As Southlake approaches build-out, city staffers are putting together several new measures to ensure new developments line up with residents’ and officials’ overall vision for the city. Mayor Laura Hill said the city is placing a strong emphasis on undeveloped land along SH 114, as a majority of the city’s last large parcels are there. “There’s not a lot of land left in Southlake,” she said. “So why not come up with a plan to get exactly what we want on those tracts?” The plan to take additional steps to secure property development that meets the city’s needs comes several months after residents and some city staffers felt the city’s vision for SH 114 was being put in danger. The concern emerged earlier this year when a developer came before the city with an idea to bring in a shopping center—on one of the undeveloped tracts along SH 114—that would be anchored by a 120,000-square-foot Kroger store. The developer withdrew the application in April. In May Fidelis Realty Partners DFW LLC purchased the tract of land, and Stephen Hassenflu, FRP acquisitions and development analyst, said the firm has plans to work with the city for development. “We really like the city of Southlake,” Hassenflu said. “We look forward to working with them as we come up with plans.”

Reviewing ordinances

Hill said the Southlake 2030 Plan, which is the city’s blueprint for the future, does a good job of protecting developers from interfering with the overall vision. “The 2030 plan is really the architectural structure of the city,” she said. “It really gives anyone who lives or comes to Southlake an idea of our direction.” City officials are also protecting the SH 114 tract by reviewing and updating ordinances. “We are fixing the language to consider uses that have never been considered before,” Hill said. “The world is changing, and there are new types of businesses out there and we have to clarify what can and cannot be put on property depending on the zoning.” Officials said if not updated those ordinances could allow unwanted developments to be approved. “The No. 1 thing we are looking at is beefing up some of our language to bring it up to date,” Hill said. “One of the issues is how large of a building do we want. So we are going to be limiting the size of large commercial buildings.” Hill said along with the size of buildings, City Council will also be taking steps to ensure the city preserves its green space. “We will take a look at any and all ordinances that have to do with parkland, open space and tree preservation because as we build, that type of property becomes more valuable to the citizens,” she said. Hill said the city is also looking at purchasing land. “The city is going to look at investing in more property—and not that we are going to do anything with the property,” Hill said. The SH 114 corridor includes some of the city’s larger developments, including Southlake Town Square, Gateway Plaza and Sabre Corporate Campus. [polldaddy poll=9033773] Frank Bliss, president of development firm Cooper and Stebbins, said he supports the changing of ordinances as he and his business partner would never have developed Southlake Town Square without it. “At the time Southlake’s ordinances didn’t have rules that would even allow a downtown,” he said. “The director of planning said, ‘So how many variances do you think you will need to make this work?’ I said, ‘I don’t think variances will get us there; I think we are going to have to rewrite your code.’” Bliss said he thinks the best ordinances evolve to meet people’s demands. “At the time these ordinances were written, city staff probably thought it was perfect,” he said. “Perfect is hard to achieve, and perfect changes. So maybe we need to adapt to where we are reflecting current changes opposed to being stuck with old assumptions. I think the evolution of ordinances is smart.”

Task force creation

This summer Hill also created an SH 114 task force that consists of council members Brandon Bledsoe and Gary Fawks along with citizens and Planning and Zoning Commission members. She said with the creation of the task force she hopes to bring developers, city officials and citizens together before development gets too far along. “I hope [the new task force system] will be an easier process for [developers] and for our citizens,” she said. “[Some of the development cases have] become too emotional for everyone involved—both good and bad. And I want to take some of the emotion out of it by preparing the developer and citizens before it comes to Planning and Zoning and council.” Ken Baker, Southlake senior director of planning and development services, said citizen participation plays a vital part in development cases. “Public participation is also an important part of the [development] process, which is why SPIN Town Hall Forums reports, Planning and Zoning meetings results, emails, and signed petitions are considered and included if they are part of a case,” Baker said. “City staff works to keep the communication channels open so that everyone can fully participate in the city’s growth and development.”