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CBC 10-01-2015MEETING NOTICE October 1, 2015 THE CITY BEAUTIFUL COMMISSION WILL HOLD ITS REGULAR MEETING AT 1 1:30 A.M. ON THURSDAY October 1, 2015, AT CURRAN HALL, 615 E. CAPITOL AVENUE AGENDA CALL TO ORDER: Ed Peek ROLL CALL: Tracy Spillman APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES: September 3, 2015 VARIANCE REQUESTS: ITEM NO. 1, C.B.C. 641- NEW MATTERS TREASURER'S REPORT: EXPENSES REPORT WALLY COMMITTEE REPORT: UPDATES ■ COMMUNITY PROJECTS o CITY HALL SOUTH YARD STEVE, ASHLEY CARRIE BOB ■ PUBLIC RELATIONS CHRIS HANCOCK CHRIS MORGAN • KLRB (UPDATE) (4th Wed / Noon) WALLY ■ ADOPT -A -STREET COORDINATORS WALLY • EYE OF THE BEHOLDER CARRIE, ED, WALLY ■ LANDSCAPE AWARDS STEVE • TREE FUNDS STEVE • CITY BEAUTIFUL EXHIBIT CHRIS HANCOCK ■ OTHER CITIES CHRIS MORGAN NEW BUSINESS: ANNOUNCEMENTS: • NEXT MEETING - Thursday, November 5, 2015 ■ Adopt A Street Pickup - To be decided ADJOURNMENT October 01, 2015 ITEM NO. 1 C.S.C. 641- NEW MATTERS Applicant: Jordan Draper, Kimley Horn ❑eve Ashbury Automotive Arkansas Dealership Holdings LLC Agent Jordan Draper Address: 4621 Colonel Glenn Plaza Drive Description: NE corner of Colonel Glenn Road and Colonel Glenn Plaza Drive ORDINANCE REQUIRMENTS: Chapter 15, Sec. 15-95. Screening requirements. The grading and landscaping of a site shall be accomplished in such a way as to visually screen the vehicular use area and certain other activities external to buildings on the site from the street and adjacent more restrictive land uses: (4) Species and spacing requirements. Screening standards are intended to apply during all seasons of the year. A minimum of fifty (50) percent of the trees and a minimum of seventy-five (75) percent of the shrubs to be used for screening purposes shall be evergreen varieties. Maximum spacing's of fifteen (15) feet for trees and three (3) feet for shrubs should normally be utilized in order to provide continuous full screening of the view. Chapter 15, Sec. 15-96. Perimeter planting strips. (a) A perimeter planting strip is required along any side of a vehicular use area that abuts adjoining property or the right-of-way of any street, highway or freeway. This strip shall be at least nine (9) feet wide. (b) Trees shall be planted with an average linear spacing of not less than thirty (30) feet within the required landscape or buffer area. Three (3) shrubs or vines for every thirty (30) linear feet shall be planted in the perimeter planting strip. Massing is permitted as long as trees are spaced not more than one hundred (100) linear feet apart including width of driveway. L1!TLC ROCK CITY BEAUTIFUL C0MMIsS10N The City Beautiful Commission held its regular meeting at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, October 1, 2015, at Curran Hall, 615 E. Capitol Avenue. Chairman Ed Peek called the meeting to order. MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT: Ed Peek Steve Homeyer Chris Hancock Wally Loveless Chris Morgan Becca Webb Two Open Positions Jordan Thomas Bob Winchester Carrie Young ALSO PRESENT: Beth Carpenter, City Attorney's Office Dana Carney, Zoning and Subdivision Manager, Department of Planning and Development, City of Little Rock. APPROVAL OF THE SEPTEMBER 3, 2015 MINUTES: Chairman Peek entertained a motion to approve the September 3, 2015 Minutes. Commissioner Young made note of one needed correction. A motion was Evade and seconded to approve the minutes, as corrected. The motion was approved by unanimous vote. Variance Request: CBC Case # 6414621 Colonel Glenn Plaza Drive FINDINGS: On October 16, 2014 (file no. Z-3371-YY) the Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit to allow for the development of an automobile dealership on this vacant, C-2 zoned, 5.2 acre lot. The development will consist of a 42,000 square foot building which will contain a showroom floor, office spaces, and a service center. Access to the site will be via a single driveway off of Colonel Glenn Plaza Drive. The site will contain paved parking for 358 vehicles to be used for customers, employees and vehicle display. A portion of the parking on the west and east sides has been designed as stacked vehicle display with 2 to 3 rows stacked behind the other. An additional paved display area with an unconventional parking layout is indicated at the southern point of the site. Staff is not opposed to the arrangement of parking in these areas since they will be used for vehicle display and inventory parking, not in and out employee or customer usage. Bollard type fencing is proposed around the site. The required 30 foot buffer on Colonel Glenn Road ranges from 19.5 feet to as much as 40 +/- feet at the intersection. The buffer on Colonel Glenn Plaza Drive ranges from 20 - 25 feet with two small points where it is reduced to 15 feet. Staff is satisfied with the perimeter buffers. Building and site plans were filed for permit review in January 2015. The building permit was denied in part due to the landscape plan not meeting all of the code requirements. Specifically, the trees and shrubs were omitted from the north perimeter planting strip, the shrubs required for screening the vehicular use area from the Colonel Glenn Road right-of-way had exceeded the spacing requirement of a maxima n three (3) feet, and the required square footage for the interior parking and building landscape areas was insufficient. At the northern perimeter there is approximately five (500) linear feet of vehicular use area that abuts adjoining property and a perimeter planting strip that exceeds the nine (9) foot minimum. A retaining wall approximately fifteen (15) feet in height is located on the subject property and additional retaining wall approximately fifteen (15) feet in height is located within the adjacent properties perimeter landscape strip. Plant material required for this area includes trees a minimum of two (2) inches in caliper spaced an average of not less than thirty (30) linear feet. Additionally, three (3) shrubs or vines a minimum of eighteen (18) inches in height at installation are also to be provided for every thirty (30) linear feet of perimeter planting strip. A total of seventeen (17) trees and fifty (50) shrubs would be required for this area. A revised plan was resubmitted in March 2015 that met or exceeded the landscape requirements that were noted during the initial review process and a building permit was approved. The applicant has since requested the screening shrubs be eliminated between the street right-of- way and the inventory display area at the southwest corner of the site and be replaced with groundcover. The applicant has stated that this area will be used for public viewing of the inventory and not for parking. In addition a request has been made to waive the required seventeen (17) trees and fifty (50) shrubs that are to be located in the north landscape perimeter planting strip. The applicant has stated that there are two fifteen (15) foot retaining walls located within this area that will provide screening for the subject property and from its northern neighbor. All other areas have remained unchanged from the March 2015 approved plan. Adequate space for the required north perimeter landscape exist. An approximate nine (9) feet in width terrace area is provided between the top of the retaining wall and the north property line. In addition the adjacent property has provided the required landscape at the bottom of the retaining wall located on their property and the shared property line of this terrace. The total terrace area spanning both properties is approximately twenty (24) feet in width. In the past staff has been supportive of allowing groups of shrub material between car dealership display areas and the street right-of-ways in lieu of the continuous evergreen shrub screen as required by the ordinance. Examples of this treatment can be found at other auto dealers within close proximity of this site. However, in no instance has the substitution of low ground cover been allowed to replace all of the shrubs that are required between the street right-of-way and the interior vehicular use area. STAFF RECOM MNDATION: Staff recommends denial of this request. CITY BEAUTIFUL COMMISSION ACTION: At the request of the applicant the commissioners voted to defer Case #641 to the September 03, 2015 meeting. The applicant was not present at the September meeting and again the commissioners voted to defer the case to the October 01, 2015 meeting. The applicant has since revised the landscape plan. As originally requested these revisions include removing the required (17) trees and fifty (50) shrubs that are to be located in the north landscape perimeter planting strip. This revision replaces the required shrub material with one thousand and forty-two (1,042) one (1) gallon Asian Jasmine groundcover plants placed twenty- four (24) inches on center. In addition seven (7) of the required seventeen (17) trees are shown relocated to the east perimeter planting strip. The applicant has requested that a donation to the TREE fund be accepted in lieu of installing the remaining ten (10) trees elsewhere on site. As part of this revised plan the screening shrubs between the street right-of-way and the inventory display area at the southwest corner of the site have included. However, these do not provide a continuous screen as required by the ordinance and are grouped together to provide site lines to the inventory. This treatment has been utilized and been allowable for other automobile dealerships in close proximity to this site. STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff is supportive of the revised plan and this request. CITY BEAUTIFUL COMMISSION ACTION: OCT. 1 2015: Jordan Draper was present representing the application. Staff presented the revised application and a recommendation of approval. Mr. Draper added no additional comments. In response to a question from Commissioner Homeyer, Mr. Draper stated the terraced area (where the Asian Jasmine groundcover is proposed) would be irrigated as required by the code. There was no further discussion. A motion was made to approve the variance request, as amended, subject to the applicant making a contribution to the T.R.E.E. fund for ten (10) trees. The motion was seconded and approved by unanimous vote. TREASURER'S REPORT: Expense Report: Commissioner Loveless stated: That there had been no changes. COMMITTEE REPORTS: LPDATES: Community Pro'ects City Hall South Yard: Commissioner Homeyer stated: • He had nothing new to report. He explained the proposed project to the newer commissioners. Public Relations: Commissioner Hancock stated there had been good response to the Commission's Facebook page. KLRB: Commissioner Loveless stated he had stepped down as KLRB representative. Commissioner Thomas stated he had made contact with KLRB as CBC's replacement and was scheduled to receive minutes and to attend the October meeting. Adopt -A -Street: ■ The commissioners discuss dates for a cleanup. It was decided that the next cleanup would be Saturday October 3, 2015 at 8:00 am. Eye of the Beholder: Commissioner Young stated there had been no new nominations. In response to a question from Commissioner Loveless, Commissioner Young stated she would contact staff member Tracy Spillman to make sure all nominations and recognitions were up to date. . Landscape Awards: Commissioner Homeyer stated the award presentation was scheduled for the October 20, 2015 Board of Directors' meeting. Chairman Peek stated he had attempted contact with the winners and was following up with a letter. Commissioner Hancock stated he would contact Tipton and Hurst Florist for presentation roses for that evening. Commissioner Homeyer showed copies of the hand- out from last year's presentation. Commissioner Thomas stated he would prepare the new ones for October 20. During the following discussion, it was determined that Commissioner Homeyer had the yard signs for the award recipients, Chairman Peek was doing the award posters and the commissioners would meet with the recipients in the City Hall rotunda at 5:30 on the 20t". Staff member Spillman is to prepare the power point presentation for that evening in the following order (1) US Pizza Heights (2) Southwest Power Pool (3) Oley Rooker Library. T.R.E.E Fund: Commissioner Homeyer stated he had an updated list from staff. Staff member Carney stated there was $34, 004.92 in the T.R.E.E. fund, not including the contribution required as a result of today's variance approval. Mr. Carney stated he would ask Mr. Spillman to forward the spread sheet to the commissioners. Commissioner Young asked if staff could provide a total dollar amount for the funds that are available in Ward 1. City Beautiful Exhibit: Commissioner Hancock stated there was nothing new to report. Other Cities Committee: Commissioner Morgan was not present and there was no report. NEW BUSINESS: Chairman Peek stated nominations for new officers needed to be made, with the election to be at the November meeting. The following nominations were made. Chairman: Ed Peek Vice -Chairman: Steve Homeyer Treasurer: Jordan Thomas Commissioner Winchester stated he had spoken with a representative of the Urban Forestry Council and that organization was to meet in October to discuss the possibility of participating in a joint booth at the 2016 garden Show. He stated he would report back to the commission and it was possible that a member of the Urban Forestry Council could come to the commission's November 2015 meeting. ANOUNCEMENTS: ■ That the next Adopt -A -Street will be Saturday October 3, 2015 at 8:00 am The next meeting will be November 5, 2015 ADJOURNMENT: A motion was made, seconded and approved to adjourn. The meeting was adjourned at 12:09 pm LITTLE ROCK CITY BEAUTIFUL COMMISSIOM DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT - 723 WEST MARKHAM - LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS 72201 PHONE: 501 371-4864 FAX: 501 371-6863 E-MAIL: DSPILI.MAMtt-bLIT-TLiROCK.OBG WEBSITE: WWW.LRCITYBEAUTIFULCOMMISSION.ORG