Z-5675-C Staff Analysis• December 17, 2009
ITFM NO_- 3
FILE NO.: Z -5675-C
NAME: Philander Smith College Student Housing —
Conditional Use Permit
LOCATION: One Trudie Kibbe Reed Drive
OWNER/APPLICANT: Philander Smith College
PROPOSAL: A conditional use permit is requested to allow for the
phased construction of four new dormitory buildings
on this R-4 zoned college campus.
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SITE LOCATION:
The main part of the college campus occupies the nine blocks bounded by
Chester Street, Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive, Gaines Street and 1-630.
The dormitories are proposed to be constructed in the east -central portion
of the campus.
COMPATIBILITY WITH NEIGHBORHOOD:
The College has been at this location since 1882. The current boundaries
of the main campus were generally established during the 1930's and
1940's. 1-630 abuts the campus on the north. Mount Holly Cemetery is
located across Gaines Street to the east. An area of C-3 zoned properties
containing several smaller uses is located to the south, across Daisy
Bates. The properties across Chester Street to the West are zoned 0-3,
R-4 and 1-2 and contain a variety of uses. The proposed dormitories are
to replace existing buildings on the campus. Allowing construction of the
new buildings will not affect the college's continued compatibility with the
neighborhood.
All owners of properties located within 200 feet of the campus, all
residents within 300 feet who could be identified and the Downtown
Neighborhood Association and Capitol Zoning Administrator were notified
of -this request.
3. ON SITE DRIVES AND PARKING:
The campus currently contains 440,000 square feet of building space, of
which, 50,000 square feet are not used or fit to be used. The current
student population is 600 students. The parking requirement for a college
is one space per every 300 square feet of building area or one space
for every 4 students, whichever is greater. Parking requirement is
1,300 spaces for the usable 390,000 square feet or 150 spaces for the
December 17, 2009
ITEM NO.: 3 (Cont.) FILE NO.: Z -5675-C
600 students. The campus currently contains 536 surface parking spaces,
only 150 of which are used on a daily basis by students and faculty. The
school's master plan ultimately anticipates an enrollment of 1,000 students
in 648,200 square feet of building area. Under this plan, 740 parking
spaces will be located on the campus. Since many of the students do not
drive to the school, the proposed parking appears to be sufficient.
4. SCREENING AND BUFFERS:
Site plan must comply with the City's Landscape and Buffer Ordinance
requirements.
Any/all newly landscaped areas must be automatically irrigated and
landscaped per Chapter 15, Landscape Ordinance.
Street trees are recommended.
Prior to the issuance of a building permit, a landscape plan must be
approved that includes the stamp of a Registered Landscape Architect.
The City Beautiful Commission recommends preserving as many existing
trees as feasible on this site. Credit toward fulfilling Landscape Ordinance
requirements can be given when properly preserving trees of six (6) inch
caliper or larger.
5. PUBLIC WORKS COMMENTS:
1. At time of development, repair or replace any curb and gutter or
sidewalk that is damaged in the public right-of-way prior to occupancy.
2. At time of development, sidewalk and new curb and gutter should be
installed along S. Gaines Street across Dr. Trudie Kibbe Reed Drive.
3. At the time of development, plans of all work in right-of-way shall be
submitted for approval prior to start of work. Obtain barricade permit
prior to doing any work in the right-of-way from Traffic Engineering at
(501) 379-1805 (Travis Herbner).
4. At the time of development, a drainage analysis should be conducted
to determine the adequacy of the existing drainage system
downstream of the site and on the site. Depending on the outcome of
the analysis, drainage improvements maybe required.
Structures are shown to be constructed in the closed public right-of-
way of 13th Street and S. State Street. At the time of closure, utility
easements were required to be maintained in the right-of-way.
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December 17, 2009
ITEM NO.: 3 Cont. FILE NO.: Z -5675-C
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Structures cannot be built within utility easements. All utilities must be
contacted.
UTILITY, FIRE DEPT. AND CATA COMMENTS -
Wastewater: Existing sewer main on site must be relocated. Sewer main
extension required with easements. Capacity Contribution Analysis
required, contact LRW for details.
Entergy: No comments received.
Centerpoint Energy: No comments received.
AT&T (SBC): No comments received.
Water: Contact Central Arkansas Water regarding the water
requirements for this building. All Central Arkansas Water requirements in
effect at the time of request for water service must be met.
The facilities on-site will be private. When meters are planned off private
lines, private facilities shall be installed to Central Arkansas Water's
material and construction specifications and installation will be inspected
by an engineer, licensed to practice in the State of Arkansas. Execution of
Customer Owned Line Agreement is required.
Please submit plans for water facilities and/or fire protection system to
Central Arkansas Water for review. Plan revisions may be required after
additional review. Contact Central Arkansas Water regarding procedures
for installation of water facilities and/or fire service. Approval of plans by
the Arkansas Department of Health Engineering Division and Little Rock
Fire Department is required.
The Little Rock Fire Department needs to evaluate this site to determine
whether additional public and/or private fire hydrant(s) will be required. If
additional fire hydrant(s) are required, they will be installed at the
Developer's expense.
Fire sprinkler systems which do not contain additives such as antifreeze
shall be isolated with a double detector check valve assembly. If additives
are used, a reduced pressure zone backflow preventer shall be required.
If there are facilities that need to be adjusted and/or relocated, contact
Central Arkansas Water. That work would be done at the expense of the
developer.
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December 17, 2009
ITEM NO.: 3 (Cont.) FILE NO.: Z -5675-C
Fire Department: Fire hydrants to be worked out with fire sprinkler
company.
County Planning: No Comments.
CATA: The site is located on a CATA bus route.
SUBDIVISION COMMITTEE COMMENT: (NOVEMBER 24, 2009)
Barry Williams and Terry Wallace were present representing The College. Staff
presented the item and noted little additional information was needed. In
response to staff's request, the applicants provided detailed building elevations.
Staff noted that the proposed buildings were located in abandoned street right-of-
ways. Staff
stated the former rights-of-way were retained for drainage and utility easements
and those easements would need to be abandoned.
Public Works, Utility and Landscape Comments were noted and discussed.
Staff informed the Committee that Philander Smith would be presenting their
Master Plan to the Commission as a separate item on the December 17, 2009
Agenda. The Committee determined that there were no other issues and
forwarded the item to the Commission.
STAFF ANALYSIS:
The main campus of Philander Smith College occupies the nine blocks bounded
by Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive, Gaines Street, Chester Street and 1-630. The
majority of the property is zoned R-4. The southeast corner of the campus
property is within the Capitol Zoning District. The College owns additional
properties in the area, primarily along Daisy Bates Drive and Chester Street. The
College has recently adopted a long-term master plan to expand its facilities in
anticipation of increased student growth. The school's current enrollment is
approximately 600 students with growth to 1,000 students being anticipated
within the next decade.
Each of the multiple phases of the school's master plan are themselves broken
into several phases. Each phase will require approval by the Planning
Commission through the conditional use permit process. The first component of
Phase I involves the phased construction of four (4) new student housing
buildings. Old, unused dormitory buildings will be removed to make way for
construction of the new buildings. These four (4) buildings will be constructed
on the east side of the campus; within the block bounded by Gaines Street and
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.December 17, 2009
ITEM NO.: 3 (Cont.
FILE NO.: Z -5675-C
the former rights-of-way of West 12th Street, State Street and West 13th Street
(Dr. Trudie Kibbe Reed Drive).
Each of the buildings will be three (3) stories in height with shingled, hip roofs.
The buildings will be finished with split face block, precast concrete, brick and
stucco. The height of the buildings, as measured to the mid span of the hip roof,
is 36' 4". A central tower element will extend to 47'5" in height. Three (3) of the
four (4) buildings will contain 60, one -bed dorm rooms and associated amenities
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uch as restrooms, lounge areas, dining area and laundry facilities. The fourth
building will contain 40, one -bed rooms and associated amenities. Parking will
be in the parking lot that covers the block immediately to the north. The buildings
closest to the Gaines Street perimeter will have a minimum setback of 26 feet
from the property line along Gaines Street. The remainder of the main campus
extends to the north, south and west of the area proposed for construction of the
dormitory buildings. The rear of Mt. Holly Cemetery is located across Gaines
Street to the east.
Portions of two (2) of the four (4) buildings are proposed to be located in the
former right-of-way of State and West 13th Streets. When those rights-of-way
were abandoned, the areas of the former streets were retained for drainage and
utility easements. Prior to approval of building permits, those easements must
abandoned. Easement abandonment requests are filed with the Planning
Department and go directly to the Board of Directors.
Otherwise, to staff's knowledge, there are no other outstanding issues. Staff is
supportive of the proposal to construct the new dormitory buildings on the
existing Philander Smith College campus. The property is located in the Original
City of Little Rock and there is no bill of assurance addressing use issues.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends approval of the requested conditional use permit subject to
compliance with the following conditions:
1. Compliance with the comments and conditions outlined in Sections 4, 5 and 6
of the agenda staff report.
2. The easements in the former street rights-of-way must be abandonment prior
to issuance of a building permit.
Staff recommends approval of a height variance to allow the proposed buildings
to exceed the R-4 zoning district height limit of 35 feet.
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. December 17, 2009
ITEM NO.: 3 (Cont.
PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION:
FILE NO.: Z -5675-C
(DECEMBER 17, 2009)
The applicants were present. There were no objectors present. Staff presented the
item and a recommendation of approval as noted in the "staff recommendation"
above. There was no further discussion. The item was placed on the consent
agenda and approved as recommended by staff. The vote was 8 ayes, 0 noes,
1 absent and 2 open positions.
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