HomeMy WebLinkAboutDepartment Report 07-22-196
CARMEL BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS
DEPARTMENT REPORT
JULY 22, 2019
(UV) Avid Hotel.
The applicant seeks the following use variance approval:
1. Docket No. 19050016 UV UDO Section 2.39 Hotel use permitted on upper floors only, hotel use
on ground floor proposed. The site is located at approximately 13300 N. Illinois St., in CMC Properties
Subdivision, part of Lot 3. It is zoned MC/Meridian Corridor. Filed by Jon Dobosiewicz of Nelson &
Frankenberger on behalf of Saamrajya LLC.
General Info & Analysis:
The Meridian Corridor zoning regulations require general Hotel uses to be on the upper floors of a building,
only. (Full Service Hotels are permitted on any floor, however.) The Petitioner seeks use variance approval to
have a general Hotel use on the first floor of a proposed four-story tall building located within the Meridian
Corridor. Ninety-nine (99) rooms are proposed. The hotel lobby / guest check in, laundry room, fitness/
exercise room, food service area, and offices will be located on the first level, and the rest of the ground floor
space of the building will be reserved for future commercial tenants.) The Hotel use will take up approximately
48% of the total first floor. The site is surrounded by office buildings to the east and south, a church to the west,
and an outlot to the north that was previously approved to be a special event venue (but that project fell
through). Also, restaurants are located east of US 31. Please see the Petitioner’s informational packet for
more detail on the use variance request.
The zoning ordinance defines ‘Hotel’ as any Building or group of Buildings containing five or more rooms
without direct entrance to or from the outside, designed or intended to be occupied for sleeping purposes by
guests for a fee, often with a common kitchen and dining room facilities provided within the Building or an
Accessory Building, and which caters to the traveling public.
The zoning ordinance defines ‘Hotel, Full Service’ as a commercial Building or Buildings with guest rooms for
sleeping, a common kitchen, and a full service dining room to provide meals for paying guests, a twenty-four
hour reception desk, a lobby, and conference rooms with a minimum of forty sq. ft. of conference room per
guest room. The rooms shall be primarily designed for and occupied by transients renting them on a daily basis
and usually staying less than seven days. Recreational amenities shall be included within the hotel, or within
300 feet (walking distance) of the hotel.
Avid Hotel will provide a 24 hour front desk, grab and go breakfast, and a 24-hour market in the lobby (no full
service food). They will not provide any conference room / banquet hall space, and they are not required to,
since they are a general Hotel. The recreational amenity within walking distance of the hotel is the multiuse
path network along the Main and Illinois Streets.
The Petitioner addressed all planning/zoning review comments, and the Planning Dept. supports the use
variance request with the condition listed below.
Petitioner’s Findings of Fact:
Please refer to the petitioner’s Findings of Facts included in their info packet.
Recommendation:
The Dept. of Community Services recommends positive consideration of Docket No. 19050016 UV, with the
condition that not more that 50% of the first floor is used for Hotel uses.