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CBC 01-08-2015MEETING NOTICE January 8, 2015 THE CITY BEAUTIFUL COMMISSION WILL HOLD ITS REGULAR MEETING AT 11:30 A.M. ON THURSDAY January 8, 2015, AT CURRAN HALL, 615 E. CAPITOL AVENUE AGENDA CALL TO ORDER: Ed Peek ROLL CALL: Tracy Spillman APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES: December 4, 2014 VARIANCE REQUESTS: CBC - Case 634 TREASURER'S REPORT: • EXPENSES REPORT WALLY COMMITTEE REPORT: UPDATES • COMMUNITY PROJECTS 0 1-630 TREES WALLY/ED o CITY HALL SOUTH YARD STEVE/LYNN ■ PUBLIC RELATIONS o WEBSITE LYNN CHRIS MORGAN o Communications • KLRB (UPDATE) (4t" Wed / Noon) WALLY • ADOPT -A -STREET COORDINATORS WALLY • EYE OF THE BEHOLDER CARRIE, ED, WALLY • LANDSCAPE AWARDS STEVE • Tree Funds STEVE NEW BUSINESS: Variance Re nest CBC - Case 634 ANNOUNCEMENTS: • NEXT MEETING - • Adopt A Street Pickup - ADJOURNMENT Thursday, February 5, 2015 To be decided (January 10?) The City Beautiful Commission held its regular meeting at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, January 08, 2015, at Curran Hall, 615 E. Capitol Avenue. Chairman Ed Peek called the meeting to order. MEMBERS PRESENT: Ed Peek Wally Loveless Steve Homeyer Chris Morgan Chris Hancock Bob Winchester Ashley Jones MEMBERS ABSENT: Lynn Warren Carrie Young Two Open Positions ALSO PRESENT: Debra Weldon, City Attorney's Office Dana Carney, Zoning and Subdivision Manager, Department of Planning and Development, City of Little Rock D. Tracy Spillman, Plans Development Administrator, Department of Planning and Development, City of Little Rock. APPROVAL OF THE NOVEMBER MINUTES: Motion: Chairman Peek entertained a motion to approve the November 06, 2014 Minutes. Commissioner Homeyer made a motion to approve. Second: Commissioner Winchester seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Chairman Peek noted a quorum was not present at the December 04, 2014 meeting, no official CBC business was transacted, and no motions or votes occurred. The notes that were transcribed from the informal discussion of the agenda by the commissioners would not need to be approved. Variance Request: CBC Case 634, 5514 / 5520 West Markham, Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen Chairman Peek opened the public hearing for the variance request located at 5514 / 5520 West Markham. The applicant has requested rezoning of the site from 0-3, General Office District to PD-C to allow the redevelopment of the site with a restaurant. The applicant is proposing to raze the existing empty dated medical office buildings and redevelop the site with a Popeye's restaurant. The site is located within the Mid -town Design Overlay District, which requires new development to be reviewed through the planned zoning development process. The applicant is proposing construction of a 2,695 square foot space. The entryways for the building will be facing the primary parking area for the development (east) and the street (West Markham Street). The site plan indicates pedestrian access to the building from the two (2) abutting streets and through the primary parking area. The service entrance will be on the north end of the building adjacent to the alley. The development is indicated with 17-parking spaces. In this case the ordinance would typically require 26-parking spaces to serve a restaurant use. All parking will be on the east and west sides of the building. There will be no parking in the front or rear of the building. There is a drive lane located in front of the building along West Markham Street. With the drive lane and a landscape strip, the building will be sitting 19-feet from the front property line. The site plan as submitted indicates the minimum landscape strip along North Taylor Street and the eastern perimeter of the site. The landscape strip along West Markham Street is indicated at 5-feet which is insufficient to meet the buffer and landscape ordinance requirement of 6-feet 9- inches adjacent to paved areas. There is no access to North Taylor Street. Access to the alley located along the northern perimeter is eliminated with the use of a wooden privacy fence which will serve to provide the required sound deflection for the menu board speakers. The applicant has indicated with the new construction all existing trees will be removed from the site. The site plan review filed with the Planning Commission was placed on the December 18, 2014 Subdivision Hearing Agenda. Overall staff was not supportive of the request. The development is proposed within an area which has been identified on the City's Future Land Use Plan as Office. The commercial uses have primarily been located nearer the intersections of West Markham and University Avenue and West Markham and Fair Park Boulevard / North Van Buren Street. This area is an office corridor. Staff does not feel this is an appropriate location for commercial use and more specifically a fast food restaurant. On December 18, 2014, the Little Rock Planning Commission voted unanimously to deny approval of the PD-C. STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends denial of this request. Chairman Peek inquired as to why the City Beautiful Commission would hear this case if it had been denied by the Little Rock Planning Commission on December 18, 2014 Staff Member Carney explained the applicant has appealed the Planning Commission's decision and since there is a variance the involves the City Beautiful Commission the applicant would like to go through the complete process and be able to present all findings to the Board of Directors. Presentation: Agent Stuart Mackey stated: The existing properties / buildings on the proposed site for the Popeye's restaurant are now vacant. The redevelopment of this property will benefit the area. This development will allow for more landscape and open area which will contribute to the neighborhood and provide a development which will not be as dense as the previous property usage. Mr. Mackey further stated that he had spoken with the Hillcrest Neighborhood Association to which there was no opposition and to the Merchants Association which had no comment. In addition Mr. Mackey stated that he had also spoken with the Mid -Town Overlay District and they did have a conflict with the Planning Departments recommendation of where the building should be placed on the site. It was then stated the Mid -Town Overlay District wanted the building closer to the street while the Planning Department wanted the building further from the street to allow for more landscape. Mr. Mackey further stated that the placement of an order board at the back of the property would require a bypass lane to allow traffic to move unimpeded around the site. When providing this lane a six (6) foot nine (9) inch street perimeter on Markham is the only requirement that cannot be met. Mr. Mackey further stated that there is a larger than normal landscape area in the public right-of-way which creates an additional buffer that provides a total of eight (8) feet of landscape between the building and the back of curb. In addition, roughly fifty-seven (57) feet of the one hundred and forty-three (143) feet of frontage on Markham does not meet the required perimeter depth of six (6) foot nine (9) inches but in no case does it drop below five (5) feet. The existing property is paved with asphalt to the back of curb. Five (5) existing trees will be removed with the new development. Twenty-two (22) new trees will be installed as part of the proposed landscape plan, included will be nine (9) Foster Holly and (13) Maple trees. Six of the proposed trees will be located in the Markham perimeter. In addition other landscape material will be added to the site. Mr. Mackey then stated that he and his client are working to meet the goal of the City Beautiful Commission, to raise the community expectation for the quality of its environment. Taking properties that have limited or no landscape areas along street frontages, adding trees and other plants, reducing the size of the constructed buildings, and providing an improved and actively maintained landscape area. Chairman Peek: Inquired if the building could be reduced in size to allow for the additional required landscape area. Mr. Mackey stated: By doing this the building would be more than twenty (20) feet from the property line which would not be allowable under the Mid -Town Overlay District. Mr. Mackey then again noted that the conflicting requirements and explained his understanding of this to the commissioners. Commissioner Loveless inquired if the Popeye's Corporation offered a smaller square footage building that would be better suited for the site and allow for the six (6) foot nine (9) inch perimeter planting strip along Markham. Mr. Mackey stated he did not believe that option existed and corporate actually wanted to place a larger building on the site. Chairman Peek suggested moving the building back fifteen (15) inches. Staff Member Carney explained that to make any changes to the site would require that the plan be reviewed once again by the Planning Commission. Chairman Peek stated that he believed that the proposed site plan was much better than that of other fast food restaurants in the area and that the proposed landscape on other areas of the site exceeds the requirements. Commissioner Homeyer inquired if the planting strip would be flat or bermed. The commissioners then discussed the benefits of adding a berm to this area. Commissioner Winchester inquired about the traffic related to this type of business. Mr. Mackey discussed the traffic studies that were performed in relation to this site and the proposed restaurant. Commissioner Winchester inquired if any future widening of the site would destroy the planned perimeter. Staff member Carney explained that any future widening would be accomplished in the public right-of-way and the perimeter would remain undisturbed. Commissioner Loveless inquired if the site would work better if there was an exit from the parking area to North Taylor Road. Mr. Mackey explained that both Mid -Town and Staff wanted to limit the number of access points. By placing the only exit at Markham this would eliminate intrusion back into the neighborhood. Chairman Peek recommended approval with the condition that a berm a minimum of eighteen (18) inches in height be placed in the proposed perimeter planting strip adjacent to Markham. Motion: Chairman Peek entertained a motion to approve the variance request. Commissioner Homeyer made a motion that the proposed variance request be accepted with the condition that an eighteen (18) inch berm be added to the proposed five (5) foot perimeter planting strip adjacent to Markham to help satisfy the six (6) foot nine (9) inch requirement Second: Commissioner Winchester seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. TREASURER'S REPORT: Expense Report: Commissioner Loveless stated: ■ That the CBC did receive a check book and deposit booklets ■ That he spoken City to Little Rock Treasury Manager Scott Massanelli and inquired if the CBC will now be receiving monthly statements. ■ That business cards will be orderd for the new members. Commissioner Homeyer inquired if the CBC had received the budgeted amount from the City of Little Rock. City Attorney Weldon confirmed that $2500.00 been approved. COMMITTEE REPORTS: UPDATES: Community Projects I-630 Trees: ■ The commissioners briefly discussed this and decided that the I-630 Trees can betaken off the Agenda since there is no opportunity planting in this area. City Hall South Yard: ■ Commissioner Homeyer stated he will have more information at the next meeting. Public Relations Website: Chairman Peek stated: ■ That he had received an email from Commissioner Warren summarizing a meeting that took place at Plans Development Administrator, D. Tracy Spillman's office. Attendees included Commissioner Warren, Commissioner Hancock, Commissioner Winchester, and Staff Member Spillman. Commissioner Hancock summarized this meeting to the other commissioners and stated that instructions were given as to how to upload information and maintain the to the CBC website. Commissioner Warren's report follows: Website Report At our training session on Monday, I showed Chris H., Tracy and Bob how to upload pdfs and photos to the website and gave a rough showing of the admin element of the website. We discovered that Tracy has the ability to change word/excel docs into pdf so that is helpful. You can only upload pdf docs onto the website. As I mentioned to the group, originally, we started the website for two reasons: education/PR about CBC and to transfer large files, primarily for the Variance Hearings. We used to receive the maps and photos by email and they were too large and they were bouncing in people's emails, especially home emails, etc. So it was easier to post them online and let people download the maps from the website. Then, we also wanted to communicate what the CBC did and that is the rest of the site. We discovered that a lot of people were using the Hearing page to see what variances were presented and the results, the Meeting page was also popular and some people wanted to read old meeting minutes. Another popular page was the Resource page which has a lot of related links. When Chris is able to get the site statistics, we will know more about our site and which pages are now popular which might help direct development on those pages and maybe some changes on the other ones. I will go over and make a report of items/pages that need to be addressed or areas where updates are needed. And of course, Chris is welcome to changes things as needed for afresh update which is needed. I have gone thru and omitted old files (some I can't and I will contact Aristotle again about eliminating those old files). We ran into a problem with uploading info on the website a couple of years back because we had too many old files on and the solution was to get rid of the old files no longer in use to free up space. I hope to finish up some loose ends, mainly archive files (i.e., finish and attach the 2013 & 2014 Variance reports and 2014 Meeting record). 1 updated the calendar attachments and the Calendar page and updated the dates on the Meeting page for easy use. I had suggested to Tracy it would be nice if he could upload the draft minutes when he has them done onto the Meeting Page and upload the Variance Info when there is a variance, i.e., basic info, attach pdfs of description and maps, on the Hearing Page. He agreed to do that. Then Chris could be responsible for uploading other meeting info and managing the pages as needed. Chris is familiar with this style of website template so it should be an easy transition. I think it is important to have one main person handling the website management rather than a lot of people for a better presentation. That person can screen information for whether it should go online. I think they can try to handle the website for the next meeting and I will be available to help. 1 hope to have loose ends done by the end of February and will prepare a report of what items still need to be addressed. Communications: Commissioner Morgan: ■ There is nothing new to report. Commissioner Hancock stated that he had investigated what would be required for the CBC to acquire a Facebook page. He further stated that since social media has changed and become more mainstream it may be to the CBC's advantage to once again petition the City Manager for this request. KLRB: Commissioner Loveless stated: a He had missed the last meeting. a There will be a City wide clean-up in March. a There will be a fundraiser in April. a The 20'' anniversary of the Adopt -A -Street program will be recognized this spring. Adopt -A -Street: Commissioner Loveless stated: a That a date need's to be chosen for the next clean-up. Eye of the Beholder: Commissioner Young was absent and there was no report. a Commissioner Loveless suggested that the different neighborhood associations be contacted about the Eye of the Beholder Awards. • Staff Member Carney suggested that a letter be drafted and that and be forwarded to Plans Development Administrator Spillman. This letter can then be sent to the different Associations. a Commissioner Loveless volunteered to draft this letter. Landscape Awards: Commissioner Homeyer stated: That signs have been ordered and the receipt had been turned into Plans Development Administrator Spillman. T.R.E.E Fund: Commissioner Homeyer stated: + There has been no change. NEW BUSUINESS: Chairman Peek stated: A date needs to be set for the CBC Retreat. Commissioner Homeyer explained the CBC Retreat to the new commissioners. The commissioners discussed possible dates for this meeting. Commissioner Homeyer stated he would contact Julie Robbins of Mangan Holcomb Partners about facilitating the retreat and possible dates. ANOUNCEMENTS: Chairman Peek stated: The next meeting will be February 5"' at 11:30am. ■ The next Adopt -A -Street cleanup will be January 17' at 9:00am. ADJOURNMENT: Motion: Chairman Peek entertained a motion to adjourn. Commissioner Loveless made a motion to adjourn. Second: Commissioner Winchester seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 12:36 pm LITTLE ROCK CITY BEAUTIFUL COMMISSIOM DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT - 723 WEST MARKHAM - LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS 72201 PHONE: 501 371-4864 FAX: 501371-6863 E-MAIL: DSPILLM N A L1TTLE[t4CK.2RQ WEBSITE: WWW.LRCITYBEAUTIFULCOMMISSION.ORG