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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDepartment Report 06-01-23 2 Carmel Plan Commission COMMERCIAL COMMITTEE Thursday, June 6, 2023 Department Report 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. *Updates to the report are written in blue. 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, 5’ provided o Building base plantings – 10’ required on front of building, 6’ proposed and 10 additional parking spaces removed to equal lost landscaping at building base. • Parking: 393 spaces provided/allowed (Overnight parking not allowed except for trucks actively unloading at the loading docks) • Bike parking: Located adjacent to front door. • 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: n/a 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 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. 3 393 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. Plans have been updated to show the proposed improvements to Lowe’s Way, as well as repairing existing sidewalks, as requested. 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. Cart corrals were shown on the site plan, and are in appropriate places, as well as in sufficient quantities. Bike parking has been reviewed with David Littlejohn, Transportation Systems Administrator, and is in an acceptable location. The parking spaces to the north of the entry were re-oriented to provide easy access from the sidewalk for parking. Long term bike parking was not provided but is not required. Staff encourages all businesses to provide safe, covered, long term bike parking. There were concerns regarding sidewalks around the building and proper access. Bollards have been moved to guarantee 5’ clearance on all sides. The PUD states maximum parcel coverage for retail is limited to 30%. This is not a standard way to determine parcel coverage, which is why Staff asked the Petitioner to provide an exhibit showing the proposed 23.6%. This has been provided to Staff and is acceptable. 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 that were previously removed over the front entry have now been added back. Staff believes this design element will help to bring the overall scale of a large building down to the pedestrian level. The rear of the upper parapet walls has 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. Front elevation (west) will now have the small canopies added back. 4 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 photo examples of how these architectural accent lights will look around the building. The Petitioner’s Lighting Consultant went out to the site to inspect the Lowe’s parking lot lighting to provide a similar style/color as requested by Staff. Upon inspection, the existing lights appear to be at 50 Kelvin (K), which has a brighter and bluer color. It was also determined that the lights had been replaced with non-industry standard brands, which increases the likelihood of color change over the next 5 years. The Lighting Consultant has recommended a style that is 40K, which is what they have generally proposed and installed in many locations in Carmel. Knowing this information, Staff is supportive of following the Lighting Consultant’s recommendation to not try to match the Lowe’s site lighting at this time. 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. This is not what was intended by this section. It is intended to allow perpendicular sidewalk crossings, such as for emergency exit door access. After discussing with the Petitioner, it was decided to increase the size of the landscape island beds to make up for the lost landscaping area adjacent to the building. 1,640 sq. ft. was removed along the front of the building and redispersed across 10 additional parking spaces throughout the site to create larger landscaping beds. 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, the requested updates were made to the exhibits and now show all acceptable signage types and sizes. May 15, 2023, Plan Commission meeting recap: The Petitioner gave an overview of the project and discussed how many of the outstanding items in the department report were already being addressed. Staff talked through changes that had been made and about some concerns still being worked on such as rooftop unit screening plan, lighting plan coherence with Lowe’s site to the north, and building base landscaping concerns. Plan Commission members had questions about the entry – pedestrian safety/crosswalks, loading areas, and covered bicycle parking. Other questions were concerning reserved spaces for the propane dispenser, air dispenser, and appropriate stacking spaces for the fueling lanes. The Plan Commission members voted to send this item to the Commercial Committee meeting on June 6, 2023, with the Committee having final voting authority. DOCS Remaining Comments/Concerns: 1. Lighting spot lights on 4’ poles around the building – please provide a photo example of this at another store. 2. Rooftop mechanical screening exhibits have still not been provided. Staff has asked to see a plan view of the roof to know where the units will be located as well as a section view to see the heights of the roof, as well as the parapet walls. It is Staff’s goal to ensure that multiple additional rooftop screens are not needed, as the parapet height should be able to screen all units, if designed appropriately. Recommendation: Once all comments and concerns are addressed, the Department of Community Services recommends the Commercial Committee votes to Approve this item this evening.