West U Town Center Committee Will Not Present To City Council, ZPC Until January

The West U Town Center Committee, which was scheduled to present its rezoning plans to city council and the Zoning and Planning Commission on Nov. 15, will not be presenting until sometime in January.
City Manager Michael Ross told InstantNewsWestU on Thursday that the committee had to push back their presentation date, “primarily due to the upcoming holiday season and availability of everyone to meet and discuss the finalization of the recommendation to the ZPC and Council.”
The committee was appointed by council in January and was charged with a mission statement “to explore options and create a mixed use development envelope and palette for a City Center zoning district, thus facilitating the opportunity to encourage appropriate and community compatible redevelopment with relief from tradition zoning requirements, encompassing the analysis and proposal of a City Center district zoning overlay if appropriate. This exploration will include but not limited to building height and setback, pedestrian friendly access, parking, buffering and ultimate feasibility.”
The committee’s mission objective was to “successfully accomplish the mission statement and deliver a draft development philosophy and a draft/proposed City Center district overlay document for City Council’s review and discussion within four months or by July 1^st 2010.”
On Sept. 15, Town Center Committee Chair Bruce Frankel sent an e-mail to committee members that included a series of drawings for a proposed town center.
The e-mail of the drawings was also sent to City Planner Debbie Scarcella and Assistant City Manager Chris Peifer. The e-mail was also forwarded to city council by Ross.
The plans included 32,600 square feet of retail space underneath 62,000 square feet of office space, totaling 94,600 square feet. The plan also included a four level parking garage, with a total of 433 parking spaces.
InstantNewsWestU first reported the committee’s plans of a three-story structure, lining Edloe Street and University Boulevard, on Oct. 5.
InstantNewsWestU filed a public information request with the city “to view any and all documents” regarding the town center on Oct. 6.
When only a few documents were released by the city, the news organization filed a second request asking again to view “any and all documents in the possession of the City of West University Place that are in any way related to the West University Place Town Center Committee.”
More than 200 documents were provided to InstantNewsWestU from the city in response to both public information requests.
The documents indicate that council members said the committee “went way beyond” what they were asked to do.
The documents also indicate that the final potential meeting of the committee would be Oct. 7.
“I anticipate the October meeting to be our last meeting,” Frankel said in his e-mail to committee members on Sept. 2.
On Oct. 14, Frankel e-mailed Peifer and said the committee was going to need more time to finish the report.
“I really don’t see us getting this thing completed until mid-December,” Frankel said in his e-mail. “Hence, it’s probably in our best interests to push the joint meeting to the first week of January.”
Ross will provide council with an update on the committee’s work, during its regular meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m.