Town of Cary, North Carolina

Mixed Use Sketch Plan Staff Report to the Planning & Zoning Board

07-MU-06 Kilmayne Office Park

Kevin A. Hales, Case Manager

Request

The applicant, on behalf of Northstar Partners, LLC, has requested Town Council consideration of approval of a mixed use sketch plan (MUSP) entitled “Kilmayne Office Park”, consisting of approximately 75,316 square feet of office space on approximately 5.44 acres south of the intersection of SE Maynard Road and Kilmayne Drive, in the southeastern quadrant of the Mayfair mixed use center.

Mixed use sketch plans are located within Mixed Use Overlay Districts.   Mixed Use Overlay Districts are identified as mixed use centers on the Land Use Plan and are developed following the general guidelines of the Comprehensive Plan.  Mixed Use Overlay Districts are intended to promote higher-density, mixed-use developments of varying sizes, as an alternative to lower-density separate-use suburban sprawl-type development.

Mixed use sketch plans are conceptual documents that address the general density, the mix of uses, and the development patterns within a mixed use center. They are less detailed than the plans required for full site plan review. The intent is to provide sufficient information to determine consistency with the Comprehensive Plan and with the Town’s Design Guidelines. Specific development issues must be addressed for compliance with existing requirements as specified in the Land Development Ordinance (LDO) when the site plan is submitted.  All such requirements can be found at http:vic.townofcary.org.

Project Information

*The date of this meeting will be determined after the P&Z Board recommendation.  If a unanimous recommendation is made, it will go to the first meeting of the month on consent; if not on consent, it will go to the second meeting.

Property owner information

Public Notification:

In accordance with Section 3.1.6 of the Land Development Ordinance, on August 26, 2007, staff mailed notices to all property owners within 400’ of the parcels under consideration.  In addition, the property was posted on August 24, 2007.  Excluding public comments made at the September 11, 2008 public hearing staff has received no inquiries regarding this mixed use sketch plan.

Project Summary:

The plan proposes four office buildings containing 75,316 square feet on approximately 5.44 acres.  The site is located south of SE Maynard Road, east of Brown Wynne Funeral Home, and north and south of Kilmayne Drive.  The office buildings would vary in height from one to three stories and incorporate residential architectural elements.  The plan would also provide an extensive pedestrian trail and sidewalk system including a gazebo, a pergola, a nature walk, a fountain, a pedestrian plaza area, and a permanent stormwater pond incorporating a floating fountain and overlook.  The plan would also conceptually reserve the southeastern area of the quadrant for future medium-density residential development.  The southern portion of the site, generally south of Kilmayne Drive is zoned Office and Institutional District and the northern portion adjacent to SE Maynard Road, is zoned Residential-12 District.

The mixed use sketch plan was presented at a public hearing before the Town Council on September 11, 2007.  The majority of the public comments were related to the orientation and the setbacks proposed for the office buildings adjacent to SE Maynard Road, the buffers being proposed by the plan, and the impacts to traffic on SE Maynard Road.  The citizens present also voiced concerns about the appearance of the proposed buildings, the preservation of the existing tree canopy, and the lighting for the development.  Council members reiterated a number of the public comments and urged the applicant to carefully consider the discussion and to revise their proposed plan accordingly.

Changes Since the Public Hearing:

In an effort to address both the comments made at the public hearing and those raised by staff through the review process, the applicant has made several revisions to the plan.  The most significant changes address the layout of the parcels adjoining SE Maynard Road.  The buildings have been reduced slightly in square footage and re-oriented so that they front onto Kilmayne Drive rather than SE Maynard Road.  In addition, the applicant has increased the streetscape to 30’ and increased the setback to 40’ along SE Maynard Road to be more compatible with the surrounding development.  With the associated right-of-way dedication, this equals a distance of 58’ from the back of curb to the buildings at their closest point.  The proposed four-story building adjacent to Woodland Terrace and the existing Re/Max office building has been reduced to three stories.

Several small changes have been made to the plan to address both public and staff concerns about the disconnected nature of the development.  While a significant part of this disconnection is due to the geography of the parcels under consideration, the applicant has taken steps to develop several outdoor gathering places within the development, designed to be shared between the various buildings and the adjacent properties.  The applicant has provided notes on the sketch plan to ensure that significant streetscape vegetation will remain undisturbed and that the buildings adjoining SE Maynard Road would be residential in character.

Changes were also made to the conceptual portion of the site.  Most significant is the change from a proposed four-story office building to medium-density residential units.  Future development of these parcels as medium-density residential units would provide increased pedestrian and vehicular connectivity internal to the quadrant, as well as additional public gathering areas within the quadrant.  This plan, however, includes the layout as conceptual since the property owner was not party to this application.  Additionally, in response to several citizen and staff concerns, a change was made to the conceptual portion of the plan to eliminate the proposed connection to SE Maynard Road.

Consistency with the Comprehensive Plan

A.  Land Use Plan:  The current Land Use designation for the subject parcels is Office/Institutional (OFC/INS), and the proposed office development would be consistent with that designation.  The subject parcels are also part of the Mayfair community mixed use center, which allows and currently includes a mix of Commercial (COM), Office/Institutional (OFC/INS), and Medium-Density Residential (MDR) land uses.

B.   Growth Management Plan:  The Growth Management Plan includes the following two Guiding Principles which are relevant to this case: 

1. R1 Guiding Principle:  Ensure that adequate infrastructure and services are concurrently available with new development.

Analysis:  Adequate infrastructure and services are available for this new development.

2. L1 Guiding Principle:  Concentrate growth near existing and planned employment centers and available and planned infrastructure to minimize costly service-area extensions.

Analysis:  This plan will provide office space in the near future and also designates future residential development.  There are residential areas to the immediate north and east of this plan’s boundary.  Infrastructure is already available in this area.

C.   Comprehensive Transportation Plan:  The Town of Cary Comprehensive Transportation Plan identifies SE Maynard Road as a thoroughfare:

SE Maynard Road

Existing Section:  5 lane undivided

Future Section:  4 lane median divided

Road Improvements:  Roadway widening would be required in accordance with the Comprehensive Transportation Plan.  The applicant has requested a waiver from this requirement which will be decided by Council as a separate action.

Sidewalk Requirements:  Sidewalk would be required along both sides of the roadway.

Bicycle Requirements:  Wide outside lanes would be required to accommodate bicycles.

Transit Requirements:  None

D.  Parks & Greenways Facilities Master Plan:  Greenways Map
According to the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Facilities Master Plan, there are no issues related to this site.

E.  Open Space and Historic Resources Plan:  According to the Open Space and Historical Resources Plan (OSHRP), this site was not identified as significant/proposed open space.  Portions of the property include a mixed hardwood/conifer plant community.

Consistency with the Land Development Ordinance

The proposed project is in the mixed use sketch plan stage and only preliminary engineering of the site has, therefore, been done.  With the subsequent submittal of site construction plans, the proposal would be required to demonstrate consistency with the Land Development Ordinance (LDO) with respect to specific development requirements, such as access, stormwater management, road improvements, utility line placement, road connectivity, and landscape plantings.

A.  Environmental:  According to Town of Cary GIS maps, there are no Urban Transition Buffers that impact the property.  At the time of site plan submittal, the project will be required to meet all applicable stormwater requirements of the LDO.

B.  Perimeter Buffers:  The LDO recognizes that flexibility is desired in the arrangement of internal buffers within a mixed use center.  Therefore, except where property lines may delineate the perimeter of the mixed use center, properties within a mixed use center are exempted from the strict application of perimeter buffer requirements in the LDO.  The southern property line adjacent to Woodland Terrace defines the southern perimeter of the Mayfair mixed use center, and Woodland Terrace has already provided 20’ of the required 30’ Type B buffer.  Therefore, as proposed, this plan would provide the additional 10’ of buffer width.  Perimeter buffers proposed along internal property lines would be required to meet the performance criteria of a typical buffer required by the LDO in similar situations, but not the width requirement.

C.  Streetscape:  The northern property lines of the parcels adjoining SE Maynard Road likewise define the boundary of the Mayfair mixed use center.  The LDO requires and the applicant would provide a 30’ streetscape along SE Maynard Road and a 15’ streetscape along Kilmayne Drive.  The mixed use sketch plan proposes that the streetscape along SE Maynard Road be supplemented with additional plant material to meet a Type A (Opaque) buffer standard.

D.  Traffic Impact Analysis:  A traffic study (07-TAR-239) was conducted by Sepi Engineering.  The following are preliminary recommendations from the study for this development:

• Remove access #3 and #4 on Kilmayne Drive and not allow these site access locations.
• Align remaining access driveways (#1, #2, #5, #6 and #7) to assist with sight distance.

As the project has moved through the process, driveways #3 and #4 have been removed and the alignment of the remaining drives has been adjusted to take into account the required sight distance triangles.

BASE ZONING AND MUSP COMPARISON

The proposed MUSP allows for the inclusion of the lots immediately adjacent to SE Maynard Road as office space.  The current base zoning for those properties is Residental-12 District (R-12), which would preclude most non-residential development.  The amount of square footage allowed on the remainder of the site with base zoning of Office/Institutional District would be consistent with what would be allowed by the base zoning.  By virtue of the parcel being located within a mixed use overlay district, flexibility in the width of internal buffers is granted and is available whether the property is developed under either the base zoning or through the MUSP process.

APPROVAL CRITERIA FOR MIXED USE SKETCH PLANS

Section 4.4.2 (J) of the Land Development Ordinance sets forth certain criteria that must be considered in reviewing mixed use sketch plans.  Though it may not be practical for some existing or partially-built mixed use centers to achieve certain design standards, proposed MUSPs shall be reviewed for compliance with the following approval criteria where deemed appropriate:

(1)        The mixed use sketch plan has been prepared consistent with the requirements of Section 4.4 of the LDO and the Land Use Plan;

(2)        The mixed use sketch plan includes an appropriate mix of land uses for the overall activity center, including residential, commercial, office, and institutional uses;

(3)        The mixed use sketch plan meets or exceeds Town design guidelines and other established Town standards;

(4)        The mixed use sketch plan includes medium and higher-density housing;

(5)        The mixed use sketch plan includes some formal outdoor space for public use, such as a park, a village green, or a plaza with larger mixed use centers including more such space than smaller centers; and

(6)        The mixed use sketch plan demonstrates participation by residents, by property owners in the surrounding neighborhoods, and by the Town, so that the proposed development responds to the unique conditions of the area.

Staff Observations on the Mixed use sketch plan

Staff has evaluated the proposed mixed use sketch plan as it relates to various Town documents and Town guidelines and offers the following observations:

Consistency with the Adopted Land Use Plan:  The proposed mixed use sketch plan is located within the Mayfair community mixed use center and will affect the existing mixed use center as shown below:

*   The plan proposes 28 medium-density dwelling units shown in a conceptual manner only and, therefore, cannot be required or constructed based on approval of this plan.

This mixed use sketch plan would increase the proportion of office uses in relation to commercial uses within the mixed use center.  The Land Use plan recommends community-scaled mixed use centers contain approximately 500,000 square feet of non-residential floor space, with approximately 50% commercial space and the remaining 50% office space.  The existing mixed use center already contains approximately 775,000 square feet of space comprised of office and commercial uses, which exceeds the recommendation for a community mixed use center but does not approach the 1,500,000 square feet typically expected in a regional mixed use center.  The addition of the 75,000 square feet of office floor space would represent an increase of approximately 10% of the existing non-residential floor space in this mixed use center, 70% of which would be allowed under the existing base zoning.

As it currently exists, the Mayfair mixed use center does not contain the recommended number of medium and high-density dwellings in relation to the amount of non-residential floor space in the mixed use center.  The Land Use plan recommends one residential unit (medium or high-density) per 1,000 square feet of office and commercial floor space.  The current mixed use center contains only 26 medium density units, with 28 additional units being shown conceptually in this mixed use sketch plan.  However, staff feels that the size and the arrangement of the property make neither medium nor high-density residential development a good option for these parcels.  The proposed office development is more consistent with both the existing development pattern of the mixed use center and the existing Land Use designation of Office/Institutional, rather than residential units.  As portions of the mixed use center re-develop in the future, the required medium and/or high-density dwelling units would be expected.

Of the remaining 13 acres of undeveloped property, this mixed use sketch plan consists of approximately 5.5 acres.  The property shown conceptually as medium-density residential in this mixed use sketch plan comprises approximately 4 additional acres.  The remaining vacant and under-developed properties are scattered across the remaining quadrants of the mixed use center.

Consistency with the Town Of Cary Design Guidelines for Mixed Use Centers:  As noted below, the proposed mixed use sketch plan has been evaluated for compliance with the seven design guidelines established by the Town of Cary in the Design Guideline Manual.

• Create Human Scale:  The proposed offices adjoining SE Maynard Road would be two stories in height, creating a scale that is comparable with the nearby split-level residences and with the commercial and institutional buildings located closer to the intersection of Maynard Road and Kildaire Farm Road.  The taller three-story building would be located farther away from SE Maynard Road and the residences located along that thoroughfare.  Many pedestrian-oriented gathering spaces would be created to foster an environment in which pedestrians could comfortably move and interact.
• Create A Sense Of Place:  Several small, pedestrian-oriented plazas and gathering spaces with coordinated amenities and paver treatments would be provided to create a unified design theme throughout the development.  At the time the site plan is submitted, the building architecture would also be utilized to create a unique identification for the site, while tying it into the surrounding development.  Entry monumentation to identify the project is being proposed at the intersection of Kilmayne Drive and SE Maynard Road.
• Connect Uses:  The mixed use sketch plan proposes an interconnected pedestrian system that ties the buildings to one another as well, as to the adjoining public sidewalks and streets.  Vehicular and pedestrian stubs would be provided to the Re/Max office building located to the west and to the properties located to the southeast currently owned by the Powell family.  A cross-access easement to the existing Brown-Wynne funeral home is also being proposed, should future re-development make such a physical connection feasible.
• Provide Transitions:  The mixed use sketch plan would provide all of the required perimeter buffers and streetscapes required by the LDO.  As proposed, the building sizes would transition from the three-story office building adjacent to the existing three-story Re/Max office, northeastward to the two-story offices adjoining SE Maynard Road.  In addition, the plan would provide the required 30’ streetscape and would supplement it to meet a Type A (opaque) planting standard.  The plan also proposes architecturally transitioning the buildings from residentially-influenced buildings adjacent to SE Maynard Road to a more traditional style adjacent to the existing office building.
• Reduce Parking Impacts:  The parking areas proposed in this mixed use sketch plan would be located to the side and to the rear of the buildings.  The front of the buildings would be oriented toward Kilmayne Drive.  Where parking is visible from adjoining roadways, appropriate vegetative screening would be required at the time the site plan is submitted for approval.  Most of the parking areas would consist of double-loaded parking bays, so as to not significantly impact pedestrian connectivity.  Where proposed parking is larger than a single, double-loaded parking bay, pedestrian connections within the parking area would be provided.
• Plan for Pedestrians, Bicyclists, and Transit Users:  The mixed use sketch plan would provide numerous pedestrian connections between the various buildings and to the public sidewalk system along Kilmayne Drive.  At the time of site plan submittal, bicycle parking would be evaluated as required by the LDO.  Transit users would be served by the pedestrian connectivity allowing convenient access to the fixed-route transit service along both SE Maynard and Kildaire Farm Roads.
• Provide Open Space:  The proposed mixed use sketch plan provides numerous pedestrian-oriented gathering places that are well distributed across the site and identifies as common areas approximately 2.3 of the total 5.4 acres.  This figure includes the required perimeter buffers and streetscapes shown on the plan.  The details and amenities provided in the proposed gathering spaces would be specified during the site plan review process.

Staff recommendation

Staff has evaluated the proposed sketch plan and has determined it is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and with the design guidelines established for development within mixed use centers.  The plan proposes adding non-residential square footage to the Mayfair community mixed use center, which currently exceeds the recommended “ideal” target for community centers in the Land Use plan.  The amount of increase, as proposed, does not represent a significant increase, given the fact that 70% of the proposed office space could be developed under the base zoning for the parcels.  As previously stated, the mixed use center is low on residential units, but the location and arrangement of the parcels under consideration does not lend itself to residential development.  Overall, this mixed use sketch plan, as proposed, represents an office development that balances the requirements of the mixed use center and the surrounding context in which it is proposed.  Based on the data and analysis set forth in this report, staff recommends that the project be forwarded to Town Council with a recommendation for approval.

Other Reference Information

Applicant’s Justification, Submitted on August 9, 2007.

The following statements are provided by the applicant in response to the criteria established in the application and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the Town of Cary.  Any statements as to the type, the quality, or the physical features are at the direction of the applicant and may be formulated into a condition:

1.  Any issues with the size of the tract?

No issues exist with the size of the tract.

2.  How is the request compatible with the comprehensive plan (i.e. Land Use, Transportation, Open Space and Historic Resources)?

The adopted Land Use Plan designates the parcel for office development, and the proposed use is for office space.

3.  What are the benefits and detriments to the owner, the neighbors, and the community?

The Town of Cary has identified this area as a Mixed Use Overlay District (MUOD).  The proposed MUSP meets the intent of the Town’s development policies to provide office development at major intersections in Cary.  All proposed development must meet the requirements of the LDO.  These regulations will adequately protect adjacent property owners.

4.  How are all the allowable uses for the proposed rezoning compatible with, or how do they relate to, the uses currently present on adjacent tracts?

Other property in the vicinity of the proposed rezoning is currently developed for the same type of proposed use.