HomeMy WebLinkAboutPROSPECT AND COLLEGE HOTEL - PDP190014 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 3 - MODIFICATION REQUEST (2)Request for Modification — Section 3.10.4(C) — Off-street Parking
Prospect and College Hotel
6/17/2020
This narrative requests that the decision maker approve a modification of the off-street
parking location for the Prospect and College Hotel — which parking is located in front of
a building facing a street.
Please see the text of Section 3.10.4(C) below:
3.10.4(C) Off-street Parking.
(C) Off-street Parking. Off-street parking shall be located behind, above, within
or below street -facing buildings to the maximum extent feasible. No parking will
be allowed between the street and the front or side of a building.
Explanation of need for modification:
The proposed building facing College Ave. has a proposed setback from the right of way
exceeding 35 feet, which is more than double the minimum setback allowed within the
TOD zone of 15 feet. The proposed building is setback at a greater distance to allow for
the following design elements:
• Enhanced pedestrian streetscape per the Midtown in Motion Plan.
• Enlarged landscape planting to reduce the perception of the overall building
height along the College Ave. corridor. Which was a condition of approval for the
stand along modification that was previously approved.
• Privacy for hotel guests.
The parking lot is setback approximately 17 feet from the right of way, with is consistent
to the allowable setbacks within the TOD zone. The parking lot cannot be setback any
further to the west due to existing site limitations which include adjacent property access,
site utilities, fire access, drainage and reduction of parking quantities.
Justification for modification
The intent of the standard is so that the parking is subordinate to the design of the
building face. The proposed plan achieves this in the following ways:
• The proposed building face has activated storefront windows with activated
internal uses, enhanced building materials, and high level of detail facing the
College Ave. street front.
• The proposed building has a setback from the right of way exceeding 35 feet,
which is more than double the minimum setback allowed within the TOD zone of
15 feet.
• The proposed plan intends to activate the College Ave. streetscape with
enhanced pedestrian elements including boulder seat walls, detached sidewalk
with parkway planting, plaza spaces, and a native garden like landscape with
canopy trees within the enlarged setback.
Request for Modification — Section 3.10.4(C) — Off-street Parking
Prospect and College Hotel
6/17/2020
• The proposed plan provides a 17 foot setback from the right of way to the parking
lot projection. The parking lot layout has the vehicles parallel to College, and will
be screened with native deciduous and evergreen plants, as well as a four foot
tall vine screen fence on the northern portion of the parking lot.
The proposed plan activates the building fagade by emphasizing the street facing fagade
making it have the appearance of the primary face along College even though the
parking lot extends past the face, making it subordinate.
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.
The placement of off-street parking in front of the building facade 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 plan, with the requested modification, continues to advance the following purposes
of the LUC: improving the design, quality and character of new development, increasing
public access to mass transit, sidewalks, trails, bicycle routes and other alternative
modes of transportation, 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 3.10.4(C) to allow off-street parking to extend past the building facade
along College Ave. 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 placement requirement, and results in an equal or better, and nominal
and inconsequential divergence from the standard.