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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPZ Item 02 - Definition for Condominiums MEMO TO: PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION FROM: ERICA MAROHNIC, PLANNING SERVICES DIRECTOR MEETING DATE: MAY 17, 2022 WORKSHOP SUBJECT: RECEIVE A REPORT, HOLD A DISCUSSION, AND PROVIDE STAFF DIRECTION REGARDING AMENDMENT TO THE DEFINITION FOR CONDOMINIUMS AND CREATION OF A DEFINITION FOR ROWHOUSES. BACKGROUND: During the March 15, 2022 joint Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council public hearing, a request was made for a conditional use permit to establish a Transit District Overlay to allow for a condominium/townhome development. Planning Services staff referenced the requested use as a condominium/townhome consistent with Figure 3: Preferred use Matrix, Section 41B, Transit District Overlay of the Zoning Ordinance. Concern was raised by multiple Commission and Council members for referring to the use as a combination of two uses that are typically considered separate residential development types with differing ownership arrangements. ISSUES: Multifamily Residential and Condominium The Zoning Ordinance’s definition of condominium can be found in Section 12, Definitions, and is defined as, “Condominium means the separate ownership of single units or apartments in a multiple unit structure or structures with common elements as defined in Article 1301a Texas Revised Civil Statutes Annotated.” Condominiums are generally described as a multifamily residential development type where the residential units are individually owned and common improvements are owned and maintained collectively, including common amenities such as pools, open and landscaped areas, and parking lots. Multifamily residential developments are generally described as one or more buildings on a single lot containing a minimum number of dwelling units for individual rent or lease. Below are the various definitions found in the Zoning Ordinance pertaining to multifamily residences and condominiums. APARTMENT shall mean a room or suite of rooms arranged, designed or occupied as a residence by a single family, individual or group of individuals. APARTMENT HOUSE shall mean any building, or portion thereof, which is designed, built, rented, leased, let or hired out to be occupied as three (3) or more apartments or which is occupied as the home or residence of three (3) or more families living independently of each other and maintaining separate cooking facilities. 1 CONDOMINIUM means the separate ownership of single units or apartments in a multiple unit structure or structures with common elements as defined in Article 1301a Texas Revised Civil Statutes Annotated. EFFICIENCY APARTMENT shall mean a dwelling unit in a multifamily structure, consisting of not more than one habitable room, together with kitchen or kitchenette and sanitary facilities, and having a minimum of six hundred (600) square feet of floor area. A habitable room shall be defined as being a space in a structure for living, sleeping, eating or cooking. Bathrooms, toilet compartments, closets, halls, storage or utility space, and similar areas, shall not be considered habitable space. FOUR-UNIT APARTMENT HOUSE shall mean a detached building containing four (4) single-family attached dwellings. MULTIFAMILY DWELLING shall mean a building or buildings containing or aggregating more than four single-family dwelling units. For comparison purposes surrounding community’s definitions are provided for condominiums. Bedford "Dwelling, Apartment": A building containing three (3) or more dwelling units arranged and/or used for rental occupancy, or with ownership by its occupants on a cooperative or condominium basis, and having one or more of the following in common: parking area, service area, utilities or open space. Bryan Condominium shall mean in a condominium each dwelling unit owner owns as his or her fee estate the space that his or her unit occupies. This is the space lying between the interior surface of the unit sides and between the floor and the ceiling. The remainder of the building and the land are called "common elements" or "common area." Each unit owner holds an undivided interest in the common elements and limited common elements as defined in the Texas Condominium Act (V.T.C.A., Property Code Ch. 81). Common elements shall mean, when applied to condominium, townhouse or similar developments, shall include: (1) General common elements means and includes: a. The land, whether leased or in fee simple, on which the building stands; b. The foundations, bearing walls and columns, roofs, halls, lobbies, stairways, and entrances and exits or communication ways; c. The basements, flat roofs, yard, and gardens, except as otherwise provided or stipulated; 2 d. The premises for the lodging of janitors or persons in charge of the building, except as otherwise provided or stipulated; The compartment of installation of central services such as power, light, gas, cold and hot water, refrigeration, central heating, reservoirs, water tanks and pumps, swimming pools, and the like; f. The elevators and shafts, garbage incinerators and, in general all devices or installations existing for common use; and g. All other elements of the building desirable or rationally of common use or necessary to the existence, upkeep and safety of the condominium regime. Coppell Single-family residence means a single-family residence as referred to in this article which includes the following: (4) Condominium: The separate ownership of single dwelling units in a multiple unit structures with common elements and; Trophy Club Single-family residence. A single-family residence as referred to in this article shall include: (1) One-family dwelling (detached). A dwelling designed and constructed for occupancy by one family and located on a lot or separate building tract and having no physical connection to a building located on any other lot or tract and occupied by one family. (2) One-family dwelling (attached). A dwelling which is joined to another dwelling at one or more sides by a party wall or abutting separate wall which is designed for occupancy by one family and is located on a platted separate lot, delineated by front, side and rear lot lines. (3) Two-family dwelling. A single structure designed and constructed with two dwelling units under a single roof for occupancy by two families, one in each unit. (4) Condominium. The separate ownership of single dwelling units in a multiple-unit structure or structures with common elements. Colleyville Dwelling, Multi-Family. A residential building containing three (3) or more dwelling units that are designed for occupancy by three or more families, with the number of families not to exceed the number of dwelling units. The residential building contains dwelling units that are designed to be occupied by families living independently of one another. The term includes, but is not limited to, apartment houses, townhouses, row houses, tenements, apartment hotels, flats, condominiums, fraternity and sorority houses and other group quarters. Dwelling, Multifamily Denton One or more buildings on a single lot containing five or more dwelling units. This definition includes single room occupancy, co-housing, and 3 residential condominiums developed on a single lot. This definition does not include duplex, triplex, fourplex, or tiny home development. Flower Single-family residential, attached dwelling unit. A single-family attached Mound residential unit is a building on an individual lot or tract of land intended for occupancy by one family that shares one or more common walls with similar adjacent units, also on individual lots such as townhomes, condominiums or brownstones. Southlake CONDOMINIUM - A multi-family dwelling facility within which designated units or apartments are conveyed by fee simple title, with an undivided interest in the building's common elements, to include, but not be limited to, halls, stairs, elevators, roofs, parking spaces, and the land. Condominium Definition Observations Our definition of condominium references Article 1301a Texas Revised Civil Statutes Annotated, adopted in 1963. This Article was absorbed by the Texas' Uniform Condominium Act which became effective on January 1, 1994, as Chapter 82 of the Property Code. Other communities clearly state condominiums as a form of multifamily residential dwelling unit and do or do not differentiate the ownership structure. These definitions clearly state that the units are on one common lot or may be on multiple lots. Typically, there here are no separate definitions for apartments or apartment dwellings as these are generally synonymous with multifamily units. Organizationally, it would be beneficial to organize the multifamily residential definitions in a hierarchical manner, explicitly state the unit number minimum, and reference the ownership structure. Rowhouses The City of Grapevine’s Zoning Ordinance does not currently have a definition for rowhouse. This type of single-family attached dwelling is most akin to a townhome yet the distinguishing feature is that architecturally rowhouses are two or more nearly identical units that share a common wall on one or both sides of a unit and line a street in an even row. Townhouses are generally a group or grouping of units into one building that may be placed in different layouts throughout a development. Below are the definitions found in the Zoning Ordinance pertaining to single-family attached dwelling and townhouse. SINGLE-FAMILY ATTACHED DWELLING shall mean a portion of an enclosed building having accommodations for and occupied by only one family, attached to like units, which units may be sold individually provided that the entire building meets all lot area, front yard, side yard, rear yard, height and other zoning requirements. 4 TOWNHOUSE shall mean a single-family attached dwelling unit on a separately platted lot which is joined at another dwelling unit on one or more sides by a party wall or abutting walls and occupied by not more than one family. Rowhouse Definition Observations Planning Services staff observes that there would be beneficial to distinguish rowhouses from townhomes, organize the single-family attached dwelling definitions in a hierarchical manner, explicitly state the unit number minimum, and reference the ownership arrangement. DIRECTION: 1. Ask Planning Services staff to do nothing. 2. Ask Planning Services staff to study the topic further, draft and organize definition options for consideration and discussion at a future date. 3. Ask Planning Services staff to prepare an agenda item to be discussed at a future joint workshop with the Commission and City Council. 5