Update 12/16/16 from yesterday’s Plan Commission meeting: after much conversation, commissioners voted to hold the motion until the January 19th meeting. Neighbors will be meeting with Rob Baldwin, the developer’s zoning rep after the New Year to clarify recent changes to the zoning amendment request.
Arts Village, LLC (aka Exxir Capital, aka the Nazarian family) will be going before the Dallas City Plan Commission Board this week to amend the zoning for Planned Development District No. 830, just south of the Bishop Arts District in North Oak Cliff.
In September, I reported on this zoning change request, and since then the developers have held at least one community meeting. Yet they failed to include two of the most important requests I heard at that meeting:
1) To word the 15,000-square-foot market use to prohibit one singular tenant, and …
2) To limit hotel and entertainment uses to the portion of the 11 acre site south of 9th Street, where these uses are currently planned to be built — away from the residential neighborhood north of 9th and surrounding the development site.
We must remember that in this PD, zoning change requests are not subject to a specific development plan. Once uses are allowed by right in an area, plans can change, even owners can change. And although the Nazerians have proven to have great ideas for this development, these changes effect the land use allowances for the indefinite future, regardless of who the owner is.
At Thursday’s meeting, their zoning request will include the changes listed below, to be applicable within this one new subdistrict which will cover the entire 11 acre site resting between Melba Street, Madison Street, 10th Street, and Bishop Ave.
The following are the proposed changes to the current PD regulations (per the meeting agenda):
- Remove the liquor control overlay
- HOTEL means a lodging use with between 31 and 120 rooms that are rented to occupants on a daily basis for not more than 14 consecutive days; and provides food that is prepared on-site. (Staff recommends adding “more than 50 percent of the guest rooms are internal entry.”)
- Allow for the relief from some strict compliance with the architectural design standards for buildings greater than 40 feet from the right-of-way due to the pending abandonment of Ninth Street. (Ninth Street will be realigned and provided as an access easement, so connectivity is not negatively impacted in the area).
- The new subdistrict is considered one building site for the purpose of use, yard, lot and space, landscaping, parking, pedestrian amenities and sign regulations. This will allow the plat to be finalized with phasing lot lines and the properties will act as one development when construction is finished, and to allow phasing of development
- Allow for a public plaza or outdoor seating area to count as part of a building façade for the build-to requirements for the front yard regulations. This will allow for outdoor dining areas to be near the street and the plazas will be an extension of the pedestrian facilities. These breaks in the build-to requirement will provide for additional open space and promote a vibrant environment
- Residential adjacency buffer is reduced to a minimum of five feet landscape buffer, six foot tall solid fence or decorative fence with a living screen
- Include awnings and canopies in the private license
- Allow for alternative parking surfaces
- Additional Uses:
- Art or craft production facility.
- Art gallery.
- Commercial amusement (inside). [Treat as a CR District.]
- Commercial parking lot or garage.
- Event center. [Maximum of 10,000 square feet.]
- General merchandise or food store. [By right if 5,000 square feet of floor area or less; otherwise by SUP except one use is permitted by right if located in the block bounded by Melba Street, Madison Avenue, 10th Street, and Bishop Avenue if the square footage does not exceed 15,000 square feet.]
- Neighborhood market.
- Personal service uses. [Body piercing studio, Massage establishments and tattoo studios are prohibited.] (Staff recommends adding “Massage establishments are permitted as an accessory uses to a hotel only”)
- Surface parking.
- Parking Requirements:
- Occupancies that combine a residential dwelling unit and a nonresidential use in the same space must only provide parking for the dwelling unit. (Staff recommends adding “The combined uses are limited to a maximum of 1,200 square feet of floor area where no more than 25 percent of the floor area is dedicated to retail or personal service uses.”)
- Event Center. (Staff recommends “A minimum of one off-street parking space per 125 square feet of floor area is required.”)
- For a restaurant use, uncovered outdoor dining areas are not included in the parking requirement calculations. (Staff does not recommend including this statement.)
For reference, the current PD parking requirement for restaurants:
(A) A minimum of one off-street parking space per 125 square feet of floor area is required. (B) If an outdoor dining area, whether covered or not, is within 20 feet of, and has direct access to, a street, sidewalk, or publicly accessible open space, the outdoor dining area is not included in the parking requirement calculations for up to 25 percent of the size of the indoor floor area. Any portion of the outdoor dining area in excess of 25 percent of the size of the indoor floor area must be parked in accordance with Section 51P-830.117(a)(2)(A).
The City Plan Commission Board meeting will be held this Thursday at 1:30pm.
