06 NPA-2024-0005.01 - Saxon 2; District 3 Staff Report — original pdf

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Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN AMENDMENT REVIEW SHEET DATE FILED: June 03, 2024 NEIGHORHOOD PLAN: Montopolis CASE#: NPA-2024-0005.01 PROJECT NAME: Saxon Acres 2 PC DATE: December 10, 2024 October 22, 2024 ADDRESS/ES: 318 Saxon Lane and 6328 El Mirando Street DISTRICT AREA: District 3 SITE AREA: 2.89 acres OWNER/APPLICANT: Saxon Acres LLC AGENT: Thrower Design, LLC (Victoria Haase) CASE MANAGER: Maureen Meredith STAFF EMAIL: maureen.meredith@austintexas.gov TYPE OF AMENDMENT: Change in Future Land Use Designation From: Single Family Base District Zoning Change To: Multifamily Residential Related Zoning Case: C14-2024-0099 From: SF-6-NP NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN ADOPTION DATE: September 27, 2001 CITY COUNCIL DATE: TBD PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION: December 10, 2024 – (action pending) ACTION: To: MF-2-NP PHONE: 512-974-2695 Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 October 22, 2024 – Postponed to December 10, 2024 on the consent agenda at the request of the Neighborhood. STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff does not support the applicant’s request for Multifamily Residential land use. BASIS FOR STAFF’S RECOMMENDATION: Staff does not support the appliant’s request for Multifamily Residential land use because staff has concerns about the limited vehicular access on Saxon Lane. The surrounding land uses are Single Family to the north, south and west of the property, with commercial land use to the east, across from Saxon Lane (proposed for Mixed Use in case NPA-2022-0005.01_Vargas Mixed Use). Although staff supported the Mixed Use land use on the adjacent property, because of the access issues with Saxon Lane, staff does not support increasing the density of the subject tract. See associated zoning case report C14-2024-0099 for details. The Montopolis Neighborhood Plan supports the creation of housing for all stages of life and also the preservation of single family housing. The proposed rezoning to MF-2-NP would add more housing to the planning area; however, the zoning staff case report details the issues regarding the vehicular access and impact on Saxon Lane which resulted in non- support for the proposed zoning change. Page 2 of 24 Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 LAND USE DESCRIPTIONS: EXISTING LAND USE: Single family - Single family detached or up to three residential uses at typical urban and/or suburban densities. Purpose 1. Preserve the land use pattern and future viability of existing neighborhoods; 2. Encourage new infill development that continues existing neighborhood patterns of development; and 3. Protect residential neighborhoods from incompatible business or industry and the loss of existing housing. Application 1. Existing single‐family areas should generally be designated as single family to preserve established neighborhoods; and 2. May include small lot options (Cottage, Urban Home, Small Lot Single Family) and two‐family residential options (Duplex, Secondary Apartment, Single Family Attached, Two‐Family Residential) in areas considered appropriate for this type of infill development. PROPOSED LAND USE: Multifamily Residential - Higher‐density housing with four or more dwelling units on one lot. Page 3 of 24  • • • • • • • Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 Purpose 1. Preserve existing multifamily and affordable housing; 2. Maintain and create affordable, safe, and well-managed rental housing; and 3. Make it possible for existing residents, both homeowners and renters, to continue to live in their neighborhoods. 4. Applied to existing or proposed mobile home parks. Application use; 1. Existing apartments should be designated as multifamily unless designated as mixed 2. Existing multifamily-zoned land should not be recommended for a less intense land use category, unless based on sound planning principles; and 3. Changing other land uses to multifamily should be encouraged on a case-by-case basis. Yes No Imagine Austin Decision Guidelines Complete Community Measures Imagine Austin Growth Concept Map: Located within or adjacent to an Imagine Austin Activity Center, Imagine Austin Activity Corridor, or Imagine Austin Job Center as identified the Growth Concept Map. Name(s) of Activity Center/Activity Corridor/Job Center: Yes Mobility and Public Transit: Located within 0.25 miles of public transit stop and/or light rail station. No Mobility and Bike/Ped Access: Adjoins a public sidewalk, shared path, and/or bike lane. Yes Connectivity, Good and Services, Employment: Provides or is located within 0.50 miles to goods and services, and/or employment center. No Connectivity and Food Access: Provides or is located within 0.50 miles of a grocery store/farmers market. Yes Connectivity and Education: Located within 0.50 miles from a public school or university. 0.7 miles from Vargas Food Store 0.7 miles from Pak-N- Save Drive Thru 1.3 mile from Tomgro Grocery 0.5 miles from Allison Elementary School 1.3 miles from IDEA Montopolis Yes Connectivity and Healthy Living: Provides or is located within 0.50 miles from a recreation area, park or walking trail. 350 feet by walking 0.3 miles from Civitan Neighborhood Park by car No Connectivity and Health: Provides or is located within 0.50 miles of health facility (ex: hospital, urgent care, doctor’s office, drugstore clinic, and/or specialized outpatient care.) No Housing Affordability: Provides a minimum of 10% of units for workforce housing (80% MFI or less) and/or fee in lieu for affordable housing. Yes Housing Choice: Expands the number of units and housing choice that suits a variety of household sizes, Page 4 of 24 Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 incomes, and lifestyle needs of a diverse population (ex: apartments, triplex, granny flat, live/work units, cottage homes, and townhomes) in support of Imagine Austin and the Strategic Housing Blueprint. • Applicant proposes 57 dwelling units. No Mixed use: Provides a mix of residential and non-industrial uses. No Culture and Creative Economy: Provides or is located within 0.50 miles of a cultural resource (ex: library, theater, museum, cultural center). No Culture and Historic Preservation: Preserves or enhances a historically and/or culturally significant site. No Creative Economy: Expands Austin’s creative economy (ex: live music venue, art studio, film, digital, theater.) No Workforce Development, the Economy and Education: Expands the economic base by creating permanent jobs, especially in industries that are currently not represented in particular area or that promotes a new technology, and/or promotes educational opportunities and workforce development training. Industrial Land: Preserves or enhances industrial land. Number of “Yeses” No 5 Proximity to Imagine Austin Activity Centers and Corridors Page 5 of 24 Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 Proximity to Public Parks Page 6 of 24 Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 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 Page 7 of 24 Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 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. 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 Page 8 of 24 Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 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 June 3, 2024. The applicant proposes to change the future land use map (FLUM) from Single Family to Multifamily Residential for approximately 57 one- to two-bedroom dwelling units. The applicant proposes to change the zoning on the property from SF-6-NP (Townhouse Condiminimum Residential district – Neighborhood Plan) to MF-2-NP (Multifamily Residence Low Density district – Neighborhood Plan). For more information on the zoning case, see case report C14-2024-0099. PUBLIC MEETINGS: The ordinance-required community meeting was held on August 26, 2024. The recorded virtual community meeting can be found here: https://publicinput.com/neighborhoodplanamendmentcases. Approximately 226 community meeting was mailed to utility account holders and property owners within 500 feet of the property in addition to neighborhood and environmental groups who requested notification for the area. Two city staff members attended the meeting from the Planning Department, Maureen Meredith and Mark Walters. Victoria Haase from Thrower Design, LLC, the applicant’s agent attended. No one from the neighborhood attended the meeting. Below are highlights from Victoria Haase’s presentation: • We are asking for a plan amendment and rezoning on 2.89 acres. • The property is undeveloped with frontage on Saxon Lane. • There is existing public transportation near the property • We are asking for a FLUM change to Multifamily Residential and a zoning change to MF-2-NP. • We represented the property owner when the property was rezoned to SF-6-NP, but now the owner would like to build a multifamily development. • Approximately 36 dwelling units could be built under SF-6-NP. Under the proposed MF-2-NP the approximate number 57 dwelling units that could be built near existing transit. Page 9 of 24 Applicant Summary Letter from Application Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 Page 10 of 24 Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 Page 11 of 24 Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 Letter of Recommendation from the Neighborhood Plan Contact Team (NPCT) (No letter as of December 4, 2024) From: Meredith, Maureen Sent: Monday, September 30, 2024 1:04 PM Cc: Victoria <Victoria@throwerdesign.com>; Ron Thrower <ront@throwerdesign.com>; Hadri, Cynthia <Cynthia.Hadri@austintexas.gov> Subject: Montopolis NPCT Rec?: NPA-2024-0005.01_318 Saxon Ln Importance: High Dear Montopolis NPCT: Cases NPA-2024-0005.01 and C14-2024-0099_318 Saxon Lane and 6328 El Mirando Street are scheduled for the October 22, 2024 Planning Commission hearing date. If you would like to have a letter of recommendation included in the staff case reports, please email it to me and Cynthia Hadri, the zoning planner, no later than Wednesday, October 16, 2024 by 5:00 pm. If we get it after this date and time, it will be submitted as late material to the Planning Commission, but it will not be in the staff case reports. The virtual community meeting was held on August 26, 2024. The recorded meeting can be found here: https://publicinput.com/j8530. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks. Maureen Maureen Meredith (she/her) Senior Planner, Long-Range Planning Planning Department 512-974-2695 maureen.meredith@austintexas.gov Page 12 of 24  Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 Postponement Request Page 13 of 24 Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 From: Susana Almanza < Sent: Tuesday, October 8, 2024 5:16 PM To: Velasquez, Jose <Jose.Velasquez@austintexas.gov>; Hall, Victoria <Victoria.Hall@austintexas.gov>; Fuentes, Vanessa <Vanessa.Fuentes@austintexas.gov> Cc: Meredith, Maureen <Maureen.Meredith@austintexas.gov>; Kellee Coleman < >; T.C.Broadmax@austintexas.gov Subject: Montopolis Contact Team Postponement Request on Saxon Acres 2 External Email - Exercise Caution Dear Councilman Velasquez- The Montopolis Neighborhood Plan Contact Team is requesting a postponement for Saxon Acres 2 (NPA 2024-0005.01 & C14-2024-0099) until November or December 2024. In 2020 the Saxon Acres zoning case was approved by City Council. The property went from SF-3 to SF-6 (C14-2020-0044). It has been four (4) years, and no dirt has been moved and there has been no development on the property. Therefore, we feel it is reasonable to request a postponement on this zoning case. At the current time Ron Thrower Design is requesting a zoning change from SF-6-NP to Multi-Family. The Montopolis Neighborhood Contact Team met with Ron Thrower Design and his representative on Monday, October 7th. The Montopolis Contact Team needs more time to discuss a Community Benefits Agreement. Also, Contact Team members had numerous questions that could not be answered at the meeting, for example: 1) How many units will be built and the breakdown on the unit sizes (efficiencies, 1 or 2 bedrooms etc.), 2) What will be the levels of affordability?, 3) Exit & entrance to apartments?, 4) Impact and consequences of development on land that is currently at zero percent impervious cover)? Again, the Montopolis Neighborhood Plan Contact Team request a postponement on the above zoning case until November or December 2024. Thank you, Susana Almanza, President MNPCT PODER PO Box 17294 Austin, TX 78744-9998 www.poderaustin.org Page 14 of 24 Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 Hello Maureen - The MNPCT would like to reschedule the Planning Commission Hearing until December 10th, 2024. Thank you, Susana Almanza, President MNPCT From: Meredith, Maureen Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2024 5:02 PM To: Susana Almanza < > Cc: Kellee Coleman < >; Hadri, Cynthia <Cynthia.Hadri@austintexas.gov> Subject: RE: Montopolis Contact Team Postponement Request on Saxon Acres 2 Susana: I’m following up on your email from October 8, 2024 where you requested a postponement of cases NPA-2024-0005.01 and C14-2024- 0099_318 Saxon Lane that are on the October 22nd Planning Commission hearing date. Please let me know what postponement date you are requesting. As I stated in a previous email response, these cases have not been scheduled for City Council at this time. Once we know what date you are requesting to postpone for Planning Commission, we will ask the applicant’s agents if they are OK with your requested postponement date. The next Planning Commission dates are: • November 12, 2024 • November 19, 2024 (Consent agenda items only. Hearing begins • December 10, 2024 • December 17, 2024 (Consent agenda items only. Hearing begins at 5:00 pm) at 5:00 pm) Thanks. Maureen Page 15 of 24  Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 Site Page 16 of 24 Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 Page 17 of 24  Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 Page 18 of 24 Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 Page 19 of 24 Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 Page 20 of 24 Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 Victoria Haase’s Presentation at the August 26, 2024 Virtual Community Meeting Page 21 of 24  Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 Page 22 of 24  Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 Page 23 of 24 Planning Commission: December 10, 2024 Correspondence Received Page 24 of 24