Discussion of a planned unit development (PUD) going in on Industrial Parkway continued at Monday night’s Marysville City Council meeting.
Council held its second reading of the application, which would allow for a development with a mix of commercial, retail and residential space.
Councilperson Mark Reams asked David Fischer, speaking on behalf of the applicant, if there’s a more detailed plan showing how many multi-family dwellings are going on the property. He said he noticed comments on the plan implying that up to 856 units could end up being included.
“What exactly are we approving?” he asked.
Fischer said the project’s illustrative plan, given to council two weeks ago, is meant to show what could be built in theory, and is not meant to be an end-all representation of the final development.
Reams said with a PUD zoning application, the council has a bit more leeway with what it approves. He said council right now has no idea what the density of homes in the development will look like. Reams said those applying for a PUD generally have more specific plans to show. As it stands, he said he’s not sure what’s going to go into the development.
“I’m not very comfortable with that,” Reams said.
Fischer said the plan estimates having 856 units only if the entire property is developed for multi-family housing, which he said probably won’t happen. He called the estimate a “pretty typical standard.” He also noted that only a portion of dwelling units will be apartments. There’s also language in the plan allowing for lower density structures.
Fischer noted that whatever the developer decides, they’ll still need to come through the city’s design review board before anything can happen.
“Remember, you have height limitations, you have a lot of coverage ratios,” he said. “It’s not like a grid street of so many houses are going to sit here or sit there. That’s why it’s a little bit different to take through the process.”
Fischer said it’s hard to gauge what’s going to go onto the property at this point, or how many housing units are going in.
“Exactly,” Reams replied. “But you’re asking us to approve that not knowing how many it is.”
Fischer said they’ve already committed to a design where no single product is too prevalent.
“What we think’s going to happen … is different people are going to have an interest in different areas, and they’re going to want to come back to the design review board,” Fischer said.
Councilperson Tracy Richardson said while adhering to design review standards is good, council itself is never involved in the process again. That makes it difficult for developers to know what they’re building nearby.
“I just want to be a voice for future buyers,” she said.
Richardson reopened discussion about the development’s proximity to Benny’s Pizza. She asked if there was concern that residents would cross Industrial Parkway by foot.
City Engineer Jeremy Hoyt noted that there will be a multi-use trail, and there will be room in the future for more opportunities for pedestrian crossing. Hoyt also said the city could look into changing the speed limit on that stretch of Industrial Parkway.
“I don’t think we could willy-nilly change the speed limit, we’d have to have a traffic study,” he said.
In other council news:
-Council saw presentations from planning intern Andrew Souders and engineering intern Cole Riley about projects they worked on this summer, including a parking study and assessing the quality of the city’s roads.