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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Amendment to previously approved Special Use Permit to allow a one-year extension and to expand a yard waste storage and facility at 220-400 Freel DriveCITY OF AMES, IOWA ! : i • ' 1 i 1 IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION CHAMNESS TECHNOLOGY, INC., FOR AN AMENDMENT TO THE PREVIOUSLY GRANTED SPECIAL USE PERMIT, SECTION 29.1503 OF THE AMES MUNICIPAL CODE, TO ALLOW A ONE YEAR EXTENSION FOR A YARD WASTE COLLECTION AND TRANSFER FACILITY AT 220 AND 400 FREEL DRIVE FACTS CASE NO. 17-18 U h OCT 2 5 2017 CITY CLERK GEOCODE NO. 09-12-201-045 / 09-12-251-160 DECISION & ORDER This case involves a request by Chamness Technology, Inc., to amend a Special Use Permit granted in April 2017. The requested amendment seeks to add the property at 220 Freel Drive to the property subject to the special use permit and allow for a one year extension for a yard waste collection and transfer facility upon the properties. In April 2017, Chamness received a Special Use Permit from the Board to operate out of 400 Freel Drive. The Board approved a condition that the permit would expire on May 1, 2018, by which time all material and equipment must be removed from the site. The Board's Order also stated that if the site is sought for use again in 2018, the applicant would need to seek a new Special Use Permit. The applicant now wishes to extend the approval to May 1, 2019, to allow them an additional year of use. The yard waste collection site operates on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings through late fall. Customers can bring their yard waste and, for a fee, leave it at the facility where Chamness employees the bulk and ship it to a composting facility near Eddyville, Iowa. During those days, no more than a handful of customers show up during the course of the morning of afternoon. Community -wide free yard waste collection days are hosted at the proposed site once in the spring and four times in the fall. These events occur on Saturdays. The site is zoned General Industrial (GI) and has no buildings or other notable improvements. The site is also within the Floodway Fringe. The original approved plan included an internal circulation plan to direct vehicles into the site from Freel Drive, circulate through the site in a counterclockwise manner to unload, and then exit the site at the same location on Freel Drive. Traffic for yard free waste days is directed to approach the Freel Drive site from Southeast 5th Street then exit north to Lincoln Way. The applicant seeks to modify the circulation pattern to exit through 220 Freel Drive to the northwest of the drop off site. The same general circulation pattern will be followed for approaching the site from the south and exiting to the north. Access to the drop-off area is from Freel Drive, looping around the eastern portion of the lot. The physical improvements needed to conduct this are minimal. A stabilized construction entrance of rock, 25 feet by 50 feet, was placed at the entrance of the site prior to its use this spring. Staff 2 recommended that a similar stabilized construction entrance be installed at the new exit on Freel Drive. A Flood Plain Development Permit will be needed for the recommended rock placement. City Planner Charlie Kuester reviewed the site plan, project description, applicable law and Findings of Fact and Conclusions. He stated the zoning allows a variety of industrial and outdoor uses, including the proposed waste and transfer use with the issuance of a Special Use Permit. The outdoor storage of materials is not unique to just this use in this neighborhood as there is another approved yard waste storage facility and auto salvage yards in the immediate vicinity. The site would not be a source of noise, smoke, fumes or order as the materials will be removed from the site regularly to avoid being a harborage for vermin. The wood grinder that will be brought in will be diesel powered so there may be intermittent noise and fumes from its operation. It will only be on site prior to loading trucks for transport to the Eddyville facility. City staff concluded that the application met the criteria of Ames Municipal Code section 29.1503, and recommended approval with two conditions: (1) A rock stabilized construction entrance 25 feet wide by 50 feet long be placed at the exit to the site prior to the first free yard waste day on October 21, and (2) Approval of the use is allowed until December 31, 2018, by which time all material and equipment must be removed from the site and the site restored to its current or better condition. Doug MacCrea testified that the yard waste free days have been busier than anticipated. He said the proposed circulation plan allows more cars to be brought in and kept off the road on the free days. As part of the contract with the City, the City approves the fees for collecting the yard waste. DECISION The Board considered the facts as detailed above and provided in the staff report, and found that all of the relevant standards in Section 29.1503 were met and granted the requested amendment to the Special Use Permit with the conditions recommended by City Staff as published in the staff report. 76 " 1 ' WHEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the applicant is GRANTED, pursuant to Ames Municipal Code Section 29.1503 of the Ames Municipal Code, an amendment to the previously granted Special Use Permit to allow a one-year extension for a yard waste collection and transfer facility for the properties at 220 and 400 Freel Drive with the following conditions: (1) That a rock stabilized construction entrance 25 feet wide by 50 feet long be placed at the exit to the site prior to the first yard waste free day on October 21, 2017; and (2) The permitted use shall be allowed through December 31, 2018, by which time all material and equipment shall be removed from the site and the site restored to its current or better condition. If the site is sought for use again in 2019, the applicant will need to seek a new ,Special Use Permit. Any person desiring to appeal this decision to a court of record may do so within 30 days after the filing of this decision. Done this 27t" day of September, 2017. W-0,06� Heidi Petersen Secretary to the Board