Title
Petition 212LUC-98 PB. Phil Emmer/Rory Causseaux, agents for Susan C. Glikes. Amend the City of Gainesville Future Land Use Map of the Comprehensive Plan 1991-2001 from SF (single-family, up to 8 units per acre) to PUD (planned use district) on 19 acres to allow the following uses: commercial, office, residential and open space development. Located in the 4200 block of Newberry Road.
Explanation
This is a request to change the designated land use of a 19-acre parcel of land from Single-Family to Planned Use District for a mixed-use development. The property is located on the south side of Newberry Road, north of University Avenue, east of Northwest 44th Street, and west of the Westside Baptist Church. Except for a single-family house at the northwest corner of the property, the site is undeveloped and wooded. The applicant proposes to change the land use designation of the property from Single-Family (up to 8 units per acre) to Planned Use District so that the property can be developed as an exemplary mixed-use project consisting of commercial, office, and residential and open space. The proposed mix of uses and recommended conditions of approval meet the requirements for Planned Use District land use, which "is created to allow the consideration of unique, innovative or narrowly construed land use proposals that because of the specificity of the land use regulations can be found to be compatible with the character of the surrounding land uses and environmental conditions of the subject land. Each adopting PUD overlay land use designation shall address density and intensity, permitted uses, traffic access and trip generation, environmental features and buffering of adjacent uses."
The applicant proposes a mixed-use development with three zones of development that decrease in intensity from Newberry Road southward through the site. The proposed five-acre "Highway Frontage" zone along Newberry Road would have a street-oriented, mixed-use character, allowing commercial (including sit-down eating establishment), office and residential use. This zone of mixed uses along this important corridor is convenient to and supportive of nearby residential, corporate park and other uses in the area, and will have multi-modal accessibility. The eight-acre "Center" zone is also mixed-use, with both office and 24-46 residential units (townhouses, condominiums, and apartments). The six-acre "Buffer" zone furthest from Newberry Road is restricted to landscape buffers, preservation, stormwater management, and passive recreation (such as unpaved trails, picnic tables, etc.).
The subject property is wooded and is predominantly a deciduous forest. The site contains several environmental features such as heritage trees, sinkholes, and a wetland area. The property slopes from north to south and has an overall grade change of approximately 60 feet. Water flow follows the general north-south gradient, and the flow becomes more concentrated in the southern portion of the site in a one-half-acre "wetland" area (this may be only a depression area, rather than a wetland) that receives the majority of the runoff from the 19-acre property. The wetland area extends beyond the southern property line, into a pond area located south of the adjacent single-family parcel. Water flow from the pond area eventually reaches Clear Lake, which is to the south and southwest of the subject 19-acre property. Staff views that a planed development is appropriate for this site given its unusual features.
The Plan Board reviewed the petition and recommends denial. The board heard from many residents in the area that opposed the project. The residents cited concerns about an increase in rental to students, commercial establishments such as bars, traffic, urban flight of families, protection of heritage trees and sinkholes. The residents also cited significant concerns about drainage and flooding in nearby neighborhoods.
Public notice was published in the Gainesville Sun on May 4, 1999. Letters were mailed to surrounding property owners on May 5, 1999. The Plan Board held a public hearing May 10, 1999.
Fiscal Note
None
Recommendation
City Plan Board to City Commission - The City Commission deny Petition 212LUC-99 PB. Plan Board vote 3-1
Staff to Plan Board - Approve, with conditions.