Title
Ordinance - Third and Final Reading on an Ordinance Approving a Zoning Change from PR, Pre-Development District to PD, Planned Development District for I-1, Light Industrial Uses on Approximately 241.69 Acres, Generally Located at the Northwest Corner of Lone Star Road and S. Miller Road; the Northeast Corner of Britton Road and S. Miller Road; and South of Lone Star Road and Britton Road Approximately 660 Feet East of SH 360 and Approximately 1500 Feet West of S. Holland Road; Logistics Property Company (ZC#18-021)
Requested Action
To consider the subject zoning change request.
Recommendation
The Planning and Zoning Commission held a public hearing on October 1, 2018 and voted 6 to 0 to recommend denial.
Description/History
First Reading
Southern Pacific Railroad, west of the Original Town of Britton and east of SH 360.
The applicant is requesting to re-zone several tracts of vacant land (with the exception of one house) to PD for light industrial uses such as office warehouse. Where a use requires special conditions under Sections 4400B of the Zoning Ordinance, the development will comply with those conditions.
The applicant plans to construct seven buildings ranging in size from 107,640 square feet to 1,076,320 square feet. Five buildings will be located south of Britton Road with two buildings on separate lots north of Britton Road/Lone Star Road. There is an existing drill site located in the center of Buildings 1 through 5. Access to the drill site will need to be provided through this development.
The development will be constructed in 4 phases. There is a detailed estimated development schedule on the development plan, but the following is a summary:
• Phase 1, starts March 2019, completed March 2020: Building 1 (561,600 s.f.);
• Phase 2, starts May 2019, completed May 2020: Building 2 (141,960 s.f.) and Building 3 (152,880 s.f.);
• Phase 3, starts March 2021, completed March 2022: Building 4 (107,640 s.f.), Building 5 (273,000 s.f.), and Building 6 (453,600 s.f.); and
• Phase 4, starts September 2021, completed September 2022: Building 7 (1,076,320 s.f.).
The applicant is proposing to start with Building 1 at the southern end of the development. The site plan and building elevations for Building 1 are included with this Development Plan. The applicant is proposing that future buildings be approved by City Council through a Detailed Site Plan before any plat or building permit can be issued.
As can be seen from the elevations for Building 1, the exterior of the buildings may be 100% texture coated tilt wall, cast-in place concrete walls, or precast concrete walls. Tilt wall and concrete wall construction are permitted for buildings in the I-1 District. Metal panels or cladding are prohibited in this development.
Building 1 is proposed to be approximately 1080 feet long by 520 feet deep with a height of approximately 45 feet. To break up the solid facade the applicant is providing vertical articulation at the top of the building. At a minimum, vertical articulation should be provided on any facade of the future buildings that face a street.
Except for Building 5, roof top equipment on these buildings is not required to be screened from view. To mitigate the visibility of this equipment, the applicant proposes to set the units back from the edge of the buildings out of line of site as shown in the diagram on Exhibit D. Due to proximity of a residential lot, any roof top equipment on Building 5 must be screened by an architectural element such as a parapet wall that is at least one foot taller than the height of the equipment.
The applicant is proposing to comply with landscaping and screening requirements in Section 7300. To reduce the visual impact of the development, the applicant is proposing to plant rows of trees, either alone or on top of a berm, to screen the loading areas. The overall height of the loading area screening must be a minimum of ten feet, measured from the base of the berm or tree.
The applicant agrees to comply with the standard regulations in the Zoning Ordinance for the following:
• The buildings will comply with the area, setback and height requirements in Section 4500.
• Signage will comply with the Sign Standards in Section 7100.
• The development will provide parking and loading spaces/areas as required in Section 7200.
• Open storage and screening in the Planned Development will comply with Section 7500.E including screening from any public right-of-way by an eight foot high opaque fence.
• This development will completely surround an occupied residential lot (Lot 1R, Block 1, Maranatha Ranch Addition). The applicant will comply with all Residential Proximity regulations including an 8’ masonry wall, a 40-foot minimum setback, and a minimum 30-foot side buffer yard along the entire boundary of this lot. Lighting from Buildings 5 and 6 including parking lots must be shielded and directed away from this lot.
The applicant is seeking deviations from the standard zoning requirements for the following:
• Screening requirements for trash containers, refuse or recycling storage will comply with Section 7301.B except buildings that exceed 50,000 square feet with a loading area (i.e. truck court) may have trash or recycling containers located openly within the loading area if the loading areas are screened. The standard requirement is to enclose trash and recycling containers within a screening wall with an opaque gate.
The Engineering Department has the following outstanding staff review comments:
• A revised Traffic Impact Analysis has been submitted and accepted. Traffic volumes and delay will increase at the Lone Star/SH 360 intersection due to this development. However, the traffic study indicates the intersection will be able to handle the increase with an acceptable level-of-service. It is estimated this development at build-out will produce 4,814 daily trips (1,372 of the trips will be truck traffic). The study estimated all of these trips would go through the Lone Star/SH 360 intersection.
• Conceptual approval from Oncor has not yet been provided. It is understood that correspondence with Oncor has indicated no issues, but the plans will need to be reviewed by Oncor before any type of approval will be given.
• The revised downstream assessment has been received and is under review. It is understood that mitigation of drainage impacts is required.
• It is understood that the developer is prepared to design a lift station to accommodate the southern basin with the development.
The Fire Department has the following outstanding staff review comment:
• More detail is needed on the gas well site. How will access be granted? If the entrance to the site moves we will need to relocate foam lines.
The Development Plan is conceptual in nature and may need to be modified at the time of platting in order to address the City’s platting and development regulations.
Third Reading
The City Council held a public hearing and second reading on November 12, 2018 and voted 5-2 (Councilmembers Broseh and Moore voting nay) to approve as presented. At the meeting the applicant presented a revised plan. Based on these changes and the City Council’s discussion the applicant has revised the development plan to make the following changes to Building 5:
• On the previous plan Building 5 was 273,000 square feet in size. On the revised plan, the building has been reduced in size to 247,000 square feet.
• The building has been relocated further south away from the Massey property. The truck loading area has been moved to the north side of the building. The revised plan shows a 40’ setback between the Massey property and the edge of the pavement.
• The truck parking lot has been moved from the south side of the building to the north side of the building, west of the Massey property. The regular parking spaces have been arranged around the west, south, and east sides of the building.
During second reading the applicant indicated during their presentation that they will be starting with buildings 5 and 6 rather than Building 1. They have recently informed staff that they are going to start with building 1 as presented in the Lot Information table on the development plan.
Although not stated in the PD all buildings in this development that are within 300 feet of a residential property line must screen any rooftop equipment in accordance with section 7301.A.2.b of the Zoning Ordinance.
Prepared By
Lisa Sudbury, AICP
Interim Director of Planning
817-276-4227