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HomeMy WebLinkAboutS-1271 Staff AnalysisMarch 30, 2000 ITEM NO.: D FILE NO.: NAME: Parkway Center - Subdivision Site Plan Review LOCATION: Southeast corner of Chenal Parkway and Oak Meadow Drive DEVELOPER: Ashley Company 2851 Lakewood Village Dr. No. Little Rock, AR 72116 ENGINEER: The Mehlburger Firm 201 S. Izard Street Little Rock, AR 72201 AREA: Approx. 12.39 acres NUMBER OF LOTS: 1 ZONING: C-3 ALLOWED USES: Commercial PROPOSED USE: Commercial VARIANCES/WAIVERS REQUESTED: Variance for a reduced number of parking spaces. BACKGROUND: S-1271 FT. NEW STREET: 0 The property at the southeast corner of Chenal Parkway and Oak Meadow Drive is zoned C-3 commercial and the applicant is proposing to utilize the property for C-3 permitted uses. However, based on the fact that the applicant is proposing a two (2) building site plan, the plan requires review and approval by the Planning Commission. A. PROPOSAL/REQUEST: The applicant proposes to construct two (2) buildings on the site with a total building area of 128,500 square feet. The larger building which will contain a mixture of commercial uses will face Chenal Parkway, with parking between the building and the street. The smaller building will contain a mixture of office and commercial space and will front West Markham Street and Oak Meadow Dr. There will also be parking between this building and the streets. March 30, 2000 SUBDIVISION ITEM NO.: D (Cont.) FILE NO.: S-1271 The applicant has noted that the buildings will not exceed a height of 30 feet. There is a service court proposed between the two buildings for deliveries, employee parking, dumpsters, etc. Seven (7) access points are proposed to serve the development (two from Chenal Parkway, two from Oak Meadow Dr., two from West Markham Street and one from Parkway Place Dr. A total of 556 parking spaces is proposed for the development. The Ordinance requires a total of 571 spaces for a shopping center development of this size. The applicant is requesting a variance for the reduced number of spaces. The applicant has noted that additional landscaping will be installed along Chenal Parkway where head -in parking is proposed. A -ground -mounted sign is proposed at the main entrance from Chenal Parkway. The applicant notes that the sign will conform to the Chenal/Financial Center Design Overlay District (monument type, maximum area - 100 square feet, maximum height - 8 feet, set back at least 5 feet from any property line). B. EXISTING CONDITIONS: The property is undeveloped and partially wooded. There is a Little Rock Fire Station and undeveloped 0-3 zoned property to the west and southwest across Oak Meadow Drive, with single family residences further west and southwest. There is a church located across West Markham Street to the south, with additional single family residences further south. There is a convenience store and carwash immediately east of this site, with a funeral home further east across Parkway Place Drive. There is a retirement village located across Chenal Parkway to the north. C. NEIGHBORHOOD COMMENTS: As of this writing, staff has received two (2) phones calls from persons expressing concerns with the proposed development. The Parkway Place and Gibralter Heights/Point West/Timber Ridge Neighborhood Associations were notified of the public hearing. D. ENGINEERING COMMENTS: PUBLIC WORKS CONDITIONS: 1. Oak Meadow Drive is commercial street. A dedication of right-of-way 30 feet from centerline is required. 2 March 30, 2000 SUBDIVISION ITEM NO.: D (Cont.) FILE NO.: S-1271 2- Construct all improvements on Chenal Parkway to Chenal standards. 3. Driveway shall conform to Section 31-210 or Ordinance 18,031 or eliminate driveways. 4. Provide design of streets conforming to "MSP" (Master Street Plan). Construct one-half street improvements to these streets including 5 foot sidewalks with planned development. 5. Redesign main entrance on Chenal for adequate stacking and eliminate cross traffic. 6. Out parcels on Chenal and Oak Meadow Drive should have internal access. 7. Stormwater detention ordinance applies to this property. 8. Easements for proposed stormwater detention facilities are required. 9- Prepare a letter of pending development addressing street lights as required by Section 31-403 of the Little Rock Code. All requests should be forwarded to Traffic Engineering. 10. Existing topographic information at maximum five foot contour interval 100 base flood elevation is required. 11. A Sketch Grading and Drainage Plan per Sec. 29-186(e) is required. 12. A Grading Permit per Secs. 29-186(c) and (d) is required. 13. Contact the ADPC&E for approval prior to start of work is required. 14. Chenal Parkway has average daily traffic count of 17,000. E. UTILITIES AND FIRE DEPARTMENT/COUNTY PLANNING: Wastewater: Sewer available, not adversely affected. AP&L: If a 30 foot overhead power line is required, a 30 foot easement will be required. (15 feet plus street ROW) . Arkla: No Comment. Southwestern Bell: No Comment received. Water: On site fire protection will be required. Fire Department: Contact Dennis Free at 918-3752 for details on fire hydrant placement and turning radii. County Planning: No Comment. 3 March 30, 2000 SUBDIVISION ITEM NO.: D (Cont. CATA: Site is very near CATA Route #5. transit purposes. F. ISSUES/TECHNICAL/DESIGN: Planning Division: No Comment. Landscape Issues: FILE NO.: S-1271 Approved for No provision has been made for building landscaping between the public parking areas and building they serve. Normally, this would be a 3 foot deep landscape strip. Considerable flexibility with this requirement is allowed. The proposed street buffer depth along Chenal Parkway drops below the full average requirement of 30 feet but meets the minimum requirement average of 20 feet when the allowed transfers are figured in. The proposed street buffer depth along West Markham meets and exceeds the full requirement of 26 feet when averaged out though it drops to as low as 9 feet for 153 feet. This property is tree covered. The City Beautiful Commission recommends preserving as many trees as feasible. This would include those on the street -side. Extra credit can be given toward fulfilling Landscape Ordinance requirements when preserving trees of 6 inch caliper or larger. G. ANALYSIS: The applicant submitted a revised site plan and additional information to staff on December 16, 1999. The revised plan addresses some of the staff concerns. A sign location has been shown on the plan, which will conform to the Chenal/Financial Center DOD standards as noted in paragraph A. One of the proposed driveways from Oak Meadow Drive has been eliminated (reduced from 3 to 2 drives). The revised plan shows that the building area has been reduced to 128,500 square feet and that parking has been added, primarily within the service court area. The total number of parking spaces proposed is 556 spaces. The 4 March 30, 2000 SUBDIVISION ITEM NO.: D (Cont.) FILE NO.: 5-1271 Ordinance requires a total of 571 spaces for this development. The applicant is requesting a variance for the reduced number of spaces. Staff supports the variance request. Based on the fact that the property is located within the Chenal/Financial Center Design Overlay District, the property must conform to the site lighting and utility standards as set forth in the DOD. Any site lighting must be directed to the parking areas and away from adjacent property. All utilities located between the rear line of the building and Chenal Parkway must be underground. The building setbacks and height as proposed conform to ordinance standards. At this time, there are two (2) Public Works issues which have not been resolved. The outstanding issues, involve the design of the main entry drive from Chenal Parkway and the total number of drives. The proposed site plan shows a cross drive approximately 40 feet back from the main entrance from Chenal Parkway. The ordinance requires that a cross drive be located at least 75 feet back from a street right-of-way line. This issue must be discussed and resolved. The other outstanding issue relates to the total number of drives. Public Works recommends that the easternmost drive along Chenal Parkway and the easternmost drive along West Markham Street be eliminated, as these drives do not conform to the minimum spacing requirements. The drives are too close to the side property lines. This issue must also be discussed by the full Commission. Otherwise, to staff's knowledge, there are no additional issues to be resolved. With the Public Works issues being resolved, staff is comfortable with the proposed site design plan. Staff feels that the applicant has done an adequate job in designing a two -building development plan with the building service area between the two buildings, shielded from the adjacent streets. H. STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS: Staff recommends approval of the site plan subject to the following conditions: 5 March 30, 2000 SUBDIVISION ITEM NO.: D (Cont.) FILE NO.: S-1271 1. Compliance with the requirements as noted in paragraphs D, E and F of this report. 2. The issue relating to driveway design (main entry drive from Chenal Parkway) and number of driveways needs to be discussed and resolved. 3.The proposed ground -mounted sign must conform to the Chenal/Financial Center DOD standards -(monument-type, maximum height - 8 feet, maximum area - 100 square feet, set back at least 5 feet from any property line) . 4. The site lighting and utilities must conform to the Chenal/Financial Center DOD standards as noted in paragraph G. 5. Staff recommends approval of the variance to allow a reduced number of parking spaces. 6. Based on the fact that a portion of the property is wooded, there should be no grading or site work prior to -a building permit being issued. SUBDIVISION COMMITTEE COMMENT: (DECEMBER 9, 1999) Frank Riggins was present, representing the application. Staff briefly described the proposed site plan, noting that the applicant needed to request a variance for a reduced number of parking spaces. The parking issue was briefly discussed. The issue relating to driveway locations was briefly discussed. Staff noted that the number of proposed driveways needed to be reduced in order to conform to ordinance standards. Mr. Riggins noted that he had no problems with the additional staff or Public Works comments/requirements. After the discussion, the Committee forwarded the site plan to the full Commission for final action. PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: (JANUARY 6, 2000) Staff informed the Commission that the applicant submitted a letter on January 4, 2000 requesting that this item be deferred to the February 17, 2000 agenda. Staff supported the deferral request. With a vote of 11 ayes and 0 nays, the Commission voted to waive their bylaws and accept the deferral request being made less than five (5) working days prior to the public hearing. 6 March 30, 2000 SUBDIVISION ITEM NO.: D (Cont.) FILE NO.: 5-1271 The Chairman placed the item before the Commission for inclusion within the Consent Agenda for deferral to the February 17, 2000 agenda. A motion to that effect was made. The motion passed by a vote of 11 ayes and 0 nays. PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: (FEBRUARY 17, 2000) Staff informed the Commission that the applicant had submitted a letter requesting that this item be deferred to the March 30, 2000 agenda. Staff supported the deferral request. The Chairman placed the item before the Commission for inclusion within the Consent Agenda for deferral to the March 30, 2000 agenda. A motion to that effect was made. The motion passed by a vote of 9 ayes, 0 nays and 2 absent. PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: (MARCH 30, 2000) Staff informed the Commission that the applicant submitted a letter on March 211 2000 requesting that this application be withdrawn, without prejudice. Staff supported the withdrawal as requested. The Chairperson placed the item before the Commission for inclusion within the Consent Agenda for withdrawal without prejudice. A motion to that effect was made. The motion passed by a vote of 9 ayes, 0 nays and 2 absent. 7