Commission hears opposition to Kaufman/Park Creek housing plan; amendment to ban alleys fails

Dan Hatton, an applicant with Ashlar, presented a revised concept plan for a residential development near Kaufman Street and Park Creek, saying the project now shows 47 lots (down from 49), a 23.5-foot lot product with two-car garages and two driveway spaces per lot, and roughly 25–26 street parking spaces.

"...we did actually reduce the lot count from 49 to 47," Hatton said, adding that the builder they toured is currently constructing a model in Arlington that fits the proposed 23.5-foot lot width and two-car garages. He said ‘‘there are now effectively 4 spaces, in each lot, 2 enclosed, 2 in the driveway, and then basically a half space per unit that's along the street."

The project drew several speakers during the public hearing who said the surrounding small neighborhood already experiences safety and infrastructure problems. Rhonda Mills of 711 Park Creek Avenue said she opposed amending the ordinance to allow the project and raised safety concerns for her grandchildren: "I oppose the request to for the amendment of the city ordinance of 1072 ... I worry about the safety of my grandchildren who play there."

Wanda Manning of 715 Central Avenue said she opposed the plan because of traffic and construction impacts: "You're talking about 200 cars every day trying to get out on the service road ... The heavy equipment and supply trucks ... I am definitely opposed to this measure." Janelle Miller of 710 Park Creek Avenue said the infrastructure is inadequate, noting the area floods and lacks sidewalks and sewer connections. "Right now it's a flood plain ... There's no sidewalks, no water, no sewer that I'm aware of," she said. Margaret Evanston of 802 Park Creek Avenue also cited safety concerns for her autistic son.

Staff and commissioners discussed technical constraints and code requirements. Staff member Peter said most lots meet a 100-foot depth target except for two lots and noted that the Park Creek connection was required by fire access rules to provide separate points of access for emergency services. Peter said a plat that shows minimum setbacks would need approval if it met minimum standards; to hold the concept plan’s shown setbacks exactly would require amending minimum standards.

Commissioners debated whether to add a condition specifically banning alleyways in the development. Commissioner Childress moved to amend the motion to include a condition that "there's no alleyway." The amendment was put to a vote and failed; the transcript records that the amended motion "does not pass." After the failed amendment, commissioners provided feedback that the developer must either meet existing ordinance standards or likely reduce the unit count. One commissioner said that if the project were revised to meet all minimum standards, it might lose roughly 10% of the lots.

No final approval of the development was recorded in the transcript. Instead, commissioners offered guidance and requested further work from the applicant, noting unresolved community concerns about density, access, drainage and traffic. Staff emphasized that the property owner could develop under current Plan Development (PD) standards or return with proposed amendments for further consideration.

Next steps as recorded in the meeting: commissioners asked the applicant to address access and design details to better match minimum ordinance standards or to return with a revised plan. No further votes or approvals on the Kaufman/Park Creek proposal appear in the provided transcript.