08-10-2004 (Planning & Zoning) Minutes MINUTES
PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION
WYLIE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX
2000 Highway 78 North, Wylie, Texas 75098
Joint Work Session With The City Council
August 10, 2004
7:00 pm
Notice of the work session was posted within the Council agenda in the time and manner
required by law, and a quorum of the Commission was present.
Commission Members Present: Staff Members Present:
Red Byboth Claude Thompson, Director
Don Hughes
Dennis Larson
Mike Phillips
Chris Seely
Kathy Spillyards
Commissioners Absent:
Dave Hennesey
Chairman Seely called the Commission to order for the special Work Session at 6:45 pm. (The
Council was already in session)
Thompson stated that D.R. Horton has requested rezoning of 170 acres (including 66 acres to be
annexed) in the southeast corner of Brown and Kreymer to a Planned Development District, in
order to develop a master planned Neotraditional community. The applicant has attempted to
comply with Wylie's codes, but the concept varies from them in several ways — including
smaller residential lots, narrower streets, and smaller park dedications. These concepts have
been proposed previously by others and some have been accepted but others denied, and the
Planning & Zoning Commission is in the process of reevaluating these concepts in context of
revising the Comprehensive Plan. Work sessions are not normally provided to applicants for
planning of projects, but this session will allow Council to provide some direction to the City's
Commission and Board as well as the applicant before continuing with official notification, plan
review and annexation.
Steve Topletz of D.R. Horton said that Horton was committed to working in Wylie, citing the
success of the Riverchase subdivision (with lots ranging from 7,299 sq. ft. to 24,000 sq. ft. They
are interested in building communities rather than just selling houses, and believe that the
proposed Neotraditional concept offers great potential for both Horton and the City. Horton has
created similar projects, including Savannah and Providence in Denton, Homestead in Carrollton
and Mill Branch in Lancaster. He introduced the planning team of Scott Polikov and Milosav
Cekic of Gateway Planning Group and Jeff Miles of Jones &Boyd.
P & Z Commission
Work Session with Council
August 10, 2004
Page 2 of 2
Polikov and Cekic reviewed the proposal. The concept is to provide a self-contained
community, at a pedestrian scale. The limited retail shown at the corner of Brown and Kreymer
may be moved southeast to the interior of the neighborhood. The concept will create a
maximum of 467 lots on the 170 acres, with an overall density of 2.7 lots per acre. Although lots
range from 4,000 to 20,000 sq. ft., the average lot size is 8,720 sq. ft. Builders will provide 10
different house types with separation between elevations, and house sizes will range from 1,750
to 3,300 sq. ft., and should have an average price of$140K. Front yard setbacks are 15 ft., to
bring the porch closer to the street for social and security enhancement. 13.5% of the area is
dedicated to open space (exclusive of the undevelopable floodplain and electric line) and 60% of
the houses will be adjacent to open spaces, with the average open space is 3 acres in size. An
amenity center (recreation) is also provided, and may be relocated more to the center. Streets
will be 27 ft. wide, and most residences will be accessed by rear alleys. Street trees will be
located in the right-of-way in order to create a canopy. This concept could provide
approximately $2/3 million increase in annual tax above that created by the development patterns
recommended by the Comprehensive Plan(Mill Branch realizes $850K increase).
Lengthy discussion with questions/answers followed the presentation, with several members of
the Council, P&Z and Park Bd. commenting. Although no consensus was reached, the following
issues and direction were noted:
• The development should comply with the Comp Plan and code - a PD merely to vary regs
will not be accepted.
• Lower density - provide larger lots and fewer lots. This is more than double the number
of lots recommended by Comp Plan.
• Increase the size of open spaces, even if fewer are provided. Scattered smaller parks
rather than one large one is okay, but nothing less than 5 acres so that they can be
maintained efficiently.
• Diversity of housing styles is good— diversity of size and design within neighborhoods is
better than"theme" clusters.
• Provide plans and information on other such projects— so that we can tour.
• Proposal will negatively impact schools—produce more kids than tax revenues received.
• Provide larger houses and add value elements to increase price - $140 average is what we
have now, and this should be increased.
ADJOURNMENT
With no further discussion, the work session was adjourned at 8:25 p.m.
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Chris Se y, Chairman Claude Thompson, Direct