HomeMy WebLinkAboutRIDGEWOOD HILLS FIFTH FILING - PDP190018 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 3 - MODIFICATION REQUESTRequest for Modification – Section 3.2.1(E)(5) – Parking Lot Interior Landscaping –
Apartment Building Area
Ridgewood Hills Fifth Filing
4/This 15/narrative 2020 requests that the decision maker approve a modification of the interior
landscape parking requirement for the Ridgewood Hills Fifth Filing Project– which the
percentage of landscape would be less than 10% of the required landscape in the
parking area located within the multi-family apartment area.
Please see the text of Section 3.2.1(E)(5) below:
3.2.1(E)(5) Parking Lot Interior Landscaping
Parking Lot Interior Landscaping . As required in Section 3.2.2(M)(1) Access, Circulation
and Parking, six (6) percent of the interior space of all parking lots with less than one
hundred (100) spaces, and ten (10) percent of the interior space of all parking lots with one
hundred (100) spaces or more shall be landscape areas. (See Figure 1).
All parking lot islands, connecting walkways through parking lots and driveways through or
to parking lots shall be landscaped according to the following standards:
(a) Visibility. To avoid landscape material blocking driver sight distance at
driveway-street intersections, no plant material greater than twenty-four (24) inches in
height shall be located within fifteen (15) feet of a curbcut.
(b) Maximized Area of Shading. Landscaped islands shall be evenly distributed to
the maximum extent feasible. At a minimum, trees shall be planted at a ratio of at least one
(1) canopy shade tree per one hundred fifty (150) square feet of internal landscaped area
with a landscaped surface of turf, ground cover perennials or mulched shrub plantings.
(c)Landscaped Islands. In addition to any pedestrian refuge areas,
each landscaped island shall include one (1) or more canopy shade trees, be of length
greater than eight (8) feet in its smallest dimension, include at least eighty (80) square feet
of ground area per tree to allow for root aeration, and have raised concrete curbs.
Explanation of need for modification:
In an effort to balance the parking needs of the apartment site and maintain existing
environmental features the requisite % of interior landscape within the parking areas is
not possible without sacrificing one of the listed requirements above. Parking within a
multi-family development is critical and the project is at a minimum parking count, which
includes on-street parking directly adjacent to this area. In addition, the design team has
made substantial efforts to maintain the existing natural feature that is in integral to the
sites look and feel and we feel that any impact to this would be a detriment to the project
and the public good. The required interior parking requirement is 10%. We are currently
showing 7.7% for the interior landscaping within the parking areas in the apartment area.
Justification for modification
Reducing the interior landscape within the apartment building area will not be
detrimental to the public good. Other minimum landscape requirements are being met
Request for Modification – Section 3.2.1(E)(5) – Parking Lot Interior Landscaping –
Apartment Building Area
Ridgewood Hills Fifth Filing
4/for 15/all 2020 parking areas, including parking islands and canopy tree planting adjacent to
buildings. In addition, an open green space between two of the apartment buildings will
provide landscape for the residents and should offset the interior parking lot landscape
requirement. Again, the project has made extraordinary efforts to maintain a minimum
parking count as well as the natural landscape features that make this property so
attractive.
The modification requested is based on a modification of standard that (3) - by reason
of exceptional physical conditions or other extraordinary and exceptional situations,
unique to such property, including, but not limited to, physical conditions such as
exceptional narrowness, shallowness or topography, or physical conditions which
hinder the owner's ability to install a solar energy system, the strict application of the
standard sought to be modified would result in unusual and exceptional practical
difficulties, or exceptional or undue hardship upon the owner of such property,
provided that such difficulties or hardship are not caused by the act or omission of the
applicant
LUC Sec. 2.8.2(H)(4) – By reason of exceptional physical conditions or
extraordinary and exceptional situations.
Would suggest not paraphrasing criterion (4) and cite the entire sentence as
written in the code.
Reducing the interior landscape is by reason of exceptional physical condition,
extraordinary and exceptional situation when considered from the perspective of
the entire development plan. The proposed plan provides a need for affordable
housing within the City. The development plan was designed to provide a buffer
and transition from the existing neighborhoods to the west and thus the reason
for the location of the multi-family apartment buildings along College. The
location of these buildings was something that was commented on from the
neighborhood meeting and discussed internally between the client and design
team. For that reason, and in an effort to minimize the impacts to the existing
natural features that create an exceptional physical condition on this site, we
have come up short by 2.3% for the interior parking lot landscape requirement.
For all the reasons cited above, the Applicant requests a modification of the standard in
LUC Section 3.2.1(E)(5) to allow a reduced interior landscape requirement within the
parking areas for the multi-family apartment parking areas.