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Home My WebLink About2012-11-15 DTPC Packetj11water. THE BIRTHPLACE OF MINNESOTA DOWNTOWN PARKING COMMISSION AGENDA Thursday, November 15, 2012 8:30 AM Conference Room 213, City Hall 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA 3. APPROVAL OF SEPTEMBER 20, 2012 MINUTES 4. NEW BUSINESS 4.01. Judd Sather Parking Request 5. OTHER BUSINESS 5.01. Larry's Floor Covering Request 5.02. Update on City Council Decisions A. Parking Fines 7. ADJOURNMENT Commissioners present: City staff present: Commissioners absent: City staff absent: Submitted by: agenda call to order approval of agenda DRAFT Stillwater Downtown Parking Commission Meeting Minutes September 20, 12 Aimee Peletier, chair/business; Jeff Johnson, vice-chair/resident, David Korte, secretary/resident; Sherri Hopfe Franke, business; Gerald Helmberger, resident; Daren Anderson, resident Dennis Pasket, parking enforcement officer; Bill Turnblad, community development director; John Gannaway, police chief Dave Junker, resident Doug Menikheim, councilmember David Korte approval of August minutes cost of Recording Secretary Services parking lot #15 -Lease Renewal DRAFT discussion Aimee called the meeting to order at 8:34 a.m. A motion was made and seconded to approve the agenda as presented. The motion passed in a unanimous voice vote. A motion was made and seconded to approve the August 16, 2012 meeting minutes. The motion passed in a unanimous voice vote. Bill presented information on the projected cost of hiring secretarial services to produce meeting minutes for these meetings. He said it would probably take the person an average of four hours of time for a two-hour meeting. Based on a rate of $15 per hour the total cost would be $60 per meeting. Bill said the Parking Enterprise Fund would need to cover the cost, as the Administrative Departments budget has not set aside funds for this expenditure, though the cost in future budgets could possible come from the Administrative Departments budget like the other boards and commissions. A motion was made and seconded to approve hiring a recording secretary, to be paid from the Parking's Enterprise Fund. The motion passed in a unanimous voice vote. Bill presented the request from Arcola Development to extend the ten-year lease on City Parking Lot 15 for another 10 years. The lease expires on October 2, 2012. The Commission viewed the request favorably but was concerned about the length of time requested. A motion was made and seconded to: • approve an extension, for no more than one year at a time. • Arcola Development would continue to purchase 20 monthly permits at the action David will forward the approved minutes to the Stillwater city clerk's office. For the next meeting, Bill will arrange for a secretary and the necessary recording equipment. Bill will forward this recommendation to the city council. 1 agenda parking system revenue & rate structure study Fall Art & Jazz Festival update on city council decisions next meeting adjourn 1 discussion present cost and any future rates increases. • Arcola Development would agree they had parking rights only during business hours, Monday - Friday. During weekends and evenings they would not charge the public to park there. The motion passed in a unanimous voice vote. In June and August the Parking Commission discussed strategies for raising revenue to meet all projected operational and capitol costs for the downtown parking system. After much discussion two motions were acted upon. The first motion was made and seconded to change the parking tickets from $5 to $10. The motion passed in a unanimous voice vote The second motion was made and seconded to charge $5 in all parking lots except Lot 9, which will be used for bike trail parking. The City will allow each resident to purchase a $5 parking pass for all downtown parking lots for the posted time of either 3 or 4 hours. The parking passes would be good for a calendar year and would be a one-year trial. The motion passed in a unanimous voice vote. Bill presented the request from The Greater Stillwater Area Chamber of Commerce for a special permit to host the Fall Art & Jazz Festival from October 5 - 7 this year. The venue is proposed to be North Lowell Park together with City parking lot #4 and part of #5. A motion was made and seconded to approve the request and to use the parking fee as established by Resolution 2012-11, which would be $414 for this event. The motion passed in a unanimous voice vote Bill reported there was no update from the city council in regards to the Parking Commission. The next meeting will be Thursday, October 18, 2012 at 8:30 a.m., Conference Room 213, City Hall. A motion was made and seconded to adjourn the meeting at 09:42 a.m. and the motion passed in a unanimous voice vote. 1 action Bill will present the recommendations to the city council. Bill will forward commission's recommendation to city council. David will send out a draft of the minutes before the next meeting. Bill will send out an agenda and supporting documents before the meeting. DRAFT 2 1 THE BIRTHPLACE OFMINNESOTA TO: Downtown Parking Commission FROM: Bill Turnblad, Community Development Director DATE: November 13, 2012 RE: Sather Parking Request Backaround Judd Sather has recently opened an event center in 4,500 square feet of space that he leases at 214 South Main Street. The center occupies the entire second floor of the building. It is available for private parties, small weddings, and concerts with a capacity of around 175 to 250 people. The event center requires 83 on-site parking spaces. The previous use of the space was for storage, which was required by Zoning Code to have five on-site parking spaces. By policy, whether the previous use's parking spaces were provided on-site or not, that number of spaces is credited against the minimum required number of spaces when a new use is proposed for a property. Therefore, though no on-site parking existed for the storage use, its five required spaces are credited against the 83 required for the event center. That leaves a shortage of 78 parking spaces. More details on the business can be found in the attached planning report. Discussion Given the space limitations of historic properties downtown, new businesses proposed in existing buildings cannot typically provide on-site parking. It is for situations such as these that Section 31-510, Subd. 1 (d)(1)i of the Zoning Ordinance was written. It allows for "alternative provisions" when the property being considered is in a parking district. The City has established a downtown parking district, which would allow for such "alternative provisions". About the only consistent "alternative provision" that the City has applied under these circumstances is that the business owner is required to either lease available spaces from an adjacent property owner or purchase monthly parking permits from the City. Page 2 of 2 Sather Parking Mr. Sather has entered into an agreement to lease the adjacent US Bank parking lot's 38 spaces during event hours. Since the event center will generally not be open during US Bank's business hours, this arrangement will work well. Even with the lease of the US Bank spaces there will still be a deficiency of 40 spaces. Unless these spaces can be leased from other nearby businesses, the deficit will have to be made up by purchasing 40 monthly passes to park in City parking lots. Since the deficit parking would cost Mr. Sather $400 per month (at current permit rates), he is hoping the Parking Commission will discount the cost. Action Reauested Please consider the request and make a determination whether the full $400 per month should be paid to make up the event center's parking deficit, or whether the month cost could be reduced. bt attachment: Planning Report DATE: !11war THE BIRTHPLACEOFMINNESOTA Planning Commission November 8, 2012 CASE NO.: 2012-34 APPLICANT: Judd Sather, Judd Sather Photography PROPERTY OWNER: Barbara Lynskey REQUEST: 1) Special Use Permit for an Events Center 2) Parking Variance LOCATION: 214 Main St S ZONING: CBD, Central Business District PUBLIC HEARING: November 14, 2012 REVIEWERS: Community Development Director, Assistant Fire Chief, and Building Official PREPARED BY: Michel Pogge, City Planne}S BACKGROUND Judd Sather has recently started using the second floor of the space he rents at 214 Main St S as an event center. This has been done without receiving approvals from the City (fire, building, liquor control, or planning) or Washington County Public Health. The event center occupies 4,500 s.f. and uses the entire second floor. The plan is to hold private parties, small weddings, birthday parties, and concert events with a capacity of around 175 to 250 people. Previously the second floor in this area was underutilized and used for storage. Event Center Page 2 of 6 SPECIFIC REQUEST 1. The property is zoned CBD, Central Business District. Within this zoning district events centers are not specifically listed. Both restaurants and commercial recreational uses are allowed by Special Use Permit. Staff feels that an event center is similar to restaurants with a commercial recreational use thus if the commission also finds that it is a similar use they could issue a Special Use Permit for an event center. 2. The proposed use requires 83 on-site parking spaces. As storage (the previous use) they were required to have five on-site spaces; therefore, as an existing nonconforming use they receive a credit of five spaces thus reducing the required on-site parking to 78 spaces. Consequently, a variance has been requested for the 78 deficient spaces. EVALUATION OF REQUEST Special Use Permit Sec. 31-207(d) of the City Code states that a Special Use Permit can be approved if the Planning Commission finds that: (1) The proposed use conforms to the requirements and the intent of the Zoning Ordinance, the Comprehensive Plan, and any relevant area plans. Zoning Ordinance Parking: One of the Zoning Ordinance's performance standards that is related to the proposal is a minimum amount of on-site parking. As mentioned above, 83 parking spaces are required for the proposed use. Currently there are no on-site parking spaces available on this site. Previously the second floor was used as storage thus they receive a credit of 5 spaces since that use was grandfathered thus reducing the required parking to 78 parking spaces. Since the required spaces cannot be provided on site, a variance has been requested and is discussed below. Comprehensive Plan The 2030 Comprehensive Plan guides the property for Downtown Mix Use. An event center would be consistent with this classification. Event Center Page 3 of 6 (2) Any additional conditions necessary for the public interest have been imposed. Architectural design Remodeling will be restricted largely to the interior of the building for now. Consequently, exterior architectural review is not applicable at this time. In the future if exterior changes are proposed, including any signage or exterior building painting, plans will need to be submitted to the City and review by the HPC may be required. Miscellaneous • Fire Department and Building Review - Applicant shall secure all required approvals from the City's Building Official and Fire Marshall prior to operating the event center. This includes, but is not limited to, installing required exiting and meeting ADA requirements. • Health Department Review - The applicant shall receive all appropriate Washington County Health Department approvals prior to allowing liquor and food to be served on the site. • Liquor License - The operator has indicated that they will allow guests to bring their own liquor to the site for consumption along with licensed caters to serve liquor. This will likely require both a "consume and display" license along with a "bottle club" license. The operator will need to work with the City Clerk's office to secure the required liquor licenses and carry all required insurance prior to allowing alcohol on the site. (3) The use or structure will not constitute a nuisance or be detrimental to the public welfare of the community. • Noise - There is concern that this use could impact an adjacent residential use located over the Mad Capper since the two share a common hall way. The operator will need to insure that the event center guests and entertainment does not impact the adjacent residential use. Additionally the applicant has verbally indicated to staff in the past that the common stairway would be used as the required secondary emergency exit and not as the primary exit. Therefore, staff recommends that alarmed panic hardware be installed on the door leading to the common stairway. • Other than concerns over possible noise, staff finds this criterion to be satisfied. An event center is a desirable use in the downtown district. Additionally, finding a way to use an underutilized area not only benefits the downtown but helps insure that our historic building remain viable over the long term. Event Center Page 4 of 6 Variance As mentioned above, the proposed use would need 83 parking spaces to meet the Zoning Code standards. However, there are no on-site parking spaces available on this site. Previously the second floor was used as storage thus they receive a credit of 5 spaces since that use was grandfathered thus reducing the required parking to 78 parking spaces. Consequently a variance from the parking requirement has been requested. It has become common in the downtown zoning district to view the re -use of existing space as grounds for satisfying the "hardship" criteria for variance requests. Obviously, the existing set of circumstances prevents the new business from creating the required number of on-site parking spaces. It is for situations such as these that Section 31-510, Subd. 1 (d)(1)i of the Zoning Ordinance was written. It allows for "alternative provisions" when the property being considered is in a parking district. The City has established a downtown parking district, which would allow for such "alternative provisions". Only in new construction has the City aggressively required the construction of new parking spaces. About the only consistent "alternative provision" that the City has applied under these circumstances is that the business owner is required to either lease excess and available spaces from an adjacent property owner or purchase monthly parking permits from the City. In this case, the Mr. Sather has reached an agreement to lease the adjacent US Bank parking lot and its 38 parking spaces. Since the event center will generally be open only during hours that US Bank would be closed this arrangement will work well. This leaves a deficiency of 40 parking spaces that can be satisfied by purchasing monthly parking permits from the City or securing a lease from another private property owner. In keeping with past practices, staff finds the variance review criteria to be met and would recommend approval of the variance with the condition that property owner or operator either lease private spaces parking space or purchase monthly parking space equal to 78 parking spaces. Event Center Page 5 of 6 ALTERNATIVES The Planning Commission has the following options: 1. Approve. If the Special use Permit and variance requests are found to be acceptable, they could be approved with the following conditions: a. All changes to the approved plans shall be reviewed and approved by the Community Development Director. Any major changes will also need to go to the Planning Commission for review and approval prior to issuance of any building permits. b. All signage and exterior changes shall be reviewed by the HPC. c. Applicant shall secure all required approvals from the City's Building Official and Fire Marshall prior to operating the event center. This includes, but is not limited to, installing required exiting and meeting ADA requirements. d. The applicant shall submit a SAC determination letter prior to the issuance of a building permit. e. The applicant shall receive all appropriate Washington County Health Department approvals prior to allowing liquor and food to be served on the site. f. The operator shall secure 78 off-street parking spaces. These spaces can be either be in a public or private parking lot or a combination of the two. If the spaces are in a private parking lot then the operator shall provide a copy of the lease to the City. If they are in a public lot then the operator shall purchase monthly parking permits equal to the number that they are deficient to compensate for deficiency in on-site parking. g. The operator shall secure the required liquor license(s) for the City and carry all required insurance prior to allowing alcohol on the site. h. Prior to the issuance of a building permit for an exterior deck, the applicant will need to received approval on an amended Special Use Permit and a design review permit from the HPC. i. Since full building plans on the elevator addition were not submitted, the elevator shall be internal to the existing building. A design review permit from the HPC and any other city or state requirements shall be met prior to the issuance of a building permit for an addition to house an elevator. j. To reduce possible noise impacts on the adjoining residential use, the common stairway between this site and 224 Main St S Main Street shall only be used as an emergency exit. Alarmed panic hardware shall be installed on the door leading to the common stairway. k. The applicant shall follow the City noise regulations for commercial uses as outlines in Section 38-3 of the Stillwater City Code. 1. This special use permit shall be reviewed before the Planning Commission and City Council for possible revocation or amending of the conditions if substantiated complaints, safety issues, or violations of the conditions of this permit are received by the Community Development Director. Event Center Page 6 of 6 2. Deny. If the proposal is to be unacceptable, the Planning Commission could deny the requests. A denial motion requires substantiating findings of fact. 3. Table. the requests for more information. RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends approval with the conditions found under Alternative 1. cc: Barbara Lynskey Judd Sather attachments: Zoning Map Neighborhood Map Applicant's materials Location Map Proposed Event Center 2012-34 - 214 Main St S Special Use Permit for an event Center NA City of Stillwater, MN Feet Community Development Department 0 20 40 80 216 North Fourth Street 1 inch = 40 feet Stillwater, MN 55082 651-430-8820 — 651-430-8810 fax ./PLANNING ADMINISTRATION APPLICATION FORM COMMUNTY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT CITY OF STILLWATER 216 NORTH FOURTH STREET ST/LLVVATER MN 55082 X SpeciaVConditional Use Permit Variance Resubdivision Subdivision* Comprehensive Plan Amendment* ACTION REQUESTED Case No: Date Filed: Fee Paid: Receipt No.: c�"'� ~7��^� `^ /vitwo �� ~' ' _ _Zoning Amendment* Panning Unit Development Certificate ofCompliance Lot Lirie Adjustment An escraw tee is also required to offset the costs of a(torney and engineering fees. The fees tor requested action are attached to this application. The appiicant is responsible for the completeness and accuracy of all forms and supporting material submitted in connection with any application. All supporting material (i e., photos, sketches, etc.) submitted with application becomes the property of the City of Stillwater. Sixteen (16) copies of supporting materia! are required. If application requires City Council review then a tota oE twenty-eight (28) copies are required to be submitted. Review the Checklfst to the Planning Administration Application Form for the complete list of required items that must be submitted. Any incomplete application n/ suppnrtinvmatoria/v,8(oauoovnuraon//cohontoho,e/ectodhrbhvC/tv. Required - Applications wII be rejected without a legal description. A legal descriptiori is found on the deed to the property. Attach as an exhibit if necessary. After Planning Commission approvals, there is a 10 -day appeal period. Once the 10'day appeal period has ended, the applicant will receive azoning use permit which must be signed and submitted to the City to obtain the required building permits. Address of Project Maki PROPERTY IDENTIFICATION Assessor's Parcel No. Complete Property Legal Description* � l,e1 L (Required - Applications will be rejected without a legal description) Tax descriptions and property descriptions from the county are not acceptablo. Zoning District cieD Description of Project / P / ( VR - 1030 / . _ '~'-'..^- _~ (GEO Code) kc.,k "1 hereby state the foregoing statements and all dafa, [nformation and evidence submitted hcrewith in al) respects, to the bestat my knowjedge and belief, fo be true and correcf. / further certify / will comply with the permit if it is granted and used, Property Owner V Mailing Address � ky /� �� ' PaxC3 .�-//- / -j\-c-1-/ - Cityp {J'//*+�=./�� (T7}?01- Telephumallo. d3M-/ Email VIA' e c- / S L-,, -�-/'/0/t- Signatum (Signature is required) If other operty owner l� �{7�l�' RRepresentative��o� Egger Mailing Address City - State - Zip Telephone N o. 66-1 6-/ P476 Email *^apSp'b? =i~fwCo' m/41114*Pt.rii_-E- ibUw -/.a K i r- Signature - - CADowewsAND SEI /w SETTINGS \TEMPORARYwnsRNsr nLsoConrewrourLoomassuFJnnpLAw*ppuoCX July cz.m10 (Signature is required) October 11, 2012 Dear Stillwater Planning Commission, iieCilaYGOL PH.TOGRdAPHY Thank you for your time in the consideration of our proposal for a special use permit of a unique event center in downtown Stillwater. I live with my wife and three boys in Grant just off HWY 96 and have been a teacher and coach in North St. Paul since 1995. We are now a photography company that has been in business for 11 years and won numerous awards. We shoot out of 214 Main Street South in approx 2000 sq ft in the lower level. Currently we are leasing the upstairs as well from Mike Lynskey. The upstairs is approx 4500 sq ft of space that we would like to use as an event center hosting one to two events per month. These events would include private parties, small weddings, birthday parties, and concert events with a capacity of around 175 people or up to 250 people in concentrated audience seating. Generally these events will occur after the businesses Our Shop and Fun Sisters are closed, eliminating noise concerns below the space. If this special use permit is approved, we would also apply for a "consume and display" permit for alcohol, which would allow for BYOB and licensed caters to serve food and liquor on site after we have provided adequate furnishings according to the health department. We realize that we will have to add an elevator and make other improvements. Thanks again for your consideration of our proposed event center; we look forward to bringing many people to downtown with this space! Judd Sather, Owner & Photographer Judd Sather Photography & Studio J, Inc. Web: <htto://www.JuddSather.com> 2008-2011 "Best of Weddings" award winners, 2011 "Best of Stillwater" Gazette Winner Studio J, Inc. www.JuddSather.com, 214 Main St. South, Stillwater, MN 55082; 651-342-1476, infoastudioinhoto.com ao ()ell 0 0 ® C3) OAS -BUILT FLOOR PLAN 1111,0. )