Board recommends approval of Gatlin Plaza PUD amendment with traffic‑monitoring condition to be refined before council

The Planning & Zoning Board on June 3 recommended approval of the fourth amendment to the Gatlin Plaza Planned Unit Development (PUD) (file P23159), which would revise permitted uses language, subdivide an existing tract into six tracts, and allow additional building area across the development.

Francis Hormann, planning and zoning staff, summarized the request: the amendment would clarify allowable uses and special exceptions, create additional tracts within existing Tract B, and add approximately 353,000 square feet of building area to the PUD. Hormann said the change would allow a total of up to about 750,000 square feet of building area in the PUD and would permit up to 120 hotel rooms as part of that total. The PUD area includes existing large retailers (Home Depot, Bass Pro) and undeveloped southern parcels proposed for new development.

Dennis Murphy, agent for the applicant Culpepper Interpreting, said the PUD’s earlier approvals authorized approximately 375,000 square feet and that the current amendment would permit the remainder of a previously planned build‑out. Murphy said the applicant has submitted a traffic study and previously contributed to off‑site improvements related to phase 1. He described proposed off‑site and on‑site improvements, including intersection widening and turn‑lane work at Gatlin and Bridal and at Fondora and Gatlin to disperse traffic. Murphy asked for clarity and time to work with staff on language for a proposed monitoring/mitigation condition.

Clyde Coffey, Public Works, confirmed the city reviewed a traffic study and is continuing to work with the applicant; Public Works recommended a condition requiring additional traffic analyses at development thresholds and mitigation as necessary. Murphy objected to broad, open‑ended wording in the memo’s final condition and requested flexibility to negotiate a practical final condition before City Council.

A resident, Virginia Peters of Newport Isles, said she and other neighborhood residents use a neighborhood exit that feeds to Fondora and Gatlin and expressed concern that additional development would worsen already‑heavy traffic for roughly 764 homes in her subdivision.

Staff noted that two of the Public Works conditions are memorialized in the PUD document (timed to square‑footage thresholds) and the third is intended as a look‑back provision to require supplemental analysis and mitigation if the additional 400,000 square feet (beyond the first tranche) causes problems. The board voted to recommend approval and directed staff to work with the applicant to refine the traffic condition, with staff retaining authority to present a condition it deems acceptable to City Council if negotiation does not produce agreement.

The Planning & Zoning recommendation advances P23159 to City Council; the council will take final action on the PUD amendment and any conditions of approval.