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Commission recommends variances for proposed 9-acre multi-purpose stadium at 6 SE 4th Street
Summary
The Downtown Design Commission voted to approve the concept design for a proposed multi-purpose stadium at 6 SE 4th Street and recommended variances — including relief from build-to, minimum height, fencing, and sign rules — to the Board of Adjustment, while asking for sidewalks and street trees as conditions.
The Downtown Design Commission on May 21 voted to approve the concept design for a proposed 9-acre multi-purpose stadium at 6 Southeast 4th Street and to recommend multiple variances to the Board of Adjustment.
Laura Green of the Planning Department said the site has no remaining historic structures after a prior demolition and sits immediately south of I-40, adjacent to a railroad and the Land Run Monument. "They're proposing to construct a multi-purpose stadium that does not comply with the bulk standards for DBD," Green told commissioners, noting the project will likely need variances from build-to/setback rules and minimum street-facing height requirements because the stadium's open massing and programmatic one-story elements differ from typical downtown construction.
Green also described proposed fencing and sign elements. The applicant proposes decorative metal front-yard fencing at 8 feet (above the typical 6-foot maximum) and ribbed metal panel screening around a loading area — a material normally prohibited downtown — which staff supported for durability and security. Green said the proposed scoreboard is styled as a pole sign and that Scenic River Overlay rules generally prohibit pole signs; staff balanced those restrictions against the project's scale and recommended support for the scoreboard. She cited sign regulation 59-16-107 and explained that the site's linear frontage would typically allow six freestanding ground signs but the applicant proposes 10 pylon/freestanding signs for wayfinding at events.
Travis Polly, a representative from Populous, identified himself as the applicant representative and said he was "excited to see this project come through," praising staff's detailed review. Commissioners asked whether platting would return to the DDC; staff said platting is handled by planning and typically does not come before the design commission.
Commissioners approved the application on the condition that sidewalks and street trees be provided along all street frontages and moved to forward a formal recommendation of variances A–G to the Board of Adjustment. The variances listed by staff included: relief from the requirement that the first two floors be within 10 feet of the street right-of-way; relief from a minimum three-story/50-foot height requirement on street frontages; exemption from the prohibition on pole signs; an allowance to exceed the maximum height and area limits for freestanding signs and the number of freestanding signs (site proposes 10 where 6 are permitted); and relief from front-yard fence height limits and the prohibition on ribbed steel fencing.
Both the approval and the motion recommending variances were seconded and passed. The commission did not record a roll-call tally in the meeting transcript.
