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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRenton Highland Manor Modification Project Narrative and Justification for RequestRENTON HIGHLAND MANOR LLC 3612 NE 4th St | Renton WA RentonHighlandManor@gmail.com Project Narrative: Please provide a clear and concise description and summary of the proposed project including the specific code sections being modified Renton Highland Manor LLC acquired the 49-space manufactured housing community formally called Hi- Land Mobile Manor on NE 4th Street in Renton on December 4th 2017. We acquired Hi-Land Mobile Manor from an owner who had no experience owning or managing mobile home parks. As a result, the park's aesthetic standards suffered. When we bought the property, there were potholes in the road, cars were parked haphazardly and in fire lanes, there was junk and trash on people's lots because community rules weren't being enforced, and the homes were all 1960s or 1970s "vintage" single-wides. The former owner--and the residents--did not see it as place to take pride in, and that was evident to anyone passing through. We bought the park because we saw a diamond in the rough. We saw a tight-knit but neglected community of working families, living in naturally occurring affordable housing, with great access to transit and other urban amenities. We bought the community with a plan to transform it into a place that people are proud to call home. We ditched the "Hi-land Mobile Manor" name, and we renamed it "Renton Highland Manor." We are spending over $75,000 in Year 1 to improve the community. The first stage of our community improvement plan was to earn residents’ buy-in and clean up the community. We paid for several dumpsters and did a big community clean-up. We also hired a manager who is working with residents to comply with community rules and standards. With residents doing their part to improve the cleanliness of their lots, we began the second stage of our work on the property – improving critical infrastructure and implementing orderly management of common spaces. Before we purchased the property, the front of the property was a muddy and uneven parking area with no assigned spaces and several abandoned cars. In January, 2018, we put in crushed rock and installed an improved parking area that now has clearly marked parking spaces with tire stops and parking barricades to direct and control the flow of traffic. During our installation of the parking area, we were notified by Robert Shuey of the City of Renton that our project potentially required permits and were advised to meet with the City of Renton Planning Division to clarify the permissibility of our project. In our meeting with Angelea Weihs, we were informed that our parking lot changes we made did not meet the code requirements for a parking lot in the City of Renton, and although the prior parking lot was also not to code, implementing changes would require us to bring the parking lot up to code. Unfortunately, cost and space constraints make bringing the parking area up to code un-feasible. As such, we’re requesting a modification that will allow us to keep the general parking lot set up we’ve put in place, while making several improvements to bring the parking area closer in line with the City of Renton’s parking lot code. These changes include: 1. Perimeter landscaping – City of Renton code calls for parking lots to have a perimeter landscaping between a parking lot and the adjacent street. We propose to install a 90-foot-wide stone wall that will serve as a barrier separating the parking lot from the side walk and NE 4th Street and will plant shrubbery in front of the wall. The wall and garden will improve both the appearance of the property from the street and the safety of the parking area. 2. Interior landscaping – The code further requires interior landscaping between parking rows. Currently, the two parking rows are separated by 2’ planter-medians that do not currently have plants. We are proposing to widen both of the planter medians to 5’ and to install a combination RENTON HIGHLAND MANOR LLC 3612 NE 4th St | Renton WA RentonHighlandManor@gmail.com of trees, shrubs and ground cover that will add green vibrancy to the currently drab looking parking lot. a. We also plan to plant greenery in the rock garden that we added to the back of the parking lot area will begin planting in the community garden that we built alongside the parking lot. These additional gardens add will add additional vibrancy and green space to the front of the property. 3. Surfacing requirements – The parking lot is currently made of compacted crushed rock; however, the City code requires parking lots to be paved with asphaltic concrete, cement or equivalent material. Unfortunately, paving the parking area with asphalt or concrete was prohibitively costly. Our parking lot has very limited traffic, and the crushed rock is well compacted and has stayed in place since January. We have not had issues with the crushed rock being moved from the parking area and believe it will remain in place, serving as a vastly improved parking option over the pothole-ridden mud surface that preceded it. We are requesting the city to allow us to maintain the compacted crushed rock parking surface, which we will maintain in good, compacted condition. Justification for the Modification Request The requested modification will allow Renton Highland Manor to further improve its parking to the benefit of both the community residents and the broader Renton neighborhood. Before we installed the new parking lot, the front of the community was unattractive and housed several abandoned, broken cars. The ignored community frontage was an eyesore for the neighborhood and a frustration to community residents who were constantly blocked into parking spots due to an overcrowding of cars on the property. We’ve already improved the look of the community and reduced congestion by cleaning out the abandoned vehicles and assigning parking spaces to residents. Approving our modification request will enable us to further improve the community’s street frontage with the goal of providing safe affordable housing while keeping up with the ever-improving appearance of the surrounding area. Please submit a written statement addressing and justifying how the modification request complies with each of the following issues to be considered by the Administrator a. Substantially implements the policy direction of the policies and objectives of the Comprehensive Plan Land Use Element and the Community Design Element and the proposed modification is the minimum adjustment necessary to implement these policies and objectives; a. Our requested modification maintains most of the form of the code with regards to parking lot design and landscaping, while allowing us to implement an attractive yet affordable parking solution that will serve the affordable housing community’s residents while maintaining the look and feel standards that the City of Renton requires for parking lots. We believe our proposal fits well within the overall policy objectives of providing affordable housing in the City or Renton, while not asking the City to materially deviate from its aesthetic standards. RENTON HIGHLAND MANOR LLC 3612 NE 4th St | Renton WA RentonHighlandManor@gmail.com b. Will meet the objectives and safety, function, appearance, environmental protection and maintainability intended by the Code requirements, based upon sound engineering judgment; a. Our modification proposal increases the parking lot’s safety and appearance to compliment the already improved functional improvements made in January 2018. We chose crushed rock for the parking lot because it’s a permeable surface and lets rain water through to the soil underneath. The parking lot modification we’re requesting upholds the intended quality and standards of the City Code. c. Will not be injurious to other property(ies) in the vicinity; a. The improvements we’re requesting to make will improve the attractiveness of the property, which neighboring properties will undoubtedly appreciate. d. Conforms to the intent and purpose of the Code; a. As mentioned above, we believe our modification plan brings our community into line with the intentions of the Code. e. Can be shown to be justified and required for the use and situation intended; and a. On-street parking in Renton is not easy to find, especially on a high-traffic street like NE 4th. The residents of the community rely on the availability of the parking lot to keep their cars that can’t fit on their lots close to home. Without the parking lot, they’d be forced to find street parking for their cars, thereby increasing the congestion and competition for those limited spaces. f. Will not create adverse impacts to other property(ies) in the vicinity. a. The implementation of our modification request offers a double benefit to other properties in the vicinity by both improving the appearance of the property and by keeping more than 10 vehicles out of public parking spaces.