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Commission recommends rezoning at 799 East Mercury Avenue amid resident flooding, traffic and habitat concerns
Summary
The Planning Commission voted 5-0 to recommend rezoning 799 East Mercury Avenue from commercial/NTZ to RT (two-family residential). Neighbors raised flooding, traffic and wildlife concerns; staff and the applicant said drainage and traffic will be addressed at preliminary plat and drainage-study stages, including proposed on-site detention ponds.
The Planning Commission on July 7 voted 5-0 to recommend City Council approve map amendment MA-2607 to rezone 799 East Mercury Avenue from CS (commercial shopping) and NTZ (neighborhood transition zone) to RT (residential two-family).
Henry Biebelheimer of Development Services summarized the request and said a minor subdivision currently in county review would change lot lines before the item reaches City Council. "This proposed minor subdivision would have to be filed with the county, so these lot lines would be changed before it is presented to city council," he said. Staff noted that the site’s future land use category in Envision Stillwater 2045 calls for moderate-density residential.
Multiple neighbors spoke in opposition during the public hearing. Travis Rawlins, representing the homeowners association immediately south of the site, urged retention of the NTZ, citing traffic capacity problems at Marine Drive/North Grandview with Lakeview, recurring flooding and privacy concerns. "There was a previous attempt to build an apartment complex in that same area...it was determined, due to a combination of traffic and the inability for the intersection ... to handle that amount of traffic," Rawlins said.
Other residents described standing water behind homes, an increase in accidents at a nearby intersection and loss of green space and wildlife habitat. "I'm just afraid that if...the NTZ is taken out, it's gonna increase those flooding issues," said Sherry Bolin. Colton Herzog and Sharon Gonzales also described pooling water behind houses and recent storm-related standing water.
Developer representatives and staff responded that RT and NTZ allow many of the same residential uses (single-family, duplexes, townhomes in some cases) and that the code requires that development not increase off-site flow. Steven Gose of Gose and Associates said the developer expects to provide a preliminary plat and drainage study and is planning two on-site detention ponds to manage runoff. "We'll come back with a preliminary plat that will have that preliminary drainage study...we're planning on having 2 detention ponds on-site," he said.
Gose also said the current conceptual plan targets about 4 units per acre (well under the 10 units/acre ceiling he cited for NTZ) and that the developer's present plan is for single-story, three-bedroom, three-bath duplexes.
Commissioners stressed that drainage, traffic study triggers and setbacks will be addressed during preliminary and final plat review and noted that consolidating zoning could avoid an odd outlier NTZ district. A commissioner moved to accept staff findings and recommend City Council approve MA-2607; the motion carried 5-0.
Next steps: the developer must file the minor subdivision and preliminary plat materials (including drainage and any required traffic analyses) for staff and commission review before the Council takes final action.
