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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDepartment Report 03-03-202 Carmel Plan Commission COMMERCIAL COMMITTEE Tuesday, March 3, 2020 Department Report 2. Docket No. 20010014 ADLS Amend: Geico – North parking expansion The applicant seeks site plan and design approval for a parking lot expansion (216 new spaces) on the north side of the building (in the previous center of the round-a-bout which has now been removed and reconfigured). The site is located at 101 West 103rd Street and is zoned MC/Meridian Corridor. It is not located within any overlay zone. Filed by David Hagan of Carmel Indy Properties, LLC. *Updates to the report are written in blue Project Overview: Due to an increase in the number of employees at this location, the Petitioner is requesting approval for additional parking. The City recently (2015) reconstructed the intersection of Illinois and 103rd, eliminating the round-a-bout. The Petitioner is working with the City to acquire this unused right of way for development of additional needed parking for their office building. To the north is the previous St. Vincent Health building, also zoned MC; to the west across Illinois is the Springmill Medical Clinic, zoned B-3/B-1/B-6; and to the east is the Courtyard by Mariott Hotel, zoned MC. Please see the Petitioner’s information package for more information. UDO Standards this project MEETS: MC District: • Maximum Lot Coverage – 80% allowed, 78.8% proposed Article 5: • Buffer yard – 15’ for Parkway Arterial Street (Illinois Street) • Buffer yard – 5’ for Local streets (103rd and Superior Streets) • Drive aisle width – 25’ required for 90 degree parking • Curbed and paved parking lot • Detention and Water Quality measures • Number of parking spaces – 940 required, 1,407 total proposed (new spaces = 216) • Landscaping plan approved by Urban Forester, subject to replacing all trees one for one UDO Standards NOT MET, therefore Variances are required: • Article 2.4 Minimum Front Yard – 30' required for Arterial and Collector Street for Parking - 5' proposed on Illinois • Article 2.4 Minimum Front Yard – 20' for Local Street surface parking - 5' on 103rd and Superior Streets proposed Site Plan and Parking: The Petitioner will be constructing 216 new parking spaces. The new parking will be a continuation of the existing parking lot, so no new connections to the adjacent streets are needed. The site has three public street frontages, therefore three front yards. They are able to meet the bufferyard requirements for landscaping, as well as providing sidewalks. But they are not able to meet the full front yard setbacks for surface parking. These two variance requests have been applied for and will be heard at an upcoming BZA meeting. The Dept. is in support of these variance requests. There are currently 619 parking spaces. 49 spaces need to be restriped, some of which are currently ADA spaces that will be reallocated as regular spaces, bringing the count down to 560. When the new 216 spaces are added (including those 49), the site will have 776 parking spaces total. These spaces combined with the 631 spaces to the east of the building, bring the total to 1,407 spaces. The MC District requires 1 space per 350 sq. ft. for an office building. This office building is approximately 329,000 sq. ft., requiring about 940 parking spaces. Overall lot coverage for the entire 12.06 acre Geico site is 78.8%. The maximum allowed lot coverage percent is 80 per the MC district. Engineering: Underground detention is proposed for this parking lot. The site is bisected by an easement, so there will be two separate chambers for detention. Rain gardens are also provided in order to help provide stormwater quality measures, to help 3 clean the water prior to entering the underground chambers. Active Transportation: The existing path at the northwest corner of Illinois and 103rd Street will remain. New path has been added to the extent of the new parking area along Illinois Street. This path will turn to provide a connection to the front door of the building, as was requested by Staff. The path along Superior Street will be relocated closer to the street in order for more new parking spaces to be reconstructed. It will be an 8’ wide path to match existing. Lighting: Four new parking lot pole lights will be installed in this new parking area. The photometric plan has been submitted and it meets the 0.3 footcandle requirement at the property lines. The lights will be installed at 30’6” tall, and will be LED lights. Landscaping: The new landscaping plan has been reviewed and approved by the Urban Forester. Street trees, bushes, and interior planting for the parking lot islands are proposed. Three of the parking lot islands will be rain gardens, and landscaped with native plantings for effective water filtration. Based on comments from the Commercial Committee, the Urban Forester has recommended the Petitioner find other locations on site to plant the 15 trees that were not accounted for in the original landscape plan. Petitioner, please continue to work with Daren Mindham on appropriate locations for these new trees that are within close proximity to this site. February 4 Commercial Committee meeting recap: The Committee discussed the project at length, asking questions as to why this parking area is needed, and expressed concern over the loss of mature trees in the area. 57 trees will be removed, and 42 will be planted back. A motion was made to approve the item, subject to replacing the trees at an approved ratio. The vote resulted in a 2-2 no decision vote, which means the item must come back to next month’s committee meeting. The Committee recommended to have a representative from Geico attend the next meeting. DOCS Remaining Comments/Concerns: There are some remaining review comments from the Engineering Dept. and Crossroad Engineers, related to the stormwater quality measures and detention areas. All other Planning Dept. comments and concerns have been addressed. Recommendation: The Department of Community Services recommends the Commercial Committee votes to Approve this item this evening, subject to the following Conditions: 1. Petitioner replaces all trees one for one on or near the Geico site 2. TAC Comments addressed 3. Approval of the variance requests by the BZA.