DELAWARE — Housing and retail are two industries the city of Delaware has seen a lot of growth in as of late.
And they aren’t slowing down.
Delaware City Council approved a zoning amendment Monday for a proposed apartment complex near the intersection of Lake and Flax streets on the city’s west side.
The project is being developed by Ex Flax LLC, the company behind The Mill on Flax.
Plans for a Target store at the under-construction Trailhead Crossing development also moved forward Monday.
Council held a reading of an ordinance that would rezone the roughly 11-acre site from community commercial (C-CC) to community planned unit development (C-PUD), matching the rest of Trailhead Crossing.
While no action was taken on the Target project Monday night, the ordinance is now on its way to a public hearing at council’s next meeting on Oct. 26.
MORE ON DELAWARE’S TARGET:
Council approves apartment complex zoning amendment
With council’s Monday approval, Ex Flax’s zoning amendment consolidated various zoning districts across 1.75 acres into a Residential Planned Unit Development (R-PUD).
Nine parcels make up the R-PUD, with eight of them located north of Flax Street.
As it stands before construction, the site for the apartment complex includes two single-family homes, a two-family home and several vacant lots, according to a city staff report.
However, the site also contains a historic carriage house, and during the public hearing process, several residents spoke up encouraging the city and developers to save the historic property.
Developers maintained that the carriage house has been in a state of disrepair for some time now.
Planning Director Sandra Pereira confirmed Monday that the carriage house will be demolished.
The city’s chief building official inspected the property last week, determined the structure could not be saved and issued a demolition order.
A concept plan for the apartment complex shows that developers could build a two-story duplex/townhome in its place. Additionally, the concept plan proposes 38 dwelling units per acre.
At that density, the 1.75-acre site could include up to 68 units.
Planning and Zoning Administrator Anna Kelsey said during a recent Planning Commission meeting that complex’s size is comparable to the nearby Mill on Flax development, which has about 37 units per acre.
Unlike a final development plan, the concept does not authorize construction and would require additional approvals from the Planning Commission and City Council.
