Title
Ordinance -Third and Final Reading of an Ordinance Approving a Zoning Change from PR, Pre-Development District and SF-12/22, Single-Family Residential District to PD, Planned Development District for Single-Family Residential Uses on Approximately 68.543 Acres out of the James McDonald Survey, Abstract No. 997, Tarrant County, Texas, Generally Located West of Gertie Barrett Road and North of Linda Jobe Middle School, on Property Addressed at 2789 Gertie Barrett Road; Felix Wong (ZC#18-010)
Requested Action
To consider the subject zoning change request.
Recommendation
The Planning and Zoning Commission held a public hearing on April 16, 2018 and voted to deny the request by a vote of 5-2-0 with Commissioners Neuman and Klenzendorf voting nay. The Commission had concerns that the project may be too dense for the area; traffic; the lot deviations; if it was economically feasible to build fewer lots; maintenance of the proposed wood fence along the north being built by the developer; and proposed parkland that would not be useable as it is encumbered by an easement and detention pond.
Commissioner Neuman made an original motion to approve with the following conditions:
1) build the 4-lane connector to Main Street within the first 6 months of construction of the subdivision;
2) the northern fence to be maintained by the HOA;
3) require the approval of TxDOT for the entrance at N. Main Street; and
4) suggested the traffic engineer be available at City Council to discuss traffic solutions.
This motion died for a lack of a second.
The adjacent property owners spoke about their concerns regarding traffic on Gertie Barrett Road and Turner Warnell Road (see attached letter from the City of Arlington regarding traffic signals on Turner Warnell Road); the noise from the railroad; appreciate the one story on the north property line; wood fence not conducive to livestock; and like the 4-lane connector proposal.
Description/History
First Reading
The applicant is requesting PD Planned Development zoning to accommodate a proposed single-family residential neighborhood. The proposed PD will use the SF-7.5/18 and SF-9.6/20 regulations as the base zoning for this development. For the SF-7.5/18 lots, the PD proposes a minimum lot area of 7,500 square feet and homes with a minimum of 1,800 square feet of living area. For the SF-9.6/20 lots, the PD proposes a minimum lot size of 9,600 square feet and homes with a minimum of 2,000 square feet.
As noted on the development plan, there will be a total of 231 lots in the development. There are 195 lots following the SF-7.5/18 regulations, 27 lots following the SF-9.6/20 regulations, and 9 open space lots. The applicant is developing the property in two phases, with 137 lots in Phase 1 and 94 lots in Phase 2.
The proposed development is set in a rural, slowly developing area of Mansfield surrounded by larger properties. Immediately north of the proposed development is Mabra Acres, a subdivision with single-family residential lots from 1 to 3 acres. To the south are Linda Jobe Middle School and the undeveloped Bisbee Ranch LLC property. To the west is the Union Pacific railroad and unincorporated Tarrant County. To the east, between Gertie Barrett Road and N. Main Street, are tracts owned by RDS Properties and the Knapp family.
As the PD is following the standard zoning requirements, the development must comply with the residential architectural standards in Section 4600 of the Zoning Ordinance. In addition to the requirements of Section 4600, the applicant is proposing requirements for wood or faux wood garage doors and for decorative front doors with examples shown on Exhibit “E”.
The applicant is requesting the following deviations from the City’s standard regulations:
The minimum lot depth for SF-7.5/18 lots is 110 feet. As noted on the development plan, Lot 44, Block 1, Lot 14, Block 2, and Lot 14, Block 7 do not meet this requirement.
The minimum lot width for SF-9.6/20 lots is 80 feet. To allow for additional lots, the applicant is proposing that these lots have a minimum lot width of 70 feet.
The required minimum exterior side yard setback for corner lots along the side street are 15 feet where a rear yard backs up to the rear yard of adjacent lot, and 20 feet where the rear yard backs up to the side yard of the adjacent lot. The applicant is proposing a flat 20-foot exterior side yard setback for this development as shown in the Lot Layout Detail on Exhibit “B”.
Corner lots are required to be 15 feet wider than the adjacent lot to accommodate a larger exterior side yard setback. The applicant is proposing corner lot widths that will be at least 10 feet wider than the SF-7.5/18 lot width of 65 feet or the SF-9.6/20 lot width of 80 feet.
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.
Staff is requiring the developer to construct specific improvements to help mitigate the increased traffic congestion on Gertie Barrett Road. The existing asphalt roadway will be widened to accommodate left turn lanes for northbound traffic into both street connections, Amber Lane and Jackie Lane. Additionally, a four-lane connection will be constructed from Gertie Barrett Road to North Main Street in line with Jackie Lane. This will help reduce the anticipated increase in volume on Nelson Wyatt Road and Turner Warnell Road. The City of Arlington is also planning to install traffic signals east of Main Street on Turner Warnell Road at Nelson Wyatt Road and Russell Curry Road to reduce delays at the current stop sign controlled intersections. See attached aerial exhibit highlighting these roadway locations.
The developer is requesting financial reimbursement for the cost of the four-lane connector roadway and 12” water lines along this roadway and Gertie Barrett Road through impact fee credits. Both the roadway and the water lines have some system related benefits. The roadway is off-site and is likely subject to impact fee credits under State statute. The anticipated cost of these improvements is $80,226 for the roadway and $121,415 for the water lines. Council may discuss the requested credits at this time, but an agreement will need to be on a future agenda for formal approval.
Second Reading - May 29, 2018
The applicant has revised Exhibit B to make the following changes:
• Increased the minimum lot area of the SF-7.5/18 lots to 8,400 square feet and increased the minimum floor area of the homes from 1,800 square feet to 2,000 square feet. This change has caused a loss of 11 residential lots from the development, 7 lots in Phase 1 and 4 lots in Phase 2.
• Increased the minimum floor area of the homes on the SF-9.6/20 lots from 2,000 square feet to 2,400 square feet.
• Revised the Typical Lot Layout Detail to reflect the above changes.
• Added a Note 14 stating that rear and side yard fences will be installed by the builder except the fence along the northern boundary of the subdivision, which will be installed by the developer. The fences must be minimum 6-foot stained wood fences with metal poles.
• Added a Note 15 stating that any fence backing up to the school property will not exceed 6 feet in height.
The applicant has also revised Exhibit E to show a better photograph of the proposed wood perimeter fence.
Second Reading Continuation - June 11, 2018
The applicant has revised Exhibit B from the May 29, 2018, Council meeting to make the following changes:
Removed five of the SF-9.6/20 lots from along the northern boundary of the development, reducing the number of lots from 27 lots on the previous plan to 22 lots. Four of these remaining lots, Lots 47 through 50, Block 1, have been designated for model homes, leaving 18 of the larger lots available for development until the model homes are sold. Please note that the SF-9.6/20 lots are not permitted to have front-entry garages, while the SF-7.5/18 lots may have front-entry garages. This may necessitate additional lots in the SF-7.5/18 area of the development to have model homes to display the front-entry garage models.
Revised Note 3 to require that the 8-foot wood fence along the northern property line will be maintained by the homeowners’ association rather than the individual property owners.
Revised Note 11 to correct an error in the lot number from Lot 22 to Lot 20, Block 3.
Revised Note 12 to change the lots requiring a deviation to the minimum 110-foot lot depth requirement. The previous plan called for deviations for Lot 44, Block 1; Lot 14, Block 2; and Lot 14, Block 7. The revised Exhibit B now calls for deviations on Lots 11 and 14, Block 2; and Lot 13, Block 7.
Revised Note 13 to remove the request that all SF-9.6/20 lots have a minimum lot width of 70 feet, and requested a deviation to allow Lot 47, Block 1 and Lot 50, Block 1 to have a 70-foot minimum lot width.
Based on the total acreage of the property, the density has been reduced from 3.078 units per acre on the previous plan to 3.005 units per acre on this revised Exhibit B.
Staff has researched the City’s accident reports for the section of Gertie Barrett Road from the 2700 block to the 2900 block and the Gertie Barrett Road/Wildwood Court intersection. According to the Police Department records, there have been eight reported accidents in the last 10 years. Six of these accidents involved damage to vehicles or property and two involved injuries.
Third Reading - June 25, 2018
If the requested PD zoning is denied, the applicant will be able to develop the property under the existing SF-12/22, Single-Family Residential and PR, Pre-Development zoning. The PR and SF-12/22 Districts both follow the same area, height and setback regulations for single-family residential uses.
While these districts require lots with a minimum area of 12,000 square feet and a minimum lot width of 90 feet, Section 4600.D.15 of the Zoning Ordinance allows 20% of the lots to be reduced to a minimum lot area of 7,200 square feet with a minimum lot width of 65 feet. The lots may also have reduced side and rear yard setbacks based on the smaller lot width. The reduced lots cannot be concentrated in one phase or location, but must be distributed throughout the development.
The provisions of Section 4600.D.15 of the Zoning Ordinance are attached.
Prepared By
Lisa Sudbury, AICP
Interim Director of Planning
817-276-4227