title
LAND USE AMENDMENT - BUTLER PLAZA AREA (B)
Ordinance No. 0-09-75, Petition PB-09-74 LUC
An Ordinance amending the City of Gainesville 2000-2010 Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Element and Future Land Use Map; by changing the land use categories from the Alachua County Land Use Categories of Medium High Density Residential (8-14 DU/acre), High Density Residential (14-24 DU/acre), Office/Residential, Commercial, Institutional, and Industrial to the City of Gainesville underlying land use categories of Commercial (C), Office (O), Mixed-Use Medium (MU-M) and Residential Medium Density (RM) with the overlay category of Planned Use District (PUD), all as more specifically described in this ordinance on lands commonly referred to as "Butler Plaza" generally located between Southwest Archer Road and Southwest 24th Avenue, and between Southwest 40th Boulevard and Southwest 34th Street; by creating and adopting Policy 4.3.6 in the Future Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan to govern the Butler Plaza PUD; providing time limitations; providing directions to the City Manager; providing a severability clause; providing a repealing clause; and providing an effective date.
recommendation
The City Commission adopt the proposed ordinance.
explanation
PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT STAFF REPORT
The proposed area of these "Butler Plaza" comprehensive plan amendments totals approximately 264 acres, and is located generally on the north side of Archer Road and to the west of SW 34th Street. The current developed portion (approximately 108 acres) of Butler Plaza has developed over the last 30 years and contains over 1 million square feet of commercial retail uses which are contained in several adjacent shopping plazas and multiple outparcels located along Archer Road. This existing development is accessed by a series of streets and private access drives that connect from Archer Road northward to Windmeadows Boulevard.
The property was voluntary annexed into the City of Gainesville by City Ordinance 070722 adopted April 28, 2008. After the annexation in 2008, the applicant commenced the State Development of Regional Impact (DRI) process through the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council. During the review of the DRI, the State adopted Senate Bill 360, which eliminated the DRI process within communities designated as a Dense Urban Land Area (DULA). Gainesville was designated a DULA and, as the applicant had a pending DRI application, the applicant had the opportunity to continue with the DRI process or withdraw from the process. The applicant chose to withdraw from the DRI process. Until the City amends its Future Land Use Map to include this property, the existing Alachua County land use designations and zoning districts remain applicable to the property. The petitioner has initiated this land use change to bring the land area into the City's Comprehensive Plan and Future Land Use Map by assigning the property underlying City land use designations of Commercial (C), Office (O), Mixed-Use Medium (MU-M) and Residential Medium Density (RM) and applying a Planned Use District (PUD) overlay over the entire property.
The Butler Plaza PUD is further defined into three (3) subareas of development. These areas are depicted on the map attached as Exhibit "B" to the ordinance and are generally described as follows:
Subarea 1: Existing developed Butler Plaza consisting of approximately 108 acres; generally refers to the developed portions of Butler Plaza that are, south of Windmeadows Boulevard, north of SW Archer Road, east and west sides of Butler Boulevard.
Subarea 2: Undeveloped area consisting of approximately 49 acres;; generally refers to the undeveloped areas of the project north of Windmeadows Boulevard and SW 33rd Place, generally south of the proposed SW 62nd Boulevard alignment.
Subarea 3: Undeveloped area designated as Towne Centre at Butler Plaza, generally refers to the undeveloped areas of the project including approximately 110 acres, north of Windmeadows Boulevard, south of SW 24th Avenue, generally north and northeast of the proposed SW 62nd Boulevard alignment.
The proposed land use change will remove the previous Alachua County Industrial, Commercial, Office, Residential and Institutional designations and will allow commercial, office and hotel/motel uses on the property, as well as up to 1000 residential units.
It is staff's opinion that the Butler Plaza development will serve as a regional center serving North Central Florida. Adding residential use to the development will allow for a more integrated development over time. While the applicant has indicated a limited need for residential use within the project due to the proposed redevelopment of the urban village around SW 20th Avenue, it is envisioned that the urban village area will include a mix of uses that will serve the everyday needs of the urban village residents.
Compatibility Analysis and Consistency with the Comprehensive Plan
The Butler Plaza PUD policies address density and intensity, permitted uses, access by car, foot, bicycle, and transit, trip generation and capture, environmental features, and buffering of adjacent uses. Compatibility will be achieved through coordinated application of standards, which regulate location, open space, ground coverage, height, lighting, signage, landscape and other physical design elements. The Butler Plaza PUD policies require more detailed standards as part of the implementing Planned Development (PD) zoning district. As proposed, the more intensive development activities are located away from existing residential development. The more traditional commercial components have been located adjacent to existing commercial and industrial developed properties. It is staff's opinion that the proposed ordinance is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan based on the policies included in the ordinance.
Butler Plaza development will have significant and adverse impacts on the transportation system that will have to be mitigated. The petitioner has estimated that development in the undeveloped area will generate 25,367 average daily trips and 2,424 p.m. peak hour trips. In analyzing the trip generation difference between the existing land uses in the undeveloped area and the proposed land uses, the petitioner notes that the proposed development will generate approximately 4,019 additional average daily trips with a net reduction in p.m. peak hour trips due to the change from the current land use. It is recognized that new development in Subareas 2 and 3 will have a regional component to the trips generated. The City has had ongoing meetings and communications with Alachua County and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) concerning these regional transportation impacts. The Butler Plaza PUD policies address mitigation of regional transportation impacts.
The development is located in Transportation Concurrency Exception Area (TCEA) Zone M, which is a multimodal zone. The policies and standards for mitigation in Zone M recognize that congestion in the area cannot be resolved with traditional roadway level of service. Zone M establishes requirements for a mix of solutions that include: alternative roadway construction as reliever roads for congested facilities; transit; added pedestrian facilities, park and ride facilities and smart bus bay facilities. At the time of PD zoning, the developer will be required to execute an initial TCEA Zone M Agreement for provision of required Zone M standards. The developer's requirements will be based on the proportionate share impact of the development on roadway facilities. It is further anticipated that the developer, as future phases of the development occur, will sign additional agreements with the City for provision of Zone M standards related to the relevant development phase.
In addition to the transportation impacts related to level of service and congestion, there are operational and safety impacts of the development. As stated in the Concurrency Management Element and reiterated in this Comprehensive Plan amendment, operational and safety site related impacts must be funded by the developer, and these do not count toward meeting required TCEA Zone M standards. In analyzing crash data from January 2004 through December 2006, there are already significant crash rates above the national average on the segment of I-75 from Archer Road to Newberry Road, including crashes at the interchange ramps. There are also significant crash rates on Archer Road, Newberry Road, SW 34th Street, SW 20th Avenue, SW 40th Boulevard, SW 42nd Street, and SW 43rd Street. Additional trips generated by the development can be expected to increase crashes and other operational and safety issues on these roadways. The development will be required to make site-related operational and safety modifications to lessen the impacts on facilities.
Part of the developer's TCEA mitigation will be construction of a portion of the proposed SW 62nd Boulevard extension as approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization (MTPO) on March 2, 2009. The road design consists of four general purpose lanes plus two additional lanes in the median for bus rapid transit. Bicycle parking and storage facilities will be provided at bus rapid transit stations and park-and-ride facilities. An analysis performed indicated that an average congestion reduction in the range of 2% to 11% is anticipated as a result of this project.
Butler Plaza is currently served by four (4) transit routes with a centralized transit hub located at the intersection of Butler Boulevard and SW Archer Road. There is also a proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system that would extend along the proposed SW 62nd Boulevard realignment and construction. Butler Plaza will integrate transit facilities into the development to efficiently accommodate non-automobile trips to and from the development. Based on 2008 ridership numbers provided by RTS, the current transit routes serving Butler Plaza accounted for over 693,300 riders or 10% of the total regular ridership of RTS. The subarea policies for the PUD require the construction of improved transit stops with amenities, a transit transfer station and a park and ride lot.
Public notice was made as required by law and public hearings were held by the City Plan Board on September 21, 2009 and September 29, 2009. On September 29, 2009, the Plan Board by a vote of 6-0, recommended that the City Commission approve Petition PB-09-74 LUC, with amendments to the policies. The City Commission heard the petition on November 19, 2009, November 30, 2009 and December 1, 2009. At its meeting of December 1, 2009, the City Commission, by a vote of 7-0, approved Petition PB-09-74 LUC with modifications.
CITY ATTORNEY MEMORANDUM
Florida Statutes set forth the procedure for adoption of an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan. The first hearing is held at the transmittal stage and must be advertised seven days prior to the first public hearing. The second hearing will be held at the adoption stage of the ordinance and must be advertised five days before the adoption hearing.
On April 15, 2010, the City Commission adopted the ordinance, as modified on first reading, by a vote of 7-0. The proposed amendment to the Comprehensive Plan was then transmitted to the State Department of Community Affairs (DCA) for written comment. By letter dated July 2, 2010, the DCA informed the City that it had no comments, recommendations or objections to the proposed plan amendment.
Following second reading, the Plan amendment will not become effective until the DCA issues a final order determining the adopted amendment to be in compliance in accordance with the Local Government Comprehensive Planning and Land Development Regulation Act, or until the Administration Commission (Governor and Cabinet) issues a final order determining the adopted amendment to be in compliance.