CONA Project Lead

Carol (webbestates@2222cona.org)

Preliminary Plan Status as-of 7 August 2008

At its 6 August meeting the Environmental Board unanimously DENIED all three of the variances requested for the Webb Estates Preliminary Plan. Thanks to the CONA members who attended and donated time to the two CONA speakers.

The applicant withdrew the original Preliminary Plan (C8J-07-0055) just prior to its expiration, and filed a new Preliminary Plan (C8J-2008-0082) on 23 April 2008. Staff provided comments on 13 May 2008, and the applicant must submit an updated plan that addresses Staff comments, or file a request for extension, by 29 August 2008.

The applicant requested the following environmental variances, which were DENIED by the Environmental Board on Wednesday, 6 August 2008.

• To allow construction of roads and driveways on slopes greater than 15% [LDC 30-5-301(A)]
• To allow construction of buildings on slopes greater than 25% [LDC 30-5-302(B)]
• To allow cut up to 18 feet and fill up to 20 feet [LDC 30-5-342/342]

The backup information that 2222 CONA has been able to obtain includes:
Environmental Board cover letter
Memo from the Staff Environmental Reviewer to ZAP, summarizing the variance requests
Findings for Roadways and Driveways on slopers greater than 15%
Findings for Construction of Buildings on slopes greater than 25%
Findings to Allow Cuts up to 18 feet and Fill up to 20 feet

The applicant can proceed to have the variance requests heard by the Zoning and Platting Commission, with recommendation of DENIAL by the Environmental Board. Or, as encouraged by CONA and the Environmental Board, they could redesign the Preliminary Plan to include larger lots that respect the natural topography and provide adequate land with <15% slope for the development of homes and septic fields.

Rezoning Summary

Thanks to all the CONA residents, the Webb Estates project team who represented our issues, attorney Brad Rockwell, and certain Council Members and policy aides who saw through the guise of the applicant's request for SF-1 zoning, the applicant changed their rezoning request from SF-1 to RR on Thursday, 9 August. With the RR zoning they agreed to one additional condition that we requested for the benefit of existing homeowners in River Place and Westminster Glen:

"Any driveway, street, street right-of-way, cul-de-sac or cul-de-sac right-of-way shall be set back at least 15 feet from any residential lot within the Westminster Glen and River Place subdivisions.  Within this setback, a vegetative buffer of native species shall be planted, if a vegetative buffer does not already exist."

Details of the rezoning case have been moved to a separate page for archive and reference purposes. We did receive a copy of the final zoning ordinance.

Development Process Summary:

ZONING:

• ZAP voted 4-3 on 15 May 2007 to recommend approval of SF-1 zoning with an additional condition that there be a maximum of 76 lots.
• City Council voted 6-0 (Cole off the dais) at the 9 August 2007 meeting to approve the RR zoning with 2 conditions. The applicant changed the rezoning request from SF-1 to RR in the morning, and CONA neighborhoods agreed to put it on the consent agenda after working out the language of the setback condition.

PRELIMINARY PLAN:

• The applicant originally submitted the Subdivision Preliminary Plan in February 2007 (C8J-07-0055). Staff provided comments on 17 April 2007, 8 October 2007 and 4 March 2008. The applicant failed to address many comments and issues with the updates they submitted in September 2007 and February 2008. In March 2008 the applicant withdrew the application to avoid statutory disapproval due to the application expiration date.
• The applicant filed a new Preliminary Plan (C8J-2008-0082) on 23 April 2008. Staff provided comments on 13 May 2008, and the applicant must submit an updated plan that addresses Staff comments by 29 August 2008.
• The applicant requested 3 environmental variances, which were unaminously DENIED by the Environmental Board on 6 August 2008.

If you are interested in participating in the project team for review of the Preliminary Plan, please send an email to webbestates@2222cona.org.

Reference Documents:

Document (opens in separate window)	Description/Comment	Original Source
Case Info new Preliminary Plan (C8J-2008-0082)		CofA
Initial Staff comments on new Preliminary Plan (13 May 2008)	Applicant must address all comments with an updated plan by 29 August 2008.	CofA
Initial Staff comments on Preliminary Plan, 17 April 2007	Initial Staff comments on Preliminary Plan. Provided to applicant 17 April 2007.	CofA
Staff comments, 8 October 2007	Staff comments on the Preliminary Plan submitted in late September 2007 (in response to the initial Staff comments and the RR zoning determination).	CofA
Staff comments, 4 March 2008	Staff comments on the Preliminary Plan submitted in February 2008.	CofA
draft rezoning Ordinance	changed to RR-CO. The language shown in this draft will be replaced by the one shown in the Status section above. We will obtain a copy of the executed ordinance when it is available.	CofA
Engineering Report		CofA case file
Environmental Assessment		CofA case file
River Place MUD Water Commitment City Council Approval of RPMUD Service Map for RPMUD Service Application	RPMUD originally requested to annex Webb Estates and provide water and wastewater service. CofA denied this due to difficulties of providing other services to Webb Estates with no access from River Place when CofA takes over the RPMUD. So they refiled a request for only water service on an Out of District basis, which was approved. A contractual agreement between Webb Estates and RPMUD regarding the financial and construction details has not yet been executed.
Petition against variances for Preliminary Plan	property owners within 300 feet of the subject boundary are eligible to sign	residents in Westminster Glen
Preliminary Plan (scanned into 4 sections) and small 1 pager		CofA case file
Slope map of tract
Topographic map of tract	overlay is not to precise scale	Google Earth/CofA GIS
Watershed Boundaries for tract	this tract contributes to both the Lake Austin and the Bull Creek watersheds (both are Drinking Water Protection Zone watersheds)	CofA GIS
City approval to extend application deadline to 26 February 2008	The applicant requested an extension to the deadline for submitting a revised Preliminary Plan that addresses Staff's initial comments and the Rural Residential zoning restrictions.	CofA case manager Don Perryman