2022) From: Meredith, Maureen Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2022 3:23 PM To: dllanesrb@; mrs.m.noyola@; poder.austin@ ; msaldrocha@; Tinac2@; TOMJSB@; raulalvar@; c13fox@; lonnielimon@; mrs.m.noyola@; MVillarreal@; cuauilteca@; azankich@; nadia.mojica.barrera@; 9hausbar@; ninefrancois9@; carolann@ logankhanna@; terry.ornelas@; danibleier@; steve.maschi@; scott_rothe@; terrybleier@; ppesto@ Cc: Todd Podbielski <todd@civilitude.com>; Conor Kenny <conor@civilitudegroup.com>; Alejandra Flores <alejandra@civilitude.com>; Victoria Haggard <victoria@civilitude.com>; Chaffin, Heather <Heather.Chaffin@austintexas.gov> Subject: Mar 8 PC G/JT NPCT Rec: NPA-2021-0016.01.SH_900 Gardner (Libertad) Importance: High Dear G/JT NPCT: This case and the associated zoning case C14-2021-0020.SH is scheduled for the March 8, 2022 Planning Commission hearing date. If you’d like your letter of recommendation to be added to staff case reports, please email it to me and Heather no later than Tuesday, March 1, 2022 by 4:30 pm. If we receive it after that date and time it will be submitted as late back up to the Planning Commissioners. Thanks Maureen 21 21 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 Site 22 22 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 23 23 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 24 24 of 31B-15 Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 25 25 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 26 26 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 27 27 of 31B-15Applicant’s Presentation at the April 6, 2021 Community Meeting Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 28 28 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 29 29 of 31B-15Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 30 30 of 31B-15 Planning Commission: March 8, 2022 31 31 of 31B-15