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Politics & Government

Council to Consider Promenade Rezone Request

Mayor plans to speak against developers seeking to rezone part of site for residences.

Developers will be asking the city to rezone part of the Promenade at Dublin Ranch at a city council meeting on Tuesday, when Mayor Tim Sbranti and other community members plan to speak against the request.

KB Home and Charter Properties are asking to change the land-use designation of more than five acres of the Promenade to medium- to high-density residential zoning: 3.1 acres in the Promenade's northwestern corner now zoned public/semi-public land and a strip of 2.6 acres in one of the site's parcels now zoned commercial, according to city spokeswoman Linda Smith-Maurer.

At its meeting, the City Council will consider spending staff time to conduct a full report on the rezoning request, Smith-Maurer said. 

The Promenade was conceived as a centerpiece attraction for Dublin Ranch with a mix of retail shops and public facilities and a Main Street-like location between several neighborhoods. The project has yet to break ground because financing has been made tough by the sluggish economy, but developers hope more residential zoning will bolster the area's commercial prospects.

Sbranti said he will recuse himself from voting on the request because he is a resident of the Villas neighborhood in Dublin Ranch but added he plans to publicly voice his opposition at Tuesday's meeting.

Sbranti said his main concern is that housing is already "saturated" in the area. He also said that although developers are only looking to rezone a part of the Promenade, he was concerned it would mean the start of "a slippery slope."

"I want to speak as a resident because I think many of us, my wife and me included, moved into that neighborhood because of the promise of the Promenade," said Sbranti. "We need to keep that original vision of the original Promenade even if it hasn't come to fruition yet."

Sbranti cited recent developments in local business, such as new tenants in the nearby Dublin Corporate Center, as signs of "commercial potential" for the area.

"You've got a lot of people with high-paying jobs within a half-mile and more on the way so the commercial potential now, even with the soft economy, is strong," he said. "If you leaving the zoning in place, in time you can still build out but if you rezone, that opportunity's gone."

The 3.1-acre public/semi-public area within the Promenade was zoned as such in March 2000 for 10 years, after which the City Council would reconsider designating it for residential zoning if it had not already been put to public or semi-public use.  Facilities allowed in public/semi-public zones have a broad range of uses "for a wider community base," according to the staff report, including libraries, community centers and shopping.

If approved, the request initiates a study into amendments of the city's general plan that would rezone that 5.7-acre portion of the Promenade; that study would be presented to the Planning Commission for a recommendation to the City Council.

Rezoning that part of the Promenade as medium/high-density residential would allow development of 80 to 143 units, according to the staff report, which compared "[t]he development standards in terms of minimum lot size, setbacks, building height and coverage requirements," to those adopted for The Cottages, a neighborhood next to the site.

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