Morreene's revenge? CN zoning looks to take a more intensive review route

One of the more unfortunate legacies of Frank Duke's reign over the City/County Planning department was a moment that might best be described as "reign of error" -- the approval of a large warehouse for a wholesale business on the site of a former Morreene Rd. restaurant.

The presence of such a business (or its large industrial structure) wasn't exactly in keeping, neighbors argued, with the intent of the parcel's Commercial Neighborhood zoning, which supports allowing "limited commercial uses to satisfy the needs of the surrounding neighborhood." The Turnage Heights neighborhood appealed the city's approval of the warehouse development, losing before the Board of Adjustment in April.

Jim Wise's coverage of that hearing in the N&O raised the broader issue about Commercial Neighborhood (CN) zoning could lead to such a structure's erection, however:

"[The case] demonstrates some real problems and concerns that need to be addressed," said interim City Attorney Karen Sindelar....

"This case highlights the need for a more neighborhood-friendly commercial zone next to a residential area," [activist John[ Schelp said, "[and] clearly shows how important a neighborhood advocate, not a liaison, an advocate, can be....

"At the very least," [resident Will Robinson] wrote in an e-mail response to a reporter's question, "we may have played a large part in sparing other neighborhoods the same injustice we've experienced, and that is no small consolation."

Looks like the experience may indeed help out other neighborhoods struggling with this sort of conflict. City/County Planning staff have proposed another in the ongoing series of text amendments to the Unified Development Ordinance, this time focused on -- you guessed it -- CN zoning.

And the proposed changes, set for discussion at August 4's City Council meeting, give the sense that the Morreene Rd. debacle was front-and-center in staff's mind in proposing these changes.

The draft ordinance appears to most notably require a minor special use permit from elected officials for any CN project that is over 5,000 sq. ft. in floor area and that lacks a development plan, if residential-zoned districts are adjacent to or across the street from at least two of the project's property lines.

Additionally, applicants for such developments would now be required to hold a neighborhood meeting, under the provisions of the UDO, unless they already had held one for the development at issue.

At the same time, the proposed ordinance also makes changes to the requirements for special use permits in general, changes that seem geared towards giving neighborhoods (versus simply adjacent properties) greater stake in the discussions and decisions leading to these approvals.

For instance, the old special use permit text defined a project's "compatibility" in a strict-neighbor sense:

The level of general compatibility with nearby properties and the appropriateness of the use in relationship to other properties.

As proposed, however, this standard would become stricter and would apply to a neighborhood in general:

The level of general compatibility with nearby properties and impacted neighborhoods, including but not limited to the appropriateness of the scale, design, and use in relationship to other properties.

Similarly, the ordinance adds a new test of consistency with policy, defined as whether the development applying for the special use permit is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and with "development tier guidelines, overlay purposes, and zoning district intent statements" -- the latter of which appears to be a direct reaction to the concerns raised in the Morreene Rd. project that a wholesale appliance building wasn't exactly street-corner retail as envisioned when CN zoning was created in the first place.

Sometimes it's not possible to close the barn door before the horse gets out, but with development projects, you always know there's more horses coming down the path somewhere. Here's hoping changes like this, or their revised successors, prevent the City and residents from having to deal with another Morreene Rd. situation down the line.

Comments

[Derek]

Man would I love to see Turnage's BBQ restored to that site....

[susan]

Of key importance, I think, is strick requirements of buffers ON THE LOT involved. NO variances on buffers helps commercial be good neighbors to residential.