parking seems to be something worth considering but resident who already live there never are. :( Urban Design Overlay (UDO) workshop Saturday, November 15 at 9am at Midtown Hills Precinct, 1443 12th Ave S. The two numbered paragraphs below contain important background for Saturday mornings meeting concerning the 12th Av So mixed use district. To repeat Metro Councilmember Burkley Allens announcement, In the ongoing quest for parking solutions and appropriate development in the 12thS commercial district, I will be co-hosting an Urban Design Overlay (UDO) workshop with Councilmember Sandra Moore and Metro Planning Department’s Jennifer Carlat on Saturday, November 15 at 9am at Midtown Hills Precinct, 1443 12th Ave S. Interested neighbors, property owners, and business owners are invited to attend. We will be discussing a revised draft drawn from the Detailed Neighborhood Design Plan. 1. In a 7/28 letter to representatives Allen and Moore and Plannings Carlat, 12th Av So commercial property owners opposed a draft UDO received in April. They acknowledged growth challenges that should be addressed on a case by case basis. Any new design standard that reduces the ability of property owners to maximize their existing development entitlements and opportunities under current zoning law is counterproductive and counter intuitive to the notion of affordable smart growth. While the character issue ...deserves our collective attention and discussion, we feel that the predominate problem ... is parking... and that parking and loading options ... may in fact reposition and mitigate many of the remaining concerns and problems. Finally, they suggested restarting the neighborhood dialogue and to begin by identifying the issues that prompted ... the draft UDO. As property owners, we want to participate in the goal setting process and seek solutions that specifically address each topic and each concern for the benefit of all. 2. In an Oct 22 reply, Council members Allen and Moore said that parking is a key issue and listed many possible solutions. However, we see all the suggested parking solutions as intertwined parts of the overall picture and we see the need to proceed with discussion of the UDO. Agreeing with the business owners, they planned to restart the dialogue at the Nov 15 meeting, asked for guidance on standards to focus on at the meeting, and attached a marked-up UDO version. The UDO draft rejected by the business property owners was based on extensive study by resident leaders and Metro Planning staff, which was circulated in Apr 2014. It suggested DNDP- related standards on sidewalks, setbacks, massing, landscape buffering, facade design, signage, parking, and alleys. The impulses for the residential initiative were three developments in the immediate vicinity of 12th Av and Caruthers, the historical center of the neighborhood. These projects variously ignored smart growth principles in the DNDP, with non-contextual structures, excessive destination enterprises combined with severe parking deficits, happy-hour to late-morning tavern operations, and invasion of residential areas not seen elsewhere in the business district. Recent events announced in the press threaten to outrun this otherwise promising conversation. Examples include the 1221 Partners parking garage on Paris Av, the Howell Bros’ proposal for converting 1109 & 1111 Montrose residences to office, the expected request to convert two Gilmore residential lots to commercial parking, the planned appropriation of Waverly Belmont School property for Mafiaozas and Urban Grub customers, Embers: A Sky Lodge added to the Mafiaozas building, and the Bristol apartments replacing the Tabernacle Baptist Church. This Saturdays meeting could not be more timely.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 03:56:14 +0000
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