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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZ-8170-E Staff Report ITEM NO.: 7 FILE NO.: Z-8170-E NAME: Chateau Event Center – PCD LOCATION: 25616 Cantrell Road OWNER/AUTHORIZED AGENT: LRG, LLC PO Box 23670 Little Rock, AR 72221 SURVEYOR/ENGINEER: Joe White & Associates 25 Rahling Circle Little Rock, AR 72223 AREA: 37.56 acres NUMBER OF LOTS: 1 FT. NEW STREET: 0 LF WARD: N/A PLANNING DISTRICT: 29 CENSUS TRACT: 42.01 CURRENT ZONING: R-2 VARIANCE/WAIVERS: None Requested. BACKGROUND: Ordinance No. 19,720 adopted by the Little Rock Board of Directors on April 3, 2007, rezoned the site from R-2 (Single-Family) to PCD. The developer proposed to construct a cul-de-sac northwest through the middle of the property to develop six (6) lots. Lots 1 and 6 were to be developed using C-2, Shopping Center District uses, and the allowance of a convenience store on any one (1) of the lots. Lots 2 through 5 would develop using O-2, Office and Institutional Zoning District uses along with the allowance of ten (10) percent of the total building square footage to be used as accessory uses as allowed per O-2, Office and Institutional Zoning District. The request also included utilizing the existing office and parking for an office use (general and professional) until the property was redeveloped. The lots were indicated in excess of three (3) acres ranging from 3.01 to 11.49 acres. On September 6, 2016, the Little Rock Board of Directors adopted Ordinance No. 21,826 which revoked the previously approved Planned Commercial Development and restored the previously R-2, Single-family Zoning District. A. PROPOSAL/REQUEST/APPLICANT’S STATEMENT: The applicant is proposing to rezone 37.56 acres from R-2 to PCD to construct an event center. The site will be subdivided to create five (5) lots. The applicant also proposes to develop a cul-de-sac to be maintained as a public street and be constructed northwest through the middle of the property which will service Lots 1-5. Lot 3 will contain the proposed 15,000 square foot event center. The site is located at 25616 Cantrell Road. B. EXISTING CONDITIONS: The existing site was formerly used as a golf driving range. There is an existing building near the southwestern portion of the site located within the Highway 10 Design Overlay District. The building contains an existing insurance business. The general area has a mixture of uses and zoning. Multiple properties in the area encompassing the site are zoned AF, Agriculture and Forestry. There are two (2) commercially zoned properties located to the west, a site zoned C-1, Neighborhood Commercial which is vacant and a site zoned PCD which contains a number of buildings with allowable C-1 uses, limited outdoor storage and auto sales as allowable uses. C. NEIGHBORHOOD NOTIFICATIONS: All owners of property 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: Whenever access to State Highways is needed for residential or commercial purposes, an access driveway permit is required.  These permits are issued by the Permit officer for the District in which the driveway will be located.  Please contact ARDOT District 6 permit officer at 501-569-2266. A special permit is issued for work on the Arkansas Department of Transportation right of way that is not an access driveway.  The permit is issued by the Permit officer for the District in which the special permit is requested.  Please contact ARDOT District 6 permit officer at 501-569-2266. Any work involving one (1) or more acres of disturbed area requires a State of Arkansas NPDES permit.  Contact the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, NPDES branch at 501-682-0744 for applications and information about General Stormwater Discharge Construction Permit #ARR150000. An ADA accessible ramp will be required from proposed sidewalk tie in to proposed parking lot ADA accessible aisle located in between handicap parking stalls. Handicap parking stalls and adjacent ADA accessible aisle shall meet all ADA standards and guidelines. Per City Rev. Code 29-99, stormwater detention for developments is required.  Provide stormwater detention infrastructure to satisfy this requirement. E. UTILITIES/FIRE DEPARTMENT/PARKS/COUNTY PLANNING: Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority: No comments received. Entergy: No comments received. Summit Energy: No comments received. AT & T: No comments received. Central Arkansas Water: All Central Arkansas Water requirements in effect at the time of request for water service must be met. 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. Due to the nature of this facility, installation of an approved reduced pressure zone backflow preventer assembly (RPZ) is required on the domestic water service. This assembly must be installed prior to the first point of use. Central Arkansas Water (CAW) requires that upon installation of the RPZA, successful tests of the assembly must be completed by a Certified Assembly Tester licensed by the State of Arkansas and approved by CAW. The test results must be sent to CAW's Cross Connection Section within ten days of installation and annually thereafter. Contact the Cross Connection Section at 377-1226 if you would like to discuss backflow prevention requirements for this project. 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. Grade Maintain fire apparatus access roads as per Appendix D of the 2012 Arkansas Fire Prevention Code Vol. 1 Section D103.2 Grade. Fire apparatus access roads shall not exceed 10 percent in grade except as approved by the fire chief. If the grade exceeds 10 percent, approval will be denied and the applicant must submit request to be reviewed by Fire Chief for Approval. Loading Maintain fire apparatus access road design as per Appendix D of the 2012 Arkansas Fire Prevention Code Vol. 1 Section D102.1 Access and loading. Facilities, buildings or portions of buildings hereafter constructed shall be accessible to fire department apparatus by way of an approved fire apparatus access road with an asphalt, concrete or other approved driving surface capable of supporting the imposed load of fire apparatus weighing at least 75,000 pounds. 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 D104.2 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. Gates Maintain fire apparatus access road gates as per Appendix D of the 2012 Arkansas Fire Prevention Code Vol. 1 Section D103.5 Fire apparatus access road gates. Gates securing the fire apparatus access roads shall comply with all of the following criteria: Minimum gate width shall be 20 feet. Gates shall be of swinging or sliding type. Construction of gates shall be of material that allow manual operation by one person. Gate components shall be maintained in an operable condition at all times and replaces or repaired when defective. Electric gates shall be equipped with a means of opening the gate by fire department personnel for emergency access. Emergency opening devices shall be approved by the fire code official. Manual opening gates shall not be locked with a padlock or chain and padlock unless they are capable of being opened by means of forcible entry tools or when a key box containing the keys to the lock is installed at the gate location. Locking device specifications shall be submitted for approval \by the fire code official Electric gate operators, where provided, shall be listed in accordance with UL 325. 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: Provide West Pulaski Volunteer Fire Department approval letter that includes a review of the architectural plans of the event center. Dedicate right of way to meet Master Street Plan requirements. Provide parking to comply with city zoning requirements. Provide AHD approved perc test for the Event Center wastewater disposal. Establish finish floor elevation of the event center to determine if a flood permit is needed or not. Provide a better quality pdf for County staff review. Pay $33.00 review fee. Provide source of title. Pulaski County will have further comment after receipt of the requested pdf. F. BUILDING CODES/LANDSCAPE: Building Code: No comments received. Landscape: 1. Site plan must comply with the City’s minimal landscape and buffer ordinance requirements and the Highway 10 Scenic Corridor Overlay District. 2. The Highway 10 frontage (front yard) shall consist of a minimum of forty (40) feet of landscaped area exclusive of right-of-way. The landscaped area shall contain organic and/or combined man-made/organic features such as berms, brick walls and dense plantings such that vehicular use areas are screened when viewed from an elevation of forty-two (42) inches above the elevation of the adjacent street. Trees shall be planted or be existing at least every twenty (20) feet and have a minimum of two (2) inches in diameter when measured twelve (12) inches from the ground at time of planting. Provide screening shrubs no less than thirty (30) inches in height at installation with an average linear spacing of not less at three (3) feet within the required landscape area 3. Rear and side yards shall have a landscaped buffer averaging a minimum of twenty-five (25) feet from the property line. 4. 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. This strip shall be at least nine (9) feet wide. One (1) tree and three (3) shrubs or vines shall be planted for every thirty (30) linear feet of perimeter planting strip. 5. Building landscape areas shall be provided at the rate equivalent to planter strip three (3) feet wide along the vehicular use area. One (1) tree and four (4) shrubs shall be planted in the building landscape areas for each forty (40) linear feet of vehicular use area abutting the building. 6. Eight percent (8%) of the vehicular use area must be designated for green space; this green space needs to be evenly distributed throughout the parking area(s). The minimum size of an interior landscape area shall be one hundred fifty (150) square feet for developments with one hundred fifty (150) or fewer parking spaces. Interior islands must be a minimum seven and one half (7 1/2) feet in width. Trees shall be included in the interior landscape areas at the rate of one (1) tree for every twelve (12) parking spaces. 7. A landscape irrigation system shall be required as per Highway 10 site design and development standards. 8. The development of two (2) acres or more requires the landscape plan to be stamped with the seal of a Registered Landscape Architect. 9. 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 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 Barrett Planning District. The Land Use Plan shows Commercial (C), Suburban Office (SO), and Parks and Open Space (PK/OS) with a Special Conditions overlay for the requested area. The Commercial (C) category provides for a broad range of retail and wholesale sales of products, personal and professional services, and general business activities. Commercial activities vary in type and scale, depending on the trade area that they serve. The Suburban Office (SO) category provides for low intensity development of office or office parks in close proximity to lower density residential areas to assure compatibility. The Parks and Open Space (PK/OS) includes all public parks, recreation facilities, greenbelts, flood plains, and other designated open space and recreational land. The Special Conditions overlay notes a PCD is required by ordinance 19720. The requested tract is currently zoned Single-Family Residential (R-2), and is within the Highway 10 Design Overlay District. The application is to rezone to a Planned Commercial District to allow for an event center. Surrounding the application area, the Land Use Plan shows Residential Low Density (RL) to the south and east. To the west is Commercial (C) and to the north is Parks and Open Space (PK/OS). To the immediate south, across from Highway 10, is a section of Neighborhood Commercial (NC). The Residential Low (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 garden homes and cluster homes, provided that the density remains less than 6 units per acre. The Neighborhood Commercial (NC) category includes limited small-scale commercial development in close proximity to a neighborhood, providing goods and services to that neighborhood market area. The land surrounding the application area is currently zoned Single-Family Residential (R-2), with tracts of Agriculture and Forestry (AF) districts spotted around, and Neighborhood Commercial District (C-1) and Planned Commercial Development tracts further west along Highway 10. Single-Family Residential (R-2) establishes areas that protect single-family uses by promoting and encouraging a suitable environment for family life, by providing a reasonable standard for light, air and similar amenities, by minimizing traffic congestion, and by avoiding the overloading of utilities and public facilities designed to service only one-family residential uses. Agriculture and Forestry (AF) district provides a smooth transition between purely rural areas and newly urbanized areas, allowing flexibility adequate to permit reasonable absorption of land use types typically found in the urban fringe. Neighborhood Commercial Districts are designed to accommodate limited retail developments within or adjacent to neighborhood areas for the purpose of supplying daily household needs of the residents for food, drugs and personal services. Overlaying the base zoning, the application area is within the Highway 10 Overlay District. The purpose of establishing the Highway 10 Scenic Corridor Design Overlay District is to protect and enhance the aesthetic and visual character of the lands surrounding Highway 10. The application site is zoned Single-Family Residential (R-2) and is an existing office space and dwelling on a 35-acre tract of open and timber land. Master Street Plan: To the south of the site is a connection point between Highway 10, a Principal Arterial. A Principal Arterial serves through traffic and connects major traffic generators or activity centers within an urbanized area. This street may require dedication of right-of-way and may require street improvements for entrances and exits to the site. Bicycle Plan: There are no existing or proposed bike routes adjacent to or through this land. Historic Preservation Plan: There are no existing historic sites on this land, or in proximity to, this land. H. ANALYSIS:  The applicant is proposing to rezone 37.56 acres from R-2 to PCD to construct an event center. The site will be subdivided to create five (5) lots. The applicant also proposes to develop a cul-de-sac to be maintained as a public street and be constructed northwest through the middle of the property which will service Lots 1-5. Lot 3 will contain the proposed 15,000 square foot event center. There is an existing building containing an insurance business near the southwestern portion of Lot 1 located along Highway 10. The building lies within the Highway 10 Design Overlay District and will remain until Lot 1 is redeveloped. The applicant is proposing to construct the Chateau Event Center on Lot 3 which contains 22.14 acres. The proposed building will be 15, 000 square feet in area which includes a garden area located northwest corner of the event center. A second garden area will be located in the rear of the building will be utilized for photographs to be taken at the site. The applicant also proposes to develop an outdoor eating area off the northeastern corner of the event center. The building, gardens and outdoor eating areas do not lie within the Highway 10 Design Overlay District. The one-story event center will consist of brick exterior and contain a loft area that will serve as bride/groom changing areas. The applicant notes the number of guests will range from 200-400 persons. The proposed events will not be ticketed. The facility will be rented to users for a variety of events including weddings, receptions, religious meetings, etc. Events will be catered with no kitchen area proposed. The applicant notes that all events will end by midnight and that no fireworks will be allowed. The event center will be located to provide views of the Maumelle Pinnacles from both the proposed building and the garden areas. The applicant notes that the garden areas may contain awnings/gazebos for various ceremonies. C-3 permitted uses are proposed for Lots 1, 2, 4, and 5. No development plans are proposed for these lots at this time. As development is proposed for each of these lots, the site plan will be submitted for Planning Commission review and approval through the revised PCD process. An existing floodway is located in the northern portion of the site. The applicant is not proposing any development in the floodway at this time. Access to the site is provided along Highway 10 via a thirty-six (36) foot wide asphalt-paved street inside a sixty (60) foot right-of-way extending from Highway 10 through Lots 1, 2, 4 and 5 and terminating into a forty-eight (48) foot diameter cul-de-sac into the southern portion of Lot 3. The applicant notes Phase I will include the development of the event center with the final platting of Lot 3 and the proposed street. The remainder of the lots will be final platted at the time of sale and/or development. The street dissecting the lots will be maintained as a public street. The applicant notes sidewalks will be provided along each lot as they develop. The applicant is proposing fifty (50) paved parking spaces located adjacent to the event center, taking access from the west side of the cul-de-sac. A sidewalk will be provided along the north side of the paved parking area providing access to the event center. A gravel overflow parking area will contain an additional one-hundred (100) parking spaces off the southeast corner of the event center. Staff feels the parking provided is sufficient to serve this use. There is ample setback area from all property lines with ample room for future development if necessary. The applicant notes there are no existing covenants for this site. The applicant is not proposing a dumpster at this time. Any dumpster located at the site shall comply with Section 36-523 of the City’s Zoning Ordinance. The applicant is not proposing any new signage at this time. All future signage located on the site shall comply with Section 36-555 of the City’s Zoning Ordinance. The applicant notes all sight lighting will be low-level and directed away from adjacent properties. Staff is supportive of the requested PCD Zoning. Staff feels that this is a good location for a wedding venue and events center. The front half of the property lies within the Highway 10 Design Overlay is designated commercial on the City’s Land Use Plan, with the majority of the rear portion being designated as suburban office. Staff feels that the proposed uses associated with the proposed PCD zoning will have no adverse impact on the area. J.     STAFF RECOMMENDATION:  Staff recommends approval of the requested PCD Zoning, subject to compliance with the comments and conditions outlined in paragraphs D, E and F, and the staff analysis, of the agenda staff report.