Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Rezoning Dewberry Drive topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board recommends rezoning 6.85-acre Dewberry Drive parcel to PR-2 for 44 townhomes; board members press traffic concerns
Summary
Planning staff recommended and the Open Space Advisory Board supported a rezoning from R3A to Planned Residential-2 for a 6.85-acre property on Dewberry Drive to allow a conceptual plan for 44 townhomes; staff and the developer said the proposed density does not trigger a traffic study but the neighborhood remains concerned.
Planning staff presented a rezoning request for a vacant, roughly 6.85-acre parcel on Dewberry Drive north of Trans Mountain and east of Ressler. The applicant requested a change from R3A to Planned Residential-2 (PR-2) to allow a conceptual 44-townhome development.
Robert Garcia of Planning and Inspections told the board that staff recommends approval and that, under the city’s traffic-engineering thresholds, a proposed 44-unit attached-multifamily project “does not trigger any type of study” (traffic study requirements generally begin around 100–200 units for attached multifamily in the city’s practice). Garcia also noted planned roadway extensions in the area that would improve circulation once built.
Neighbors at the meeting and a board member said the Enchanted Hills neighborhood association has repeatedly raised concerns about traffic congestion and asked whether development could proceed before street-capacity improvements. Planning staff and the developer said the applicant conducted outreach (three neighborhood meetings earlier in the year) and that the developer agreed as part of outreach to construct the full width of the adjacent road, to landscape a 30-foot gas easement on the other side of the street and to extend a trail and sidewalk connections along Dewberry.
Sam Sud of Del Rio Engineering, representing developer DVEP Land, said the team had met with the neighborhood association multiple times and “we have addressed all the concerns,” and added his client agreed to on-site road-width work and landscape improvements to mitigate impacts.
A board member asked about conservation easement adjacency and cautioned against routing a new hike-and-bike path onto a protected conservation easement. Planning staff said the proposed trail improvements would be located within the pipeline/gas-easement corridor and not on the conservation easement itself.
The board voted to recommend approval of the staff’s rezoning recommendation. A board member made a motion to approve staff’s recommendation to rezone the property from R3A to PR-2; another member seconded. The motion passed on a voice vote with no members recorded in opposition.
The conceptual site plan is advisory only at this stage; the plan is not binding and must comply with city construction, drainage and other requirements before development could proceed.
