Planning Commission schedules public hearing for transit-center PND amendment and small rezoning

The Planning Commission set a public hearing for Oct. 1 to consider rezoning roughly 0.72 acres along Bridge Avenue from RS-10 to Planned Neighborhood Development (PND) and to amend an existing 5.4-acre PND for the city’s new transit center and coordinated park-and-ride facility.

Planning staff described the parcel as formerly a church site that was sold to the WEGO/RTPA transit agency and recently cleared in preparation for a park-and-ride lot that will coordinate with the city-owned transit center. The transit center is already substantially complete and includes passenger waiting facilities and restrooms; staff said vehicle gates control access to bus operations so regular vehicles cannot enter the transit facility except at designated points.

Staff said the park-and-ride arrangement will likely be governed by an MOU between the city and the transit agency and that staff anticipates concurrent site-plan review; the rezoning and PND amendment will be considered at a public hearing and then forwarded to City Council. "Ultimately council will most likely have an MOU in the process," staff said.

Commissioners voted to set the public hearing for Oct. 1. The applicant (WEGO/RTPA) is refining site plans while staff coordinates landscaping, buffer and access details that resulted from the site being previously a church and then redeveloped for transit operations.