Berkman zoning change wins City Council approval

City Council approved a major increase in zoning for a less than 1-acre site at 6305 Berkman Drive last week.

The move will allow the developer to build about 34 one- and two-bedroom units, compared to the 10 units that could have been built under the previous single-family zoning, according to Victoria Haase of Thrower Design, who represented developer Douglas D. Lewis. Council Member Chito Vela made the motion to change the zoning from Townhouse & Condominium (SF-6) to Multifamily-High Density (MF-5).

Only Council Member Alison Alter abstained, with the remainder of Council voting for the change without comment. With that level of support, the item passed on three readings and will not need to return to Council for further consideration.

Council also approved amending the neighborhood plan to reflect the change. Staff had not recommended multifamily zoning before a Planning Commission hearing, where the property was the subject of a robust discussion. Commissioners voted to recommend MF-5 with a conditional overlay to restrict the height of buildings to 45 feet. However, Vela’s motion did not include that restriction.

Three area residents spoke in favor of the zoning change, while others expressed misgivings about the amount of traffic that the new residences would produce on an already overburdened street.

Rodney Ahart, chair of the Windsor Park Neighborhood Plan Contact Team, told Council that the neighborhood is just north of Mueller. Currently, he said, “there are an estimated 2,113 residential units and 71,193 square feet of commercial (space) and counting slated for Windsor Park from 10 new development projects.”

He described Berkman Drive as a two-lane local mobility street with bike lanes that is “severely over capacity” now.

“Yet there are three new projects slated to be built that will primarily use this street, and 6305 Berkman Drive is one of them,” he said.

“Seeing these underused properties purchased and redeveloped for families and businesses while also developing great working relationships with developers who are moving into our community has been great work and really inspirational for me, but it makes me shudder to think that the access to and the success of these 10 development projects will be riding on a substandard, overburdened street network,” Ahart said.

Instead of trying to convince Council not to approve the zoning requested by the developer, Ahart asked for “help to address this challenge in our neighborhood before it’s too late. And just the sheer number of residents that we are embracing and absorbing in our community warrants it.”

In urging his colleagues to support the zoning change, Vela said, “We are facing substantial traffic concerns. I would say, though, that we’re going to talk to the Transportation Department about this, but I believe that the majority of that morning and afternoon kind of peak traffic is from cut-through traffic from commuters coming in … from Manor and Elgin and from other parts that are using Berkman and Cameron to avoid that (U.S. Highway) 290 (and) I-35 intersection, which can back up – and that’s an ongoing concern that we’re going to have to work on.”

After the vote, he added that the applicant is dedicating a 10-foot easement between Hickman and Berkman.

“That block is a very long block,” he said. “And they are creating a pedestrian and bicycle 10-foot easement, which they will build, and they will light to help pedestrian and bicycle connectivity as part of their development.”

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Posted In: Zoning, District 4