From
Chris Hartmann
Title
SU140702 - Specific Use Permit - 521 W. Marshall Drive (City Council District 2). Consider a request for a Specific Use Permit for Automotive Uses; Tire Sales (New and Used), Car Wash and Detailing, Quick Lube & Tune Services (Oil Change), and Minor Auto Repair. The subject property is located at 521 W. Marshall Dr. and zoned General Retail District (GR). The owner/applicant is Pastor Gomez. (On August 4, 2014, the Planning and Zoning Commission denied this request by a vote of 8-0.) This case is being appealed per Article 1 Section 1.11.5.9 of the Unified Development Code.
Presenter
Chief City Planner Jim Hinderaker
Recommended Action
Deny
Analysis
SUMMARY:
Consider a request for a Specific Use Permit for Automotive Uses; Tire Sales (New and Used), Car Wash and Detailing, Quick Lube & Tune Services (Oil Change), and Minor Auto Repair. The subject property is located at 521 W. Marshall Dr. and zoned General Retail District (GR).
ADJACENT LAND USES AND ACCESS:
|
Direction |
Zoning |
Existing Land Use |
|
North |
Single Family-Three |
Single Family Detached Residential |
|
East |
Single Family-Three |
Single Family Detached Residential |
|
West |
General Retail |
Church |
|
South |
General Retail |
Vacant Land |
PURPOSE OF REQUEST:
The applicant has recently purchase this site and is seeking a specific use permit to operate the specified automotive related business uses. In a General Retail (GR) District, a specific use permit is required to operate Tire Sales (New and Used), Quick Lube & Tune Services (Oil Change), and Minor Auto Repair uses. The applicant is no longer requesting permission to use the property for a car wash.
ZONING HISTORY AND BACKGROUND
The 1977 zoning map shows the area zoned as General Retail (GR) District. Staff is not able to identify any previous zoning. In 1977, this site was used as a gasoline service station and auto supply shop. In 2003, it served as a produce and retail store. In 2005, it facilitated bible study for the Inglewood Baptist Church. It was recently purchased by the applicant.
On May 2, 2014, the applicant submitted an application for the requested specific use permits. Because there were still unanswered questions and concerns during the Development Review Committee (DRC) meeting on June 26, 2014, the DRC recommended that the request be tabled until the August 4th Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.
PROPOSED USE AND CHARACTERISTICS
This 0.37 acre parcel is located within General Retail (GR) District zoning. The applicant wishes to operate a Quick Lube/Oil Change with Minor Auto Repair, and Tire Sales and Installation and a State Inspections station. In GR zoning, a State Inspection use is allowed by right. The site is being planned for two phases. The initial phase will encompass improvements to the parking areas and the removal of the existing fuel island canopy on the west side of the property. Phase two, which is planned to start a year or two after opening, will bring about slight changes to the parking areas and the addition of a small storage building, which will be used for tire storage.
The applicant has provided staff with a detailed operational plan. The site will have three primary uses; New and Used Tire Sales and Installation, State Inspections, Oil Changes with Minor Auto Repair. The building originally had three vehicle bays. Two of the bays were replaced by large windows, but will be converted back to vehicle bays. Detailed operations can be viewed in the attached operational plan. Staff has provided a summary of the uses below:
Bay 1 “Tire Shop”
Bay 1 will facilitate the tire sales and installation. New and used tires will be stored indoors, between Bays 1 and 2. Damaged tires will be stored in the back of Bay 1. Damaged tires will be picked up at the end of each day. There will be no outside storage or display of tires. To reduce noise caused by tire installation equipment, the applicant is proposing that the door to Bay 1 will be closed during operation. After the completion of Phase 2, the damaged tires will be stored in the storage building on the south end of the property.
Bay 2 “State Inspections”
Bay 2 will service the vehicle state inspections.
Bay 3 “Oil Change and Lube”
Bay 3 will be used for oil changes and replacements of spark plugs, filters, and other related minor auto repairs.
Parking and Access:
According to the site plan, the applicant is proposing to have all the parking towards the interior of the lot. No parking spaces will be directly adjacent to the street rights-of-way. The applicant will meet the required parking. The table below provides and analysis of the parking requirements for an auto related business.
|
Standard |
Parking Rate |
Required |
Provided |
Meets |
|
Auto Related Business |
Min. of 6 spaces |
6 |
9 |
Yes |
|
Handicapped Spaces |
1 spaces/1-25 spaces |
1 |
1 |
Yes |
NOTE: During Phase 2, the parking will increase to 11 spaces. The additional spaces will be located behind the primary building.
This site may be accessed from W. Marshall St. and Virginia Dr. Each street-adjacent frontage has two access points. The two access points, nearest to the intersection of Virginia Dr and Marshall Dr, do not meet today’s standards. For a commercial property, Article 23 of the UDC requires the distance between a drive access and an intersection to be 100ft. Before any building expansion could take place, the Transportation Department will require that those access points be closed, which will leave the site with one access point on each street frontage.
Dimensional and Paving Requirements:
This site is considered an existing non-conforming development. The west side of the building was built 9.5 feet from the property line; today’s zoning standards would require 10 feet. All other dimensional requirements will be met.
The south eastern portion of the property is not paved at this time. Upon approval of the requested SUP, the applicant will pave the area to conform to the UDC standards. The following table is an analysis of the initial phase’s dimensional conformance to the UDC standards. During Phase 2, the only change to this table is the addition of a storage building, which will be built completely within the build lines.
|
General Retail (GR) District |
|
Standard |
Required |
Provided |
Meets |
|
Minimum Site Area |
5,000sqft |
15,625ft (0.36 acres) |
Yes |
|
Minimum Lot Width |
50ft |
125ft |
Yes |
|
Minimum Lot Depth |
100ft |
125ft |
Yes |
|
Front Yard |
25ft |
41ft |
Yes |
|
Side Yard - Internal |
10ft |
9.5ft |
No |
|
Side Yard Adj. - Street |
25ft |
47ft |
Yes |
|
Rear Yard |
0ft |
55ft |
Yes |
|
Floor Area Ratio |
0.35:1 |
0.12:1 |
Yes |
|
Maximum Height |
25 stories |
12ft 8in |
Yes |
|
Paving |
Concrete or Equivalent |
Concrete |
Yes |
Landscape and Screening:
Because this is site contains existing development, the UDC does not require the addition of landscaping. Staff is unaware if the site was required to be landscaped at the time of construction. Staff considers the site a legal non-conforming development with regards to landscaping. The applicant will have landscaping on the south end of the property, which calculates to about 5% landscaping; the standard for a GR district is 10%
The UDC requires a non-conforming site to update its landscaping under the following conditions:
1. Expansions of building area exceed 30% or 3,000 square feet. The applicant is not increasing the building area.
2. Parking lot expansion is more than 30% of the parking area. The size of the current parking area is approximately 6,700sqft. The additional parking area proposed to be paved will be approximately 1,450sqft; an increase of approximately 22%.
During the 2nd phase of this project, the increase in parking area will exceed the 30% threshold; requiring the site to conform to the current landscaping requirements.
Elevations and Masonry:
The site is developed with a 1,820 sqft building standing with a building 12ft 8in to the top of the wall. The structure has an existing canopy with about 11ft of clearance. This canopy is on the north façade. As stated before, this building is legal non-conforming and is not required to meet current UDC standards; however, the building is constructed of a 100% brick veneer. For Phase 2, the storage building will also be constructed of brick.
Dumpster Enclosure:
The applicant is not proposing to construct a dumpster enclosure, as required by the UDC. Instead, the applicant has informed staff of two options. The applicant has spoken with waste removal service provider, Republic, and, if given City Council permission, may be able to enroll in the “commercial hand pick up”. Should City Council grant the applicant’s appeal, Republic will analyze the property for the location of a 96 gallon trash bin. In addition, the applicant has also received written permission from The Inglewood Baptist Church, an adjacent property owner to the west, to use their existing dumpster.
CONFORMANCE WITH COMPREHENSIVE PLAN:
The Future Land Use Map (FLUM) of the 2010 Comprehensive Plan shows this area as appropriate for Commercial, Retail, and Office uses. The proposed uses are only allowed within the General Retail district with the approval of a specific use permit. If a specific use permit is granted, the proposed uses would be in conformance with the comprehensive plan.
REQUESTED APPEALS BY APPLICANT:
The applicants are requesting two appeals:
1. Relief from the dumpster enclosure requirement;
2. Relief from the landscape requirements for Phase 2.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff does not feel this location is a good fit for the nature of these automotive uses. Staff is concerned with noise generated from the site as well as the potential visual clutter of vehicles waiting to be served on site. Due to the property’s adjacency to residential homes and the appeals, mentioned above, the Development Review Committee is not in support of the proposed uses and does not recommend approval of the request specific use permit.
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