A long-vacant piece of South 9th Street commercial ground could be positioned for future development under a new preliminary plat going before the Salina Planning Commission.

The proposal, filed as Application #PP26-001, was submitted by Jeff Maes of ComPro Realty on behalf of JIARONG LLC, the property owner. The request seeks approval of a preliminary plat for the Auburndale District Addition, which would divide a 9.19-acre tract at 3135 S. 9th Street into eight individual lots for future commercial development. The property sits on the east side of South 9th Street, north of Avenue A, near Lowe’s Home Improvement and the existing Holiday Inn.

The item is scheduled for consideration at the Salina Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday, June 2, at 4 p.m. in Room 107 of the City-County Building. Because this is a preliminary plat, the Planning Commission is the final decision-making authority. No City Commission action is required after Planning Commission approval of this specific preliminary plat.

The property is currently zoned PC-3, Planned Shopping Center District, and the proposed use is listed as commercial. The broader Auburndale development was originally platted in 1998 and later replatted in 2001. That larger commercial area includes Lowe’s, the existing Holiday Inn, and several smaller commercial outlot buildings. The southern portion now under review has remained vacant since the 2001 replat.

According to the city staff report, no construction is being approved as part of the current application. That little detail matters, because this is where people usually start naming restaurants on Facebook like they found the Dead Sea Scrolls. The current request is a land-division step, not a building permit or final approval for any individual business.

The proposed plat would create eight lots. Lot 1 would cover the existing north-south internal drive corridor connecting Riffel Drive and South 9th Street and would serve as a common access area. Lots 2 through 5 would be commercial development lots along the northern portion of the plat. Lot 6, a 2.37-acre commercial lot, is the most notable piece of the proposal because the applicant has indicated it is anticipated to be developed as a hotel in a later phase.

Any future hotel on Lot 6 would still require separate zoning and site plan approvals before building permits could be issued. The city packet also includes a proposed site plan for hotel development on Lot 6 as an attachment, but the preliminary plat itself does not authorize that construction.

Lot 7 would be a smaller commercial development lot along the eastern boundary of the plat. City staff noted it would be approximately 14,890 square feet, about 59 feet wide and 245 feet deep. Staff said the narrow width may limit the types of commercial uses that could fit on the lot, especially once parking and loading requirements are considered. Lot 8 would be a 2.36-acre non-developable lot containing the existing stormwater detention basin, which was designed to serve the full build-out of the Auburndale development.

Access is one of the major technical issues in the packet. Proposed Lots 2 through 7 would not have direct public street frontage. Instead, access would come through private internal drive aisles, including the existing north-south drive corridor and a proposed east-west internal drive running along the northern lot lines. Because Salina subdivision regulations generally require legal access to lots from an approved public street, the applicant is requesting a variation from that requirement.

City staff noted the site has only about 64 linear feet of public street frontage on South 9th Street, and that frontage is already committed to an existing access easement serving other developed Auburndale lots. Staff said the internal drive layout is physically feasible and consistent with the existing development pattern in the area, but the Planning Commission must make specific findings before approving the requested variation.

Staff is recommending that, if the plat is approved, the internal drive serving Lots 2 through 7 be reconfigured on the final plat as a clearly defined common area tract. That could be done by expanding Lot 1 to include the full east-west internal drive or by creating a separate numbered common-area tract. Staff said this would help clarify lot frontage, access rights, setback measurements, signage rules, landscaping requirements, and long-term maintenance responsibilities.

The city’s Utilities Department reviewed the proposal and said adequate public infrastructure can be reasonably constructed to provide water and sanitary sewer service to the subdivision. The department said water lines would need to be extended into the subdivision in a looped configuration as needed for service and fire flow, while wastewater collection lines would also need to be extended as necessary.

The Salina Fire Department also reviewed the preliminary plat and supports approval with conditions. The Fire Department said the site would be required to have three fire hydrants, and fire department access roads would need to meet or exceed a 75,000-pound minimum load requirement.

Recommended conditions from city staff include requiring the developer to construct public improvements shown on the plat and infrastructure plans, placing all utilities underground, installing three fire hydrants in locations approved by the Fire Marshal, designing fire apparatus access roads to support at least 75,000 pounds, extending water distribution lines in a looped configuration, extending wastewater lines as needed, and revising the final plat to clearly establish the internal access drive as a common area tract.

City staff recommends approval of the preliminary plat, subject to conditions. Staff also noted that minor drawing corrections and technical revisions would need to be addressed before the final plat application is submitted.

If approved, the Auburndale District Addition would not immediately bring new construction to South 9th Street, but it would organize the long-vacant property into buildable commercial lots and move the site closer to future development. The possible hotel on Lot 6 is the most visible part of the proposal, but the larger impact is the potential opening of several additional commercial sites in one of Salina’s busiest retail corridors.