Title
Petition 57LUC-04 PB. Wal-Mart Stores East, LP, agent for Michael S. Hartman. Amend the Future Land Use Map of the 2000-2010 City of Gainesville Comprehensive Plan from C (Commercial), SF (Single-Family, up to 8 units per acre), RL (Residential Low-Density, up to 12 units per acre), RM (Residential Medium-Density, 8-30 units per acre), and CON (Conservation) to PUD (Planned Use District) on 91.7 acres for a 250,000 square foot Wal-Mart Supercenter, 41,000 square foot of additional commercial development, 140 single-family residential units, a neighborhood park, and conservation areas. Located at the southwest corner of Northwest 53rd Avenue and US 441 intersection. Related to Petition 58PDV-04 PB. (B)
Explanation
This is a request to change the Future Land Use Map from a designation that allows 100,000 square feet of commercial development to one that would allow 291,000 square feet of commercial development. The applicant has requested PUD land use because Gainesville's land development regulations would otherwise limit shopping center development at the subject property to a maximum of 100,000 square feet. Specifically, the City of Gainesville Land Development Code limits shopping centers in business zones (other than CCD or MU-2) to a maximum gross, leasable, nonresidential floor area of 100,000 square feet. A change to PUD land use and subsequent Planned development district (PD) zoning would be needed to allow for development that is not subject to that limitation. The project site is 91.7 acres bordered on the north by Northwest 53rd Avenue, on the east by US 441, on the south by Northwest 45th Avenue, and on the west by unimproved Northwest 19th Street. Except for a mobile home sales center along a portion of US 441 frontage, one abandoned single-family residence, one occupied single-family residence, and several greenhouses in the southern portion of the property, the subject property is undeveloped and mostly wooded. The subject property is within the headwaters of Hogtown Creek. Surrounding uses range from developed and undeveloped single-family residential to various commercial and light industrial uses.
The proposed PUD designation would establish the land use in the Comprehensive Plan for a future development consisting of up to 291,000 square feet of commercial uses (of which up to 250,000 square feet will be a single-use retail building containing a supercenter store with one drive-through), up to 140 single-family residential units, a two-acre neighborhood park, and approximately 32.67 acres of "Conservation" use that includes required creek and wetland buffers, drainage structures, utility crossings, road crossings, and possible bicycle/pedestrian trails. The proposed commercial uses are those allowed by the Commercial land use category of the comprehensive plan, including a gas station. The applicant's PUD report states that the following uses are not proposed: car washes, motels, storage facilities, auto dealerships, warehouses, plasma centers, and street-level parking lots (other than surface lots that serve the proposed Commercial uses on the site).
The requested PUD would expand the existing 25.5 acres of Commercial land use to 41.44 acres of Commercial use areas. The PUD would replace 22.1 acres of Single Family land use with a 17.59-acre Residential (single-family) area that includes a 2-acre neighborhood park. The existing 6.9 acres of Conservation land use would be increased to 32.67 acres of Conservation area that includes required creek and wetland buffers, drainage structures, utility crossings, road crossings, and possible bicycle/pedestrian trails. Eighteen acres of Residential Low-Density (up to 12 units per acre) land use would be eliminated, as would 18.9 acres of Residential Medium-Density (8-30 units per acre) land use.
During 2003, Walmart submitted a petition for the same site, petition 17LUC-03PB. Staff initially recommended to the Plan Board that the petition could be approved with conditions. The Plan Board reviewed staff's recommendation, and recommended denial based on environmental concerns and the fact that the applicant stated no evidence that the existing land use was inappropriate, and that there was no indication that the property was not developable under the existing land use designation. The Plan Board's recommendation was forwarded to the City Commission. During the City Commission hearing on the petition, staff indicated that the Plan Board had recommended denial of the petition and that staff supported the Plan Board's position. The City Commission also voted to support the recommendation to deny the petition. Petitioner submitted a new petition that includes a two-acre park and 30,000 less commercial square footage than last year's petition.
In reviewing the current proposal to change the land use, the Alachua County Department of Environmental Protection expressed a high degree of concern regarding whether the hydrology of the land supports the proposed single-use retail land use, and requested a hydrological study that the petitioner has not conducted. Florida Department of Transportation, County and City Public Works have expressed concerns about major roadway impacts. In addition, the traffic study that has been submitted is inadequate and needs substantial revision. Due to the environmental concerns and traffic safety operations and impacts, staff recommends against changing the land use on this property to the PUD designation.
During the Plan Board hearing the applicant presented information that was not part of the initial land use application in an attempt to address concerns regarding developing in the headwaters of Hogtown Creek and major traffic impacts on Northwest 53rd Avenue and US 441. The applicant revised the proposal at the Plan Board hearing by withdrawing the proposed access for motor vehicles from Northwest 45th Avenue. Elimination of such access has not been reflected in the applicant's transportation study, and is inconsistent with various policies in the City of Gainesville 2000-2010 Comprehensive Plan.
Twenty-one members of the public spoke at the May 20, 2004 Plan Board public hearing, and all but three expressed concerns about the proposed PUD land use. The concerns ranged from comprehensive plan inconsistency with respect to edge location and infrastructure availability and to allowing large-scale (region-serving) commercial land use in an environmentally sensitive area, intensity of the proposed predominantly commercial PUD and its large impervious surface area proposed over the headwaters of Hogtown Creek, adverse hydrological impacts both on and off site, wetland impacts, proximity to Norton Elementary School, major transportation system impacts, adverse impacts upon the struggling Northwest 13th Street/Northwest 23rd Avenue commercial area, crime, lack of uniqueness of the one-story, big-box commercial component, Wal-Mart's corporate track record as evidenced by a recent $3.1 million fine for stormwater violations at Wal-Mart store construction sites across the country, and the failure of the applicant to provide the necessary transportation and environmental information for the proposed land use change to PUD.
City Plan Board members expressed concerns about the environmental sensitivity of the subject property located at the headwaters of Hogtown Creek, traffic, sprawl, impact of substantial additional commercial land use upon existing, designated activity centers such as the Gainesville Mall, detrimental effect of deteriorating activity centers on adjacent neighborhoods, failure to provide a better plan and take more seriously community concerns regarding infill rather than urban fringe development, failure to propose either multi-story development or multi-story parking, citizens' expectations for better protection from the Comprehensive Plan than to allow for the proposed very large and intense commercial enterprise within 55 feet of an existing single-family residential area, inappropriateness of the environmentally sensitive Hogtown Creek headwaters site for more than doubling the commercial square footage relative to what would be allowed with the current land use designations, and the failure of the PUD land use request to be a unique, innovative, or narrowly construed land use proposal. The board member who voted in favor of the proposal expressed satisfaction with the environmental information presented and suggested that Wal-Mart was the best developer for the site.
After reviewing the petition and hearing from staff, citizens, professional geologists, and the applicant's team, the Plan Board recommends denial of this petition.
Public notice was published in the Gainesville Sun on May 4, 2004 and June 6, 2004. Letters were mailed to surrounding property owners on May 5, 2004 and June 4, 2004. The Plan Board held a public hearing May 20, 2004.
Fiscal Note
None
Recommendation
City Plan Board to City Commission - The City Commission deny Petition 57LUC-04 PB. Plan Board vote 6-1
Staff to Plan Board - Deny Petition 57LUC-04 PB.