Board of Zoning Appeals

BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS MINUTES NOVEMBER 12, 2015 The Board of Zoning Appeals met on Thursday, November 12, 2015, at 5:15 p.m. in the Council Chambers, 45 E. Broad Street, Cookeville, Tennessee. MEMBERS PRESENT: James Dial, Jane Flatt, and Sid Gilbreath. MEMBER ABSENT: Elwood Ervin and Jon Ward. STAFF PRESENT: James Mills and Jayne Barns. STAFF ABSENT: Ken Young. OTHERS PRESENT: Greg Stamps. CONSIDER FOR APPROVAL THE MINUTES OF AUGUST 12, 2015. James Dial made the motion to approve the minutes of August 12, 2015. Jane Flatt seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously. APPROVED. CONSIDER A REQUEST FOR A VARIANCE TO REDUCE THE REQUIRED OFF-STREET PARKING FROM 60 SPACES TO 53 SPACES. REQUEST SUBMITTED BY GREG STAMPS OF STAMPS DESIGN GROUP ON BEHALF OF CHRIS SHAH & PARTNERS. James Mills stated that Mr. Greg Stamps, on behalf of Chris Shah and Partners, has submitted a request for a variance to reduce the minimum off-street parking requirement for property located at 601 South Jefferson Avenue. The subject property is identified as Parcel 7.00 on Tax Map 66B, Group G and is zoned as CG, General Commercial. It is contiguous with properties zoned as CG on all sides. The parcel consists of approximately 54,194 square feet or 1.24 acres. Located on the property is an existing 10,078 square foot building that is currently being renovated to house a retail package/beer/tobacco store. Additionally, plans have been submitted for an expansion of the existing building consisting of 4,560 square feet. The petitioner has indicated that the addition will be used for the location of a jewelry store. Off-street parking requirements are specified in Section 205.8 of the Zoning Code and are based on land use. The proposed land uses of the subject property are classified as general retail. The minimum off-street parking requirement for general retail uses is one (1) space per 200 square feet for developments/structures of 50,000 square feet or less. Also, any portion of a retail structure used for storage must provide off-street parking at a ratio of one (1) space per 500 square feet. According to a submitted site plan, 51 parking spaces are required for 10,378 square feet of existing and proposed retail space and nine (9) spaces are required for 4,300 square feet of existing and proposed storage space. The site plan indicates that only 53 of the total required 60 off-street parking spaces can be provided. The requested variance is for reduction of seven (7) spaces or approximately 12 percent. BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS 2 NOVEMBER 12, 2015 A reduction in the size of the proposed addition would reduce the number of required parking spaces and could make available more land area on which to provide parking. However, the subject property does have particular topographic conditions that may warrant consideration of variance. Steep slopes are present along the north, south and western boundaries which limit utilization of the parcel. While there may be justification for some reduction in the required parking, the Planning Department is of the opinion that the request is excessive. In similar requests previously reviewed by the Board reductions of greater than ten (10) percent have not be approved. Staff recommended approval of variance to reduce the off-street parking requirement by no more than ten (10) percent. Sid Gilbreath stated that the Board doesn’t want to set precedence by allowing more than a 10% reduction. Greg Stamps stated that he thought that they could add an additional parking space in order to keep the variance at 10%. Jane Flatt made the motion to approve a variance to reduce the off-street parking requirement by no more than ten (10) percent. James Dial seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously. APPROVED VARIANCE BY NO MORE THAN TEN (10) PERCENT. ADJOURNMENT: 5:25 P.M. SUBMITTED FOR APPROVAL SUBMITTED FOR RECORDING _____________________________ ______________________________ JAYNE BARNS CPS SID GILBREATH, CHAIRMAN PLANNING ASSISTANT BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS