City takes first steps toward “skyscrapers”

Webster’s II New College Dictionary defines skyscraper as "an exceptionally tall building." So I guess what someone would call a "skyscraper" totally depends on your definition of the word "exceptionally." Except for Plum Creek and the Hospital District, Kyle, city ordinances restrict a building’s height in Kyle to just about four stories. Under those guidelines, a building 3½ times that tall, or 15 stories, could, by Kyle’s standards, be called "exceptionally tall" and thus a "skyscraper."

Assistant city manager James Earp appeared before the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission this evening seeking their input on whether the city’s staff should pursue ways to relax that four-story height limitation and possibly getting rid of height restrictions completely for certain commercially zoned areas of the city.

Earp quite deftly maneuvered the commissioners to think along these lines by saying it was unfair to have one set of rules for Plum Creek (whose seven-story limitation allowed the Kyle ACC campus to be located there), another (nine stories) for the hospital district, and the 4-story restriction for the rest of the city. Especially when, he teased, a major development could be in the city’s future, but only if these height restrictions are eased.

Then after seeing them nod in agreement to his idea of making the seven-story limitation citywide, he threw out the idea of eliminating height limitations completely.

The reason Kyle instituted the four-story height restriction really isn’t germane any longer, Earp said.

"Historically, the height restrictions were set because of the ability to address fire issues," Earp told the commissioners. "Forty-five feet was essentially the maximum height fires could be safely fought at with or without a ladder truck. Since that time, the city has adopted fire codes that force buildings over that height to be sprinkled and have fire suppression systems anyway." (Fire chief Kyle Taylor subsequently confirmed that when it comes to fires in buildings, the height of the building is largely irrelevant.)

"The other reason for having a height restriction in a commercial area is if you had a natural vista or view you wanted to protect and we don’t have that either," Earp said.

He said areas zoned neighborhood commercial or community commercial would not be exempt from the height restrictions. He also said multi-family structures would still be under the height limitation requirements, so I’m guessing that means we shouldn’t be expecting high-rise apartment buildings or condominium complexes, even if they are located on or relatively near the interstate.

But, he said, "Would some place along the interstate be an appropriate place for a 15-story office building? That’s just the type of thing we haven’t thought about for Kyle until recently.

"If there is a desire to see the height restrictions changed in some form or fashion, we’d like to gauge that rather quickly because that, in turn, determines the path we take with the economic development prospect," Earp told the commissioners. "Maybe we’re to the point in our town’s growth where it makes sense for us to take that (height) requirement away and start thinking bigger.

At first, Commissioner Mike Wilson expressed concern about tall buildings in retail areas, but when commissioner Dan Ryan correctly pointed out that just about any 30-, 40-story office building is probably going to have some kind of retail on the ground floor, even if it’s just a coffee shop, Wilson’s concern seemed to recede. Ryan also said he doubted anyone would want to build a 25-story warehouse.

"I have been to a meeting at the intersection of the tollway and 35 where they were talking about building tall, tall buildings right there," Ryan said. "And I think we should open up and be part of that. And I don’t know whether we need to limit that."

Earp said the city staff did not have "a preconceived notion on how we wanted to approach this. We wanted to receive feedback from you guys to get the collective thoughts because that gets a better product in the end.

"Look we can craft an overlay and say if you’re in this specific area you can go to certain heights. We can make it so all the retail can only go to 75 (feet [seven stories]) unless you get a special designation. We can create a true mixed-use zoning that would allow retail and office space to exist in the same footprint.

"There are all different ways we can slice the cake," he said. "It’s just a matter of whether or not there’s a desire to cut the cake.

"And since we have sensed there is a very real economic development prospect waiting in the wings, this is something that will be very real and very quick because these guys need to decide whether they’re coming to Kyle or not. And it all depends on whether they get the height restriction changed.

"It sounds to me what I’m hearing is that generally speaking there is a desire and support for this idea and how we implement it is still to be decided. But it sounds like I’m hearing you guys are saying we support the idea — at least support for unrestricted height in designated areas and not across the entire city."

Commissioner Michele Christie said she would rather any proposed ordinance avoid overlay districts because "overlays make my head hurt. We have so many, one on top of another."

Wilson also insisted that any ordinance removing heigh restrictions also take into account parking so that the building’s are required to construct an accompanying multi-story parking facility with an "architectural facade."

"I don‘t want a 10-story building with surface parking everywhere," Wilson said. "I want a design element that improves the quality of the lot. It doesn’t have to be a plain old parking garage. That parking garage should be an architectural feature."

Earp concluded the discussion by telling the commissioners "Hopefully we can get something prepared and back before you pretty quickly so we can take the first stab at this proposal."

I’m guessing the commissioners could have something on their agenda within a month.