By Conrad Dudderar
Senior Staff Writer
A developer and city officials this week said they’ll consider a separate entrance and buffer zone for the Frisco Ridge subdivision during the site plan process when property directly west of the housing addition is developed.
Frisco Ridge homeowners attended the Feb. 5 Yukon City Council meeting hoping developer ODB Investors would make concessions as plans advance for commercial development adjacent to the housing development near Frisco Road and Main Street (SH-66).
The city council voted 5-0 to change the zoning designation of a 7.578-acre tract at Frisco and Main from R-1 (single-family residential) to C-3 (restricted commercial district).
This is the northern-most tract in a proposed commercial development near a future interchange at Frisco Road and Interstate 40. The council unanimously approved rezoning all tracts at this week’s meeting.
Linda Chudzinski, of Hobo Street, told the city council that the Frisco Ridge “community” was opposed to the commercial rezoning effort next to the addition.
Chudzinski shared concerns about child safety and traffic hazards because the Frisco Ridge commercial tract has no proposed “buffer” and “sits directly across from” the housing development’s playground and soccer field.
Chudzinski said the developer had assured homeowners that Frisco Ridge “would remain residential” and they believed any commercial property to the west would be behind a tree-line. Requiring businesses to install fences between their properties and the housing addition would not alleviate her concerns.
The C-3 rezoning “places our neighborhood and children at risk” due to increased traffic and “stranger danger,” Chudzinski told council members.
“Traffic would be ridiculous,” she said. “We need your help.”
Some Frisco Ridge homeowners say they’ve made a major investment and shared disappointment in the decision to change the area near the housing addition’s entrance to a commercial use.
‘The Wrong Place’
A Branch Line Road resident told the council she knows Frisco Ridge homeowners cannot limit development – but they believe the proposed commercial site behind their homes “is in the wrong place.”
The woman asked the developer to consider a separate entrance to the C-3 zoned property “not on Frisco Ridge Road” and to provide a greenbelt buffer, not just a fence, along the street.
Developer Kip Ryan of ODB Investors said these issues cited by Frisco Ridge residents will be addressed during the site plan process.
The developer is “not prepared to make concessions now” but will discuss options when the final plat for the commercial property is prepared, Ryan added.
“We did down-zone from C-5 to C-3,” Ryan said.
The developers originally sought to rezone the 7.578-acre Frisco Ridge property C-5 (automotive and commercial recreation district) but “dropped” the zoning request to C-3, which does not allow hotels or “heavier” uses like C-5.
Planned unit development (PUD) requirements can be considered during the city’s final plat process after commercial users purchase property and prepare to build.
City officials can then consider another ingress/egress, fencing and a landscape buffer during further discussions with the developer, according to Development Services Director Mitchell Hort.
