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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDepartment Report COM 02-04-203 Carmel Plan Commission COMMERCIAL COMMITTEE Tuesday, February 4, 2020 Department Report 2. Docket No. 20010009 ADLS Amend: Brookshire Plaza – Façade and Site Improvements The applicant seeks site plan and design approval for the renovation of the existing buildings on site. There is 73,686 sq. ft. of existing retail space, at 1 story high – 24’ tall. Site plan modifications include closing an entrance and replacing with 4 new parking spaces and adding sidewalk connections. The site is 7.26 acres in size and is located at 4726 East 126th Street. It is zoned B-3 and is not located within any overlay zone. Filed by Brent Benge of KennMar. Project Overview: The Petitioner seeks approval to renovate the shopping center and bring a fresh look to the existing buildings. Minor site modifications are proposed and described below. This site is surrounded by residential subdivisions on all sides, zoned R- 1, R-2, S-1 and S-2. Directly north of the site is St. Mark’s United Methodist Church. Please see the Petitioner’s Information packet for more details. Site Plan, Parking and Engineering: The existing site plan will stay the same with a few minor changes. The far east entrance off of 126th Street will be closed off to provide safer, more controlled access into the site. This will provide four new parking spaces when closed. 298 parking spaces are proposed/existing. Because this project is primarily only façade improvements, the Engineering Dept. does not have many comments. Work done in the right-of-way will need permit approval from their office. Active Transportation: New sidewalk will be provided along 126th street where the vehicular entrance was previously located. Three new sidewalk connections will be installed to help patrons safely enter the site. One is proposed to connect patrons from 126th Street (near the round-a-bout) to the front door of the previous bank building. The second will also be from 126th street to the northwest corner of the L shaped building (where the Liquor store tenant is located). The third will be at the southeast corner of the L shaped building, connecting out to Gray Road. Crosswalks will also be added in these locations to facilitate visual reminders that these are pedestrian areas. Bicycle parking has not yet been proposed, but we do expect to see this resolved with an updated site plan by the time of the Committee meeting. The Active Transportation Coordinator has not yet signed off on the plans, with multiple outstanding review comments pertaining to bike parking (as mentioned), sidewalk widths, required path, and minimum sidewalk width. Architectural Design: L-shaped building: A new entrance feature for a new anchor tenant is proposed, along with new exterior façade materials and painting the brick to provide a fresh look for the building. The structure of the canopy over the walkway will remain. The Petitioner will just be taking off the existing fascia materials and replacing with new wood-look siding where the signs will be placed, new black standing seam metal roof and new fiber cement siding for above the roof. Outlot building: The outlot building will have the shutters, columns, roof, cupula, drive thru canopy, and some windows/doors removed as part of the remodel. It is proposed to have one tenant with a drive thru located in the back. The brick building is proposed to be painted white, with all existing trim (windows, gutters, fascia board near roofline) to be painted black. A new roof will go on with black asphalt shingles. A new stained wood front entrance structure will be installed with a place for tenant signage. This design will tie into the new design for the L-shaped building. An outdoor patio will be added to the front of this building, with black metal railing connecting to the new entrance structure. Lighting: New building accent lighting is proposed in the form of matte black gooseneck lights for both buildings along the front 4 façade. On the L-shaped building, lights will be installed on the brick building piers along the front of the building. On the Outlot building, the gooseneck lights will be installed on either side of the new entrance door and storefront glass. Gooseneck lights are also proposed as the primary lighting source for new building signage. This is an acceptable plan, however, we would assume then that the signs to be installed on the building will not be internally (or back-lit) illuminated, as they are currently not lit. In an effort to provide a fresh look and greater visibility for tenants from the nearby roads, we would prefer not to see gooseneck lights around the signs, and allow them to be internally lit. Petitioner, please continue to work with Staff on signage lighting. New LED strip lighting is proposed to be installed under the re-built canopy of the L-shaped building. It will be white in color and help to illuminate the walk way at night. New pendant lights will also be added under the canopy to replace existing black ceiling mounted lights. The new lights will also be matte black in color to match the other new lighting proposed. Lastly, a 6” square fixture is proposed for the grocery tenant’s signage. It will also be matte black in color. Petitioner, please provide additional information on how this lighting will be installed, it is hard to visualize. The existing wall pack lights on the rear of the building will remain for security lighting along the backside of the building. The parking lot pole lights will also remain. Landscaping: Landscaping was not proposed, however, the Urban Forester needs the petitioner to plant the site back to its original approved landscape plan. Over the years things may have died or removed, and may or may not have been replaced. We need a commitment from the Petitioner to complete the re-planting of the site as soon as possible. Signage: With the exception of the new grocery store anchor tenant space, all signage is proposed in the same location as it is today. As mentioned above, lighting for the signage is a concern. The Sign Administrator still has outstanding review comments and would like to see a new sign package for this shopping center. Petitioner, please continue to work with the Sign Administrator on addressing his review comments. DOCS Remaining Comments/Concerns: There may seem to be a lot of outstanding review comments related to this project. To explain, this project does qualify for ADLS Amendment and Committee-only review. However, there is a lot of work being done to this site, with turnaround time for Staff reviews being very tight in preparation for the Committee-only hearing. Staff will continue working with the Petitioner on outstanding review comments in hopes of having all items addressed by the Committee meeting. Recommendation: The Department of Community Services recommends the Commercial Committee votes to Approve this item this evening, subject to finalizing outstanding review comments from TAC members through Project Dox.