07-24-2003 Regular Meeting and Public Hearing of the La Porte Zoning Board of Adjustment

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Board of Adjustment August 28,.2003 #SE 03-006 Page 2 a -Special Exception to allow a reduction of the off-street parking from 235 to 214 spaces, approximately 4.6 parking spaces per lease space. He also requests Variance #03-003 to allow parking in the rear 40' "landscape only" setback when adjacent to a residential district. (See the Variance"#03-003 Staff Report for more details.) Analysis: The Code'. of Ordinances defines a special exception as a specified enumerated deviation from zoning regulations Me Board is empowered to grant a special exception when it finds the following: ❖ Granting the exception will not adversely affect the value, or use of neighboring property. ❖ Granting the exception will not be contrary to the best public interest. The applicant's request is based on Section 106-191 B (3), which states the following: • To waive or reduce the off-street parking requirements when the board firms the same are unnecessary for the proposed use of the building or structure for which the special exception request applies - The applicant's proposed use is office/warehousing. In his Special Exception application letter, the applicant stated that the parking requirements were excessive for this type of development. He indicates that similar existing developments, located along North 11th Street, have 4.4 parking spaces per lease space. He believes that 4.6 spaces per is the maximum amount that he can provide without seriously harming the size of the development. (See attached photos.) In addition, the applicant believes that he will try to find tenants that will occupy two or more lease spaces; as a result, this lessens the need for parking. Staff finds no. evidence that the. City's current parking requirement of minimum of 4 spaces plus 3 per 1, 000 sq ft. "of once plus 1 per 1.5 non -office employees is excessive. Furthermore, However, the Board may want to give consideration to applying one of the following options: 1. The applicant can provide the City with as much detail as possible and indicate the amount of office space and the amount of warehouse space. This would automatically result in a reduction of the parking requirement. 2. If additional information is not supplied, Staff believes that at a minimum, the applicant must provide 4 parking spaces for each of the 44 lease spaces. This assumes that 45% of the lease space is for office and also provides 2 spaces for customers (non -office employees). This formula yields the following: minimum of 4