Broken Arrow Planning Commission
07-14-2016
To: Chairman and Commission Members
From: Development Services Department
Title:
title
Discussion regarding a proposal to create a new Single-Family Residential Zoning District, to be known as, RS-4, Single-Family Residential-4
End
Background:
In May 2016, the Development Services Department was approached by a development group considering new, single-family subdivisions with 20-foot front yards. All existing single-family zoning districts (RS-1, R-2, RS-2, RS-3) allow a minimum 25 feet front building line. To achieve lesser building line setbacks, subdivisions have been done through the Planned Unit Development (PUD) process.
The new proposal is to create another Zoning district for single family detached homes with smaller lots with 20-foot front yards. This would allow new subdivisions to be built without going through a PUD process and achieve a similar result, but without open space dedications. The proposal would allow a zoning district that would have minimum front yards of 20 feet, minimum five (5) foot wide side yards (each, total 10 feet), and 20-foot rear yards. The lot frontage would be minimum 55 feet and the minimum size of the lot would be 6,500 square feet (55’ x 118’). One addition to the RS-4 development standards that Staff has added since the last meeting is to allow the front building setback line to be reduced to 15 feet where vehicular access is derived from an alley. This would allow subdivisions to be developed where garages are located in the rear and are accessible via an alleyway.
This item was discussed at the June 9 and June 23, 2016, Planning Commission meetings. Staff has inserted the proposed revisions into the Zoning Ordinance and Comprehensive Plan. With the Comprehensive Plan, Staff is suggesting that RS-4 zoning be considered “possible” in Level 2. In Level 2, RS-4 would be in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan “when it is located adjacent to an arterial street and is part of a new subdivision. Requests to rezone isolated, individual lots in existing neighborhoods is not considered to be in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan.” RS-4 zoning would be considered to be in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan in Level 3.
Staff researched existing subdivisions to try to find an example of a RS-4 type development that had occurred in Broken Arrow. Fairway Crossings, which is part of PUD 144 that was approved in 2004, was the closest example. Fairway Crossings, which was recorded in 2006, has public streets with 50 feet of right-of-way, but the front building line setback was reduced to 20 feet. PUD 144 stated that the minimum lot frontage would be 50 feet with a minimum lot size of 5,500 square feet. While PUD 144 allowed 50-foot minimum lot widths, most of the lots were platted at 52 feet in width. As shown in the attached aerial from Google Earth, all of Fairway Crossing has been developed.
With a building line setback of 25 feet, the garage will normally be located 37 feet from the street (25 foot building line + 12 feet of right-of-way). This generally provides enough room for two vehicles to be parked on the driveway, one behind the other. However, with a 20 foot building line setback, the garage will be located 32 feet from the street. This will allow room for one vehicle to be parked on the driveway and as shown in the street level pictures from Google Earth, the vehicle would not block the sidewalk. Generally, however, with a 20-foot building line setback, there would not be room for two vehicles to be parked in a driveway (one behind the other) without the second vehicle protruding into the street.
Attachments: Zoning Ordinance with RS-4 standards inserted
Comprehensive Plan with RS-4 inserts
Fairway Crossing plat
Google Earth pictures
Recommendation: This item is for discussion only
Reviewed By: Farhad Daroga
Approved By: Michael W. Skates
FKD: bdm