Rezoning permit sent back to commission
City board members voted 4 to 3 to send Ordinance 2014 regarding a rezoning permit for the 900 block of South Washington Street back to the planning commission for further review.
The ordinance and Resolution 25-20, a preliminary plat permit for the same location, originally went before the planning commission on May 12. Both were denied by the planning commission by a vote of 5-1 (Commissioner Tom Montgomery was absent for this meeting) following the recommendations from city staff.
The rezoning permit, requested by Javier Chavez, owner of Chavez Management LLC, would rezone 1.76 acres of a 2.80 acre lot from C-2 (Roadway Commercial) to R-2 (Residential Medium) so a nine lot subdivision could be built on the property.
Chavez sent a letter to the city last month detailing his reasons the permits should be approved. He concluded the letter saying if the permits were denied he will have to consider putting in an industrial commercial property, which could include an adult or sex-oriented business.
Senior Planner Ben Rhoads outlined Ordinance 20-14 and Resolution 25-20 for the board, recommending both be denied. He cited the designation of the acreage on the future land use map as being intended for industrial use.
“The idea being that the industrial users in this area would desire sites that have direct rail access,” Rhoads said.
The senior planner also said the subdivision’s smaller homes would not fit with the context of the neighborhood’s larger homes; the noise from the auto body shop to the east of the subdivision and the drainage issues.
Engineer Ron Homeyer, owner of Civil Engineering who is representing Chavez said there were initially no red flags raised by the city concerning the subdivision development when the property was purchased, Homeyer said. The red flags came when Chavez applied for the rezoning and preliminary plat permits.
“I’m here tonight because of the fact that we could not have meaningful conversations with the staff unless it had something to do with something besides residential,” Homeyer said.
Homeyer said the developer would consider alternatives and is not married to the original designs. Chavez would be willing to build fewer homes in the subdivision, Homeyer said. He also said there are smaller homes on South Washington Street.
The city directors had mixed reactions on the ordinance and resolution. Director Marla Sappington said she has seen the property have drainage issues for the last 50 years. She also disagreed with the city’s reasons involving railroad access and the size of smaller homes not fitting in with the neighborhood context.
“The only reason that I would look at anything else is because of the drainage,” Sappington said.
She said that this is something the planners can address. Sappington also said if the city does not like how Chavez wants to develop the property, they can buy it back from the developer and leave it a stream. The R-2 zoning would be consistent with the areas to the north, south and west, Sappington said. She also said she would like to see Chavez have the chance to work with the city on the drainage.
Directors Mindy Hunt, Lesa Rissler, Reid Carroll and Bob Coleman were in favor of approving the permits while Directors Brad Burns and Carol Smiley were in favor of the planning commission’s recommendation to deny the permits.
“I think if houses are built there, homeowners are going to come back to us and we’re going to be addressing some problems,” Smiley said of the drainage.
A compromise between the city and the developer was reached when the developer offered to withdraw the preliminary plat permit and the board voted to send the rezoning permit back to the planning commission so they could work with the developer to address the drainage issue.
The earliest the issue could be heard by the planning commission will be in July, according to City Administrator Phillip Patterson.