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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZ-6814-A Staff AnalysisJune 14, 2001 ITEM NO.: 9 FILE NO.: Z -6814-A NAME: Otter Creek Elementary School - Conditional Use Permit zoCATION: 16000 Otter Creek Parkway DEVELOPER: ENGINEER: Little Rock School District The Johnson -McAdams Firm 810 West Markham Street 11300 N. Rodney Parham Rd., Ste. 310 Little Rock, AR 72201 Little Rock, AR 72212 AREA: 8.857 acres ZONING: R-2 NUMBER OF LOTS: 1 FT. NEW STREET: 0 ALLOWED USES: School PROPOSED USE: School Expansion VARIANCES/WAIVERS REQUESTED: None requested. A. PROPOSAL/REQUEST: The Little Rock School District requests a Conditional Use Permit to allow for the expansion of the existing Otter Creek Elementary School at 16,000 Otter Creek Parkway. The property is zoned R-2. The -proposal is for a 9,150 square foot building addition at the southeast corner of the existing school building. The addition will have a maximum height of 16 feet. An existing portable classroom on the north side of the existing school building will be removed with the proposed expansion. The building addition will allow for seven (7) additional classrooms to the existing 20 classrooms. One (1) of the existing classrooms will be converted to office space, leaving a total of 26 classrooms. There are 23 existing paved parking spaces along the south side of the school building. This paved parking area along with existing gravel parking at the northwest corner of the school building will be redesigned and reconstructed at the June 14, 2001 ITEM NO.: 9 FILE NO.: Z -6814-A time of building expansion. The new parking areas will contain a total of 33 parking spaces. The redesign of the interior parking areas also allows for circulation and drop- off areas for passenger vehicles and buses. B. EXISTING CONDITIONS: C There is an existing elementary school building on the site, with paved parking along the south side of the building and gravel parking along the building's west side. There is a portable classroom along the north side of the existing school building. There are two (2) existing access points from Otter Creek Parkway. There are single family residences to the north and east. There is a creek along the property's south boundary, with single family residences and the Otter Creek Community Center further south. There is undeveloped MF -6 zoned property and single family residences across Otter Creek Parkway to the west. NEIGHBORHOOD COMMENTS: The Otter Creek and SWLR UP Neighborhood Associations were notified of the public hearing. As of this writing, staff has received no comment from the neighborhood. D. ENGINEERING COMMENTS: PUBLIC WORKS CONDITIONS: 1. Property frontage needs to have the sidewalks and ramps brought up to the current ADA standards. 2. Repair or replace any curb and gutter or sidewalk that is damaged in the public right-of-way prior to occupancy. 3. Plans of all work in right-of-way shall be submitted for approval prior to start of work. 4. Stormwater detention ordinance applies to this property. E. UTILITIES, FIRE DEPARTMENT AND CATA: Wastewater: Sewer available, not adversely affected. Entergy: No Comment received. ARKLA: No Comment received. Southwestern Bell: No Comment received. Water: No Comment. K June 14, 2001 ITEM NO.: 9 Fire Department: No Comment. FILE NO.: Z -6814-A CATA: Project site is not located on a dedicated bus route and has no effect on bus radius, turnout and route. F. LANDSCAPE ISSUES: G. The proposed street buffer width along Otter Creek Parkway drops below the minimum requirement of 14 feet and the Landscape Ordinance minimum of 9 -feet. The proposed northernmost parking lot does not allow for the 9 -foot wide minimum land use buffering along a portion of the northern perimeter. utility easements cannot count as part of the land use buffer. A 6 -foot high opaque screen, either a wooden fence with its face side directed outward or dense evergreen plantings, is required north of the proposed northern parking lot. An irrigation system to water landscaped areas will be required. Curb and gutter will be required to protect landscaped areas from vehicular traffic. SUBDIVISION COMMITTEE COMMENT: (MAY 24, 2001) Doug Eaton and Jamie Guidry were present, representing the application. Staff briefly reviewed the conditional use permit application and noted that additional information needed to be shown on the site plan. Staff noted that two (2) of the areas of new parking needed to be revised to meet the -minimum standards for stall size and maneuvering area, and that the main interior drive needed a minimum width of 20 feet. The Public Works requirements were briefly discussed. The applicants noted no issues with the Public Works issues. The landscape requirements were briefly discussed. Bob Brown, of the Planning Staff, noted that the landscape buffer along Otter Creek Parkway and the land use buffer along the north property line (north side of new parking area) needed to be slightly increased. K3 June 14, 2001 ITEM NO.: 9 FILE NO.: Z -6814-A After the discussion, the Committee forwarded the conditional use permit to the full Commission for final action. H. ANALYSIS: The applicant submitted a revised site plan to staff on May 29, 2001. The revised plan addresses some of the issues as raised by staff at the Subdivision Committee meeting. The height and area of the proposed building addition, existing dumpster location and existing fencing have been shown on the plan. The existing portable classroom has also been labeled "to be removed." However, there are additional issues which have not been addressed with the revised plan. These include the following: 1. Existing/proposed ground -mounted signage with details has not been shown. 2. Two (2) of the new proposed parking areas have not been redesigned to provide minimum stall size and maneuvering area. 3. The main interior drive has not been revised to a minimum width of 20 feet. 4. The required street buffer along Otter Creek Parkway has not been shown (west side of northernmost parking area) . 5. The required land use buffer (north side of the northernmost parking area) has not been shown. 6. Screening along the north property line has not been shown. The applicant has informed staff that a revised site plan addressing these issues will be submitted for staff review prior to the public hearing. As noted earlier, the proposed new parking area will provide a total of 33 parking spaces to serve the school development. The ordinance requires a minimum of 26 parking spaces for a school of this size. Staff feels that with resolution of the site plan issues as noted in this paragraph, the proposed expansion plan for the Otter Creek Elementary School should have no adverse impact 4 June 14, 2001 ITEM NO.: 9 FILE NO.: Z -6814-A on the general area. The proposed building expansion conforms to ordinance standards for building setbacks and height. I. STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS: Staff recommends approval of the Conditional Use Permit subject to the following conditions: 1. Compliance with the requirements as noted in paragraphs D and F of this report. 2. Any site lighting must be low-level and directed away from adjacent property. 3. The dumpster area must be screened on three (3) sides with an eight (8) foot opaque fence or wall. 4.A revised site plan must be submitted which satisfies the issues (items 1 thru 6) as noted in paragraph H. of this report. 5. The existing portable classroom must be removed with the new building addition construction. PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: (JUNE 14, 2001) The staff presented a positive recommendation on this application, as there were no further issues for resolution. There were no objectors to this matter. The Chairman placed the item before the Commission for inclusion within the Consent Agenda for approval as recommended by staff. A motion to that effect was made. The motion passed by a vote of 7 ayes, 0 nays, 3 absent, and 1 open position. 5