Range Line Street development approved
COLUMBIA — The Columbia Planning and Zoning Commission approved Thursday a commercial development on the northeast corner of Range Line Street and American Parkway.
The lot is part of the North Woods C-P development plan, the latest of several developments in northern Columbia. One building, with 6,500 square feet of retail space and 3,900 square feet of restaurant space, is planned for construction.
The plan includes a right-in, right-out only driveway off of Range Line Street. The Missouri Department of Transportation is scheduled to make improvements on Range Line Street in 2008 and has already approved plans for the driveway.
The plan does not include any proposals for a grocery store, which residents have said they need to keep up with increased residential development. Grocery developers have expressed interest in building next to the lot but, no plans have been finalized. Plans for a Moser’s grocery store were abandoned after a dispute with the City Council over the height of light poles in the North Woods development.
The Range Line site will hold 74 vehicle parking spaces and nine bicycle spaces. Commission member Vicki Curby said she was happy to see bike rails included in the plan.
The plan also includes 5-foot-wide sidewalks to be constructed along the Range Line Street and American Parkway frontages. But landscape plans barely exceed the city’s 15 percent minimum requirement.
“I’m disappointed that they couldn’t approve more landscaping, but it is a small lot,” Curby said at the meeting.
The Planning and Zoning Commission will forward the plan to the City Council but commission members said they do not expect any obstacles.