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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1984-06-18 Minutes• • • MINUTES OF A BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MEETING The Fayetteville Board of Adjustment met at 3:45 P.K. on Monday, June 18, 1984 in Room 111 of the City Administration Building, 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas. MEMBERS PRESENT: Chester House, Robert Waldren, Don Mills, and David Crittenden MEMBERS ABSENT: OTHERS PRESENT: Larry Tompkins, Dennis Becker and "Butch" Robertson J.A. Pennington, Greg House, Dr. Noreen Hess, Hubert Barnhart, Dr. Ben Israel, Gary Carnahan, Bobbie Jones and Paula Brandeis The meeting was called to order by Chairman House. MINUTES The first item on the agenda was the approval of the minutes of the June 4, 1984 meeting. They were approved as distributed by a motion by Mills and a second by Waldren. APPEAL 84-9 118 EAST DICKSON STREET WASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY The second item on the agenda was a Public Hearing of Appeal 84-9, a request to vary the 20 ft. required setback to 8 ft. from the rear property line. Washington County Historical Society located at 118 East Dickson St., Zoned C-2, Thoroughfare Commercial and R-1, Low Density Residential. Arlie Pennington, Pennington Construction, was present to represent this appeal. He stated that the Historical Society is presently located in the old Washington County Jail which has a difficult access for elderly citizens who are the main patronizers of the Society. Pennington added that parking is also a problem. He said the Society would like to build an addition to the garage behind the Tebbetts House on Dickson Street, which already belongs to the Society. He said that it would be beneficial to the elderly supporters of the Historical Society to have a place they could get to easily. He added that the addition would house the Society's office facilities. Bobbie Jones, Planning Administrator, stated that there is a reference in the legal description to an alley that must remain open which does not show on the plat book. She said the ingress/egress would be through SWEPCO. She explained that the west 50 feet of this property is in the C-2 zone and the east part of the property is R-1. Jones added that a deed exists that refers to a 12 ft. wide alley to be kept open on the west side and a ten and a half foot wide alley extending from the east line of the property to Washington Avenue. She said neither of these would affect this request. ql Board of Adjustment June 18, 1984 Page 2 Robert Waldren said he thought the alley on the west side belonged to SWEPCO. Jones replied that there is a gap between SWEPCO's description and the description submitted according to Bill Loftin of Pennington Construction. Greg House was present in the audience to speak for this appeal. He said he was in favor of this request for the same reasons as stated by Pennington. No one was present to speak in opposition and the Public Hearing was closed to discussion by Board members. MOTION Don Mills made a motion to approve the variance, seconded by Crittenden. Mr. House said he felt it was important to consider others needs and desires when judging appeals. Motion passed 4-0-0. APPEAL 84-10 301 WEST DICKSON GREGORY HOUSE The third item on the agenda was a Public Hearing on Appeal 84-10, request by Greg House to vary the required parking from 14 spaces to 7 spaces and to vary the ingress and egress regulations. Property located at 301 West Dickson Street, Zoned C-3, Central Commercial. Greg House, the petitioner, was present to speak for this appeal. He stated that he would like to renovate the old house and rent out the first floor to a formal womens' clothing shop which would require more parking spaces than the previous use which was a gallery. House said there is presently a gravel drive entrance from Locust at the south end of the property and one parking space. Although 14 spaces would be required for the use intended, he said he felt that providing seven spaces was an improvement on the existing one space. House said that Locust appears to him to be a very low volume, one-way street that is wide enough to handle two of his proposed parking spaces having to back out into the street without creating a hazard. Jones commented that at the time this property was changed from residential use to commercial use (as an art gallery) she did not feel that more parking was required considering the square footage and art gallery parking requirement of one space per 1000 sq. ft. Crittenden asked if the house behind the main building will be renovated and if any one would be living there. House replied that the upstairs will be renovated and Jones added that the parking requirement for the small house has been taken into consideration with the 14 spaces required. 42 Board of Adjustment June 18, 1984 Page 3 Mills inquired as to how the people using the parking on the east side of the house will manage ingress and egress. House responded that they will need to back out into Locust and that he will need to make a new cut for the drives. He added that the drive is about 15 feet wide. In answer to Mills question, House said he intends to remove the steps and deck on the rear house so thftt the last diagonal parking space can be easily accessed. He said he will move the steps to the north side of the rear building. House stated that he intends to repaint the buildings to make them aesthetically pleasing. Mills asked what House intends to do with the property if his request is not granted and he replied that he would probably continue to use it "as is" which is residential. No one was present to speak in opposition. Chairman House closed the Public Hearing to Board discussion. Jones said that if the rental property had more than one dwelling unit, seven parking spaces would still be required. She added that six parking places for retail represents over one half of the block and brick building that fronts on Dickson Street as well as the ground floor of the two-story house. Greg stated that the dress shop was expected to be a business with a low volume of trade and so not many parking places were needed. Crittenden said that he would be in favor of this appeal because there is no way that he can see that would provide 14 spaces and he felt that the seven House would be providing is better than what has existed up until the present time. Mills expressed concern that if the variance was granted, it would go with the property and that at some future time the City may choose to enforce the regulation of backing into a street as well as the "no parking" on Locust. Jones suggested that the request could be granted only for the life of the structure. Greg said if the dress shop did not work out he thought the property might be used as an office which would require less parking spaces. He stated that he was willing to include this stipulation in his appeal. Waldren said he was concerned about the backing out into Locust. 413 • Board of Adjustment June 18, 1984 Page 4 MOTION Mills moved to deny the request. The motion died for lack of a second. MOTION Crittenden moved to approve the request. This motion also died for lack of a second. NOTION Waldren moved to table this request until the next meeting when there could be more input from Board members who were absent today. Don Mills seconded the motion and it passed 4-0-0. APPEAL 84-11 908F ROLLING RILLS DR. DR. BEN ISRAEL The fourth item on the agenda was a Public Hearing on Appeal 84-11 for Dr. Ben Israel. Property located at 908F Rolling Hills Drive, zoned C-2, request to vary parking requirements. Gary Carnahan, Lindsey Construction, and Dr. Ben Israel were present to represent this appeal. Carnahan said that Dr. Israel has several people interested in renting office or retail space from Dr. Israel at this location. He said if all the buildings in this immediate area including the theatre (as well as the proposed buildings) were retail, (with a parking requirement of one space per 200 sq. ft. of retail space) there would still be an excess of 48 spaces provided. Carnahan stated the full capacity of the twin movie theatre is 484 seats which needs 121 parking spaces. He said that, because most of the theatre parking is needed in the evening and most of the retail shop space is needed during the day, he felt it would reasonable to request a variance of required parking spaces. Carnahan said that even with a very attractive double feature playing at the theatre, there is still excess parking available. He also said that he left out several parking places on his drawing which would amount to an additional 9 spaceswest of the theatre. Jones said she assumed 28,200 sq. ft. because she did not know how much of the original Malco Theatre Building (square footage -wise) was devoted to the theatre and how much devoted to other uses. In response to Crittenden's question, Israel said they were planning on constructing two buildings. One building will be on the north side and one on the east. He also said that there is 6800 sq. ft. in the theatre and 8800 sq. ft. of retail/office space in the theatre building. Ry Board of Adjustment June 18, 1984 Page 5 Carnahan said that the east building will replace some existing parking places but he plans to add new parking on the north side (which is on the adjoining property and is owned by Dr. Israel). Crittenden clarified that Israel is the owner of much of the surrounding property. Jones stated that after recalculating the parking and, based' upon 484 theater seats (121 spaces) the balance of the total leasable space being 26,000 sq. ft., figured at the retail ratio which is one per 200 sq. ft., 130 parking spaces would be required (or a total of 251 spaces). She also said that there is a beauty shop in this complex which requires one space per 100 sq.ft., in addition to some offices which require one space per 300 sq.ft. Jones said that without knowing how much space is rented to the various businesses, she used the one space per 200 sq.ft. ratio. She said in order to use a different basis of computation, she needed to know how much space was devoted to each use. Jones said that 201 spaces are shown on the drawing but Carnahan said that with the nine on the west side that he mistakenly left out, the total spaces comes to 210. Waldren advised that if this were all professional buildings, the requirement would be only 86 spaces. He also said that he has never had a problem with parking in this area except to use the theatre. Dr. Noreen Hess, a doctor and recent tenant of Dr. Israel's complex, was present. She stated that she rents the space on the north side between Standard Office Systems and Dr. Israel's office. Hess said she was not strongly opposed to this appeal but wished to learn more about the proposed plan at today's meeting. She said she has watched the traffic and was surprised at how many theatre patron cars there were parked in front of her office. Hess was concerned that during the summer there would be matinees which will add to the parking congestion. She said there are currently three parking spaces immediately in front of her office including one that will be marked for "handicapped" use. Hess said that one of the reasons she rented this space was because of the ease and access of the parking for her clients. She said on the last two weekends people have parked in front of her building at 7:00 P.M. at which time her office will still be open and which may result in a conflict for parking spaces. Mills asked Hess if she thought that evening movie patrons would take up those parking spaces in front of her building. Hess affirmed this. Israel stated that movie patrons will park in front of Hess's office space because of its' close proximity to the theatre as they have been doing for many years. 95 Board of Adjustment June 18, 1984 Page 6 Waldren suggested that a sign explaining the parking situation to the public might ease the situation. Hubert Barnhart, manager of Hancock Fabric Shop, also wished to speak in opposition of this appeal. He said he was representing the owner of Hancock Fabrics who opposes this request because one of the proposed buildings would block Hancock's loading dock, cause additional parking congestion and block Hancock's sign from Highway 71. Barnhart stated that Hancock's 1s open every night until 9:00 and movie patrons are already using parking specified for the fabric shop. Barnhart pointed out on the drawing where Hancock's loading dock and the 20 ft. utility easement are. Dr. Israel explained that when Hancock Fabric was constructed, a Rolling Hills Drive entrance was not allowed. He said patrons of the shop have always used the theatre access on Rolling Hills Drive. Israel added that Hancock's and the movie theatre have always exchanged parking priviledges. Jones verified the "no access" to Rolling Hills Drive imposed by the College -\market Addition, Lots 1 and 7 because of there being residential property across the street. • Waldren asked if the Hancock loading dock could be approached from the south instead of west to east. Barnhart said that the loading dock could not be approached from the south without additional footage and then they would be in the easement. Waldren asked if the proposed building could be moved and Israel said he wanted it as close to Rolling Hills Drive as it could be. There being no one else present to speak either for or against this appeal, the Public Hearing was closed to Board Discussion. Waldren was concerned that the building may create a problem for Hancock, possibly forcing a move of the loading dock. He said that he saw no problem with the parking situation. He would vote in favor of it. MOTION Waldren moved to grant the variance; motion died for lack of a second. MOTION Waldren moved to table this item until next meeting. Crittenden seconded and said his reason for seconding was that he didn't think it would be fair to the applicant to make a decision without the imput of the absent members. The motion passed 4-0-0. There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 5:30 P.M. 414