HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report DraftSTAFF REPORT
Date: August 22, 2000 ZBA Meeting Date: August 29, 2000
APPLICANT: Veronica Morgan for Asset Campus Housing
REQUEST: Parking Variance
LOCATION: 501 University Oaks
PURPOSE: To allow for a reduced parking space requirement for a new
development.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Status of Applicant: Engineering consultant/primary contact for project
Property Owner: Asset Campus Housing
Applicable
Ordinance Section: Minimum Off -Street Parking Requirements
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Zoning and Land Use:
Subject Property:
R-6 — Apartment Buildings/High Density
North:
R-2 — Duplex Residential
West:
A -P — Administrative Professional
C-1 — General Commercial
East:
R-6 — Apartment Buildings/High Density
South:
R-6 — Apartment Buildings/High Density
Frontage: 559.00' along Dominik Drive
538.20' along University Oaks Boulevard
Access: Access will be provided by two driveways, one on
University Oaks Boulevard and the other on Dominik
Drive.
Topography &
Vegetation: Flat topography with one small cluster of trees and
bushes.
Flood Plain: Not located within a flood plain.
O:\group\deve_ser\stfipt\zngstfrpt\h onda. doc
VARIANCE INFORMATION
Parking Required: Dormitories are required to have one parking space for
every person (bed). For this proposed project, a total of
596 parking spaces would be required.
Parking Requested: The applicant is proposing to provide parking that meets
apartment requirements. Under apartment parking, 527
spaces would be required (calculations are shown
below).
3 spaces for every 2 -bedroom unit = 429
1.5 spaces for every 1 -bedroom unit = + 98
Total spaces required for apartment 527
The applicant is seeking a variance to the off-street
parking regulations of dormitories by the amount of
69 spaces (approximately 11.651o).
ANALYSIS
Special Conditions: The applicant describes the Asset Campus Housing
Project as a hybrid between a dormitory and an
apartment building and considers this a special condition.
The Zoning Ordinance defines a dormitory as "any
structure specifically designed for the exclusive purpose
of housing students of a university, college or school,
excepting resident staff'. An apartment building is "a
building or portion thereof used or intended to be used as
a home for three or more families or households living
independently of each other and each equipped for
preparation of food". The applicant states that the
project is similar to a dormitory as it is marketed as
student housing; yet, rental is open to non -students.
Because there will not be full cooking facilities in the
units, the staff considers the development a dormitory.
Off-street parking requirements for dormitories are more
stringent than those for apartments. The applicant would
like the Board to consider that since this is a unique
housing project reflecting characteristics of apartments,
that the requirements for off-street parking spaces be
able to meet those of apartments.
Hardships: The applicant has identified the timing of the project
in relation to the timing of a new College Station Zoning
Ordinance as a hardship. College Station will have the
opportunity to change its current requirements when a
new ordinance is adopted (estimated to occur in the
spring of 2001), but it is not known if and what changes
will occur.
O:\group\deve_ser\stfipt\zngstfrpt\h onda. doc
Alternatives: The following alternatives to the variance have been
identified:
With a CUP for a parking lot from the Planning and
Zoning Commission and a variance to the 200 -ft. off -
premise parking lot distance from the ZBA, a 30 -
space satellite parking lot may be created 300 ft.
away from the project. This lot and the addition of 39
spaces to the original lot would meet ordinance
requirements.
2. Reduce the size of the project so less parking would
be required.
3. The Board may grant a variance less than the
requested amount (0-69 spaces).
N:JxdMal LI1761:7LriFA1161011
Ordinance Intent: Parking requirements help avoid the traffic congestion
and public safety hazards caused by a failure to provide
such parking space. They also 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: In the past five years, the ZBA has considered four
parking variances. A case involving a nightclub in a
shopping center (which planned to exceed the 25%
restaurant/nightclub use -density limit) was denied. Two
requests involving redevelopment projects and one for a
retirement community were granted. For the
redevelopment projects, it was determined that the
existing sites presented special conditions and hardships
to the new projects. In the case of the retirement
community, it was shown that elderly people owned and
used fewer cars than in other multi -family communities
and that a thirty-year deed restriction limited residency to
the elderly. The variance was granted for thirty years
with the stipulation that additional parking that would
meet code requirements had to be set aside
undeveloped for construction and use when the variance
expired.
In 1993, the City Council granted the subject property a
density of 26.5 dwelling units per acre. The apartments
then asked the ZBA for a 1 % variance to the off-street
parking requirements because of the difficulty of
providing the parking for their full allowable build -out.
The request was denied because of the lack of a special
conditions and hardship.
O:\group\deve_ser\stfipt\zngstfrpt\h onda. doc
Number of Property
Owners Notified: 20
Responses Received: None
FA aIFeCd:LVA l=I0111K
Location Map
Application
O:\group\deve_ser\stfipt\zngstfrpt\h onda. doc