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Variance Nos. 2012-02 and 2012-03 April 23, 2012 Page 4 0 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. In the case of proposed projects that are located on sites or in buildings considered to be legally non- conforming according to Article VI of the Zoning Ordinance, the project analysis begins with an assessment of the degree to which the proposed project triggers the need to bring such non- conforming aspects of the site into conformance with current standards. Regarding this project, Section 41-683 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code (SAMC) states that if a nonconforming building is vacant, unused or unoccupied for 12 consecutive months, any subsequent use must conform to current development standards, including parking and setbacks. As this particular building has been vacant for over five years, an industrial use would not be able to occupy the building until the entire site complies with current code requirements, or a variance is approved for those items that do not meet the current standards. In this case, the site is non- compliant as to parking and landscape setbacks. Parkinq Variance The SAMC does not specifically address parking ratios for home improvement warehouse stores. The standard Industrial parking rate is two parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of gross floor area [SAMC Sec. 41-1390] and the same rate is required for furniture and appliance stores [SAMC Sec. 41-1349]. As the property is located within an Industrial zone and the use is most like a furniture and appliance store in terms of its use of gross floor area, the rate of two spaces per 1,000 square feet of gross floor area was used to determine the required number of parking spaces. The total gross floor area for the two buildings is 91,581 square feet. This equates to a parking requirement of 183 spaces. The applicant proposes to use the existing parking spaces on the site, which when configured to meet current design standards, will provide 100 parking spaces - a reduction of 83 spaces. This is similar to the proposal approved in 2007, which permitted a reduction of 72 spaces. The previous proposal included the demolition of 3,561 square feet of one of the existing buildings, which lowered the overall parking requirement and, therefore, a lesser reduction. A parking study was prepared by Parsons Transportation Group to substantiate the parking reduction. In order to determine whether the existing number of parking spaces would be adequate to support the proposed HD Supply store, a new parking analysis was prepared by Austin-Foust Associates, Inc., a traffic engineering firm. The February 2012 Austin-Foust study analyzed an existing HD Supply facility in the City of Carson as well as reviewed the Parsons Transportation Group parking study that was the basis for the approval of Variance No. 2007-01. 31A-6