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Lakeside DFW officials hope for quick process
By Chris Roark, croark@acnpapers.com
Officials with Lakeside DFW have proposed a timetable for the rezoning process that would bring forward their $1 billion project.
And it’s a quick timetable.
Flower Mound development officials have scheduled the Lakeside DFW zoning application for the Tuesday meeting of the Development Review Committee (DRC) and are discussing a timetable for public hearings.
Lakeside DFW, a 117-acre property that is part of the Lakeside Business District and owned by the Stewart family of Flower Mound, is located off Lakeside Parkway, just west of FM 2499.
The concept plan shows two main areas, Lakeside Village and The Shops at Lakeside. Lakeside Village would be a collection of restaurants with lake views, shops, cafes, entertainment venues and possibly a boutique hotel with villas.
The Shops at Lakeside would be designed as the town center and would have a variety of uses including shops, restaurants, offices and living opportunities with single-family homes, apartments, high-rise condominiums, townhomes, empty-nester homes and senior living.
Tuesday, the DRC will provide the Lakeside DFW development team with technical comments on the application.
The DRC date was set after a three-hour meeting March 7 with town staff members. Doug Powell, executive director of development services, and the town’s development staff provided preliminary comments on the application and discussed the details and timing of how the project might move forward.
During these discussions, Powell requested that Lakeside DFW development team propose a schedule.
“We’re ready to move forward,” said Jimmy Archie, president of Realty Capital. “We want to move through the zoning process as quickly as possible. We’ll do everything we can to make sure the town has the information it needs to consider our project.”
Town officials, however, said there is still work to be done.
“The town staff is in contact with the applicant to define the elements necessary for this project to proceed through the development review process,” said town spokesman Michael Ryan. “Depending on developer activity, various components that could affect the process schedule include a traffic impact analysis, floodplain review, a market study, mixed-use analysis, a water and wastewater study, environmentally sensitive area survey and a tree survey. Some of the components can take up to a month or more, depending on the schedule of the consultant conducting the work.”
Ryan added that more discussions are needed.
“The town is currently working with the applicant again to ensure there is a complete understanding of the entire development process and outline the required elements that were not included in the proposed schedule,” said town spokesman Michael Ryan. “There is not a standard timeline as each project is unique and requires a distinct set of analysis, studies and surveys, which greatly affect the duration of the process. The town approaches every proposal on a case-by-case basis to ensure each one receives the attention and review necessary to ensure it meets all community standards and safety requirements.”
Throughout the process, the project has received mixed reviews from elected officials. Some have said the project is not in accordance with the Master Plan and that the town can not absorb another mixed use project. Another concern was having too many apartments and not much else.
Others, however, welcome the project, saying it would provide an economic boost.
At the March 7 meeting, the town’s development staff raised its concerns over the project. As a result, changes to the application were made, which had originally been submitted Feb. 24.
Among the changes are a lower percentage of residential units than what was previously proposed. The new application shows 53 percent of the project to be residential. The previous application requested a residential percentage of 62-72 percent. The town’s mixed use ordinance allows for 20-70 percent residential.
The new application also shows 47 percent of the project to be commercial, which includes retail, restaurants, offices and a hotel. Archie said the commercial component may also include unique uses, such as a wedding chapel or a conference center.
Archie said the new application also attempted to match Lakeside’s requests with what the town’s mixed use ordinance allows in terms of uses, standards and subzones.
“Most of the changes were just labeling things differently,” Archie said. “So we revised it so that it would be as close as possible to what the mixed use ordinance allows.”
Archie said the phasing plan hasn’t changed since Lakeside and town officials met last month.
“The first three years, we would like a percentage of all the different uses to be developed so that we can create a mixed use project from the early stages,” Archie said. “Then we would just expand that to create a bigger mixed use project.”
Proposed schedule for Lakeside DFW application
*Tuesday
Flower Mound DRC meeting
March 26
P&Z work session
April 19
Town council work session
April 23
P&Z to vote on zoning and Master Plan application
May 7
First reading of zoning and Master Plan application at town council
May 21
Second reading of zoning and Master Plan application at town council
* March 20 is the only firm date set at this time. Others dates, beginning with the March 26 P&Z work session, are proposed dates and have not yet been approved by town officials.
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