05-26-05 Regular Meeting and Public Hearing of the La Porte Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes

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Grounds for the request And Facts relevant to this matter Aldersgate Trust has made an application to the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for a $4,668,941 grant for the construction of a much needed 63 unit senior housing project to be located on the subject site adjacent to our existing 52 unit apartment building and across from the Happy Harbor nursing home. If awarded the grant the building will be similar to the project recently completed in Bryan, Texas subject to local codes. (See Exhibit "A" and "B"attached). Distance Variance We cannot determine the exact distance between the buildings until design drawings and site plan are completed. However we cannot afford to incur this expense unless we know a variance within our approximated distance will be approved. Based on the City of La Porte requirements it is possible to have 125 units constructed within a 25 ft to 50 ft distance of each building and be in compliance. (See Exhibit "C" attached). We will have 114 units. Density and Parking Variance See attached Exhibit "D" for a parking analysis of our five senior housing projects located in Bryan, Huntsville and La Porte. As you can see the average parking ratio is about 0.5 spaces per apartment. This ratio can be attributed to the age and income of the residents (See exhibit "F" attached). The City of Bryan, where we have three buildings, classified the building that was completed in August 2004 as institutional and required one parking space per five residence units and one per each day staff member. This is the same building we want to build in La Porte. We try to provide a comfortable surrounding for our residents and do not want to cut down all the mature trees to pour concrete parking that never gets utilized. (See Exhibit "E" for a very preliminary site layout. The layout show 63 parking spaces but with the Cities setback and buffer requirements this will not be possible. We will attempt to provide as many parking spaces beyond the 0.5 spaces per unit requested if it does not significantly impact the design and loss of major trees. Due to the typical ages of the residents in a senior housing facility the increase density per acre will not impact any additional traffic in the area since they rarely leave the building. Even residents that have an automobile only use it occasionally to grocery shop or visit a doctor. They are not in and out daily like an apartment building.