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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPROSPECT AND COLLEGE HOTEL - PDP190014 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 2 - MODIFICATION REQUESTRequest for Modification — Section 3.2.2(J) — Setbacks (Parking) Prospect and College Hotel 2/26/2020 This narrative requests that the decision maker approve a modification of the parking setback for the parking lot proposed for the Prospect and College Hotel — which the setback would be less than the 5' minimum and average setback from a lot line. Please see the text of Section 3.2.2(J) below: 3.2.20 Setbacks (along a lot line) Setbacks. Any vehicular use area containing six (6) or more parking spaces or one thousand eight hundred (1,800) or more square feet shall be set back from the street right-of-way and the side and rear yard lot line (except a lot line between buildings or uses with collective parking) consistent with the provisions of this Section, according to the following table: Minimum Average of Entire Landscaped Setback Area (feet) Minimum Width of Setback at Any Point (feet) Along an arterial street 15 5 Along a nonarterial street 10 5 Along a lot line ' 5 5 " Setbacks along lot lines for vehicular use areas may be increased by the decision maker in order to enhance compatibility with the abutting use or to match the contextual relationship of adjacent or abutting vehicular use areas. Explanation of need for modification: As an infill site, the project is spatially constrained on the west and east property limits due to adjacent properties. The western property requires access through the proposed site to utilize the parking stalls on their property. The proposed plan accommodates the access and preserves the adjacent parking stalls. In doing this, the site is constrained by the access required impacting the proposed parking lot design. Justification for modification Reducing the parking setback along the adjacent lot line will not be detrimental to the public good. A 2.5' wide landscaped island and 6' tall vine screen along the lot line abutting the Schraders property to the north. The planting bed and vine screen will effectively provide screening of the parking area from the lot line, accomplishing the intent of the 5' landscaped setback. The proposed design meets the requirements within LUC 3.2.1(E)(4)(b) Screening. Parking lots with six (6) or more spaces shall be screened from abutting uses and from the street. Screening from residential uses shall consist of a fence or wall six (6) feet in height in combination with plant material and of sufficient opacity to block at least seventy-five (75) percent of light from vehicle headlights. Screening from the street and all nonresidential uses shall consist of a wall, fence, planter, earthen berm, plant material or a combination of such elements, each of which shall have a minimum height of thirty (30) inches. Such screening shall extend a minimum of seventy (70) percent of the length of the street frontage of the parking lot and also seventy (70) percent of the length of any boundary of the parking lot that abuts any nonresidential use. Openings in the required screening shall be permitted for such features as access ways or drainage ways. Where screening from the street is required, plans submitted for review shall include a graphic depiction of the parking lot screening as seen from the street. Plant Request for Modification — Section 3.2.2(J) — Setbacks (Parking) Prospect and College Hotel 2/26/2020 material used for the required screening shall achieve required opacity in its winter seasonal condition within three (3) years of construction of the vehicular use area to be screened. The proposed design provides the following elements meeting the screening requirements: • 6' tall vine screen fence along lot line. • Average 2.5' wide planting bed between the back of curb and vine screen fence. The design elements meet the screening requirements set forth in 3.2.1(E)(4)(b) code section. The modification requested is based on a modification of standards in the allowable criteria below: LUC Sec. 2.8.2(H)(1) — the plan as submitted will promote the general purpose of the standard for which the modification is requested equally well or better than would a plan which complies with the standard for which a modification is requested. AND LUC Sec. 2.8.2(H)(4) — the plan as submitted will not diverge from the standards of the Land Use Code that are authorized by this Division to be modified except in a nominal, inconsequential way when considered from the perspective of the entire development plan, and will continue to advance the purposes of the Land Use Code as contained in Section 1.2.2. Reducing the setback for the parking lot is a nominal and inconsequential change when considered from the perspective of the entire development plan. The proposed plan provides an equal or better plan complying with the standard which a modification is requested. The vine screen fence and planting bed will act as a better screening devise than planting and distance will be able to provide. The parking setback is an inconsequential part of the site plan, given that it will have a planting area and 6' high vine screen between the parking lot and lot line. The plan, with the requested modification, continues to advance the following purposes of the LUC: improving the design, quality and character of new development, and encouraging innovations in land development and renewal. For all the reasons cited above, the Applicant:requests a modification of the standard in LUC Section 3.2.2(J) to allow a reduced setback for the parking lot along the lot line. The Applicant proposes that the modification is not detrimental to the public good, promotes the purposes of the standard as least as well as a plan could comply with the 5-foot setback requirement, and results in an equal or better and nominal and inconsequential divergence from the standard.