DATE: February 20, 2019
TO: Franklin Municipal Planning Commission
FROM: Josh King, Principal Planner
Amy Diaz-Barriga, Current Planning Supervisor
Emily Hunter, Director of Planning and Sustainability
Subject
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PUBLIC HEARING: Consideration Of Resolution 2019-09, “A Resolution Approving A Development Plan For Huffines Property PUD Subdivision With 2 Modifications Of Development Standards (Maximum Retaining Wall Height, Evergreen Shrubs), For The Property Located South Of East McEwen Drive And West Of Carothers Parkway. (02/28/19 FMPC 9-0; 03/26/19 WS)
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Project Information
COF Project Number: 6876
Applicant: Greg Gamble, Gamble Design
Owner: Evan Vlaeminck, GCI Residential
Background/Staff Comments
Envision Franklin recommends a Regional Commerce Design Concept for this parcel. The intent of the Regional Commerce design concept is to contain high-intensity activity centers that attract large numbers of people and employers from both within and outside the City. These areas include major employment and revenue generators that are valuable community resources.
Regional Commerce areas have a high level of visibility along I-65 and primary arterial streets and are important gateways into Franklin. New developments should have integrated designs with coordinated access, amenities, and cohesive architecture that fits within the context of the corridor.
Buildings should be arranged on sites so that they help to frame and define the streets, giving deliberate form to streets and sidewalk areas. Building setbacks should be minimal to create an active street environment that encourages pedestrian activity. Where internal drives are used to organize buildings and pedestrian movement, setbacks to internal drives should be minimized wherever possible. Along high-volume streets, buildings may be set back from the street, provided they are sited to be consistent with the predominant line of building massing (setback) along the street in order to create a defined streetscape and sense of place. When larger setbacks are used, plazas and formal open spaces that serve as pedestrian-friendly gathering places should be located between the building and the street, rather than parking, to activate the street frontage.
The intended building layout maximizes the building frontage on the internal road in a manner like what was done on Carothers Crossing West PUD subdivision immediately to the South. The mix of uses (attached residential, office, and hotel) helps enforce the mixed-use node north of Liberty Pike and south of McEwen Drive while complementing the existing built environment.
Building design should provide contextual references to its surrounding built and natural environment. Design context could include natural features, such as a river, lake, park, open space, or hillside; historic and cultural contexts; and existing architecture. Examples of contextual references could include maximizing visual access to scenic views, streets, pedestrian corridors, plazas, public art, and prominent buildings; incorporating distinctive architectural details, materials, and styles from nearby buildings where an established character exists; and siting buildings in a manner that uses the natural topography and minimizes grading.
Under a separate agreement with the BOMA, the applicant is proposing renovations to the existing National Register listed homesite (Carothers House), including preservation of an approximately 10-acre parcel on which the applicant intends to supplement with native vegetation and the construction of hiking and biking trails. The applicant also intends to renovate the existing homesite to transform this historic structure into a small conference facility for dedication to the City of Franklin Parks department.
Modification of Standards Requests
MOS 1: Maximum Wall Height
City of Franklin Zoning Ordinance 5.6.4(2)(a) specifies a maximum retaining wall height of 16 feet if divided into two walls. The applicant has requested one wall with a maximum total height of 14 feet in one wall. The wall would be located in the Hillside Protection Overlay (HPO). Staff finds this larger wall is needed to balance slope concerns on roadways on-site, reduce the visual impact to the preserved hillside, and allow for greater preservation of existing trees on site.
Staff Recommends Approval of Modification of Standards #1.
MOS 2: Evergreen Shrubs at Base of wall
City of Franklin Zoning Ordinance 5.6.4(2)(a)([4] specifies a row of evergreen shrubs at the base of every retaining wall. The applicant is requesting a MOS to eliminate the requirement for the wall at the southernmost edge of the property. The area in question is currently designed to preserve the existing tree row along the property line, as associated with the adjacent property’s development plan as part of their required Historic Buffer. The effect of preserving these trees will create a tree well below the grade of the drive aisle on either side of the tree well. As such, the view of the retaining wall is limited, and planting shrubs will not be a necessity for screening the wall or providing a visual “base”. The intent of both this development and the adjacent development is to present a solution to Historic Zoning Commission that will allow for a better grading plan for this area, that will remove these trees but will supplement the area with new trees and shrubs. If Historic Zoning Commission provides favorable guidance to this solution, any new walls associated with this revision should abide by the planting requirements for retaining walls.
Staff Recommends Approval of Modification of Standards #2 for the Site Cross Section as shown in the plans.
Project Considerations
Project Considerations are not conditions of this approval, but are intended to highlight issues that should be considered in the overall site design or may be required when more detailed plans are submitted for review. These items are not meant to be exhaustive and all City requirements and ordinances must be met with each plan submittal.
Architecture is not approved at Development Plan stage but should stay consistent through site plan and permitting stage.
City of Franklin Historic Zoning Commission has reviewed these plans and has provided a favorable recommendation to the restoration of the historic structure and the rezoning of the appropriate part of the site into the Historic Preservation Overlay.
Recommendation
recommendation
Recommend approval, with conditions, to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.
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See attached pages for a list of staff recommended conditions of approval.
PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENTS:
1. The applicant shall upload the corrected plan to the online plan review website (<https://franklin.contractorsplanroom.com/secure/>). All revisions to the approved plans shall be “clouded.” With the resubmittal, each condition of approval/open issue in the online plan review system shall contain a full response from the applicant as to the satisfaction or completion of that condition.
2. The city’s project identification number shall be included on all correspondence with any city department relative to this project.