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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZ-5459-A Staff AnalysisFebruary 20, 2003 ITEM NO.: A NAME: LOCATION: OWNER/APPLICANT FILE NO.: Z -5459-A Forest Park Elementary School — Conditional Use Permit 1600 N: Tyler Street Little Rock School District/Peters and Associates PROPOSAL: A conditional use permit is requested to allow for the addition of parking on this existing, R-2 zoned, elementary school campus. ORDINANCE DESIGN STANDARDS: SITE LOCATION: The campus is located within the block bounded by "O" Street, "P" Street, Tyler Street and Polk Street; one block south of Cantrell Road. 2. COMPATIBILITY WITH NEIGHBORHOOD: The campus is located within a residential neighborhood and is surrounded by single-family occupied, R-2 zoned properties. No expansion of school grounds or the building are proposed. The proposed parking expansion will not affect the school's compatibility with the neighborhood. All owners of property located within 200 feet of the site, all residents within 300 feet who could be identified and the Hillcrest and Propsect Terrace Neighborhood Associations were notified of this request. 3. ON SITE DRIVES AND PARKING: The school contains 23 classrooms and has 38 total employees; requiring 61 on-site parking spaces. There is currently no on-site parking. Utilizing a portion of the right-of-way, the school district proposes to construct 29, 60° angle parking spaces along "0" Street and Polk Street. Each of these streets are one-way, local streets with very little traffic other than for that generated by the school. Bus loading/unloading currently occurs on "O" Street. It will be relocated to Tyler Street. 4, SCREENING AND BUFFERS: No screening and buffer issues. February 20, 2003 ITEM NO.: A (Cont.) _ FILE NO.: Z -5459-A 5. PUBLIC WORKS COMMENTS: 1. Dedicate right-of-way to 5' behind the proposed parking back -of -curb (make it public parking), or obtain a franchise agreement for that . portion of the parking lot located within the public right-of-way (private parking). 2. Vehicles backing out of the parking should not back into an intersection. Remove or relocate the eastern most parking stalls on "O" Street and the southernmost stall on Polk. 3. There are currently no sidewalks on "O" Street and Polk Street. Provide 5' sidewalks with proposed improvements. 4. Repair or replace any curb and gutter or sidewalk on all adjacent streets that is damaged in the public right-of-way prior to occupancy. 5. All driveways shall be concrete aprons per City Ordinance. 6, Street improvement plans shall include signage and striping. Traffic Engineering must approve completed plans prior to construction. 7. Obtain permits (barricade/street cut) for improvements within proposed or existing right-of-way from Public Works Civil Engineering and Traffic Engineering prior to construction. 6. UTILITY, FIRE DEPT. AND CATA COMMENTS: Wastewater: Sewer available, not adversely affected. Entergy: No Comments received. Reliant: No Comments received. Southwestern Bell: Approved as submitted. Water: 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. Fire Department: Approved as submitted. County Planning: No Comments received. CATA: No Comments received. SUBDIVISION COMMITTEE COMMENT: (OCTOBER 24, 2002) Doug Eaton and Earnest Peters, were present representing the application. Staff presented the item and noted additional information was needed regarding 2 February 20, 2003 ITEM NO.: A (Cont.) FILE NO.: Z -5459-A the number of classrooms, total number of employees and signage. Staff noted that the proposed parking on "O" Street was located in the area currently used for bus drop-off/pick-up. Mr. Eaton responded that the buses would be moved to the Tyler Street perimeter. Most of the discussion centered on Public Works' Comments. Mike Hood, of Public Works, commented that additional right-of-way should be dedicated to place the entirety of the proposed new parking in the right-of-way, making it public parking or a franchise agreement would need to be obtained for the portion of the parking located in the right-of-way if the parking was to remain private. Mr. Eaton responded that it was the school district's desire to keep the parking private so that there would be control over who utilized it. In response to a question from Commissioner Berry, Mr. Hood stated that staff was supportive of the proposal to have parking backing out into "O" and Polk Streets because they were local streets with very little traffic, other than that generated by the school. In response to Public Works' Comment that sidewalks were needed on the "O" and Polk Street perimeters of the school site, Mr. Peters and Mr. Eaton both stated that the terrain in that area made sidewalk construction very difficult. Mr. Peters described a retaining wall that was going to be built in that area, rendering the area unbuildable for sidewalks. There was a brief discussion of whether right-of-way was needed for the abutting streets since, although they are residential streets, the Master Street Plan classifies than as commercial streets since they abut a nonresidential use. Mr. Hood stated he would discuss the issue with Public Works Staff and the applicant. The applicant was advised to respond to staff issues no later than noon, Wednesday October 30, 2002. The Committee determined there were no other issues and forwarded the item to the full Commission. STAFF ANALYSIS: Forest Park Elementary School occupies the block of R-2 zoned property bounded by "O", "P", Tyler and Polk Streets. The site contains a single building with 23 classrooms. There are no parking spaces on-site. Parallel parking occurs along the various streets. Bus loading/unloading takes place on "O" Street. The school district proposes to utilize a portion of the right-of-way to construct 60° angle parking spaces along "O" and Polk Streets. The parking will back into the streets. The bus loading/unloading will be relocated to Tyler Street. No other changes are proposed to the site other than for new, 4 foot chain-link fencing to be installed in front of the parking spaces. Some of the fencing may be located on top of a retaining wall. On November 1, 2002, the applicant submitted written responses to staff issues raised at Subdivision Committee. No new site plan was submitted. Issues remaining to be resolved are right-of-way dedication, franchising the parking and 3 February 20, 2003 ITEM NO.: A (Cont.)_ FILE NO.: Z -5459-A providing sidewalks on "O" and Polk Street. It appears the district concurs with dedicating the required right-of-way, if the parking spaces can be franchised for use by the school. Staff is supportive of this action. The applicant has indicated a desire to have the sidewalk requirement waived. Staff does not support that request. Staff does support the overall conditional use permit to allow the angled parking. The streets around the school are all one-way, local streets that generate little traffic beyond that created by the school itself. Allowing the angled parking should not have a detrimental effect on the traffic pattern in the area. Relocating the bus drop-off/pick-up to Tyler Street will allow the buses to turn either east or west on "O" Street; more evenly dispersing the bus traffic away from the school. No new signage, site lighting or building expansion is proposed. No changes are proposed to the school programs or classes on the site. STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends approval of the requested conditional use permit subject to compliance with the following conditions: Compliance with staff comments and conditions outlined in Sections 4, 5 and 6 of this report. Staff recommends that the Commission support a franchise to allow use of the "0" and Polk Street rights-of-way for the proposed parking. Staff does not support a waiver of the requirement to construct sidewalks along the "O" and Polk Street perimeters. PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: (NOVEMBER 14, 2002) The applicant was present. There was one objector present. One letter and a petition had been received. The letter and petition offered an alternative plan for the proposed parking along Polk Street. Staff informed the Commission that the applicant was requesting deferral of the item in order to meet with the concerned neighbors. The request for deferral was received two days prior to the meeting. Antonio Mesa, of 1612 N. Polk Street, asked if the Commission had received his letter and alternate plan. Chairman Lowry responded that the letter and plan had been received and the item would be deferred to allow the applicant an opportunity to meet with the neighbors. There was no further discussion. A motion was made to waive the Bylaws and accept the late request for deferral. The motion was approved by a vote of 9 ayes, 0 noes, 1 absent and 1 recusing (Lowry). The item was placed on the Consent Agenda and deferred to the January 9, 2003 meeting. The vote was 9 ayes, 0 noes, 1 absent and 1 recusing (Lowry). 51 February 20, 2003 ITEM NO.: A Cont.) FILE NO.: Z -5459-A PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: (JANUARY 9, 2003) Staff informed the Commission that the applicant had submitted a letter requesting that the application be deferred to the February 20, 2003 agenda. Staff supported the deferral request. With a vote of 10 ayes, 0 nays and 1 absent, the Commission voted to waive their bylaws and accept the deferral request being less than five (5) working days prior to the public hearing. The Chairman placed the item before the Commission for inclusion within the Consent Agenda for deferral to the February 20; 2003 agenda. A motion to that effect was made. The motion passed by a vote of 10 ayes, 0 nays and 1 absent. The application was deferred. STAFF UPDATE: The applicant has met with neighborhood residents. The site plan has been modified slightly. The northern group of 6 spaces along Polk Street has been broken into two groups of 3 spaces, separated by a landscaped island. The issue of sidewalk construction along "O" and Polk Streets remains unresolved. PLANNING COMMISSION ACTIO (FEBRUARY 20, 2003) The applicant was present. There was one objector present. Staff presented the item and a recommendation of approval, subject to compliance with the conditions outlined in the "Staff Recommendation" above; with one change, staff recommended approval of the requested waiver of the requirement to construct sidewalks along the "O" and Polk Street perimeters. Mike Hood, of Public Works, stated the applicant had met with the City's traffic engineer and the engineer was now satisfied that it was reasonable to support the sidewalk waiver request, based on traffic and pedestrian circulation around the site. Ruth Bell, of the League of Women Voters of Pulaski County, stated the League was concerned about the issue of sidewalks and was opposed to any waiver of the sidewalk requirement around school sites. Doug Eaton, Director of Facilities and Engineering for the Little Rock School District, stated the issue of child safety was a primary concern of the District. He stated the school site was small and any loss of property for sidewalks or 5 February 20, 2003 EM NO.: A (Cont.) _ FILE NO.: Z -5459-A expanded parking would negatively impact play areas. Mr. Eaton stated very few children actually walked to the school. He noted several parents did park 1 to 2 blocks away and walked their children the remaining distance to the campus. Mr. Eaton stated the proposed parking was designed to save trees and the play area. He stated he felt that traffic around the site would be safer by the school providing some area to get cars off of the street. Commission Faust asked if there were any other sidewalks in the adjacent neighborhood. During the ensuing discussion, it was agreed that there are no sidewalks in the area around the school. A motion was made to approve the conditional use permit as recommended by staff, including the sidewalk waiver. The motion was approved by a vote of 8 ayes, 1 no, 1 absent and 1 abstaining (Lowry). A