Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutZ-8830 Staff AnalysisJanuary 10, 2013 ITEM NO.: 11 FILE NO.. Z-8830 NAME: Arkansas Baptist College Office Building and High School Charter School — Conditional Use Permit LOCATION: 1607 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive OWNER/APPLICANT: Arkansas Baptist College PROPOSAL: A conditional use permit is requested to allow for construction of a High School Charter School building and associated parking and the relocation of four (4) residential structures to be used as offices for the college on this R-4 zoned site. 2 SITE LOCATION: The site is located on the east side of MLK, between West 16t" and West 17th Streets. COMPATIBILITY WITH NEIGHBORHOOD: The site is located outside of the main Arkansas Baptist College campus but within an area where ABC has several facilities. College facilities are located to the south and north. The main campus extends to the west. The lay -out of this proposal is such that the principle activity (Charter School) is located on MLK. Four, small, residential style buildings to be used as offices will be located along the east perimeter. A parking lot will be located between the small building and the larger charter school building. Staff believes the applicant has done a good job of laying out the site plan so as to minimize any effect on the residential neighborhood extending to the east. As of this writing, the issue of vehicle stacking for drop-off of pickup had not been resolved. Notice of the public hearing was sent to all owners of properties located within 200 feet of the site and the Downtown and Central High Neighborhood Associations. 3. ON SITE DRIVES AND PARKING: The typical parking requirement for a high school is 6 spaces per classroom plus 1 space for every employee. This school will have 10 classrooms and up to 10 employees, requiring 70 parking spaces. The four (4) small office buildings total 5,800 square feet in area, requiring 14 parking spaces at 1/400. The new parking lot has 50 spaces. It is January 10, 2013 ITEM NO.: 11 Cont. FILE NO.: Z-8830 anticipated that only a small percentage of students at the charter school will drive, reducing the need for parking and freeing up spaces for the office uses. As of this writing, the issue of vehicle stacking for drop-off/pick-up of the students has not been resolved. 4. SCREENING AND BUFFERS: Site plan must comply with the City's landscape and buffer ordinance requirements. The zoning buffer ordinance requires a fifteen foot (15') wide land use buffer along the eastern property line next to the residentially zoned property. Seventy percent (70%) of this area must remain undisturbed. A small amount of building landscaping will be required. Eight percent (8%) of the parking lot must be allocated for interior islands; these islands must evenly distributed throughout the site. The landscape ordinance requires a nine foot (9') wide landscape strip around the sites entirety. The plan submitted appears to be meeting this minimal ordinance requirement. A six (6) foot high opaque screen, either a wooden fence with its face side directed outward, a wall, or dense evergreen plantings, is required along the eastern perimeter of the site, next to the residentially zoned properties. An automatic irrigation system to water landscaped area will be required. 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. Street trees are highly recommended in conjunction with this application by both the City of Little Rock and the City Beautiful Commission. 5. PUBLIC WORKS COMMENTS: 1. A twenty (20) foot radial dedication of right-of-way is required at the intersection of Martin Luther King Boulevard and W. 17th Street. 4 January 10, 2013 ITEM NO.: 11 Cont. FILE NO.: Z-8830 2. At time of building permit, repair or replace any curb and gutter or sidewalk that is damaged its the public right-of-way prior to occupancy. 3. At time of building permit, sidewalks with appropriate handicap ramps are required in accordance with Section 31-175 of the Little Rock Code and the Master Street Plan. Sidewalks are required to be installed along Martin Luther King Boulevard, W. 16th Street and W. 17t" Street. 4. At time of building permit, remove old curb cuts. 5. At time of building permit, storm water detention ordinance applies to this property. Show the proposed location for storm water detention facilities on the plan. If it is believed detention does not apply, calculations of pre and post impervious area must be provided. 6. At time of building permit, Plans of all work in right-of-way shall be submitted for approval prior to start of work. Obtain barricade permit prior to doing any work in the right-of-way from Traffic Engineering at (501) 379-1805 (Travis Herbner). 7. If disturbed area is one or more acres, obtain a NPDES storm water permit from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality prior to the start of construction. UTILITY FIRE DEPT. AND CATA COMMENTS: Wastewater: Sewer available to this project. Entergy: Approved as submitted. Relocation costs apply if required. Centerpoint Energy: No comment received. AT&T (SBC): No comment received. Water: All Central Arkansas Water requirements in effect at the time of request for water service must be met. The Little Rock Fire Department needs to evaluate this site to determine whether additional public and/or private fire hydrant(s) will be required. If additional fire hydrant(s) are required, they will be installed at the Developer's expense. Please submit plans for water facilities and/or fire protection system to Central Arkansas Water for review. Plan revisions may be required after additional review. Contact Central Arkansas Water regarding procedures for installation of water facilities and/or fire service. Approval of plans by the Arkansas Department of Health Engineering Division and Little Rock Fire Department is required. 3 January 10, 2013 ITEM NO_; 11(Cont.)FILE NO.: Z--8830 Contact Central Arkansas Water regarding the size and location of the water meter. 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. Due to the nature of this facility, installation of an approved reduced pressure zone backflow preventer assembly (RPZ) is required on the domestic water service. This assembly must be installed prior to the first point of use. Central Arkansas Water (CAW) requires that upon installation of the RPZA, successful tests of the assembly must be completed by a Certified Assembly Tester licensed by the State of Arkansas and approved by CAW. The test results must be sent to CAW's Cross Connection Section within ten days of installation and annually thereafter. Contact the Cross Connection Section at 377-1226 if you would like to discuss backflow prevention requirements for this project. The facilities on -site will be private. When meters are planned off private lines, private facilities shall be installed to Central Arkansas Water's material and construction specifications and installation will be inspected by an engineer, licensed to practice in the State of Arkansas. Execution of Customer Owned Line Agreement is required. Fire Department: Fire hydrants (per Code). Maintain access of at least twenty (20) feet. County Planning: No Comments. CATA: The site is located on a CATA bus route. SUBDIVISION COMMITTEE COMMENT: (DECEMBER 20, 2012) The applicants were present. Staff presented the item and noted additional information was needed regarding signage, the square footage of each of the smaller buildings and the proposed clinic use. The applicants were asked to provide the total number of available on -campus parking spaces. Staff noted a screening fence would be required along the east perimeter of the side. In response to a question from staff, the applicants stated meals would be provided at the college cafeteria. 4 January 10, 2013 ITEM NO.: 11 (Cont. FILE NO.: Z-8830 Staff asked the applicants to locate the drop-off/pick-up area and to provide a vehicle stacking plan. During the discussion, it was suggested that the drop- off/pick-up area could include the main campus area which might provide more stacking space. The applicants stated they would provide a plan. Public Works staff stated no stacking would be permitted on the streets, especially MLK. Public Works, Utility and Landscape Comments were noted and discussed. It was noted that a variance to allow a reduced buffer on the east perimeter was needed. The applicants were addressed to respond to staff issues by December 26, 2012, The Committee then forwarded the item to the full Commission. STAFF ANALYSIS: Arkansas Baptist College is requesting approval of a conditional use permit to allow the following: 1. Construction of a High School Charter School on the front (west) portion of the property at 1519 MLK. 2. Relocation of four (4) residential structures from 1607 MLK, 1609 MLK, 1519 MLK, and 1323 West 16th to the rear (east) portion of the property at 1519 MLK to be used as offices for the college. 3. Construction of a parking lot between the charter school building and the four (4) small office buildings. Premier Charter School will focus on high school drop -outs and at -risk students. There will be a maximum enrollment of 240 students in grades 9-12. The charter school will have 8-10 employees. The classroom building will house the high school from 7:00 a.m. — 4:00 p.m. The College will hold night classes in the building from 6:00 p.m. — 9:30 p.m. The building will contain a total of 10 classrooms and support offices. The one-story building will contain 15,000 square feet. A 1,480 square foot student health annex will be located at the southeast corner of the building. It is anticipated that the St. Vincent's Health Clinic will locate in the health annex which contains 2 exam rooms, a triage room, waiting room and staff offices. Building materials will match the architecture of new buildings on the campus; brick, EIFS and metal. Of the four (4) residential buildings proposed to be moved to the rear of the site, two (2) are currently being used as offices. All four (4) are located where future development is proposed. All four (4) will be used for various office functions by 5 January 10, 2013 ITEM NO.: 11 (Cont. FILE NO.: Z the college. The residential appearance of each structure will be retained, with landscaped yard space around each structure. A fifty (50) space parking lot, with access off of West 16th and West 17th Streets, will be located between the charter school building and the four (4) small buildings. A dumpster, with screening is indicated in the south end of the parking lot. It is within the 17th Street setback but to place it elsewhere could impact the available parking and vehicle stacking. Staff believes the dumpster screenings should be constructed of brick to match the new charter school building. Signage is proposed to consist of a single, monument single ground sign on the MLK frontage and wall signs on the front (west) facades of the charter school and smaller office buildings. A campus standard parking directional sign will be placed at each driveway entrance. The applicant responded to most issues raised at Subdivision Committee. There are currently 160± on -campus parking spaces. An additional 117± spaces are proposed under various applications ABC has on this agenda. A six (6) foot tall wood privacy fence will be placed along the east perimeter of the site. The College's on -campus dining hall, across MLK, will be used for breakfast and lunch by the charter school students. There are additional variances associated with the request. The Charter School building is proposed to have reduced front and side setbacks. The landscape buffer on the east is reduced where the buildings are located. The area around the buildings will have the appearance of residential yard space and a screening fence will be installed. The dumpster is located in the 17th Street setback. Staff believes the dumpster enclosure should be brick to match the new building. All pole mounted lighting is indicated as complying with "Arkansas Shielded Outdoor Lighting Act 1963 of 2005 and Other Dark -sky Regulations." Building mounted wall pac security lighting is indicated as "downward cast mounted a maximum of 12 feet above grade." The bill of assurance for Centennial Addition does not address use issues. Staff is generally supportive of the issue. However, the question about student drop-off/pick-up and vehicle stacking had not yet been answered at the time this agenda was prepared. The acceptable resolution of that matter will determine staff's recommendation which will be presented at the meeting. STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff's recommendation is forthcoming. 0 January 10, 2013 ITEM NO.: 11 Cont. FILE NO.: Z-8830 PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: (JANUARY 10, 2013) This item was discussed by the commission as a package including Z-8442-A, Z-8830, Z-8831 and Z-8832. There were four (4) items on the agenda for Arkansas Baptist College and three (3) persons were present with concerns about two (2) of the items. Staff informed the commission that the applicant had submitted a traffic plan for student drop-off/pick-up, utilizing the parking lot located on the east side of Marshall Street, south of 17t" Street, near the core of the campus. Traffic will travel westbound on 18t" Street, turn north on Marshall Street and enter the parking lot. No driveways will be blocked since the college owns everything on the north side of 18th. Students will walk across the main campus going to and coming from the charter school. In light of the resolution of the traffic issue, staff recommended approval of the CUP subject to compliance with the following: 1. Compliance with the comments and conditions outlined in Sections 4, 5 and 6 of the agenda staff report. 2. The dumpster enclosure is to be constructed of materials to match the charter school building. Staff recommended approval of the requested setback, buffer, dumpster location and parking variances. The applicant was present. Staff presented the item and a recommendation of approval as outlined in the "staff recommendation" above. The applicant, Dr. Fitz Hill of Arkansas Baptist College, stated he would reserve his time to respond to any issues raised by the objectors. Odies and Frankie Nelson, of 1301 W. 16th Street spoke of their concerns about the proximity of the charter school and office building (s) to their house. They also spoke of their concerns about the nature of the students who would be attending the charter school. Ward 1 Director Erma Hendrix read a statement from Joyce Matthews of the Central High Neighborhood Association asking that the items be deferred for further consideration. In response to her request, staff explained the nature of the four (2) various applications, specifically the two(2) that were in closest proximity to the Nelson's property. Commissioner Nunnley commented that the proposals by the College were in line with the Campus Master Plan that had previously been reviewed by the Commission. 7 January 10, 2013 ITEM NO.- 11 (Cont.) FILE NO.: Z-8830 Dr. Hill stated the college met with the neighborhood association at the beginning of each semester and had met them on January 8, 2013 to discuss these specific proposals. He asked that the items move forward. He discussed the need for the charter school which would have as its focus at -risk students. Dr. Hill presented a letter from the Department of Arkansas Heritage stating that the college's plans to relocate some houses would not impact the Central High Historic District's National Register status. Dr. Hill stated the college was committed to working with the neighborhood and was working to improve the neighborhood. Billy Owens, the college's Executive Vice-president and Chief Financial Officer, stated he had attended the meeting with the neighborhood on January 8 and there appeared to be no unresolved questions from the neighbors. Commissioner Changose commented that it seemed to him that whatever Arkansas Baptist College touched appeared to be improved. Commissioner Nunnley agreed. Commissioner Fountain stated he was impressed by the plans for the charter school. Chairman Rector noted that a commissioner had left and there were now only eight (8) commissioners present. He stated the applicant could request a deferral since it would take six (6) votes to approve an item. Dr. Hill stated he wished to move forward. A motion was made to approve the application, including all staff comments and conditions. The motion was approved by a vote of 8 ayes, 0 noes, 2 absent and 1 open position.