The applicant is proposing to temporarily cover the site with gravel for a surface parking lot. The

2 applicant is a contractor for the Centene construction project located south of Forsyth Boulevard and leases a commercial space adjacent to the subject lot. The applicant intends to use the subject lot to park employees working on the construction site. Terms of the applicant’s lease state that the lot shall be restored to the former state (lawn) upon expiration or termination of the lease. The lot was converted to parking prior to receiving proper approvals from the City and therefore has been required to retroactively apply. The applicant is proposing 54 parking spaces on the surface lot with access from north-south alley located west of the subject property. The hours of operation will correspond with the hours of construction, which are 7:00am to 6:00pm, Monday through Friday. Should a permit for extended construction hours or weekend construction be granted for the Centene project, the subject lot will likely be used. The applicant has stated that 35 electricians and 5 office employees will need access to the surface parking lot. The subject property is located between a single family neighborhood and a commercial district. The adjacent uses include single- family homes to the north and office, retail uses to the east, west and south. In the R-4 district, parking lots are conditionally permitted uses when located within 500 feet of a C-1, C-2, HDC or S-1 zoning district boundary. The subject property directly abuts lots zoned C-2 General Commercial District. The subject property is located in a transition zone between higher density commercial and single family. The lot should have a lower density use to serve as a buffer to the residential neighborhood. The proposed surface parking lot will not involve significant construction and will fill a need related to the ongoing construction project south of the site. The use will not encroach into the residential neighborhood and the vehicles utilizing the lot will be guided south by the traffic circulation pattern of the alley and Lee Avenue. It is staff’s opinion that the proposed use is compatible with the surrounding neighborhood. The applicant proposes a crushed rock surface parking lot with an orange snow fence. There are multiple surface parking lots in the immediate vicinity and most are paved with an asphalt surface. The temporary nature of the subject lot makes the use of a rock surface acceptable, when it would not be an allowed surface for a permanent lot. The crushed rock will also be a more permeable surface than asphalt. With appropriate screening from Lee Avenue and the residential neighborhood, the use of a rock surface can be mitigated. The subject lot is separated from the residential neighborhood by an east-west alley. The rear yards of the single family lots abut the north side of the east-west alley. This separation and orientation makes the subject lot appear to be a part of the commercial neighborhood as opposed to the residential neighborhood. For this reason, staff supports the request for a surface parking lot; however, buffering the proposed temporary use from the residential neighborhood is important to support an appropriate transition between the two zones. Staff recommends a 6 foot tall solid screen fence along the north and east boundaries of the surface lot to replace the proposed snow fence. The applicant is proposing to cover the lot with crushed rock. The proposed surface will be more permeable than other pavement types and will also not have the same heat generation impacts. The lot will be used for parking during construction hours and therefore will not generate increased noise levels during the early morning, evening or night. Because of the temporary nature of the construction parking and the fact that the subject lot is a lower grade than the residential lots to the north, staff does not believe that the proposed lot will adversely affect the residential neighborhood in terms of water runoff, noise transfer or heat generation. Staff’s recommendation to provide a solid screen fence along the north and east boundaries of the lot will provide visual and noise screening of the use. Staff also recommends

Staff’s recommendation to provide a solid screen fence along the north and east boundaries of the lot will provide visual and noise screening of the use. Staff also recommends

3 maintaining a landscape buffer between the fence and the sidewalk along Lee Avenue. This recommendation is discussed further in the Landscape section of the report. Because the lot has been vacant for many years, any use will generate more noise than is currently generated on the site. Staff believes that noise generation due to the proposed construction parking will not be more than typically generated by the adjacent commercial uses. The hours of use of the lot are also restricted to correspond to the allowed construction hours. The intent of this condition is to protect property from being developed or transformed in a manner that would reduce the value of the lot or render the property less useful once the temporary use leaves. The negative impacts of the proposed parking lot being temporary are mitigated by the condition requiring that the property is restored to the original condition. Our Zoning Code does not specifically address the temporary use of lots in conjunction with adjacent construction projects and therefore, it was determined that the proposed parking lot would require a Conditional Use Permit, even though it is temporary. Staff is of the opinion that the use complies with the Zoning Code. The R-4 Zoning District Code lists “parking lots and multi-level parking structures” as allowed with a Conditional Use Permit on land no more than 500 feet walking distance from the boundary of any C-1 or C-2 Commercial District, HDC Commercial District or S-1 Service District. The subject property meets the location requirement. The proposed lot will provide a use to an otherwise vacant lot and will provide off street parking for construction vehicles, keeping them from encroaching into other parking areas. Staff believes this is good planning practice and will fill an existing need. The applicant is not proposing any landscape buffers. Staff has recommended the addition of a solid screen fence along Lee Avenue. Staff believes there is also an opportunity to set the fence back approximately 15 feet to 20 feet from the east property line to provide room for landscape or grass area, so that the entire lot is not paved and there is not a solid fence directly abutting a public sidewalk. The site will contain a one-way drive that creates a u-shape on the lot. Vehicles will enter the site at the southwest corner of the property from the north-south alley, wrap around the site and exit back into the north-south alley from the northwest corner of the site. Vehicles exiting the parking lot will have to travel north on the north-south alley and turn east onto the east-west alley. The east-west alley connects to Lee Avenue, which is one-way in this section, so vehicles must turn south toward Forsyth Boulevard. No new curb cuts are proposed along Lee Avenue. The proposed use will generate more traffic than currently generated by the empty lot; however, based on the use proposed and traffic circulation pattern, the trips generated will likely not negatively impact the residential neighborhood. The proposed lot includes 54 parking spaces. The applicant has stated that at peak construction, there will be 40 employees needing to park on the site. Staff recommends shifting the drive lane west approximately 15 feet to 20 feet. This will create a buffer along the sidewalk and result in 46 parking spaces on the lot. There are no lights proposed for the parking lot. Director Istenes indicated that staff is of the opinion that the proposed surface parking lot meets the requirements contained in the regulations governing conditional uses. The proposed use is compatible with surrounding uses. Staff does not believe that this use will be disruptive to the surrounding properties and recommends approval of the Conditional Use Permit to the Board of Aldermen with the following conditions (amended since this report was written):