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2035 Corridor Committee Meeting Report - Mtg. 3 - 114 Blessed Way Office and Independent Living Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Meeting Report Meeting 3 – March 21, 2016 MEETING LOCATION: Southlake Town Hall – Training Rooms 3A & B 1400 Main Street Southlake, Texas, 76092 IN ATTENDANCE: • City Council Member: Gary Fawks • Planning & Zoning Commission Member: Chris Greer, Michael Springer • Park Board Member: Frances Scharli • City Staff: Ken Baker, Dennis Killough, Rob Cohen, Alison Ortowski, Shannon Hamons, David Jones, Richard Schell, Jerod Potts AGENDA ITEMS: 1. Call to Order 2. Review and make recommendations on a proposed office, independent living, and assisted living project on 20.50 acres located at the northeast intersection of SH 114 frontage road and Blessed Way. 3. Review and make recommendations on a proposed retail and office project on approximately 7.5 acres at the southwest corner of FM1709 and White Chapel Blvd. 4. Adjournment. MEETING OVERVIEW: On March 21, 2016 the Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee held their third meeting. In advance of the meeting, 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 #2 – Office and Sr. Living on Blessed Way Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 1 ITEM #2 DISCUSSION – OFFICE, INDEPENDENT LIVING AND ASSISTED LIVING PROJECT (proposed multi-use development with two multi-story office buildings, a multi-story independent living building and a multi-story assisted living building on 20.5 acres of property at the northeast corner of SH 114 and Blessed Way): o Staff made a brief presentation to the Committee Applicant Presentation o There is a demand for office space along SH 114 so an office component was included at the front of the site along the highway. Designers went through 18 different designs before settling on the one shown tonight. o There are some environmental constraints on the site with water flow, which drove the splitting and arraigning of the buildings. There was a desire to make the development internally walkable for residents and workers. o Similar to Watermere in concept with combination of assisted living/independent living/acute care/condos. Noted the condos in Watermere hadn’t sold as well as projected which led to a later zoning change to allow apartments. o Noted this would be the first new independent living in NE Tarrant County in the last 9 years. The average age of independent living residents in the area is 81.5 years old. o There would be approximately 115-120 dwelling units in the west IL building with 1,300 sq ft a typical size. Structured parking would be included, and we want to have an overflow agreement in place with Gateway Church. The residential would be built in one phase while the office would be multi-phase. Targeted average age for Independent Living is 79; targeted age for assisted living is 86. Assisted living units would be mostly 2 bedrooms. We want to make these units walkable to Gateway Church. o Understand signage is discouraged on the upper floors but want to explore options for signage. o The residential buildings will be 4 stories while the parking garage will be 3.5 stories. The existing streams drove the location of the parking garage along with the need to screen it from the SH 114 corridor. RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: Okay with structured parking here if it is not visible from the highway and is surrounded by buildings like in Town Square. Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #2 – Office and Sr. Living on Blessed Way Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 2 Would also like to see bollard lighting on the top deck of the garage rather than pole lighting. RESPONSE BY APPLICANT: We’re not primarily office developers. Want to do 60% medical office and there’s no other way to park it if not in a garage. We can skin the sides of the garage to make it more appealing from 114 and places where it is visible. Will be a small portion that is visible. We will also have a natural tree buffer from the corner of 114 and Blessed Way that will screen the garage. Q BY COMMITTEE: Will you do “S-P-1” zoning? A BY APPLICANT: We intend to come with S-P-2 zoning. But want to be as transparent and decisive as possible and can do S-P-1. Q: Can the garage be narrowed and elongated or deepened to go back into the site and the offices pushed back? Might obtain more greenspace if the building is moved back from 114. A: The footprint shown is financially optimal for developing the site, and we also didn’t want to imperil any specimen trees or wetlands which exist on the site. The office building location has to provide easy access to the garage and the two cannot be too far apart. Also want to create usable greenspace for the office workers that is central to the site, which won’t be the case if it’s between the building and 114. Q: Can the surface parking be moved behind the building from 114? A: Could be doable, will revisit prior iterations to see if we had looked at that previously. Would amount to an extra 50 feet to walk from garage. Q: Can there be public access for pedestrians from 114? A: Maybe the trail along 114 could arc through the site instead of along the frontage road. Q: Can you do both? A: We’re already showing multiple paths, but have to engineer to allow for surface drainage so not finalized. Q: Will waterways stay natural? A: We will have a well for irrigation, a detention/retention pond with trails around it and throughout the site. The lakes will stay wet, river rock will prevent erosion and keep it pristine. My office will be there so I’ll have to look Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #2 – Office and Sr. Living on Blessed Way Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 3 at it every day. People in their eighties are mostly limited to walking and water exercise. Q: Will the trails be concrete? A: Mixture of crushed granite and concrete. RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: Those site and architectural details will need to be provided with the Zoning and Concept Plan beyond simply showing artist renderings. It does look very nice with the way the land and water are being used on the site. Other issues: The airport noise cone may be problematic for residential. Watermere turned out well and similar developments have been approved but not built in other places, but high density may be a problem here. This section of 114 is good for office campuses; would encourage residential to go elsewhere. We’ve already approved Assisted Living that’s not started construction yet. We don’t want to put residential up against 114 and have denied it in the past. RESPONSE BY APPLICANT: Not sure there’s a piece of property in Southlake that we could find consensus on. Q: You’re talking about rental units. What are the age restrictions? A: 62 and up. Can’t restrict any differently than that. RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: Basically putting senior apartments on 114, which would be a first. RESPONSE BY APPLICANT: Senior apartments different than independent living, which is an entirely different level of service and amenity. Q: Are there kitchens in the residences? A: Yes. But residents can also get prepared meals, housekeeping, indoor/outdoor pool, lifestyle director to help residents use current technology. RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: We need to make sure we have the right mix of IL/AL and not cause too much competition with existing AL. RESPONSE BY APPLICANT: We are at 75% IL with this plan because there are much more people in their late seventies and early eighties than late eighties. We hung in during a difficult economy and stuck through with Watermere and will do the same with this project. We’re focusing on Independent Living because of the demographics and the equity we can obtain in the project. We feel this location is as good as any. Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #2 – Office and Sr. Living on Blessed Way Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 4 RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: We recognize what you did with Watermere and it’s a good project. This is 114 and a different product. RESPONSE BY APPLICANT: Think this is a good property with good synergy next to the church and Town Square. Is an extra 100 feet off of 114 a material change? RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: It could be. This is a type of product we haven’t approved yet at this location. At public meeting phase you’ll need to be prepared to explain why IL/AL is the best use for this site. There may be too much in the pipeline already in Southlake. RESPONSE BY APPLICANT: Project in Mansfield had 58 residents move from IL to AL so we can support the AL almost entirely with our own residents. There were no further questions or comments on Item 2. Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #2 – Office and Sr. Living on Blessed Way Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 5 STAFF PRESENTATION SHOWN TO COMMITTEE: Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #2 – Office and Sr. Living on Blessed Way Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 6 Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #2 – Office and Sr. Living on Blessed Way Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 7 Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #2 – Office and Sr. Living on Blessed Way Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 8 Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #2 – Office and Sr. Living on Blessed Way Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 9 Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #2 – Office and Sr. Living on Blessed Way Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 10 Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #2 – Office and Sr. Living on Blessed Way Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 11