‘Density bomb’ soundly denied

A landowner seeking to double the housing density of an acre of land in the Westover neighborhood was denied Tuesday night when the city council voted unanimously to deny the requested zoning change.

Council heard a staff presentation on the request to change the zoning of the property, located at the corner of Earle and Baylor streets, from Single Family-6 to Neighborhood Density-3. The change would have allowed the landowner to divide the six vacant lots into a maximum of 12, with one housing unit per lot.

“ND-3 zoning allows for various types of single-family structures,” planning chief Shannon Mattingly said in her presentation. “One of those is zero lot line, and that’s what the developer is proposing.” 

Mattingly said the development would require a regulating plan that would dictate things like where parking has to be located. She noted that the developer said the property would be owned, not rented, and that it would be subject to the city regulation that no more than two unrelated persons could live in one of the houses. 

City staff recommended approval of the zoning change. However, in November, the Planning and Zoning Commission denied the request, meaning that the zoning change would need six “yes” votes in council in order to pass. City Attorney Michael Cosentino noted that if council denied the zoning change request, a similar request for the property in question could not be brought back to the city for one year.

Council members Lisa Prewitt and Melissa Derrick said they would support a motion to deny the zoning change request.

“The whole intent of the land development code is, is the neighborhood ready for the higher density,” Prewitt said. Referring to the city council agenda packet, she said, “All we have in here are oppositions. I don’t have anything in my packet that shows that neighbors came in saying, ‘Yes, we love this concept and idea and we want to embrace it in our neighborhood.’”

Derrick had a similar rationale for her decision. 

“We have not yet done the small area plans and neighborhood character studies that give me any kind of confidence in dropping a density bomb in a neighborhood that doesn’t want it,” she said.