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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZ-9572 Staff ReportMARCH 18, 2020 ITEM NO. 14 Z-9572 1 File No.: Z-9572 Owners: Moses and Joyce Ejiofor Applicant: Billy Joe Rouse Jr (Lexcor, LLC) Address: 1402 Loyola Drive Legal Description: Lot 1, Block 4, Phase 3, The Village of Wellington Zoned: R-2 (Single-Family District) Present Use: Single-family Residence Proposed Use: Single-family Residence Variance(s) Requested: Request from the area provisions of Sec. 36-513 to allow a driveway to exceed the 20-foot width limitation. Justification: The applicant’s justification is presented as per the attached letter dated December 14, 2020. STAFF REPORT A. Planning and Development Civil Engineering: 1. Loyola Drive is 31 ft wide and striped with a bike lane and existing sidewalk at this location with multiple modes of transportation uses. The applicant proposes a driveway width that exceeds the existing street width. The less than or equal to 27.5 ft width proposed by staff is acceptable. Once on the property outside of the public right-of-way, the driveway can widen to the desired width. 2. Per City code Sec. 30-43, the maximum residential driveway shall not exceed 20 ft. The 20 ft maximum shall not apply to a paved driveway to a garage or carport provided the paved driveway does not exceed the width of the garage or carport and the distance from the right-of-way to the entrance of the garage or carport is less than 50 ft. Limit two (2) car garages. The driveway should be constructed per CLR Public Works Detail PW-30 and PW-31. 3. The National Cooperative Highway Research Program, Report 659 states than anywhere from eleven (11) to nineteen (19)% of all reported urban traffic collisions involve a driveway. The location and design of a driveway affects both traffic flow and safety on both the driveway and on the adjacent public street. Driveways should be located and designed to minimize negative impacts on traffic operations while MARCH 18, 2020 ITEM NO. 14 (CON’T) Z-9572 2 providing safe entry and existing to/from the abutting property. The location and design should take into account characteristic of the roadway, abutting properties, and the various users. B. Buffering and Landscape Comments: No Comments. C. Building Codes Comments: No Comments. D. Staff Analysis: The R-2 zoned property located at 1402 Loyola Drive lies within The Villages of Wellington neighborhood which is predominantly made up of single-family homes. Loyola Drive is characterized by a single row of houses on both the north and south sides of the street. Most of the houses in this area include drives that access attached garages facing the roadway or side yards. The subject property faces north with the garage and drive access located on the west side of the property. The existing drive curb-cut is approximately 21.5 feet in width. Within the property boundary, the drive is proposed to widen an additional approximate 10 feet allowing an off-street parking pad west of the garage. The edge of this parking area is bordered by a small retaining wall approximately eight (8) feet from the neighboring property. The applicant has provided a site plan proposing an additional 7.9-8.9 feet of paving adjacent to the existing drive. In addition, a new retaining wall will be located on the edge of the new paving and a small portion of the west property line. The plans also indicate that the proposed drive will extend into the street right-of-way expanding the overall drive width to 36 feet. Sec. 36-513(d) states, “No person, including any owner, tenant, manager, or occupant of property used as a residence, shall allow any person to, keep, store or park any motor vehicle on any portion of a front yard or corner street side yard of any property used as a residence, except on a paved surface or on an unpaved designated driveway area and parking pad not to exceed twenty (20) feet in width….” Sec. 36-513(d)(1) states, “The twenty-foot width limitation shall not apply to a paved driveway to a garage or carport, provided the paved driveway does not exceed in width the width of the garage of carport;” The existing drive does exceed the width of the garage. The applicant is requesting an additional width expansion of the drive to the west with an associated new retaining wall adjacent to the proposed expansion. The proposal also requests an MARCH 18, 2020 ITEM NO. 14 (CON’T) Z-9572 3 extension of the drive into the public right-of-way which would exceed the maximum opening of a residential driveway as stipulated in Sec. 30-43(2) “Layout and design generally”, for the construction of curbs, driveways, and sidewalks. The documentation provided by the Village of Wellington Community Association declines to allow the widening of the drive beyond the property line. Little Rock Public Works has also been consulted and will accept the drive widening in the public right- of-way to the width of the existing drive, 27.5 feet but not to the 36 foot width of the proposed paving and new retaining wall inside of the property as requested by the applicant. Staff finds the request to generally be in conformance with the development pattern in this area. Based on the above assessment and analysis, Staff finds the requested variance width for the expansion within the property lines to be reasonable. E. Staff Recommendation: Staff recommends approval of the requested driveway width expansion within the limits of the property, with the following conditions: 1. The drive expansion into the public right-of-way shall be limited to an additional width of 5.5 feet, to an approximate 27.5 feet total width as recommended by Planning and Development Civil Engineering.