City staff recommends approval for townhome development

An ongoing attempt to begin construction on a townhome complex in an empty lot located on the 1000 to 1100 blocks of South Holly Street has now received a recommendation for approval from city staff to the board of directors, according to a meeting agenda that was released Thursday.

Although the board will have to make a final determination during Tuesday night's meeting, after having received approval from the planning commission during a special meeting held on July 24 and now members of city staff, it is likely to receive approval from the board as well. This development comes after a relatively long process, as the applicant, Michael Crosno of Bauman and Crosno Construction, failed to obtain a variance appeal request during a regularly scheduled planning commission meeting on July 10, prompting the specially-called meeting.

When this meeting took place, despite dissenting public feedback from one audience member as well as one dissenting vote on the commission, it received approval because the applicant was able to sufficiently reduce the size of the proposed project by reducing the total number of dwelling units from 28 to 27. This was the primary obstacle that delayed the development, as the original design proposal exceeded the side-on-corner setback of Crosno's property by just over two feet.

The project will run parallel to a subdivision of residential homes on South Haden Street and will consist of seven townhomes. Each townhome will have four dwelling units with the exception of the one on the northernmost end of the property, which will have three. Aside from this, Tuesday night's meeting is likely to be a lengthy one, with two contracts and approvals, three ordinances, and five resolutions, if the townhome project described above is included. Listed below are summaries of these agenda items.

Contracts/Approvals

• The decision to approve a quit claim deed for a piece of property located east of the Rodeo Grounds. This comes after the school district reached an agreement with the Elrod family, who currently own the property, to purchase a part of it. Prior to making the sale, a survey was conducted, and it was revealed that the fence that separates the Rodeo Grounds' property and that of the Elrod family's, rests several feet beyond the boundary line, which distorts the validity of the family's title to that portion of the property. That considered, before the school district is able to purchase or use the land, they must obtain this approval.

• The decision to approve funding in the amount of $71,613.53 for the construction of two restroom buildings at the city's Kayak Park.

Ordinances

• The decision to approve the closing of right of ways that are currently open on school district property, all located between the second and 12th blocks of College Street.

• The decision to approve the rezoning of a 1.13-acre property located at 626 N. College St. from R-2 (residential, medium) to P-D (planned development).

• The decision to approve the rezoning of a school-district-owned 16.88-acre property located at 200 W. Tulsa St. from R-2 (residential, medium) to G-I (general institutional). The proposed area to rezone sits in blocks two, three, five and 12 of College Street, and the proposal received unanimous approval from the planning commission during their meeting on July 10.

Resolutions

• The decision to table discussion regarding a final plat development permit that would allow for the finalization of the second phase Heritage Ranch Subdivision. This 6.11-acre property is located from the 2200 to 2400 blocks of North Carl Street and city staff has recommended it be delayed to the next board of directors meeting, which will take place on Aug. 21.

• The decision to approve a significant development permit for the construction of a 9,560-square-foot special-needs facility for Ability Tree Inc. If approved, the facility will be located on the 2300 block of East Tahlequah Street.

• The decision to approve the setting of a hearing date for Sept. 4 to determine whether to close the right of way that runs east to west and is located between North Elm Street and North Garrett Street. The petition to close the right of way was filed by Park Front Properties.

• The decision to approve the granting of an easement for a storm sewer owned by Simmons Foods that currently encroaches upon city property on a right of way located on Hico Street. Because the right of way is on city property, this is just a measure being taken to allow Simmons to work on the storm sewer if the need arises in the future.

General News on 08/05/2018