The ordinance will adopt the Yard at Brookhaven Planned Development (PD), located on the north and south sides of Virginia Dr., east of Alden Rd. and north of Brookhaven Dr. The applicants are Chance Gordy, Ivanhoe Place/Virginia Brookhaven, LLCs & Mary Critcher, Hideaway Lounge, all represented by Rebecca Wilson with the Lowndes Law Firm.
The Planned Development (PD) plan proposes a one- story (1) eating and drinking use with twelve (12) surface parking spaces and a public park on the north side of Virginia Dr., and a (7) seven-story 91,600 sq. ft. mixed use building with ±19,000 sq. ft. of ground-level retail and eating & drinking uses and 265 residential apartments. The PD rezoning also has two concurrent Future Land Use amendments (GMP2021-10007 & 10008) and creation of a Subarea Policy (GMP2021-10009).
For the property located on the south side of Virginia Dr., a Master Plan & Conditional Use Permit were previously approved in March 2016 to allow a mixed use development (Yard-Crossman) for a one hundred seventy-four (174) unit apartment complex with 45,162 sq. ft. of office and 18,000 sq. ft. of commercial uses with an internal garage.
The 2016 Master Plan has been extended many times through State Emergency Declarations, and is now set to expire in 2023. For the smaller property located on the north side of Virginia Dr., a Master Plan with Modifications was approved in November 2019 to allow a three-story (3) mixed use building (The Yard Phase III) with ±5,500 sq. ft. of ground-level office, retail or eating & drinking uses and twenty-four (24) residential apartments, all on 0.71-acre parcel. Both of those previously approved developed are being re-cycled into the proposed Yard at Brookhaven PD.
The purpose of the Planned Development is to allow a revised and updated development plan for both the northern and southern parcels/projects, with the southern parcel to be more densely developed than the previously approved 2016 Master Plan but with lessened office space. A bonus is needed to achieve the requested two hundred sixty-five (265) dwelling units, while the requested 24,100 sq. ft. of commercial use is within the MU-1/T / MU-2/T allowances without a bonus, with a 0.35-acre public park to be dedicated to the City as an added benefit.
The Municipal Planning Board (MPB) recommended approval of the PD (ZON2021-10006) on July 20, 2021. City Council accepted the MPB minutes concerning this request on August 23, 2021. The City Council approved both the 1st reading of the GMP amendments and PD ordinance on November 8, 2021.