City approves rezone for former Best Wok property
City Commissioners unanimously approved a zone change for the former west side Best Wok during their June 4 meeting.
The planning board voted to recommend approval during their April 9 meeting.
Town Pump submitted a request to rezone the property from M-2 mixed use transitional to C-2 general commercial to allow the existing building at 1525 3rd St. N.W. to be redeveloped into a lounge, casino and provide off-premise alcohol sales.
City Commission set to consider former west side Best Wok rezone
The land use of a casino isn’t allowed in the M-2 zoning, which is why the company has requested the zone change for their planned project.
City staff recommended approval of the rezone request.
Dan Sampson, Town Pump’s construction and development manager, said the company picks up existing casino licences and repurposes them, rather than building new casinos. The company also purchased a liquor license for the project.
Commissioner Rick Tryon said not everyone likes casinos but the project would provide employment and tax revenue rather than the property continuing to sit vacant.
Commissioner Joe McKenney said that he’d owned casinos in the past and when those businesses closed, the liquor licenses went to other projects in town.
City Commission to consider former Best Wok rezone on June 4
“People don’t notice the ones that close,” he said of casinos.
McKenney suggested that staff consider rezoning other properties in the area to commercial so more casinos could go in that area rather than concentrating on 10th Avenue South.
The building is currently vacant on 0.87 acres.
The westside Best Wok was established in 2016 and before that, it was the New Peking restaurant, with a lounge, casino and liquor sales, according to the city staff report.
At that time, each use was considered legal nonconforming as they were established upon the property before current zoning regulations. According to city code, if a nonconforming use ceases for any reason for more than 24 months, any subsequent use shall conform with the code, according to the staff report.
Since the previous uses of a lounge, casino and liquor sales haven’t occurred on the site for more than 24 months, the proposed project requires a zone change to continue those uses, according to city staff.
City approves rezone for 92-unit multifamily housing off Bay Drive
The property was within the M-2 mixed use transitional zoning district, as are properties to the north, east and south.
Property across the street, to the west of the subject property, is zoned C-2 general commercial, the same zoning being requested.
The M-2 district is “intended to promote a transition over time to a predominately mixed-use land use pattern. Because of changing economic conditions and other factors, some current uses do not represent the highest and best use, given other more suitable areas. The proposed C-2 District primarily intends to accommodate high-traffic businesses that focus on vehicle traffic. Staff finds the request to rezone to C-2 is appropriate because of the existing conditions of the commercial site and its location upon a principal arterial, 3rd Street Northwest, that can accommodate high traffic business activity, which is a defining characteristic of the C-2 District,” according to the staff report.
City awards contract, appoints steering committee for growth policy process
Staff hadn’t received any public comment on the rezone request before the meeting and the neighborhood council voted 2-1 to support the request during their March 7 meeting, according to the staff report.
In their report, staff wrote that they believe the city’s current growth policy and the Missouri River Urban Corridor Plan supports the request.
The site has two existing accesses onto 3rd Street Northwest and no significant change to traffic impact or demand is anticipated, according to city staff.
Approval of the infill project that uses existing infrastructure and is located in an area already served by city public safety resources, is “expected to result in the redevelopment of an existing vacant commercial building, increasing the property’s value. This, in turn, would result in increased revenue for the city and other entities whose revenue is based upon property valuation. The applicant will bear the cost of utility connections and all site improvements,” according to staff.
