The attached ordinance will abandon a certain portion of Alden Rd., located between Virginia Dr. and S. Lake Formosa Dr.; a portion of Midway Dr. located between Alden Rd. and Philadelphia Ave.; and the southerly ±120 ft. of Philadelphia Ave., located north of Virginia Dr. These rights-of-way (R-O-Ws) and abutting properties, between the Sunrail tracks and the west side of Philadelphia Ave. north to S. Lake Formosa Dr., are to be redeveloped into a phased multi-story mixed use development called The Yard at Ivanhoe. The applicant is Meaghan Dietz, Designer, Baker Barrios Architects, on behalf of Chance Gordy, Jr., Manager, Ivanhoe Place, LLC.

The redevelopment plan calls for the relocation of Alden Rd. to line up with that portion of Alden located south of Virginia Dr. The new Alden Rd. segment north of Virginia Dr. will be constructed as a 70-ft. wide R-O-W or combination of R-O-W and City Services easements, with the entirety of the vehicular travel lanes to be within the R-O-W.

Alden Rd. (the former Philadelphia Ave.) will continue northward as a minimum 55-ft. wide mix of R-O-W and City Services easements past the intersection of S. Lake Formosa Ave. back to that part of Alden Rd. east of the Blackton property (@ 1714 Alden Rd.). A limited number of parallel parking spaces will be constructed on the west side of the new Alden Rd. Spaces are not available on the east side of the street, owing to a lack of additional R-O-W.  The applicant has provided several cross-sections showing what the new Alden Rd. and S. Lake Formosa Dr. roadways will look like when completed (see MPL2014-00041/CUP2015-0001 report from the Feb. 17, 2015 MPB meeting).

Utilities in the existing Alden Rd., Midway Dr. and Philadelphia Ave. rights-of-way will either be removed and relocated or retained in place via easements with respective utility provider(s).  Approximately half of the to-be-abandoned portion of Alden Rd. will be utilized as park/open space and driveways into an internal parking garage. The to-be-abandoned portion of Midway Dr. will be used as driveways for the commercial and multi-family portion of the overall development. Some undergrounding of overhead utility transmission lines will occur between Virginia Dr. and the new Alden/Philadelphia interface. All pavers/bricks in the abandoned street R-O-Ws not utilized in the rebuild of the new Alden Rd. shall be palletized and returned to the City for re-use elsewhere in the City.

A reverter clause is being placed that, in the event the redevelopment does not occur within 2 years of the effective date of the Master Plan and Conditional Use Permit (or 3 years if an extension is granted), will require the pre-existing City streets/R-O-Ws to be returned to the condition prior to the Abandonment request.

Following a well-attended public hearing, the abandonment request was unanimously approved as part of a Master Plan (MPL2014-00041) and Conditional Use Permit (CUP2015-00001) request for The Yard project at the February 17, 2015 Municipal Planning Board. No appeals were filed and the City Council subsequently approved the aforementioned MPB minutes on March 23, 2015.