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HomeMy WebLinkAboutA001 - Commission Action Form dated December 6, 2023 ITEM#: 8 DATE: 12/06/23 COMMISSION ACTION FORM SUBJECT: TEXT AMENDMENT TO SECTION 29.406(11) ALLOWING FOR UNPAVED MANEUVERING AREAS FOR BASIC UTILITIES AND OTHER SIMILAR USES. BACKGROUND: Alliant Energy provides electric and natural gas services to eastern and southern portions of the City. Alliant is an economic development partner with the City of Ames for the Prairie View Industrial Center located east of 1-35. Alliant plans to construct a new substation to provide service for large industrial uses. Upon review of preliminary plans for the substation, a location setback away from Lincoln Way was determined to be a better location than one near the street. Alliant expressed concerns about the need and cost of a paved driveway for their low volume use of the substation as it related to the length of the driveway to serve the planned substation. Alliant requested City Council consider a text amendment to allow for a waiver of the paving requirements. The City Council has referred a request from Alliant Energy requesting a text amendment to the City's paving standards for vehicle maneuvering areas in Section 29.406(11). (See Attachment A). Accordingly, Alliant Energy has applied for a text amendment that Basic Utility uses, such as electrical substations, be permitted to request a waiver from paving standards due to low volume traffic related to such sites. Currently, Electrical Substations as well as other Basic Utility type uses (water towers, pump stations, etc), are required to fully pave to City standards all maneuvering areas including driveways, where vehicular traffic will circulate or use for maneuvering and parking, regardless of frequency. The standard has been applied to the driveway leading up to the fenced perimeter of the equipment, within the fenced area paving is not typically required. The current standards for improvement of new off-street parking and maneuvering areas are defined as the following in Section 29.406(11)(a)(i)(ii): (a) Surface Material Standards. (i) Materials. All vehicular parking and maneuvering areas, including driveways, and front yard parking areas described in Section 29.406(7), must be paved with Portland Cement Concrete, Asphaltic Cement Concrete, or an equivalent as determined by the City Engineer. (ii) Material Thickness. All vehicle areas, including front yard parking areas described in Section 29.406(7), must be paved with an approved material no less than five inches thick. Use of bricks or pavers with a supporting base that provides i� I for durabilityequal to that of five inches of paved thickness may be approved b q p Y pp Y the City Engineer. Greater thickness may be required by subsurface conditions or the type of vehicles using the parking area. In all off-street parking areas where access will be provided for heavy trucks and transit vehicles, the pavement thickness shall be adequate to accommodate such vehicles, as determined by the City Engineer. When it is anticipated that transit service will be extended to sites not presently served, pavement thickness shall be adequate to accommodate transit vehicles, as determined by the City Engineer. Paving of maneuvering areas on all sites has been a standard requirement for some time in Ames. The intent is to provide for improved hard surface areas that create usable and convenient maneuvering and parking areas. This allows for higher quality site development, protects against excess dust and noise being created, and for safe, defined areas for travel with control of improvements to avoid other types of encroachments. Generally, this principle is most noticeable on higher volume commercial, industrial and residential sites where traffic is present on a daily or regular basis and lack of paving would result in the unpaved surface being damaged significantly over time. This can even lead to issues or topographic change with regular grading being needed. Basic Utility are a defined principal use within the Zoning Ordinance, Basic Utility uses include sites that contain such things as electrical substations, pipelines and pumping stations. These uses can be seen having a lower volume of traffic as compared to other uses because they are typically unoccupied. These uses can often have very low levels of traffic, sometimes only amounting to maybe a few visits a month. Basic Utility and similar types of uses are currently permitted through various means in all zones across the City. In some cases, these uses are subject to a Special Use Permit approval and in some areas they are subject to Site Development Plan approval. Proposed Ordinance: Option 9: Allow for reduction of paving requirements on sites with Basic Utility uses and other similar uses in any Zone subject to approval by the Planning & Housing Director. This option would amend the language in Section 29.406(11) by adding language that gives the Planning & Housing Director the discretion to reduce the requirement to pave some or all of the maneuvering areas on a Basic Utility or similar use site in all zones across the City. Paving would always be required for the approach to and into the right- of-way. This would allow Basic Utility uses and similar other uses on any site in the City could request a reduction of the extent of paving requirements by the Planning & Housing Director. (See Attachment B- Proposed New Language) Option 2: Allow for waiver of paving requirements on sites with Basic Utility uses and other similar uses within only Industrial Zones subject to approval by the Planning & Housing Director. This option would amend the language in Section 29,406(11) for paving some or all of the maneuvering areas on a Basic Utility or similar use site in Industrial zones such as Intensive Industrial and General Industrial only. This would require that Basic Utility uses and similar other uses in all other zones in the city would be required to adhere to full paving requirements. City utilities within the Special Purpose District of Government Airport would have case by case review of the applicable requirements. With either option, if the use requires regular parking of vehicles, it would not be eligible for a reduction in paving. This means that if a Basic Utility or similar use triggered a parking requirement, those sites would still be required to pave parking stalls, driveways and other areas for maneuvering or circulation of vehicles. In all cases, Basic Utility uses and other similar use sites would be required to pave all approaches within rights-of-way and additional area on site to control for access and other nuisances related to accessing roadways. Basic Utilities and other similar use in Residential zones, as well as most Commercial Zones, are generally permitted by either a Major Site Development Plan by City Council approval or a Special Use Permit approval from the Zoning Board of Adjustment. This is also true in the Research and Innovation Industrial zone. However, within industrial zones such as Intensive Industrial, Basic Utilities and other similar uses are permitted through a Minor Site Development Plan approved by Staff. In light of the current permitting requirements, most situations involving Basic Utility and other similar uses would receive City Council or Zoning Board of Adjustment oversight and approval where neighboring residential or commercial uses are present. ALTERNATIVES: 1. Recommend that City Council amend the standards in Section 29.406(11) of the Municipal Code by adding language that developers of sites with Basic Utility uses or other similar uses on sites within all Zones across the it can request a reduction in paving of maneuvering areas subject to Planning & Housing Director discretion, 2. Recommend that City Council amend the standards in Section 29.406(11) of the Municipal Code by adding language that developers of sites with Basic Utility uses or other similar uses on sites within only Industrial Zones can request a reduction in paving of maneuvering areas subject to Planning & Housing Director discretion. 3. Recommend that City Council take no action. PLANNING AND HOUSING DEPARTMENT RECOMMENDATION: Allowing Basic Utility uses and other similar uses with no required parking to not pave driveways or maneuvering areas is reasonable given the low volume of regular traffic related to the sites. When no parking is required, daily or even regular trips are not anticipated and this greatly reduces the chance of the unpaved surfaces being degraded and torn up creating excess dust or creating topographic issues due to the shifting of the ground over time and spreading of unimproved surfaces. The Planning & Housing Director will have discretion on when to approve a request to not pave a driveway or maneuvering area, with the obvious requirement of parking still maintaining an expectation of full paving compliance. Staff considered the location of the utility facilities and believes that the option to reduce paving can applied to all areas of the city. There are safeguards in the review process to address instances in residential areas or commercial areas where a defined paved driveway is needed or continues to be desirable. The Planning and Housing Department recommends recommendation of Alternative 1. Attachment A- Council Request Excerpt • Paved driveway access to the substation gate o In a meeting with Justin and Kelly on May 161', 2023, it was mentioned that the code requires a hard surface from Lincoln Way back to the sub fence/gate. o This requirement would mean that Alliant Energy pay for and maintain a roughly 1400' driveway to a substation. The roadbed itself will be extremely expensive as it needs to be rafted for large trucks and even cranes. o The driveway will be located on the East side of the parcel within the 250' wide utility and access road portion (see appendix). o Alliant Energy would request that city council instruct Alliant to install a roughly 30-50'(or whatever is reasonable to Ames) paved ingress/egress off Lincoln Way to the site to ensure gravellrock is not pulled onto Lincoln Way and provide a variance to Alliant Energy to install a gravel/rock driveway from the end of the paved ingress/egress back to the substation fence and gate. o Once construction is complete, Alliant Energy will not need to access the substation more than 5- 6 times annually. ITC will not need access to the substation more than 2 times annually. The driveway usage will be extremely limited. o Estimate for an approximately 1,400ft long gravel driveway is approximately $50,000.00 (see attached) o Estimate for an approximately 1,400ft long concrete driveway is $377,481.48, That represents a difference of approximately$322,000.00. (see attached) o It would be Ailiant's position that future development would determine final hard surface road improvements to be in compliance with city code. Not to mention, depending on the type of business development that locates on the property, future road requirements (turning lanes, etc) may be vastly different than what is constructed now simply to provide access to a substation. Duplication of expenses does not seem prudent. Attachment 13- Existing & Proposed Ordinance Language Shown Underlined 29.406 (11) Improvements of Off-Street Parking Areas and Driveways. (a) Surface Material Standards. (i)Materials.All vehicular parking and maneuvering areas, including driveways,and front yard parking areas described in Section 29.406(7), must be paved with Portland Cement Concrete, Asphaltic Cement Concrete, or an equivalent as determined by the City Engineer. New Item (a.)Exception Basic Utility Uses and Other Similar Uses. When no parking is required on a site with a principal use as a Basic Utility, or other similar use, the Planning and Housing Direc?tor mavapprove a reduction to the extent of required paving of this section. The extent of required paving will be as determined by the Director and must include a paved approach within the right-of-way and then extend on site to accommodate the normal stopping and turning of vehicles to enter a street and for other shared access planned for use of the driveway. The Director at their sole discretion shall determine if the proposed paving reduction is warranted based upon the proposed use and coin atibility of the project design with other on-site improvements and the surroundings. An_y approved reduction of paving extents shall continue to be subject to all other parking and loading area design and landscape standards. (ii) Material Thickness.All vehicle areas, including front yard parking areas described in Section 29.406(7), must be paved with an approved material no less than five inches thick. Use of bricks or pavers with a supporting base that provides for durability equal to that of five inches of paved thickness may be approved by the City Engineer. Greater thickness may be required by subsurface conditions or the type of vehicles using the parking area. In all off-street parking areas where access will be provided for heavy trucks and transit vehicles, the pavement thickness shall be adequate to accommodate such vehicles, as determined by the City Engineer. When it is anticipated that transit service will be extended to sites not presently served, pavement thickness shall be adequate to accommodate transit vehicles,as determined by the City Engineer.