HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report STAFF REPORT
Project Manager: Lindsay Boyer Report Date: December 29, 2005
Email: Iboyer@cstx.gov Meeting Date: January 10, 2006
APPLICANT: Natalie Ruiz, IPS Group
REQUEST: Parking variance
LOCATION: 1351 Earl Rudder Freeway South
PURPOSE: To reduce the number of required parking spaces for a
proposed furniture store development located north of the
Varsity Ford development
General Information
Status of Applicant: Land Planner and agent for the owner
Property Owner: Anthony Majors
Ordinance Section: UDO Article 7, Section 2.H, Number of Off-Street Parking
Spaces Required
Physical Characteristics
Zoning/Land Use:
Subject Property: The subject property is zoned C-1, General Commercial
and the Comprehensive Land Use Plan indicates this area
as Retail Regional. The property is currently undeveloped.
Adjacent Property:
North: C-2, Commercial - Industrial, developed as a hotel
East: C-2, Commercial - Industrial, undeveloped floodplain
South: C-2, Commercial - Industrial, developed as Varsity Ford
Auto Dealership
Frontage: This property has approximately 725 feet of frontage on
Earl Rudder Freeway
Access: There is a platted 50 foot private access easement located
on the property line between the Varsity Ford property and
this tract. Access will be guaranteed from this point.
Additional access will have to be in compliance with Texas
Department of Transportation and the City of College
Station guidelines for driveway separation distances.
Topography &
Vegetation: This property slopes from an elevation of 280 feet at the
southwest corner down to 260 to the northwest and east
corner of the property. The elevation reaches 254 at the
northeast property boundary. Natural vegetation is dense
around the floodplain, and sparse closer to the frontage
road. Upon development of the property, the site will be
required to meet commercial landscape and streetscape
standards.
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Floodplain: A portion of this property lies in the Carter Creek
floodplain. Approximately 1.3 acres of a total 8 acres along
the east and northern property lines lies in the 100 year
floodplain. However, a Development Permit was issued in
September to relocate portions of this floodplain.
Variance Information
Background: The subject property was annexed in 1958 and
subsequently zoned R-1, Single—Family Residential. In
1989, the property was rezoned in 1989 to C-2,
Commercial — Industrial, in compliance with the Industrial
designation on the Comprehensive Plan. The property was
platted in 1993, and a portion of it was developed in 1998
as additional parking for an expansion of the service area
at Varsity Ford. The property was recently rezoned to C-1,
General Commercial in compliance with the Retail
Regional designation on the Comprehensive Plan. This
rezoning was initiated in preparation of the development of
a furniture store on the property.
The current parking requirements for the proposed
development are 1 space per 250 square feet for retail
development. The proposed development includes a
50,000 square foot building for furniture sales with
ancillary warehousing to the furniture sales. This mix of
uses is permitted in C-1 as long as the storage component
is less than 50% of the total square footage. 200 spaces
would be required for the proposed development.
The applicant is requesting a variance to the retail parking
requirement. Their proposal is to increase the ratio for
this property to 1 space per 450 square feet. This
proposal would result in an effective parking variance
of 88 spaces. The total spaces provided would be 112.
Staff conducted a survey of 22 cities and found only six
cities have parking requirements that support such a
request. All but one city have requirements that would
result in fewer parking spaces than College Station,
however there is a large range of parking requirements
with the average ratio around 1 space per 350.
This property is currently undeveloped, and there appears
to be no special condition or hardship why the current
standards cannot be met. This variance would be carried
with the land regardless of use. Given the variety of uses
that might develop or redevelop instead of a furniture store
(see C-1, General Commercial, Zoning District Fact
Sheet), or that the proposed furniture store might one day
use the storage space for retail area, Staff does not
support a variance. This parking ratio is being considered
by staff for an amendment to the Unified Development
Ordinance, however due to the lack of overwhelming
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evidence to support a particular parking ratio, more
research will be required before this option will be brought
forward to the Planning and Zoning Commission and City
Council.
Recommendation: Unless new information is provided during the public
hearing to support this request, staff recommends denial
of this request.
Special Conditions: The application indicates that the nature of furniture sales
necessitates a specific parking ratio separate from
conventional retail sales. Due to the nature of large
displays, the real occupancy of the building is diminished.
The International Building Code does not distinguish
between types of retail uses for a building, and is based
partly upon what the building itself is designed to hold. The
legal occupancy of the building would be determined the
same as a Wal-mart or a local bookstore. Essentially, any
retail business that owned or leased the building would
have the same occupancy. Given that the furniture store
could move displays to accommodate additional people, or
another use might one day occupy the space, Staff does
not feel that the use of a furniture store itself is a special
condition.
Hardships: A portion of this property lies in the Carter Creek
floodplain.
The adjacent property also has floodplain and was able to
build nearly 40,000 square feet of automobile service
space and accommodate 2.5 times the parking with 10
acres. It is Staff's opinion, that even taking the floodplain
into consideration, there is ample room to accommodate a
50,000 square foot building and the associated parking
and site requirements.
Alternatives: This variance could also be accommodated if the Unified
Development Ordinance were amended to identify a
specific parking ratio for furniture sales.
This alternative is preferred by City Staff, and is currently
being researched should the variance request be denied.
Special Information
Ordinance Intent: The purpose of the 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
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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.
Owners Notified: 7
Responses: Staff has received one inquiry.
Attachments
1. Location Map
2. Aerial Map
3. Application
4. C-1, General Commercial, Zoning District Fact Sheet
5. Parking Ratios of cities surveyed by City staff
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STAFF REPORT
Date: July 12, 1995 ZBA Meeting Date: July 18, 1995
APPLICANT: Cottages of Rock Prairie Limited Partnership
REQUEST: Variance to parking requirement
LOCATION: Approximately 14 acres located along the east side of Wellborn
Road just north of the Graham Road intersection.
PURPOSE: A variance is requested to the parking requirement per apartment
bedroom for the development of a retirement or senior citizen
project.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Status of Applicant: Developer
Property Owner: same
Applicable Ordinance
Section: Section 9.3 Number of Off-Street Parking Spaces Required
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Zoning and Land Use:
Subject Property: R-5 Medium Density Apartments; vacant
Northwest: C-3 Planned Commercial; vacant; and R-1 Single Family
Residential, which is also vacant
Northeast: A-O Agricultural-Open; vacant
Southeast: M-1 Planned Industrial and M-2 Heavy Industrial; currently used
for light industry along Graham Road
Southwest: Outside City Limits; vacant
Lot Dimensions &
Frontage: The subject property is approximately 404' x 1548', with 404'
of frontage along Wellborn Road. Monier Drive is planned to
connect Wellborn Road to Victoria Street, running along the
north side of the subject property.
Easements or
Alleys: A 20' utility easement runs along the front or southwest
property line along Wellborn Road for City of Bryan overhead
electrical lines. A 10' Utility Easement also runs diagonally
through a rear portion of the property.
Access: Access will be from Mortier Drive, which will be included in
the project construction.
Topography: Relatively flat
Flood Plain: The subject property is not located within a 100 year flood
plain.
VARIANCE
SPECIAL
INFORMATION: This project is planned for the construction of a retirement
community. As required by Section 42 of the Internal Revenue
Code, the project is restricted for a minimum of 30 years to
house elderly citizens only.
Parking Required: The Zoning Ordinance currently requires 1.5 parking spaces
per bedroom. The project will consist of 36 one-bedroom
units and 96 two-bedroom units for a total of 228 bedrooms.
Thus, under current standards the number of parking spaces
required would be 342 spaces. An ordinance revision is
currently under review which will slightly decrease the current
requirement.
Parking Proposed: The applicant states that most senior citizens own and operate
one car per apartment unit no matter how many bedrooms are
used. Under this unit of measure (apartments as the unit
instead of bedrooms), the current ordinance requirement would
be 2.59 spaces per apartment unit.
The applicant proposes to have 1.83 parking spaces per unit
for a total of 242 spaces. This would require a variance of
100 spaces.
ANALYSIS
Special Condition: As stated earlier, the project is required to be affordable
housing for elderly citizens as required by the Internal Revenue
Code.
Hardship: The applicant contends that the extra required parking spaces
will not be used, and will increase unnecessary hard surfaces
and construction costs which will affect affordable housing
costs.
Alternatives: No alternatives without a variance have been identified.
However, the Board may grant any variance amount less than
what is requested (0-100 spaces)
Ordinance Intent: Studies of apartment projects of early 1980's led to an
ordinance change to increase the number of parking spaces per
bedroom. This standard was created for the purposes of
housing students, which are the predominant occupants of
most multifamily apartments in College Station.
Previous Action
On This Property: None
Similar Requests: On July 15, 1980, the Board granted a parking variance to the
LULAC elderly apartment complex located on 1105 Anderson.
The parking requirement at that time was 1.5 spaces per
apartment unit. The variance granted a reduction of the
requirement to 1 space per apartment unit. Over the past 15
years, this requirement has adequately met the parking needs
of the complex.
Statistics from
Other Cities: Attached is a table of parking requirements for the same
proposed project located in 18 different cities throughout the
country. The average approved requirement has been 1.54
spaces per unit.
Number of Property
Owners Notified: Certified letters were sent to 6 property owners located within
200 feet of the subject site.
Responses Received: As of 7-12-95, one response was received, which was in favor
of the request.
ATTACHMENTS
Application
Location Map
Subdivision Plat
Statistics from other cities