Land Use Committee approves 285-home PUD on Commonwealth Avenue after applicant adds buffers, lot mix

The City Council Land Use and Zoning Committee approved a planned-unit development rezoning Tuesday that will allow up to 285 single-family homes on roughly 24 acres along Commonwealth Avenue.

Planning staff recommended approval, saying the PUD’s density — about 2.3 units per acre — and its mix of lot widths would be consistent with the city’s comprehensive plan. The committee voted 7-0 after the applicant accepted revised exhibits and two conditions, including a traffic study at civil‑site review.

The PUD departs from conventional code by fixing the maximum unit count at 285 and requiring a mix of 40-, 50- and 60-foot-wide lots; it also sets buffers and vinyl fencing along portions of the northeast and southern property boundaries and clusters development away from wetlands, according to the staff report presented at the hearing.

Michael Sitner, speaking for the applicant, said the project team had changed the site plan after community and commissioner input. “We originally wanted to submit with 40 foot lots, we’ve added 50s and 60s, we’ve limited certain lots that are close to surrounding houses to single story, we’ve added vinyl fencing around the development,” Sitner said. He told the committee the developer had moved an access point west to reduce conflicts on Commonwealth and would locate a pump station inside the subdivision.

Neighbors voiced concerns during public comment about lot sizes, traffic, the change in character from rural to suburban and drainage. “This development as it is will ruin the lifestyle of many of us who live there,” said Keith Russell, a longtime resident who said he moved to the area for its rural feel. Other residents urged single‑acre lots rather than the smaller lots proposed.

Dale R. Kaysen, another neighbor, asked the committee to “keep our community the way it was originally — a rural development.” Kaysen and other speakers also said they had not been included early enough in the applicant’s design work.

Committee members and the applicant pushed back that the PUD had been revised several times after neighborhood meetings. Council President Randy White praised concessions the applicant made, saying the team had “made more changes than I thought they would and they listened to the folks.”

The committee approved an amendment that attached the applicant’s revised PUD written description and site plan (dated 03/03/2025 and 02/28/2025, respectively) and added two conditions: the required traffic study at civil site plan review meeting the Land Development Procedures Manual (section 1.10.11), and a requirement that the emergency access shown on the site plan, if allowed, not be dedicated to the city and be signed/marked as emergency access only. With those edits the committee recorded a 7–0 vote in favor of the rezoning.

What happens next: the condition requiring a traffic study means geotechnical, drainage and traffic engineering work must be completed and reviewed during permitting. Planning staff said the PUD’s site plan clusters development away from Category 3 wetlands on the western portion of the property and preserves open areas; the applicant says several lots will be pulled back with landscape buffers ranging from roughly 50 to 220 feet where they abut existing houses.

The action authorizes the PUD rezoning; it does not itself authorize final civil/site permits or construction. Those plans must meet the city’s development standards and the conditions the committee added before issuance of building permits.

Votes at a glance: PUD rezoning 2025‑00006 — Amendment approved; final motion approved 7 yeas, 0 nays. Action: approved (motion).