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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDepartment Report 05-05-222 Carmel Plan Commission COMMERCIAL COMMITTEE Thursday, May 5, 2022 Department Report 3. Docket No. PZ-2022-00001 DP/ADLS: Culver’s. The applicant seeks site plan and design approval for new Culver’s restaurant. The site is located at 431 E. Carmel Drive. It is zoned B-8/Business and is not located in any overlay zone. Filed by Bob Goins of K & J Investments XVL, LLC. *Updates to the Report are written in blue Project Overview: The Petitioner proposes to construct a new restaurant with drive thru where the Rama Car Wash was previously located. Immediately adjacent to the east is Fazoli’s. West is the Flanner and Buchanan Funeral Home. South of the site is the Post Office. These surrounding uses are all zoned B-8/Business. North across Carmel Drive is the Hunter’s Glen condo community, zoned R-4/Residential. Please see the Petitioner’s Information Packet for more details. UDO Standards this project MEETS: B-8: • Permitted Use: Restaurant with walk-up/drive-thru • Minimum Front Yard setback: 25’ required, 104’ proposed • Minimum Side Yard setback: 10’ required, 35’ proposed east, 54.4’ proposed west • Minimum Rear Yard setback: 10’ required, 153.9’ proposed • Maximum Building Height: 50’ allowed, 23’3” proposed Article 5: • Bicycle parking: 3 racks (6 spaces proposed), 2 racks (4 spaces) required • Bicycle parking location: within 50’ of front door required, approximately 30’ to patio door (north) proposed • Dumpster enclosure: matches building design and materials • Accessory Drive thru canopy: matches building design and materials UDO Standards NOT MET, therefore Variances were requested and approved at April 25, 2022 BZA meeting: • Docket No. PZ-2022-00040 V: 70 parking spaces required; 46 spaces provided • Docket No. PZ-2022-00042V: 60% Lot Coverage allowed, 68.3% proposed • Docket No. PZ-2022-00043 V: Signage – One sign allowed, two signs proposed (wall and ground) Site Plan, Parking, and Engineering: Access to the site will remain as it is today, shared with the Fazoli’s restaurant to the east. There is also a cross access easement through the Fazoli’s site to AAA Way, which will also remain. Parking will be added along the north property line and in front of the building. Traffic will flow one way around the site to access the drive thru at the back (south) of the site. The drive thru will have two lanes that will funnel into one lane as it approaches the pick-up window. Then it will split off into two areas of pull ahead parking and one through lane for “food runners” to bring out the orders. There are 46 parking spaces proposed on the site. Restaurant with drive thru calls for one space per 80 sq. ft. of floor area. This building requires 70 spaces; therefore, a variance will be required. The Petitioner still has work to do with the Engineering Department on detention and water quality for the site. To date no drainage report has been submitted. Reviews will continue in Project Dox on this item. Active Transportation: Carmel Drive has an existing 5’ wide sidewalk along this frontage. However, the Thoroughfare Plan requires a 10’ asphalt path along Carmel Drive. The Petitioner has decided to work with the Engineering Dept. on a contribution to the Non- Reverting Thoroughfare Fund in lieu of constructing the path improvement. The Petitioner plans to install a new 5’ wide sidewalk to connect the front door to Carmel Drive. Sidewalk is also proposed around the building and leading back to the order canopy area behind the building. Bicycle parking is now shown adjacent to the patio on the north side of the building. It is about 30’ away and is now in compliance with the 50’ maximum distance allowed from the front door. 3 Architectural Design: The building design has evolved over the course of this project and is now nearly ready for full support from Staff. Brick and stone are the primary materials, with a small amount of EIFS used at on the (rear) sides of the building. Decorative “blade banners” are now shown over these EIFS sections on the sides of the building. They provide additional architectural interest but are not faux functional. The remaining concerns are with the use of stone on the “tower” portions of the building. First, the pilasters (columns) do not have the stone go all the way to the top of the tower. This does not make sense visually as the stone pilaster is supposed to “hold” up the cornice or top of the tower element. Second, the stone carried all the way up the center of these towers appears too heavy and should be switched to brick. If additional attention needs to be created for the wall sign facing north, perhaps they could break up the brick with an EIFS accent area. We are open to ideas, but do not believe it is “just right” yet. The drive thru canopy on the back of the site has the same stone for the columns. The roofline could use a little more work to match the cornice of the building. In discussions with the petitioner, it is not possible to add the same detailing, but it might be possible to have the lighter color for the canopy. Petitioner, please provide an update at the meeting on this. The new trash enclosure also matches the building with stone pilasters at the corners and brick as the main material. It has a dark gray cap as the “cornice.” Lighting: The photometric plan has been updated and now meets the 0.3 footcandles at the property line. Eight pole lights at 25’ tall are proposed around the site and referenced on the photometric plan. However, a detail of the fixture has still not been provided. Other light fixtures detail sheets are included in the Info Packet for decorative lighting around the building and down lights within the canopies. A night-time view of the building has been provided and demonstrates only white light will be used as architectural accents on the building. Landscaping: New landscaping will be installed around the site, including building base landscaping, perimeter shrubs, and trees. The Urban Forester has some outstanding comments in Project Dox regarding the tree species chosen and needing a few more trees planted to meet required counts. Signage: One main identification sign is allowed for this site as it faces one public street frontage. Two signs are proposed – one ground sign perpendicular to Carmel Drive and one wall sign facing north towards Carmel Drive. A variance will be required for the number of signs. The wall sign is 46.7 sq. ft. and is 59% of the height and 50% of the width. Up to 70% of the spandrel panel height and 85% of the spandrel panel width is allowed. A design suggestion for the wall sign – it should be centered within the spandrel panel instead of pushed all the way to the top. The ground sign is 6’ tall and 35 sq. ft. It also has manual changeable copy as part of the design, which is allowed. Directional signage will be installed at 3 sq. ft. and 3’ tall as is allowed by the sign ordinance. A pre-sale menu board is shown adjacent to the drive thru canopy. It still needs design revisions as it does not show a full masonry base. The size is 24.6 sq. ft. Petitioner, will this be the only menu sign? Will there be other signage proposed for the canopy such as height limits, one way, etc.? March 15, 2022 Public Hearing Recap: The Petitioner went over the project details and that a few variances requests will be necessary due to the size of the site. Drive thru stacking will occur at the side and rear of the new building. They will continue to work with Staff on outstanding comments. Staff discussed that progress has been made on the design of the building, but more work still needs to be done – particularly to the faux EIFS windows and awnings on the back of the building. Plan Commission members had concerns about the shared access drive at the entrance to the site off Carmel Drive, location of the sidewalk coming in from Carmel Drive and pedestrian safety, potential overflow of customers/cars and how many seats are inside the restaurant, and the faux EIFS windows with awnings over them are concerning. It was sent to the March 29, 2022 Commercial Committee meeting and returning to the full Plan Commission for a final vote. March 29 Commercial Committee meeting Recap: Changes to the building design include eliminating the awnings and faux windows at the rear of the building. Instead, the designers have added small columns of EIFS with triangular blue blades as visual interest for that part of the building. Signage has been reduced as recommended by staff. The drive thru stacking capacity was discussed. 22 vehicles will be able to stack at the back of the building and around to the order pick up area. This does not include space in the drive lane 4 if there were a backup, which would offer addition relief. The trash enclosure was discussed and will only be opened when the trash truck is there to pick up and take away the trash. Otherwise, it would block the drive thru lane. The Committee continued this item to the Thursday, May 5, 2022, committee meeting. DOCS Remaining Comments/Concerns: 1. Architectural design modifications a. Inconsistency of tower heights around the building – would like to see the height of the towers reduced and made the same height b. Reduce the use of the stone material to only at the water table and as the pilaster/column material. Please remove it from going full height on the tower elements. Other design options possibilities: i. Make the entire tower element all one plane (meaning remove pilasters) and have the stone go all the way to the top ii. Take the stone all the way to the top on the pilasters and change out the material behind the sign to brick to match the rest of the building iii. For added emphasis to the sign, there could be an EIFS accent area behind the sign, but is surrounded by brick c. Update the cornice for the drive thru canopy to be the same light color as the building cornice. 2. Parking lot pole light cut sheet needed 3. Landscape plan approval – double check with Daren 4. Finalize signage details as mentioned above Recommendation: The Department of Community Services recommends the Commercial Committee forward this item back to the full Plan Commission meeting on Tuesday May 17, 2022, with a Positive Recommendation, subject to the following conditions: 1. Monetary commitment to the Non-reverting Thoroughfare Fund the cost to build the required asphalt path along the Carmel Drive frontage 2. Address remaining comments as listed above