Arlington P&Z advances landmark overlay change for medical device business
The Arlington Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved a zoning change Sept. 3 on about 0.476 acres of land occupied by a medical device and research company.
The change is from a landmark preservation overlay, or LPO, planned development to a light industrial designation for the site, located at 1225 California Lane.
Liping Tang is a biomedical engineering professor at the University of Texas at Arlington and the owner of Progenitec, which operates at the California Lane location. Company officials said they are developing an innovative technology that is a “paradigm shift” in wound assessment by detecting biomolecules on wound dressings without touching the patients.
Company representatives said the technology detects nonhealing and infected wounds, and they are in the process of getting U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearances.
On June 12, the Landmark Preservation Committee voted to recommend keeping the LPO designation for the location by a vote of 6-0. On June 18, the Planning and Zoning Commission voted to continue the case indefinitely by a vote of 7-0-0.
The original request was to rezone the entire parcel to office commercial and remove the LPO designation from the property. Landmark commissioners recommended Tang keep the preservation overlay designation for the historic house on the site.
Before 1996, commission staff said the site was zoned light industrial. That year, when the primary building on the land was used as an office, an application was approved to change the zoning LP-PD, or landmark preservation-planned development, for all light industrial uses.
Staff said the intent of the zoning change was to add the landmark preservation overlay to the site and build a detached garage for employee use.
Commission staff said the primary building was built before 1905 and had been “refurbished, within reason to its original appearance.” An accessory two-car garage was built in the 1940s-1950s. In 1996, half of the two-car garage was used as office space and half as an enclosed garage.
Staff said that when the 1996 application was approved, the landmark preservation overlay was added at that time to the entire parcel.
Tang attended the zoning commission’s Sept. 3 meeting, seeking a reduction in LPO instead of a complete removal.
Staff said the light industrial zoning use would fit with the site’s use of research and development as well as the manufacturing of medical devices.
All future development on the site would have to comply with Unified Development Code standards for the light industrial zoning district, including screening and buffering for many residential uses, landscape requirements, etc.
The staff said Tang’s request to reduce the LPO to only part of the lot preserves the historic home while allowing the rear portion of the lot to be developed without needing to go through approval and review by the Landmark Preservation Committee.
“The property has been abandoned for many years prior to our purchase. After spending over $100,000 in essential repairs, we would like to keep the historic property while transforming the backside property into the medical device facility,” Tang told the commission.
A part of the issue with the historical designation was a decorative well at the front of the property.
“In front of this property, we have a deteriorating decorative well built in the ’90s, and during the last meeting, I remember that the commissioners suggested that we could exclude the well from the LPO zone, which will allow us to remove it without requiring LPC approval.”
Tang said that when a new building is constructed on the property in the future, “We will make sure the appearance and that the backside of the building is consistent with the historic front building.”
He said the limited landmark preservation overlay, excluding the decorative well, would allow the architect to better integrate the historic building with the rest of the new structure.
As an aside, Commissioner Tracy Winkles said at the meeting that research showed that the decorative well was of no historical value and was store bought.
Commission Chairman Ignacio Nunez, a retired physician, said he had read the report on the company’s product.
“We’re going to love your business. Very nice product, and a very important one for infection control in the hospital,” Nunez said.
The case will be heard by the City Council on Oct. 14.
Lance Murray is a freelance contributor covering business for the Arlington Report.
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