09-26-13 Zoning Board of Adjustment Meeting

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FACTS RELEVANT TO THIS MATTER: Stuart Shaw and Bonner Carrington LLC (BC), on behalf of Mariposa Pecan Park (the Applicant), is seeking a variance to the minimum number of parking spaces required for Mariposa Pecan Park, a 180 unit senior (55+) apartment home community in La Porte, Texas. BC has developed several other senior communities in the state of Texas and has extensively studied parking requirements for senior apartment home communities. BC strives is sensitive about how we design so that we adequately serve our residents and we respect the environment by not over building the number parking spaces in senior communities because often times they will sit empty. Several years ago when BC developed its first senior (55+) apartment community in San Marcos, Texas, our team performed an extensive study to determine the appropriate number of parking for senior communities. Our team visited similar senior apartment communities that were fully occupied all times of the day and night and physically counted cars in the parking lots. What we found was that the number of cars in the parking lots were about the same as the number of units. One community that our team visited extensively contained approximately 200 units and at no time were there more than 200 cars on site. The BC team determined that there are a few reasons for why senior communities use fewer parking spaces. First, the average resident is over 70 years old. BC communities for seniors are designed for retirement living so it is not uncommon to see seniors relocating to a maintenance free living situation after the loss of a spouse. In fact, many residents will be single and may or may not keep a car. Second, a majority of our residents will not be employed and will spend a majority of their time at Mariposa. There will be some apartment homes that will have two residents, usually couples, who will not need a second car because they are trying to minimize the cost of living by maintaining one car for the household. Finally there will be residents who choose not to have a car at all because they may not be comfortable driving or are not able to drive. Residents without a vehicle usually rely on friends and relatives to help them get around town. 901 MOPAC EXPRESSWAY SOUTH BARTON OAKS PLAZA BUILDING IV SUITE 180 AUsT[N, TEXAS 78746 T- 512-220-G000 F; 512-329-9002