City requests and Plan Commission approves rezoning of 18 acres near County Trunk NN and Highway 45 to single-family

The Plan Commission voted Jan. 7 to approve a comprehensive plan map amendment and a zoning map amendment for roughly 18 acres north of County Trunk Highway NN and west of U.S. Highway 45, converting recommended land use from business park to single-family residential and changing zoning from M3 (planned business park) to RS4 (single-family residential).

Staff described the request as a City-initiated action intended to make the land-use pattern consistent with recent changes to adjacent parcels to the west and to reflect a lower demand for business-park land in that immediate area. The commission adopted both the land-use and zoning amendments on motions that carried.

Traffic and infrastructure were raised in public comments. Wendy Brown, who works in the nearby industrial park, said Eighteenth Avenue already carries heavy traffic and that additional development would increase demand on Eighteenth and nearby side streets. In response, a staff member said the city council had recently considered creating a tax-increment financing (TIF) district covering this area and that the project plan includes funding to improve Eighteenth Avenue from Paradise to NN. "Part of that project plan, includes funding to, improve Eighteenth from Paradise to NN," a staff member said, adding that construction would likely be several years out and tied to development timing.

Staff also said it could ask an engineer to evaluate traffic-signal timing at Eighteenth and Paradise in the near term.

The commission approved the comprehensive plan amendment and the zoning change to RS4; both motions carried.

Next steps: The zoning and land-use changes are effective for future development applications; infrastructure improvements (Eighteenth Avenue) are planned within a TIF project and will be scheduled according to development and funding timelines.