Title
Consider public testimony regarding, and an ordinance rezoning approximately 3.88 acres of land to be known as The Depot Townhomes, located southeast of the intersection of South Mays Street and Bagdad Avenue from MU-1 (Mixed Use Historic Commercial Core) district to the PUD (Planned Unit Development) No. 110 zoning district. (First Reading)*
Body
This item will create the Planned Unit Development (PUD) zoning for The Depot Townhomes, located on the former site of Builders Gypsum Supply. In 2013 the city assisted BGS in relocating to a more appropriate site within city limits, opening this land for development better suited for downtown. Staff solicited developers to gauge interest in the site and received three proposals:
1. A multifamily apartment structure that would have required the city to relocate the city hall parking garage at our expense.
2. Adaptive reuse in the form of farmer’s markets and flexible event space as a placeholder for a larger development.
3. High density single-family townhomes.
In an effort to bring more residents to the immediate downtown area, Council chose the third proposal and entered into a memorandum of understanding with the developer, Urban InTown Homes, LLC, in June 2016, to develop approximately 82 townhomes. The units will be modern in design but sensitive to the historic context of downtown, utilizing brick and stone as the primary materials. The maximum height will be four stories but the units are likely to be a mixture of three and four stories, and most will be attached in a row house form. Articulation includes cantilevered balconies, rooftop patios, and large front windows. Each unit will have a two-car garage accessed from a private alley.
Live/work units and upper story residential are also permitted uses in the PUD. Live/work is a configuration in which the owner of the residential unit operates a business out of the unit. Upper story residential permits the owner of the unit to lease the ground floor...
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