HomeMy WebLinkAboutA001 - Staff Report dated July 27, 2011 ITEM#: 3
DATE: 7/27/11
CITY OF AMES
DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND HOUSING
REPORT TO THE ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT
CASE FILE NO.: ZBA 11-16
DATE PREPARED: July 22, 2011
MEETING DATE: July 27, 2011
APPLICATION FOR VARIANCE: To construct an addition to the hospital with a 12.79-foot
front setback that encroaches into the required 25-foot setback.
APPLICANT: Emily Naylor, Shive-Hattery, representing Mary Greeley Medical Center
LOCATION: 1111 Duff Avenue
BACKGROUND:
Mary Greeley Medical Center is embarking on a major upgrading of their facilities at 1111
Duff Avenue. A location map is shown as Attachment A. The upgrade will take several
years and include the construction of a six-story patient tower at the west end of their
existing building, a vertical expansion of another portion of their building, a relocated main
entrance, a pedestrian bridge from the existing parking ramp to the hospital, an
enlargement of the emergency department, and reconstructed ambulance bays.
Attachment B shows a plan view of MGMC showing the major components of the project.
The requested variance is from the requirement that the principle structure be set back at
least 25 feet from the front property line. The existing building, along Duff Avenue,extends
12.21 feet into the required setback, being only 12.79 feet from the property line. The
frontage of the lot is 496 feet and the building encroaches into the setback for a width of
163 feet. Plan sheets showing the current site and the proposed site are included with the
applicant's materials. Attachment C is an aerial photo of the existing site with the 25-foot
setback graphically illustrated.
Phase 3 of the MGMC project involves removing the portion of the building housing the
emergency department, relocating the emergency department into a remodeled portion of
the hospital building, and rebuilding a new ambulance garage.The new ambulance garage
will extend the same distance into the setback as the existing building. However,the width
of the encroachment will be reduced from 163 feet to 50 feet.
The Municipal Code, Section 29.307(3) regarding non-conforming structures allows for
structure that are destroyed no more than 70 percent by natural causes to be rebuilt in their
original location provided that the degree of non-conformity is not increased. It is interesting
to note that if a fire, explosion, or tornado removed the emergency department, it could be
rebuilt as proposed by the applicant. The Code makes no allowances for portions of
structures that are deliberately removed.
APPLICABLE LAWS:
Requirements for setbacks for principal structures in the Special-Hospital/Medical (S-HM)
zoning district are found in the Ames Municipal Code, Table 29.1001(3) and excerpted
below:
Minimum Principal Building Setbacks
Front Lot Line 25 ft
The variance criteria may be found in the Ames Municipal Code, Section 29.1504(4)and is
as follows:
(a) The granting of the variance shall not be contrary to the public interest.
(b) That without granting of the variance, and due to special conditions, a literal
enforcement of the ordinance will result in unnecessary hardship. Unnecessary
hardship exists when:
(i) The land in question cannot yield a reasonable return if used only for a purpose
allowed in the zone.
(ii) The plight of the owners is due to unique circumstances and not to the general
conditions in the neighborhood
(iii) The use to be authorized by the variance will not alter the essential character of
the locality.
(c) The spirit of the ordinance shall be observed even when the variance is granted.
(d) Substantial justice shall be done as a result of granting the variance.
BASIS OF APPEAL: The applicant has submitted full responses to the variance criteria.
See the attached "Supporting Information" prepared by the applicant, part of the"Variance
Application Packet".
FINDINGS OF FACT & CONCLUSIONS:
Staff makes the following findings of facts and conclusions:
(a) The granting of the variance shall not be contrary to the public interest.
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FINDING: The purpose of the Ames Zoning Ordinance is to promote the health,
safety and the general welfare of the City by, among other things, regulating the
location of buildings. This promotes the public interest by providing adequate light
and air; securing safety from fire,flood, panic and other dangers; and preventing the
overcrowding of land.
Setback requirements for principal and accessory buildings are a common tool in
Ames and in most other jurisdictions for protecting from fire damage, providing
adequate light and air circulation among buildings, and preventing excess massing
of buildings that create the appearance of overcrowding.
The applicant states that the granting of the variance "will not harm or endanger
property or persons, nor devalue adjacent properties in that the modifications
proposed by the project make no worse a condition tha[n] currently exists and will
make significant improvements by reducing the extent of the violations."
This portion of the hospital was built in 1974 and enlarged in 1986. It encroaches
into the public right-of-way 12.21 feet for a width of 163 feet. The proposed project
reduces that width to 50 feet, a reduction of 70 percent.
CONCLUSION: The applicant states that the public interest is served by the project
in that it reduces the degree of non-conformity by 70 percent. By whatever degree
the current encroachment impedes adequate light and air, is unsafe from fire,flood,
panic, and other dangers, and is overcrowded, the proposed project improves that
by 70 percent. Therefore, the Board can conclude that this criterion is met.
(b) That without granting of the variance, and due to special conditions, a literal
enforcement of the ordinance will result in unnecessary hardship.
Unnecessary hardship exists when:
(i) The land in question cannot yield a reasonable return if used only for a
purpose allowed in the zone.
FINDING: The applicant states that "the value of this property is solely dependent
on Mary Greeley Medical Center's ability to provide health care services" and that
the structure is unsuitable for other functions. The ability of the hospital to perform
its necessary functions depends on being able to provide emergency services.
MGMC asserts that the ability to provide emergency services depends on having
the ambulance garage at this location to have direct access to both the emergency
department and to Duff Avenue.
The applicant goes on to argue that if the structure no longer had value as a
hospital, it would be very difficult to retrofit it to a different use. And its ability to be
redeveloped would be hindered by the expected costs of demolishing such a
behemoth of a structure, thus reducing its value to a potential purchaser.
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CONCLUSION: The value of MGMC lies in its building and location. If the building
becomes obsolete in that it cannot serve its primary function, it needs to adapt in
order to serve that function. This is the intent of the proposed expansion project—to
be able to adapt the hospital to the changing health care needs of the community. If
the Board finds that the value of the hospital lies in its ability to serve the community
and, without that ability the structure would have little other value, the Board can
conclude that this criterion has been met.
(ii) The plight of the owners is due to unique circumstances and not to the
general conditions in the neighborhood.
FINDING: The hospital has a layout that, if properly oriented, allows for the fast,
efficient delivery of health care, especially emergency care. The orientation of the
emergency department to the radiology and surgery departments and the adjacent
access to the ambulance garage is important to providing that care.The reallocation
of emergency department space internally has allowed the existing structure to be
demolished and the encroachment removed from the setback.
The ambulance garage, however, is best served by the ability to enter and exit in a
forward gear—not using reverse. To accomplish the maneuver, a garage will need
two doors with access to the front and rear of the garage. This need to have the
garage with such accesses requires it to be out from the face of the building, which
by necessity places it within the setback.
The location of the garage along the east side of the hospital allows for the
ambulance to avoid interaction with patient and visitor traffic and for quick access to
Duff Avenue and the street system of Ames.
CONCLUSION: The unique needs of an ambulance garage are that it needs to be
able to pull forward out of a garage space in order to best enter the street system of
Ames quickly and safely. The ambulance also needs to be able to pull forward into
the garage in order to quickly bring the patient into the care delivery area. With this
explanation of the unique circumstances of the project and the needs of the
ambulance service, the Board can conclude that the criterion is met.
(iii) The use to be authorized by the variance will not alter the essential
character of the locality.
The current one-story additions that house the emergency department and
ambulance bays were built in 1974 and 1986. These additions are 12.79 feet from
the public righty-of-way and are 163 feet in width. They have been in existence for
between 25 and 37 years. Their location on this site has been established for nearly
four decades.
Almost none of the medical buildings along Duff Avenue meet the setback
requirements of 25 feet. Most are nearly the same as that of MGMC—about 12 to
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15 feet. This may be due to a reduced setback requirement at the time they were
built. Regardless, this area is characterized by front walls of structures being about
12 to 15 feet from the front property line.
CONCLUSION: The built environment in this neighborhood is characterized by
structures that are built 12 to 15 feet from the front property line, all less than the
required setback of 25 feet.Allowing the requested variance to build 12.79 feet from
the front property line will not alter the essential character of the locality and,
therefore, the Board can conclude that this criterion has been met.
(c) The spirit of the Ordinance shall be observed even when the variance is
granted.
FINDING: The ordinance seeks to place reasonable setback requirements on
structures to further the policy goals of separating buildings from other buildings and
to create a separation from pubic rights-of-way. Setbacks also serve to establish a
uniform front of buildings adjacent to a public right-of-way.
The existing structure has been in its present location for between 25 and 37 years.
The hospital seeks to remove that encroachment and replace it with a smaller
structure, albeit one that continues to encroach into the required setback.
The existing and proposed setbacks are consistent with the setbacks of most other
buildings in this stretch of Duff Avenue. By removing the entirety of the
encroachment and rebuilding a smaller structure with the same encroachment,the
uniform setback along this street frontage is retained.
The applicant states that it is critical to the provisions of health care to preserve the
internal relationships among vital ancillary services. The location of the emergency
department at this location retains that spatial relationship to the other departments
that share care for the injured and critically ill.
CONCLUSION: The demolition of the existing one-story additions and the
construction of a new addition with the same setback but with lesser width bring the
overall structure closer to compliance. The new portion built with the same
encroachment into the setback retains the uniform setback along much of the
corridor. The Board can find that, with this evidence that the spirit of the ordinance
is observed, the criterion is met.
(d) Substantial justice shall be done as a result of granting the variance.
FINDING: The Land Use Policy Plan addresses the "Medical Center" designation
and provides some guidance.
"The hospital provides a vital service to the community and region. Changes in
technology, delivery of care and federal legislation create a continually evolving
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environment for the hospital and related uses. Further change and expansion
may be a prerequisite to the hospital remaining in its present site. Flexibility for
the hospital's primary function should be accommodated through further
intensification of the present site...."
The hospital is a unique structure servicing a unique function in this community. The
role of the hospital has evolved and its functions have grown in the decades since it
was built. The existing hospital encroaches into the setback but the proposed
project greatly reduces the extent of that encroachment. The project, therefore, is
moving the hospital toward greater compliance with the code although it doesn't
entirely remove the non-conformity.
CONCLUSION: The LUPP recognizes the unique function of the hospital and its
need to ever evolve to serve that function. The MGMC project will be a costly
endeavor to provide superlative medical care to the citizens of Ames. While the
project is constrained by the existing site, the board of the hospital and its design
team has made every effort to reduce the impacts on the neighbors. It is surprising,
given the scale of the project, that not only does the project not create any new
violations of the zoning code; it actually reduces the extent of an existing
encroachment. Granting the requested variance will allow the hospital to better
serve its mission and,therefore, the Board can conclude that this criterion has been
met.
ALTERNATIVES:
1. The Zoning Board of Adjustment may approve this request for a variance seeking a
12.79-foot setback from the front property line rather than the required 25 feet.
2. The Zoning Board of Adjustment may deny this request for a variance.
3. The Zoning Board of Adjustment may table this variance and seek further information
from the applicant or from staff.
DEPARTMENT RECOMMENDATION:
The Findings of Fact and Conclusions above provide the necessary evidence to allow the
Board to conclude that the criteria for a variance required by Ames Municipal Code Section
29.1504(4) have been met. The Board can conclude that the granting of a variance will not
be contrary to the spirit of the ordinance nor to the public interest that City policy defines for
this area; the unique function and the unique structure would have little value or return if
not allowed to perform the functions necessary for a hospital; and substantial justice
supports the granting of this variance. The city ordinance and state law require that all of
the standards for granting a variance be met. Therefore, it is the recommendation of the
Department of Planning and Housing that the Zoning Board of Adjustment approve this
request for a variance seeking a 12.79-foot setback from the front property line rather than
the required 25 feet.
SAPLAN SHMCouncil Boards Commissions2BA\Variances\1111DuffSetback-07-27-11.doc
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