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2035 Corridor Committee Meeting Report - Mtg. 3 - FM 1709 - White Chapel Blvd. Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Meeting Report Meeting 3 – March 21, 2016 MEETING LOCATION: Southlake Town Hall – Training Rooms 3A & 3B 1400 Main Street Southlake, Texas, 76092 IN ATTENDANCE: • City Council Members: Gary Fawks • Planning & Zoning Commission Members: Michael Springer, Chris Greer • 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. The Committee was sent a packet of materials prior to the meeting that were to be discussed during the session. The packet items were made available to the public and the meeting itself was open to the public. A meeting agenda was posted and the meeting time was advertised on the City’s website. 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 – Office/Commercial at FM 1709 & White Chapel Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 1 ITEM #3 DISCUSSION – Office/Commercial Development at FM 1709 and White Chapel Blvd.: • Staff made presentation to the Committee • Martin Schelling, representing the project, made a presentation to the Committee. The following includes comments by the presenter: o Put property under contract two weeks ago o Project is located at 1709 and White Chapel o Currently zoned “O-1” – felt like the property needed to be bisected o Proposing retail uses on the front and the area of the rear to be restricted to an office use – single story – sensitive to the neighbors o Have a couple proposed medical offices proposed o On the Future Land Use Plan the entire tract is office commercial o Depth is approximately 250-260 feet o If we don’t change the land use element, all that will be approved is office o Office use is not the highest and best use of the property – with retail you get the sales tax o On the Concept Plan there are three points of entry. Entrance off 1709 is there now, and there is a stub to the west o Oriented the two retail buildings similar to the Shops of Southlake, Southlake Town Square, Park Village. Get a lot of negative comments about the Greenway building where Zoe’s is because the parking is jammed in the front – you have to go around to the rear. Felt like if the interior is where the parking was, there could be contiguous parking for the patrons o Will have four-sided elevations on those buildings. Will be sensitive to what is visible on 1709. Will not be three-sided elevations, it will be four. We felt like this orientation would keep parking closer together, better for the patrons, and when you are driving down 1709 you don’t see surface parking and cars parked out there o Proposing a couple of patios, maybe three. Had a high amount of demand for retailers who can’t get in Southlake – they like the intersection, the traffic signal. Most retailers want to be on 1709 o We paid attention to the existing trees – there are a fair amount of trees here, mostly cedars. Developed the land plan and tried to save the trees. Also backed these buildings up 40 feet from the rear property line in an effort to give those neighbors more buffer and to save the trees o Proposing a drive-through. The user we envision there would be restricted against fast food, it would be a fast-casual or casual dine with a drive-through. There are a couple retailers or restaurants that would like a position in Southlake and their business model has a drive-through o Parked right in between the restaurant and retail. There is enough parking to Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – Office/Commercial at FM 1709 & White Chapel Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 2 support the restaurants. Proposing that the zoning be S-P-1 with C-2 uses, and restrict the back area to one-story office. o Recently we had an inquiry from a daycare facility – they can’t get in town. Do not know that we want to do daycare, but if the right one is out there we may come back and modify the plan a little bit o Concentrated on the Site Plan – have some visions of elevations and what the center would look like. Have not gone through any renderings on those yet o Unlike Town Square, Park Village, and the Shops of Southlake we don’t envision separate facades going through the buildings. We think the theme will be more common – we think it will be more of a theme throughout that elevation o Vision would be when you drive in you feel like you are in one development instead of a development that is all chopped up • Questions for the presenter Q: When you are talking about a daycare, how big are you thinking? A: Several different sizes out there. There are a couple that are very large. Don’t know that it would even fit. Too early to tell. It is the going to work side, coming home you have the traffic signal. You can catch the Southlake traffic, Keller traffic. I understand why they have an interest in this intersection RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: Other than that it seems to make sense with what you are saying there. Like you have interior parking I think that helps. RESPONSE BY PRESENTER: What we would like to leave here with tonight, we know how sensitive we are to the Land Use Amendment, if someone has heartburn and says no I think that is a bad choice to change the land use we are going to cancel our contract and find another piece of property to develop. If we believe it is good land planning and appropriate for the intersection, we are sensitive to changing that land use element RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: You are right that piece of property is mostly cedars. Would like the landscape to be spiced up about especially around the edges. Get some real trees in there RESPONSE BY PRESENTER: Always been a proponent of putting the landscaping where it is good for the community but also good for the retailers. We plant shade and understory trees in front of all of our signage, and they grow up, and you can’t limb up a Live Oak high enough to get under there. Have talked with the consultant about maybe doing something additional on the hardscape side – spend the money – maybe trade out trees that block. Spend a lot of money on articulation and then block the buildings with trees RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: Would rather see not just a bunch of buildings just sitting out there on the corner – keep that in mind on the landscape side, I think that would be a Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – Office/Commercial at FM 1709 & White Chapel Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 3 big plus Q: Fairly flat there? Doesn’t really fall away or rise? A: This driveway is pretty steep. Q: What kind of traffic do you anticipate? That is a tough intersection right now – you add a drive through and restaurant…I know the citizens in the area, I think you are probably going to get some pushback on it. I think that is going to be a problem personally A: We’ve looked at that. Have not done any engineering studies yet. Our contribution to the mix is small. It still functions probably as an A or A minus intersection except at the peak times. You have two thoroughfares that are built to the ultimate. If you build office there they will contribute to it as well and that is all it is ever going if you don’t do retail. RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: I don’t argue with that, just think office is going to bring less than retail. RESPONSE BY PRESENTER: They do function at different times. Office people come in at 7:30 – 8:00 in the morning, you have a drive-through if they have breakfast you do have some patrons there, but your retailers don’t open until 9:00 – if you have restaurants they dine at night, the office users are gone. Part of our thought process was if you compliment it you have different schedules and people coming at different times. We knew that traffic was going to come up. The intersection is fully developed and it has a fully-functional traffic signal. Your contribution to the full amount of traffic there is minimal RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: It is just the fact that we are getting so many contributors Q: Can you give some examples of what a fast-casual, not franchise fast-food that would need a drive-through might be, to give us a better feel for what might go in that pad A: Jason’s is an example – dealing with some pretty high-end national tenants. Starbuck’s wants to be there. Chipotle is fast casual. RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: Not sure how we are going to restrict that – to draw the line between Jack in the Box and Jason’s Deli. The drive-through restaurant could be one of the things that we get hung up on and talk about. You might be thinking as you are moving forward how you want to address that RESPONSE BY STAFF: There are some regulations for the retail development at Crooked. You can restrict it down to certain types of uses Q: Could you add some color to the restaurant/retail, I know you say you have retailers that are trying to get in. Not trying to figure out who you are going to put there – our surveys say too much retail, too many strip-centers. A bit of a citizen satisfaction issue that has come up. What kind of center are Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – Office/Commercial at FM 1709 & White Chapel Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 4 we looking at? A: We have 8,000 square feet of letters of intent and we have had the property under contract for a week. Mostly restaurants, higher-end restaurants. Smaller. Torchy’s Taco’s would be an example, something eclectic like that. Different uses Q: Are you parked to a level that if every bit of that went to restaurant you could accommodate it. You bring up Zoe’s – what a great example of one I hear about every week. If that all went restaurant could you accommodate it? A: Per Ordinance required parking if all restaurant is 214, and what is provided is 200. When you turnover that office use you have this overflow parking in this area as well. We are close. It won’t be all restaurant. It will be a lot of restaurant it won’t be all restaurant Q: Do you think you can accommodate that driveway without a variance to the Driveway Ordinance? Probably going to be a right-in right-out anyway. A: It is. It’s got a throat depth on it Q: If you are going to talk about daycare I think you are looking at the right spot – concerns if you went closer to residential A: That is a battle I don’t want to fight Q: Why did you pick the two there to be medical office and the other be general? A: You might have more traffic at the medical office – appointments RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: So you want to keep it out of the main flow patterns? Residents are more concerned about medical office and doctor’s office because there is more traffic coming in and out RESPONSE BY PRESENTER: These two buildings have some exposure to White Chapel. That is an easier spot to see them. They get a little bit of advertisement even though the signage is not real prominent RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: Like the layout like that. Like the medical office where you have it. Not saying no to the daycare in that location it would be something we would have to see. Other than those uses would have trouble picturing the retail going towards White Chapel. • Comments by the Committee o Like that you are going to make the facades similar and that style seems to fit in that area right there o Like the idea of putting retail up there, versus just the same garden office that seems to permeate the entire landscape of projects. Think there will be a Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – Office/Commercial at FM 1709 & White Chapel Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 5 benefit for the community down on S. White Chapel for them to have a quick place to go dine. The only pushback you might get from some people is regarding the drive-through aspect. If you took out the drive-through aspect people that might otherwise be disinclined to this proposal o A lot of the conversation is going to be about traffic flow and again it is a key intersection. It works pretty well right now with the exception of around school letting out and in the mornings. RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: It is one of the two thoroughfares that go all the way through town. Carroll turns to Brumlow but it runs from one end of town to the other and White Chapel is the other one. It is a major intersection in town o Don’t have any heartburn with the layout, with the retail. Like the fact you have internalized the parking. I can see putting some retail on that side of 1709 in that location. Now that we have the medians, which makes it harder to make those movements, if you are going eastbound on 1709 once you pass by the ex-Wal-Mart, there are not a lot of for the folks going that direction to pull over and either eat or buy stuff – shopping. That may be a very appropriate use on that side as long as you buffer as you are. As you move forward the drive-through will be a point of discussion o It seems like a daycare because of the drop-off and pick-up would be a little taxing RESPONSE BY PRESENTER: I wouldn’t get any heartburn on that daycare RESPONSE BY COMMITTEE: The nice thing about this is moving traffic away from commuter traffic Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – Office/Commercial at FM 1709 & White Chapel Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 6 STAFF PRESENTATION SHOWN TO COMMITTEE: Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – Office/Commercial at FM 1709 & White Chapel Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 7 Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – Office/Commercial at FM 1709 & White Chapel Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 8 Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – Office/Commercial at FM 1709 & White Chapel Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 9 Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – Office/Commercial at FM 1709 & White Chapel Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 10 Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – Office/Commercial at FM 1709 & White Chapel Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 11 Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – Office/Commercial at FM 1709 & White Chapel Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 12 Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – Office/Commercial at FM 1709 & White Chapel Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 13 APPLICANT PRESENTATION SHOWN TO COMMITTEE: Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – Office/Commercial at FM 1709 & White Chapel Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 14 Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – Office/Commercial at FM 1709 & White Chapel Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 15 Southlake 2035 Corridor Planning Committee Item #3 – Office/Commercial at FM 1709 & White Chapel Meeting #3 – March 21, 2016 Page 16