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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPZ - Narrative Revised 1 USSELL CONSTRUCTION INC. 965ustick@mussellconstruction.com PO Box 3304,Nampa,ID 83642 208.466.3331 Project Narrative Project: 965 E Ustick Road, Meridian, ID Pathways in Education Applications: Annexation under L-O (Limited Office) Zone Reduced Landscape buffer along west boundary Conditional Use Permit for property use by Pathways in Education Project Overview Mussell Construction proposes to convert the existing structure at 965 E Ustick Road into an 8,000 s.f. building to be used by Pathways in Education (PIE). PIE has recently been approved for a charter in West Ada School District, which will be the organization's second charter in Idaho (after the existing location in Nampa Idaho).This public charter school caters to high-school-aged students and educates students in small groups or 1-1 support sessions.The nature of the school's operations makes it a good low-impact fit for the area:The school features a (very) low student-to-teacher ratio, and no extracurricular activities, and no outdoor activities. Cohort start times are varied throughout the day, and the campus is closed during the times that the adjacent homes are most likely to be occupied. The proposed applications involve the following: • To Annex the property into the City of Meridian, under the L-O zone. • To reduce the landscape buffer requirement along the property's east-boundary as indicated on our proposed site plan. The smallest part of the buffer is 6' 8" • A Conditional Use Permit, allowing the property to be developed for Pathways in Education's use. City of Meridian Comprehensive Plan The development aims to annex the property into Meridian City in a way that is compliant with the City's comprehensive plan.The property has a future land-use designation as Medium Density Residential, which normally requires 3-8 residential dwelling units per acre. If left as a residential use,the property will likely never achieve the intended density, because the number of possible units is too small to justify the utility upgrades needed, which would require waterline and sewer mainline taps in Ustick Road. Accordingly,the property's best compliant zoning under the comprehensive plan is as Limited Office (L-O). L-O zoning can be granted by City Council when (See Comp. Plan Pg. 3-11): • The property frontage is along an arterial road. This property abuts Ustick Road and nothing else. • The parcel size is under 2 acres. This property is 0.9 acres. School Operations Hours: The school is open from 8AM until 4PM,year-round, and is closed Saturdays and Sundays.There are no regular student appointments on Fridays. The majority of students leave the campus by 3PM each day. Number of Students: When at full capacity,the school will have, on average, approximately 30 students at a time, with a max capacity of 40 students. Student appointments are normally 1-1.5 hours in length and occur twice per week(Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday). Pathways in Education Narrative Letter 1 1 Means of Transport: Students and their parents are responsible for transportation to and from the site—busses will not service the campus. Based on historic activity at PIE's existing campuses (10 nationwide), it is expected that nearly all students will be dropped-off by family. It is expected that a minority of students will drive themselves to the campus. Number of Staff: Approx. 12 Staff Members. Traffic Mitigation Traffic mitigation is addressed in our engineered traffic study, which has gone through multiple revisions in conjunction with our discussions with ACHD, and our site plan has been revised since our first commission hearing to address on-site traffic circulation.The latest site plan features 1-way traffic through the site, allowing over 400 feet of space for drop- offs to queue. Based on estimates from the school's existing campuses, we estimate peak vehicle traffic when the school is at full capacity to involve: • 20 parent drop-offs • 16 students driving themselves to the campus • 4 students arriving by other means, usually walking or biking With the 1-way circulation of drop-offs,the flow of vehicles through the project can happen efficiently, and we expect the site to be able to handle any queues without impacting Ustick Road. The project is 1900 feet from Locust Grove and 3000 feet from Meridian Road, which precludes the project's impact on traffic at those intersections.The speed limit along Ustick Road is 40 MPH, which further minimizes concerns about entrance and exit traffic from the property. Impact/Buffering from Adjacent Uses Mussell Construction has intentionally designed the landscaping around the perimeter to provide year-round screening and sound buffering to the adjacent properties which consist mostly of single-family homes.The proposed landscaping plans/renderings are enclosed in our application. Our plans consist of dense perimeter landscaping, with a mix of trees and shrubs, as well as an attractive privacy fence.These plans are based on discussions with the project's neighbors and their expressed desires. Tree Mitigation In order to accommodate the 1-way drive circulation through the site, many of the existing mature trees will need to be removed. Mitigation will not be possible without sacrificing the health and aesthetics of the planted trees, so we aim to seek alternative compliance with P&Z staff and are committed to planting as many trees on the site as would allow the trees to thrive and make sense on the site. Our landscaping plan, at the time of the P&Z hearing, reflects the previous site plan brought before the P&Z commissioners. By the time we have our application heard by City Council,this will have been updated to reflect how we propose to achieve alternative compliance. We appreciate your consideration of our application. Sincerely, Kent Mussell Mussell Construciton,Vice President Pathways in Education Narrative Letter 12