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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZ-8629 Staff AnalysisJANUARY 31, 2011 ITEM NO.: 2 File No.: Z-8629 Owner: Chow Time Corp. — Little Rock Applicant: Thomas Pownall Address: 102 S. Rodney Parham Road Description: West side of S. Rodney Parham Road, South of W. Markham Street Zoned: C-3 Variance Requested: A variance is requested from the parking provisions of Section 36- 502 to allow construction of a new restaurant building with reduced parking. Justification: The applicant's justification is presented in an attached letter. Present Use of Property: Vacant Restaurant Building Proposed Use of Property: New Restaurant Building STAFF REPORT A. Public Works Issues: No Comments B. Landscape and Buffer Issues: Areas set aside for landscape and buffer appear to meet the City minimal standards. An automatic irrigation system will be required in conjunction with this application. C. Staff Analysis: The C-3 zoned property at 102 S. Rodney Parham Road is occupied by a one- story commercial building located within the north half of the property. Paved parking is located on the north, south and west sides of the building. The building previously housed a restaurant use, but is currently vacant. Access drives from S. Rodney Parham Road and Sunnymeade Drive serve the property. The applicant proposes to remove the existing building from the site and construct a new one-story restaurant building, as noted on the attached site plan. The proposed building will have an area of 12,416 square feet and be located within the same area of the property as the existing building. The applicant is proposing to utilize the two (2) existing access drives, and provide newly designed parking JANUARY 31, 2011 ITEM NO.: 2 [CON'T. spaces on the north, south and west sides of the new building. A total of 114 parking spaces is proposed with the redevelopment. Currently there are 107 parking spaces on the site. The new parking design will provide increased perimeter and street buffers, with increased perimeter and interior landscaping. The applicant is requesting one (1) variance with the proposed property redevelopment. Section 36-502(b)(3)c. of the City's Zoning Ordinance requires a minimum of 124 paved parking spaces for the proposed restaurant building. Therefore, the applicant is requesting a variance to allow 114 parking spaces for the site. Staff is supportive of the requested parking variance. Staff views the request as reasonable. The applicant is providing 92 percent of the required parking spaces which should be sufficient to serve the proposed restaurant use. As noted previously, increased buffers and landscaping are being provided with the new parking designs. Without the increased landscaping, the applicant could easily provide ten (10) more parking spaces. Additionally, the site is located relatively close to the Midtown Design Overlay District (approximately one (1) mile to the east), which allows a development to have half of the parking spaces as typically required by ordinance. Staff feels that the amount of proposed parking will be sufficient to serve the new restaurant use. Staff believes the new restaurant construction will be a quality redevelopment of the site and have no adverse impact on the adjacent properties or general area. D. Staff Recommendation: Staff recommends approval of the requested parking variance, subject to compliance with the Buffer and Landscape requirements as noted in paragraph B. of the staff report. BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT: (JANUARY 31, 2011) The applicant was present. There were no objectors present. Staff presented the application with a recommendation of approval, with conditions. The item was placed on the Consent Agenda and approved, as recommended by staff, with a vote of 4 ayes, 0 noes, 0 absent and 1 open position.