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Midtown Pickleball Kingdom site plan seeks variances for trees, glazing and height; staff recommends conditions and further design work
Summary
Staff previewed a mixed-use site plan and SUP for Midtown that would include a membership-based Pickleball Kingdom facility; the applicant requests eight variances related to street trees, glazing, height and material percentages.
City planning staff on July 14 presented SUP25030015, a combined specific-use permit and site-plan request for a mixed-use development in the Midtown/Kalterra area that would include a membership-based indoor pickleball facility called Pickleball Kingdom, multi-tenant retail space and a pad for a drive-through restaurant.
Staff said the project meets most dimensional and density requirements but seeks a total of eight variances—primarily related to building elevations and streetscape standards. The variances listed in staff materials include a request to provide only four street trees where 53 are required along the frontage (staff is proposing an additional five-foot planting strip outside a 30-foot gas easement to allow street-tree planting), a request to exceed the 25-foot maximum height for the Pickleball Kingdom building (the applicant proposes 30 feet), reduced glazing/window percentages on the restaurant, multi-tenant building and the pickleball facility, and reduced canopy coverage on shopfronts.
Staff flagged that the applicant had not yet proposed compensatory measures for reduced glazing (for example, murals or alternative façade treatments), and recommended several conditions: provide an additional five-foot landscape buffer outside the 30-foot gas easement to accommodate street trees; reduce the number of proposed EV charging stations (staff said the applicant’s initial submittal proposed 91 EV-ready spaces, which staff felt was excessive relative to regular parking); reduce the percentage of blue metal paneling and overall metal-panel coverage to conform with Appendix F design standards (staff suggested a 20% limit on metal/highlight colors); require transportation staff approval of drive approach locations; and provide a drainage/detention study showing no adverse downstream impacts prior to civil plan review.
Commissioners asked whether sufficient space exists to add the five-foot tree strip and expressed concern over the number of variances; staff said planners typically work with applicants to reduce variances and that this application lacked final façade details because some compensatory design elements had not been submitted in time for the packet. Staff noted precedent for large-format or recreation-oriented buildings (examples noted in the briefing include Andretti’s and other entertainment projects) but said compensatory façade work will be required to meet Appendix F standards unless otherwise approved by the planning director.
The briefing did not include a vote. Staff recommended approval with the listed conditions and said final façade material choices, tree planting details, EV counts and driveway designs would be resolved before final civil and building permits.
