The Burns Bottom redevelopment project area now has a pending Planned Unit Development form, which outlines residential and commercial spaces for future development.
CRA President Marthalie Porter presented the form to the City Council and Mayor Keith Gaskin during its Thursday work session, proposing the residential and commercial square footage of the project, renderings of buildings and the cost.
The PUD form states it will cost between $25 million and $30 million to redevelop five blocks near the Roger Short Soccer Complex between Third and Fourth Street and Second and Seventh Avenue North.
The project will produce 103 residential lots between 1,000 and 3,000 square feet, consisting of separate single-family residences and duplexes, according to the plan.
The form also accounts for 28,000 square feet of condominiums and office spaces underneath, 18,400 square feet for retail businesses and 5,000 square feet for restaurant space in the neighborhood.
By approving a PUD, it would allow for mixed-use development in the project area without case-by-case approval from the Planning Commission and council. While the CRA has spoken to interested developers, no specific development deal for Burns Bottom has been disclosed.
“(The board) agreed that going to the Planned Unit Development method would put all the parcels together,” Porter said. “There are several different zonings down there, and this is a mixed-use plan. The lot sizes out there are around 6,500 square feet and ours may be smaller or may change some.”
Gaskin asked if the plan accounted for more business spaces than the original plan, which only had the two commercial lots on the corner of Fifth Street and Fifth Avenue North.
Porter said it did, but developers who agree to the project will also have a say over the ratio of residential and commercial areas in the project.
Jeff Turnage, attorney for both the city and CRA, added the plan accounts for those possible changes.
“The market is going to drive some of this (development),” Turnage said. “We need to have some flexibility on the lot sizing and particular use for a particular parcel.”
The PUD will be discussed for final approval at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Gaskin then asked how long before redevelopment begins, noting interest he has heard from both city and county residents.
“Do we have any idea how quickly people will be able to see that dirt is moving and things are happening?” he asked.
Porter said the board doesn’t have a definitive date, but the project is moving along and coming closer to that point.
The CRA was established in 2015 to target redevelopment in the city’s urban renewal zone, which includes Burns Bottom. The city council in 2017 approved issuing a $3.2 million bond for CRA for land acquisition, site prep and marketing in Burns Bottom. It also completed the sale of the old Lee Middle School to a private developer, who converted the school into apartments and an event space.
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