Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutZ-7501-C Staff AnalysisFEBRUARY 27, 2017 ITEM NO.: 3 File No.: Owner: Applicant: Address: Description-- Zoned: escription-Zoned: Z-7501 -C E Stem John Greer, WER Architects 400 Shall Street Southwest corner of Shall Street and World Avenue UU Variance Requested: Variances are requested from the development provisions of Section 36-342.1 to allow an existing building to be converted to a school use. Justification: The applicant's justification is presented in an attached letter. Present Use of Property: Office/Warehouse Proposed Use of Property: School STAFF REPORT A. Public Works Issues: 1. Public Works has no comments for the specific requested variances. 2. At time of building permit, 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. 3. At time of building permit, provide one (1) copy of detention plans and calculations to Vince Floriani at 701 West Markham Street. Contact Vince Floriani at 501-371-4817 or Nathan Charles at 501-918-5348 with any questions or for more information. 4. At time of building permit, the maximum cross slope at the sidewalk crossing is 1:50 over a 3 -foot pathway. All driveway aprons within the public right-of-way shall be a minimum eight (8) inches thick of 3000 psi concrete and must conform to Ordinance #16,577 and #18,031 for grade, spacing, and other design provisions. Driveway aprons must be installed per City of Little Rock Standard Details PW -30 thru PW -35. 5. At time of building permit, provide sidewalk ramps for the disabled within the public right-of-way at street corners, driveways, and other locations as needed to eliminate steps in the sidewalk. The maximum slope of ramps is 1:12 with 1:10 side slopes. A four foot landing area must be installed at the top of the ramp. Slope cannot exceed 2% in either direction. Ramps must be constructed FEBRUARY 27, 2017 ITEM NO.: 3 (CON'T. Z-7501 -C per Public Works Standard Details PW -48 thru PW -53. A one (1) year maintenance bond for newly installed improvements in the right-of-way must be provided to Public Works, Civil Engineering prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy. Access ramps shall be installed at the intersection of World Avenue and Shall Avenue. 6. At time of building permit, boundary street improvements shall include, but not be limited to, reconstruction of one-half section of the abutting street if the existing street is not up to city standards. Repair, replace, or extend existing damaged or missing curb and gutter, sidewalk, ramps or concrete driveway aprons within the public right-of-way adjacent to the site. Remove abandoned driveway cuts and install curb, gutter, and sidewalk. All work within the public right-of-way shall conform to City of Little Rock Standard Details and ADA guidelines. 7. At time of building permit, damage to public and private property due to hauling operations or operations of construction related equipment from a construction site shall be repaired by the responsible party prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy. 8. At time of building permit, shall Avenue is classified on the Master Street Plan as a collector street. A dedication of right-of-way 30 feet from centerline will be required. 9. At time of building permit, a 20 feet radial dedication of right-of-way is required at the intersection of World Avenue and Shall Avenue. 10.At time of building permit, easements will be required to be dedicated for sidewalks and public parking outside of the Shall Avenue right-of-way. 11.At time of building permit, with site development, provide design of street conforming to the Master Street Plan. Construct one-half street improvement to Shall Avenue including sidewalks with planned development. 12. At time of building permit, sidewalks located five feet off the back of curb of World Avenue with appropriate handicap ramps are required in accordance with Sec. 31-175 of the Little Rock Code and the Master Street Plan. Sidewalk shall be extended to west property line adjacent to World Avenue. 13.At time of building permit, property frontage needs to have the sidewalks and ramps brought up to the current ADA standards. 14.At time of building permit, a grading and drainage plan along with stormwater drainage report and stormwater detention analysis will be required at time of building permit. 15. At time of building permit, this property drains to a known drainage problem. It is believed there is sufficient pipe capacity, however there is insufficient storm drain inlets. The stormwater curb inlet at the south east corner of the property shall be modified to public works detail PW -1A or PW -113. The grate inlet adjacent to shall and just north of the south east corner, shall be modified to increase inlet capacity. An inlet built according to PW -1A or PW -1 B is preferred. 16.At time of building permit, street lights are required by Section 31-403 of the LR code. Provide plans for approval to Traffic Engineering. Street lights must be installed prior to platting/certificate of occupancy. Contact Traffic Engineering 379-1813 (Greg Simmons) for more info. N FEBRUARY 27, 2017 ITEM NO.: 3 (CON'T.) Z -7501-C 17. At time of building permit, driveway locations and widths do not meet the traffic access and circulation requirements of Sections 30-43 and 31-210. Driveways are required to be located 125 feet from side property lines, and 250 feet from intersections and other driveways. A variance from City Code is required to be obtained for proposed drive locations. 18.At time of building permit, in accordance with Section 32-8, no obstruction to visibility shall be located within a triangular area 50' back from the intersecting right-of-way line. Sight distance is obstructed at the proposed south driveway location by the angled parking. 19.At time of building permit, traffic Study and simulation models submitted by the consultant show that the proposed school site has very little room to accommodate school traffic. Vehicles coming to drop-off and pick-up are seen queuing and waiting on several public streets (Capital Ave, Rector St, Byrd St., World Ave.) and even 1-30 access road. Byrd Street is only 16 ft. wide and access to several businesses will be completely blocked by the school traffic on a daily basis. Some of the affected businesses are Graybar Electric Co., Sherwin Williams Commercial Paint Store, Sunbelt Convention Services, Morgan Tool and Supply, Consolidated Electrical Distribution. Depending on which direction the customers are coming from, more businesses will be negatively affected by the school traffic. Since many of these streets are narrow, vehicles won't be able to pass the queued vehicles. School traffic will also negatively affect emergency response. A fire truck or ambulance may face significant delay while negotiating through school traffic that is queued on these streets. Traffic Models also show school traffic queuing on World Ave. This may affect daily operations and special events held at Heifer Village. B. Landscape and Buffer Issues: 1. Site plan must comply with the City's minimal landscape and buffer ordinance and the Presidential Park Overlay District requirements. 2. Signage is to be reviewed and permitted separately. 3. A franchise agreement must be obtained from Little Rock Public Works to place landscape materials in the public right-of-way. Contact Engineering Technician, Bennie Nicolo at 371-4818. Return (1) copy of the franchise agreement to the Plans Development Administrator. 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. In areas designated as "mature" this strip shall be a minimum of six (6) feet nine (9) inches wide. One (1) tree and three (3) shrubs or vines shall be planted for every thirty (30) linear feet of perimeter planting strip. 5. 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. 3 FEBRUARY 27, 2017 ITEM NO.: 3 CON'T. Z-7501 -C C. Staff Analysis: The UU zoned property at 400 Shall Street is occupied by a one-story masonry building which has been used for office/warehouse type uses. The property is located at the southwest corner of Shall Street and World Avenue. The building contains approximately 111,000 square feet of building area, with the overall property containing 3.54 acres. A small area of parking is located along the east side of the building. A loading dock area is located on the south side of the building, with an access drive from Shall Street. The applicant proposes to remodel the building for use as a K through 9 public charter school. As part of the building remodel, the center section of the building will be removed, as noted on the attached site plan. This will result in a 31,215 square foot building on the east portion of the property and a 61,650 square foot structure within the west half of the property. The buildings will be connected by a covered walkway. The area between the buildings will be used as a drop-off/pick-up area and a playground area, with additional playground space on the south side of the westernmost building. A new access drive will be constructed from World Avenue to serve the area between the buildings. The existing drive at the southeast corner of the overall property will also be utilized to serve the area between the buildings. A second driveway from Shall Street will be constructed to form a circular driveway at the southeast corner of the east building. Approximately 15 parking spaces (back - in) will be constructed along the east side of the east building, within the Shall Street right-of-way. Ten (10) parking spaces will be constructed along the south property line. New perimeter and building landscaped areas will be installed, with the addition of sidewalk areas along both street frontages. Additional glass fagade and windows will be added along both street frontages of the buildings. A double gate will be installed across the common area at the northwest corner of the east building and the northeast corner of the west building. The gate structure will be constructed of metal with the wording "e stem" incorporated into the gate design. The wording on the gate will compensate for the allowable signage on the north facade of the buildings. The applicant is requesting two (2) variances in conjunction with the remodel project. The first variance is from Section 36-342.1(c)(8) of the City's Zoning Ordinance which requires that ground -level (street fronting) floors of non-residential buildings have a minimum surface area of 60 percent transparent or window display. The applicant is proposing to add windows on the building facades along Shall Street and World Avenue. The window display area will increase from 16.9 percent to 34 percent along the east building fagade (Shall Street). The window display will also increase along the north building facades from 0.1 percent to 21 percent. The applicant notes that the percentage of window display proposed is the maximum that can be provided, due to the fact that the building is constructed of concrete, tilt -up walls. Any additional windows cut into the fagade could adversely impact the structural integrity of the structure. 0 FEBRUARY 27, 2017 ITEM NO.: 3 (CON'T.) Z-7501 -C The second variance is from Section 36-342.1(d)(1) which requires all uses within the UU zoning district to be inside or enclosed. The applicant is requesting a variance from this section to allow the outdoor playground areas between the buildings and on the south side of the western building. Staff is supportive of the requested variances from the UU district standards. Staff views the request as reasonable. The variances are very minimal in nature with respect to the UU requirements. The building will not be a retail type business in a high pedestrian traffic area. Therefore, the percent of windows on the north and east facades should be sufficient. With respect to the outdoor playground area, the proposed use will be a school in the UU zoning district. The playground area is a component of the school use, just as an outdoor pool/recreation area is a component of a hotel or multifamily development. Playground areas have been approved for other school sites within the UU zoning district. Staff believes that approval of the requested variances will have no adverse impact on the adjacent properties or the general area. D. Staff Recommendation: Staff recommends approval of the requested glass coverage and outdoor playground variances, subject to the following conditions: 1. Compliance with the Public Works requirements as noted in paragraph A. of the staff report. 2. Compliance with the Landscape and Buffer requirements as noted in paragraph B. of the staff report. BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT (February 27, 2017) The applicant was present. There were no objectors present. 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 the vote of 5 ayes, 0 noes and 0 absent.