Going horizontal, not vertical in planning Town Center: FMPC
After hearing arguments for and against the issue, Farragut’s Municipal Planning Commission unanimously approved zoning ordinance text amendments associated with the Farragut Town Center at Biddle Farms project during its Thursday, Dec. 17, meeting.
It is the next step in an ongoing approval process for the project, which now will go before the Board of Mayor and Aldermen in January.
Several residents who have previously made their displeasure known reiterated their opposition to the latest step via e-mailed comments read during the meeting.
With Town staff approval being noted among its recommendations, FMPC voted to approve the text amendment changes, which specifically addressed and clarified: that residential properties may be allowed on all stories of buildings in the Mixed Used Town Center within the Planned Commercial Development district (which developer Budd Cullom has elected to pursue); that on-street parking is exempt from standard setbacks applied to parking lots; and amended the height of accessory buildings from 15 to 25 feet.
Mark Shipley, Town Community Development director, explained that vertical mixed use is when different uses are permitted within the same building (apartments/condos along with commercial, office or retail), whereas horizontal mixed use “is when you have different uses, but they are spread out horizontally, with a use specific to each building.”
While three Farragut residents argued against changing the text, Commissioner Noah Myers, who also is a well-known builder/developer, asked Cullom to explain the economic realities of current development.
“Could you explain the financial ramifications of trying to force-feed retail shops underneath apartments?” Myers asked.
“Essentially, the issue becomes there is not a market for that amount of ground level retail,” Cullom said. “It also adds tremendously to vertical cost. In order to get parking, you would need to have structure parking, which is a fancy way of saying parking garages.”
Cullom also noted COVID-19 has played a role in further encouraging horizontal mixed use, “especially if you are in a smaller area, as opposed to midtown Atlanta or Nashville.”
“I think that helps folks understand,” Myers said. “I was on the Steering Committee when we worked on the (Comprehensive] Land Use Plan) and we did a lot of public outreach. No doubt, we had a utopian, Norman Rockwell vision of shops downstairs and apartments upstairs … but developers have said … the dollars don’t work.
“I think your plan is the next best thing. I appreciate your persistence with this,” he added.
“Stick with it, I think it’s a good plan.”
Vice chairman Ed St. Clair said “an example right here in Town had vertical mixed use, but got no traction commercially to be able to get off the ground. We would all like to have something like that, but there is a reality we are dealing with here.”
“Craig Allen had that design ... but couldn’t get anybody to invest in it,” Town Mayor Ron Williams said. “That project went three years and it expired. It sounded really good, but he told us the vertical thing was not something for Farragut.”
Williams then answered one of resident John Aiken’s e-mailed statements: “The original site proposed for the Multi-use Town Center was the (former Farragut Mayor Eddy) Ford property. I ask the question why was the Ford property site overlooked?”
“To answer Mr. Aiken’s question, the Town has not moved the Town Center from the Ford property,” Williams said. “We don’t designate that. It all depends on what the developer brings to us. Maybe in the future, there might be something on the Ford property. If there is, we will give it the same respect and attention we have given this project, and see how that goes.”
In other business, FMPC:
• Unanimously approved a site plan for Phase 2 of the Villages of Farragut, 230 Village Commons Blvd. which will add 28 units of both attached and detached single family units to the complex. This phase also includes a planned connector to Smith Road, and an interior loop road to access the planned 28 new units.
• Unanimously approved a request from Comcast to install 4,000 linear feet of underground fiber to primarily serve business along property at 11130 Kingston Pike.
• Shipley said FMPC and BOMA created an entirely new Entertainment District last summer to accommodate TopGolf, which is planning to break ground along Outlet Drive sometime next year.
