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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZ-4167-E PC Action Letter - Recommended Approval With Conditions 092321Department of Planning and Development Planning 723 West Markham Street Little Rock, Arkansas 72201-1334 Development Phone: (501)371-4790 Fax: (501)371-4546 Building Codes September 10, 2021 Joe White and Associates Joe White 25 Rahling Circle, Suite A-2 Little Rock, AR 72223 Re: File No. Z-4167-E 9715 Colonel Glenn Road — Metro Towing — PC-D Dear Mr. White: This is to advise you that in connection with your request concerning the above referenced file number the following action was taken by the Planning Commission at its meeting on September 9, 2021: Approved with conditions. X Recommended approval with conditions. Recommended approval as submitted. Denied your request as submitted. Deferred to the Other: Meeting. This item will be forwarded to the Little Rock Board of Directors for final action. You or your representative will need to be present at the Board of Directors meeting to address any questions which may arise. The meeting date has tentatively been set for October 19, 2021. The meeting begins at 6:00 pm and is held in the Centre at University Park, 6401 West 12th Street. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me at 371-4792. Respectfull , M Moore Development Administrator September 9, 2021 ITEM NO_ NAME. Metro Towing Revised PD-C LOCATION: 9715 Colonel Glenn Road DEVELOPER: Bank of Little Rock 200 North State Street Little Rock, AR 72203 OWNER/AUTHORIZED AGENT: Bank of Little Rock — Owner Joe White and Associates - Agent SURVEYOR/ENGINEER: Joe White Joe White and Associates 25 Rahling Circle, Suite A-2 Little Rock, AR 72223 AREA: 4.16 acres WARD: 7 CURRENT ZONING Variance/Waivers- BACKGROUND: NUMBER OF LOTS: 1 PLANNING DISTRICT: 12 [a00 NIA FILE NO. Z-4167-E FT. NEW STREET: 0 LF CENSUS TRACT: 24.05 The property was originally zoned R-2 until March 2, 1984 when it was rezoned to 0-3 per ordinance 14,623 by the Little Rock Board of Directors. In 1991, a conditional use permit was approved for the site. Per the current PD-C zoning the property was occupied by Daniels Utility Contractors as a material yard. The site has been unoccupied since 2017. September 9, 2021 ITEM NO.: 4 (Cont.) FILE NO.: Z-4167-E A. PROPOSAL/REQUEST/APPLICANT'S STATEMENT: FE The applicant proposes to revise the existing PD-C (Planned Commercial Development) for an automotive towing service with a short term impound yard. EXISTING CONDITIONS: Property is currently vacant and contains four (4) unoccupied structures at 9517 Colonel Glenn Road. The south portion of the property is vacant with some tree coverage. To the east, west and north of the site lies a mix of commercial and residential zoning. C. NEIGHBORHOOD COMMENTS: All owners of property located within 200 feet of the site and all neighborhood associations registered with the City of Little Rock were notified of the public hearing. D. ENGINEERING COMMENTS: 1. Colonel Glenn Road is classified on the Master Street Plan as a principal arterial. Dedication of right-of-way to55 feet from centerline will be required. 2. With future development or expansion, provide design of street conforming to the Master Street Plan. Construct one-half street improvement to these streets including 5-foot sidewalks with planned development. 3. A special Grading Permit for Flood Hazard Areas will be required per Sec. 13-55 prior to construction on thesouth portion of the property. 4. Is fence with gate proposed around the project area? Gate must be located a minimum of 40 feet from the edgeof pavement. 5. Plans of all work in right-of-way shall be submitted for approval prior to start of work. Obtain barricade permitprior to doing any work in the right-of-way from Traffic Engineering at (501) 379-1805 (Travis Herbner). E. UTILITIES/FIRE DEPARTMENT/PARKS/COUNTY PLANNING: Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority_: Sewer Available to this Site. Entergy: No comments received. CenterPoint Energy: No comments received. AT & T: No comments received. 2 September 9, 2021 ITEM NO.: 4 Cont. FILE NO.. Z-4167-E Central Arkansas Water: All Central Arkansas Water requirements in effect at the time of request for water service must be met. Provide a 10-ft utility easement along Colonel Glenn Road frontage. Fire Department, Maintain Access: Fire Hydrants. Maintain fire apparatus access roads at fire hydrant locations as per Appendix D of the 2012 Arkansas Fire Prevention Code Vol. 1 Section D103.1 Access road width with a hydrant. Where a fire hydrant is located on a fire apparatus access road, the minimum road width shall be 26 feet, exclusive of shoulders. Commercial and Industrial Developments — 2 means of access. - Maintain fire apparatus access roads as per Appendix D of the 2012 Arkansas Fire Prevention Code Vol. 1. Section D104.1 Buildings exceeding three stories or 30 feet in height. Building or facilities exceeding 30 feet or three stories in height shall have at least two means of fire apparatus access for each structure. Section 13104.2 Building exceeding 62,000 square feet in area. Buildings or facilities having a gross building area of more than 62,000 square feet shall be provide with two separate and approved fire apparatus access roads. Exception: Projects having a gross building area of up to 124,000 square feet that have a single approved fire apparatus access road when all building are equipped throughout with approved automatic sprinkler systems. D104.3 Remoteness. Where two fire apparatus access roads are required, they shall be placed a distance apart equal to not less than one half of the length of the maximum overall diagonal dimension of the lot or area to be served, measured in a straight line between accesses. Fire Hydrants Locate Fire Hydrants as per Appendix C of the 2012 Arkansas Fire Prevention Code. Section C101 — C105, in conjunction with Central Arkansas Water (Daniel Tull 501-377-1245) and the Little Rock Fire Marshal's Office (Capt. Tony Rhodes 501-918-3757, or Fire Marshal Derek N. Ingram 501-918-3756 Number and Distribution of Fire Hydrants as per Table C105.1. Parks and Recreation: No comments received. County Planning, No comments received. 3 September 9, 2021 ITEM NO.: 4 Cont. FILE NO.: Z-4167-E F. BUILDING CODES/LANDSCAPE: Building Code: No comments received. Landscape: 1. Any new site development must comply with the City's minimal landscape and buffer ordinance requirements. 2. A land use buffer six (6) percent of the average width / depth of the lot will be required when an adjacent property has a dissimilar use of a more restrictive nature. The surrounding properties are zoned R-2. As a component of all land use buffer requirements, opaque screening, whether a fence or other device, a minimum of six (6) feet in height shall be required upon the property line side of the buffer. A minimum of seventy (70) percent of the land use buffer shall be undisturbed. Easements cannot count toward fulfilling this requirement. The plantings, existing and purposed, shall be provided within the landscape ordinance of the city, section 15-81. 3. The City Beautiful Commission recommends preserving as many existing trees feasible on this site. Credit toward fulfilling Landscape Ordinance requirements can be given when preserving trees of six (6) inch caliper or larger. G. TRANSPORTATION/PLANNING: Rock Region Metro: No comments received. Planning Division: The request is in the 65th Street West District. The Land Use Plan shows Mixed Use (MX) for the requested area. The Mixed Use (MX) category provides for a mixture of residential, office and commercial uses to occur. A Planned Zoning District is required if the use is entirely office or commercial or if the use is a mixture of the three. The application is to revise an existing PDC (Planned Development Commercial) District to allow for the site to be used by a towing company. Surrounding the application area, the Land Use Plan shows Public Institutional (PI) to the north (across Colonel Glenn Road) and to the south of the site. Residential Low Density (RL) is shown to the northeast (across Colonel Glenn Road) of the proposed change area. Mixed Use (MX) land use is shown to the west and east of the site. The Public Institutional (PI) category includes public and quasi -public facilities that provide a variety of services to the community such as schools, libraries, fire stations, churches, utility substations, and hospitals. The (PI) areas both to the north and south are church sites. Both of these sites are zoned R-2 (Single Family District). The Residential Low Density (RL) category provides for single family homes at densities not to exceed 6 dwelling units per acre. Such residential development is typically characterized by conventional single-family homes but may also include patio or 4 September 9, 2021 ITEM NO-: 4(Cont.)FILE NO.: Z-4167-E garden homes and cluster homes, provided that the density remains less than 6 units per acre. The (RL) area across Colonel Glenn to the northeast is large tracts of land with a single-family homes, zoned R-2 (Single Family District). The Mixed Use (MX) category provides for a mixture of residential, office and commercial uses to occur. A Planned Zoning District is required if the use is entirely office or commercial or if the use is a mixture of the three. To the east are single-family development parcels zoned R-2. The Mixed Use (MX) area to the west is vacant land zoned R-2. Master Street Plan: To the north is Colonel Glenn Road and it is shown as a Principal Arterial on the Master Street Plan. A Principal Arterial is to serve through traffic and to connect major traffic generators or activity centers within the urbanized area. Entrances and exits should be limited to minimize negative effects of traffic and pedestrians on Colonel Glenn Road since it is a Principal Arterial. This street may require dedication of right-of-way and may require street improvements for entrances and exits to the site. Bicycle Plan: There is a Class II Bike Route shown on Colonel Glenn Road. A Bike Lane provides a portion of the pavement for the sole use of bicycles. H. ANALYSIS: The applicant is requesting to revise the previous PD-C zoning to allow for reuse of an existing 4.16 acre lot as an automotive towing service with a short term impound yard. The applicant proposes to utilize the existing four (4) structures on the property as office, garage and storage space. Building 'A' will serve as the metro Towing office building with public access from the north. Building 'B' will serve on site maintenance shop for repair and maintenance of vehicles associated with the business only. Building 'C' and 'D' will be used for medium, heavy duty, and roll back tow truck parking. No new buildings are proposed to be constructed. The applicant provided the following with request to this request: "Metro Towing and Recovery has been in operation since the late 1990's. I have been involved since 2009. We are a consent towing operation that not only accepts "cash calls" from the general public but has contracts with the Little Rock Police Dept, Arkansas State Police and the Pulaski County Sheriffs Dept. We have relationships with a majority of the car dealerships in Central Arkansas with a number of those located around the Colonel Glenn/ 1430 Interchange area. This adds greatly to the desirability of this location for Metro's headquarters. We have 6 Flatbed/Rollback trucks, one heavy duty truck and one medium duty truck. We are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We operate a secure impound lot where 5 September 9, 2021 ITEM NO.: 4 Cont.) FILE NO.: Z-4167-E customers and other wrecker companies come to retrieve vehicles. My plan is to erect an 8 foot opaque fence around the property that will screen our operation from our neighbors and cars driving on Colonel Glenn Road. I think this is important for the security of the vehicles we are responsible for and for the aesthetics of the adjacent neighbors. I would greatly appreciate your consideration, for I truly believe that this property is currently an eye -sore and not safe. With some vision, sweat equity and of course money, I think we can make this piece of property an asset to this area and Little Rock." The existing asphalt paving covers approximately 50% of the site an originate as the access drive to Colonel Glenn Road. The portion nearest Building 'A' at the access drive will be utilized as guest or visitor parking and will be separated from the impound area by a gated fence. The remainder of the paved area fills in the area around buildings 'B', 'C' and 'D'. Some new asphalt paving will be added along the northwest section of the property to "square off' the paved area. The applicant proposes to provide new opaque fencing around the impound area with access controlled gates. New lighting will be installed as needed to provide adequate site lighting with all fixtures to be directed away from adjacent neighbors. Signage is proposed that will comply with section 36-555 at the Little Rock standards. A dumpster is proposed to be located within the fenced area near Building 'D' and will comply with section 36-523 paragraph (d) which requires a screen enclosure that exceeds the height of the dumpster. The impound area will store approximately 60 vehicles for no more than 30 days. The vehicles will be stored within the fence boundary for security. Employee parking will also be inside the fenced area near Building 'A' and all visitor or nonemployee parking will be limited to an area near the access drive from Colonel Glenn Road. Staff is supportive of the requested Revised PD-C. The proposed reuse of the site and buildings is similar in intensity to the previous use which was a contractor maintenance yard -type use. Staff believes the proposed use will have no adverse impact on the surrounding properties. I STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends approval of the requested Revised PD-C, subject to compliance with the comments and conditions outlined in paragraphs D, E and F, and the staff analysis, in the agenda staff report. C September 9, 2021 ITEM NO.: 4 (Cont.) FILE NO.: Z-4167-E PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: (SEPTEMBER 9, 2021) The applicant was present. There were no persons present registered in support or opposition. Staff presented the item and a recommendation of approval as outlined in the "staff recommendation" above. There was no further discussion. The item was placed on the Consent Agenda and approved as recommended by staff, including all staff comments and conditions. The vote was 9 ayes, 0 nays and 1 absent and 1 open position. 7