Title
Conduct a Public Hearing to Consider and Discuss the Request by the City of McKinney, to Amend Section 146-46 (Definitions), Section 146-130 (Vehicle Parking), Section 146-139 (Architectural and Site Standards), and Appendix F, Section F-4 (Schedule of Uses) of the Zoning Ordinance as these Sections Pertain to Multi-Family Residential Uses, Senior Multi-Family Residential Uses, Independent Living Uses, and Assisted Living Uses
Summary
MEETING DATE: January 22, 2013
DEPARTMENT: Planning
CONTACT: Michael Quint, Director of Planning
APPROVAL PROCESS: No recommendations will be made by the Planning and Zoning Commission at the January 22, 2013 meeting; only the consideration of and discussion regarding the proposed amendments will occur. The Planning and Zoning Commission will make its recommendation regarding the proposed amendments and final action regarding the proposed amendments will be taken by City Council at the February 25, 2013 joint meeting.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends the Planning and Zoning Commission consider and discuss the proposed amendments to Section 146-46 (Definitions), Section 146-130 (Vehicle Parking), Section 146-139 (Architectural and Site Standards), and Appendix F, Section F-4 (Schedule of Uses) of the Zoning Ordinance as these sections pertain to multi-family residential uses, senior multi-family residential uses, independent uses, and assisted living uses.
Staff will be requesting approval of the proposed amendments at the joint Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council meeting on February 25, 2013.
ITEM SUMMARY: In August of 2009, Council Member Day made comments to the effect that the City of McKinney had too many multi-family residential developments and that too many vacant properties had multi-family residential zoning. At that time, Staff was directed to draft recommendations regarding how to ensure that the future multi-family residential developments were developed to a higher quality and were appropriately buffered from adjacent single family residential uses.
Subsequent to this discussion, Staff researched, drafted, and discussed a number of options and possible amendments with the City Council over a span of several months. These meetings and discussions culminated with the adoption of Ordinance number 2010-05-011, which created a series of regulations that were intended to ensure that high quality multi-family residential developments were constructed in the future. These regulations that were adopted in May of 2010 are still currently in place.
On May 15, 2012, Council Member Day and Mayor Pro-Tem Ussery indicated that they would like Staff to revisit these previously approved multi-family regulations. Specifically, Staff was directed to craft a series of ordinance amendment options that would address the overly burdensome parking standards that were adopted in May of 2010 while preserving standards that would result in the construction of high-quality multi-family residential developments.
On June 5, 2012, Staff presented two ordinance amendment options that would address the stated concerns. At that time, the City Council directed Staff to draft some specific ordinance verbiage which could be considered and discussed by the City Council.
On November 26, 2012, Staff presented amendments to Sections 146-46 (Definitions), 146-130 (Vehicle Parking), 146-139 (Architectural and Site Standards), and Appendix F, Section F-4 (Schedule of Uses) of the Zoning Ordinance pertaining to multi-family residential uses, senior multi-family residential uses, independent uses, and assisted living uses. The Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council provided broad feedback regarding the proposed amendments but the feedback was specific as it pertained to:
· Reductions in the enclosed parking space requirements (to 30%) with Council's approval of building elevations should be allowed;
· Senior multi-family residential building heights should not be limited to 2 stories; and
· More amenity options that might be suitable for senior multi-family developments were needed.
Subsequent to this joint meeting, Staff has modified the proposed ordinance amendments per the Commission's and Council's feedback. The proposed ordinance amendments address several specific issues:
1. They provide a clear distinction between multi-family residential, senior multi-family residential, independent living, and assisted living uses;
2. They provide for a modified parking standard for multi-family residential, senior multi-family residential, independent living, and assisted living uses;
3. They provide for modified architectural design standards for multi-family residential and senior multi-family residential uses;
4. They provide an updated Schedule of Use chart which clearly indicates which zoning district each use will be allowed within; and
5. They provide an updated listing of definitions which clearly indicates what multi-family residential, senior multi-family residential independent living, and assisted living uses are.
There are an infinite number of variations to these four land uses and to narrow them all down to four distinct land uses was not an easy task. That being said, Staff feels as though the proposed land uses and the amendments pertaining to them should address the Council's desire for quality development but still allow the Development Community to respond to the market's demand for a number of different multi-family residential/assisted living land uses.