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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 04/22/1981 . III . . PLANNING COMMISSION Port Angeles, Washington April 22, 1981 I CALL TO ORDER Chairman Brewer called the meeting to order at 7 PM. II ROLL CALL Members Present: Jean Thompson, Charles Whidden, David Brewer, Patrick Downie, Richard Ander- son, Milton E. Ranta, Collin Bennett [Arrived at 8: 05 P.M.] Members Absent: None. Staff Present: Paul D. Carr, Dan VanHemert, Louise Frost APPROVAL OF MINUTES Mr. Anderson moved to accept the minutes of the April 8th meeting as presented. Mr. Ranta seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. IV HEARINGS PARKING VARIANCE - TERRILL. Request for reduction in off-street parking spaces from 50 required for expanded restaurant/living quarters to 7 spaces. Location: 408 South Lincoln Street. (Remanded from City Council on change in proposal; continued from February 25, 1981; March 11, 19B1; April 8, 1'9"81.) , , ' Mr. Carr reviewed the application, including the County's willingness to enter into a lease agreement for joint use of the satellite parking lot. Chairman Brewer opened the public hearing. Brooke Taylor, attorney for the Applicant, said the proposed alternative is acceptable to the Applicant and the County. Ms. Terrill has asked the Commissioners for the right to use 18 spaces in the satellite parking lot, and the County Com- missioners are in agreement. The formal application has been made and the bid process, which will require about 6 weeks, has been started. Mr. Taylor asked the Commission to recommend granting the application conditioned on the Applicant providing 18 park- ing spaces in the County satellite parking lot to fill any Planning Commission April 22, 1981 Page 2 . possible need for parking. The proposed expansion of the restaur~nt facilities is only limited in size; and the rest- aurant serves primarily a walk-in clientele. He then sug- gested that the Commission might cite the following find- ings, based upon testimony presented at the various hear- ings on this request: 1. Statistically, 87% of the clientele is walk-in traffic. 2. The restaurant will not be doubled in size, as only 30 seats in a downstairs dining room will be added. 3. It will be beneficial to the public to bring an old building up to Code. 4. There is a definite benefit to the public at large to have this shop continue to serve the people. 5. The parking requirements, as applied to restaurants, do not apply in this instance. . Chairman Brewer asked what was to happen when the County needed the proposed 18 spaces back; and how long was Ms. Terrill to have the use of these spaces. Mr. Taylor said that the Commissioners are not prepared at this time to establish a time period on the lease and that should be a part of the conditions attached to the recommendation for approval. Several members of the audience spoke in favor of the ap- plication, and some called attention to other restaurants which do not have sufficient parking spaces. Jennie Ter- rill, 1123 West Ninth, said that a quarter of the County satellite lot is not being used. Chairman Brewer closed the public hearing. . Mr. Whidden asked if there was any assurance that Ms. Ter- rill would be the successful bidder for use of the parking spaces. Mr. Carr said no, but probably no one else would bid for use of the spaces. In response to Mr. Whidden's question about a time period, Mr. Carr suggested asking Ms. Terrill how long a lease she wanted; and then said that when the spaces are again needed by the County, the rest- aurant will have an enlarged clientele. Ms. Terrill responded five years, explaining that the Commissioners say that they do not now use 50% of the big parking lot. Mr. Whidden then asked Ms. Terrill if it would be economically feasible to change the building back to its present condition at the end of five years; and Ms. Terrill asked how could she? Ms. Terrill has been operating the Jury's In-n, for just over a year; that although she knew at the time she took over the business that there was no parking, she did not know that she would need 53 parking spaces to add 30 seats. Planning Commission April 22, 1981 Page 3 . Ms. Terrill said that when the Court House needs the park- ing spaces in the satellite lot, she will probably be able to get parking elsewhere. Mr. Whidden then asked why she had not tried elsewhere now. Ms. Terrill replied that for almost six months she has tried to get some idea from the City as to how many spaces would be acceptable; that all this time construction prices are going up; that Safeway will not allow use of any of their spaces now. . Mr. Ranta asked Ms. Terrill the attitude of the County Com- missioners' to her lease inquiry; and she said they seemed very favorable. Mr. Ranta then said that although Downtown businesses expand, they seem to be exempt from parking re- quirements by virtue of their membership in the Downtown Parking Association. However, there has been no expansion of the Downtown parking lots. Big money people, like Safe- way and Albertson's can afford to purchase extra property to provide parking; while small business people, like Ms. Terrill, cannot. In view of the present depressed economy, it would be appropriate to help the small businesses. If granted this variance, Ms. Terrill might be able to hire people who will pay taxes. If she makes a lot of money, it will increase the taxes paid to the City. This is the time to set a precedent and support a small business per- son. Mr. Downie stressed that the Planning Commission has made more than an honest effort to try to find an adequate and acceptable solution to Ms. Terrill's parking problem. Fol- lowing additional discussion, Mr. Downie moved to recommend approval of the parking variance, reducing the required park- ing spaces from 53 to 18, provided a lease agreement between the Applicant and Clallam County be entered into for a period of five years for 18 parking spaces; that the Planning De- partment review the parking twice a year to assure that the spaces are being used adequately; that a hearing be set for May 13th to reconsider the Clallam County parking variance; that the recommendation for approval be contingent upon the Applicant actually acquiring the lease from the County. ~s. findings;.lMr.- Downie-stated:. (1) the nature of the business is fairly small; and (2) the Downtown Parking Association allows business expansion without providing parking expan- sion. Mr. Ranta seconded this motion. . On call for the question, the motion passed 5 - 1, with Mr. Whidden voting "no", and stating that approval of this park- ing variance would be a flagrant violation of the Parking Code. If the City has a Parking Code, it should follow it. The County Court House was granted a parking reduction of 30%; allowing them to lease 18 spaces would make the reduc- tion 35%. Granting a variance will make it difficult to re- quire other businesses to comply. [At the close of this hearing, Mr. Bennett arrived.] Planning Commission April 22, 1981 Page 4 . SIGN ORDINANCE HEARING. Request to consider a proposed Sign Ordinance for the C~ntral Business District (Downtown Port Angeles). Location: Port Angeles Central Business District - the CBD Zone in Ordinance No. l7a9. Mr. Carr and Mr. VanHemert reviewed the latest changes re- sulting from their meeting with the Downtown Merchants' Asso- ciation, which the Commission discussed with Staff in con- siderable detail. Chairman Brewer then opened the public hearing. Bob Love, representing the Downtown Development Group, said that the most recent meeting with Planning Department Staff was not the first one on the proposed Sign Ordinance. In a questionnaire submitted by the Group to Downtown merchants, one major preference was for a restrictive sign ordinance. Jerry Cornell said that the Downtown Merchants' Association represents only the retailers in the Downtown, while not all businesses in the Downtown do retail business. . There was considerable discussion between the audience and the Commission with respect to the desirability and neces- sity for this proposed Ordinance; what requirements should be eased and which should be made more restrictive; additional background information on the original instigation for the Ordinance; and some of the ultimate goals of the businessmen for the revitalization of the Downtown. Mr. Ranta asked if the proposed Ordinance was acceptable in its present form. Mr. Carr said that there are several ques- tions which should be addressed by the Commission, including temporary signs, readerboards, bulletin boards and clqcks;. The Commission, Staff and audience then went through the pro- posed document to fill in some of the blanks and address other questions as they were raised. A definition of a Ittemporary sign" was added. The Cormnission decided that a bingo announcement was not "public service", while an announcement of a high school play was. A maximum of 50% of the area of a public service sign could be devoted to advertising. After considerable discussion on projecting signs, the Cormnission established a maximum projection of 24". Wall signs could be painted directly on a building, if a bond or other security for their removal was posted at the time of obtaining a sign permit. . Chairman Brewer closed the public hearing, and Mr. Bennett moved to continue discussion on the proposed Sign Ordinance until the May 27th meeting. Mr. Ranta seconded this motion, which passed unanimously. .- . . Planning Commission April 22, 1981 Page 5 VII STAFF REPORTS Mr. Carr reviewed the request for interpretation of a mini- warehouse use in the CAD District, recommending that it be allowable as a conditional use. Mr. Bennett moved to determine that a mini-warehouse is com- patible in a CAD District. Mr. Whidden seconded this motion, which passed unanimously. VIII REPORTS OF COMMISSIONERS Ms. Thompson, Chairman Brewer, Messrs. Bennett, Anderson and Ranta had nothing to report. Mr. Whidden said many converted residential structures on Front Street were being used for business purposes without providing off-street parking, pursuant to the Code. Mr. Carr said if the new use is more intensive than the prior use, the property has to comply with the Code. IX ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 10:45 P.M. GiL~J7tf(~/ Paul D. C rr, Seer ary Chairman LF:DVH:PDC:LF Tape Condition: Satisfactory ! 21 o. . I I I .If ttth "I 7ihl I;fLh I I I . CITY or ponT I\NCI:Ll:S . ATTI:J\TD!\NCJ: ROSTl:R Type ~f Meeting: ftt 7f?li 'to f {/1Jtt'r0 I!SIII'YL locution: J 3 i We .s i- r;. tnt 'I- S'i-r ee '/-- , Date: Lf- ~ J. - B /" NMv'iE .. . . , .y~';- sr , - W6 f." o,...,i..+~ ~;:6 ~ .6/&4Y$ _ 30:>- -::'. ~_ I ~ - i I i . . I . I "; . J. I . I . . ! i I - f . --~ . . r ANGELI:S ~-~ - . CITY or ponT - " , .A'l'TI:NDld'!Cr. HOS'fJ:R . . . . Type of Meeting: Dute: . locution: . . , . . . N^ME . . ADDRJ:SS/^GJ:J~CY , b~L ~. 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