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2019-40_Rock-Armor_CZC-Narrative_08.20.2020Architecture Northwest P.A. 224 16th Avenue South Nampa, Idaho 83651 matt@arcnw.com Ph. 208-467-3377 Fax 208-467-4343 DATE: Monday August 20, 2020 TO: Community Development; Planning Department 33 E Broadway Avenue, Meridian, Idaho 83642 ATTENTION: Planning Staff PROJECT: Rock & Armor Fitness Center 1649 E Pine Street Meridian, Idaho 83642 REGARDING: Certificate of Zoning Compliance – Narrative Letter NARRATIVE: The owners of ‘Rock & Armor’, a fitness and training center, are proposing to construct a new facility on two adjacent lots (parcels: R6108100010 and R6108100020) at the southeast corner of the intersection of Locust Grove and Pine Avenue. The proposed new building will be located entirely on lot 1 and on the western edge of lot 2, adjacent to the end of the building there will be a 36 ft. X 100 ft. artificial field turf training and warm-up area surrounded by lawn. The rest of lots 1 and 2 will be taken up by landscaping, parking and drive aisles. The proposed facility will have a building footprint of 15,314 Sq. Ft. and a total gross building area of 19,162 Sq. Ft. 3,848 S.F. of that being an interior framed mezzanine level. The new building will be a combination of a pre-engineered metal building (13,500 S.F. PEMB) and a smaller hand framed single-story structure (1,814 S.F.) attached at the northwest corner of the PEMB. The smaller structure will be constructed using wood stud framing over a cast-in-place concrete foundation with a concrete slab-on-grade floor. The interior mezzanine will be constructed inside the PEMB using concrete slab over metal deck on top of steel floor joists. All other walls beneath and on top of the mezzanine will be wood framed. The building will be fire sprinkled. The main building entrance will be through the single-story volume at the NW corner of the PEMB which also contains the lobby and reception desk along with men’s and women’s restrooms, showers, and lockers. The remainder of the building area will be used for different types of workout and fitness training. At the east end of the proposed new building, just outside the overhead doors there will be a 3,600 SF (36 ft. X 100 ft.) artificial field turf training and warm-up area where patrons will warm up for running, jumping, and stretching. The area around the artificial turf will be landscaped lawn area with a few trees spaced around (see landscape plan). Architecture Northwest P.A. 224 16th Avenue South Nampa, Idaho 83651 matt@arcnw.com Ph. 208-467-3377 Fax 208-467-4343 There will be no outdoor lighting around the field turf area other than those lights on the east end of the building. Outdoor training will take place only in the warmer months of the year, May-November. The business will operate only during daylight hours between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm. The entrance to the site will be through a shared access driveway and drive aisle (Rec. Inst. No. 106070248) near the NE corner of the site off Pine Avenue. All utilities are available to the site along the Northern property boundary and entering the site centrally from Pine Avenue (i.e. water, sewer, and gas). There is also a second entrance to the site from N Nola road to the east. The entrance turns into a shared drive aisle (Rec. Inst. No. 111012573) that runs behind the existing daycare facility along the southern boundaries and turns up into the proposed development west of the row of parking stalls that run along the eastern property boundary for lot 2 block 1. Review, and approval of the trash enclosure has been completed by Republic Services. The trash enclosure is to be located on the northern edge of the eastern boundary of lot 2 block 1, adjacent to the shared access drive aisle (ref. proposed site plan included with the CZC/DR application packet). There is an existing landscape buffer along the north and west boundaries of lot 1 block 1, and along the northern boundary of lot 2 block 1 which is already improved with grass lawn and trees which will remain. Some of the trees in the existing landscape buffer are currently dead or are dying. The developer is aware of these trees and has agreed to replace them prior to the building’s completion. For proposed additional landscaping improvements see the proposed landscaping plan also included with this CZC/DR application. The required parking has been calculated using the commercial parking standard of one space per 500 gross square feet of floor area in accordance with Meridian city Code Title 11, Chapter 3, in article C section 6 (11-3C-6). The required number of parking spaces for the proposed project is (38) parking spaces with (2) ADA accessible spaces per Table 1106.1 of the 2015 IBC (19,162 SF / 500 = 38.324 or 38 spaces). In the initial Site Plan submitted to staff for review as part of the CUP application there were a total of (45) parking spaces with (2) of those being ADA accessible and (43) standard spaces proposed. After consulting with staff and the owner regarding their needs an additional row of parking was added at the east end of the outdoor training area. The numbers now stand at (56) total parking spaces with (3) ADA accessible and (53) standard spaces which well exceeds the required (38). On Thursday, August 6th 2020, the Meridian Planning Zoning Commission convened a public hearing on the requested CUP and voted unanimously to approve the requested CUP with the conditions suggested by staff in their report received by the applicant on July 29, 2020. In the Staff Report there were (12) ‘Conditions of Approval’ placed by the planning department and (2) by public works. The owner and applicant are both in agreement with the conditions excepting in part condition number 9 which states that: Architecture Northwest P.A. 224 16th Avenue South Nampa, Idaho 83651 matt@arcnw.com Ph. 208-467-3377 Fax 208-467-4343 “The Applicant shall comply with the structure and site design standards as set forth in UDC 11-3A-19 and the Architectural Standards Manual”. As stated in the staff report, “The site plan prepared by Architecture Northwest, dated July 27, 2020, is approved as submitted with..” modifications. The modifications specified in the report were that the cross access, and ingress/ egress easements be shown on the site plan and identified by instrument numbers. These have since been added to the site plan ensuring that the site design complies with UDC 11-3A-19. The second part of condition no. 9 relates to compliance with the Architectural Standards Manual which this project would easily do if figured as an Industrial Building. In our pre application meeting for the CUP however staff informed the applicant that it would be their intent to treat this project as a commercial building because of its use and higher profile location. The applicant came away from the pre-app meeting understanding that it would not be strictly enforced as a commercial building but that at the very least the north and east facades would have to be modified to more closely resemble the highly visible west elevation. Following the pre-app meeting the design of the north, east, and southern elevations were all modified based on the feedback received by staff. On the northern façade stucco wall bump-outs have been extended vertically to create repeating parapet conditions. Between these repeating vertical projections, the sloping roof has been extended horizontally and deeper, boxed soffits were added. Beneath these boxed soffits high windows have been added to increase the amount of fenestration. The large steel overhead doors were removed from the north façade. On the not very visible Southern façade the stucco wall bump-outs were added albeit not extended vertically, as were the extended and boxed soffits and the high windows mirrored on the northern facade. The bumped-out stucco walls were also wrapped around the north and south facades onto the east end wall mirroring the parapet conditions on the western facade. The large overhead doors on the east end were also modified to be glazed overhead doors instead of all steel. The applicant would thus contest that a good faith effort has been made to incorporate the feedback given by staff to design the structure more to a commercial standard than an industrial one, and that in this respect the applicant is in conformance with condition no. 9. It would seem noteworthy that during the public hearing more than one commissioner positively commented on the appropriateness of the building design as being a good mix of both commercial and industrial which it could be argued would be perfect given the location. Architecture Northwest P.A. 224 16th Avenue South Nampa, Idaho 83651 matt@arcnw.com Ph. 208-467-3377 Fax 208-467-4343 All other “Conditions of Approval” have been addressed in the design or will be throughout the construction of the proposed building project. Should you have additional questions or need anything further in consideration of this application please feel free to contact me at any time. Thank you. Kindest regards, Matt Garner Architectural Associate