Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutDepartment Report 05-16-23 3 CARMEL PLAN COMMISSION DEPARTMENT REPORT MAY 16, 2023 2. Docket No. PZ-2023-00070 DP/ADLS: BJ's Wholesale Club. The applicant seeks site plan and design approval for BJ’s Wholesale Club building with fuel/gas station. The site is located at 14480 Lowes Way. It is zoned PUD/Planned Unit Development (Z-681-23, 146th & Keystone Ave. PUD, as amended) and is partly in the SFHA/Special Flood Hazard Area. Filed by Marc LaVoie, PE, of BJ’s Wholesale Club, Inc. Project Overview: The Petitioner recently received PUD Amendment approval to facilitate redevelopment of the site. The new BJ’s Wholesale Club would be constructed on the south portion of the property, replacing the two restaurants on site. Lowe’s will remain on the north portion of the property. US 31 and Keystone Parkway have had many improvements around this site, providing greater access to and from 146th Street. Danbury Estates residential subdivision is located across Lowe’s Way to the east, zoned R-4/Residential. To the southeast across Lowe’s Way and separated by Cool Creek is the Laura Vista Subdivision, zoned R-1/Residential. Please see the Petitioner’s Information packet for more details. PUD (Planned Unit Development) Standards this project MEETS: • Permitted Uses: Retail (primary), Tire sales and service – indoor (accessory) and Automobile Filling Stations (accessory) • Minimum tract size: 5 acres required, 8.5 proposed • Max. Building Height: 60’ permitted, 39’4” proposed • Min. Building Height: 14’ required, 39’4” proposed • Minimum Building Setback: 60’ from ROW required, 64’ proposed • Minimum Gross Floor Area: 15,000 sq. ft. required; 102,729 sq. ft. proposed • Maximum Parcel Coverage: 30% allowed, 23.6% proposed • Maximum FAR is 0.7: 0.27 proposed (101,826 sq. ft./8.5 acres) • Architectural Design Requirements: o Golden Section: Entry complies o Minimum of 3 building materials required: brick, stone, precast concrete panel, and EIFS proposed o 8 eternal corners minimum required, 12 provided • Landscaping: o Greenbelt: 0.15-acre area provided on Keystone Parkway: 30’ proposed and required o Parallel roadways: 10’ planting area required adjacent to Lowe’s Way, 15’ proposed o Parking lot landscaping – 6% required, 7.2% proposed o Building base plantings – 5’ required on the sides of building, • Parking: 403 spaces provided/allowed (Overnight parking not allowed except for trucks actively unloading at the loading docks) • Loading berths: Located at and allowed on the rear/east elevation of the building. • Signs: Package shown matches PUD approval, sign permit review still required. • Outside Storage of Refuse or Merchandise: Only propane tanks allowed overnight, daily merchandise allowed to be displayed adjacent to the front entrance but must be moved back inside overnight. • Offsite Roadway Improvements: adding dedicated right lane out of the existing round-a-bout and a right turn only at south end of site PUD Standards NOT MET; therefore variance will be required: • Building base plantings – 10’ required on front of building, 6’ proposed • UDO Art. 5.29.B.11. Bike Parking location: 21 spaces required and provided; however, the spaces are not located within 50’ of the front door. • Cart Corrals: masonry required, and proper detail provided, however, no location is shown on the site plan. • Rooftop Mechanical equipment screening: please provide a roof plan to show locations of HVAC equipment, as well as a section view of the building to show proper screening. Site Plan: The proposed site plan has the BJ’s building at the east side of the site, oriented west with the main entrance visible from US 31 and Keystone Parkway. The main vehicular entrance into the site from Lowe’s Way will remain as is constructed today, with a few proposed enhancements to accommodate additional vehicles. For example, BJ’s would construct a right 4 turn lane at the round-a-bout going southbound on Lowe’s Way to aid in dispersing traffic. They also propose to add a right-out (only) cut at the south end of the site (to Lowe’s Way), for large trucks to have a secondary way out of the site. 403 parking spaces are shown on the site plan and follows the concept plan design approved with the PUD Amendment. An exact number of spaces is not required. A fueling station and an indoor tire sales and service area are proposed as part of the BJ’s building. Staff has worked with the Petitioner regarding the placement of the fueling station, as we had concerns regarding the proximity of a fueling station to Cool Creek, which runs directly south of the property. Through the PUD Amendment process, the Petitioner and Engineering Dept. came to agreement on what additional safety measures would be required. The proposed plan with the DP/ADLS meets the PUD Amendment requirements. The fueling station and associated underground tanks are oriented north/south, as was shown in the concept plan of the PUD amendment proposal. The pumps and all aspects of the gas component are located more than 500’ away from the residential neighborhoods to the east, which complies with City Code restricting gas stations to not be within 500’ of residential areas. Site plan comments/questions: 1. Bike parking a. Short term bike parking is proposed at the east side of the main entry, not in direct view, about 57’ away from the front door. The UDO requires convenient access within 50’ of the front door. Bike parking was also added along the main entrance drive to street next to the sidewalk. This is located 75’ away. b. Long term bicycle parking is encouraged, but not yet proposed. Staff would like to see this incorporated to the building design as a safe place for employees to store their bikes. 2. Sidewalks a. Bollards around building – please confirm at least 5’ clearance for sidewalk access around them b. Sidewalk connection needed to the round-a-bout at Lowe’s Way (this may be shown on the Lowe’s Way Improvement plan, but that was not provided) 3. 146th St. & Lowe’s Way improvements: please provide info/plan if traffic flow improvements are proposed. 4. Cart Corrals: please show on the site plan where the cart corrals will be placed. 5. Parcel coverage: please provide an exhibit showing the parcel coverage percent at 23.6%. Engineering: Underground detention will be provided at the north end of the site, where the existing ponds are located. These ponds will be drained and covered by parking. The Petitioner continues to work with the Engineering Dept. regarding addressing their review comments. An update will be provided at the Commercial Committee meeting. Architectural Design: The design of the building is consistent with the proposal in the PUD Amendment filing. The exterior design is unique, has four-sided architecture, and is context sensitive. The facades have symmetry and feature areas to break down the scale of the structure. The building will be constructed of pre-cast concrete panels with brick inlay, a stone base, and a textured upper area (so it is not plain concrete walls) to give additional character (below the cornice line). Red diamond accents are used around the building and have been incorporated into bump out/tower elements around the building. Faux windows have been located on each façade at the upper levels, which help to give additional character and further break down the scale of the building. During the PUD Amendment process, Staff worked with the Petitioner to revise the main entry on the west elevation. The façade is now broken down into smaller sections, and the signage is properly showcased. Metal awnings were previously shown but have now been removed. Petitioner, can you please provide insight onto why the awnings were removed? The rear of the upper parapet walls have also been altered to appear like fronts, rather than blank walls. The gas station canopy will have a brushed aluminum fascia across the top and brick columns to match the color and design of the building. A small kiosk building is also proposed for a gas station attendant. 5 Lighting: Parking lot lighting will be provided around the site by 25’ tall poles. The photometric plan meets the required 0.3 footcandles allowed at property lines. Flood lights are shown in the lighting package – are these proposed on the 4’ poles around the building? Petitioner, please provide more details/visuals of how these architectural accent lights will look around the building. Please also confirm that all lighting temperature/color will be uniform throughout the development and match what is currently installed on Lowe’s portion of the development. Landscaping: The current plan is generally follows what was shown during the PUD Amendment process. However, there are some PUD requirements that are not met. The building base planting area on the west side (front) of the building is required to be 10’. The current dimension is 6’. The PUD does have a statement that says “sidewalks up to 8’ in width may be permitted in these areas, but shall not occupy the entire area on any side of the building.” The plan currently removes 4’ of landscaping area and replaces it with 4’ of sidewalk along the entire frontage of the building. This is not what was intended by this section. It is intended to allow perpendicular sidewalk crossings, such as for emergency exit door access. As proposed, this deviation would require a variance. Staff does have a few ideas for avoiding this variance though: 1. Reduce main drive aisles on west edge of site and directly in front of the entrance from 30’ down to 28’ each. This would provide the additional 4’ needed for planting area. 2. Take the 1,640 sq. ft. missing along the front of the building and redisperse it throughout the site to create larger parking lot planting beds. A standard parking space is 162 sq. ft. This would require 10 additional parking space sized landscape beds. 3. The cart corrals are not currently shown on the site plan. Once they are added, perhaps the additional planting beds can be placed on either side of the cart corrals. Signage: The proposed sign plan matches what was approved through the PUD Amendment. Main identification signs are provided on the West, North, and East around the main entrance to the building. Supplemental signs are provided on the West and South in reference to other services provided at the building. Signage square footages relate to the architectural spandrel panel areas where they are proposed. This keeps signage in line with what the UDO would require. Regarding the gas station canopy signage, a few updates to the exhibits are needed. For example, numbers 1 and 8 appear to point at the canopy itself, but not the clearance signage which is allowed. Also, please clarify what numbers 2, 3, 4, and 7 are showing. DOCS Remaining Comments/Concerns: We are currently waiting on the petitioner to officially respond to all review comments and upload revised plans. We plan to work with the Petitioner between now and the Plan Commission meeting to address the questions and outstanding items listed above. Recommendation: The Department of Community Services recommends the Plan Commission votes to send this item to the Commercial Committee for further review on June 6, 2023.