P&Z OKs zoning for development

A proposed new housing development in north Pilot Point has undergone some changes since it was first introduced to the Planning and Zoning Commission on May 7.

The P&Z saw a set of changes Monday and added some new recommendations during the meeting. Commissioners approved a zoning change for the 113-acre property from commercial-single family residential to planned development-single family residential, and the Pilot Point City Council will now give its consideration to the zoning change on Monday.

The proposed development is 1,200 feet north of the intersection of U.S. 377 and North Washington Street and is on the west side of U.S. 377.

On May 7, the P&Z rejected the zoning request, and a joint meeting between the P&Z and council was held a week later, when both bodies tabled the zoning. The applicant then revised its plans to accommodate community wishes

The new proposal calls for 380 lots, as opposed to the original 575, which was reduced in the second iteration to 425 and then 420. The minimum dwelling size – square footage – went from 1,200 to 1,400 in a 60-foot lot and 1,800 in a 75-foot lot. Open space percentage jumped from plus-minus 4.6 to 14.8 percent. The minimum lot size will be 6,500 square feet. Price point for the homes will range from $250,000 to $350,000.

P&Z commissioners recommended that architectural shingles be used on all roofs in the development and that houses be 70 percent brick, including units that face the street. The rear of the units should be 50 percent brick. Among other recommendations, they also want to see a landscape buffer off U.S. 377 north right of way of 35 feet and that rear yards’ 6-foot high masonry wall be provided at the property line for those lots that back up to 377.

City officials said capacity for public facilities such as water and sewer exist, with the preliminary and final plats addressing capacity and availability of public services to this proposed project.

Representing engineering and planning consulting firm Kimley Horn in Frisco, Paul McCracken spoke to the commission on behalf of developer Griffin, Brantley & Thomas LLC in Frisco. He showed a map of what the development will look like and answered questions about, but not limited to, open space and a pocket park in the development.

“The pocket park will be donated to the city,” McCracken said. “I think the proposal for all of this is to be maintained, equipped or whatever by the HOA, which I think would be fair to the city.” During a public hearing, Carson Coleman, who said he lives on a property in the extraterritorial jurisdiction that “seems to be inundated with past drainage issues,” said he had concerns about drainage from the new development.

McCracken said a drainage plan exists for the development, with underground drainage and curb and gutter; the map shows four detention ponds. They will be dry-based detention areas and landscaped-irrigated and not designed to be flat and marshy, McCracken said. Coleman, though, was still concerned about the drainage as it related to what the city plans to do. “We don’t [know] where this water is going,” he said, adding that other developments in the area have created drainage issues as the water seeks its way back to the natural water.

The town has been flooded before, he said, “and we have no plan, other than we’re saying this space is going to capture 100-year flood, which we’ve all seen the 200-year flood in the last three or four years.”

City leaders could place a drainage master plan as a ballot issue on a bond issue in November. Coleman also had a concern about the development’s proximity to 377 and lack of parks here relative to the size of town Pilot Point will become.

Resident Pam Kaiser told the P&Z the development will strain the schools in town and the homes’ lot sizes mean children won’t have space to play in the backyards. “They’re going to be out on the streets, and [Pilot Point] will become a big city,” she said. “The strain on the tax system is going to be a lot more than I think the benefit … you guys think you’re going to get.” She also had a concern about the drainage from the development and the traffic caused on U.S. 377 from the new homes.

Glen Ray, a board member of the Pilot Point Economic Development Corporation, said in the hearing the P&Z should not “get distracted by comments that have been made as to what you’re to do tonight.”

He said commissioners are to decide on changing the zoning and not concern themselves with drainage issues and how the facilities will look.

“All of that is handled in a plat that has to be approved by the city staff that will ultimately come to you,” he said. He urged commissioners to support the developers with the plan as presented. After the public hearing, in the next agenda item, commissioners discussed items they wanted to see in the development and then voted on the zoning change.