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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZ-8165 Staff AnalysisMarch 15, 2007 ITEM NO.: E NAME: LOCATION: OWNER/APPLICANT FILE NO.: Z-8165 West Little Rock School — Conditional Use Permit Southeast side of Rahling Road, south of Pebble Beach Agar Shuffield Joint Venture/Little Rock School District, the Mehlburger Firm PROPOSAL: A conditional use permit is requested to allow for construction of a new Pre-K through 8th grade public school on this MF-6 and R-2 zoned 74+ acre tract. SITE LOCATION: The site is located southeast of Rahling Road, '/± mile south of Pebble Beach Drive. 2. COMPATIBILITY WITH NEIGHBORHOOD: The site is located at the edge of several single family neighborhoods. Wellington is located to the south. Belle Pointe, Hillsboro and Pebble Beach are located to the east and north. Rahling Road, a minor arterial street, is located to the west. Beyond Rahling is an area of undeveloped R-2 property and an area of Open Space. An extension of the Wellington Plantation collector street and a large area of green space will separate the school site from the neighborhoods to the east and north. A buffer with a minimum depth of 50 feet will be located along the south perimeter. The school will provide a transition from the neighborhoods to the arterial street and with appropriate screenings should be compatible with the neighborhood. All owners of properties located within 200 feet of the site, all residents site, all residents within 300 feet who could be identified and the St. Charles Neighborhood Association were notified of this request. An informational public meeting was held on January 30, 2007 for any interested parties. 3. ON SITE DRIVES AND PARKING: Access to the campus will be off of an extension of Wellington Plantation Drive. The main entrance driveway is located at the northern end of the campus. This driveway will have two lanes entering and two lanes exiting. A 103 space parking lot is located off of this driveway. The driveway will widen by one lane around the parking lot to provide two March 15, 2007 ITEM NO.: E (Cont. FILE NO.: Z-8165 lanes of stacking space and one lane for access to the parking spaces and to provide circulation. A smaller 77 space parking lot is located at the south end of the campus. The designated bus driveway and drop-off is located directly north of the school. A full breakdown of the number of classrooms, students and employees is included in the analysis section of this report. The parking, drop-off and stacking space appear adequate for the proposed school. 4. SCREENING AND BUFFERS: Site plan must comply with the City's minimal landscape and buffer ordinance requirements. The proposed parking lots will need additional parking islands. Prior to the issuance of a building permit a landscape plan must be approved and must obtain the seal of a licensed Landscape Architect. An automatic irrigation system to water the landscaped areas is required. The City Beautiful Commission recommends preserving as many existing trees as feasible on this tree -covered site. Credit toward fulfilling Landscape Ordinance requirements can be given when preserving trees of six (6) inch caliper or larger. Otherwise, areas set aside appear to meet minimum landscape standards. 5. PUBLIC WORKS COMMENTS: 1. Wellington Plantation Drive is classified on the Master Street Plan as a collector street. A dedication of right-of-way 60 feet will be required. An additional 15 feet of right-of-way will be required to be dedicated measured from the centerline of Rahling Road near the intersection of Wellington Plantation Drive and Rahling Road. This additional right-of- way shall normally be 250 feet in length measured from the intersecting right-of-way. The intersecting right-of-way lines shall normally have a radius of 75 feet at arterial -collector intersections. 2. With site development, provide design of street conforming to the Master Street Plan. Construct street improvements to Wellington Plantation Drive and Rahling Road including 5-foot sidewalks. Provide a 250 foot right turn lane on Rahling Road with a 150 foot taper. Provide a median cut in Rahling Road with a 250 foot left turn bay and a 150 foot taper. 2 March 15, 2007 ITEM NO.: E (Cont. FILE NO.: Z-8165 3. Provide a letter prepared by a registered engineer certifying the stopping distance at the Rahling Road -Wellington Plantation Drive intersection complies with 2004 AASHTO Green Book standards. 4. Provide a traffic study to show peak traffic generated by the site including traffic on adjacent streets to determine if the traffic warrants a signal installed at Wellington Plantation Drive and Rahling Road intersection. For more information, contact Bill Henry, Traffic Engineering at 379-1816. 5. To improve the internal traffic circulation, two (2) separate one way drives should be provided for access to the southeast parking lot and drop off area. This will allow more parking spaces to be provided and keep vehicles from backing out of parking spaces into traffic circulation lanes and interrupting circulation. For more information, contact Bill Henry, Traffic Engineering at 379-1816. 6. The main driveway from the north should be 4 lanes instead of 3 lanes. Parking spaces should not be provided on the main driveway. Vehicles parking will disrupt internal traffic circulation. A parking area should be provided for vehicles separate from the circulation lanes. The steep slope will negatively affect parking along this access drive. Parking spaces on the southern end of this drive should be separated from circulation lanes. For more information, contact Bill Henry, Traffic Engineering, at 379-1816. 7. There appears to be several dead end or cul de sac drives with few access drives. Provide an internal circulation plan. For more information, contact Bill Henry, Traffic Engineering, at 379-1816. 8. Sidewalks should be provided to allow pedestrian access from the sidewalk along the street to sidewalks within the property. 9. Due to the steep slopes and grade changes, provide a sketch Grading and Drainage Plan per Section 29-186(e) showing proposed slopes, terraces, wall heights, and graded areas. 6. UTILITY, FIRE DEPT. AND CATA COMMENTS: Wastewater: Sewer main extension required with easements. Entergy: No Comments received. Centerpoint Energy: No Comments received. AT&T (SBC): No Comments received. Water: All Central Arkansas Water requirements in effect at the time of request for water service must be met. A water main extension will be 3 March 15, 2007 ITEM NO.: E (Cont.) FILE NO.: Z-8165 required in order to provide service to this property. The cost for required off -site improvements will be significant. These facilities will be installed by the developer at its expense. A Capital Investment Charge based on the size of the meter connection(s) will apply to this project in addition to normal charges. This fee will apply to all meter connections including any metered connections off the private fire system. Proposed water facilities will be sized and designed to provide adequate pressure and fire protection. Fire Department: Install and place Fire hydrants per Code. Contact Fire Marshall Dennis Free at 918-3710. County Planning: No Comments. CATA: The site is not located on the CATA bus route. SUBDIVISION COMMITTEE COMMENT: (JANUARY 11, 2007) The applicants were present. Staff presented the item and noted additional information was needed; including building height and design, signage, number of classrooms by grade, number of employees and teachers, site lighting, dumpster and screening, fencing and playground areas. Staff asked that the areas to remain undisturbed be labeled as such. Public Works Comments were discussed at length. The applicant was advised to meet with Public Works Engineering staff to resolve concerns about circulation, driveway design and street grade. Staff requested a traffic study to determine if a traffic signal would be warranted at the intersection of Wellington Plantation Drive and Rahling Road. Staff also requested a sketch grading and drainage plan. Landscape, Utility and Fire Department Comments were noted. The applicant was advised to respond to staff comments by January 17, 2007. The applicant stated many of the elements of the plan were conceptual in nature and specific details would not be available. The applicant was advised to provide as much information as was possible. The applicant noted a public meeting would be held at 6:00 on January 30, 2007 at the public library on Rahling Circle where interested parties could view the plans. n March 15, 2007 ITEM NO.: E (Cont.) FILE NO.: Z-8165 The Committee forwarded the item to the full Commission. STAFF ANALYSIS: The Little Rock School District is requesting approval of a conditional use permit to allow for construction of a new, Pre-K through 8th grade school on this undeveloped, wooded, 74± acre tract. The building will vary from a single level to three stories with a footprint of 172,000 square feet and a total of 250,000 square feet. There will be a center administrative core, separate multi -story academic zones for elementary and middle grades, a gymnasium and a multi -story media center and cafeteria. The building materials will be masonry, stone, pre -finished metal and exterior stucco. Due to the nature of the terrain and the multi -story construction, a maximum building height of 85 feet is anticipated. Separate bus and vehicle driveways and parking will be constructed. The main drop-off driveway provides over one-half mile of stacking space in dual lanes. All bus and delivery traffic will be directed to utilize Rahling Road, entering the site from the north on Wellington Plantation Drive. Wellington Plantation Drive will be extended to intersect Rahling. The road will be constructed to collector street standards. Improvements will be made to the intersection, including turn lanes and signalization, if warranted. A sidewalk will be constructed on the west side of Wellington Plantation Drive. A separate service building and parking lot will be located north of the main building. The bus lane will be gated during the school day to provide a hard surface play area. Two terraced play areas will also be constructed north and west of the building. An unlighted, soccer practice field will be located in the northern portion of the campus. Fencing is proposed to consist only of some chain -link fencing around a portion of the play areas. A single, building mounted sign will be placed near the main entry into the building. A monument style ground -mounted sign will be located in the landscaped front yard adjacent to the front of the building and a monument ground -mounted sign will be located at the northern end of the site, at the Rahling Road/Wellington Plantation Drive intersection. Directional signage will be placed at the individual driveways. A designated 50-foot undisturbed buffer will be located around the entire perimeter of the 74± acre tract, although much more of the site will be left as green space. No development is proposed on the east side of Wellington Plantation Drive or on the southwestern portion that extends toward Rahling Road. 5 March 15, 2007 ITEM NO.: E (Cont. FILE NO.: Z-8165 The specifics of the school population, classes and employees are as follow: Core Classrooms By Grade: Pre -Kindergarten Kindergarten 1st— 5th Grades 6th — 8th Grades TOTAL Student Population: PreK — 5th Grades 61h — 8th Grade TOTAL Other Academic Spaces: 6 Special Education 6 Art 5 each 5 each 52 Music/Choir Workforce/FAC Gymnasiums Media Center Staff: 895 Teachers 440 Admin/Aids 1335 Custodial/Kitchen/SRO TOTAL 12 3 4 3 2 75 47 _23_ 145 On January 17, 2007, the applicants submitted response to the issues raised at Subdivision Committee. A sketch grading and drainage plan was submitted. Some initial work on the requested traffic study has been completed by Peters and Associates. Public Works Staff continues to work with the applicant on traffic issues. Once completed, the final analysis will be presented to the Commission. Staff anticipates all issues being addressed. Public Works Staff has submitted the following updated comments based on the plans and information submitted after Subdivision Committee: Public Works has reviewed the revised site plan submitted for the LRSD, West Little Rock School. At time of writing, a complete submittal of all requested information has yet to be received. In particular, a traffic study must still be provided. Staff understands this study is currently being prepared. With this study, the applicant's engineer will also provide the design of the Rahling Road -Wellington Plantation Drive intersection to meet Master Street Plan requirements and a letter certifying the stopping distance complies with 2004 AASHTO Green Book standards. The study will address if a signal is warranted and the number of turn lanes. The applicant's engineer has attempted to address staff concerns over the circulation of traffic within the school's property by the addition of a 4 lane drive accessing from the north and separation of parking areas from vehicle circulation lanes. The drive will have no striping for adjacent parking. The outside lane of this drive could be used for parking at special events. The drop off area accessing from the south has also been revised to separate parking areas from vehicle circulation lanes. This driveway must be designed with 3 lanes. At time March 15, 2007 ITEM NO.: E (Cont.) FILE NO.: Z-8165 of writing, the applicant's engineer has not provided staff with a letter certifying the sight distance at the driveways meets 2004 AASHTO Green Book standards. More detailed information pertaining to traffic circulation within the property is expected to be provided by the traffic study. The revised plan shows Wellington Plantation Drive, the proposed collector street, to be built to the maximum collector street slope limit of 12%. The engineer is still requesting a variance to build the collector to a 15% slope. Staff can support the street slope variance to a maximum of 15%. But like all streets, sufficient sight distance per the 2004 AASHTO Green Book standards must be provided. The proposed Wellington Plantation Drive will be constructed and striped with 3 lanes. Due to the expected traffic from dropping off/picking up students, some portions of the street must be built with a right turn lane in addition to the 3 lanes. Sidewalks will be provided on the west side of the road. A crosswalk and additional sidewalk may have to be provided off the property. The length and location of the right turn lanes will be determined by the traffic study. As a result of the street construction, a variance is also requested to exceed the maximum 30-foot cut/fill height limit. The engineer is proposing a cut of approximately 45 ft. running along the eastern side of the road out of right-of- way. The length of that cut is unknown. This cut will be supported by three 15 ft. retaining walls. Although there are issues waiting to be addressed, staff anticipates those can be worked through. Staff's final recommendation on the C.U.P. and any requested variances will be presented once all information has been submitted and analyzed. STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staffs final recommendation is forthcoming. PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: (FEBRUARY 15, 2007) The applicant was present. There were no objectors present. Staff informed the Commission that the applicant had, on February 7, 2007, requested deferral of the item to the March 15, 2007 meeting. There was no further discussion. The item was placed on the consent agenda and approved for deferral to the March 15 meeting by a vote of 8 ayes, 0 noes and 3 absent. STAFF UPDATE: On March 5, 2007, the applicant requested deferral of the item to allow more time for consideration of issues, including a traffic study. Staff recommends deferral of the item to the April 26, 2007 Agenda. 7 March 15, 2007 ITEM NO.: E (Cont. 19111:4►161W . , PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: (MARCH 15, 2007) The applicant was not present. There were no objectors present. Staff informed the Commission that on March 15, 2007 the applicant had requested withdrawal of the item, without prejudice. There was no further discussion. A motion was made to waive the Commission's bylaws to accept the late request for withdrawal. The motion was approved with a vote of 8 ayes, 0 noes and 3 absent. The item was placed on the consent agenda and approved for withdrawal by a vote of 8 ayes, 0 noes and 3 absent. 0