HomeMy WebLinkAboutPROSPECT AND COLLEGE HOTEL - PDP190014 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 3 - MODIFICATION REQUEST (3)Request for Modification — Section 3.2.2(J) — Setbacks (Parking)
Prospect and College Hotel
6/17/2020
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:
3.2.2(J) 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 ' S 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
6/17/2020
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.