Planning and Zoning Meeting - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the City of Farmers Branch Planning and Zoning Commission study session. It is presently Monday, July 7th, 2025, 6:30 p.m. Before we begin, I'd like to thank the commissioners for their service. And we will begin with item A1, uh, discuss regular agenda items, which takes us to item C1, consider approval of the June 23rd, 2025 planning and zoning commission minutes and take appropriate action. Commissioners, any errors, typos? All right, that sounds good. No errors. Okay, with that we will move on to item D1, which will be a public hearing. Conduct a public hearing and consider the request for a detailed site plan, including special exceptions for an office warehouse development on approximately 9.44 acres located at 2271 Morgan Parkway and take appropriate action. Thank you, Brian. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good evening, commissioners. um happy to answer any questions you might have now um over this case. Um so this is a request for a detailed site plan for an office warehouse development um with special exceptions. Um now because this is a brand new groundup development in PD97, we would be required to go before you all and city council with the request anyway. But because they're requesting special exceptions, we're having to hold this public hearing. So happy to answer any questions you might have. Now, thank you, Frank. Uh, questions, discussion staff. Go ahead, Harold. The burn, why do they want to do away with the burn? That's one of the requests. Yes. Um, I might let the applicant get into that a little bit more, but um, I would say was just due to the site design and the way the site is laid out. Um, they didn't feel would be conducive to their what the design they're proposing.

Do we know if they have photos or any kind of I can actually pull up the um, landscape plan um, if you'll bear with me just a moment. Let me put this up full screen. I didn't know where the BM was going. So the B located per the current ordinance, right? So PD97 requires a landscape BM to be installed along any public street which in this situation would be Morgan Parkway. So would be required here but like I said due to the side configuration the applicant felt that wouldn't be conducive but um as I will point out in my presentation they are making up for it by installing landscaping all throughout the site um which totals 42.7% um which is well above what PD97 requires for landscaping because currently um PD97 only requires 10% of the site to be landscaped. They're proposing to landscape 42.7%. Along those same lines, and I just thought of this, what what's the elevation there in the flood plane? Do we know how close or is this a foot out of the flood plane or uh if you'll bear with me just a moment, I can bring that up on our interactive map. Property has flooded in years past. Brian, one of the documents in the additional documents that was in the package had uh elevations on it on the blueprint. Oh, were you talking about the building elevations or whether or not the Yeah. Oh, okay. No, I'm not. Yeah, I'm talking about the elevation. You're talking about the actual

elevation of the property itself. Okay, that's what I thought. Okay. Right. We could pull the flip plane map and provide it during regular session. That works. Okay. See if you'll bear with me in just a moment. Okay. So, this is the US flood flood area um layer from our interactive map. So, this is the subject property right here. So, um it appears part of the property um is within the flooding area. Um I would point out that our public works department is part of our development review committee and they did review this site plan with us and um what the applicant is proposing does meet all their requirements. Okay. Thank you, Brian. Further questions for staff? Yes. Thank you, Brian. Is there a setback requirement in PD97? Yes. Um, I believe it is 20 I believe there's a required front yard setback of uh 25 ft. Um, if you bear with me just another moment, I will confirm that for sure.

Okay. So, these are the required um setbacks for the property. So, a front yard setback of 15 ft, 20 for the side, and um 20 for the rear. Okay. Okay. So, it appears that this just barely meets that because it's 15 ft from the sidewalk according to the uh the schematics we were given. Yeah. As long as they meet those minimum setbacks, they're good. Is is that why they don't want to plant the trees along there is because it's too narrow? I I don't understand why. I mean, that's a hike and bike trail. And right next to it is something like 150 ft of a 40 foot high wall with no landscaping relief whatsoever for the virtually the entire length of that building. You're talking about here in front of Morgan Parkway. Yeah. And that's where that that sidewalk is designated to be part of the uh hike and bike trail. Correct. And so again, my point, my question is there is zero landscaping relief for virtually the entire length of that building and nothing but a 40 foot high wall. Is that correct? That's partially correct. So the applicant um alum is proposing to plant some trees along the front of the building. These five trees right here and these three existing trees. um will remain. Um again, I would like the applicant get into the specifics of why they chose this particular design. Um but and if I understand correctly in looking at you pardon me, the satellite the land north of this is a floodway easement creek

that is a creek that is basically brush and forested area, right? So, they're going to plant these seven new trees right next to an area that's already forested at the north west northeast corner. You're talking about these trees right here? So, they're using that to meet the landscape requirement, but they're planning it adjacent to an area that's already got lots of trees because it's a wild flood ement. Right. Right. So, like I said again, given the site layout, the applicant felt that this was um the best um configuration for the landscaping. Um like I said again to to the site configuration. Again, I would let them get into the specifics, but okay. Um just again, I would emphasize that they are exceeding the minimum landscaping threshold. Okay. Thank you. Sure. Further questions for staff our discussion. All right. So, thanks again, Brian. You're welcome. Um, we'll move on to item D2 for our study session. Conduct a public hearing and consider the request for a zoning amendment for industrial development on approximately 7.48 acres located at 2665 to 2775 Villa Creek Drive within PD74 zoning district and take appropriate action. Thank you, Brett. Thank you, Chairley and members of the PNZ. Brett Mangum with the planning department, lead planner. And the next case on the agenda is on Villa Creek. Let me pull up the site plan. Uh happy to answer any questions on this. This is a uh current site which has four office buildings on the property at present. Those would be demolished in favor of building a new from the ground up 126,000t warehouse distribution center. This is a

similar type of use as previous cases that we've seen in the past couple of months just to the west of this site down along Ford Road and Villa Creek Drive. Uh very similar style and aesthetic of the building. Um again, I'll go through the more detailed presentation when we get into the public hearing at 7:00, but if you have any questions for us in advance, um be happy to answer those at this time. Go ahead. So the uh in the code when there's a wall mentioned it's usually a masonry wall. Um and this is is requesting to put in a wooden fence. So maybe you could give a little background and why why why a masonry wall to begin with? What is it about a masonry wall and why would a wooden fence be the a good substitute? Yeah, it's a great question, Commissioner Miller. the masonry wall from a planning perspective, they're usually a little bit more durable, uh, long lasting as far as the lifespan of the the material goes. Wood fences also tend to be blown over in storms a little more easily. The masonary is more a more substantial material. It holds up better over time. The requirement in the ordinance that you mentioned is typically found when you have non-residential uses abuing single family or duplex zoning. So, this is a kind of a unique case because you have single family zoning to the north, which is the Dallas Christian College site. So, it's zoned for single family, but the land use doesn't match that, right? But being a school, wouldn't it also call for a good a good neighbor fence? I mean, I'm just wondering if I mean, if you go there that that whole area now is just going to be butt up and there's going to be a lot of traffic. I can tell. So, I'm just wondering what would what would be a reason for us to approve a a wooden fence and not just go ahead and require the masonry wall that's in the code. I don't think staff necessarily has a preference one way or the other as long as there is screening. Uh the ordinance requirement would be the masonary fence

per PD74. Uh so, and anything in opposition to that, so wood fence for example, what they're requesting just has to be approved by you and city council. Just one other thing. So the with these developments going in that area as you they the going to the east they end up in Jo at Josie Lane in a very difficult those those streets that come into Jose they're very it's hard to get across uh the traffic and we're building you know doing a good job we're going to be building a whole number of buildings to the to the west of this. Are we at some point going to be get into some kind of an issue with the design of these roads and the way they way they end up on Josie Lane? My understanding is currently there are some posted signs when you're going northbound on Josie that say truck traffic is prohibited. I believe that's due to the load zone restrictions for the bridge that's further down where it crosses the creek. those signs could potentially be expanded in the future if need be. Uh I do recall from previous cases uh that we looked at last month. The applicant did say that a lot of the truck companies have special software that they use to route trucks away from conflict points such as the one you mentioned at Josie and Villa Creek. Uh so I would maybe defer to the applicant a little bit more to see if the clients here would be using that same kind of software. Um those would be the the main things that I would think of. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Further questions? Go ahead. Back to the wall just for a second. Uh what about the requirement for height of the wall? I mean, are we talking 6 feet, 8t, 10t? I believe the specs call for an 8 foot. You can go up to 8 foot 6 in. Anything

beyond that would would be outside of the code. Do we do we ever get any data science data on like the acoustics of say masonry wall versus uh vegetation, trees, shrubs. the the concern I have is the the three residences to the northeast um a and the apartments next door in terms of noise. I mean, if this is going to be a bulk storage building and we put trailers in the back, suppose that they come in there and they're unloading pipes or valves or something, dropping on the concrete at 10:00 at night. I mean, that could happen. Uh h how do we control that for the college kids next door who that building may or may not be a dormatory? I'm not sure what it is, but that's going to be disruptive. Plus, currently there's a nice concrete drainage ditch behind it with blooming crepe myrtle bushes and it looks really nice. even though the office buildings are vacant. So, I mean, we're changing the acoustics. We're, you know, it's the aesthetic view from the college and from the apartment project. And I'm not I'm trying to help make this deal. How do we get walls, shrubs, bushes, those kinds of things that may help us and you know and may help the owner be a better neighbor for lack of a

better term. Thank you for the question, Commissioner Freighic. I think um I haven't seen any data personally uh which you refer to as far as the noise or as the aesthetics uh acoustics of different sound materials. Uh that's not contained within the ordinance that I've seen. Um we did in the design process kind of work with the applicant because that's a concern of staff as well especially with the residential multif family to the east. That's where people are going to be living. Um so that's a big concern as well as the college and the single family areas that are caddyy corner to the northeast. Um so we did suggest kind of a multi-pronged approach with screening fence and potentially additional plantings such as double plantings or a burm. Uh but this is the uh compromise that was supplied by the applicant. Uh if you as a PNZ are not happy with what you see, you could add conditions uh pertaining to the screening if you would like enhanced u measures of of whatever type you would see fit. Don't the landscaping requirements have a height issue on the shrubbery? I mean bushes minimum 20 in 36 in. I mean seems like I remember something like that. As far as I know the the plantings just have to be the trees have to be a certain caliber per inch when they're planted. Uh but I'm not familiar with the height restriction for plantings just with the fences the 8ft 6 8 and 1/2t limit. Further questions? Go ahead. I just want to make sure I'm reading this correctly. that they are planting a row of shrubbery against the fence, but all of the shrubbery is on the property's side of the fence. Correct?

So whereas today, say the apartments look on to a nicely landscaped, attractive office building, tomorrow they'll look at an 8-ft fence. Period. Correct. Wooden fence. Wooden fence fence. Yes, Commissioner Trap. That is correct. And the same on the north side. Yes. Uh the only distinction would be the north side has the drainage ditch whereas the eastern property is just flat. Thank you. You're welcome. Further questions. Go ahead. Uh so we do have a good number of warehouses in this area like Ford Road, Denton Drive, Villa Creek. Do we know how many warehouses have been approved for construction in this area? to my knowledge, just the previous four that were approved uh last month. Um and I don't I'm not aware of any else upcoming in the pipeline at this point. Of course, that could change. Sure. Any day. Um and then my next question following up on that is, do we know what the occupancy status of the building is currently? And do we have an idea of what warehouse occupancy looks like in Farmers Branch? Um, I think the applicant might be a better resource to answer that question as far as the current tenency of the building. Um, to my understanding, this is a spec building. So, I I don't know if there's a client lined up to immediately occupy the space once it's completed. Uh, but it's my understanding that it's a spec building. Okay. And then one more for you. Um, with respect to the 2045 plan, can you differentiate for me between what regional commercial is and industrial? Yes, that's a good question, uh, Commissioner Kirby. So, the comprehensive plan does have a distinction. If you think of regional commercial, which is what this area is designated, that would be an area kind of similar to like Midway and 635 where

you have a lot of big box stores, you have a lot of fast food establishments, retail establishments, creating that synergy, and it's serves a larger area than just like a neighborhood commercial center. So, it pulls people from all over the city of Farmers Branch as well as surrounding cities. Uh the industrial would be more of a a less intensive use um where you have warehouse parks, light industrial parks, uh differentiating it from like heavy manufacturing areas that are going to be noisome, odorsome, you know, more problematic type industrial uses. Um so it would be almost similar to an office park, uh but you'd have a lot more light industrial and warehouse users and truck traffic. Okay. So, thank you. Further questions? Y just so what activities would be allowed by right inside in this building? So if this is approved as presented the use that they're looking for is specifically warehouse and distribution and I can read that off to you and that would cover over what would be allowed if approved. All right. So warehouse and distribution an establishment primarily engaged in the receipt storage and distribution of goods, products or materials. Specifically excluded are self- storage or many warehouses, retail sales, manufacturing, assembly or product processing. What about outside storage? Outside storage would not be allowed. Everything would have to be all the activity would have to be contained uh within the building with the exception of parking time limit on hours of operation under do they specifically talk about that anywhere? Not in this request. Uh there's no hours of operation limitations uh as currently written.

Didn't we put something on the other buildings on Ford Road last year? I of operation. I can't recall, but Sarah may have a I think we did. Uh yes, there were hours of operation applied to the two warehouse buildings located north of Villa Creek. With the most recent request, the two buildings south of I Creek where the Windham Garden and the vacant tract is, those were exempt from hours of operation restrictions. But for the north, I believe it was 6:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. And that was a condition that the um PNC commission added as part of their discussion. So that's certainly on the table if you feel it's appropriate for this request. Yeah. Well, that that went to council and got approved though, didn't it? Correct. Okay. Thanks, Sarah. Further discussion, questions. All right. Thank you, Brent. Appreciate it. All right. And with that, we'll return back to our study session. Item A2, discuss agenda items for future planning and zoning commission consideration. Commissioners, items for further discussion. Yeah, I just uh artificial intelligence. I'm just curious if there's a somebody could do a presentation on AI and planning or urban planning like are there any tools that are being implemented? How is it being used? Thank you. This this is not artificial intelligence. This is just more work for the staff.

Sarah, this afternoon when you showed me your telephone where you had made a drive-thru of the property and we talked about the drainage ditch and the flowers. Why couldn't we have something like that? Every time we do this where when the staff is out there doing their work, Sarah's out there with her telephone taking photos because it might help one of us who had not been out to the property to get that visual. I mean, sure, how hard would that be? It's not difficult. What I was showing you was just the Google Street View. So, we can pull that up anytime. Uh we do take site photos when we go on site to post signage and so um I think Brett actually has some on the supplemental site if we need to reference it during the regular session, but we can certainly provide those for future. Well, that was that was really nifty for me to see that you had gone to that much trouble and I was just hoping maybe you could share that since you're doing it, you could share it with the group. Yeah, we will make sure to have site photos available for reference during the discussions. It's not that difficult then to take that and put it on our viewers up here. Okay. Yep. We've got them ready to go. So, well, can you in Google in Google Maps or Earth, can you record a walkthrough? Can you can you record a walkthrough and then just share like a half a minute or a minute video that is a literal sort of Google depends on the scenario. It's um we try to avoid presenting videos when possible just due to you know technical um complications. But sometimes the applicant in the past has done like a SketchUp kind of modeling of their development and we can certainly do things like this where we pull up the street view or go on site to take photos

whatever is relevant to the discussion. So thanks thanks again Sarah. Yep. Is that it? That's okay. I'm happy. All right. So with that we will conclude our study session meeting. It is presently 6:56 and we will reconvene at 7. Thank you all.

Good evening. Good evening and welcome to the City of Farmers Branch Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. It is presently 700 p.m. Monday, July 7th, 2025. I'd like to begin by thanking the commissioners for their service. Uh up first, we have citizen comments. This agenda item provides an opportunity for citizens to address the planning and zoning commission on any matter that is not posted on the agenda. Anyone wishing to address the commission should complete a citizen's comments registration form and submit it to the chair prior to the start of the meeting. There is a threeminut time limit for each citizen to speak with a reasonable limitation on speakers on anyone topic or item with a maximum of 15 total minutes on the same topic item. Anyone wishing to speak shall be courteous and cordial. The Planning and Zoning Commission is not permitted to take action on any subject raised by a speaker during citizen comments. When called, please approach the podium and state your name and address prior to beginning your comment. Please direct all comments to the commission and not to the audience. This evening, we have no one signed up for the citizen comments section. Uh so we'll proceed with our regular agenda items beginning with item C1. Consider approval of the June 23rd, 2025 planning and zoning commission minutes and take appropriate action. Commissioners, I move that the med the minutes be approved as documented. Thank you. Second. Seconded. Any further discussion on the item? Seeing none, we'll move to a vote. All those in favor to approve the minutes as documented. All right, that carries. And with that, we will move to our public hearings. First item D1, conduct a public hearing and consider the request for a detailed site plan including special exception for an office warehouse development on approximately 9.44 acres located at 2271 Morgan Parkway and take appropriate

action. Thank you, Brian. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. Well, good evening, commissioners. I'm Brian Campbell, planner with the planning department, here to present to you tonight uh case number 25 SP03 for 2271 Morgan Parkway. Uh so this is a 9.44 acre site um located at 2271 Morgan Parkway which is zoned um plan development district number 97. Uh the applicant is requesting approval of a detailed site plan for an office warehouse development. Um similar in nature to the um existing development located at 2261 Morgan Parkway and other developments within the area. Um the applicant is requesting three special exceptions um with this um hence why we're doing the public hearing tonight. Um so as mentioned um this is a detailed site plan request for a singlestory office and warehouse building which will measure approximately 82,000 square ft. Um with this the applicant will be providing 107 parking spaces on site as well as landscaping throughout the property the totality of which will be 42.7% of the site. Um, the elevations will consist mostly of masonry with enhanced glazing articulation on the western and southern facades for enhanced architectural aesthetics. And the applicant is also proposing to install a 12-oot hike and bike trail along Morgan Parkway, which will essentially act as an an extension of the existing trail in front of 2261 Morgan Parkway. So as mentioned um the applicant is requesting three special exceptions with this request. Uh the first of which is the um location of off streetet parking.

Um so PD97 typically requires most of the parking to be located either behind the building or out of view of the public. Um the applicant is requesting that 67% of the parking be located um in front of the building to the west for the convenience of customers um employees and other users of the building. Um the landscaping shrubbery provided throughout the site um will screen the parking. Um the second special exception, the applicant is requesting not to install the landscape burm. PD97 requires um any portion of a property adjacent to a public street um to have a landscape burm installed in that area, which in this situation would be along Morgan Parkway. The applicant has chosen um is requesting not to install this burm, but instead um landscape the area throughout the site as illustrated um on the landscape plan. And then with the final special exception, um PD97 requires um that street trees be planted along the perimeter of the PD as along as well as along any public street or public travel way, which in this situation again would be along Morgan Parkway. Um which would be the northern property line in this situation for this subject property, which measures approximately 407 ft. So given that they would be required to plant a tree approximately 30 feet um you know spaced out um that would be a total of 14 trees that would be required to be planted here. Um the applicant is proposing to only plant eight of those trees and provide the rest of those trees um throughout the rest of the property. So getting into the recommendations of the comprehensive plan. Oh, so the comprehensive plan designates this subject property and the area

surrounding it as commercial and industrial employment center. Um, so with this designation, the comprehensive plan recommends um a healthy mix of commercial and industrial uses that will act as employment centers for the city. Um, so recommended land uses include office, research and development, light industrial and manufacturing and warehousing and logistics. Um so with that um the proposal is consistent with the farmer's branch 2045 plan. Um I would also reemphasize that PD97 does allow the office warehouse use by right and it will be similar in nature to the other existing developments in the area. So on June 27th we did po we did mail um seven notification letters to all affected property owners within 300 ft of the subject property as we require now. Um, on that same day, we also posted a zoning sign on the property. Um, letters were also mailed to the Carolton Farmers Branch and Dallas ISDs. Um, as of this evening, we have not received any correspondence on this case. So, that concludes my presentation. We do have representatives from the applicant here if you have any questions. I'm happy to address any questions you might have as well. Um, so, thank you for your time. Thank Thank you, Brian. Uh first any questions for staff? Go ahead. Yeah. One, could you go go back uh two slides? Of course. To Yeah. So the running along Interstate 35, the property line uh and then that is a right of way. Is that a textile ride of way? The address of that green area like what is that? To the best of my knowledge, yes, it is part of the textile right away. If it's a right of way, are you allowed to still could you still plant in it? Understanding that at some point if they use it right away, it has to be taken out. I mean, is it forbidden to plant? Like, this is obviously a green area that's getting nothing, and I'm wondering if it's because of that property line, and is there is there

some possibility of still doing something even though it is a text that right of way? Um, I would let the applicant address that question and we'll we'll have you come in a if that's okay. We'll we're just going to put a parking lot on that one and we'll come back around to it and we'll if that's okay and we'll just continue first with Brian if there's any other questions for staff. Uh yes, Brian, could we could the applicant plant a hedge alongside the building to replace trees? Can is there an eitheror? Is there some kind of formula that may cover that? Uh potentially I would let again I will let the applicant address that question but if you would like that to be a condition of approval you're welcome to make that recommendation. What I'm asking is there is there something in our plan ordinance that you know instead of planting a 4in caliber tree you can plant three 20in wax leaf lagustrms. I mean do we have something writing like that? Right. So currently PD97 does require um the installation specifically of a burm um I believe that has to be at least 3 feet in height. So um any deviations from that would likely require some sort of an amendment. But like I said since the applicant is requesting a special exception you can make that as part of your recommendation for approval of a condition if you would like to see that. But PD97 does require the burm. Okay. Thank you. Of course. Go ahead. The uh landscape plan that we saw specified two different types of shrubs that would be used on the property. One was dwarf Buford Holly and the other was Texas sage. Correct.

And when I zoomed in around to try to see what was going to go along the the uh I35 frontage road, the graphic was not sufficiently detailed. So my question is what kind of what kind of bushes are those? Let me see. Let me see if it'll help if I can pull I'll pull up the When I zoomed in, it just became pixelated and was not sufficiently detailed to distinguish between the graphics for the two different shrubs they're planting. Sorry about that. Very similar images. Oh god. It might be a question for the applicant. Yeah. Don't see. One has like four inset, four little hatch marks, and the other has three little hatch marks. And when you zoom in on all those shrubberies, you can't tell. Yeah, I believe that's the holls um along the the I35 corridor. We're talking about this area, correct? Yes, I believe those should be the dwarf holls. So in dwarf holly get up to what? Four feet. Yeah, you have to trim top. Okay, thank you. Of course. Further further questions for staff. All right, we do have the applicant here. If you wouldn't mind to please uh come forward, state your name and address for the record. And thank you so much. Hello, I'm Payton Schwarz and I live at 8177 Midtown Boulevard, Dallas, Texas 75231. Um, in terms of the planting in the rightway for the text road, we are not able to plan in that because it is technically not our property and like

you said, if they did want to expand that road in the future, they would have to rip out anything in that area. We do already have approval from Texot for that connection, just as a side note. Thank you. And further on those, those are the Holl's and I believe so. Yes. Okay. All right. Further questions for our applicant. Yes, please. That's you, Harold. Why Why did they want to do away with the burm? So the landscape burm due to the finished floor elevation of the building it is already above the 3 feet height that the landscape burm that would need to be. So the bmss wouldn't provide any type of screening to the building. Um also there's just lack of room with the 12oot hike and bike trail and there's an existing sanitary sewer easement that runs through there with the sanitary sewer line. So, we wouldn't be able to plant any big trees or shrubs on top of it. So, if you did away with the BM, could you plant shrubs on top of the soil to have a hedge around the building for landscape purposes? Cheaper than moving dirt? Yes, we can add some shrubs in that area. Yeah. So, you would be amiable for putting shrubs up along that side. Yes. Adding to the landscape. Correct. Just to clarify, are you talking along Morgan Parkway? Correct. Right. I mean, it would be beautifification for the walkers. Yeah. Further questions? Park. I had one actually. Um, you mentioned the uh glazing on the windows. to what degree uh especially in that area uh of the building there. It appears that's

mostly masonry. So there wouldn't be any transparency into the building uh along Morgan Parkway. Is that correct? I would have to double check on that. I'm with civil, you know, I was just going to clarify. No, Madam Chair. So, the glazing would actually be here on the western side of the building where the entrance is and then the southern facade back here. That's how I read it as well. I was just confirming that I understood it correctly. So, thank you, Brian. Of course. All right. Is this going to be a single tenant building? You can. Yes. Please go ahead. Come up. state your name and address and we'll uh so my name is George Billingsley live at uh 5369 Noma Drive in Dallas, Texas. And yes, this will be a single tenant building. The truck court's on the west side uh which is relatively narrow and so we don't have enough dock doors to accommodate a multi-tenant building. So if for example all the doctors were on the north as we had originally imagined that would be different but it's just too narrow to accommodate that. Yeah. Do you have a tenant for the building? I don't. No I don't. So but you know we own six buildings adjacent to this. One of which is in Farmers Branch and one of which is half in Farmers Branch oddly. And um and those are all 100% leased and have been for a good while. So, we're confident these will perform and, you know, we're we're long-term holders and so we we anticipate holding these for the long term and and that's why we're investing quite a bit on the front end and you'll see there is a lot of um stone and landscaping and and glazing as you referenced. So, that's part of our methodology as long-term holders is to try and accentuate the buildings and embellish them on the front end knowing we're gonna hold them for a long time. You don't have any problem with the additional landscaping, do you?

No. No. I was telling her before she came up. I mean, that's ancillary to me. I don't I'm happy to do whatever y'all want on the landscaping, frankly. That's important. Good. No, we're happy to do it. So, okay. Anything else I can answer? Further questions? Go ahead, Pat. So, the reason you don't want to plant trees in the full length of the or nearly the full length of the building facing Morgan Parkway is is it because of the sanitary? I I don't understand. If I'm perfectly honest, I'm not 100% because I I uh defer a lot to my team, but I think um intuitively I think part of it is we we're going to have probably signage facing south and um and so uh we didn't want to encumber that. Um but I don't know if you have any additional thoughts. Uh yes. So with the 12oot hike and bike trail and then the existing sanitary sewer easement that's like 25 ft on the other side of the property line, there's just not enough room. So that's why we opted to add more trees on other portions of the site. 15t. So the the is not enough to plant a tree. It's set that 15t from the sidewalk and and the canopy can overhang the sidewalk. I'm I'm I'm still confused as to why there's We can't plant within the easement that's 25 feet wide. And that gets us pretty close to some entries of the doors to the building. There's no doors on the south side, right? That's the north actually. But yes, north. North is that way. Oh, okay. Thanks. Yeah, north is Yeah. Thanks. It might be beneficial to pull up the elevations of the building. Yes. And I will clarify once once more that this is actually the eastern

elevation. So this will be where the entrance is. I believe I have I do have the building perspectives um if that would help. So and and I wanted to clarify. I heard this earlier and the glazing faces the south um deliberately because that's where there's going to be frontage and that's where there's going to be uh patri whatever people driving by and stuff and so the glazing faces the south and that's another reason why we don't want to have trees there because there is going to be that um aesthetic that we want to make visible and conspicuous. Yeah. So that was maybe some confusion earlier as far as where the the glass and the and the stone is facing, but it it faces the south because the north basically no one's going to ever look at that. I mean that's just up against the creek, right? Um so just as a point of clarification. So yeah, we put all the frontage u aesthetics and whatnot uh facing the east and the south because those are the two places that they'll be uh recognized. Appreciate it. Thanks for that. Thanks for that clarification. Yep. Further questions? It sounds like the trees are problematic on on on the front, but but bushes aren't. But it sounds like we could probably do something with bushes. For sure. We're happy to do bushes, and I and I would love to work with staff on that. That's really a very secondary consideration for us. It's not particularly expensive. So, I'd be very happy to do candidly whatever you'all want us to do as it relates to that. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks again. Further questions? We're think we're good. All right. Well, with that, it is a public hearing. I would move that we close the public hearing. All right. We had no one signed up to speak for D1. Just clarifying that as well. So, anyone want to second that? I will second that. All right. All those in favor to close the public hearing.

All right. Thank you again. All right. So, uh with that, uh we will hear action on the item. I did want to just uh kind of recap. I was trying to keep some notes. Uh so I did hear some potential conditions discussed and as we uh recommend approval, we can apply those. Uh the things that I heard predominantly in respect to this uh were the uh landscaping as we just uh discussed uh potentially some uh shrubbery or or bushes along the hike and bike trail on Morgan side of the building. South side. Yes. Thank you. Now, should we should should we put a distance between the bushes? Should we say a hedge x feet long? I mean, how how can we word that? So, in other words, it's not a bush here and a bush here. It's like, in my mind, it's like a hedge. But I I I wonder Harold if we could just uh in our conditions request for additional landscaping for aesthetics and beautifification along that and and in doing so I think by highlighting the aesthetic nature of the reason for the request uh should ensure that it then meets that aesthetic desire. And I I I sensed from our applicant that they were uh highly amendable to that. However, everybody understands what the ultimate goal here is. I mean, I you word it however you need to word it. I would concur with Cheryl's recommendation.

Okay. So uh were there any additional conditions on this uh request that we found necessary or was that the that was the issue? Is the is the land statescaping understood to be irrigated? Yes, that is condition. I would I would throw in there that part of the reason for the request is shade of the westside art trail. So where possible and where it doesn't interfere with signage using a shade tree I think would be appropriate. Otherwise, you know, shrubs and bushes are totally acceptable. Right. So I I appreciate that. So what I'm hearing you say is that we're uh the the reason for our request. We state very clearly the purpose of the additional landscaping is for uh shading along the hike and bike trail where possible. uh understanding their limitations with the the easement and the amount of space um and uh further aesthetic improvement of the landscaping along that corridor. Correct. Yeah. I just wanted to clarify that it is a functional purpose. Yep. Instead of purely aesthetic. I appreciate that. And just a quick point of clarification for that. So when you say the southern property line you're referring to back here. That's No, that's north. I'm sorry. are so along Morgan Parkway. Yes. Okay. Just making sure I had that clear. That That's why I got backwards earlier. Nobody looks at it from the north. Yeah. Okay. And we'll maybe we'll specify along the hike and bike trail. Perfect. All right. So, uh I heard uh again that anyone willing to u make that recommendation? I'll move to approve U 25 SPO3 as

presented with the added stipulation of additional landscaping uh on the southern portion of the property near the west side art trail. Thank you for that. I move to second that. All right and seconded. Any further discussion on the item? Seeing none, all those uh in favor to recommend approval of uh 25 SPO3 with additional conditions of uh landscaping along the hike and bike trail for shading and aesthetics. All those in favor? All right, that's everyone. And this will go to city council August 19th. August 19th. Thank you all. Thank you. All right, up next we'll have item D2. Conduct a public hearing and consider the request for zoning amendment for industrial development on approximately 7.48 acres located at 2665 to 2775 Villa Creek Drive within PD74 zoning district and take appropriate action. Thank you, Brett. Thank you, Chairley and members of the PNZ. My name is Brett Mangum. I am the lead planner here with the city of Farmers Branch here to present case 25-ZA-7. Uh this property is addressed as 2665 through 2775 Villa Creek Drive and the request is a amendment to the existing plan development district to allow development of a new warehouse distribution center with office space. So a little bit of background on the subject site. This is composed of two tracks approximately 7 and a half acres altogether on the north side of Villa Creek Drive between Metro Boulevard and Josie Lane. The zoning on the site is part of a PD plan development number 74 which was established in 1996 through ordinance number 2248 and we'll come

back and reference that in a moment. The PD was intended mainly for office and retail uses with highrises and hotels along the LBJ corridor uh that benefit from that frontage. And then as you get further north, mid-rise offices on the interior sites and then gradually transitioning down into low-rise commercial development to the north as you encounter the established residential neighborhoods to the north and to the east. Uh this request would amend the existing PD74 to allow for the warehouse and distribution land use by right. In addition, it will provide a concept plan as well as a landscape plan and building elevations. Uh, additionally, there are some development standards associated with this request and those will modify select characteristics of the site. We'll cover those in detail uh, here in a moment. This is just an overall view of the concept plan showing the intended layout and function of the site. Uh, you can see it's a single building total 126,000 square foot approximately. Um the breakdown of square footage within that 126,000 figure is 6,000 square foot of office space and the remainder 120,000 square foot being dedicated to warehouse use. The height of the building varies. On average it's about 40t uh goes as high as 46'8 in at the highest point. On site you'll find a total of 138 parking spaces which meets the minimum requirements set forth in ordinance 2248. Uh the applicant is requesting modifications to the PD74 standards for things such as setbacks, screening, site layout, and the site plan approval process. So to go into more details on those requested modifications, we'll start with the setbacks. Uh PD74 sets forth a

residential proximity slope requirement for any properties that abut single family or duplex zoning. Uh to the north you have a property which is zoned single family and is used as a college that is the campus of Dallas Christian College. So we have a situation where the land use and the zoning aren't quite in sync. Uh however we have to treat it as though it is zoned and used for single family housing. So that would apply. They're requesting to have a waiver to that standard and instead of the 3:1 residential proximity slope requirement which would require 140 foot setback off that northern property line uh they're requesting to just do a 95 ft building setback in lie of that. And I do want to point out that the two portions on the end those will be the 95T setback. Uh a majority of the building will actually be set further back than the 95 ft. So u and it looks like it's about 120. So uh for a majority of the site it will be 120 ft set back off of that northern property line. Uh second modification would be to allow for the placement of the truck loading doors uh the bays uh facing north again towards the single family that is restricted by PD uh with residential development in mind. Uh however, a majority of this site uh you can see on the aerial to the north where the college has uh one building there's a parking lot but a majority of that empty space to the eastern side is uh soccer fields currently. Uh that's not saying it couldn't be developed in the future if the college decided to expand and add more buildings to that area, but that's what's uh currently on the site. Uh third, the applicant is requesting to allow for parking and driveways in the front yard of the building, which is defined as anything between the face of the building and the street right away. So for Villa Creek, they are requesting

uh one drive lane uh dual loaded with parking on either side of that. U the intention of the PD, I believe, is to push the buildings closer up to the street and then have the parking and loading areas in the rear where it's uh more hidden from view. So that is the third uh development standard. And the final one is the site plan approval process. Uh what we're looking at tonight uh this is part of a multi-step process. We're looking at the concept plan at this phase. Uh that would be followed up by a detailed site plan at a later date. So before the land is entitled to be developed and before they can apply to get their building permits, a detailed site plan would need to be approved. Uh typically that will come back through the public hearing process through you um and then to city council for final approval. However, the applicant is requesting that the detailed site plan be delegated to staff approval through the development review committee or DRC. Uh if that is a condition that is approved as part of this request. um that would only be approved through staff as long as it meets substantially the conditions that you see before you and that is inclusive of the site plan, building elevations as well as the landscape plans. Uh any significant deviations from that would require a second round of public hearings. This shows the landscape plan for the site. Um the figure is approximately 16% of the total land area of the site will be dedicated to green space with tree plantings along Villa Creek Drive. There's a total of 32 new tree plantings that will be uh spaced appropriately along that frontage. Um, I also want to point out here on the landscape plan, you can see along Villa Creek, uh, the applicant has added a 5-ft sidewalk along that entire street frontage, which is an enhancement to the current conditions where no sidewalk exists presently. And again, this phase, we are just looking at the concept site plan uh, and

the building elevations and landscape plan with a detailed site plan to come at a later date potentially staff approved. Looking at our city's long-term plans, we have the farmers branch 2045 comprehensive plan which was adopted in 2023. Uh you can see the subject site in blue with the blue circle. Uh the color there indicates future regional commercial on our uh map. Uh, I would point out that recommended uses for that type of use would be large footprint, big box stores, shopping centers, highintensity office and residential or excuse me, uh, service type uses. Uh, so restaurants and things of that nature. So, with this being a more warehouse auto truck oriented development that's not going to generate as much foot traffic and as much um come and go traffic, uh this proposal was judged to be not consistent with the comprehensive plan future land use uh designation. As far as the public notice, we sent out 22 letters to cooperate owners within 300 ft of the site. sent those out on June 27th, which was the same day that we posted the signs on the property. Uh, as of today, we have received one uh response, which was in support that was from an adjacent property, which is Dallas Christian College campus. So, they are supportive of the request as well as the conditions that are set forth in the request, including the wood fence. And we do have the applicant present. Uh we have Jim Trainer with Foundry Commercial and we also have Sony David and Yi Durasawo with Langan. They're the engineers for this project and Jim is the u I believe representing the real estate transaction. They can answer any questions regarding the site and we've got some additional um slides here. If you need to flip back and forth, just

let me know and I'm happy to do so. Thanks. Thanks again, Brett. Uh first question is for staff. For staff. Yeah. So the the request to modify the site plan approval process is that a is this a typical request? I mean is it is you know it's interesting that they're being asked to change our processes and I guess I'm wondering why would we change our processes? What is it about them? Is this a better is this better? Is this unusual? Just curious about the background here. I can only speak for myself. I have a limited horizon. So I've only been here about six months. uh the previous case Ford Road and Villa Creek which is a similar type of request in a in the vicinity uh also went through that approval process. So it's not unheard of. Uh but I wouldn't say it's typical. Uh it does save the applicant some time frame because public hearing process we have requirements that we have to meet by state law that have delays built into them for for reasons um in order to encourage you know public awareness of these developments. Uh so it is up to you. that's a condition that's being requested and if the PNC as a body feels like that is not a condition you're willing to accept, you can strike that from the list. I mean, is is the planning department neutral on this request? I mean, is this Yes. Uh, we don't issue staff recommendations per se. So, I'm just curious as whether I mean in some regard you might think of it as they were going around you, but that I'm not picking that up. Sounds like this is seems to you to be a reasonable request. Absolutely. I'll just add a bit of context um to what Brett provided. The approval process for detailed site plans depends on the zoning district. So um our newer zoning districts, you often see detailed site plan approval delegated to staff. That's only if it matches what is shown on the conceptual plan approved by city council. If they want to expand the building or deviate

significantly, it triggers a whole new public hearing process. Um, like Brett mentioned, the intention for staff approval would just be to speed up the development timeline and allow for um, you know, once we get the utility details, the detailed landscape plan, um, some of the extra information that comes with the detailed site plan, we would verify it as staff and be able to approve it that way. If they needed to deviate from any of the PD standards, like we saw with our previous request, where they couldn't meet the tree spacing requirement, that would trigger a public hearing as well. And so it is typical of newer PDS. This is um PD74 was created uh originally in the 90s I believe. And so this is the approval process that was in place at that time. And I would just add quickly that um this type of approval process was just approved for the Ford Road cases. So it would line up with that amendment. Thank you, Sarah. Further questions for staff? Go ahead. You said, if I understood correctly, this would not only approve this project, but change PD74 so that by right everything in PDC 74 would be able to put in warehousing is that so this would only apply to the subject tract. It's tied to a legal description which is the seven and a half acres. So it wouldn't affect the entire PD. Okay. Thank you. Yes, good distinction to make. Other questions for staff? Out of curiosity with some of the other warehouse requests, we've seen traffic studies. Are we not seeing a traffic study with this because is a conceptual site plan or you know what triggers that process? That's a good question. So as part of the review process before it gets here to the public hearing phase, our development review committee DRC looks at this as a whole and it's composed of, you know, various different city

departments that are relevant to the development. So our engineering team did take a look at this and at the time they reviewed it. TIA was not deemed to be necessary. Uh, I believe the reasoning, and I'm not the engineer, so I don't want to speak out of turn, but my recollection of what the engineer said at the time when we had our meeting, is that the office buildings that are there presently uh generate more traffic than a warehouse development of this size would. So, it's actually in their mind a lesser impact. So, that was why they determined that the TIA or traffic impact analysis was not necessary at this time. And do you know if that is under the assumption that the office building is 100% occupied or is that at current levels? I wouldn't be able to speak with 100% certainty on that, but it's my presumption that it would be as at full capacity. Further questions for staff? All right. Thanks again. I believe our applicant is here. So, if you wouldn't mind, please uh come and say your name and address for the record and we'll likely have some questions for you. Okay. Hi, I'm Jim Trainer. Um 350 Mel Avenue in Dallas, Texas. Good evening. My name is Sony David. I'm with Langan Engineering. Uh address is 299 Olympus Boulevard, Dallas, Texas. Thank you, gentlemen. And questions for our applicant? I I drove that area this morning uh primarily looking for because you're going to be talking about tractor trailer rigs and larger and and there probably will be fewer of those than automobiles if you look at it from a that kind of

perspective. The thing I'm concerned about is uh how much how many turns they're going to have to make accessing from 635 andor Interstate 35. Uh first of all because at the intersection of Villa Creek and Josie that would cause a huge nightmare. And I'm I'm just talking about normal industrial warehouse property trucking because there's no signal light there. Uh I mean cars have a difficult time navigating that intersection as we speak at this time of day. Um, so my thought process was to limit truck traffic from Josie down to that first driveway on the east side, but I I I don't know the width and couldn't tell the width of the driveway you're proposing for an 40ft trailer to make that turn and drive up to the north into that property and that drawing may not be to scale, but and then when they truck drivers access leave the property, how do you make them not turn back to the east and go up Villa Creek to the red light? I I mean I I think if you turn this building into that kind of traffic, it's going to be a huge problem in my mind and and I don't know. I just see a problem down the road because it's hard

to access this property, right? I mean, it's a difficult access as you drive over there today. If you don't know how to get there, how are you going to try tell a truck driver to get there who's coming from Oklahoma City? Yeah. So, I think that's a good question. You know, one of the things that we're considering and and just as a start, I guess really the type of building and the type of use that's expected for something like this is going to be a much smaller scale than it would be a larger box. So, even though as large as this building may look, the shallow bay nature of this building, the type of tenants that it draws are going to be smaller scale tenants. And so while you will have some tractor trailers, I would just envision more box trucks and other things like that accessing and using this this um this uh specific type of use. Um to your point also about the the um the two driveways, they they can easily accommodate um a tractor trailer accessing the the um the driveways from the roadway. Um and then to also get to your point about just the access um along Josie Lane and coming into Villa Creek. I think really what where they would be going is probably along the the text frontage road and using that to then come back either on Metro or either Ford in order to access the property and minimize that that kind of pinch point that you have closer to to Josie Lane and and Villa Creek. And that would be the perfect deduction when when you said box truck. I mean I know what that is. Do you have a tenant in mind for this property? Because I'm I mean I I used to have a part-time job loading freight, so I know what city delivery is. I know what over the road is. And I'm trying to get a concept of what kind of operation you think you're going to lease this to because that that affects traffic, of course. And and so I didn't say I'm with the developer foundry commercial. Um, and so the tenants that we typically are building for and this project is is

going for is smaller tenants that would be like um showroom type of groups or granite, you know, countertops and um, you know, high-end like HBAC groups, things like that where people want to come in and see the space, hardwood floors. So, it usually, you know, has the ability to take a tractor trailer and we design it for that, but they're very rare to come into the space. So on most times it's box trucks or local delivery that are smaller in nature, vans, things like that. What kind of finish out do you anticipate for the office office versus warehouse? Yeah, we've seen anywhere from um you know it can be as depending on the use as low as 5% up to you know higher than that 10% type of office finish. Um but we do typically see it be in that range you know. Um, but we can see tenants want to fully HVAC the space depending on what they're doing in it um and what they're actually working on in the space. So, are you looking at four or five tenants in this building? Yes. Yes, sir. But in perfect scenario, uh, perfect scenario be have four tenants. Okay. I mean, I I I don't think anybody here is going to try to be negative. I'm just trying to make this property fit in this particular location because the other issue I I think is a problem is is the noise in the residence in the apartment complex in the college behind it because uh the wooden fence bothers me also. There's got to be a better fix for that, but that'll somebody else will mention that. I'm happy to to talk about that as well because I think for us two things are important why we're here now. One is for us to to your access question as well. It's marketability, right? Like we need to lease this project and and we want to drive jobs here in the community. So access is super important to to us as well. And so we felt like between Ford Road, Metro Boulevard that there was enough access to cater to the

tenants that we're going for. If this was a big bulk distribution building where we're seeing a lot of tractor trailers, we would agree with you that it wouldn't work. So, um, we feel comfortable with the access and can help with signage and direction to make sure that it flows with the community and and what's planned in the future for what other properties have been recently changed as well. Um, as far as the fencing goes, I did meet with um, Christopher Winslow at the college to discuss that and offered up masonary walls or the fencing. And what we felt like in working with Lang in was um a two-pronged approach of doing the fencing plus the landscaping provided the best aesthetic to um the college. It felt more residential in nature versus just a blank wall. Um and I think they agreed and so we felt like um that would be a better approach because we could make it look nicer for for the group. Also, what we do and we recently did at another office tear down project on a fence is that we put um posts much more frequently than you typically see to help with wind and sturdiness of the fence so it's not falling over. Um and we're happy to do that here as well. It's important to us. And then what we found long term is that the maintenance of that is much easier to keep it nice looking, you know, versus a masonary wall. So, um we wanted to combine landscaping and the fence together to just to provide the best aesthetic for them looking at it. What what about the the sound aspect? I mean uh because my thought for masonry was those a wall like we have on 635 freeway. I and I don't know how tall that wall is, but because I'm thinking of the apartment project and in that northeast corner of your property, there's a residential area right there. And I I those people may not have a clue about what we're doing here tonight and and you know, they're going to raise cane after y'all get start working and that that's what I'm trying to avoid. So

and I would I would say you know just to answer to your question over there that the the thought process was really providing that layered approach right having these these um these plantings that are going to be in a pretty closely spaced scenario really being a fill in the area also going above the fence in terms of when they when they actually do reach maturity and get you know higher in terms of um that that landscaped edge along the back edge and and that seems to be a better scenario when we're looking at things of just visual barriers, sound barriers, and then when you specifically look at that corner like you mentioned, and we were looking at that as well, when you start looking at getting um more coverage in that corner, what we actually do provide over there is even more trees and more things like that within that nature to provide a little bit more little bit more of a buffer between the the two um the two areas. Yeah. In that in that corner specifically where you're talking about where you're caddyy corner to those um existing single family homes. And that's that's really what we're trying to do. And then also just wanted to add in there as well that um the the way and the nature that it was placed was actually specifically placed having the fence along the the neighboring property and then the planting on the interior edge in order specifically on the northern side to allow that um the drainage easement to continually function as we wanted to. We didn't want to have plants and other things like that then having fallen leaves and other things like that within the drainage and and that allows also on the maintenance side to have all the maintenance occur within the interior of the property versus having to go over on the other side of the fence and then and have that occur as well. Does the city maintain that drainage easement? Do somebody's maintaining it? It's a 30 foot drainage ement that that covers both sides, right? Um I believe it's on private property. I'm not certain on the maintenance responsibility, but I can look into it and provide that information. Okay. Well, I mean, like I said, it's nice and clean and blooming trees. It looks really nice right now.

So, some somebody's doing something there. That That's all the questions. So, anybody else just jump in, please. All right. Go ahead. I I'm confused. I guess, you know, you had mentioned the use of landscaping to soften the appearance from the outside, but as I understand this, all that the people on the east side of the property can see is fence. They won't be able to see any of the landscaping. So, landscaping is on the other side of the fence. So, the landscaping to the people outside of your property has no aesthetic benefit at all, does it? It'll actually at at full height it'll be 12 to to 15ish feet higher. Uh and so then anything above the the fence you you'd see the the growth and everything else like that um above that area. Go ahead. Do you have planned tenants currently? Sorry. Do you have planned tenants currently? No, this is a speculative problem. Okay. Um, I guess in the industries that you described, you know, countertops, high-end furnishings, that doesn't sound like a 24-hour operation. Do limitations on hours of operations tank this project or, you know, how can we, you know, it's it's difficult to foresee kind of what uses would be required, you know, from a time standpoint. I don't envision, you know, trucks need to come in the middle of night for deliveries or things like that. you know, I don't know always when like even FedEx operates, right? But if there's people wanting to do things early in the day within the space, if they're, you know, working on something, I just don't want to limit our potential for driving the best tenants for the project and for the community by hours and things I can't foresee. Okay.

Uh, yeah. So, on the U east side, currently between the apartments and the existing office building there, there's nothing. It's just parking lot, right? And so, and then this now has the the vegetation and a fence and uh sort of that fence makes sense in the back. I'm wondering going back to the the question about what the apartments see. Would the apartments want that fence or might they be just as happy or even happier with just the vegetation? You know, because that would that would create some screening, but it wouldn't be quite so hard. I just it's I know you're putting it there to be a good neighbor. I'm just uh you know a fence there might actually make it feel a little bit more closed in whereas if it were left it with vegetation it might just feel a little more open and natural. Do we have this here? Yeah. Yeah. I think we'd be open to whatever is better for them. Get maybe getting together with that apartment complex next door and just we would we would be you know comfortable with whatever you know is comfortable for you. What about security along the same lines? What about security concerns? What I mean chain link fence? I mean does I'm just talking um you know typically for security purposes um we would provide you we would fence the properties in but it can be either an iron fence is kind of what we would prefer instead of a chain link fence just for the the security there. Um and we could do that on either sides. That could be a potential down the road that if a tenant required but again because this is multi-tenant um we're not going to be able you know we're not going to secure it fully. it doesn't um move the needle per se, but we do like to kind of control the space and make sure it's secure. And we really do that a lot with um you know the layout of the building.

Further questions for our applicant. Right. A reminder this is a public hearing. I do have some folks signed up to speak. I just have one. So, if anybody else is wishing to speak, uh please do uh fill out a form. They're in the rear and and bring that forward. Um so, uh up first we'll have Barbara Ley. Forgive me if I've misspel pronounced that, but and just please state your name and address for the record. My name is Barbara Ley. I live at 2803 Sunny Hill Lane about 320 ft from the northeast corner of this thing. Sorry, I just heard about this this morning so I'm a little disjointed. The goal as a council planning and zoning board should be proper stewardship of this city. Your legacy should be when you leave things are better than when you found them. To that we enforce standards. We have a master plan. This does not meet the master plan. And I just heard earlier from the gentleman back here that the variance on the window that the PD74 or whatever it was was on the frontage road highrises and hotels. Now we have another warehouse on I put on social media today talking about this. I was here in front of you when the first three were approved and expressed my concerns. None of these projects at that time were in compliance with the city's existing zoning nor of the master plan. the state of the city meeting a couple of years ago. Now, the mayor stated that

this kind of development would be west of 35 and east of Midway. You guys are mission creeping into neighborhoods. This is my neighborhood. This is where I live. This is where I have put roots. And now this is going to be in your backyard. Do you want this in your backyard? Is this what you want to hear all hours of the day and night? As it is, I already hear text dot and the freeway. Now I get to hear and possibly see this. As to Villa Creek and the software with the uh truck drivers, they don't use it. Semiis come up and down Villa Creek. My husband recently saw a semi go north on Ford and try to go west on Farmers Branch Lane. He said he had a lot of fun watching him back up once he realized that it was closed at Denton. The bridge on Ford is not weight is not set up for the weight of semis. It's probably very and I've bicycled Ford Road. It's not set up for tra of any kind. I really don't think this is a great idea. Let's stick to the master plan because, you know, strike one, the first three warehouses, strike two, the fourth warehouse. This would be the third strike, guys. And at what at what point is the master plan just a doors stop? Thank you. Thank you. Uh, anyone else? Uh, Simon, please just uh come up and I'll take your paper and uh if you wouldn't mind state your name and address for the record. All righty. Um, if I could have your paper first. Yes, if you don't mind. Thank you kindly. Thanks.

Um, my name is John Stapaniac. I'm at 2752 Bay Meadows, which is in the 300 ft uh I guess extended area you guys had on the map. And um this is kind of improv on my part cuz I didn't realize we're going to be allowed to speak, but just some uh concerns that I think we should address uh in more detail regarding this. Uh I believe the previous speaker raised a concern directed at 18 wheelers or you know the the big I think 32 ton trucks. Are they truly required to be servicing that site or can the site with the engineers be made to work using only like two-tonon, five ton and maybe 10 ton type trucks? Uh what would the operating hours of the site be? Uh security lighting, would it be massively bright and attempt to deter uh you know cargo theft, etc., etc. uh detering cargo theft with massively bright lights would also flood into the uh the surrounding properties. Whether the trees could be double stacked or something, so to speak, or fence designed specifically for sound deadening um uh purposes or have sound deadening considerations built into the design of the fence. And um would the presence of this uh warehouse or trucking or you know cargo shipment building would that cause other office buildings to fail eventually and thus lead to additional requests for expanded uh shipping terminal space? In other words, would the area slowly grow from predominantly office and religious college into a uh increasingly large uh shipping uh terminal. And then last

aspect, I don't know of how much of a concern it is, but um maybe consult with the farmers branch police and see if there would be a possible increase of working girls from non-existent to maybe a uh a visible number because sometimes these trucking businesses can attract uh you might say spin-off uh industries that might not be fully legal or legal at all. And uh what do they what do they feel about that? I don't know how really, you know, if that's a true concern or not, but um I think all concerns need to be advanced further, especially if uh 18-wheelers are truly needed at that uh at that site. And yeah, possibility of other office buildings failing. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else uh wishing to speak? Yep. If you wouldn't mind. Thank you. K. And if you would just please state your name and address into the microphone for us. to Penn 2752 B court from branch. Thank you. Yes. and I am living with my husband um directly behind within 300 square feet and my concern is I'm very

lost sleeper and I already hear the dumping of trucks off of Jersey. So, and um we already have the dirt mount off of Jersey by FJ and the other single family housing. So if y'all do a warehouse on the other side of that note of in between the college and me I think it will really inhabit the beauty of B and then also the shiftiness because I'm already I moved in about nine years ago. They had trees that almost blocked the college and the soccer field. And now the trees are gone. And then I see the I see and hear the traffic from from most banks from the highway especially in my backyard. So I'm very concerned that is going to bring down my property value. Also, we are concerned about the water run off from the concrete that ying

over there. when it rains will go down into the creek because the one up is kind of um like going downhill from the har. So I'm kind of concerned about the dish and everything. Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks. And I believe we had someone else. Thank you. And just a reminder, state your name and address for the record. Hi, I'm Elizabeth Coleman. I'm at 2885 Meport Drive. So, I'm in the 300 foot uh zoning perimeter. My main concerns that Harold and actually Cole Colin brought up are 18-wheeler traffic. Um, I work in logistics, so I see 18 wheelers driving and out all day. Turning off of the access road onto Villa Creek from Josie, that segment of Josie is maybe two car lengths. So, if there's any 18-wheeler traffic whatsoever, while other cars are present, they could potentially block all of Josie on either side. Um, that is going westbound. Now coming out of Village Creek going, excuse me, eastbound trying to turn onto the highway. I don't think an 18-wheeler can make that turn. Once again, it's like three or four car lengths before you can turn onto the access road and it is consistently full. I drive that every single day on my way to work. Um, additionally, light. Um, you know, we already get light from the college in our backyard. So, more light if it's facing outward from the building is just going to pollute the light that we already have. Um, so if they're going to put lights maybe along the tree line on

the back facing inward to the building so it's not facing any of the residential areas. Um, and the noise, you know, if this is a 24-hour operation, you're going to hear 18 wheelers honk, cars honk, people talk, other cars from the traffic of workers coming in and out. You know, it just adds to the already noise pollution that we already have living so close to 635. So, and then this. Great. Thank you. My name is Josh Kman. Uh I live also at 2885 Meadow Port Drive. Um as I heard someone previously say, she said this is our neighborhood. It is our neighborhood. It's her neighborhood. We didn't buy a house here to have her live in a warehouse district. We didn't have We didn't buy a house here to have her worry about trucks driving along. And I know the gentleman said, "We don't think there's going to be 18-wheelers. We don't foresee 18 wheelers. They didn't say there won't be 18 wheelers. We don't know that. What if they can't lease this space to high-end countertop manufacturers and other things like that? And pretty soon all those pretty little parking spots turn into loading zones for 18 wheelers. And as my wife said earlier, that intersection at Via Creek and Josie Lane, if you don't live here, you don't know that you've got to keep space. You can't pull all the way up. You have to keep space in between. If you live here, you know space in between. And that's just for normal traffic. That's not delivery traffic. That's not exit traffic. This is going to cause an entire cluster, for lack of a better word, of traffic and problems.

It's going to create more noise than we already have from the freeway, which that's already a big problem on that side of the road in the neighborhood that we live in. We didn't buy a house in a warehouse zone. We bought a house in a neighborhood. We want a house in a neighborhood. We don't want a warehouse room. Thank you. Thank you. All right, commissioners. Uh reminder, this is a public hearing. I don't believe we have anyone else signed up to speak, but thank you to all of those who did. Any um we've had a lot of discussion. I believe there's a number of um conditions our folks have asked for and ones we may want to apply. Do we want any discussion of that before we close the public hearing? Um or um Well, yeah. I think it's I guess it depends on what how how you visualize this. In one visualization, it could be a brightly lit parking lot that's busy, could be 24/7 floating doors going up and down, people talking. So it could be a loud bright operation which would which would disturb the apartments to the east and the the houses to the north. Uh on the other hand, it's like maybe it's not so bright, maybe it's a more of a low volume operation and it only operates it's shuts down by 10:00 or something. You know what I mean? It's like it's for me it's kind of it's like which what is this thing really? you know what what um which of those two extremes is is is a reality. Um so I'm guess maybe if the developer could maybe just talk to the lighting that just help there a little bit like what kind of lighting and and how what can be done to keep that from disturbing the neighbors. Sure. Yeah, happy to. And want to make

sure this this works for everybody. Typically what we do and what we plan here is um pack lighting on the buildings that directs down to create, you know, additional security but not spread. Um, we can provide a lighting study during the site plan review as well that will show the distance that the light travels, how to make sure it doesn't go beyond the property bounds and it shoots out our property and and down lit. Thank you. Further questions? Uh, yes. Regarding the truck traffic, you did mention that you didn't think it would be 18 wheelers. Is there something about this warehouse, be it the size of the warehouse, the depth of bays that prohibit uh 18-wheeler traffic or or is that just an assumption on your behalf? Yeah, I'd say it's it's a couple things. One is um you know, we do design and there are ability to have the tractor trailers come in the property and be and safely maneuver it. Um, but this is designed in the market here in Farmers Branch is smaller tenant driven. And so, um, what we've seen is that we don't get a lot of that traffic, which is why we designed this way. So, you have to work your way around the property. It's not conducent to have a lot of those tractor trailers come through. This is a 125 truck port. Typically, we see for those larger trailers to be 130, 135 and larger, and which we've designed at some of our other buildings that are conducive to that um, type of user. And so, and I would say, you know, Farmer's Branch commands the highest some of the highest rents in the entire market for industrial. So, if you're looking at this office building today, it's a class C office building built in the 1970s. It is one of the most affordable office buildings in the city and attracting tenants that are um looking for the cheapest space. We're going to be commanding the highest rents, which are going to be substantially higher than even the office. And so, we have seen just the tenant quality um and safety of these properties improve. This is going to be our seventh um we're working on seven different office demolitions um where we're converting to industrial and

the cities have been supportive u because they know the tenant change and quality change that's happening and and this particular property um is not from my understanding of the seller not financially feasible anymore. So I think you're going to see a continued deterioration and safety concerns of the existing property. So again, our goal in hearing the concerns is to make neighborhoods better. And this is the highest and best use um from a from a property standpoint to actually afford um repurposing it and not allow allowing it to go downhill. Thank you for that. further questions for our applicants or discussions around some of these conditions or issues that may come up as we is there any additional noise or uh visibility abatement that could be done in the northeast corner back there put those extra three trees and for that for the single family homes back over there. Is there anything that could be done back there that might create a more of a sound barrier and maybe put a masonry wall back there or something that does right because it feels like the biggest concern is this top right corner here. Um and we're open to any suggestions or thoughts of how to do that that would be good um for the community for sure. So, I think we we we try to suggest some bigger, better trees in that area with the fencing, but if you have any recommendations? Yeah, I think I think we can work with staff and and come up with a solution, especially in that corner where you're concerned about and, you know, work through a couple options and then again take into consideration things that they they recommend as well. Uh because we have citizens here that spoke tonight, uh it may be a good idea for the staff to help us clarify um master plan. One of the citizens mentioned stick to the master plan so that

all of us can understand that we really are sticking to the master plan. But the it's kind of one of those living breathing documents. And I recall this property for example on Ford Road was believe it or not uh zoned retail somehow and we even had a discussion a year or so back. How the heck could this property be zoned retail on Ford Road? And I don't think anybody really came up with an answer. So, and the point I'm trying to make is I I think we are trying to stick to the master plan, but what we have to look at is what is the highest and best use of this property compared to what it was 45 years ago into what it may be today. And that's staff can probably explain that better than I can. Sure. I'd be happy to speak to that a bit. Um, when we're looking at planning documents for this proposal, there's the zoning, which is plan development 74. That is the current law that is in place for this parcel. Uh, the future land use map is part of the 2045 comprehensive plan, which is more of a long range vision document. It is not law for this property. It does not determine which uses can um be permitted on this site. And it's also not intended to be parcel specific. Um so you'll see the area circled in blue is the general um location of this site and this darker red color is the regional commercial designation. And so it does extend all the way along the uh 635 frontage as you get closer to um Marsh Lane. And so the

reason that designation was put in place is because of um commercial access to highway frontage. Um it makes sense from a development perspective, but as you get into this specific area, some of the concerns that you mentioned regarding access and visibility for the sites specifically west of Josie Lane come into play. Those are some of the reasonings um that were cited with the previous zoning request was although the plan says this is a good place for a commercial hub. Realistically, the conditions that exist today and are likely to continue um with the future um construction along I35 and the current access along 635 make it less conducive to retail. Um and so what we have today is aging office buildings. um those are consistent with the zoning that was approved in the '9s. And so that is the use that's continued to to today. But as we look ahead, the farmers branch 2045 plan is a guide. Um if we continue to see zoning changes in this area that are not fully in line with the comprehensive plan, we would recommend updating the plan to reflect a different type of classification. Um because as one speaker mentioned, as we start to see more of these zoning requests, the character of this area is changing from office um and low density development to more of an industrial um light industrial warehousing district. And so what I um would probably suggest is when you look on the other side of I35, you'll see this purple color, which is commercial or industrial employment center. and that's differentiated from the gray color which is um a wider industrial category. And so that commercial industrial employment center um is probably what would be appropriate for this district given the type of development that's been approved recently. And if this request were

approved by city council, that would fall more in line with that category. So it's something to consider. This request is not fully in line with the comprehensive plan designation. Um, which is fair to say, but it is not a binding document for zoning. Thanks Sarah for that clarification. Thank you. other discussion and also a reminder we're still in our open public meeting so we can continue to discuss but if we're feeling confident in a direction let me know uh what if what if the applicant after hearing some of the comments tonight what if we gave the applicant an opportunity to address some of these issues on their own and come back to us and say, you know, we've thought about A, B, and C and we've come up with these possibilities. Would would anybody see that as being appropriate? So, what I'm hearing you say is uh potential to table this for a a future meeting and and that would create some delay. Um yeah, I think that I mean that so if you could address the the concerns of the the neighborhoods on the east and the northeast um it's just slowing down a little bit. I mean, I think we would all feel better if the neighborhood if there if there could be a way that everybody could be happy. And it sounds to me like the developers that I mean I know they don't want to go to slow down but they sound very minimal to working with their neighbors this would be an opportunity to slow down a bit and give them the opportunity to do that. I

that's just an idea. I mean I'm open for whatever the developer may want to say have a comment about it too possible. And Sarah I I do understand and just correct me if I'm wrong. It's likely that our next planning and zoning meeting would have likely been cancelled because I don't think there were items on scheduled for that. Currently, that that is the plan. Yes. Um, additionally, if there are going to be changes to these documents, we would need some time to work with the applicant. Um, I would throw up the the possibility of um if there are specific concerns that you would like forwarded to city council, we could work with the applicant in the interim before city council hears this case and makes a final decision. Um, if you don't feel like you have enough information to make a recommendation tonight, you can certainly table um to a future meeting. But in order to move the project forward, something to consider would be forwarding to council with a list of modifications that um you feel would be beneficial and then those will be presented as part of the request. Thank Thank you Sarah for letting us know some of our options. Commissioners, how how are we feeling? I mean, I think the issue is that you've got a change in in occupants here and there's not a huge distance of buffer between residential area and what is turning into a little industrial center. Um, normally when I think of that, there should be transitional spaces before you get into high occupancy industrial uses. Right now we've got the buffer area of the soccer field and then some apartments and then not too far away begins the neighborhood. Um I think there is possibility for the applicant to

provide more clarity on how they could protect that neighborhood. So I I'm not opposed to it. Okay, thank you for clarifying. So, I'm I'm hearing some sense around tableabling. You have a I just have one more question for the applicant if that's Yep. allowable. Um do you have any other types of developments or do you strictly warehouse? Uh our company does um warehouse, office, retail and seniors housing. Okay. Um this is our primarily for new construction development warehouse and the marketplace is the most active. Okay. Thank you. Um and the reasoning for that question is yes obviously this area is turning into an more industrial light industrial area um than is slated in the master plan and maybe more so than some residents would like. But it doesn't really sound like we have regional commercial, you know, beating the door down to develop this area. So to the applicant's point, we now have a warehouse that is declining um in both condition and occupancy. And the question becomes what is you know what can we do? Because the other option is we have an empty building. Um And I don't think that's good for the neighborhood either. So I think I'm open to tableabling as well um with the understanding that we're looking for clarification on the types of traffic um the hours of operation what can be done as far as acoustics u you know just limiting the effect on surrounding neighborhood.

Yeah. I mean is there is there benefit to us making the recommendation with our concerns noted and let just punt it to the city council and like here's why we said what we did and then city council's got the ultimate authority to choose. we can vote to either approve or deny based on our concerns and say and I'm just bulletpoint all the concerns if you if it sounds like there's a preference to move it forward. Yeah, I I will you are right that we are a recommending body. So regardless of our actions today, even if we table and move further, uh our next step would be a recommendation for approval or recommendation for denial uh at the city council. Um so that is certainly an option. Um as is table. I mean these are all valid options. I would say from my understanding tableabling it would mean that we didn't have sufficient information to inform that decision of recommending approval or recommending denial if I'm sorry if it is possible you know I think I think providing uh some conditions that you do have relative to areas of concern um would allow us then the opportunity to then you know as as um the city planner had mentioned the opportunity to come back with some more definitive answers and work with staff on those areas to then provide maybe even exhibits that define how we're going to be addressing those areas. You know, some of the things I was thinking about just as we were discussing it is potentially even adding a higher burm area in that corner to uh have planting even be at a higher elevation and and kind of mitigate some of those things that you're talking about relative to sound and things like that. But as we can kind of work through the the conditions that you may present, it may help us provide answers to those things that you guys are most concerned about. Thank you.

commissioners. Uh so is there enough time between now and when the city council would see it? So one option is we could recommend approval to the city council, but all these list of things that we we feel like they must address to to do that. But that's what two weeks out. Is that enough time? Is it about two weeks for city council to I'm wondering is that enough time for y'all to do what you have to do and really come up with those kind of recommendations? This case is slated for city council on August 19th if it moves forward tonight. Um so there is a bit of time now. The items need to be finalized obviously in advance of that. The packet is posted at least a week in advance and so if there are significant changes to the site plan we would need those fairly quickly. Just to answer your question that would be sufficient time and we would like to come up with something that um you know does appease the neighborhood. It is important to us that, you know, we do have support and we'd be happy to present those individually to those individuals if they'd like and and discuss it as well. But I believe we can come up with something and present it to council um that we believe would would address those concerns and and um to um Colin's point really um improve the neighborhood overall in our view too. Thank Thank you again. So commissioners, do we have enough information? Uh well and we are still in our public meeting but I want to before we uh move there do we feel we have sufficient information? Are we is there is timing an issue for some reason? I I mean because if we were to reject it just solely didn't approve anything then they would still have time to go back and make their changes and then present it to city council. So I mean we could do that. U I I'm not going to speak for the seller, but um I don't know their time constraints on on transacting on the property given underlying financial conditions of the property. Um but uh the timeline that we

have is really the only one we can operate under with the city council meeting on the 19th. So we it would um I can't speak for the seller if they could change the timeline. So I mean you would rather go to city council on the night. It may that that may be the answer. Just us disapprove city student city student city student city student city student city student city student city student city student city student city council but they can work on it. Well again the real question is if we have enough information to recommend approval or recommend denial and then we'll hear a motion of which direction commissioners feel comfortable with and have a vote of course after closing the public meeting. Don't let me forget that. Yeah. I mean, are we ready to to make a move motion that we close the public meeting? Second. All right. Any further discussion on the item before doing so? I do have one question for our legal counsel. Yep. There are some questions that we cannot ask planning and zoning that will be more appropriate for city council. Correct. That's correct. So something about like the tax implications to the city from one development to the next that is something that it's not for us to I I would legally recommend that that that's something that this board or commission should should stay away from but that is within the purview of the city council. Okay. With that, I'm inclined to offer approval with conditions and we need to vote on closing. Yeah, second vote on that. Okay. So, we're confident with closing the public. We've concluded discussion on that item. Will we could we start over on having a motion there?

Yeah. Can I just clarify? So, a motion was made to close the public hearing and second we now have a vote on that just to clarify. Yep. That's that's what I was doing. I was asking for the motion again now that the So, I was just backing it up even another step. Perfect. But yes, that that's where we're at. Okay. We we can proceed to vote. I'm hearing. Okay. So, all those in favor to close the public hearing. All right. That's everybody. Okay. So, with that, uh we will hear uh um action on the item. Uh I will move to recommend with the conditions of uh additional screening uh for the functions of acoustics and lighting. Um, and also I don't know if I can do this pending further study of the type of vehicle that will traffic the site. So just to clarify, you said recommend, you mean recommend approval? Yes. Okay. Just clarifying uh with conditions around screening and uh would you consider that then a a uh maybe a a traffic um description or how would you best define that to jump in? I'm I'm struggling with the definition. Other developments have provided truck ingress and egress diagrams showing anticipated routes um as well as trip trip generation information. Okay. So, we could work with the applicant on those specifics. Have we ever done something with like truck tonnage, truck length? Go ahead. Not to be obnoxious here, but just to be

clear, we do have a motion on the table and might be a little confusing to get into questions for staff at this at this point. And and can I just and continue with your motion to stipulate that the developers work with the pro with the owners of the the uh apartments and the single family homes in that process that they that they work and hopefully gather gain some approval from them. So what what I'm hearing is a clarification on the motion or a second with furthered conditions. So, um, right now, as I understand it, the conditions on the table for the motion is to recommend approval with conditions of additional screening for acoustics and lighting, traffic ingress and egress, and um, request for coordination with other local property owners, possibly ours operation. Okay. Okay. So, amending my list. What I hear and you can confirm that this is the motion that you're putting forward is a recommended recommendation for approval with conditions of screening for uh acoustics and lighting uh truck ingress and egress coordination with local property owners and um defined hours of operation. Yes, that is your motion. Yes. Okay. Thank you. I'll second it. Okay, we have a seconded motion. Any

further discussion on the item? What about landscaping fence landscaping? Well, there is the condition for the wall. Would would the screening with attention to acoustics and lighting cover the landscaping in our description? I'm just thinking somebody mentioned earlier we would have the wall and we would have landscaping on the inside property land of the wall but do we need to mention landscaping with the fence? Question mark. That's an open question. Do we feel that our uh conditions as stated in the motion and second uh cover that potential concern? Do you feel that it's adequately covered? If everybody else has that. Okay. I I just want to make sure it's okay. So, we've had a motion and a second. Uh I won't go through detailing them all again. I think I've tried to make it very clear so that we're clear. All right. Any further discussion on the item? All right. We will move to vote. All those uh in favor to recommend approval with conditions as stated previously. All right. Uh recommend denial. Thank you. And so this will go to city council again on August 19th. Thank you all for your time. Uh with that we will adjourn. It is 8:32 p.m. Thank you all.