Planning commission approves revised design standards after developer objections; vote 4-1

The Town of Timnath Planning Commission voted 4-1 on April 15 to approve a package of revisions to residential and commercial design standards in the Land Use Code, after extended discussion with the Ladera development team and staff. Commissioners approved the amendment with three specific modifications and directed staff to forward the item to Town Council.

Staff said the proposed edits refine Table 5.3 (building form and materials) and add clarity on design detail and block diversity for both small-scale residential (six units or fewer) and larger residential and commercial buildings. "We added a couple subsections to the design details so that we're differentiating a few things about whether it's a residential up to 6 units or whether it's 6 units or more and nonresidential," Troy, planning staff, told the commission.

Representatives of Connell LLC, developer of the Ladera mixed-use project, submitted a formal letter and spoke at the hearing. William Welch read the letter and raised procedural and substantive concerns, arguing the town did not provide separate outreach to property owners and asking that the commission table action pending additional stakeholder meetings. The letter also asked the town to confirm the amendments would not apply retroactively to existing Planned Development (PD) overlays such as Ladera’s and to revise a proposed definition of "primary facade" that, the developer said, could make every building face subject to heightened standards. "Connell therefore urges the town first and foremost to engage in a more transparent process and gain meaningful feedback from stakeholders before holding hearings on proposed amendments to the land use code," Welch said.

Tony Connell, a Ladera partner, told the commission that the Ladera buildout would generate significant town revenue and urged a partnership approach to code changes. "Ladera build out is gonna be $14,000,000 of revenues with $3,000,000 of costs, so a net of $11,000,000 to the town," he said.

Staff and the town attorney responded point-by-point: staff described public outreach that included an open house (April 2), a prior planning commission discussion and a staff report; staff also said that the PD overlay remains authoritative where it conflicts with base zoning. "When there is a conflict between the requirements of the overlay and the underlying district the standards of the overlay district will prevail," Carolyn, town attorney/planning staff, said. Commissioners pressed staff for clarity on how the amendments would affect existing PDs and on whether glazing requirements would be applied broadly beyond retail buildings.

After more than two hours of discussion, commissioners approved the text with three edits staff agreed to make before forwarding to Council: keep the garage-frontage limit at 50% (the draft proposed 40%), change a phrasing in the block-diversity requirements (replace "in each of" with "considering"), and remove a list of historical architectural-style examples from the proposed definition of "architectural style." The motion passed 4-1; Vice Chair Marty Jost registered the lone no vote and said he agreed with most changes but not the garage-percentage modification.

Staff said the PD overlay for Ladera contains 33 specific alternate provisions and that those alternate provisions will continue to control where they explicitly conflict with the Town’s Land Use Code. The amendment will go to Town Council with the agreed edits and staff-provided clarifications regarding how the new standards apply to existing PD overlays.