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2035 Corridor Committee Meeting Report - Mtg. 2 - TD Ameritrade Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Meeting Report Meeting 2 – February 3, 2016 MEETING LOCATION: The Marq Southlake 285 Shady Oaks Drive, Legacy Rooms I, II, and III Southlake, Texas, 76092 IN ATTENDANCE: • City Council Members: Laura Hill, Brandon Bledsoe, Gary Fawks • Planning & Zoning Commission Members: Michael Springer • Park Board Member: Frances Scharli • City Staff: Ken Baker, Dennis Killough Bob Price, Steven Anderson, Alison Ortowski, Shannon Hamons, Jerod Potts • Public: Throughout the meeting there were as many as twenty three (23) members of the public present AGENDA ITEMS: 1. Call to Order 2. Opening Comments 3. Review and make recommendations on TD Ameritrade’s proposed approximate 330,000 square foot office building located north of W. Dove Road, west and south of W. Kirkwood Boulevard and east of SH 114. 4. Adjournment. MEETING OVERVIEW: On February 3, 2016 the Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee held their second meeting. In advance of the meeting letters were sent to residents of the Kirkwood Hollow neighborhood inviting them to attend. In addition, a meeting agenda was posted and the meeting time was advertised on the City’s website and was open to the public. The following meeting report focuses on discussion points made during the meeting by members of the Committee, public and City staff. This report is neither verbatim nor does it represent official meeting minutes; rather it serves to inform elected and appointed officials, City staff, and the public of the issues and questions raised by the Committee, City staff, and any attendees of the meeting. Interested parties are strongly encouraged to follow development cases through the process. Please visit CityofSouthlake.com/Planning for more information. Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – TD Ameritrade Meeting #2 - February 3, 2016 Page 1 ITEM #3 DISCUSSION – TD AMERITRADE (proposed approximate 330,000 square foot office building located north of W. Dove Road, west and south of W. Kirkwood Boulevard and east of SH 114): o Staff made presentation to the Committee o Questions for Staff Q: Traffic will be a concern. What do we know about plans for Kirkwood, where the employees come from, what do we already know that we currently have in our plans and what we think the applicant will respond to? A: Based on information the applicant has provided 70% of the employees are now located west of the site. As part of the submission a Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) will be required. That is where we will analyze additional traffic brought onto Kirkwood, what the Level of Service (LOS) at the intersections will function, is a traffic signal warranted? That will all be part of the TIA that is submitted Q: Are there any plans for TXDOT to provide a frontage road? A: Not currently, but something the City can investigate and discuss. May be more of a long term project o Comments by the Committee o First steps that have been brought to us show they are being very sensitive to the land. Instead of fighting the topography they are trying to work with what the land gives them. TD Ameritrade is doing what the citizens want done: look at the property, look at the topography, preserve the trees, and work around what the property gives you. At least with stage one, they are going down that pathway and demonstrating that they intend to be a very responsible corporate citizen o These types of projects put little impact on our schools, provide a stable tax base. Goal long-term is provide the most stable tax base for this City o Questions / Comments by Public Q: Not talking about finishing of the 3-lane roadway (114) continuing west of us, just talking about the infrastructure within the City? A: Correct. But that money has been approved so that 114 to 170 to the west. That is a state and regional project. The plans are underway Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – TD Ameritrade Meeting #2 - February 3, 2016 Page 2 o When they took the gate off Kirkwood making it a through street, which opened up traffic. Now people will go to Sabre or get off 114 and cut through to go by Sabre at Kirkwood and 114 RESPONSE BY STAFF: Section of Kirkwood to be expanded on the south side of the existing roadway. Section between Tyler and Stockton under design. Will be looking at putting in trees to separate the two lane sections – still in design. This project is underway and probably 60% through with the actual design of the roadway. Would anticipate that construction may occur sometime later in this calendar year and would probably complete the southern lane sometime next year o The part we are talking about is when you get to the end of Kirkwood you need to go right or left and the inability to do so pulling out of any of the communities there currently is very heavy RESPONSE BY STAFF: That is one thing we will be taking a look at with regards to traffic signalization at those potential locations. At 114 / Solana Blvd. and also Kirkwood there are some challenges also at Dove and Kirkwood o At peak hours people get off 114 as a regular way of commuting to take the service road to get back on 114, which jams up anyone trying to get off 114 or travel just by way of service road o To this point have heard a long-term plan to build out the corridor and whatever the City can do to proactively work to have the frontage road extended would be very much encouraged. People are dumping into Kirkwood because that frontage road doesn’t extend RESPONSE BY STAFF: That will be one of the things that we will be exploring. Don’t know that it will necessarily fall on TD Ameritrade but we will be exploring that with the State of Texas RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: Priority for us to try to find a way to work with the State. The section you are talking about is a priority and Council is aware of it o Traffic moving very quickly along Kirkwood; Safety issues with turning into and out of neighborhood. One of our big concerns is the fact that some of those issues need resolved before someone can come in because by opening those gates the Sabre traffic is unbearable with what we are seeing and the proximity of those homes o Timing very important. If nothing is done on that access road this construction traffic will have to come from somewhere, and it will come from Kirkwood which will exacerbate the situation on Kirkwood. If you would consider the timing – if you complete that access road it would alleviate and make this project more palatable RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: When we plan ahead part of the input is Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – TD Ameritrade Meeting #2 - February 3, 2016 Page 3 construction traffic will have to come from the north but that is part of the input to help direct the flow. City staff has a great relationship with TXDOT. If we can figure out funding and that is the bottom line we will do whatever we can to help because that whole corridor has those issues and the challenge we find in Southlake is that north Fort Worth is one of the fastest growing residential areas in Dallas-Fort Worth. A lot of household commute on 114. Regionally it is a huge issue o On the developer’s website they show the entire site developed. Is that not their intent? It shows 4 or 5 parking garages and over 9,000 parking spots. Is that something they are looking to do? RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: They have the ability to do long-term planning Q: Is there a way to get a better view for the residents of Kirkwood Hollow, versus a garage? A: If we can we will try to get the parking structure, could the garage look like an office. We have the overlay, trying to balance not having a bunch of parking structures on 114 but being mindful of the neighborhood. There is a lot of topography, how can they construct a project that fits with the site versus the other way around. At our initial meeting with TD Ameritrade we told them the parking garage would be really important to the neighbors and to place extra emphasis on what that is going to look like and what the view is going to look like. The message has already been sent that that is something we’ll be paying extra special attention to o Would suggest they go out to Fidelty to see how they did their garages. They have a level or two below ground; you cannot see the garages because they are below the tree height where they do not show up RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: We have gone so far to be mindful of the lighting – there is all kind of new LED technology that provides very little spillover. The applicant has been telling us that they can cut into this site and bring down a lot of the development Q: Which structure has the highest elevation, the parking garage or the office space? A: Think the building is going to be set up higher Q: Why does the parking garage have to be closest to Kirkwood Hollow? A: One of the things they are trying to do is preserve trees and the building footprints, if they were to flip flop, we have heard comments in other parts of the community that they don’t like having offices close to their houses o The renderings are two different things – they look a lot different than what the reality is RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: This is a well-funded group. Photographs provided show actual buffers. Asked up front to see the best to give real Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – TD Ameritrade Meeting #2 - February 3, 2016 Page 4 pictures, real elevations so we do not have to pretend what sight lines, lighting look like Q: Who is the developer? KDC? A: Believe so Q: The egress looks like it will be all on Kirkwood from that garage is that the plan? A: You can come in their main entrance or off Kirkwood. One of the questions we asked was where do your employees live now – and the majority live to the west o Seems like there has to hopefully be a way that they can get on and off at 114 QUESTION FROM COMMITTEE TO PUBLIC: Is most of the problem traffic bypassing the 114 backup or is most of it generated by the neighborhood and Sabre? RESPONSE BY PUBLIC: Sabre o In the last year have seen an increase in the amount of trash where they are about to build but all the way to Sabre o Last year with all the flooding White Chapel had a period when homeowners further down could not get to their homes, they had to access this back way. Question about whether or not they can build the parking garage into the grade because of drainage Q: Do they own the land? A: Yes o Traffic enforcement needed along Kirkwood Q: What is the plan for the area between TD Ameritrade and Verizon? A: There was a proposal that came forward adjacent to Verizon. Verizon purchased that property adjacent to the north. Have not seen any plans. There is an old plan that exists; the Wilks Brothers had a plan to build this out, a previous plan. That plan did show a lot of buildout in this area. They are no longer involved, they sold the property; this plan is no longer applicable to what TD Ameritrade would be doing here Q: Is TD Ameritrade a tenant? A: They are going to own this building. TD Ameritrade owns the entire site and the land. Wilks still owns a portion of the corner property, and Sabre owns their campus o Maybe don’t understand what may further come through. First thought is this is the start of developing everything Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – TD Ameritrade Meeting #2 - February 3, 2016 Page 5 RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: That is part of the process is to get all of that nailed down. We seem to be starting in the right direction o Two concerns: traffic and the garage o We want to partner with them; this is a great first step RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: That was the goal of this meeting – to allow the neighbors that are going to be impacted the most to have the first look at this and have the first chance to give thoughts and concerns so we can all work together towards a good finish o Have a creek that runs along the back of my property. The hill coming down Kirkwood is one of the most severe in Southlake. I have an 8’ wide area that normally has 6” of water in it, and during a storm that creek will get to be 15’ wide and 5’ deep. There will be a higher displacement of water and it is going to go to the low point in the creek RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: The law is not to make it worse Q: Are they doing an Environmental Impact Analysis? A: There is not an environmental impact requirement. They will do engineering studies to talk about water runoff Q: Regarding the creek - is there any scenario to put in place to say if it does make this worse we can come back? A: One of the things we will do is make sure the detention that is provided fully covers the incremental increase of flow between the undeveloped flow and the developed flow Q: When the letter came out (for the meeting) the big concern was the traffic, the second was the placement and what we would be looking at. The other thing that came up is the beautification of Kirkwood Blvd., which this part of it is lacking. There are shrubs that come up, and there are trees that are overgrown. Between that and the Crepe Myrtles that have been neglected, is the City going to be addressing the entire length of Kirkwood from 114 to Dove? A: Absolutely. Further to the east through Carillon there was specifically an urban design plan put in place to create a very beautiful suburban divided boulevard with all the things you are talking about. W ill not overlook that RESPONSE BY STAFF: At the staff level have already done a median landscape plan – one of the recommendations out of the 2030 effort was to do a preliminary design on the medians that will need irrigation. W ill eventually be a CIP project o As soon as you pass Kirkwood Blvd. all the way to the Dove Roundabout it is all weeds and the trees that were placed on the roundabout have died or they are not trimmed. It’s overgrown. There is no irrigation Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – TD Ameritrade Meeting #2 - February 3, 2016 Page 6 Q: Will they be putting a light in at Kirkwood (Solana) and 114? A: We will be conducting a warrant study to determine this o If you can hopefully sway TD Ameritrade for construction to bring in vehicles any other way than a residential way - a temporary road RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: That is a conversation we will have with them at the beginning of the process – trying to make the construction traffic the least obtrusive on you guys as possible o They are the right business to come in and we are behind that Q: The road at that shows coming off of Kirkwood before it gets up to Sabre, and coming down to TD Ameritrade… that is going to be built? A: That is part of their development Q: What about suggesting building that road first and designating that for construction traffic? A: There may be different ways to provide egress. These are the kinds of things we will talk about Q: Are they getting any tax abatement from the City? A: Working with them – there will be consideration Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – TD Ameritrade Meeting #2 - February 3, 2016 Page 7 STAFF PRESENTATION SHOWN TO COMMITTEE: Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – TD Ameritrade Meeting #2 - February 3, 2016 Page 8 Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – TD Ameritrade Meeting #2 - February 3, 2016 Page 9 Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – TD Ameritrade Meeting #2 - February 3, 2016 Page 10 Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – TD Ameritrade Meeting #2 - February 3, 2016 Page 11 Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – TD Ameritrade Meeting #2 - February 3, 2016 Page 12 Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – TD Ameritrade Meeting #2 - February 3, 2016 Page 13