Zoning Board of Appeals

ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS AGENDA SEPTEMBER 19, 2018 7:00 PM CITY HALL A. Roll Call B. Approval of Agenda C. Approval of Minutes: August 15, 2018 D. Old Business: V2018-005 Tepanyaki, Inc. (Continued from Aug. 15, 2018) Request to permit a detached accessory structure (drive-up ATM) in the front yard of a commercial shopping center at 5005 Peachtree Parkway in Dist. 6, Land Lot 318, Peachtree Corners, GA E. New Business: V2018-006 Chick-fil-A. Request to increase the height of monument signs for a restaurant at 6105 Peachtree Parkway in Dist. 6, Land Lot 283, Peachtree Corners, GA F. City Business Items: (None) G. Comments by Board Members. H. Adjournment.  DRAFT COPY CITY OF PEACHTREE CORNERS ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS MINUTES August 15, 2018 7:00PM The City of Peachtree Corners held a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting. The meeting was held at City Hall, 310 Technology Parkway, Peachtree Corners, GA, 30092. The following were in attendance: Zoning Board of Appeals: Wayne Knox, Post B Marcia Brandes, Post A Amreeta Regmi, Post C Matthew Gries, Post D James Blum, Post E Staff: Diana Wheeler, Com. Dev. Director Jeff Conkle, Planning & Zoning Admin. Rocio Monterrosa, Deputy City Clerk AGENDA: Approval of the August 15, 2018 agenda. MOTION TO APPROVE THE AUGUST 15, 2018 AGENDA. By: James Blum Seconded: Marcia Brandes Vote: (5-0) (Blum, Brandes, Knox, Regmi, Gries) MINUTES: Approval of June 20, 2018 Minutes. MOTION TO APPROVE THE JUNE 20, 2018 MINUTES By: Marcia Brandes Seconded: Matthew Gries Vote: (5-0) (Brandes, Gries, Regmi, Blum, Knox,) NEW BUSINESS: V2018-005 Tepanyaki, Inc. Request to permit a detached accessory structure (walk-up ATM) in the front yard of a commercial shopping center at 5005 Peachtree Parkway in Dist. 6, Land Lot 318, Peachtree Corners, GA Page | 1  DRAFT COPY Diana Wheeler, Community Development Director, provided background information regarding the applicant’s request. The applicants would like to construct a detached accessory structure in the front yard of this property. The structure would be a walk-up ATM for Synovus Bank. Zoning Ordinance Sec. 600 permits accessory structures only in side or rear yards. If approved, the applicant would construct the ATM on three parking spaces to be removed at the front of the property along Peachtree Parkway. The property owner is not able to place the ATM to the side or rear and chose to apply for this variance. In the letter of intent, the applicant states that he evaluated the possibility of placing the ATM to the side of the existing strip mall building, but there is a Georgia Power easement located there. The applicant requested approval from Georgia Power to locate the ATM within the easement; however, the existence of overhead power lines led to Georgia Power to deny his request. The other side of the strip mall has a landscape setback area required by the zoning ordinance. Placing the ATM at this location would also necessitate a variance because the required landscaping would have to be eliminated. The rear of the property would also not be feasible for an ATM location because this is the delivery and loading area for the strip mall. While another site might have better options, this location has both zoning and easements constraints within the portions of the site that would otherwise allow the placement of an ATM facility. After reviewing the applicant’s request and the variance criteria, Staff finds that a hardship may be justified at this location. The applicant, Wes Allen, who is the property manager for the shopping center stated that they have a signed lease agreement with Synovus Bank pending the City’s approval and that they tried to put the ATM on the side of the shopping center, but due to Georgia Power not signing off on the loction due to underneath powerlines, they are requesting approval to put the ATM in the front yard of the shopping center. Chairman Knox and board members asked applicant if the applicant intends to place a walk-up ATM or drive-through ATM, the whereabouts of the Notice of Public Hearing sign, traffic circulation and if signage on ATM was under the US Sign Council guidelines. Both the applicant, Wes Allen, and the ATM owner representative, Robby Glover, were unable to produce any of the information requested by the board members at this time. Chairman Knox opened the floor to anyone wanting to speak in favor or opposition to the application. There were no public comments. A motion was made after discussion MOTION TO TABLE APPLICANT REQUEST UNTIL NEXT ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS MEETING TO ALLOW APPLICANT TO PRODUCE SITE PLAN, LANDSCAPE PLAN, ATM SIGN PACKAGE IN COMPLIANCE Page | 2  DRAFT COPY WITH THE U.S. SIGN COUNCIL AND LETTER FROM PROPERTY OWNER AGREEING TO THE LOSS OF PARKING SPACES FOR THE ATM. By: Matthew Gries Seconded: Marcia Brandes Vote: (5-0) (Gries, Brandes, Knox, Blum, Regmi) CITY BUSINESS ITEMS: None. COMMENTS BY BOARD MEMBERS: None. The Zoning Board of Appeals meeting concluded at 7:42 PM. Approved, Attest: _________________________ ___________________________________ Wayne Knox, Chairman Rocio Monterrosa, Deputy City Clerk Page | 3  V2018-005 5005 Peachtree Pkwy.  City of Peachtree Corners Zoning Board of Appeals August 15, 2018 CASE NUMBER: V2018-005 PROPERTY LOCATION: 5005 Peachtree Parkway 6th District, Land Lot 318, Parcel 338 CURRENT ZONING: C-2 PARCEL SIZE: 2.45 acres PROPERTY OWNER: Tepanyaki, Inc. APPLICANT: Wes Allen, MCW Realty UPDATE At the August meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals, this case was tabled to a date specific (the September meeting) so that the applicant could provide the following: • A letter from the property owner agreeing to the loss of a specific number of parking spaces for the ATM • Clarification from the applicant as to whether the ATM will be walk-up or drive-through. If drive-through, the applicant must provide a site plan addressing drive aisles, drive-through lanes, circulation, etc. • A landscape plan showing improvements to the frontage of the property adjacent to the ATM • A signage plan designed with the recommendations of the US Sign Council in mind Although Staff has been in contact with the applicant, at the date of this updated report to the ZBA, staff have received none of the requested documents and therefore cannot evaluate the applicant’s proposal further. Since the requested information is not included in this packet, it is hoped that the applicant will have documents to share with the Board at the meeting. However, regardless of how the applicant chooses to respond to the items requested at the last board meeting, the ZBA will have four options with regard to the disposition of this case: 1. Approve the application. 2. Approve the application with conditions. 3. Table the application to a future meeting to give the applicant more time to respond. 4. Deny the application. REQUEST The applicant would like to construct a detached accessory structure in the front yard of this property. The submitted plan indicates that this structure would be a walk-up ATM for Synovus Bank. Zoning Ordinance Sec. 600 permits accessory structures only in side or rear yards. If approved, the applicant would construct the ATM on three parking spaces to be removed at the front of the property along Peachtree Parkway. LOCATION AND BACKGROUND The property in question is a commercial shopping center parcel on the west side of Peachtree Parkway, north of East Jones Bridge Road, adjacent to the Ingles shopping center. The property has approximately 325 feet of frontage on Peachtree Parkway. The property was developed in 1998; the area in question for the variance request is the front of the property along Peachtree Parkway. VARIANCE REQUIREMENTS Sec. 1605.3 identifies specific findings that must be made in order for a variance to be granted. These findings are as follows: A. There are extraordinary and exceptional conditions pertaining to the particular property in question because of its size, shape or topography, and B. the requirements on this particular piece of property would create an unnecessary hardship, and C. such conditions are peculiar to the particular piece of property involved, and D. such conditions are not the result of any actions of the property owner, and E. relief, if granted, would not cause substantial detriment to the public good nor impair the purposes or intent of this Resolution. ANALYSIS The zoning ordinance requires accessory structures to be located to the side or rear of commercial properties. The property owner is not able to place the ATM to the side or rear and chose to apply for this variance. In the letter of intent, the applicant states that he evaluated the possibility of placing the ATM to the side of the existing strip mall building, but there is a Georgia Power easement located there. The applicant requested approval from Georgia Power to locate the ATM within the easement; however, the existence of overhead power lines led to Georgia Power to deny his request. The other side of the strip mall has a landscape setback area required by the zoning ordinance. Placing the ATM at this location would also necessitate a variance because the required landscaping would have to be eliminated. The rear of the property would also not be feasible for an ATM location because this is the delivery and loading area for the strip mall. While another site might have better options, this location has both zoning and easements constraints within the portions of the site that would otherwise allow the placement of an ATM facility. CONCLUSION After reviewing the applicant’s request and the variance criteria, Staff finds that a hardship may be justified at this location.  CITY OF PEACHTREE CORNERS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT 147 Technology Parkway, Suite 200, Peachtree Corners, GA 30092 Tel: 678.691.1200 | www.cityofpeachtreecornersga.com PROPERTY LOCATION MAP 5005 Peachtree Parkway CASE NUMBER V2018-005 HEARING DATE AUGUST 15, 2018 PROPERTY ADDRESS 5005 PEACHTREE PARKWAY  V2018-006 6105 Peachtree Pkwy.  City of Peachtree Corners Zoning Board of Appeals September 19, 2018 CASE NUMBER: V2018-006 PROPERTY LOCATION: 6105 Peachtree Parkway 6th District, Land Lot 283, Parcel 109 CURRENT ZONING: C-2 PARCEL SIZE: 1.02 acres PROPERTY OWNER: Chick-Fil-A, Inc APPLICANT: Brandon Guest, Clayton Signs REQUEST Chick-Fil-A will be razing and rebuilding its Peachtree Parkway location. As part of the redeveloped plan for the property, the applicant would like to increase the height of the permitted monument signs from 10’ to 22’ in overall height. One pole sign currently 25’ in overall height exists on the property at the northeast corner. If approved as submitted, the existing 25’ high pole sign would be replaced with a 22’ high monument sign on the same corner and another sign of the same size would be added at the southeastern corner of the property. LOCATION AND BACKGROUND The property in question is a one-acre commercial outparcel on the west side of Peachtree Parkway between Holcomb Bridge Road and Woodhill Drive in the Peachtree Marketplace shopping center. The property is a corner lot at the intersection of Peachtree Parkway and Woodhill Drive. The existing restaurant was developed in 1990 and is proposed to be demolished and rebuilt to better accommodate parking and drive-through traffic. The property is depressed below the grade of adjacent Peachtree Parkway by approximately 12’, thus providing the impetus for the applicant’s height variance request. VARIANCE REQUIREMENTS Sec. 1605.3 identifies specific findings that must be made in order for a variance to be granted. These findings are as follows: A. There are extraordinary and exceptional conditions pertaining to the particular property in question because of its size, shape or topography, and B. the requirements on this particular piece of property would create an unnecessary hardship, and  C. such conditions are peculiar to the particular piece of property involved, and D. such conditions are not the result of any actions of the property owner, and E. relief, if granted, would not cause substantial detriment to the public good nor impair the purposes or intent of this Resolution. ANALYSIS The sign ordinance permits signs of up to 10’ in height when set back at least 10’ from the property line, which is where the applicant is proposing to place the signs. Any increase in height (up to the ordinance maximum of 20’) requires a setback distance of 20’. In this case, the added height is needed to accommodate visibility due to the hardship created by the slope of the land. While the increased setback is logical in most scenarios, this situation is a bit unusual in that the right-of-way for Peachtree Parkway is quite wide, leaving approximately 90’ of public R.O.W. (which is currently a landscaped slope) between the applicant’s property line and the edge of pavement for Peachtree Parkway. Replacing a 25’ high pole sign with a 22’ high monument sign would generally be considered an aesthetic improvement; however, having two such signs within relatively close proximity facing the same roadway may be redundant. Instead of placing a second sign along the same road, it may better serve customers to have the permitted second sign placed at the Woodhill Drive entrance to the property. CONCLUSION After reviewing the applicant’s proposal and the variance criteria, staff finds that the variance request can be justified, as there are extraordinary conditions unique to the property that are not the result of any action of the property owner. If a variance is considered, the following conditions are recommended: • One sign, located at the corner of Peachtree Parkway and Woodhill Drive, shall be permitted in conformance with the drawing by Clayton Signs dated 8/14/2018 and submitted with this application. • One additional smaller monument sign may be permitted along the Woodhill Drive frontage of the property and shall be limited to 50 square feet in area and 5’ in overall height.  CITY OF PEACHTREE CORNERS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT 147 Technology Parkway, Suite 200, Peachtree Corners, GA 30092 Tel: 678.691.1200 | www.cityofpeachtreecornersga.com PROPERTY LOCATION MAP 6105 Peachtree Parkway CASE NUMBER V2018-006 HEARING DATE SEPTEMBER 19, 2018 PROPERTY ADDRESS 6105 PEACHTREE PARKWAY