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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes BZA 07-23-07 City of Carmel Carmel Board of Zoning Appeals Regular Meeting Monday, July 23, 2007 The regularly scheduled meeting of the Carmel Board of Zoning Appeals met at 6:00 PM on Monday, July 23, 2007, in the Council Chambers of City Hall, Carmel, Indiana. The rileeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance. Members in attendance were Kent Broach, Leo Dierckman, James Hawkins and alternate Rick Ripma, thereby establishing a quorum. Christine Barton-Holmes, Mike Hollibaugh and Rachel Boone represented the Department of Community Services. John Molitor, Legal Counsel, was also present. Mr. Dierckman moved to approve the minutes of the June 25,2007 meeting as submitted. The motion was seconded by Me Hawkins and APPROVED 3~O with Mr. Ripma abstaining. Mrs. Barton-Holmes gave the Department Report. There were three waiver requests. The first is Docket No. 07060010 V Weston Pointe Retail Outlot requesting a waiver of five days. The second is Docket No. 07070018 UV Midwest Academy requesting a waiver of fi fteen days. The third is Docket No. 07070014 V Burger King requesting a waiver of fourteen days. They have all met the State Statute requirement often days. The Department requested the Board to consider dismissing Docket Nos. 07030021 V through 07030025 Y, The Comer Signs. It has been 011 the docket for several months and they have not filed anything in cOlUlection with the petition. Mr. Dierckman moved to grant the waivers for the stated dockets and to remove Docket Nos. 07030021 V through 07030025 V, The Corner Signs from the agenda. The motion was seconded by Mr. Hawkins and APPROVED 4-0. Mr. Molitor stated the motion should be stated to dismiss the petition for a lack of prosecution in addition to removing it from the agenda. Mr. Dierckman moved to dismiss The Comer Signs for lack of prosecution. The motion was seconded by Mr. Broach and APPROVED 4-0. Mr. Molitor gave the Legal RepOlt. He has received some of the discovery from the adversary in the pending federal litigation. As he has more information to share, he may need to request an Executive Session next month in connection with the regular August meeting. H. Public Hearing: lh. Weston Pointe Retail Outlot The applicant seeks the following development standards variance approval: Docket No. 07060010 V Section 29.c.09 (e) Building fal;ade breaks The site is located at 4400-4500 Weston Pointc Drive and is zoned B2/Commercial and office uses. Filed by David Gilman for Williams Realty Group. Cannel Board of Zoning Appeals Regular Meeting Agenda June 25, 2007 Present for the Petitioner: David Gilman. They are proposing to build a multi-use retail outlot. It will be a portion of Weston Retail Center which is a larger retail development by Williams Realty Group. There are three outlots in the front along US 421. There is a bank on the south lot, the middle lot is vacant and this is the nOlih lot. They are proposing to construct about a 7800 square foot retail center with about six tenants. The variance is for relief from the development standard that requires an eight- foot relief in the front fayade for buildings that are 90 feet and longer. That relief would come every 60 feet. This building will be 117 feet in length. A site plan was shown. They propose a three-foot relief and one-foot on each end making an aggregate offive feet of relief in the front and on the sides. An eight-foot relief on a building this small would be disproportionate and would not be compatible with some of the other buildings in the center, namely the larger building that is nearly 40,000 square feet. They felt their proposed relief created an attractive building and allows them to lease the building without creating shadow tenant spaces that are difficult to market. The site will be heavily landscaped which will help mitigate the fact that the relief will be negligible from US 421. Members of the public were invited to speak in favor or opposition to the petition; no one appeared. The Public Hearing was closed. Mrs. Barton-Holmes gave the Department Report. The breaks required by the US 421 Overlay could create an unbalanced appearance for this building. The fayade breaks as proposed will correspond with the proposed tenant spaces. The Department felt the request met the intent of the Overlay and recommended positive consideration. Mr. Ripma asked for the location of the relief on the site plan. Mr. Gilman pointed out the relief on the plans. Mr. Dierckman moved to approve Docket No. 07060010 V, Weston Pointe Retail Outlot. The motion was seconded by Mr. Ripma and APPROVED 4-0. 3-4h. Meridian Music - Signs The applicant seeks the followmg development standards variance approval; Docket No. 07060013 V Section 25.07.02-14 Wall signs in Providence Old Meridian Docket No. 07060018 V Section 25.07.02-14 Number of signs permitted Docket No. 07060019 V Section 25.07.02-14 Exceeds square footage of permitted signs The site is located at 12725 Old Meridian Street and is zoned OM/V/Old Meridian Village Filed by Fred Simmons, ALA of Simmons Architects for Jam Musical Properties, LLC. Present for the Petitioner: Fred Simmons. He clarified the correct Docket number is 07060019 V, not 07060009 V as listed in the agenda. This three-year old building was one of the first in the Old Meridian District. It is at the comer of Old Meridian and Providence Boulevard. It was constructed prior to the three-story retail/residential buildings that Providence is constructing south of this building. A photograph of the existing building was shown with the awnings and projecting sign. There is a conflicting sign that belongs to Providence near the front door. That causes some confusion for people. They do not realize this building is Meridian Music and not Providence. This variance is to install signage on existing awnings. It would be five signs on alternating awnings. These awnings were installed in 2003 to emulate the old-style rollup awning, unlike the awnings of the adjacent propeliy. Page 2 of8 Carnlel Board of Zoning Appeals Regular Meeting Agenda JWle 25, 2007 Members of the public were invited to speak in favor or opposition to the petition; no one appeared. The Public Hearing was closed. Mrs. Barton-Holmes gave the Department Report. The Petitioner was correct; the Docket No. should be 07060019 V. This is a single tenant multi -level building. If the building had more than one tenant, they would be pern1itted the requested amount of square footage for signs. The building to the south, which houses a couple of restaurants and a hair salon, does have awnings similar to what is proposed with every other awning having the name of the business. This would continue the overall design theme of this retail center. The Department recommended positive consideration of all three variances. Mr. Dierckman felt it was very difficult to find this building as it currently stands. The signage package is applicable for storefronts that are inside the development, but not necessarily the outside buildings along the corridor. Mr. Broach agreed that this has been difficult to identify when driving by and the signage is needed. Mr. Broach moved to approved Docket Nos. 07060013 V~ 07060018 V and 07060019 V~ Meridian Music signs. The motion was seconded by Mr. Dierckman and ALL were APPROVED 4-0. 5h. 801 Congressional Boulevard - Midwest Academy The applicant seeks the following use variance: Docket No. 07070018 UV Appendix A - Use Table Secondary School uses in the M3 District File by Matthew Skelton, Baker & Daniels LLC. Present for the Petitioner: Matt Skelton, Baker and Daniels. Also present were Mike Napariu from REI Investments and Dr. Edie Stoughton with Midwest Academy. This is an existing building. A site plan was shown. This is a private school for middle and high school age children. It will be approximately 10,787 square feet of space in a 62,425 square-foot building. The school would include approximately twelve classrooms. They had worked closely with the Staff on this proposal. They needed to turn it around quickly as the school will be opening to students the Monday following Labor Day. They had addressed all the issues that had been raised at TAC. They are not planning any exterior modifications to the building. Members of the public were invited to speak in favor or opposition to the petition; no one appeared. The Public Hearing was closed. Mrs. Barton-Holmes gave the Department Report. This school will be located in the M-3 District which permits technical schools, but does not permit secondary schools. However, the Department felt the use would be similar to the surrounding office uses in intensity and hours and recommended positive consideration of the Use Variance. Mr. Hawkins asked about any problems with parking, pick-up or traffic flow. Page 3 0[8 Carmel Board of Zoning Appeals Regular Meeting Agenda June 25, 2007 Mrs. Barton-Holmes stated the parking would not be affected as most of the drivers would be teachers. The site is easy to access and has good circulation for drop-off and pick-up, so parents should not have an impact on general office flow. Mr. Hawkins moved to approve Docket No. 07070018 UV, .Midwest Academy. The motion was seconded by Mr. Dierckman and APPROVED 4-0. Mr. Hawkins recused himself for Docket No. 07060021 V, Monon & Main Unit 3H. Mr. Broach, as Vice President, led the Hearing. 6h. Monon & Main Unit 3H The applicant seeks the following development standards variance approval: Docket No. 07060021 V PUD Z-462-04, Section 15.26 Non-residential uses on rd and 3"1 floors. The site is located at 20 NW 3rd Street and is zoned PUD/Planned Unit Development Filed by Todd J. Rohrbacher, owner. Present for the Petitioner: Todd Rohrbacher, owner. He would like to put his office on level two and a conference room on level three. The office files would be kept on the first floor. He felt it would be a better use of the space. The company is a residential real estate company and mortgage banker. They do not have much traffic or customers coming to the office. The business is mostly off-site meetings. There is one person in the office daily between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM. The other two employees are not in much, so there would be very httle vehicular traffic. Members of the public were invited to speak in favor or opposition to the petition; no one appeared. The Public Hearing was closed. Mrs. Barton-Hohnes gave the Department Report. This request is simj]ar to others in the Manon & Main Development asking to use the residential areas for commercial space. This Unit is located just off Main Street. His easily accessible and parking is not considered to be much of an issue. This request does not include the garage as it has on a couple of previous petitions. It is proposed to be a low-intensity use. Except for the number of employees, it would be permitted as a home-based business. The Department recommended positive consideration. Mr. Dierckman asked if all of the units along Main Street were live-work units. Mrs. Barton-Holmes confirmed they are all live-work and a number of them had received variances to be entirely work units. Mr. Dierckman asked if they had approved variances for any of the units that are in the section further west. Mrs. Barton-Holmes stated variances had not been approved for the section further west. The variances had been approved for the units on Main Street and one around the comer just off Main Street for an environmental study firm. Page40fS Cartllel Board of Zoning Appeals Regu1tlf Meeting Agenda June 25, 2007 Mr. Broach stated that in the past the Board had restricted the use and delegated it to the Department in terms of the Findings of Fact. Mr. Dierckman moved to approve Docket No. 07060021 V~ Monon & Main~ Unit 3R. The motion was seconded by Mr. Ripma and APPROVED 3-0. Mr. Hawkins returned to the Hearing. 7h. Garrett Deck The applicant seeks the following development standards variance approval: Docket No. 07060025 DSV Section 10.04.03.B Side yard setback The site is located at 14582 Danbury Drive, in the Danbury Estates subdivision, and is zoned R4/Residential. Filed by Benjamin Garrett, owner. Present for the Petitioner: Ben Garrett, owner. A site plan was shown. He would like to build a deck on the back ofthe house which would encroach into the ten-foot side yard setback. On the northeast comer of the house he has six feet to the property line. North of that is a berm for the entrance into the neighborhood. The hill with trees limits the backyard to 12 to 14 feet on the West edge and eight feet in the back. A drawing of the deck with a slightly elevated octagon was shown. His yard is very uneven due to the hilllberm from the entrance to the neighborhood and the grade from the house. A photograph of the backyard was shown. Members of the public were invited to speak in favor or opposition to the petition; no one appeared. The Public Hearing was closed. Mrs. Barton-Holmes gave the Department Report. There is a practical difficulty on the site because the Petitioner has two very deep front yards and two very narrow side yards. He backs up on the north to the berm and landscaping that screen his subdivision from 146lh Street. To the west is the undeveloped parcel between his subdivision and the Lowe's complex. The proposed deck would be similar to what exists at several other houses in the neighborhood. It would be thoroughly screened by the berm, location and landscaping existing at the site. The Departmel'lt recommended positive consideration of the request which would not encroach into any easements. Mr. Hawkins moved to approve Docket No. 07060025 V, Garrett Deck. The motion was seconded by Mr. Dierckman and APPROVED 4-0. I. Old Business 1-4i. Burger King, West Carmel Marketplace The applicant seeks the following development standards variance approvals: Docket No. 07050018 Section 27.08 minimum parking requirements Docket No. 07050020 Section 25.07.05 maximum number of drive-through menu boards Docket No. 07050021 Section 3 maximum percentage of logos on permitted signs/logo definition Docket No. 07070014 Section 23.C.l1.G Stacking spaces along the side oftbe building Page 5 of8 Carmel Board of Zoning Appeals Regular Meeting Agenda June 25, 2007 The site is located in West Cannel Marketplace and is zoned B3/Commercial Retail. Filed by Mike Dauss of Dauss Architects for Burger King Corporation and Duke Construction, Present for the Petitioner: Mike Dauss, Dauss Architects and Dick Sampson, Burger King Corporation. An original site plan was shown, Additional information was distributed to the Board. The Plan Commission felt it was not a safe and organized parking area in the rear of the property and asked them to review the plan. An alternate site plan was shown. By allowing the drive-thm to come in and immediately break off [rom the circulation, it would help some of the congestion at the intersection of the access drives and the parking lot. If the drive-thru lane is full, cars can proceed and either park or circle back around. This site plan gained approval from Plan Commission and Special Studies. It does require the variance for stacking spaces to allow the drive-tlml1ane to be located in the side yard. The Ordinance requires a special nIimber of parking spaces for a restaurant with a drive-thru. In this case, they have a combination of drive-thru and sit-down restaurant. The number of seats inside the restaurant is 55. The Ordinance would require 52 parking spaces plus the staff If they calculate the number spaces required simply for a restaurant, it is one space for every two and one-halfpatron seats. That would require 22 spaces for the seating. Maximum staff is eight to ten, so they would have a need for approximately 30 to 32 parking spaces. The revised site plan, as presented, has 35 parking spaces. They were asking to go down to 31 spaces with the variance, but with the revised plan they have sufficient parking. The variance request for the menu board has changed. The original site plan had the menu board on the south side and it would have been visible to US 421 traffic. With the alternate layout, the menu board is now at the back of the property and is behind the eight-foot tall masonry walls of the dumpster enclosure. It is fully screened by the dumpster enclosure and tall arborvitae to the north side. The variance being requested is to allow Burger King to use their standard menu board and drive-thru order board. This menu board is convenient for the customers as they would be familiar with this set-up at other Burger King locations. They feel they will draw customers from the US 465 exit. The area on the left of the menu board is the combo meals and area to the right would be the drive~thru order board. The last variance is for the logo. With the change in the site plan, the orientation ofthe building is slightly improved as well. There is still a front door presence on US 421 and also one facing the south. The Burger King standard logo is a trademark button logo and that is also the signage. It's a logo, but it also has the lettering for the signage. They do not have any channel lettering as the Ordinance allows. Instead of having 25% logo, technically the whole sign is logo with verbiage at the same time. Members of the public were invited to speak in favor or opposition to the petition; no one appeared. The Public Hearing was closed. Mrs. Barton-Holmes gave the Department Report. The final variance for stacking did come about after the discussion at the June 28 Special Studies Committee meeting. There was concern for safety and circulation through the site. The circulation and drive-thru pattern would be similar to the Wendy's on Michigan Road, with the drive-thru running entirely behind the building. The revised plan does have stacking spaces on the north side of the building, which is simi 1 ar to the Starbucks located in the area. The menu boards would be concealed behind the building which does meet the Overlay. The overall safety and circulation of the site would be improved because the drive-thm lane would be completely separate from people coming in to park and walk through the parking lot. It also allows for four additional parking spaces and an increase in landscaping. The Department supported the request for the reduction of parking requirements. They also supported the request to move the stacking spaces to the side ofthe building because it does represent an improvement in functionality of the site. The increase Page60fS Carmel Board of Zoning Appeals Regular Meeting Agenda June 25, 2007 in landscaping will improve the aesthetics of the site. They supported the request for the logo sign. According to the Ordinance, the sign would be 100 percent logo, but it includes the text for the name as well. The Department's primary concern remains the number of drive-thru signs. There are two drive-tJrru signs because there are two signs installed on the same base. One measures approximately 17.34 square feet and the other one measures 12.24 square feet for a total of just under 30 square feet. They are permitted a maximum of 16 square feet. For comparison, the sign would be smaller than the sign permitted at the Wendy's restaurant to the north. That sign is just one panel and presents a more cohesive appearance. The Department recommended positive consideration of Docket Nos. 07070014 V, 07050018 V, 07050021 V and negative consideration of 07050020 V. They would prefer to see the drive-tlml menu signs placed on one panel or integrated into the overall sign design to provide a more cohesive appearance. Mr. Sampson wanted to address the menu board. It is split because the one side does rotate from the breakfast menu to the day and night menu. It is important to BurgerKing to have the combo meals convenient to the customers. It would put them at a competitive disadvantage to Wendy's. They have a stone base and the two signs are on the sanle base. Mr. Broach asked ifthey were close together, as depicted in the drawing. Mr. San1pson stated they are close together and the one unit swivels from breakfast menu to day and night menu. Mr. Dauss stated that at the request of the Plan Commission they have encased the bottom portion of the sign in a stone base similar to the building. Mr. Broach asked Staff if the two were cOilllected into one menu board, would it be smaller than Wendy's. Mrs. Barton-Holmes continned that. Mr. Broach understood the purpose of the Ordinance to restrict menu board size. In this case, since it is completely screened from US 421, there is less ofa concern. Mr. Ripma asked if these were the same two signs that were brought to Plan Commission. Mr. Dauss stated it was two signs and included the improvement of putting them on the stone base. He showed a sign that was a typical install. The Plan Commission had a lot of problems with it mounted on the skinny post. That was why they lowered the sign to meet the six - foot height requirement and encased the bottom. Mr. Hawkins asked if the base was going to be red or in earthen tones. He would prefer it be integrated to the building and not bright red. He asked about the distance between the boards. Mr. Sampson stated it was just enough distance to make the boards swivel. Mr. Dauss stated it was about a hand's space. Mr. Hawkins asked them to commitment to integrating the color to the building. Page 7 of8 Cannel Board of Zoning Appeals Regular Meeting Agenda June 25, 2007 Mr. Dauss stated that would be easy because they have steel doors on the building they will be painting terracotta to match the brick and they can use the same terracotta paint. Mr. Broach asked to see the color rendering of the improved site plan. He wanted to see the location of the logo sign and the menu board. Mr. Dauss pointed both out on the site plan. Mr. Hawkins moved to approve Docket Nos. 07050018 V; 07050020 V, 07050021 V and 07070014 V, Burger King, West Carmel Marketplace with the Commitment the base is tied to the color of the building. Mr. Dierckman seconded the motion and ALL were APPROVED 4-0. 5-9i. TABLED: The Corner ~ Signs The applicant seeks the following development standards variance approvals: Docket No. 07030021 V Section 23F.13.01.A ground sign prohibited in overlay Docket No. 07030022 V Section 25.07.02-9.b total number of signs Docket No. 07030023 V Section 25.07.02-9.b number oftenants shown on ground sign Docket No. 07030024 V Section 25.07.02-9.d ground sign height Docket No. 07030025 V Section 25.07.02-10.e location within proposed road right of way J. New Business There was no New Business. K. Adjournment Mr. Dierckman moved to adjourn. The motion was seconded by Mr. Hawkins and APPROVED 4-0. The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 PM. ~~d~ James R. Hawkins, President /) , L..&--r-?'~ S:\Board of Zoning Appeals\Minules\Board of Zoning Appeals - 2007\20070723.rlf Page 8 of8