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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDepartment Report 11-07-19 8 Carmel Plan Commission COMMERCIAL COMMITTEE Thursday, November 7, 2019 Department Report 4. Docket No. 19050014 DP/ADLS: Avid Hotel 5. Docket No. 19050015 V: ZO Chapter 5.07 (D)(3) – Meridian Corridor Architectural Standards, Massing requiring two principal buildings on a lot with over 300’ in width, requesting one principal building. The applicant seeks site plan and design approval for a new hotel (102 rooms) and mixed use building (up to 7 first floor tenants) on 1.23 acres. The building will be 50,286 sq. ft., 4 stories/155’ tall, and will have 97+ parking spaces provided (shared parking with CMC Office). The site is located at about approximately 13300 N. Illinois Street (NW corner of Main Street and US 31). The site is zoned MC/Meridian Corridor and is not within any overlay zone. Filed by Jim Shinaver and Jon Dobosiewicz of Nelson & Frankenberger on behalf of Jim Jacob of Saamrajya, LLC. *Updates to the report are written in blue Combined Hearing Information: This petition will be reviewed as part of the “Combo Committee” option, which was enacted late last year as a way to approve development proposals. Instead of the Petitioner going before both the Plan Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA), the Plan Commission will act as both bodies to review the entire petition together. This process combines the Plan Commission’s review of the site plan, architectural design, landscaping, signage, etc. with any variances (which do not meet development standards of the UDO) that would have been reviewed by the BZA. Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) Standards this project MEETS: MC – Meridian Corridor district: • Permitted Use – hotel on upper floors – Now proposed and complying with requirements • Minimum Front Yard Setback for building and parking – 50’ from US 31 required, 191.5’ proposed • Minimum front yard setback from arterial streets for surface parking – 30’ required, 96’ proposed south • Minimum Side Yard – 15’ for principal building required, 79.5’ proposed west • Minimum Side Yard (west) for surface parking – 9.5’ proposed matches original DP for CMC development • Minimum rear yard setback – 20’ for building and parking required (0’ allowed with cooperative agreement – which this has), 205’ proposed north • Maximum lot coverage – 80% allowed, 59% proposed • Minimum Building height – 3 stories required, 4 stories proposed • Maximum building height – 8 stories allowed, only 4 stories proposed Article 5: • Primary Façade – architecturally significant and detailed • Ground floor façade – must look like storefronts with at least 60% glazing, around 85-90% glazing provided • Upper Floor facades – designed to reflect the character of an office building • Corner architectural feature – prominent architectural feature with a public pedestrian entrance provided • Building materials – high quality durable materials for all facades proposed • Lighting – meets 0.3 footcandle requirement at property lines • Trash enclosure matches building design • Mechanical equipment is screened • Number of Parking spaces – 1 space/200 sq. ft. of commercial (6,692 sq. ft.) = 34 spaces, 1 per hotel room (102 rooms): 136 spaces required, 96 new spaces provided, shared parking agreement with CMC • Bicycle parking spaces – 1 space/30 rooms required = 3.4 spaces short term/minimum of 4, plus 1 space per 15 rooms for long term = 7 spaces required: 6 short term spaces and 7 long term spaces proposed • Landscaping Plan • Signage – 2 wall signs and 1 awning sign are proposed and allowed UDO Standards NOT MET, therefore variances have been requested and/or adjustments/additional info required: 1. Article 5.07.D.2. Moderate lot width – building needs to cover 75% of the lot’s width: only 42.7% covered (546.73’ long on south, building is 233.5) (east – 236’ total, building is 64.33 = 27.3% ) 2. Docket No. 19050016 UV – Hotel use on first floor not permitted and DENIED by BZA at 7-22-19 meeting 9 Project Overview: The Petitioner proposes to build a new hotel with commercial tenant spaces available on the first floor within the CMC properties commercial subdivision, which was originally approved in 2001. Three buildings were proposed as part of the original development plan (Docket No. 147-01 DP/ADLS). To the north are two vacant parcels – one is where the Noah’s Event Center was recently approved to be located (Docket No. 18080015 DP/ADLS) and the other is part of the Goodman Campbell Spine Hospital project (Docket No. 17090021 DP/ADLS). To the west is a one story office building and to the south is the drainage pond for the property and Main Street. Finally, to the east is the CMC office building and US 31. All adjacent properties mentioned are also zoned Meridian Corridor (MC). Please see the Petitioner’s Information packet for more details. Site Plan, Parking and Engineering: A hotel use is allowed in the Meridian Corridor, however, is only allowed on the 2nd floor and above. The Petitioner requested a Use Variance to allow the lobby and laundry facilities to be located on the first floor. This Use Variance has been denied by the Board of Zoning Appeals and the Petitioner has decided to amend their plan in order to comply with the UDO requirement. Their plan now has the first floor with no hotel uses. It is open for retail spaces. All hotel uses are now on the second floor and above. The proposed building will be located north of the existing drainage pond adjacent to Main Street, with the parking located to the north of the building. The proposed parking lot will blend seamlessly into the existing parking lot constructed for the CMC office building to the east. Site access is from Illinois Street, through a shared entrance with two one story office buildings located immediately adjacent to Illinois Street. 96 parking spaces are proposed, and 136 spaces would be required for a hotel and general commercial uses. This site was master-planned for drainage to go into one of the two ponds located within this overall development. Lot coverage is proposed at 59%, when up to 80% is allowed. The Engineering Dept. is currently working with the Petitioner to address their remaining minor review comments. A site related variance has been requested, where the UDO states, “Lots greater than 300’ wide shall have at least two principal buildings covering 75% of the lot’s width.” This commercial subdivision was originally laid out and platted for three buildings, with one building directly fronting US 31, and the other two flanking the north and south property lines. The hotel building as proposed is only 64’ wide and it covers 12.5% of the overall lot width facing US 31, which is 509’. Staff is in support of this variance, as we believe the original site plan achieves the intent of this new ordinance requirement for buildings to take up the majority of the lot frontage along US 31. Active Transportation: Sidewalks are provided all around the building and lead up to each of the tenant spaces on both the north and south facades of the building. A sidewalk will be added to run along the center of the parking area, through the new parking lot islands. This will connect the front door of the hotel and tenant spaces to the central internal sidewalk leading out to Illinois Street. Bicycle parking is provided within 50’ of the front door, as is required by the UDO. 6 short term bicycle parking spaces are provided, where 4 are required, and 7 long terms spaces are required within the hotel. These long term spaces are provided on the first floor of the building adjacent to the restrooms. Architectural Design: The proposed building will be constructed of brick, stone and glass on all four sides. Four colors are proposed – a cream stone, a light gray brick, a dark gray brick and a red brick. The rendering of the hotel better illustrates the proposed colors than the 2D elevation drawings. The Petitioner has now confirmed for the Dept. that the brick will not be painted. Because of the Use Variance denial at the BZA, the Petitioner went back to the drawing board on how to incorporate their lobby into the second floor of the building. The resulting exterior façade design is very nice. The northwest corner of the building now has more glass and a taller awning element which accentuates this as the entry to the building. Lighting: When the overall subdivision was established, some parking lot lights were installed on this (now) hotel parcel. New lights will be installed to match the existing, and will be placed in the new parking lot islands. Building accent lighting is shown conceptually to highlight the red tower elements of the building. Staff is still awaiting confirmation of proposed locations and fixture specifications of these lights. The overall photometric plan is compliant with the 0.3 maximum 10 footcandle requirements. Landscaping: New plantings are proposed all along the west property line and within the new parking lot islands. Building base plantings will be installed adjacent to the north and south facades of the building. Additional plantings will be installed to fill in gaps where existing plants have died over the years and/or are missing. The Urban Forester has one outstanding comment regarding tree protection fencing for the exiting buffer on the west property line. Once this is resolved, he should be able to sign off on the plan. Signage: Two wall signs and one awning sign are proposed. The wall signs will face south and east, towards the two public streets – Main Street and US 31. The awning sign will be installed above the pedestrian entrance, facing north. This sign is allowed by utilizing left over square footage from a wall sign. Walls signs are allowed to be up to 70% of the height and 85% of the width of the spandrel panel area. The two walls signs meet these Sign Ordinance size requirements. No ground signs are proposed. July 16 Plan Commission meeting recap: The Petitioner presented a general overview of the plan which features hotel rooms on the upper floors, with lobby and back of house uses located on the first floor (if approved by Use Variance #19050016 UV), as well as direct access to five commercial spaces on the first floor. The Petitioner displayed updated building elevations and first floor plans. They announced that an updated building perspective will be complete at a later date. Two remonstrators spoke against the project. One had concerns about transient people, the building being adjacent to a daycare, and traffic/access into the site. The other was concerned about the low cost of rooms of other Avid hotels. The Petitioner reiterated that a hotel use is permitted and a variance would allow first floor use. Plan Commission members asked about the presence of a restaurant in the hotel (no, possibly in the first floor retail area), conference space (no), if the shared drive is a private drive (looking into). Additionally, questions were raised about building materials, and bike parking locations, signage, and how the building will look from the off ramp to Main Street. It was forwarded to the Commercial Committee meeting on Tuesday, August 6, with the full Plan Commission having final voting authority. Update since Plan Commission meeting: The Petitioner went to the Board of Zoning Appeals on July 22, 2019 to request a Use Variance to have partial hotel uses to be located on the first floor, when they are required to be on the second floor and above. The BZA denied this request, with a 4-1 vote. The Petitioner then needed to decide if they wanted to continue with this project and comply with the UDO, or look for another location for this project. They have decided to comply with the UDO and are now coming back to the Commercial Committee for review. DOCS Remaining Comments/Concerns: There are only a few items outstanding, which Staff believes can be worked out with one more round of reviews on our ProjectDox system: 1. Engineering Dept. approval 2. Building accent lighting details needed 3. Urban Forester approval Recommendation: The Dept. of Community Services recommends the Commercial Committee sends this item back to the full Plan Commission meeting on November 19, 2019 with a Favorable Recommendation.