The Planning Commission staff is recommending against a revision to the city’s Major Street Plan that would reduce the width of the right of way, or setback, on a busy stretch of Perkins Road between College Drive and Essen Lane.
The staff decision, if upheld by the Planning Commission at its meeting in January, could have implications for the development of the commercial portion of Rouzan, developer Tommy Spinosa’s traditional neighborhood development in Southdowns.
“The staff recommended against it for many reasons,” says Assistant Planning Commission Director Ryan Holcomb, whose staff studied the issue for several weeks this fall. “The city Department of Transportation and Drainage also recommended denial. So did the Capital Region Planning Commission.”
The issue was brought to the commission staff at the request of Metro Council member John Delgado, whose district includes the area in question. At issue is the city’s Master Street Plan, a more than 60-year-old document that lays out the city’s street grid and also anticipates future road development. It calls for Perkins Road to be five lanes wide and also to have a 125-foot right of way. In the years since the document was written, however, Perkins Road has expanded to five lanes, and Delgado says there doesn’t seem to be any good reason why the right of way should remain at 125 feet.
“The issue for Rouzan, and just anybody on that corridor, is how close to the street can you build?” Delgado recently said. “Are there plans for more lanes on Perkins Road? If not, then let me know the Master Street Plan is satisfied so the right-of-way can be returned to the property owner so they can build.”
Delgado says he did not request the Planning Commission opinion on behalf of Spinosa. Be that as it may, the decision could have implications for the development of the Rouzan Village Center, which will comprise three buildings and include a 220,000-square-foot apartment building and a 30,000-square-foot Alamo Drafthouse movie theater. Though the buildings are set back far enough from Perkins Road under the current set of plans to comply with the Major Street Plan, Spinosa would be allowed to move his buildings closer to the street should the requirements in the plan be relaxed.
It is unclear when construction will begin on the Village Center. A Rouzan official did not respond to a request for comment last week, and commercial permits have not yet been issued.
In an unrelated development, the Planning Commission earlier this month deferred approval of Rouzan’s Final Development Plan, which includes changes to the fifth and final residential phase of the project. Members of the Southside Civic Association requested the deferral, citing concerns about the layout and positioning of interior streets in phase five.
The Planning Commission staff has recommended approval of the final development plan, saying the developer has satisfied all the requirements of the zoning ordinance that governs Rouzan.
—Stephanie Riegel
