Blythewood fights high density growth

BLYTHEWOOD – In an effort to slow high density growth in the town, Council voted last month to pass first reading to amend the Blythewood zoning ordinance text. The goal was to start the wheels turning to, sooner rather than later, repeal R-5, R-8 and R-12 zoning districts which allow minimum lot sizes of 5,000, 8,000 and 12,000 square feet respectively within the town boundaries.

“The major concerns are that we have gotten developments and neighborhoods that have so many houses in them, and we don’t have infrastructure to take care of them. We have tried to eliminate some of the smaller lot districts and request that they be a certain size,” Mayor J. Michael Ross said at the April Council meeting.

Following on the heels of that vote was a request to the Planning Commission from developer D. R. Horton to rezone approximately 98 acres on two tracts of land located on Wilson Boulevard between Oakhurst Road and Highway 21 to accommodate the lot sizes that Council had voted a week earlier to banish. That property is currently zoned Development (D-1) with a minimum lot size of 20,000 square feet.

That request, presented by D. R. Horton representative Jordan Hammond, was not well received by the Commissioners who unanimously sent a recommendation to Council to deny D. R. Horton’s request, citing the high density allowed by all three of the developer’s requested options: PDD zoning (including R-5, R-8 and some commercial zoning which is a mixed-use requirement of PDD zoning), a combination of R-5 and R-8 zoning for the entire property and a third option of all R-8 zoning for the entire property.

While the Planning Commissioners as well as the Town’s Planning Consultant, Michael Criss, questioned whether only 1.7 acres of commercial zoning in the requested PDD actually met the requirements for true mixed-use zoning which is a required component of PDD zoning, Hammond countered at last week’s Town Council work session that it did meet those requirements.

“Whether it’s the prototypical, exemplary PDD zoning you see in San Antonio, Texas on the river (River Walk), it may not be that, but it’s a true mixed use of residential commercial and recreational uses,” Hammond said.

But the PDD requirement wasn’t the only thing the Commissioners had trouble swallowing. In his presentation to the Planning Commission, Hammond discussed the higher density that is possible for the property.

Commissioner Donald Brock challenged whether the density that could be approved for the property, should be approved.

“If you left it up to homebuyers looking to move to Blythewood, the answer would be absolutely yes,” Hammond said. “The demand for homes out here and in Cobblestone is huge. We’re in touch with homebuyers every day and the demand for this area is more than the density we’re proposing.

“Yes,” Brock said, “but I don’t know if the demand for yards you can mow with a weed eater is there. Your rezoning request is a very nice masking job, but it’s nothing more than that. It’s skirting the requirement to get the high density zoning that you’re looking for.

“The Town of Blythewood is a great place where people want to live,” Hammond told Council last week. “It’s a great community. We want to be involved in it. From the development side of it, if there are ways that we can be creative, there are things like Neighborhood Improvement Districts that we want to have conversations about with the Town. There are negatives a development is going to have, yes, but D. R. Horton, a large developer, can contribute and participate in the (Master) plans the Town has and we want to have that conversation. We don’t want just denial. We want recommendations and feedback,” Hammond told Council.

“So, with that, could we have a breakout meeting with Council or could I talk with (each of) you individually or just try to meet with you on Tuesday for breakfast and have this conversation?” Hammond asked at the end of his presentation.

“I think all the options are open” Ross said, “but I think I need to remind you that the people who sat on the Planning Commission are the citizens of this town. They were appointed to be there and they certainly listened to your proposal and I have seen the minutes from that and their opinions and they are valued. They represent the people in this town….This has been through the proper channel of the Planning Commission. They gave their determination. I think you want us to look at something different.”

Ross said Council would be open to considering other options presented by the developer.

Acknowledging that eliminating R-5, R-8 and R-12 zoning districts could turn in to a mountain of administrative work for the Town staff and Council, Councilman Tom Utroska asked Criss If there was another way to accomplish their goal of less density without the peripheral problems that might be created with the elimination of the three zoning districts.

“Instead of eliminating the three zoning districts from the zoning map, you could consider leaving them in the text as is, but down zoning select parcels throughout Blythewood to lower residential density,” Criss told Council. “That approach would declare Council’s concern about density, but still preserve the zoning of existing or invested development in neighborhoods like Oakhurst (55 parcels), Cambridge Pointe (92 parcels proposed), Dawson’s Creek (25 parcels), Dawson’s Pond (25 parcels), Abney Hill Estates, Phase 1 (93 parcels) and Abney Hill Estates, Phase 1 (53 parcels proposed).”

Criss explained that if the R-5, R-8 and R-12 zoning districts are eliminated from the zoning test, they also become void on the Town of Blythewood zoning map causing each of the hundreds of affected parcels to be rezoned to another remaining district, presumably a residential district with a larger minimum lot size.

“That would create many nonconforming lots” Criss said. “And along with larger minimum lot sizes come larger minimum building setbacks. That would create many nonconforming structures which couldn’t be rebuilt in the same location if they sustained damage beyond 50 percent of their replacement cost. In the private sector, zoning nonconformity of lots or structures can also affect issues such as titles financing, insurance and marketability,” Criss added.

An alternate proposal is expected to be on the agenda for the May 24 Council meeting to be held at 7 p.m., at The Manor.

 

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