Sunday, July 21, 2013

SOSNA Zoning Committee Meeting Results


SOSNA's Zoning Committee met Wednesday the 17th. Two items on the agenda were of interest to our South Square Town Watch area -- Rita's Water Ice and new development at 2300 South Street. (It was a very warm night. 19 Degrees Cafe on 19th and Christian Streets donated water for the attendees.)

Actually, Rita's was pulled from the agenda. Rita's submitted a proposal to the City for a sign outside its anticipated store at 2124 South Street. Since the City hadn't yet ruled on this request, it was premature to bring the item to the SOSNA Zoning Committee. Expect this to be on a future meeting's agenda.

Image courtesy of Plumbob LLC & 2300 South Street Association LP
One of the biggest items on the agenda is the proposed development at 2300 South Street. Being proposed is a five story building with a commercial ground floor and apartments above (see Plumbob's architectural rendering at left). It would replace the existing parking lot and the Newman Galleries. Read a more detailed description here.

The City requires the developer to get variances for several reasons, including: exceeding maximum height, exceeding number of rental units, exceeding height of fence and not providing sufficient rear yard depth.

Many local residents turned out for the meeting and voiced their opinions about this proposal. While some were in favor of the plan, siting, for example, an approval of additional retail, many of the other opinions were not. These mostly concerned the scale of the building and the lack of any parking facilities on the premises.

The Zoning Committee gave the presenters the option of allowing the attendees to vote on the proposal or to make another presentation at a future meeting after taking into consideration the opinions expressed at the meeting. They chose the latter. Expect this to be on a future meeting's agenda.

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