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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes 7-25-2007MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT AMES, IOWA JULY 25, 2007 The Ames Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) met, pursuant to law, in regular session at 7:00 p.m. on July 25, 2007, in the Council Chambers of City Hall with the following members present: Denise Link, Mary Ann Lundy, Lucy Martin, Bradley Miller and Thomas Weber. Staff members Judy Parks, Seana Perkins, and Steve Osguthorpe were also present. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Moved by Link, seconded by Lundy, to approve the minutes of the meeting of June 13, 2007. Vote on Motion: 5-0. Motion carried unanimously. CASE NO. 07- 18 SPECIAL USE PERMIT – G. F. FOUR INVESTMENTS, INC., PROPERTY OWNER; AND TIMOTHY GRANDON, APPLICANT Public Hearing on application for a Special Use Permit to allow a funeral facility in the Highway-Oriented Commercial (HOC) zone at 414 Lincoln Way Planner Osguthorpe stated that this case involves a request for operation of a funeral facility in an existing building in the Highway-Oriented Commercial (HOC) District. The proposed hours of operation are from 8:00 a. m. to 9:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday. He said that staff reviewed the applicable standards and believes that the funeral facility should not impact the surrounding area any more than other uses already present or other permitted uses. No noise, smoke or fumes should be created and there will be no inventory kept on the site. Finding all the standards for approval to be met, he said that staff recommends approval of the permit. The Planning and Zoning Commission also recommended approval with a unanimous vote. Timothy Grandon, 2721 Kellogg Avenue, stated that he has been working on this project for quite a while and is excited to get started. In response to a question from Ms. Parks, he said that there will be no changes to the facade of the building, which is the former location of Godfather’s Pizza. The driveway approach will be flattened in order to improve vehicle access and a new sign face will be installed, but the existing sign standard and cabinet will remain. Mr. Grandon said that both Lincoln Way and the alley to the south will be used as entrances and exits and he believes his business will be particularly good for the location because most funerals are scheduled at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and these are off-peak times for the neighboring businesses. He also noted that, presently, about 80% of funerals in Ames are held in churches. Moved by Martin, seconded by Link, to ADOPT ORDER 07-18 granting a Special Use Permit to allow a funeral facility in the Highway-Oriented Commercial (HOC) zone at 414 Lincoln Way. Roll Call Vote: 5-0. Motion declared approved unanimously. CASE NO. 07-19 EXCEPTION TO PARKING AREA DIMENSIONS – IOWA HOUSE BUILDING, LCC, PROPERTY OWNER; AND GENE LUND, BENJAMIN DESIGN COLLABORATIVE, REPRESENTATIVE Public Hearing on application for an Exception to Parking Area Dimensions at 405 Hayward Avenue Planner Perkins stated that the applicant has obtained a permit to operate a Bed & Breakfast (B&B) in this former fraternity house. She explained that the property currently has a gravel parking lot on the west side that is highly constrained by the structure. Ms. Perkins said that several issues come into play: · the house is set well back to allow for a large front yard, but this leaves a very small rear yard and makes it difficult to improve the non-conforming parking lot; · 405 Hayward is a corner lot; therefore it technically has two front yards and front-yard parking is not allowed in a Residential High-Density (RH) zoning district; · fourteen parking spaces are required because the B&B will have 14 guest rooms; and · even though there is a vacant parcel south of this lot (once used in conjunction with the fraternity house), it is technically a separate piece of real estate. Any parking there would not be considered on-site for the B&B, and remote parking agreements are not allowed in RH zones. Ms. Perkins said that the applicant’s proposal comes as close as possible to meeting the requirements for surface parking and landscaping. For stalls on this angle, the required length for compact cars is 17 feet. The applicant is able to make them 18 feet 4 inches deep, so they will be shorter than standard (19.8 feet), but slightly longer than compact (16 feet). Ms. Perkins said that the limited the depth of the parking spaces and the proximity of the drive aisle to the structure lead to staff concerns about maneuverability, so they are recommending approval, subject to a stipulation that the site be monitored for a period of one year to determine whether or not there are vehicle maneuvering conflicts. She said the Planning and Housing Department would monitor the site. Board member Martin asked if there were any similar Exceptions in the campustown area. Ms. Parks stated that Exceptions have been granted for drive aisle dimensions, stall length, and stall width in some of the parking garages. She was not aware of any reported problems. Ms. Parks noted that people usually come into lots such as this at a slow speed because they may see that there are additional challenges. Their behavior differs from that of drivers using a typical commercial parking lot. Planner Osguthorpe noted that staff would like to observe this lot for a year because the proposed stalls would only accommodate a few large vehicles, and some vehicles being driven today are large enough that they could block the entire driveway. Gene Lund, Benjamin Design Collaborative, 401 Clark Avenue, Suite 200, stated that he represented the applicants. He said that the fraternity house has been vacant for two or three years and the developer has taken on the challenge of trying to preserve it as an historical site 3 and also make it profitable as a Bed and Breakfast. Because of financing and other reasons, the option of combining this lot with the vacant parcel does not exist. Mr. Lund said that the plan is to use plant materials that will grow in a three-foot portion of the five-foot landscape strip, so that the front end of a parked vehicle may overhang the landscape strip. He said the overhang will create a longer stall, and this used to be allowed in Ames. He said he had measured a Ford Expedition recently and determined that only about eight to twelve inches of the vehicle would hang over the corner. He said the SCAN (South Campus-town Area Neighborhood) had been contacted about the parking situation and is supportive of the exception. The group is very interested in seeing this project succeed. Assistant City Attorney Parks suggested that it would be helpful to have guests register their cars when they check in, so that it would be possible to determine who owned a particular car if it were creating a problem or a potential hazard. Planner Osguthorpe explained that the Ames zoning code requires a specified dimension for a parking stall and also requires that all parking stalls be paved; therefore, staff cannot let the unpaved portion of a required landscape area count toward the required portion of a parking area. In conclusion, Mr. Lund stated that the Building Code offers leniency to those who are willing to save an historical structure, and asked that the Zoning Board of Adjustment grant similar leniency toward his clients’ request. There was discussion among the board members and staff about the remedies that might be employed if the parking exception proved to be problematic. It was determined that multiple remedies might exist. These might include limiting the number of guest rooms and thereby reducing the number of required stalls, requesting a variance to the number of spaces required, or obtaining a variance to allow off-site parking. Mr. Osguthorpe noted that different alternatives could be explored and, if all else failed, the ultimate remedy would be to cease operations. This option was noted in the Staff Report because staff can never guarantee how a board might rule. Board member Miller inquired whose judgment would be used to determine if there were an inherent problem. Mr. Osguthorpe replied that the Planning Staff would actively observe the site and if there were regular occurrences of people parking in the street or on the lawn, it would be considered an on-going problem. Board member Link inquired about the ultimate configuration of the stalls and how the handicap-accessible space would factor in. Ms. Perkins stated that, out of the 14 spaces, four would be full-sized and one of them is in the accessible parking space. The other ten stalls would be considered compact. She said that van-accessible spaces are counted as regular spaces when determining the total number on a site. She also explained that although the fourteenth stall is in the front yard, it is being “grandfathered” because it already existed and was paved in the past. 4 Ms. Perkins concluded by saying that it was staff’s intent that the parking exception would not have to be reconsidered by the ZBA unless, during the one-year monitoring time, it were determined that a problem existed. Moved by Lundy, seconded by Miller, to ADOPT ORDER 07-19 granting an Exception to Parking Area Dimensions to allow a reduction in length of nine 45-degree parking spaces to 18-feet, four-inches on the property at 405 Hayward Avenue, with the stipulation that the site be monitored for a period of one year from the date of approval to confirm that vehicle maneuvering conflicts are not occurring. If, within that year, it is found that vehicle maneuvering conflicts are occurring and that the reduced depth is no longer feasible, the applicant will be required to remedy the situation by either ceasing operation or obtaining approval of an alternative parking arrangement. Roll Call Vote: 5-0. Motion declared approved unanimously. COMMENTS: ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 7:38 p.m. Karen C. Thompson, Recording Secretary Bradley Miller, Chair The next meeting of the Zoning Board of Adjustment will be a Regular Meeting at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 22, 2007, in the Council Chambers of the Ames City Hall at 515 Clark Avenue.