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Minutes P&Z 03/05/2009TOWN OF TROPHY CLUB PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MINUTES MARCH 5, 2009 The Planning and Zoning Commission of the Town of Trophy Club, Texas met on March 5, 2009, at 7.00 p.m. in the Council Chambers, 100 Municipal Drive, Trophy Club, and Texas 76262. COMMISSIONERS ATTENDANCE: Chairman Hill Present Vice Chairman Stephens Present Commissioner Reed Present Commissioner Sheridan Absent Commissioner Forest Absent Commissioner Ashby Present Commissioner Davidson Present STAFF AND GUESTS PRESENT: Carolyn Huggins Planning & Zoning Coordinator Kyle Salzman Jacobs Consulting David Keener Project Manager, Centurion American CALL TO ORDER AND ANNOUNCE A QUORUM. Chairman Hill called the meeting to order at 7.00 p.m. with a quorum present. PUBLIC HEARING OF A REQUEST TO AMEND PERMITTED USES FOR VILLAGE CENTER LOCATED IN PD-PLANNED DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT NO. 27 (PD-27), KNOWN AS THE HIGHLANDS AT TROPHY CLUB, APPLICANT: HIGH TROPHY DEVELOPMENT, LLC REPRESENTED BY KYLE SALZMAN, JACOBS CONSULTING, AND DAVID KEENER, CENTURION AMERICAN (PD AMD-09-030) 2 DISCUSSION AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION OF A REQUEST TO AMEND PERMITTED USES FOR VILLAGE CENTER LOCATED IN PD-PLANNED DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT NO. 27 (PD-27), KNOWN AS THE HIGHLANDS AT TROPHY CLUB, APPLICANT: HIGH TROPHY DEVELOPMENT, LLC REPRESENTED BY KYLE SALZMAN, JACOBS CONSULTING, AND DAVID KEENER, CENTURION AMERICAN (PD AMD-09-030) Chairman Hill announced the case and opened the public hearing. He asked Ms. Huggins to read into the record two emails received regarding this case. The first email was from Damian Olthoff, 528 Indian Creek Drive to Chairman Hill. It read: "As I am unable to attend the P&Z meeting on Thursday, I wanted to take this opportunity to specifically express my support for the proposed changes to the permitted uses of the Village Center property (including drive through businesses) which will generate either sales taxes or significant ad valorem taxes for the city." The second email was from Glenn Strother, Trophy Club Town Council, who wrote: "I understand that you will be looking at possible changes to PD-27 at this Thursday's meeting. I have conflicts with that date so I will not be able to attend. As the Council Liaison to EDC413 I would encourage you to help us optimize the property with businesses that will increase ad valorem and sales taxes. Another business which would fit well next to the high school could be a fast food restaurant with a need for a drive thru. Again, I encourage the members of the Commission to be open minded to the requests. One of our goals in EDC413 is to work hard to be Developer Friendly in ways to assist them in the process of future development. The right commercial/economic growth is important to the future of our Town." Chairman Hill then called for those present wishing to speak in the Public Hearing. Larry Crosser, 17 Overhill Dr., stated that he is here as a citizen although he does serve on the Economic Development Committee 4B as well and he would ask that the Commission be sure that the property is developed to generate sales tax. Dave Glaser, 15 Overhill Dr., stated that he believes the Town needs to generate revenue -- sales tax and ad valorem tax -- on that property. He stated that at the last P&Z meeting he mentioned that there had been a survey done a couple of years ago and it took a while but he managed to find some of the results of that survey. It is very limited, but basically respondents were asked about a very select list of types of businesses that they would like to see along Highway 114. It is not the Village Center, but it is only a short distance away from the highway. Highest on the list was a full service sit down restaurant. 94% of the members of the Town that were polled would like to see that. They even said they would attend functions there. They also were high on drive thru restaurants and fast food sit down restaurants. They also asked that the Town be more pro -active in bringing retail business to Town. Chairman Hill closed the public hearing and moved to discussion of the item, asking the Commissioners to be a little less formal with the meeting this evening to give a free -flow exchange of ideas to and from the developer's representative. Ms. Huggins gave the Commissioner's a copy of the list of permitted uses requested by the applicant which had been revised to show staff requests. Those are: • Combine item b and j to allow Bank and Financial Institutions WITHOUT drive through. Staff does not wish to see a bank with a drive through located in Village Center. Even in good economic times, banks often change locations, leaving empty a bank building that is very difficult to re -develop into something else. Staff feels there are plenty of banks in the area and would not wish to see a drive through bank at the Village Center location. • Combine item f and n to allow Community and Municipal Facilities, removing "to include libraries" because a library is a community facility and does not need to be listed separately. At the time that the PD was created, a library was needed and desired by the Town and perhaps that is why it was specifically listed, but as it is a community facility, it would be allowed in Village Center. • Remove item "g", day care, because there are several other day care facilities in Town and the Ehrenberg's property behind Tom Thumb was rezoned in the past year from Commercial Recreation to Commercial General with the main business of that property designated as a pre-school and day care. Staff would prefer businesses other than day care at Village Center. • Remove item "m", kindergarten, as well as item "s", schools, private or public, as Village Center is surrounded by an elementary, middle and high school that will provide for the needs of the Community. • Staff asks that item "p", Professional and administrative offices" be limited to 30% (approximately 4 acres) of Tract 1 (the larger tract), with no offices allowed in Tract 2 (the smaller tract). Staff would like to see the smaller 3.3 acre tract developed as a drive through restaurant. • Remove item "q", churches, which would not provide revenue for the Town. Ms. Huggins stated that at the last P&Z meeting, Commissioner Sheridan had brought up alcohol sales within a certain distance from churches and schools. Ms. Huggins stated that Town regulations do not allow alcohol sales within 300-ft. of a church, public or private school, or public hospital. The smaller tract will not be able to have a restaurant with alcohol sales as it is within 300-ft. of a school. If a church is allowed on the larger 13.3 acre tract of land, that will remove any possibility of a sit down restaurant with alcohol sales. • Limit item "u", retirement, elderly care facility, to 2-acres on the larger 13.3 tract (Tract 1). David Keener, Centurion Development, stated that the goal is to add uses to make the tract more marketable, rather than remove uses to make it less marketable, which is a counter- productive cycle of this request. Mr. Keener stated that there are certain requests that they cannot agree to and they just need to stop with this request if that's the way it's going to be; they'll leave the tract the way it is. He stated they have debt to pay and a business to run and they are trying to sell the tract and make it a viable venture for Centurion. He stated they have spent a lot of money on putting a street through the little tract and putting the drainage facility in and they need to recoup their investment which is why they are here trying to get drive throughs and a few other little things added to make it to where they can go to users who are not currently allowed. They don't wish to take users off, adding one for every three taken off. That was not the point of this request. Mr. Keener stated the following: "Going down our request versus staff there's really not a whole lot -- I don't care about the banks and financial institutions. Again, we have a taste of what I call the wishes for this tract and then the reality for this tract. This is a "B" commercial site. Banks are not going to go there anyway. They are going to be on the freeway. It's not going to happen so we are fine with that removal. But, to that goal, to compare this tract to being close to 114 is a ridiculous comparison. The car count is 100,000 a day versus 500 a day or whatever it is. We need to be real in this discussion. We've been trying to be real in our expectations to find some things that we think can happen for that tract. When we look at the tract, we agree that we'd like to get some fast food on the corner. That's a viable use for second tier. Not McDonalds. Not going to happen there, but maybe like a Sonic or something where a little less capital is required and a little less car count. We are talking to a Mexican restaurant but alcohol sales is a problem; not a Taco Cabana but something along those lines might be possible. That's going to be an issue for that tract. We want the flexibility of moving a drive through over to the other corner next to the park or whatever, but again, I don't know how the 300-ft. is going to apply to the high school. Is it the front door or the property line?" Ms. Huggins stated that the requirements are: "in a direct line from the property line of the public school to the property line of the place of business". Mr. Keener asked if there is a distance requirement from a public park. Ms. Huggins stated that public parks are not included in the alcohol sales distance. Mr. Keener stated that they are ok with the limitation on the offices. That is probably more office space than that site can absorb in the next 10 years anyway. A 4-acre cap is fine. Even if they were to just do single story buildings that would give a yield of 36,000 sq. ft. of office space which is plenty of offices for that site. Mr. Keener stated that religious institutions are a must. He stated that he had offered a compromise to staff of limiting "religious institutions" to the east part of the larger tract, which would be the east side of the ditch/drainage easement. Mr. Keener anticipates offices on the eastern part of the tract as well. He stated that they consider that area to be the less desirable part of that tract due to the nearness of the surrounding houses. A drive-thru probably wouldn't work on that side of the tract as there wouldn't be enough traffic count and there would be an issue with the residences. Mr. Keener stated that religious institutions are already allowed, which is the point he is trying to stress. He stated that they would limit it on the fast food tract and the western part of the larger tract. Mr. Keener stated that he thinks schools would be a good use for that tract although whether or not there is a "need" is arguable. Mr. Keener would like to have the retirement and elderly care facility restricted to four acres (rather than 2 acres as requested by staff). If a buyer wants to build 32 beds versus 16 beds, four acres will be needed with parking. Chairman Hill asked about the realignment of Parkview. Ms. Huggins explained that the current Parkview street on the west side of the smaller Village Center tract will become a one- way southbound. [The existing Parkview will become a private street with two-way access to the school only. There will not be access to Bobcat Blvd. from this street once it becomes a private street.] Parkview will be realigned to the east side of the smaller Village Center tract and intersect into Bobcat Blvd. Mr. Keener stated that he envisioned the west side of the smaller tract as being the rear of the site. Vice Chairman Stephens stated that he does not have a problem with a drive through restaurant on the smaller tract of land. He stated that he is in agreement with the EDC Board members who spoke during the public hearing that there is a need to generate revenue for our community. He stated that there is very little commercial property left in the Town and it must be maximized. He stated that he wouldn't have a problem with limiting any facility or business that didn't generate some type of revenue for the Town. He asked Mr. Keener if a sit-down restaurant could go in the southeast corner of the larger tract. Mr. Keener responded that he doesn't feel that is a viable restaurant location. Commissioner Reed stated that he agrees with trying to get all the revenue we can, but at the same time he agrees with Mr. Keener that there is a marketability problem. He wonders if the Town would be better off with something in there that would pay some property taxes, even if they don't pay sales taxes, than to have a vacant lot. He feels some things other than sales tax producing businesses should be considered. Vice Chairman Stephens stated that until the economy kicks back in there will be a marketability problem out there. Commissioner Reed stated that even when the economy improves there will be a marketability problem there. Vice Chairman Stephens disagreed. The Town is expanding to add 1500 households in The Highlands over the next 15 years so whatever is put in out there could survive and make money. Commissioner Ashby stated that as far as the issue with sit-down restaurants with alcohol sales being too close property line to property line, perhaps state law allows some exceptions. Chairman Hill stated that a special use permit (SUP) would be required for any restaurant wishing to sell alcohol and at that time measurements would be made to see if the sales are outside the 300-ft. range. If they are not outside the 300-ft. requirement, at that time research could be done to determine whether or not an exception could be requested. Commissioner Ashby asked for a definition of "not restricted to drop off only" for item "i", dry cleaning. Vice Chairman Stephens stated that they would clean clothes on -site. Mr. Keener explained that it is a bit of a dated restriction. Many dry cleaners today clean clothes on site whereas 10 to 15 years ago the technology wasn't available to clean in the smaller spaces they can use now. Items are processed in-house versus shipping them out. Ms. Huggins stated that staff had discussed this item with the Fire Chief, who stated that chemicals are different today and whereas it used to be that if you were cleaning clothes on site an SUP was required because of the chemicals that were used and discarded, that is no longer the case. Commissioner Ashby asked that for #27 on page 2, "radio recording & television broadcasting offices and studios", add: "without exterior antennas and/or satellites". Mr. Keener stated that he didn't have a problem with that. Commissioner Ashby stated that he may sway on item "q" religious institutions. Commissioner Davidson stated that it appears that there really isn't much in disagreement. The only heartburn he sees is with religious institutions and maybe four acres instead of two acres to build a retirement facility. The rest seems to be non -issues. He stated that he is curious as to what on the list is No. 1 and No. 2? Mr. Keener responded that drive -through restaurants were desired. Commissioner Davidson stated that everyone seems to be in agreement regarding drive through restaurants. Mr. Keener stated that they want the blue items on the list to clarify "professional and administrative offices" as well as "specialty shops" and that religious institutions are a must. They cannot have religious institutions struck [from the list of permitted uses] or they will have to pull the case and just live without drive throughs. He is not in a position to take religious institutions off the table. He stated that they are not asking for anything that is not already there. He stated that he is willing to restrict religious institutions to the east side of the drainage ditch which he feels is the inferior part of the site anyway. They are willing to work on a design charrette with staff for the remainder of the site to the west of the drainage ditch. Vice Chairman Stephens stated that a religious institution is a church, and as someone who was in church planning for a number years, he stated that he knows that would require a minimum of 5-acres. Mr. Keener responded, "you could do less". Vice Chairman Stephens stated, "you could do less, but I don't know of a main line denomination that is growing that would invest that kind of money in that piece of property out there for anything less than 5- acres and most of them want 22, 25, even 50 acres today." Mr. Keener stated that he is willing to limit "religious institutions" to the west side of the drainage ditch, which is 7-acres. Kyle Salzman pointed out the location of the drainage ditch in relation to Village Center [see diagram highlighted below; orange -drainage ditch; yellow -Village Center]. SILT FENCE I]ETIA PRUFIE :9tISrRV OR ENTRANCE OLTAL _ EROSi6n COHTRpL uEa5uRE$ y � PI I:14 o, TJ NwthR- t Park Draimgc Io.r.1oP Q-0 .n mls Commissioner Ashby clarified that 7-acres would be for a church and six acres would be left on the west side of the drainage ditch for other businesses, along with 3.3 acres on the smaller tract on the other side of the park. Vice Chairman Stephens stated that as a former church planner he believes this Town does not have enough churches, but as a small town that needs to generate revenue he could live with eliminating that use. He hears Mr. Keener saying that if churches are disallowed he is going to fold his folder and walk. Mr. Keener responded that he has to. Mr. Keener stated that a church can buy today. He stated that an Alzheimer's age -restricted facility can buy today. Some of the other uses, with the way things are going in today's market it might be 10-years before there is any interest. Vice Chairman Stephens stated that the northeast corner of the 13.3 acres is where a church would want to be. Commissioner Reed stated that with six or seven acres gone a lot of tax paying business will be eliminated. Mr. Keener stated that he is not asking to add churches to the list of already approved uses. He stated that they are trying to add stuff to help make the tract more marketable. If churches weren't on the approved list, then there would be a different discussion. He stated that he is offering to restrict the rest of the tract, which right now they could put ten churches on there; "Not that that's what anyone wants to do. Churches aren't known for paying a high price for land." Vice Chairman Stephens stated that 7-acres represent 40+ percent of the total 16.6 acres. Chairman Hill stated that it is 50+ percent of the eastern 13.3-acre tract. He stated that a church at that location would knock out the possibility of a restaurant with alcohol sales. Ms. Huggins stated that staff did not believe a sit down restaurant with alcohol sales would be attracted to that area, however, smaller restaurants with drive-thru capability could be a possibility. She stated that if the eastern portion of the larger tract is built out as a church, staff believes it will create quite a bit of dis-interest to the entire tract. Staff believes that a church on 7-acres of the larger tract will decrease the value of the rest. Mr. Keener disagreed. He stated that the drainage easement splits the tract anyway. Commissioner Ashby stated that he thought the drainage easement is a box culvert that will be buried. Mr. Keener stated that it is, "at our expense we're putting about a million bucks into that". Commissioner Ashby stated that it will be buried with pavement over it. Mr. Keener said, "you can't build on it". Vice Chairman Stephens stated that it can be parking. Vice Chairman Stephens stated that he is torn — which is going to do the community more good — dollars or a place of faith? Mr. Keener stated that's not really the question because a church is already an approved use. Vice Chairman Stephens stated that the Commission is looking at disapproving it. Mr. Keener stated that he will pull the application if that is what it comes down to. They'll withdraw and leave it the way it is. Dave Glaser, EDC Board Member in the audience, requested to speak and was granted permission to speak by Chairman Hill. Mr. Glaser stated that the applicant would like 7-acres, which really wipes it out as far as what EDC413 is trying to accomplish. Mr. Glaser stated that the applicant also wants 4-acres for a retirement/Alzheimer facility and 2 other acres for professional office, which is the entire 13-acre large tract, which is non -productive as far as sales tax. From an economic standpoint for a Town that is landlocked and is hurting financially, this plan is terrible. Discussion continued for approximately 15 additional minutes between Commissioners, staff and the applicant regarding the permitted uses for Village Center. Bob Radder, from the audience, asked Chairman Hill for permission to speak. Mr. Radder stated that about four years ago the Mayor had a vision of development in that area and brought that vision to the Town Council. Mr. Radder suggested revisiting that presentation to see if it matched what is desired today. Chairman Hill stated that the platting of the high school changed that vision and it might not apply today. Vice Chairman Stephens thought that plan was discussed during Horton's initial presentation by a designer from Austin. At the time, that area was supposed to be a second location for a fire department. All of that went away when Horton's initial plan was rejected. Mr. Radder asked what level of nursing care is planned for a facility in that area. Mr. Keener responded that he doesn't have a contract but he has been told it's an Alzheimer's assisted living 16-bed facility. Mr. Radder responded that it would be acute care then. Chairman Hill asked to bring the discussion to a conclusion. Commissioner Davidson concluded that the applicant is stating that he will withhold his initial request to change the allowed uses in order to have a church. By withdrawing his request, he loses the ability to have restaurants with drive-throughs. His option of taking it off the table simply says he's going to have a church, with the other uses still in play, other than a drive - through restaurant. It comes down to a church versus a drive -through restaurant. That's where we are at. Vice Chairman Stephens stated that he would like to see both — a church and a drive -through. He stated that staff and the applicant should negotiate something that is a trade-off if the church is allowed. Commissioner Ashby made a motion to table the item and have staff and the applicant continue discussions to come to a good, viable conclusion for everybody. Vice Chairman Stephens seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously 5-0. ADJOURNMENT Chairman Hill adjourned the meeting at 8.07 p.m. T L Gene Hill, Chairman Carolyn Huggins, Planning & Zoning Coordinator c"