Title
Review and Consideration of a Request to Approve Minor Modifications to the South Pointe Planned Development (PD) District Standards, Office Residential (OR) District; RUBY 07 SPMTGE LLC, developer (ZC#04-012C)
Requested Action
The applicant is unable to attend the meeting and has requested that this item be tabled. Staff recommends tabling the case.
To review and consider proposed text revisions to the development standards for the South Pointe PD District concerning removing the requirement for a minimum of 50 acres to be developed as office in the OR District and to reduce the minimum lot area for townhomes in the OR District from 2,000 square feet to 1,760 square feet.
Recommendation
Staff recommends denial of the request to remove the requirement for a minimum of 50 acres to be developed as office in the OR District in accordance with the provisions of Section 5 of the South Pointe PD District Standards.
Staff recommends approval of the request to reduce the minimum lot area for townhomes in the OR District from 2,000 square feet to 1,760 square feet with the following development considerations:
1. Each townhome be provided with a dooryard, a terrace, or a stoop frontage as set forth in Section 155.073 (K) of the S, South Mansfield Form-based Development District.
2. Each townhome, where the provisions of the South Pointe PD District Standards are silent, be designed and constructed in accordance with the architectural standards as set forth in Section 155.073 (Q) of the S, South Mansfield Form-based Development District.
Description/History
Consideration of this case was tabled at the City Council's August 22, 2022, Meeting.
As envisioned, South Pointe is to be developed as and to exist as a “mixed-use community purposefully designed to facilitate quality development and livability” that is worthy of emulation.
The South Pointe PD District standards are administered to and applied across nine (9) different residential product types and a wide range of non-residential projects. The various residential product types include townhomes, with the considerations that townhomes are “appropriate as a transition from residential areas to nonresidential areas and along arterial or collector streets” and that “no more than six (6) attached dwelling units can be included in a single building”.
The South Pointe PD District standards are further administered to and applied across five (5) different districts, including the OR District. As shown in Section 6 of the South Pointe PD District, the intent of the OR District is to “provide a location for offices,
office flex, residential and related uses”.
Of the developed land within the OR District, some 45.03 acres of land are dedicated to the Charlene McKinzey Middle School; and another 33.44 acres of land are anticipated to deliver 92 detached single-family residences to the market (i.e., Phase 8B). This leaves a balance of approximately 29 acres of undeveloped land remaining in the OR District.
The text revision requests may be reviewed with regards to the following considerations:
• Presently, the remaining vacant land assigned to the OR District is generally located north of the Tarrant County Water Containment & Improvement District No. 1 Easement and south of the Union Pacific Railroad. It is bounded to the west by Matlock Road and to the east by State Highway 360.
• The OR District still affords substantial opportunities to integrate office uses into the existing and proposed development patterns in South Pointe and the surrounding environs, including proposed projects to the north of the Union Pacific Railroad and to the east of State Highway 360.
• Reducing the minimum lot area for townhomes will not only improve land use efficiency, but it will also increase opportunities for the application of elevated standards for architecture and urban design. Further mandating dooryard, terrace, or stoop frontages will stimulate visual interest while enhancing visual harmony with existing and future residential development. Standards for dooryard, terrace, and stoop frontages should be derived from and inspired by the S, South Mansfield Form-based Development District. Further, the S, South Mansfield Form-based Development District should inspire the architectural considerations for townhomes within the community, as there are limited provisions for architecture within the South Pointe PD District for townhomes.
• With the remaining amount of vacant land dwindling within the municipal limits of Mansfield, the purposeful integration of employment, commercial, and civic uses into primarily residential areas will help create complete neighborhoods while expanding the tax base.
• The development standards for the South Pointe PD District contemplate a rich and balanced mix of uses that sustain each other in whole and in part.
Summarily, in removing the requirement that a minimum of 50 acres be dedicated to office diminishes the potential of South Pointe to develop and to exist as an exemplary mixed-use development. The preservation of development patterns in South Pointe that are efficient and reinforce a balanced mix of uses should be reinforced.
Further, reducing the minimum lot area for the townhome residential product will not adversely impact development patterns; rather, it will provide a rather suitable transition in land use intensity for future projects and improve land use efficiency and site design.
Prepared By
Art Wright, Senior Planner
817-276-4226