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HomeMy WebLinkAboutD_HEX_Decision_RSD_Transportation_Center_071204Minntes OWNER: APPLICANT: CONTACT: LOCATION: SUMMARY OF REQUEST: SUMMARY OF ACTION: OFFICE OF THE HEARING EXAMINER CITY OF RENTON Rick Stracke, Executive Director for Facilities Planning Renton School District #403 1220 N 4•h Street Renton, WA 98055 Stewart Shusterman Renton School District Capital Projects Office 1220 N 4"' Street Renton, WA 98057 Gabe Snedeker AHBL, Inc. 1200 6"' Avenue, Ste. 1620 Seattle, WA 98101 RSD Transportation Center Site Approval File No.: LUA 07-122, SA-H 1220 N 4"' Street, Renton December 4, 2007 Applicant requested Site Plan approval for the construction of a 16,644 square foot transportation center with a 3,578 square foot service building on a 4.8-acre site. Development Services Recommendation: Approve with conditions DEVELOPMENT SERVICES REPORT: The Development Services Report was received by the Examiner on November 15, 2007 PUBLIC HEARING: After reviewing the Development Services Report, examining available information on file with the application, field checking the property and surrounding area; the Examiner conducted a public hearing on the subject as follows: MINUTES Thefollowi11g millutes are a summary of the November 20, 2007 heari11g. The legal record is recorded 011 CD. The hearing opened on Tuesday, November 20, 2007, at 9:09 a.m. in the Council Chambers on the seventh floor of the Renton City Hall. Parties wishing to testify were affirmed by the Examiner. The following exhibits were entered into the record: RSD Transportation Center~ .. e Approval File No.: LUA-07-122 SA-H December 4, 2007 Page 2 Exhibit No. 1: Yellow file containing the original application, proof of posting, proof of publication and other documentation pertinent to this reauest. Exhibit No. 3: Site Plan Exhibit No. 5: Elevations Exhibit No. 7: Mechanical Screening Detail Exhibit No. 9: Topographic Survey of Existing Conditions, south half ofnroiect site Exhibit No. 11: Renton School District's Mitigated Determination ofNon-Sil!l1ificance. Exhibit No. 13: By Reference; E-mail discussions regarding changes to narkinl! stall dimensions Exhibit No. 2: Neighborhood Map Exhibit No. 4: Landscape Plan Exhibit No. 6: Floor Plan Exhibit No. 8: Topographic Survey of Existing Conditions, north half of project site Exhibit No. I 0: Zoning Map Exhibit No. 12: Revised Site Plan The hearing opened with a presentation of the staff report by Jill Ding, Senior Planner, Development Services, City of Renton, 1055 S Grady Way, Renton, Washington 98055. A revised site plan was submitted prior to the hearing, the change was with respect to the parking stall dimensions. The original stalls did not comply with the City's parking stall dimensions, the parking stalls needed to be lengthened to meet the 20-foot minimum requirement. Some of the landscaping was removed and many of the parking stalls were made to comply, however, there is a small band of parking on the northwest portion of the site that was unable to make the required 20-foot length, they are at 19-feet and the applicant has asked for a parking modification. This parking area is for the bus drivers for Renton School District and for the maintenance and office people that are working at this facility. The Examiner would now make a decision on the requested parking modification. The bus parking was not considered to be part of the surface parking lot, it was considered to be storage. The parking area is not for general use, but only for the storage of the school busses. The Examiner noted that on NE 5th Street the landscaping had been decreased on the status of the street, yet the property to the north is potentially for residential uses. Ms. Ding stated that the property to the north is zoned Urban Center North One, it is currently used as an office, there are no plans for that to change. It could be redeveloped as a multi-family use. The project site is bounded by North 4th Street on the south, Park Avenue North on the west, North 5th Street on the north and Garden Avenue North on the east. The site further has a split zone; Commercial Arterial on the west portion and Light Industrial on the east portion. The Comprehensive Plan designation is Commercial Corridor for the west four parcels and Employment Area Industrial for the east parcel. The site is approximately 209,088 square feet or 4.8 acres. The proposal is a redevelopment of the existing transportation center. The site is currently being used by the school district for a multiple of functions that operate out of the site. The proposal would scale back some of those functions, it would only be used for transportation functions. The proposal further includes the construction ofa one story 26-foot tall, 16,644 RSD Transportation Center Site Approval File No.: LUA-07-122 SA-H December 4, 2007 Page 3 square foot structure that would house office space, repair space for the busses, and industrial support space or maintenance shops. In addition a 19 foot 6 inch tall 3,578 square foot service building is also proposed, that would house a bus fueling station and bus wash. The Renton School District operated as its own SEPA lead agency, they issued a Mitigated Determination of Non-Significance with 18 mitigation measures. No appeals were filed. Staff found that the proposal was consistent with the Employment Area Industrial Element and Commercial Corridor Land Use Elements. The proposal was considered a Government facility, which is allowed within the Light Industrial and Commercial Arterial zones with the approval of a Conditional Use Permit by the Hearing Examiner. The Director has issued a determination that certain activities of existing established conditional uses that relate to the existing facility shall not require additional Conditional Use Permit review. Therefore, additional Conditional Use Permit review is not required. The project is in compliance with the lot coverage requirements of the CA zone. The proposed new building would be setback an excess of 100 feet from all of the property lines and would therefore comply with the IL setback requirements. A conceptual landscape plan was submitted, landscaping is required along all street frontages. N 4"' Street is a principal arterial and would require a 20-foot landscape strip, Garden Avenue N is a minor arterial and would require a 15-foot landscape strip. N 5"' Street designated as a residential access street and technically does not require any landscaping. Staff did recommend that the applicant provide a minimum of 5-feet of landscaping along that frontage. There also is an additional 6-feet within N 5"' Street between the curb and the sidewalk, which leaves approximately I !-feet of proposed landscaping. Street trees will be placed in the landscaping as well. The vehicle parking lot does have quite a bit of landscaping that has been proposed around the perimeter of the bus storage area, there is a lot of screening around the perimeter of the site. It was noted that because of all the landscaping in the area, it did not seem necessary for additional landscaping around the bus storage area. Within the parking lot area with 98 parking stalls the applicant would be required to provide 25 square feet of landscaping per parking space or 2,450 square feet of landscaping. Currently the plan identifies 4,054 square feet of landscaping, the revised site plan will have some impact, but does not appear to be considerable. Both zones allow a maximum height of 50-feet, neither of the buildings would exceed that height. A parking modification was requested and granted to allow 98 parking spaces. To protect the surrounding properties from impacts the one building was brought up to the Park Avenue and North 4th Street on the southwest comer of the site, which enhances the pedestrian experience as well as screening the bus storage and vehicle surface parking areas. There is more than sufficient landscaping proposed around the perimeter of the site. The rooftop mechanical equipment would be screened from the surrounding properties and uses. The scale, height and bulk of the proposed transportation center are appropriate for the site. None of the heights would exceed one story and again the landscaping would be increased and provide an infiltration function for the site that currently does not.exist. The refuse and recycle areas would be screened from the residential uses to the south. No Traffic Mitigation Fee was required. Access for the school busses would be provided off of North 4th Street and Garden Avenue N. Access for the cars would be provided off of Park Avenue North and North 5"' Street. There is a pedestrian connection to Park A venue North from the main entrance of the building. There may be minimal noise and odor as the busses start up in the morning, while idling and warming up before leaving for their rounds. This is currently going on at the site and so it is not anticipated to be a new impact. RSD Transportation Center ~ .. e Approval File No.: LUA-07-122 SA-H December 4, 2007 Page 4 The Examiner questioned if it might be better to not have the busses enter or exit via North 4°' Street, which is across from R-10 residential zoning. Garden is across from Paccar and would be less impact. It seems that it might be appropriate to change some of the circulation patterns at this point. At least try to use the Garden driveway more predominately. Ms. Ding was not sure which driveway was going to be the primary one or how the busses would be entering or exiting the site. The Fire and Police Departments noted that there were sufficient existing facilities to accommodate the proposal. A drainage report was submitted with the project application and noted that the proposed stormwater run off would sheet flow to a close piped system that would include some water quality function and would eventually discharge to an existing catch basin system to the north in North 5th Street. The site is located within the City of Renton water service and is currently served by a 16-inch water main in Park, an 8-inch water main in North 5th Street, a 12-inch main in Garden Avenue North and an 8-inch main in North 4th Street, all connecting together. The proposed development would require a minimum IO-inch looped water main with two connections to an existing 16-inch water main in Park with a minimum of 5 gate valves would be required for isolation purposes. The water pressure for fire flow is adequate. Fire sprinkler systems would be required. There is an existing 8- inch sewer main running through the property via an easement. Dion Serra, McGranahan Architects, 2111 Pacific Avenue, Ste. 100, Tacoma, WA 98402 pointed out where an area on the northwest comer that wraps around an adjacent office building in which some proposed landscaping would now be removed. That landscaping was not required by the City and therefore was removed. All street perimeter landscaping will remain. Stewart Shusterman, Renton School District, 1220 North 4th Street, Renton, WA 98057 stated that in the employee parking area there is a portion of the parking directly off of Park Avenue which is office staff, mechanic and guest parking. There are 90 busses total, they do not have that many routes, but they have spare busses for emergencies. There are approximately 70 full time drivers and substitute drivers. The facility is also used for training and other functions when everyone would be there. Betsy Geller, AHBL, Inc., 1200 6th Avenue, Ste. 1620, Seattle, WA 98101, stated that they are the District's representatives for permitting. The proposed height of the new building is 26-feet because there is a portion of the building with a mezzanine, the allowed height in both zones is 50-feet. The mezzanine story includes mechanical equipment, the building is not two functioning stories. A pre-application meeting was held with the City, the building was originally located more to the center of the site, but in response to the City's comments the building was moved to the southwest comer of the site to give Park Avenue North the appearance of being planned for economic development in this area. Kayren Kittrick, Development Services stated that the Garden Avenue entrance is an in and out, the one on North 4th Street in an in only. This has all been approved by transportation and allows the use of the Park entrance to be minimized to customers and minimal employees. Garden Avenue will retain most of the circulation. Water treatment is heavily covered by code and well maintained. • RSD Transportation Center Site Approval File No.: LUA-07-122 SA-H December 4, 2007 Page 5 The Examiner called for further testimony regarding this project. There was no one else wishing to speak, and no further comments from staff. The hearing closed at 10:03 am. FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATION Having reviewed the record in this matter, the Examiner now makes and enters the following: FINDINGS: 1. The applicant, Stewart Shusterman for the Renton School District, filed a request for a Site Plan approval and a Modification from standards for parking stalls for a redevelopment of its Renton Transportation Center. 2. The yellow file containing the staff report, the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) documentation and other pertinent materials was entered into the record as Exhibit #1. 3. The Renton School District, the responsible official, issued a Determination of Non-Significance - Mitigated (DNS-M). 4. The subject proposal was reviewed by all departments with an interest in the matter. 5. The subject site is located at 1220 North 4th Street. The subject site takes up almost the entire block between N. 4th on the south, Garden on the East, N 5th Street on the north and Park Avenue on the west. A third party property located on the northwest comer of the block is not part of the applicant's property. The subject site consists of five (5) separate parcels that have been developed as the District's bus base or Transportation Center. 6. The map element of the Comprehensive Plan designates the area in which the subject site is located as suitable for the development of commercial arterial uses along Park (west) and light industrial use along Garden ( east), but does not mandate such development without consideration of other policies of the Plan. 7. The subject site's zoning mirrors the comprehensive plan designations. The western portion of the site is zoned Commercial Arterial (CA) while the eastern portion of the site is zoned Light Industrial (IL). 8. The subject site was annexed to the City with the adoption of Ordinance 156 enacted in May 1909. 9. The subject site is approximately 209,088 square feet or 4.8 acres. I 0. The subject site is essentially flat. 11. As noted, the subject site has been used by the Renton School District as its school bus base, storing and maintaining the vehicles at this location. The School District proposes renovating the entire site, realigning parking and moving the maintenance facilities and enhancing the landscaping. 12. The larger, 16,644 square foot transportation center will be located on the southwest comer of the plat, at the intersection of Park Avenue and N. 4th Street. It will generally be a one-story, 26-foot high building with interior mezzanine space. It will house administrative office space, repair/maintenance bus bays, and storage space. The building's location was moved closer to Park to comply with urban design principles governing the appearance of Park and the uses along Park north of the site. There will RSD Transportation Center .::,Jte Approval File No.: LUA-07-122 SA-H December 4, 2007 Page 6 be bays for working on six buses. The bus bay doors will be at tbe rear of the building, facing away from Park. A parapet will screen rooftop machinery. 13. There will be a second, smaller building located near the center of the site. It will be 3,578 square feet m size. It will be the location for the fueling station and washing facilities. It will be 19 feet, 6 inches tall. 14. The site will contain two generally separate parking areas. One area will contain 98 parking stalls for general employees and bus drivers. Access will be from Park and 5th. It will contain landscaping along the perimeter and within the parking lot. Due to a redesign, a modification from parking lot standards will be necessary. A series of stalls located in the northwest portion of the parking lot would be 19 feet long rather than tbe required 20-foot length. The original proposal contained approximately 4,054 square feet of landscaping whereas only 2,450 square feet was required. The revised plans will reduce the landscaping by a small amount but will still exceed the requirements. 15. The remaining parking will be dedicated bus parking with 98 stalls. The Director determined that the parking lot is essentially storage and removed the need for internal landscaping. That determination should really be questioned. The interior parking for buses takes up a considerable portion of the lot that is unrelieved by any interior landscaping. Building heights around the site would permit taller buildings tbat can overlook the site to see acres of parking with no visual relief. Landscaping does not only provide visual relief but also helps cool a site, filter and cleanse air and takes up carbon dioxide. 16. Access to tbe bus parking will be provided along N. 4th Street and Garden Avenue N. The 4th driveway will be limited to ingress to limit early morning engine sounds from affecting that roadway. The Garden driveway will be both in and out and accommodate tbe major traffic. 17. Perimeter landscaping is required along arterial streets with 20 feet required along N 4th Street and 15 feet along Garden. N 5th is a residential street and does not require enhanced landscaping according to the Director but 11 feet will be provided. Street trees will be provided around the site. 18. The development will not materially alter traffic loads, as the use is a continuation of existing uses of the subject site. 19. There will be a change in handling stormwater. All water will be treated to separate the contaminants before being released to systems that flow to Lake Washington. 20. The Director also determined that the continued use of the site for the bus transportation center was a continuation of the existing use and that no further Conditional Use Permit review was necessary. CONCLUSIONS: Site Plan I. The site plan ordinance provides a number of specific criteria for reviewing a site plan. Those criteria are generally represented in part by the following enumeration: a. Conformance with the Comprehensive Plan; b. Conformance with tbe Building and Zoning Codes; RSD Transportation Center Site Approval File No.: LUA-07-122 SA-H December 4, 2007 Page 7 c. Mitigation of impacts on surrounding properties and uses; d. Mitigation of the impacts of the proposal on the subject site itself; e. Conservation of property values; f. Provision for safe and efficient vehicle and pedestrian circulation; g. Provision of adequate light and air; h. Adequacy of public services to accommodate the proposed use; The proposed use satisfies these and other particulars of the ordinance. 2. The bus facility is run by the School District, a public agency, and is an essential public service. Public facilities are generally allowed by the comprehensive plan in most areas of the City and the Zoning Code also permits such uses in a number of Zones. The use, while normally reviewed under Conditional Use Criteria, was found to be a continuation of the existing use and permitted in the Zone. So while using centrally located CA and LI land for parking of buses might be questionable in some circumstances, the use already exists at this location and this location is also fairly centrally located in the School District making it suitable for buses serving the School District. The existing use, as well as its central location, also serves to justify granting the modification that is sought as discussed below. 3. The buildings meet the height limits of the zones, the setbacks required and generally the landscaping requirements. While this office is not entirely satisfied with the justification for eliminating landscaping in a large parking lot, even a utilitarian lot such as this, the Director made that judgment call. 4. There will be essentially limited changes to the current functions of the subject site and therefore, impacts should not change dramatically over existing conditions. The circulation of buses and vehicles appears to be directed at limiting the impacts on the residential property south of the site. The low-rise nature of the buildings and the open parking lots will limit shadow or shading impacts on adjacent uses. Most maintenance will occur inside buildings isolating the sounds from the surrounding community. The storm drainage system will reduce and limit impacts to Lake Washington. Perimeter landscaping and the location of the primary building will help blend the site with the redeveloping area around it. The main building has been moved to the street to match the development patterns of the adjacent zones. 5. The redevelopment of the site will further cleanup the immediate site, replace or relocate functions necessary for the transportation facility and enhance circulation and separation between the bus functions and the other onsite parking functions. 6. The continued use of the property as a bus depot should not have any detrimental impacts on property values. 7. The circulation plans appear to allow bus and vehicle access to appropriate driveways and from appropriate streets. 8. The open mostly parking lot and low-rise buildings will not impede light and air on the site or on adjacent properties. RSD Transportation Center une Approval File No.: LUA-07-122 SA-H December 4, 2007 Page 8 9. Appropriate infrastructure is available to serve the subject site. Modification for stall dimensions 10. The criteria for a modification include the following: RMC 4-9-250D provides that where practical difficulties exist in the implementation of the regulations, a modification from the standards may be granted, provided the proposal addresses the following criteria: a. Will meet the objectives and safety, function, appearance, environmental protection and maintainability intended by the Code requirements, based upon sound engineering judgment; and b. Will not be injurious to other property(s) in the vicinity; and c. Conform to the intent and purpose of the Code; and d. Can be shown to be justified and required for the use and situation intended; and e. Will not create adverse impacts to other property(s) in the vicinity. 11. The main use of the parking lot, to serve employees means that the general public and ordinary customers will not be dealing with the more limited stall sizes. Regular employees can be expected to adjust to the limitations of the slightly shorter stalls. The modification will not affect the general public while still providing the required allotment of parking. The lot will still provide the landscaping and aisle widths required by code. The shorter stalls will not impair the function of the parking lot. 12. The reduced stall lengths will not have an affect on adjacent properties. It will not increase the number of stalls that might be seen to increase traffic and air pollution. 13. The intent of code, to provide sufficient parking, will be maintained. 14. The facility has been in this location for a considerable time. The modification to allow the shorter stall lengths will not alter the function or overall capacity and the lot does not serve a continually changing client base. The stall-users come, park, perform their bus driving duties and then leave. There is not a constant turnover as there would be with customers. 15. There should not be any adverse impacts to other property. DECISION: The Site Plan and Parking Modification are approved subject to the following conditions: 1. A revised landscape plan shall be submitted with the building permit application identifying an alternate street tree to the proposed London Plan Tree. The revised landscape plan shall be submitted to the Development Services Division project manager for review and approval. 3. The applicant shall provide five feet (5') oflandscaping along North 5th Street subject to staff review and approval. RSD Transportation Center Site Approval File No.: LUA-07-122 SA-H December 4, 2007 Page 9 ORDERED THIS 4th day of December 2007. FRED J. KAUF . , HEARING EXAM1NER TRANSMITTED THIS 4th day of December 2007 to the parties of record: Jill Ding Development Services City of Renton Kayren Kittrick Development Services City of Renton Betsy Geller AHBL, Inc. 1200 6th Avenue, Ste. 1620 Seattle, WA 98101 Rick Stracke, Executive Director for Facilities Planning Renton School District #403 1220 N 4°' Street Renton, WA 98055 Gabe Snedeker AHBL, Inc. 1200 6th Avenue, Ste. 1620 Seattle, WA 98101 Josephine Ganuelas 335 Park Avenue N Renton, WA 98057 TRANSMITTED THIS 4th day of December 2007 to the following: Stewart Shusterman Renton School District Capital Projects Office 1220 N 4th Street Renton, WA 98057 Dion Serra McGranahan Architects 2111 Pacific Avenue, Ste. I 00 Tacoma, WA 98402 Mayor Kathy Keolker Jay Covington, Chief Administrative Officer Julia Medzegian, Council Liaison Robert Van Home, Deputy Fire Chief Larry Meckling, Building Official Planning Commission Gregg Zimmerman, PBPW Administrator Alex Pietsch, Economic Development Jennifer Henning, Development Services Stacy Tucker, Development Services Ren ton Reporter Transportation Division Utilities Division Neil Watts, Development Services Janet Conklin, Development Services Pursuant to Title IV, Chapter 8, Section IOOGofthe City's Code, request for reconsideration must be filed in writing on or before 5:00 p.m., December 18, 2007. Any aggrieved person feeling that the decision of the Examiner is ambiguous or based on erroneous procedure, errors oflaw or fact, error in judgment, or the discovery of new evidence which could not be reasonably available at the prior hearing may make a written request for a review by the Examiner within fourteen (14) days from the date of the Examiner's decision. This request shall set forth the specific ambiguities or errors discovered by such appellant, and the Examiner may, after review of the record, take further action as he deems proper. An appeal to the City Council is governed by Title IV, Chapter 8, Section 110, which requires that such appeal be filed with the City Clerk, accompanying a filing fee of$75.00 and meeting other specified requirements. RSD Transportation Center u«e Approval File No.: LUA-07-122 SA-H December 4, 2007 Page 10 Copies of this ordinance are available for inspection or purchase in the Finance Department, first floor of City Hall. An appeal must be filed in writing on or before 5:00 p.m., December 18, 2007. If the Examiner's Recommeudation or Decision contains the requirement for Restrictive Covenants, the executed Covenants will be required prior to approval by City Council or final processing of the file. You may contact this office for information on formatting covenants. The Appearance of Fairness Doctrine provides that no ex parte (private one-on-one) communications may occur concerning pending land use decisions. This means that parties to a land use decision may not communicate in private with any decision-maker concerning the proposal. Decision-makers in the land use process include both the Hearing Examiner and members of the City Council. All communications concerning the proposal must be made in public. This public communication permits all interested parties to know the contents of the communication and would allow them to openly rebut the evidence. Any violation of this doctrine would result in the invalidation of the request by the Court. The Doctrine applies not only to the initial public hearing but to all Requests for Reconsideration as well as Appeals to the City Council. Project Location: 1220 N 4'" Street r , I d ' ' I i I ' 'l ' ' ,. '~ _,; " ii i i I I I -,--,-·-,-·.;.,; --1 -• -1-!i __ , I : -J __ ,,.: L_ I ,---, -- -1-,, __ I_ .-1 ,_I_ I ,_I_ f I ' -1-i -,-, --' [ i -,-) J,' 'T--1_ ,--,----,--T_ -1.--T_ -1-,--,--,-,- ' I = I ! ' ! ' d .' ' 't ' I 'i : § . ~ I oz z:'I :'I~ 133~1S HlV ·N ' ,, rt ' ' 01 .S :<> ·::, Ill ·~ :Ji -I z; <:( ....J a.. UJ a.. <:( ; u ii V) C "? ,; z i: H <:( ....J ., n, ·i i. I I 1· ,_ ' ' • ·11 .: ,i ill !;!I I I ! I , !lll!ll!I [ h I! !!Iii ,ii ! I ! i I • • E; ; i i I !•I ! !1' II i, 11 I' I ill1·11 ! 11 11 JI I I '" l 0 f ' \• l'--__;::z___i;::=~ •• ~ ' 0 ' • 133"MlS H.LS ·N "i ~ , ' ' ,,.,,.. ,-·--..) :.r :-~·~ : __ ; ~·-·-..---~