About 75 Munger Place residents and business owners recently attended a community meeting about the lengthy zoning controversy in the neighborhood, centering on the intersection of Reiger and Collett avenues.

Council members Craig McDaniel and Chris Luna attended the two-hour meeting and were still gathering input from the community at press time. The Council was scheduled to vote on the matter Feb. 22. Neither Council member indicated what they thought the best solution was.

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The intersection has several non-conforming retail businesses situated on lots that are zoned for single-family houses. The neighborhood’s perception is that these retail businesses are non-conforming, are not a beneficial land use for the area and have created problems for their neighbors such as noise and litter.

A large number of Munger Place residents want to apply single-family zoning to the entire area under discussion. The business owners and their supporters want the businesses to have the zoning they need to stay open.

The Plan Commission’s recommendation to the Council called for mixed-use zoning, which can include both retail and residential. However, neither side appears to believe this is the right solution, and the Plan Commissioner representing most of the Historic District opposed the recommendation.

The best prediction is that the Council will vote to retain single-family zoning on the lots, while possibly changing the zoning to “grandfather” the two existing retail lots with a Specific Use Permit requirement.

Whatever action the Council takes, it is possible that there will be more zoning activity or litigation involving the area.

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW: On Feb. 16, the City Plan Commission voted to apply a Historic Overlay designation on two vintage commercial buildings in Deep Ellum, one at 3306 Main and one at 3401 Commerce, both near the intersection of Exposition Avenue. Council approval of the Historic Overlay should occur March 22.

The applicants propose to convert both buildings into loft apartments, continuing near-Downtown housing development. The two projects appeared to be in some jeopardy last winter, when the Texas Department of Housing did not include them on its list of residential development projects scheduled to receive federal and state money.

However, Historic Overlay status will help the properties achieve some, tax benefits, which should make the deals a reality. This will benefit the City by providing additional high-quality inner-city residential living and by putting the buildings on the tax rolls at their then-assessed value.

WORKING WITH THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The Plan Commission heard a case Feb. 16 on a request for regional retail zoning on a lot at 404 S. Fitzhugh, southeast of Santa Fe. Regional retail is the highest intensity retail category and the owner requested that zoning to accommodate a lot to store large trucks.

After discussion with the owner, neighborhood representatives and Plan Commissioner Hector Garcia, the owner agreed to deed restrictions to prevent uses out of character with the surrounding neighborhood, including vehicle or engine repair and vehicle display for sales and service. In addition, the deed restrictions require a screening fence and additional landscaping. City staff stated that residential adjacency review will be required, which will give the owner and the staff an opportunity to mitigate the impact on neighbors.

HISTORIC OVERLAY FOR DR PEPPER: On Feb. 2, the Plan Commission passed an Historic Overlay on the Dr Pepper building at Mockingbird and Central.

The most controversial issue regarding historic status for the Art Moderne building is what is being called “Section 7,” which many preservationists support. It provides a stringent process for an owner to go through before demolishing or drastically altering the building. The owner, of course, opposes the stringent criteria and prefers what is currently in place in the City Code.

Council was to consider the Historic Overlay Feb. 22. All parties hope the final configuration of the building can be agreed on by the time the demolition moratorium on the building expires in April.

MILL CREEK HISTORIC OVERLAY: In another Historic Overlay case, the Plan Commission unanimously adopted the status for the Peak’s Suburban Addition area, otherwise known as the Mill Creek neighborhood. The area is roughly bounded by Sycamore, Fitzhugh, Worth, Haskell, Junius and Peak.

The Mill Creek neighborhood, which contains residential and commercial late 19th and 20th century architectural styles, appears to be undergoing strong revitalization. A large number of single-family and multi-family properties have been renovated. It is hoped that historic designation will help speed this process.

While this represents progress, the Planning Department currently has about 22 historic designations in the pipeline, but is moving slowly due to staff shortages. Because of the apparent economic, social and cultural benefits of historic preservation, it is hoped that these will begin to move faster. The Mill Creek Historic Overlay is scheduled to be voted on at Council March 8.