31B - VARIANCE - 3600-3796 S BRISTOL ST

Home Browse Search

Variance No. 2011-08 June 13, 2011 Page 3 General Plan and Zonina Analvsis The General Plan land use designation for the site is District Center (DC), which allows for commercial and office uses. District Centers are designed to serve as anchors to the City's commercial corridors, and to accommodate major development activity. These areas serve as major employment centers locally and regionally and include development which promotes the City as a regional activity center. The project is consistent with this General Plan land use designation. The zoning for the site is General Commercial (C2). The C2 zoning district allows for retail, restaurant and office uses making the proposed uses consistent with the zoning code. Proiect Analysis Variance requests are governed by Section 41-638 of the SAMC. Variance requests may be granted when it can be shown that the following can be established: • That there exists a special circumstance related to the property, such as size, shape, topography, location or surroundings. • That the granting of the variance is necessary for the preservation and enjoyment of substantial property rights. • That the granting of the variance will not be detrimental to the public or surrounding property • That the granting of the variance will not adversely affect the General Plan. If these findings can be made, then it is appropriate to grant the variance. Conversely, the inability to make these findings would result in a denial. Using this information, staff has prepared the following analysis, which forms the basis for the recommendation contained in this report. The applicant is requesting approval of a variance to allow a reduction in required parking. The entire shopping center currently contains 1,226 parking spaces to serve all of the buildings. The proposed retail and restaurant building is parked at a rate of five spaces per 1,000 square feet, pursuant to the City's retail parking standards, and 10 spaces per 1,000 square feet, pursuant to the City's restaurant parking standard. Additionally, the applicant is proposing to convert 18,125 square feet of vacant space from retail to medical office uses and convert 2,319 square feet of vacant retail space to restaurant space. Based on code requirements, a total of 1,408 parking spaces would be required for this site, while 1,227 spaces will be provided at completion of the proposed expansion. This is a net difference of 181 spaces or a 12% reduction. To analyze whether the existing parking on the site could accommodate the new building as well as the conversion of vacant space to more intense uses, and therefore substantiate the variance request, the applicant hired the traffic engineering firm of Linscott, Law and Greenspan to prepare 31 B-5