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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1985-05-20 MinutesMINUTES 1' THE BOARD 1 OF ADJUSTMENT A meeting of the Board of Adjustment was held Monday, May 20, 1985 at 3:45 P.M. in Boom 111 of the City Administration Building, 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas. MEMBERS PRESENT: Chester House, larry Tompkins, Don Mills, Robert Waldren, Dennis Becker, Jerry Allred and Gerald Boyd MEMBERS ABSENT: None The regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Adjustment was called to order by Chairman House and the minutes of the meeting of May 6 were considered. MINUTES Becker noted that paragraph two on Page 2 is in error as reflected in the addendum to the minutes of May 6, 1985. There being no further additions or corrections, the minutes stood approved as distributed. • APPEAL 85-13/KENNETH DENNIS 3525 S. SCHOOL - PARKING VARIANCE The second item on the agenda was consideration of Appeal 85-13, a request submitted by Kenneth Dennis of Dennis Home Furnishings to allow a variance in parking requirement. Property is located at 3525 S. School and zoned C-2 and A-1. Becker, a member of this Board, advised that he would abstain from participation and voting as he was co -laterally appearing with the property owner. Becker introduced a letter from the Planning Commission stating that they are presently reviewing the parking ordinance in general and in order to speed Mr. Dennis' request for reduction in the current parking requirement, they have asked the Board of Adjustment to review Dennis' request. Becker also noted that the agenda cover sheet is in error in that the number of parking spaces required is 121 for the total of structures and not the new addition alone. Becker said that proposed showroom is 12,000 sq.ft. which equals a grand total of 36,200 sq.ft. and when divided by 300 requires 121 spaces. He said that Dennis would like to separate the warehouse space which would require one space per 1000 sq.ft. He noted that there are no people in the warehouse and felt it was a hardship to require parking for space indicated as strictly storage. Becker advised • 36 • Board of Adjustment May 20, 1985 Page 2 that showroom space excluding the warehouse would be 25,000. He said he felt there was an inequity in the code requirements with regard to bulk furniture on display and the actual square footage usable for customers, especially when compared to other retail stores in the same Use Unit (16). He noted that Springdale recently granted Polk's Furniture a parking variance at approximately one per 650 sq.ft, of space and he added that in Los Angeles the requirement for a like business is one space per 500 sq.ft, without a sliding scale for larger areas. Becker said he could understand requiring one space per 300 sq.ft. for smaller furniture stores but not for larger ones. He also reported that there are so many diversities in zoning and uses that Los Angeles has created the new positions of traffic and parking consult- ants to determine how many vehicles come and go. Mr. Dennis advised that his sales are mainly high impact type which occur over a six to eight hour period and that normally, a large sale would bring about 25-30 vehicles. He said the aisles in the store are not very wide because he must utilize every square inch of floor space and he noted that if the parking lot were full, not many people could walk down the aisles. Dennis said that, including future sales, he does not expect any more than 25-30 cars at one time and that it would be unusual to have more than two trucks unloading at any one • time. He said that most of the time there are about five to six cars in the parking lot. Becker pointed out discrepancies in the code regarding parking in that a library is included in Use Unit 4 requiring one space per 1000 sq.ft. and again in Use Unit 5 requiring one space per 400 sq.ft. Boyd asked if there is enough physical room to meet the requirement if this request were turned down and Dennis replied that there was but it would be expensive to develop. Boyd said he didn't think it was the Board's job to amend the code and it seemed to him that that was what was being requested. He agreed that the code seems to require more parking than necessary but indicated that the space to provide those spaces is available. Boyd suggested that if the appeal is granted, a stipulation may be that the petitioner will provide whatever number of spaces the Planning Commission requires when the code is amended. Boyd said he felt that if this appeal were granted as requested, each business would ask for negotiation on parking. House said if Dennis could fill all of the parking spaces required under the code, he would have to hire a larger sales staff as his store would be quite full. Waldren asked the use of the smaller building shown on the site plan and Dennis replied that It holds patio and lawn furniture and added • that several employees use the space along side the building for parking. grl • L� Board of Adjustment May 20, 1985 Page 3 Allred said he thought it would be a hardship to go through the expense of construction at this time with a Bill of Assurance that would require additional construction (for parking if required) later on. He said construction costs are lower if all work is accomplished at one time. Allred said he thought it was inappropriate to grant a variance with a Bill of Assurance and that this Board should make a decision today. Dennis advised that he has recently purchased 18 acres adjacent to his original site for the purpose of expanding. He said the problem is that he is adding 120 ft. plus 15 fte between the warehouse and the showroom plus 60 for the new warehouse and would have to take several more feet to the north to include that parking unless he went all the way around the back which would be quite a drive. He said that additional parking on the south side would not work because of a steep drop off. Mills said she has never seen Dennis Home Furnishings parking lot close to full but did express her concern that a decision in this case may be construed as a guide in future cases. Waldren said he thought a decision should be made based on the information presented for the variance with the decision on amending the ordinance resting with the Planning Commission. Allred said he felt the only thing being requested. of this Board was to consider a variance, not to address amending the zoning ordinance. Jones advised that the Planning Commission has requested Consultant, Larry Wood, to examine all of the parking requirements in the code because of a request made to them to amend said requirement. She said the Commission recommended that the petitioner request a variance from the Board of Adjustment if he needed relief at this time in order to begin his project. Tompkins asked Jones if warehouse and sales operations were normally separated for calculation of parking spaces and Jones replied that they were not if the warehouse was an accessory to the use on site. She said that a warehouse alone could only be approved in this zone as accessory storage. Tompkins noted that, in this case, component. He asked Dennis if his and Dennis replied that it does not. spaces are provided, off-street loading is a significant present parking meets the ordinance Becker said about half the required Boyd said that although he was sympathetic, he did not see the hardship in this case. He said he didn't understand whether the Board had the authority to grant this appeal. M • Board of Adjustment May 20, 1985 Page 4 Waldren said he was inclined to grant the variance because, if the warehouse were not included the present parking would be at about one space per 450sq.ft. and common sense must be used in consideration. Mills said she could not understand why the same number of spaces were required for a warehouse as for a showroom. She said that basing the parking on one space per 1000 for warehouse and one per 600 for showroom was very logical. Tompkins asked if Becker were requesting a ruling on Jones' interpretation and Becker said he was. Becker said he has checked on the requirements of other municipalities as requested by the Planning Administrator and found that there was no differentiation between showrooms/warehouses. Mills noted that a church had petitioned for a parking variance and was granted permission to have some paved parking and some gravel parking. She suggested the same for this property. Jones said the ordinance does not provide for separation of warehouses but is based entirely upon floor space. She said she felt there might be an oversight in the structure of the ordinance and added that she had not seen any other ordinances that would help in this case. Jones • said that in cases of multi -use parking, such as shopping centers, the ratio of the floor space to the ratio of the total area combined with use at peak hours may provide a reduced figure for parking spaces. Tompkins noted that the parking being requested is 11 for the warehouse and 56 for the showrooms for a total of 67, He said he would be in favor of granting this request if it were stipulated that the variance would cease upon change in use. He said he felt that the Board needed to be flexible and noted the loss of a local competitor to Springdale. House noted that if additional parking were necessary, the petitioner had the ability to provide them. Tompkins said he felt there was a problem with the ordinance and did not understand why the parking requirement for warehouses and showrooms are the same. He said that, even though he found the requirement inappropriate, he would support the ordinance as it is for parking. MOTION Waldren moved to grant the request with the condition that if the use or ownership should change, the variance would be void and that this motion shall not be construed as a recommendation to the Planning Commission for consideration in amending the parking requirements. • Allred seconded and the motion to approve passed 5-1-0. Tompkins voting "nay" and Becker abstaining. 3q • Board of Adjustment May 20, 1985 Page 5 Tompkins inquired as to the progress of the Update Committee which had been asked to consider several items including setbacks and parking requirements and Jones replied that Consultant Wood is still working on it. MOTION Mills moved to request that Wood also look into square footage parking requirement for warehouses as opposed to showrooms and display centers as well as the interpretation of same. Tompkins seconded and the motion passed 7-0-0. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:35 p.m, upon a motion by Waldren and a second by Tompkins. • 1/0