1995-02-22 - Laserfiche WebLink

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. . Fehru(l/}I 22, 1995 Plan Commission Meeting Minutes Page 2 Goldman stated that churches and related facilities are not permitted in the "GC" General Commercial District unless authorized by the City Council as a Conditional Use meeting the standards of Section 34-65.4. The Plan Commission is also required by Section 34-65.5 to review the evidence presented to it in order to determine compliance with Zoning Code requirements for yards and setbacks, parking, screening and buffering, service areas and signs; as well as to consider the impact of projected vehicular ingress and egress, compliance with performance standards, compatibility with the surrounding area and impact on community facilities and services. The church proposes to occupy an existing commercial building with a 40 car parking lot. The existing yards and setbacks are in substantial compliance with code requirements. The parking layout, as drawn, shows 900 angle parking throughout. The existing layout contains two rows of angle parking with curbed landscape islands at the end aisles which conform in shape to the angled stalls. The islands should be retained and landscaped. An accurate layout should be provided. The off-street parking requirements for the sanctuary will be served by the 40 parking spaces. If the Sunday school spaces are to be used for adult classes concurrently with the use of the sanctuary, more parking will be required unless the occupancy is limited to 160 adults. There is vacant land east of the parking lot (in the area behind the Sinclair filling station) that can be converted to an overtlow parking lot for the church. Such conversion will require paving and striping and access arranged from Olive. The site plan shows a wing of the building that extends 126 feet north of the main building. The tloor plan shows a Sunday school space that e'xtends only 41 feet into this wing, leaving a 85 feet by 26 foot portion of the building unaccounted for on the tloor plan. City records show this space is used by the building owner as an office and storage for the West-End News Service. If this space is actively used as an office, an additional 7 parking spaces will be needed. The parking area is reasonably well screened from the residential property to the north by a chainlink fence with wood slats. Landscaping, particularly tree planting, is needed in the transitional yard on the north and in the planting areas in the lot. No refuse box storage area is shown on the plan, but one is currently stored north of the north wing. This is location is appropriate for the refuse box. No sign information was included with the application. The application indicates that the church will occupy the premises as a tenant, implying that the property will remain on the tax rolls subject to commercial real estate taxes. There should be no change in this status nor should there be any purchase by a person, association, corporation, institution or foundation that has been designated as exempt from payment of any tax levied by the city, until prior approval is obtained from the City Council under the Site Plan Review procedures. He finds that the proposed conditional use will meet the standards for approval as set out in Zoning Code Section 34-65 if the conditional use is limited by the conditions recommended below. Accordingly, he recommends approval subject to the following conditions: 1) The parking lot shall retain the current parking stall layout but shall include at least 3 spaces designed for handicapped access. 2) The occupancy of the church shall be limited to a maximum of 160 adults at any time. 3) The space in the north wing which is not shown on the tloor plan shall be limited to storage and office use with no more than 2 persons on the premises in connection with this use when the church is in use for religious services, adult education or assembly uses. 4) A detailed landscaping plan shall be submitted to the Director of Planning for his review and approval. m-2-22.plc