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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report STAFF REPORT Project Manager: Lindsay Boyer Report Date: November 12, 2007 Email: lboyer@cstx.gov Meeting Date: December 3, 2007 Project Number: 07-00500270 APPLICANT: Rabon Metcalf, RME Consulting Engineers REQUEST: Parking variance LOCATION: 4304 Harvey Road, a portion of Lot 1, Block 1, Harvey Hillsides Subdivision PURPOSE: To reduce the number of required parking spaces by 6 in order to enclose the outdoor pit areas, add a hallway to enclose the existing outdoor restrooms, and to add a walk- in cooler. GENERAL INFORMATION Status of Applicant: Engineer for the owner Property Owner: Floyd Manning Applicable Ordinance Section: 7.2.1, Number of Off-Street Parking Spaces Required PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS Zoning and Land Use • Subject Property: C-1, General Commercial, currently developed as a C&J's Restaurant. • North: A-O, Agricultural Open, currently developed as Bethel Baptist Church. • West: C-1, General Commercial, across Harvey Road, currently developed as a gas station and convenience store. • East: Outside City Limits, currently developed as a single family home. • South: C-1, General Commercial, currently developed as single family homes. Frontage: The property has approximately 150 feet of frontage on State Highway 30/Harvey Road and approximately 260 feet of frontage on Nunn Jones Road in the City's Extra- territorial Jurisdiction Access: The site currently takes access from both Harvey Road and Nunn Jones Road. Topography &Vegetation: The property slopes slightly to the rear towards Nunn Jones Road, but is relatively flat. There is no vegetation other than small patches of grass surrounding the paved and gravel parking areas. Flood Plain: There is no FEMA identified floodplain on the property. VARIANCE INFORMATION Background: The subject tract is currently in use as C&J BBQ. A special exception to operate the restaurant was issued by the ZBA in 1999. The restaurant has a paved parking area that is not striped in front of the structure on Harvey Road. The remaining parking on site is a gravel lot located behind the building and has access to Nunn Jones Road. The owners wish to expand their existing operation by enclosing the existing pits, adding a new hallway to the restrooms, and adding new walk-in cooler that would replace an existing 300 s.f. portable storage container. Parking is based on gross square footage of the building or buildings on site. The current site if built under today's regulations would require 41 parking spaces for the 2,655 s.f. of buildings. The addition of 386 s.f. of building area (see attached site plan) requires 6 additional spaces bringing the total required spaces to 47. The existing conditions are grandfathered under the current ordinance, however, any changes must be in compliance with the requirements of the Unified Development Ordinance. Therefore, a variance of 6 parking spaces is being requested in order to move forward with the additions. ANALYSIS Special Conditions: The applicant states that the configuration of the property is narrow and linear (less than 100 feet wide and 460 feet deep). Staff has not identified any special condition that would limit the ability to provide adequate parking on site. Hardships: The applicant states that if the parking lot is required to be reconfigured, the driveway will be required to be relocated and a joint access easement will be required to neighboring properties. Staff does not support this as a unique hardship to this property as it is a requirement across the entire city for adjacent non-residential properties to share driveways for access management and safety reasons. Alternatives: The applicant states that an alternative would be to enclose only the pit area to meet health code issues. In its current configuration, this would require a variance of 5 spaces. If the area of the pit enclosure were reduced by 76 s.f. to 260 s.f., the applicant could request consideration of an administrative adjustment. Recommendation: Due to a lack of unique special hardship and condition, Staff recommends denial of the request. SPECIAL INFORMATION Ordinance Intent: The purpose of Section 7.2 Off-Street Parking Standards is to establish the guidelines for off-street parking spaces consistent with the proposed land use to: 1. Eliminate the occurrence of non-resident on-street parking in adjoining neighborhoods; 2. Avoid the traffic congestion and public safety hazards caused by a failure to provide such parking spaces; and 3. Expedite the movement of traffic on public thoroughfares in a safe manner, thus increasing the carrying capacity of the streets and reducing the amount of land required for streets, thereby lowering the cost to both the property owner and the City. Similar Requests: None Number of Property Owners Notified: 11 Responses Received: None as of the date of the staff report ATTACHMENTS 1. Small Area Map and Aerial Map 2. Application 3. Site Plan (provided in packet) STAFF REPORT Project Manager: Lindsay Boyer Report Date: November 12, 2007 Email: Iboyer@cstx.gov Meeting Date: December 3, 2007 Project Number: 07-00500270 APPLICANT: Rabon Metcalf, RME Consulting Engineers REQUEST: Parking variance LOCATION: 4304 Harvey Road, a portion of Lot 1, Block 1, Harvey Hillsides Subdivision PURPOSE: To reduce the number of required parking spaces by 6 in order to enclose the outdoor pit areas, add a hallway to enclose the existing outdoor restrooms, and to add a walk-in cooler. GENERAL INFORMATION Status of Applicant: Engineer for the owner Property Owner: Floyd Manning Applicable Ordinance Section: 7.2.1, Number of Off-Street Parking Spaces Required PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS Zoning and Land Use • Subject Property: C-1, General Commercial, currently developed as a C&J's Restaurant. • North: A-O, Agricultural Open, currently developed as Bethel Baptist Church. • West: C-1, General Commercial, across Harvey Road, currently developed as a gas station and convenience store. • East: Outside City Limits, currently developed as a single family home. • South: C-1, General Commercial, currently developed as single family homes. Frontage: The property has approximately 150 feet of frontage on State Highway 30/Harvey Road and approximately 260 feet of frontage on Nunn Jones Road in the City's Extra-territorial Jurisdiction Access: The site currently takes access from both Harvey Road and Nunn Jones Road. Topography &Vegetation: The property slopes slightly to the rear towards Nunn Jones Road, but is relatively flat. There is no vegetation other than small patches of grass surrounding the paved and gravel parking areas. Flood Plain: There is no FEMA identified floodplain on the property. VARIANCE INFORMATION Background: The subject tract is currently in use as C&J BBQ. A special exception to operate the restaurant was issued by the ZBA in 1999. The restaurant has a paved parking area that is not striped in front of the structure on Harvey Road. The remaining parking on site is a gravel lot located behind the building and has access to Nunn Jones Road. The owners wish to expand their existing operation by enclosing the existing pits, adding a new hallway to the restrooms, and adding new walk-in cooler that would replace an existing 300 s.f. portable storage container. Parking is based on gross square footage of the building or buildings on site. The current site if built under today's regulations would require 41 parking spaces for the 2,655 s.f. of buildings. The addition of 386 s.f. of building area (see attached site plan) requires 6 additional spaces bringing the total required spaces to 47. The existing conditions are grandfathered under the current ordinance, however, any changes must be in compliance with the requirements of the Unified Development Ordinance. Therefore, a variance of 6 parking spaces is being requested in order to move forward with the additions. ANALYSIS Special Conditions: The applicant states that the configuration of the property is narrow and linear (less than 100 feet wide and 460 feet deep). Staff has not identified any special condition that would limit the ability to provide adequate parking on site. Hardships: The applicant states that if the parking lot is required to be reconfigured, the driveway will be required to be relocated and a joint access easement will be required to neighboring properties. Staff does not support this as a unique hardship to this property as it is a requirement across the entire city for adjacent non- residential properties to share driveways for access management and safety reasons. Alternatives: The applicant states that an alternative would be to enclose only the pit area to meet health code issues. In its current configuration, this would require a variance of 5 spaces. If the area of the pit enclosure were reduced by 76 s.f. to 260 s.f., the applicant could request consideration of an administrative adjustment. Recommendation: Due to a lack of unique special hardship and condition, Staff recommends denial of the request. SPECIAL INFORMATION Ordinance Intent: The purpose of Section 7.2 Off-Street Parking Standards is to establish the guidelines for off-street parking spaces consistent with the proposed land use to: 1. Eliminate the occurrence of non-resident on-street parking in adjoining neighborhoods; 2. Avoid the traffic congestion and public safety hazards caused by a failure to provide such parking spaces; and 3. Expedite the movement of traffic on public thoroughfares in a safe manner, thus increasing the carrying capacity of the streets and reducing the amount of land required for streets, thereby lowering the cost to both the property owner and the City. Similar Requests: None Number of Property Owners Notified: 11 Responses Received: None as of the date of the staff report ATTACHMENTS 1. Small Area Map and Aerial Map 2. Application 3. Site Plan (provided in packet) Good evening, the item before you is a variance to the Unified Development Ordinance Section 7.2.1 as it relates to the number of off-street parking spaces required for C&J's BBQ located at 4304 Harvey Road, Lot 1 , Block 1 of Harvey Hillsides Subdivision. The subject property is zoned C-1 and has been operating as a restaurant since the 1990s. The property was originally a convenience store that received a special exception in 1999 to operate the restaurant in the original building. The owners are wishing to expand their current location by enclosing the outdoor pits, enclosing a cooler and creating an enclosed space to their restrooms which must currently be accessed by existing the restaurant. The enclosure of this space requires the addition of 6 parking spaces from which the applicant is requesting a variance. The UDO requires parking for the gross square footage of all buildings on the property. The applicant has stated that the shape of the property and the consolidation of the driveways would pose a hardship and special condition, however the shape of the property and consolidation of the driveway does not preclude the ability to provide adequate parking on site. As an alternative, the applicant could reduce the area of which they would be expanded to less than 260 square feet and apply for an administrative adjustment at the staff level. Staff is recommending denial of the request based on a lack of special condition or hardship unique to this property. I have received 1 phone call in support of the request, 1 phone call in opposition to the request, and 1 inquiry.