How wide should the right-of-way be on a busy stretch of Perkins Road between College Drive and Staring Lane? It’s a question the Planning Commission staff is grappling with at the moment, and the answer will have implications for the commercial development of Rouzan and any other new buildings along that portion of the thoroughfare.
At issue is the city’s Master Street Plan, a document that’s more than 60 years old and lays out the city’s street grid, while anticipating future road development. The plan calls for Perkins Road to be five lanes wide and also to have a 125-foot right of way. Through the years, the stretch of Perkins Road has expanded to five lanes, and Metro Councilmember John Delgado—whose district includes Rouzan—says there doesn’t seem to be any good reason the right of way, or setback, should remain at 125 feet. He has asked the Planning Commission staff to prepare a report on the issue and deliver it to the full commission.
“The issue for Rouzan, and just anybody on that corridor, is how close to the street can you build?” Delgado says. “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.”
Assistant Planning Director Ryan Holcomb says the staff is reviewing the matter but will not have a report for the commission until December. Initially the report was to be completed by the commission’s November meeting, but Holcomb says Planning Director Frank Duke determined the staff needed more time.
It’s unclear exactly how the outcome of the issue will affect Rouzan’s commercial development, which is called the Village Center. It will comprise three buildings, including a 220,000-square foot, five-story apartment building and parking garage, and a 30,000-square-foot Alamo Draft House movie theater. All of those buildings are set back from Perkins Road but, depending on the right-of-way decision, maybe not be situated far enough from the roadway.
“It affects where you put your buildings,” Holcomb says. “You are allowed to put landscaping and certain things within the Master Street Plan right of way but not any structures.”
—Stephanie Riegel
