DATE: April 15, 2019
TO: Franklin Municipal Planning Commission
FROM: Emily Hunter, Director of Planning and Sustainability
Amy Diaz-Barriga, Current Planning Supervisor
Subject
title
PUBLIC HEARING: Consideration of Resolution 2019-31: A Resolution Approving A Development Plan For Aureum PUD Subdivision, With Two (2) Modification Of Standards Requests (1-Roof Forms, 2-Retaining Wall Materials), For The Property Located South Of East McEwen Drive And West Of Carothers Parkway; (04/25/19 FMPC 8-0, 05/14/19 WS)
body
Project Information
COF Project Number: 6910
Applicant: Scott Bernick, Ragan Smith
Owner: Glenn McGhee, Southstar Company
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 designed for Ovation PUD Subdivision immediately to the east (across Carothers Parkway) and Apex Village PUD Subdivision to the northeast of this site. The uses, which include attached residential, office, and hotel, help to further an integrated mixed-use node from I-65 to Carothers along East McEwen Drive. The design intent of this development complements the existing and planned built environment for this area.
This development plan is intended to transition in building height, massing, and intensity of uses from the north (East McEwen Drive) to the South (Hillside Overlay-HHO) and from East (Carothers Parkway) to West (Tower Circle). The development uses a series of shielded parking, pedestrian plazas/open spaces, and building heights to emphasize the changes in grade of this site.
“New multifamily residential is encouraged within Regional Commerce to create lively, walkable neighborhoods near restaurants, shops, grocery stores, and workplaces. First floors are encouraged to have active commercial spaces, including retail, restaurants, leasing offices, and other amenities, which should be individually accessible from the street. In locations where commercial use on the first floor is not viable, multifamily units should provide individual ground floor entrances, stoops or front porches, and pedestrian connections to the street or to a drive resembling a street. Multifamily buildings are encouraged to have urban form and be part of a connected and master-planned site. Conventional garden-style apartments are not supported in this location.”
A total of 480 attached residential dwelling units are proposed with this development. These units are dispersed into 4 separate buildings, clustered at the southwest quadrant of the site (Tower Circle/Ovation Parkway/Edward Curd Lane). The intent of Envision Franklin is met with the conceptual massing elevations and overall site layout as presented with the Development Plan. Massing elevations are included with the development plan. Exact building elevations will be approved at the site plan level but are expected to meet this section of Envision Franklin.
Modification of Standards Requests
MOS 1: Roof Form
City of Franklin Zoning Ordinance 5.3.5(e)(i) specifies: Attached residential structures shall incorporate roof pitches between 3:12 and 12:12. The applicant has requested all residential structures have flat roofs to achieve an urban form consistent with the building heights proposed in this development (up to 12 stories). Staff finds flat roofs are appropriate in the context of this development and adjacent developments.
Staff Recommends Approval of Modification of Standards #1.
MOS 2: Retaining Wall Materials
City of Franklin Zoning Ordinance 5.6.4(1)(a) specifies all walls: be constructed of any combination of brick, stone, masonry materials, treated wood posts and planks, rot-resistant wood (such as cypress or redwood), or metal. The applicant is requesting a MOS to allow cast-in-place concrete and/or metal finish walls. Staff believes the Zoning standards should be consistently applied to ensure quality materials are being used, from both aesthetic and maintenance standpoints.
Staff Recommends Disapproval of Modification of Standards #2.
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.
Section 2.1.3(2)(g) of the Transportation and Technical Street Standards, and Section 5.10.3(5)(d)(ii) of the Zoning Ordinance both require that lanes used for turning movements within intersections shall maintain a minimum Level of Service D.
With the continued development and redevelopment of the Cool Springs area and an above average growth factor, we will see impacts on our traffic network. The already approved background traffic and proposed added density on this property will result in a failed level of service of the McEwen Drive and I-65 Interchange and the McEwen Drive and Carothers Parkway intersection during the AM and PM peak hour. These intersections were modeled to include the future build-out of the integrated growth plan improvements and still result in a failed level of service.
The developer is still required to make substantial improvements to the network that will aid in reducing future delay. These improvements are highlighted in their development plan submittal.
Recommendation
recommendation
Recommend approval of the development plan, with conditions, to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.
end
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.