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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDepartment Report 10-01-19 7 Carmel Plan Commission COMMERCIAL COMMITTEE Tuesday, October 1, 2019 Department Report 4. Docket No. 19060018 DP: Carmel Hotel and Office. The applicant seeks site plan approval for two building pads and associated parking on 2.96 acres. The site is located at 12166 N. Meridian Street. The site is zoned MC/Meridian Corridor. Filed by Brad Schrage of American Structurepoint on behalf of Michael Garvey of Diversified Land Acquisitions, LLC. *Updates to the report are written in blue. Project Overview: The Petitioner proposes a development plan for two new buildings to be constructed on the vacant ADT site located north of the Ritz Charles. The Meridian Medical Plaza office buildings are located immediately north of this site, to the west is the Spring Lake Estates neighborhood zoned S-2, and to the east across Meridian Street is the Wagner Reese office building, also zoned MC. Please view the Petitioner’s informational packet for more detail. Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) Standards this project MEETS: MC/Meridian Corridor: • Permitted Uses: Hotel (upper floors only*) and general office • Minimum Front Yard setback from US 31 for buildings and parking – 50’ required, 69.4’ proposed • Minimum Side Yard (north) – 15’ for principal building required, 61’ proposed • Minimum Rear Yard (west) – 0’ for all buildings and surface parking if cooperative agreement is in place, about 120’ proposed for building, 6’ for parking • Maximum Lot Coverage – 80% allowed, about 67% proposed • Minimum Building height –3 stories required, 3 story office building and 5 story hotel proposed • Maximum building height – 8 stories allowed • Number of Parking spaces – 133 spaces plus shared parking with Ritz Charles site proposed o Hotel requires 1 space per room and 1 per employee per largest shift (25) – 152 required o Office requires 1 space per 350 sq. ft. – 137 required Article 5: • Trash enclosures proposed on the site plan, will be architecturally compatible with principal buildings when submitted for ADLS approval UDO Standards NOT MET, therefore adjustments or variance requests are needed: • Minimum Side Yard (north) – 20’ for surface parking required, 5’ proposed in one area, 30’ proposed in another – Now requested as Docket No. 19090015 V to be heard at the October 28, 2019 BZA meeting • At least 2 primary buildings required for wide lot width covering at least 75% of the lot’s width; 1 hotel and 1 office building proposed at about 45% lot width coverage – Now requested as Docket No. 19090016 V to be heard at the October 28, 2019 BZA meeting • A third variance has been identified and requested as Docket No. 19090017 V for not meeting the Parking lot setbacks/bufferyards along future shared property line between buildings. • *Docket No. 18050007 UV: UDO Section 2.39 Hotel Use on upper floors only allowed, hotel use proposed on ground floor. Approved by BZA on June 25, 2018 4-0 with a Condition that the site plan was not finalized and including attached residential dwelling units are a possibility. (Background info – the residential component was desired when there was a parking garage proposed as part of the project. Surface parking is now proposed instead of the parking garage.) Meridian Corridor (MC) District analysis: The purpose of the Meridian Corridor (MC) district is to further develop and build out the US 31 Corridor. Quality development of mixed use sites is encouraged. The goal is to transition the corridor to a more pedestrian friendly area, 8 with public transit options and mixed use development opportunities that can share parking and provide day and evening activities and vitality. The MC is not intended to be in conflict with suburban residential areas. However, it can be adjacent to these areas, with proper transitions. Appropriate transitional elements are considered the tapering of building heights, staggered building facades, and the use of landscaping buffers. Site Plan, Parking and Engineering: The Petitioner is seeking approval for an overall development plan for two new buildings – a hotel and an office building. The buildings will be oriented west/east, fronting onto Meridian Street. A five story hotel with 127 rooms and a three story office building with 48,000 sq. ft. of floor area are proposed. The development plan will provide pads for these two buildings, along with associated stormwater management, utility infrastructure, parking, sidewalks, and access drives. The Petitioner has secured an access agreement with the Ritz Charles to enter the site from Illinois Street to the west. They also propose two street cuts onto the frontage road along Meridian Street (east of the buildings). The MC district requires 1 space per unit plus one space per employee on the largest shift for hotels. Office uses require one space per 350 sq. ft. This means that 137 parking spaces are needed for the office building and 152 (127 rooms and 25 employees) spaces are needed for the hotel. The MC does allow for off-site parking to count towards the total number of spaces for a site. A shared parking agreement has been reached with the Ritz Charles. The office and hotel uses proposed for this site have compatible off hour parking needs. Therefore, the 133 proposed parking spaces, along with the shared parking agreement of the Ritz, Staff believes this parking arrangement will work. If necessary, an additional agreement could be sought from the office buildings to the north. Two dry detention ponds are proposed along the east side of the buildings. Both the Carmel Engineering Dept. and Crossroad Engineers are currently reviewing the plans and working with the Petitioner on compliance. Active Transportation: A new sidewalk will be installed along the frontage road. Additional sidewalks will be installed providing access from the frontage road to and around each of the buildings. A connection will also be added across the Ritz Charles site to provide protected pedestrian access to Illinois Street. Lastly, a pedestrian connection is proposed in the middle of the parking to the west of the buildings. Bicycle parking will be provided adjacent to the each of the front doors of the respective buildings. The hotel would require 4 short term spaces and 9 long term spaces. The office building would require 5 short term spaces. Long term parking spaces are encouraged for office buildings, but are not required. We will find out more about long term bicycle parking when the Petitioner submits ADLS approvals for each of these buildings at a later date. Landscaping: The Urban Forester has reviewed the landscaping plan and made comments for the Petitioner to update their plans. Multiple landscape islands are proposed throughout the parking areas to help delineate drive aisles. A long landscape border is proposed on the west property line, which will help to meet buffer requirements and preserve existing trees in that grassy area. After further review, the plans to split the property into two parcels will cause the need for another variance, which is a 0’ setback for the future property line that will run between the two buildings. This variance has been requested and will be heard with the other two identified variances at the October 28, 2019 BZA meeting. September 17 Public Hearing meeting recap: The Petitioner went over the project and discussed that this is the proposed layout for the site. Specific details and ADLS submissions will be turned in at a later date. The Petitioner clarified that there will be 25 employees for the hotel and that they will have access to 150 spaces on the Ritz site for shared parking. One neighbor spoke in remonstrance, concerned about the number of large mature trees on site that will be lost. The trees also provide good sound and visual buffers to their homes from the noise of US 31. Plan Commission members had concerns about the parking and if the Ritz Charles is overcommitting to shared parking and in turn, would not have enough parking for their own events. Other concerns were for the loss of trees and asked the Petitioner to provide a plan of what could be saved. Lastly, there is a missing pedestrian connection from the middle of the parking lot on the west side of the site to the buildings. 9 DOCS Remaining Comments/Concerns: There are many TAC agencies that have not yet signed off on this proposal. We will continue to work through review comments with the Petitioner as this item moves through the Committee process and will provide an update at the next Committee meeting. Recommendation: If all comments and concerns are addressed, the Dept. of Community Services recommends the Commercial Committee sends this item back to the full Plan Commission on October 15, 2019 with a Favorable Recommendation.