Planning Commission approves PUD for SLB site on West Hensley with multiple deviations

Bartlesville — The City of Bartlesville Planning Commission on a unanimous vote approved case PUD0825005657, a planned unit development (PUD) and site development plan for an SLB industrial site along West Hensley Boulevard that requests several deviations from existing M-2 (general industrial) zoning requirements.

City planner Holly Mayhew presented the application, saying the request covers roughly 16.98 acres at addresses described in the application (including 509 West Hensley and adjacent lots) and is intended to authorize a new storage building and to regularize existing nonconformities on the site. “This is a request for approval of a PUD and site development plan as stated,” Mayhew said. She said the main SLB site has a long operational history (originally described in the application as Bridal Pump, later TRW and most recently SLB) and that the main complex totals 318,447 square feet of structural floor area in its existing configuration.

According to Mayhew, SLB proposes an 18,750-square-foot storage building to shelter materials historically stored outdoors and to reduce weather-related inventory losses. Staff told commissioners the site is city-owned and leased to SLB and its predecessor companies since 1954 (per Washington County records) and that the parcel lies within the city’s industrial and trade future land-use designation and the National Zinc Overlay District. Mayhew told the commission that, because the site contains multiple nonconformities related to setbacks, lot coverage, parking and landscaping, a PUD and site development plan were required for review.

The application requests multiple deviations from M-2 standards, including: a 23-foot deviation from the 35-foot maximum building height (the application reflects existing construction up to 58 feet at the highest point); a deviation from the 50% maximum lot coverage (staff reported the site currently exceeds that standard with roughly 60% coverage and that the proposed storage building would raise coverage to about 63%, a 13% deviation); reduced setbacks along West Hensley Boulevard, South Park Avenue and West Frank Phillips Boulevard to accommodate existing building footprints; and an allowance to retain existing landscaping with the addition of roughly 11 trees at the corner of West Hensley and South Park for beautification.

Staff also addressed parking. Mayhew reported that SLB lists 293 employees and that the applicable parking standard in the regulations is 1.5 spaces per employee. The application packet and staff presentation list an existing total of 409 parking spaces and a requested deviation of 30 parking spaces; the packet materials included a parking calculation that appears inconsistent in transcription. Planning staff recommended approval subject to conditions, including that any future construction or expansion on the PUD site would require a PUD amendment and site development plan approval.

Commission discussion focused on the site’s noncontiguous parcels and instances of third-party-owned lots that sit between SLB-owned properties; commissioners asked whether a noncontiguous PUD with intervening private parcels was typical. Greg Collins, special projects manager, said he did not recall a similar noncontiguous PUD in the last five years but added, “there’s nothing in the zoning regulations or state law that would prohibit such a PUD designation.” Commissioners also raised a mapping error the staff and applicant acknowledged; Mayhew said SLB’s submitted survey shows the disputed parcel as part of the legal description and that the map would be corrected in the PUD documentation.

With no members of the public signed up for comment, the hearing closed. A motion to approve case PUD0825005657 passed on a roll call vote with all commissioners present voting aye.

The approval includes the staff condition that any future proposals for new construction, expansion, or building additions on the entire PUD site, including parking areas and properties to the north used by SLB, will require a PUD amendment and site development plan approval. Planning staff noted that further approvals (for example, an in-soil permit and downtown design review where applicable) will be required during the building permit process if the PUD is implemented.