Planning commission recommends rezoning for Victory Village phase 3, cites traffic and school crossing concerns

The North Platte City Planning Commission on Jan. 22 recommended that the City Council approve a future land use map amendment and a rezoning to allow the third phase of the Victory Village apartment project on West A Street.

Planning staff told the commission the request came from North Platte Apartment Investments LLC and that staff “has no objections to the amendment,” according to Judy, a city planning staff member. The applicant proposes to build five additional buildings, each an eight‑unit apartment (five 8‑plexes), on parcels addressed as 4005 and 4015 West A Street (lots 3 and 4, Block 2, Lakeview First Subdivision).

Why it matters: If the council approves the map amendment and rezoning, the property will change from neighborhood commercial (B‑1) to R‑3 dwelling to allow multifamily construction, adding an estimated 40 rental units to a neighborhood that already includes earlier phases of Victory Village. The commission’s recommendation now moves the applications (AM25‑001 and Z25‑001) to the City Council for final action at its Feb. 4 meeting.

At the public hearing no members of the public spoke on the applications and the chair closed the hearing on a motion. Judy said the parcels are currently vacant and were originally designated for commercial development, but the applicant decided residential use “is the best use of this property” given market demand. She also advised that the proposed buildings will not have direct access to West A Street and “they'll have to exit onto Pioneer Drive,” a design intended to limit curb cuts on a higher‑speed road.

Commissioners pressed staff and discussed traffic and pedestrian safety. One commissioner asked whether the new buildings would be denser than existing phases; Judy replied, “No. Not to my knowledge. It fits the general scheme of the rest of them.” Several commissioners raised concerns about school drop‑off and pickup times at the elementary school across West A Street and suggested the city may need crossing improvements or a future traffic study. Planning staff and commissioners noted that a traffic signal would require a formal traffic study and that such a study would likely be done after occupancy if congestion proves problematic.

Commissioners also reviewed the area’s planning history: the commission and staff said the future land use map was adopted in 2012 and that a developer‑led change to commercial designations occurred around 2019; the current request reverses a portion of that earlier commercial designation back to residential while leaving two parcels near Lakeview and A for future commercial uses.

The commission voted to recommend approval of both the future land use map amendment (AM25‑001) and the rezoning (Z25‑001). The recommendation, with at least one announced abstention noted in the record, will be considered by the City Council on Feb. 4.