Title
Small-scale Comprehensive Plan Amendment from Conservation (CON) to Mixed-Use Low-Intensity (8-30 units/per acre) (MUL), and Residential Medium-Density (8-30 units per acre) (RM) (B)
Petition PB-12-159 LUC. Brown & Cullen Inc., agent for Hidden Lake SFR LLC. Amend the City of Gainesville Future Land Use Map from Conservation (CON) to Mixed-Use Low-Intensity (8-30 units/per acre) (MUL), and Residential Medium-Density (8-30 units per acre) (RM). Located at 1015 NW 21st Avenue. Related to PB-12-160 ZON.
Explanation
This is a request for a small-scale amendment of the Future Land Use Map from Conservation to Residential Medium-Density (8-30 units per acre). The 0.31-acre property is the western edge of a 20.24-acre parcel that is the site of the 260-unit, Hidden Lake apartment complex. It is on the south side of NW 21st Avenue approximately 375 feet east of NW 13th Street.
The property is a narrow, vegetated strip of vacant land that provides stormwater retention on the east side of the NW 21st Avenue entrance to the Hidden Lake apartment complex. The City once used Conservation land use and zoning to provide a buffer between potentially conflicting uses, but now has various land development regulations to address potential impacts due to different abutting uses.
The Hidden Lake apartment complex (east of the 0.31-acre property with Conservation land use) has Residential Medium-Density (8-30 units per acre) (RM) land use. Mixed-use low-intensity (8-30 units per acre) (MUL) land use is to the west and to the north across NW 21st Avenue. Office land use is on the north side of NW 21st Avenue.
This proposed comprehensive plan amendment is related to Petition PB-12-160 ZON, which proposes rezoning from Conservation to RMF-6 (8-15 units/acre multiple-family residential district). The proposed small-scale amendment to Residential Medium-Density (8-30 units per acre) is consistent with the City's Comprehensive Plan. The proposed land use will allow for infill development proximate to the NW 13th Street corridor that is in need of infill development and redevelopment.
Several residents of the nearby Lake Meta area expressed concern about the loss of urban green space that will occur if the land use and zoning are changed from Conservation. The desirability of bicycle and pedestrian connectivity from non-contiguous NW 12th Avenue to the south and NW 21st Avenue to the north was also discussed. Lake Meta area residents were concerned that the proposed land use and zoning changes could make such connectivity more difficult to attain. City staff noted that the City's negotiations for easements or acquisitions needed for connectivity are not dependent on the land use or zoning category and that the negotiation tends to occur at the time of development review.
This petition and its related zoning petition are also related to land use (PB-12-161 LUC) and zoning (PB-12-162 ZON) petitions pertaining to an adjacent property to the west and along NW 13th Street.
Public notice was published in the Gainesville Sun on January 8, 2013. The City Plan Board held a public hearing on January 24, 2013, and voted to approve the petition 4-2 after discussion.
Fiscal Note
None.
Recommendation
City Plan Board to City Commission - The City Commission approve Petition PB-12-159 LUC, as recommended by staff. The Plan Board voted 4-2.
Staff to City Commission - The City Commission approve Petition PB-12-159 LUC, with the clarification that the sole proposed change in land use category is Residential Medium-Density (8-30 units per acre) for the Conservation area.
Staff to City Plan Board - Staff recommends approval of Petition PB-12-159 LUC, with the clarification that the sole proposed land use category is Residential Medium-Density (8-30 units per acre) (RM).