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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHARMONY TECH PARK 3RD FILING LOT 1 REPLAT - PDP - PDP110001 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 1 - ALTERNATIVE COMPLIANCE REQUESTAlternatives and Exceptions Request Page 1 of 1 Alternatives and Exceptions Request Harmony Technology Park Third Filing Lot 1 – HTP Flex/Office March 1, 2011 Project Overview The proposed project includes a flex office / industrial mixed use building on a 4.919 acre lot in Harmony Technology Park. This project will be the third to occupy the Harmony Technology Park business park area after the Celestica/Intel project built several years ago. The site is located immediately west of Custom Blending. The building is anticipated to become the headquarters for a local employer (office use) in part, but the remainder is designed as spec space for other office or flex/office tenants. This building type will help to fill a market void that exists today in the area; a desirable, high- visibility location for either office tenants or those with a mix of office and light industrial needs. The building is designed to showcase multiple tenant customer storefronts, but also includes high bay and loading capabilities if needed. It is a unique product mixing office and light industrial uses, so is not specifically identified in the Land Use Code. This product is a perfect fit for this portion of the Harmony Technology Park master plan located adjacent to a similar successful office/industrial user, Custom Blending. As the future headquarters for a growing local employer, and as part of the high-quality master planned Harmony Technology Park project, the project will help to achieve many fundamental goals of City Plan and the Land Use Code. However, the unique needs of this building type result in a site plan that while meeting the intent of the code, is unable to meet two specific requirements. As a result, we would like to offer the following information specific to each request for approval: Alternative Compliance Request - Section 3.2.2.K(3) Section 3.2.2 Access, Circulation and Parking is indicated with the following purpose: Purpose. This Section is intended to ensure that the parking and circulation aspects of all developments are well designed with regard to safety, efficiency and convenience for vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians and transit, both with the development and to and from surrounding areas. The standards under 3.2.2.K(2) indicate maximum parking allowances for nonresidential uses. There is no use category that specifically identifies flex/office as a use, but the most similar use is General Office which allows: 3 spaces per1000 s.f. or .75/employee on the largest shift or 4.5/1000 s.f. if all additional parking spaces gained by the increased ratio (over 3/1000 s.f.) are contained within a parking garage/structure Section 3.2.2.K(3) provides for Alternative Compliance whereas the decision maker may approve an alternative parking ratio that may be substituted in whole or in part for a ratio meeting the standard s of this Section. As an alternative to the General Office parking allowance of 3 spaces per 1000 s.f., we are requesting a higher ratio of 4 spaces per 1000 s.f. due to conditions unique to this project: 1. We have a known primary tenant who will occupy over half of the building, Alternatives and Exceptions Request Page 2 of 2 2. There is a potential for 100% office uses in the remainder of the building, and 3. There is limited on-street parking and no shared parking availability adjacent to the project site. For consideration of the alternative compliance request, we submit the following findings for your review: Regarding the first item, the building is being designed specifically to house a primary tenant who will occupy over half (25,850 s.f.) of the building. The tenant is primarily an office use with some limited R&D space for their product designs. The tenant floor plans accommodate up to 145 employees (5.6 employees per 1000 sf). In addition, the design includes training rooms and meeting rooms for the tenant and its clients, customers and regular visitors. Based on these specific tenant needs, an increased parking allowance is justified. Item 2 is an acknowledgement of the flexible nature of this building product in the market. It is designed to be functional for a wide range of users including a mix of office/light industrial to a 100% office user similar to the primary tenant. To allow for this flexibility, we must provide adequate parking for the highest potential use, which in this case is office. Finally, there is limited on-street parking and no shared parking availability adjacent to the project site. The site is surrounded on three sides by public streets, and the fourth by a detention pond and Custom Blending. Of the three public streets, two (Rock Creek Drive and Technology Parkway) do not allow on-street parking. On-street parking is provided on Precision Drive, but is limited to approximately five spaces due to the short distance along the property between the Technology Parkway intersection and the entrance into the site. As such, we have no shared parking opportunities and limited on-street parking which are factored into the standard parking allowances in the Land Use Code. Since our parking quantities take these conditions into consideration and are based on the specific requirements of a known tenant, we submit that our alternative plan accomplishes the purposes of this section equally well or better than would a plan which complies with the standards of this Section. We further submit that this alternative parking ratio: - Does not detract from continuity, connectivity and convenient proximity for pedestrians between or among existing for future uses in the vicinity. The site and its access conform to the requirements of the approved Harmony Technology Park ODP. The site plan provides direct and convenient pedestrian connections along the streets, from the street sidewalks to the building entrances, and throughout the site between building entrances. In addition, a pedestrian connection is provided along the east property edge, where a street sidewalk is not available, to facilitate pedestrian connectivity from the Fossil Ridge High School sidewalk into the Harmony Technology Park site. - Minimizes the visual and aesthetic impact along the public street by placing parking lots to the rear or along the side of buildings, to the maximum extent feasible. This multi-tenant flex/office building type differs from a standard office building that may have a single primary visitor entrance. It includes multiple tenant customer storefronts along the north, west and south facades with a combined service area at the rear of the building. As a result, the site plan includes more distributed parking along the storefronts for customers and employees and a larger employee lot at the rear of the building. So instead, to minimize the visual and aesthetic impact along the public Alternatives and Exceptions Request Page 3 of 3 street, we have limited this distributed parking to a single bay depth in areas along the public street, and have included additional landscaping to visually buffer the parking in these areas. - Minimizes the visual and aesthetic impact on the surrounding neighborhood. As indicated above, the distributed layout and additional landscaping minimize the visual and aesthetic impact from the surrounding public streets. The east neighbor is Custom Blending. Our site plan reflects the layout of the Custom Blending site with the service zones facing their truck loading dock areas rather than their public visitor areas. - Creates no physical impact on any facilities serving alternative modes of transportation. Direct and convenient pedestrian connections are provided throughout the site. Bicycle facilities and connections to the on-street bike lanes are provided. The site plan, the Harmony Technology Park master plan, and ODP anticipate the continuation and expansion of Transfort service to the streets in the surrounding area. As the routes in the vicinity continue to change, we remain flexible by providing direct and continuous pedestrian connectivity to the adjacent public streets where the services are provided. The parking quantity has no physical impact on these facilities. - Creates no detrimental impact on natural areas or features. The parking quantity has no physical impact on these features. - Maintains handicap parking ratios. Handicap parking requirements have been met with the increased parking quantities. - For projects located in D, L-M-N, M-M-N, and C-C zone districts… (not applicable) Exception Request - Section 3.5.3(2) Section 3.5.3(2) concerns establishment of Build-to Lines for Streetfront Buildings. Section 3.5.3(2)(d)1 allows for exceptions to the build-to line standards under the following condition: In order to form an outdoor space such as a plaza, courtyard, patio or garden between a building and the sidewalk. Such a larger front yard area shall have landscaping, low walls, fencing or railings, a tree canopy and/or other similar site improvements along the sidewalk designed for pedestrian interest, comfort and visual continuity. This plaza space has been provided near the northwest corner of the site to directly connect the pedestrian spaces along the building storefront entries to the future center of the Harmony Technology Park master planned area. This connection allows for the distributed parking to the multiple tenant storefronts unique to this building type, but still provides for direct and continuous pedestrian connections to nearby (but future) destinations, and provides an outdoor gathering area for the potential tenants and their employees.