From
Chris Hartmann
Title
S151004 - Site Plan - Trinity Hearth and Home (City Council District 1). Approve a Site Plan for a 58,300 sq. ft. warehouse, office, and showroom building to be occupied by Trinity Hearth & Home. The 2.92 acre property, zoned Light Industrial (LI) District, is addressed as 2937 Hard Rock Road and is generally located west of S.H. 161 and north of W. Oakdale Road. The property is also located within the S.H. 161 Corridor Overlay District. The agent is Kristi Daniel and Tony Callaway, Callaway Architecture and the owner is Fredy Mize, Par-Mize LLC. (On October 5, 2015, the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of this request by a vote of 9-0).
Presenter
Chief City Planner Jim Hinderaker
Recommended Action
Approve
Analysis
Consider a request to approve a Site Plan for a 58,300 sq. ft. warehouse, office, and showroom building to be occupied by Trinity Hearth & Home. The 2.92 acre property, zoned Light Industrial (LI) District, is addressed as 2937 Hard Rock Road and is generally located west of S.H. 161 and north of W. Oakdale Road. The property is also located within the S.H. 161 Corridor Overlay District.
ADJACENT LAND USES AND ACCESS:
North - The property directly north is zoned Light Industrial (LI) District and is developed with industrial uses. Access to this abutting track is from S.H. 161 frontage road and Hardrock Road.
South - The property to the south is zoned Light Industrial (LI) District and is developed with industrial uses. This industrial site includes a primary building with a metal façade and several large outdoor storage tanks. Access to this property is from S.H. 161 frontage road and Hardrock Road.
East - S.H. 161 lies directly east of the subject property. The properties on the opposite side of S.H. 161 are zoned Light Industrial and are developed with industrial warehouse/distributions type uses
West - The properties to the west are also zoned Light Industrial (LI) District and are developed with industrial uses, save an undeveloped 4.18 acre tract located at the northwest corner of Hardrock Road and W. Oakdale Road.
PURPOSE OF REQUEST:
Trinity Hearth and Home, the owner/applicant, is seeking City Council approval of a Site Plan application in order to develop a 2.92 acre industrial property located within the S.H. 161 Corridor Overlay District. The proposal includes the construction of a new 58,300 sq.ft. warehouse/office/showroom building, concrete parking and loading areas, concrete drive aisles, a masonry screening wall, and landscape improvements.
In accordance with Section 16.2.1 of the Article 16 of the Unified Development Code (UDC), site plan approval is required whenever a project is located within a designated Corridor Overlay District. As such, the development must meet the minimum requirements prescribed in the UDC for the property’s underlying zoning district classification, as applicable, and adhere to the additional architectural standards specified in the UDC, Appendix F “Corridor Overlay District Standards.” The purpose of the site plan review is to ensure full compliance with these regulations and standards.
PROPOSED CHARACTERISTICS AND FUNCTION:
Use
Trinity Hearth and Homes sells and installs fireplaces and garage doors. According to their operational plan, they started their business operations in a leased building here in Grand Prairie in 2010. They further stated that the company specializes in the installation and distribution of fireplaces and garage doors for volume national, mid-size regional, and small custom builders. The company now seeks to invest in the development of their own property instead of leasing space. The proposed uses include new building with approximately 42,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space, 7,500 sq. ft. of office/showroom space on the main floor, and an additional 8,800 sq.ft. of office space on the second floor. Staff has classified the proposed use as a “Warehouse” use with an accessory office/showroom component, which is considered a permitted use within the Light Industrial (LI) zone district.
Site and Dimension Standards
The subject property is 2.92 acres in size. All minimum lot dimensional standards are met. The property consists of two separate unplatted tracts. The applicant is proposing to consolidate the tracts into a single parcel. A separate plat application (P151005) is being reviewed concurrently with this application. The combined parcels exceed the minimum lot standards of the UDC. Setback standards in the Light Industrial (LI) Zone District require a minimum 25 ft. front setback and 0 ft. rear setback. In this case, the property has two front setbacks, one along S.H. 161 and the other along Hardrock Road. The proposal exceeds these setback standards, except for small portion of the accent tower that is set 21 feet from the east property line. Side setbacks are determined based on the height of the building and if there is any residential adjacency, which in this case there is not. The height of the applicant’s building except for accent tower is approximately 38 feet from grade. Buildings greater than 35 ft. in height require a 25 ft. side yard setback. The applicant exceeds this distance along the northern property line, but is proposing an eighteen (18) ft. setback along the southern property line. Staff has no objections to this request as a 35 ft. tall building would only require a 15 ft. side yard setback. Staff believes that these two setback variance requests are reasonable and therefore supports these appeals.
Building
The proposed 58,300 sq. ft. warehouse/office/showroom is a concrete tilt-wall constructed building with brick and cast stone accents. The office/showroom area of the building, which is situated at the northeast corner of the building, makes up the primary articulation zone of the building. This corner of the building’s façade consists of a bank of large curved aluminum framed storefront glass windows transitioning into brick finished tilt wall panels and a 51 ft. 9 inch concrete, with partial brick finished, accent wall oriented toward S.H. 161. The applicant also proposal to include a 9 ft. tall accent light fixture to be set atop the accent wall. The balance of the building includes required surface reveals, horizontal and vertical articulation, and parapets. The loading docks to the warehouse area are located on the west side of the building and are not visible from S.H. 161.
Access and Parking
A new single access drive, located at the northeast corner of the property, is proposed along S.H. 161. While TxDOT approval is required for this access drive, staff supports this drive approach from S.H. 161 as it exceeds the minimum spacing requirements from existing driveways and intersections. Two additional access drives are proposed on the opposite side of the property along Hardrock Road. Staff supports the access points on Hardrock.
Due to the narrowness of the property, double frontage limitations on S.H. 161 and Hardrock Road, and the desire of the applicant to maximize the building footprint on the site, firelane access could not be provided around the entirety of the building, which is typically provided to allow for fire access to within 150 feet of all points of an industrial building. A 24 ft. firelane, which doubles as an access drive through the property, is located along the north and west sides of the building. However, in lieu of providing a similar 24 ft. firelane along the south and east sides of the building, the applicant is proposing to construct a side walk along S.H. 161 with sidewalks extending perpendicular from the S.H. 161 sidewalk to the emergency access doors located along the west side of the building. As proposed, fire engines and other emergency equipment would set up along S.H. 161, in addition to the internal firelane access along the west and north side of the building, if an emergency situation warranted.
In regards to on-site parking, the UDC requires, for warehouse uses within buildings 25,000 sq. ft. or larger, that 20 parking spaces plus one (1) space for each additional 5,000 sq. ft. be provided on site. Therefore the warehouse portion of the building (42,000 sq.ft.) requires 24 parking spaces. In addition, the UDC requires one (1) space per 1,000 sq. ft. of office/showroom space. As proposed, the office/showroom area (16,300), requires an additional 17 parking spaces. A total of 41 parking spaces are required. The applicant is provided 54 parking spaces.
Fencing, Buffers, and Landscaping
In accordance with Section 4.B.2 of Appendix F of the UDC, all parking or drive areas shall be located a minimum of 30-foot from the right-of-way line of public streets. In this case, the landscape buffer is required along the entirety of Hardrock Road and the northeast corner of S.H. 161. However the applicant is requesting to shift this landscape buffer from the Hardrock Road side to the S.H. 161 side. In lieu of the landscape buffer on the Hardrock Road side, the applicant proposes to construct an eight (8) foot tall masonry screening wall on and along the entire length, except for the access drives, of the eastern property line.
Due to the landscape buffer, the standard 4% landscaping for industrial zoned property technically does not apply. However, the proposed landscape plantings (trees, shrubs, and turf, etc.) are in compliance with Article 8 of the UDC. The applicant is requesting, due to the masonry screening wall being proposed to be set on the property line along Hardrock Road, the ability to plant street trees within the Hardrock Road right-of-way. Public Works is comfortable with this proposal, provided that the applicant: 1) understands that they or any future owner of the property is responsible for the trees and indemnifies the city from any liability, and 2) if Hardrock Road is every widened and necessitates the removal of the trees, that the city may remove the trees.
Dumpster Enclosure
The applicant is requesting a waiver of the standard dumpster enclosure requirement as their operations require the use of a 30 yard roll-off style dumpster. However, if required the applicant is willing to provide a screening wall along the north side of the dumpster, which is proposed to be placed south of the loading dock doors and thus screened by the building on its south and east sides.
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN:
The subject property is designated as appropriate for Light Industrial uses on the Future Land Use Map (FLUM). The proposal is consistent with the plan.
REQUESTED APPEALS BY APPLICANT:
1. Setbacks Standards - A reduction of the southern side yard setback from 25 feet to 18 feet and a reduction of the front yard setback on S.H. 161 from 25 feet to 21 feet to accommodate a 7 foot wide bump out of the tower feature.
2. Dumpster Enclosure - Waiver of the full enclosure requirement. The applicant contains that the dumpster is screening along its south and east sides by the building. If required, the applicant is willing to provide a screening wall along the north side of the dumpster enclosure.
RECOMMENDATION:
Since the applicant is requesting the above noted appeals, the Development Review Committee is not able to recommend full approval of this case.