Richardson City Plan Commission Meeting January 16th, 2024
Five of the seven regular commissioners are present, Chairman Marsh, Vice-Chair Southard, Commissioner Roberts, Commissioner Costantino, and Commissioner Keller. One alternate, Byron Purdy, is also present and will participate. Commissioner Bohnsack and Commissioner Walraven are absent.
Minutes of the previous meeting are approved unanimously.
Two public hearings are scheduled. The first is ZF 23-15, a planned development rezoning request by Another Time & Place at Abrams/Buckingham to allow a patio cover to extend into the 40 ft. setback zone. Staff presents a background of the request. This does not expand the smoking area. This is simply a request to cover the patio. If the patio cover were to be enclosed, they would be required to install a sprinkler system. The applicant steps to the podium to present their plans. Vice-Chair Southard expresses his appreciation to the owner of the restaurant for being patient. He hopes this is a friendlier experience than some of the past hearings. The owner states that, since reopening, business has been surprisingly good. Chairman Marsh asks if the existing building’s encroachment into the setback zone could be rectified by allowing the modified standard to be applied both to the patio cover and the building. Staff answers that they would need to make sure the wording of the public notifications and agenda items allowed for the additional scope of the request. They will consult with the city attorney and have an answer before the Council hearing on this request, but tonight’s CPC recommendation will only include the patio cover request.
One public speaker supports the request as it would protect diners from the weather and allow more enjoyment. Staff clarifies that, if notification language needs changing, they could redo this process at the next CPC meeting. If this needed to happen, it would be a two-week delay in the process. Again, the city attorney still needs to be consulted for an official answer. Depending on the answer, we may see this before Council in February. The applicant expresses frustration that this issue was not caught by staff earlier in the zoning process. The only real issue here is that, if the building were to suffer a loss and need to be reconstructed, the current zoning wouldn’t allow them to build in the same footprint without a variance. The CPC unanimously recommends approval as presented.
The second public hearing is on ZF 23-17, an amendment request for a previously approved planned development. This request stems back to ZF 22-17, which received a Council hearing on Jan. 30th, 2023. The original request was to convert the Hyatt House at 2301 N. Ctrl. Expy into apartments. It turns out the minimum unit sizes approved in that ordinance are smaller than the existing units. Therefore, the applicant is requesting to change the minimum unit size from 450 to 350 sq. ft. for studio units and from 500 to 400 sq. ft. for 1-br units. No other amendments are requested. Staff mentions that one letter was received in support of the request. Chairman Marsh asks if they could possibly do away with the minimum unit size altogether since the development is already limited to 131 units. Staff answers that this would be possible and would have essentially the same effect. The CPC unanimously recommends approval. Council will consider this in February. Meeting adjourned.