Board of Adjustment

Planning Department March 25, 2013 The Board of Adjustment will hold its regular meeting on Monday, March 25, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall. BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT AGENDA Welcome Visitors 1. Review and approve the minutes of the February 25, 2013, Regular Meeting 2. A Public Hearing requesting approval for a variance to allow 31 parking spaces from the required 45 per Article IV., Section 4.1.1.7 Off-Street Parking Requirements/Minimum Standards submitted by Paxton Singleton of Global Surveying Consultants, Inc., for a proposed project located at 2906, 2908, 3018 North Arkansas. (BOA.13.03.3597)  BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MINUTES March 25, 2013 The Russellville Board of Adjustment met in its Regular Meeting, Monday, February 25, 2013, at 5:00 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers. Members Present: Chairman Blake Tarpley, Secretary Aldona Standridge, Vice Chairman Dusty Bonds, Jimmy Sims, and Jim Davenport. Members Absent: None Visitors/Officials Present: Mayor Bill Eaton, City Planner David Harris, City Attorney Trey Smith, Jim Lynch/City Corp, Planning Assistant Lequitta Jones WELCOME VISITORS The First Order of Business was a request to review and approve the minutes of the February 25, 2013 Regular Meeting. Member Sims moved to approve the minutes as written. The motion was seconded by Secretary Standridge and passed unanimously. The Second Order of Business was a Public Hearing requesting approval of a variance from the 45 parking spaces required per Article IV., Section 4.1.1.7 Off- Street Parking Requirements/Minimum Standards to allow 31 spaces. Submitted by Paxton Singleton of Global Surveying Consultants, Inc., for a proposed project located at 2906, 2908, 3018 North Arkansas. (BOA.13.03.3597) City Planner Harris said the zoning code stipulates 45 parking spaces for a store of this floor area, but the applicant is requesting a variance to provide just 31 spaces. Our code's parking requirements for commercial uses like this are among the toughest I’ve seen. In many cities it’s 1 space per 200sf, or 1 per 250sf. There are even cities with requirements as low as 3 per 1,000sf, or 1 for every 333sf. Mr. Harris said he believed our current code is out of line compared with many other cities. Additionally, I believe the chain stores, whether it's Walgreen's, Wal-Mart, USA Drug, or Dollar General, to some extent have a better notion of what their parking needs are based on their experiences with their other stores. It is unlikely that they would choose to have inadequate parking for their customers just to save a relatively small amount on their construction costs. Russellville, like a lot of other cities, has for many years based parking requirements on the parking needs for the busiest day of the year. That results in a lot of pavement and every square inch of pavement means water that normally would go into the ground is going to have to go someplace else. It’s an expense for the developer, it exacerbates drainage problems, and acts as a heat sink. It sits there all day long in the summer time soaking up the sun and then radiates heat the rest of the night. There are all sorts of reasons why you should avoid excessive paving if possible. Having said all that, I admit that what is essentially a request for a 1/3 reduction is a large request. The issue is whether you are convinced that what they are asking for is reasonable. City Planner Harris said he visited several area Dollar Stores to check parking levels and also spoke with employees. Based on those observations and conversations, it appears Dollar General Stores typically have three, four, maybe five employees on the biggest shift., and that during a fairly busy period they expect 12 to 15 cars to be present in the lot. Dollar general Stores do not typically experience high customer loads for the parking lot. City Planner Harris further stated that the question before you is strictly about parking. We do have the resident who lives immediately to the east of the store with some concerns not related to parking, and which were already aired at the Planning Commission's hearing re: the replat of this property. Architect Dan Bartlett represents Dollar General Store (DG). He said DG builds about 600 of these stores a year, so they know what their parking requirements are. DG will not allow less than 30 spaces. They really don’t want much more than 32 or 34. So, that would be the typical demand that DG expects. Also, from the cost standpoint every time we save a square foot of asphalt we save $1. The green space is always another concern. By giving up parking spaces we are adding green space to our project and we will sod from property line to property line. Russellville does not require landscaping, but we usually have bushes in front and other places and, with the grassed areas, really makes it look good. Mr. Bartlett said DG does not like delivery trucks to stop on the highway and back into the lot. DG does not expect to fill even the 30 spaces that we have proposed. Mr. Bartlett said the employees will park in one or two places. He said DG will tell you they park back by the dumpster, and they don’t always park by the front but they will park over to one side of the front or clear to the back. Mr. Harris said Mr. Larry Brown, who lives directly behind the proposed site of the DG store has some concerns, but that they are not directly related to parking. His lot is in residential use but it is zoned highway commercial. His concern is the noise from outside HVAC units and cooler units. But, again that is not the question before you and it will not be the question before the planning commission either. Mr. Bartlett said DG requires us to put up a 6-foot wood fence. It surely doesn’t block the sound but it lessens it somewhat. City Planner Harris said we have only had one contact and it was from Mayor Eaton, who suggested trying to squeeze ion a couple more parking spaces. He proposed moving the dumpster and putting some spaces there. He put the dumpster at the absolute rear of the loading dock. Jim Murphy, representing Larry Brown, stated they had nothing to say about the parking. Mr. Murphy said the mechanical units shown at the back of the building will be be approximately 12 feet from the back of Mr. Brown's deck. They are concerned about noise, and also about drainage issues. There is a drainage ditch that runs straight behind the chain link fence between the properties. The ditch drains all year long. Anytime you it rains, there is a lot of water in that ditch, which is just beside the chain link fence. They probably should review it at the planning meeting as to how they are going to address the drainage there. It is not all their problem. This addition was created and then annexed into the City. They have drainage issues that have been there for years and they need to be addressed. If it is not, then the water coming off that hill will come down right behind his property. Member Bonds asked City Planner Harris if moving the dumpster was a big deal or is it an issue we need to discuss? City Planner Harris said I have tried to state my opinion without going too far. In fact, I’m a little antsy that we do have a standard in the zoning code and that is our standard. But the BOA is empowered to give up to a 50% reduction if you are convinced that our standard is too stringent. Mr. Harris said I believe it is. I was at Walgreen's on Saturday and Sunday. They have 60 spaces and on Saturday there were 19 cars, and on Sunday there were just 14. We have a lot of parking lots in town that are mostly empty for big chunks of the year and are utilized fully maybe a couple days of the year. That is my point. Do we really want parking lots that are half empty most of the year. Some of the drug stores and dollar stores that I go to are more than 50% empty quite often. Mr. Bartlett said the drainage behind the building is why the dumpster is not there. We are going to reposition the heating and air to get the water around the back of the building. You can see on the site plan that we have 16 feet to the back of our property line. If we go all the way to the back of our property we would dam up that drainage way. If you want another space or two, we can massage the area and get two to four spaces. If you will look just as you come in the front drive right to the right where it says “sod” we could take that sod out and add one or two spaces there pretty easily. And if we change the angle of the dumpster just a little bit we could probably crowd one in there just in front of the dumpster. On Fir Street where the concrete is sticking out there, I’m not sure what happens there with the drainage and grade, but we could possibly put another parking space out toward Fir. Mr. Bartlett said we could obviously add two, maybe three or four spaces, if required to do so. Chairman Tarpley stated that adding spaces would use up all your green space at that point. City Planner Harris said that is correct and added that the additional spaces would add to the amount of water that has to go someplace else. Secretary Standridge said it was her opinion that we needed to keep the green space area there. Secretary Standridge made the motion to approve the parking variance subject to the Planning Commission’s approval of the Preliminary/Final Plat. The motion was seconded by Member Davenport and passed unanimously. Adjourned. _________________________ Chairman Blake Tarpley