TO: Mayor and Commissioners
FROM: Timothy Stillings, Director of Planning and Zoning
THROUGH: Donald B. Cooper, City Manager
DATE: March 1, 2016
Title
Applicant appeal of the Site Plan Review and Appearance Board denial of the Class II site plan modification for a one-lane surface drive that connects
NE 6th Avenue and NE 7th Avenue associated with the Atlantic Crossing project.
Body
Recommended Action:
Recommendation
Move approval of the Class II site plan modification and landscape plan as revised and dated February 9, 2016 for Atlantic Crossing for a one-lane surface drive that provides a connection between NE 6th Avenue and NE 7th Avenue, subject to the following conditions:
1. That the applicant agrees that the valet queue drop-off shall not be permitted to backup onto NE 7th Avenue and impede traffic flow. In the event that the valet queue backups onto NE 7th Avenue at any time, the operator agrees that it must immediately close the valet drop-off queue and direct incoming vehicles to self-parking until the backup ends.
2. That a valet operation plan satisfactory to the City be submitted and approved by the City Manager or her/his designee in the event the City determines there exists a chronic issue with stacking onto NE 7th Avenue. A chronic stacking issue onto NE 7th Avenue is evidenced, among other things, by stacking on more than one occasion in a one hour period for more than 5 minutes as documented by City personnel.
3. That a wayfinding sign package satisfactory to the City be submitted as part of a building permit and approved by the Planning and Zoning Department.
4. That all plans such as the sub-grade parking facility and landscaping are revised to be consistent with the modification to the valet queue and surface drive as approved by the City Commission.
5. That a flag person is on-site during to coordinate traffic flow during all loading operations.
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Background:
The site plan for Atlantic Crossing was approved on January 21, 2014. The site plan consists of a mixed use project that contains 37,642 square feet of retail floor area, 39,434 square feet of restaurant floor area (include 1,443 square feet of outdoor dining area), 83,462 square feet of office floor area, and 343 dwelling units. It is noted that the site plan application is for the driveway/landscaping and that all other aspects of the plan remain unchanged.
At its meeting of January 27, 2016, the Site Plan Review and Appearance Board considered the proposed modification for a one-lane surface drive between NE 6th Avenue and NE 7th Avenue. The Board denied the Class site plan modification on a 5 to 1 vote (Chard dissenting based on concerns with internal vehicular conflicts). The Board denied the request based on the original two-way subgrade access from NE 6th Avenue being the superior design between the two.
The applicant submitted an appeal request on February 10, 2016 of the SPRAB decision to deny the Class II site plan modification. The applicant submitted a revised site plan dated February 9, 2016
The City retained the services of Greenman-Pedersen, Inc. (GPI) to review the Class II site plan modification and revised traffic statement that was submitted on November 23, 2015. The GPI report, dated January 22, 2016, concluded that the proposed surface drive connection between connection between NE 6th Avenue and NE 7th Avenue in conjunction with the currently approved “horseshoe” valet design would create vehicular conflicts. The SPRAB denied the Class II site plan modification due to the vehicular conflicts and statements that the proposed surface connection would not result in an improvement to the project for internal or external traffic flow.
Following the February 10, 2016 SPRAB meeting, the applicant revised the proposed site plan to address the issues raised in the January 22, 2016 GPI report. The changes include the redesign of the valet area to a roundabout, reduction of the width of the valet queue entrance from NE 7th Avenue, and relocation of the speed table on NE 7th Avenue to the north. In addition, this modification of the valet area also allows the exit to align with the proposed one-lane surface drive, which eliminates the internal conflict caused by the horseshoe configuration. This design, and others, were reviewed by GPI. The attached report dated February 12, 2016 was submitted by GPI outlining their analysis of the changes to the site plan in response to the SPRAB denial. GPI finds that by the applicant redesigning the valet area to a roundabout, the exit now aligns with the one-lane surface drive, which eliminates many of the previous conflicts. Based on the redesign, GPI concludes the traffic circulation and site access issues have been addressed and the revised plan provides “Of the multiple access alternatives considered for the currently approved site plan’s building layout, the latest revision to the Class II Modification Site Plan provides the most reasonable on-site traffic circulation and site access.”
City Attorney Review:
Timing of Request:
None