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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-19-2002HEARING EXAMINER MINUTES NOVEMBER 19, 2002 The meeting of the Auburn Hearing Examiner was held on November 19, 2002 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Auburn City Hall. Those in attendance were as follows: HEARING EXAMINER: Diane L. VanDerbeek STAFF: David Osaki, Sean Martin, and Carolyn Brown Ms. VanDerbeek called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. explaining the order of procedures and swore in staff and those in the audience intending on testifying. Ms. VanDerbeek added that the due date for her decision will be not later then December 2, 2002 due to the Thanksgiving holiday. PUBLIC HEARINGS: APPLICATION NO. TMP02-0001 The request of Mt. West Investment Corporation for a temporary office trailer for marketing purposes prior to the opening of Auburn Meadows Senior Community currently under construction at 945 - 22® Street NE. Sean Martin, Planner II gave the staff report. The comprehensive proposal is for a nursing home. The City has reviewed an application under the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) process. Construction is now going on. Section 18.48.060b of the Auburn City Code (ACC) allows for an administrative temporary use permit. At this time the applicant seeks to provide for a longer presence. Four criteria must be met in order for the City to grant the request. (1 .) The request is reasonable as the leasing trailer will be removed (2.) Any adverse impacts are appropriately mitigated as imposed by the MDNS conditions. The staff is satisfied at this point. (3.) The hardship involved cannot be resolved any other way, and the temporary use (TMP) covers an activity. Finally (4.) A performance bond is posted regarding the completion of the project. There are 15 conditions listed in the permit. Staff recommends that the TMP be granted. The permit to be granted up to six months. Hearing Examiner VanDerbeek asked about condition 10 and what does the term "the first lift of asphalt" mean? Planner Martin identified that term to mean the first lift is the layer in preliminary paving. Hearing Examiner VanDerbeek asked about Condition 6 - the requirement specifies the use of a telephone/land line and not a cell phone? Planner Martin answered that is a correct statement. Hearing Examiner VanDerbeek thought the leasing trailer was referred to as a commercial coach. She thought it was an RV. She now understands it will be a mobile home. The proponent Ben Settecase of 245 Commercial SE Ste 200, Salem OR 97301 spoke for the permit. This is a user procedure they do at all their facilities, six months prior to opening a facility. The company currently has some in use in Salem, Oregon. The trailers are inspected and approved by the City Building Department. The company needs this interim permit until a certificate of occupancy is obtained and that will not be until late February. Hearing Examiner VanDerbeek called for public testimony. No one spoke from the audience. The Hearing Examiner explained that this is a temporary mobile home in use until the rooms at the facility are pre-leased. The proponent will have the decision within 10 days. At this time the Hearing Examiner sees no reason why the application should not be approved. APPLICATION NO. VAR02-0005 The request of Invictus Enterprises for a variance from the required 10 feet Type III landscape buffer along 'A' Street SE and the required 10 feet Type III landscape buffer in front of all the buildings facing the street for their project located at the northwest corner of 'A' Street SE and 41st Street SE. PAGE 1 HEARING EXAMINER MINUTES NOVEMBER 19, 2002 Planner Martin presented the staff report. He used a graphic on the overhead to demonstrate the location. The variance is a request to reduce the code required landscape. The proponent has requested relief from landscape provisions along the south side of the building. The property has frontage on two streets -'A" SE and 41st Street SE. The zone is M-1. All the property in between the railroad tracks and 'A' SE is BNRR holdings. The site topography changes along the west side of the property along the railroad tracks. The project for the site includes a QSR, a C-store, fueling station, lube area and car wash and the application is under environmental review (SEPA). However the SEPA can move forward as the landscape issue is not a factor in determination of the SEPA. The site has three areas of landscaping and the 10 criteria for landscaping have to be satisfied. The staff recommendation is to reduce the landscaping along the street, but not along the building. The site restricts parking and an additional turning lane. Staff finds that this unique site location, such as the nearness of the railroad, does create a need to increase site lines for safety. The drawing provided shows a 10-foot width to the south. Planner Martin would prefer to defer a decision tonight, on the south landscaping, as it does not allow a harmonious use of the site. The site is being developed up to density with a desire to maintain sight lines. The project does not alter the character of the neighborhood since 'A' Street SE is a principal arterial. The City would like to maintain the ascetics of the area, as it is a direct entry way into the City, and also to define the sidewalk from the street. A 30" wide area would not support any type of tree landscaping. The City's commercial landscaping code does not require landscaping along the buildings, but this is not a commercial zone. Hence, there are no special circumstances to support reduction in landscaping. Hearing Examiner VanDerbeek asked if staff is trying to open up the area so traffic will turn into the site? A review of the site plan indicates that there may be some relief in the landscaping. Planner Martin said that the M-1 zone does allow for some commercial type development and there appears to be no need for site security. The approval of the variance must be consistence. Staff finds this variance application is inconsistent with the code. Type II landscaping asks for a 1 ~" caliper tree. With a need for visibility through the site the criteria can be granted to the east. The Comprehensive plan does identify this site as in a special planning area (41St along BNRR up to Highway 18). The Comprehensive Plan (Comp plan) has definite requirements in the urban design. The Comp plan would not have adverse effects. This would be processed under a separate application. Hearing Examiner VanDerbeek has no further questions. The Hearing Examiner asked for comments. Duncan Wallace of 1550 140th Avenue NE, Suite100, Bellevue Wa introduced himself and brought drawings to illustrate traffic and to give an explanation of traffic issue. He provided color drawing to the Hearing Examiner and she assigned this to be exhibit 2, with the staff report being exhibit 1. This demonstrates staff recommendations. It indicates problems with trucks delivering fuel and with parking problems, as well as with traffic entering into the canopy area. They will be doing commercial construction in M1 zone and would like the same considerations as neighbors across 'A' Street doing business in commercial zone. The Hearing Examiner asked why can't the fuel trucks come at night and enter from 'A' Street? Mr. Wallace answered the trucks will use the SW corner of the lot and demonstrated how they would enter from 'A' Street, the turning radius of trucks and then exit on 41st by BNRR. There will be a 10-foot buffer along the street and 10-feet along the building. The building will have architectural details and they would like to be able to show them. The Hearing Examiner read that the building will be an all glass building. Mr. Wallace said it is similar to other stores that have one-half as a restaurant and the other half as a convenience store. The reduced landscaping is for security reasons too. The police can drive by and see into the building. The south side would not be glass, but architectural details. The Hearing Examiner asked if the building will be metal? Mr. Wallace said will be stucco and brick. There will be backlighting and also, will tie in to the front. The developer would also like a five-foot walkway along the south side of PAGE 2 HEARING EXAMINER MINUTES NOVEMBER 19, 2002 the building for people who park there in order to access the building and not walk behind parked cars or out in the traffic lane. The Hearing asked who will be parking on the south side? Mr. Wallace stated that it could be for a facility such as a coffee shop with seating. The entire north area of the building is all seating. The building will be a high-end facility. Mr. Wallace said the car wash and espresso will be drive through. A person could also have their car detailed after the carwash. They are just trying to work with what the neighboring businesses have as they have no interior landscaping. This project would like the same minimal requirements for landscaping. The turn lane they need to add, will encroach into the usable area. Mr. Wallace demonstrated how cars will need to wait in line for a chance to fuel. Cars will be stacking and also, trying to drive through. The developer feels that the landscaping will be a safety issue and convenience issue. There is a need for a certain amount of space between the fuel island and the store building. The Hearing Examiner asked about the 600 feet of storage indicated on the plans. Mr. Wallace said that will be behind the carwash - for soaps, etc. He demonstrated that on the south end of the building they will need 24 feet for drive through of delivery trucks, which deliver to the back of the building. The Hearing Examiner asked what is the turning radius of a truck? Mr. Wallace replied that it is a 50-foot turning radius. The area has to allow for one car stacking if a truck is delivering fuel. The Hearing Examiner asked what is the distance on the site plan from the west- side of fuel station to the building? Mr. Wallace answered that it is 57 feet minus 5 feet for sidewalk minus 19 feet for parking stalls so that will narrow the area down to 31 feet. Mr. Wallace reiterated the area needed for stacking, the apron to walk around, fuel trucks accessing the site, security in general, and for patrons to look-in to the store. The heavy landscape buffer will not work in the favor of the store. The Hearing Examiner asked how many people will be employed at the store? There will be 4-5 in the store, 4 inside the espresso area and 4-5 at the car wash, so, roughly 25 employees. Generally the employees park near the street. Edward Dupree with Invictus 2427 112th Avenue SE, Kent. Would like to add a comment about delivery. Their provider, Shell Oil, requires that delivery trucks can ease onto the property and ease off, because it will be tractor-trailer combo. It is important to Shell for their drivers to have ease of delivery. He also added that this will be a 24 hour site so there will be a total of 40-45 employees, including managers. The carwash system will be on 12 hours. So there could be 25-30 cars in the area at a time. The developer is limited in what can be done for the customer base and do what is required by the City, to the facility. It will not be a pre-fab building, so should add value to the City and it will be a pleasing facility. The car wash will be glazed and a person will be able to see straight through the car wash. The Hearing Examiner asked what would be the cost of a car wash? Mr. Dupree said they will be competitive. The Hearing Examiner called for Public testimony. Randy Pepper of 210 37th Street #9, Auburn. Has lived in area for 12 years. This is a high traffic area with a high volume. Many accidents on 'A' Street and on Ellingson/42nd Street. Why does the facility need 6 gas pumps? The espresso drive through could just be in a 10-foot by 10-foot building. The turning lane is definitely needed. But the area doesn't warrant building. Clifford Sipe 4248 'A' SE #107, Auburn in the White River mobile home park and that is roughly 300 feet from the intersection at 'A' & Ellingson. He is an ex-truck driver, but he does not leave home between 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm during the week. Between 'A' and 'C' streets there is a railroad underpass and it is gridlocked all day long. There is heavy truck traffic as gravel trucks use 41st Street to access 'C' Street. The new Safeway distribution center will just add more trucks. Within a 2 ~ to 3 mile radius there are convenience stores and a carwash. There are many places to eat on the east side of 'A' Street. The location would be ideal for an office building. The Hearing Examiner thanked him for the comments but at this time the only issue for this hearing is the landscape variance. The Hearing Examiner asked if a truck could get into the location. Mr. Sipe said it can be done. The point is there could be several delivery trucks, bread, grocery, etc. He can't see the difference that 10 feet is going to make. PAGE 3 HEARING EXAMINER MINUTES NOVEMBER 19, 2002 Rebuttal from Planner Martin. Two things that Mr. Wallis added, one is that the reduction is 30 inches not 5 feet as in the commercial zone. And two trees are to be planted. He would like to request an extension regarding the turning and maneuvering issues that were presented tonight. The Hearing Examiner said the request is granted. Duncan Wallace asked to respond and pointed out on the site where the trucks would unload. At the east side and back of the building. Smaller delivery vans can utilize the parking spaces. There is some room at the south end of the site. Temporary parking will be at the east side and back of the building. Truck deliveries will mostly be after hours and late at night. They did agree to the fact that a 5-foot landscape could be worked out with the City. They also could change to compact parking stalls on the south side of the building. A certain amount of parking is required for the lube bay. Mostly stacking for the car wash and the lube bay. The Hearing Examiner asked why the traffic to the fast food window is going west to east? Because the window will be on the drivers side. The Hearing Examiner remarked that she is not sure if the stacking and traffic issue is relevant to the landscape issue. Record to remain open until next Wednesday, November 27 in order to respond to new exhibit 2. The City will use department engineers to calculate the traffic pattern. The applicant will have until December 5 to respond in writing. The Hearing Examiner will have her answer by December 17 2002. With no further items to come before the Hearing Examiner, the meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m. PAGE 4