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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTA24-04 Staff Report - Planning Board V4 STAFF REPORT FOR TA24-04 TEXT AMENDMENT REQUEST REQUEST SUMMARY Case Number: TA24-04 Request: Request by Cindee Wolf with Design Solutions to amend Table 4.2.1 of the Unified Development Ordinance related to the use permissions for Restaurant and Section 4.3.4, Standards for Specified Principal Uses, Commercial Uses. Applicant: Subject Ordinances: Cindee Wolf, Design Solutions Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) Purpose & Intent The applicant’s key intent is to allow the use of Restaurant by-right in the O&I, Office & Institutional district with a 3,000 square foot maximum square footage limitation in that district. BACKGROUND This is an applicant-initiated text amendment request to amend the Table of Permitted Uses to allow the use of Restaurant as a by-right use in the O&I, Office and Institutional zoning district with an additional use standard of capping the use at 3,000 square feet. Restaurants are not currently permitted in the Office and Institutional district, but they are permitted in all other commercial zoning districts. The district was one of the original County zoning districts when the County began adopting zoning in 1969. The O&I district is concentrated mainly along highway corridors such as Castle Hayne Road, Market Street in Ogden and Porters Neck, and on Piner Road in the Monkey Junction area. It is typically found as a transitional district between residential districts and higher intensity commercial districts such as B-1 and B-2. The purpose of the O&I district is to provide lands that accommodate institutional, professional office, and other compatible uses. The O&I district should be located in areas with more intense uses and higher density development patterns to support economic clusters in appropriate locations. The UDO defines Restaurants as: “Establishments where food and beverages are prepared and sold on a retail basis for consumption on or off premises as its principal business.” The UDO does not break down restaurants by type, and the definition includes fast food restaurants, fine dining establishments and coffee shops. Restaurants do not have any additional use standards in Section 4.3.4, Standards for Specified Principal Uses, Commercial Uses. A by-right use means all reviews and approvals would be handled administratively at staff level through the Technical Review Committee (TRC). ANALYSIS The purpose of the Office and Institutional District is to provide areas where institutional uses, professional office uses and other uses compatible to uses of an office or institutional nature shall be encouraged to locate and to provide protection for this type of land use from encroachment by other less desirable uses. Common uses in this district include medical offices, financial and law firms, banks and general office uses. It is often a transition between more intense commercial uses and residential uses. The restaurant use has historically not been allowed in the O&I district dating back to the original New Hanover County Zoning Ordinance in 1969. During the initial phase of the UDO Project update in 2018 , staff considered adding the restaurant use to the O&I district subject to a prohibition on drive-thrus but this was ultimately not pursued at the time. New Hanover County currently has 353 acres of O&I zoned land 14.83 acres of which is currently undeveloped. Approximately 100 acres of the O&I in the County is comprised of the Cape Fear Community College North Campus with another 40 acres in the Scotts Hill Medical Plaza. If there were to be any land rezoned to the O&I or a Conditional O&I district, it would have to go through the rezoning process which both the Planning Board and the Board of Commissioners would hear and vote on. In line with the intent of the district, staff anticipates that any request for a rezoning to the O&I district would be seen along those major roadway corridors, near to other commercial uses. Development in the O&I district is still subject to all other requirements for commercial development in the UDO, including setbacks, transitional buffers, and lighting. Estimated traffic generation for uses common in the O&I district include: Use (ITE Code) Square Foot AM Peak Hour Trips PM Peak Hour Trips Walk-In Bank or Financial Institution (911) 3,700 - 45 Drive-In Bank or Financial Institution (912) 3,700 37 78 Medical/Dental Office (720) 6,500 20 26 General Office Building (710) 5,000 8 7 Small Office Building (712) 5,000 8 11 Restaurants can vary widely in how much traffic they generate, from a fast-food/high-turnover casual restaurant which generates large traffic counts to fine dining which typically generates lower counts. The applicant has proposed a specific use standard for allowing the restaurant use in the O&I district, capping the square footage of the use at 3,000 sf in order to reduce the impact of this use in the O&I district. Capping the square footage of the development could reduce the amount of traffic generated by the development, especially if it is a high-turnover restaurant use. While the ITE differentiates between different types of restaurant uses, the UDO does not. Per the WMPO, 3,000 sf of restaurant use generate the following estimated traffic counts: Use (ITE Code) Square Feet AM Peak Hour Trips PM Peak Hour Trips Fast Casual Restaurant (930) 3,000 4 38 Fine Dining (931) 3,000 2 23 High Turnover (Sit Down) (932) 3,000 29 27 Fast Food (w/o Drive Thru) (933) 3,000 130 100 Fast Food (w/ Drive Thru) (934) 3,000 134 99 Coffee/Donut Shop (w/o Drive Thru) (936) 3,000 279 97 Coffee/Donut Shop (w/ Drive Thru) (937) 3,000 258 117 Some of the less intense restaurant uses would generate similar traffic counts to office uses. Any use that generates more than 100 trips in the peak hours would require a TIA. Because the intent of having square foot maximums is to reduce traffic generated in the O&I district, staff have also recommended an additional use standard which prohibits restaurants with drive-thrus in the O&I district. Nearby jurisdictions, including the City of Wilmington and Pender County permit restaurants by- right in their Office and Institutional Districts, and do not have additional use standards that apply to restaurants. Brunswick County does not have an O&I district, but permits restaurants with lot size standards in all of their commercial zoning districts. The 2016 Comprehensive Plan identified the O&I zoning district as a typical zoning category for the Commerce Zone, Employment Center, Community Mixed Use, and Urban Mixed Use place types. The Comprehensive Plan designates most areas along major road corridors as either Community Mixed Use or Urban Mixed Use. Because the O&I districts are often along those corridors, they also fall under this place type designation. Restaurant uses are in line with the uses recommended in both of these place types and could be appropriate in close proximity with the types of offices and institutional uses outlined for the district. In addition, the pandemic and subsequent rise of working from home options has led to increased interest in diversifying the mix of uses allowed in office structures, as seen in the City of Wilmington’s move into the Skyline Center. The uses allowed in the O&I district are often used in conjunction with other uses, so a restaurant may not be the only tenant in an office structure. STAFF RECOMMENDATION The proposed amendment would allow restaurants by-right in the O&I district with additional use standards. The proposal to cap the use at 3,000 square feet reduces traffic counts and would make the restaurant use similar in traffic generation to allowed uses in the O&I district. While not included in the request, the Board may want to consider a limitation on drive-thrus. The proposal would also be in line with nearby jurisdictions. As a result, Staff recommends approval of the request and suggests the following motion: I move to RECOMMEND APPROVAL of the proposed amendment to the New Hanover County Unified Development Ordinance to allow the use of Restaurant as by-right in the O&I, Office & Institutional zoning district with the additional use standard capping the use at 3,000 square feet. I find it to be CONSISTENT with the purpose and intent of the 2016 Comprehensive Plan because it provides up-to-date zoning tools. I also find RECOMMENDING APPROVAL of the proposed amendment reasonable and in the public interest because it is a use common in office districts, serves the intent of the O&I district to create economic clusters, and would allow more adaptive reuse for existing buildings. Alternative Motion for Denial (If based on information presented at the public hearing or other consideration beyond the scope of staff review, the board finds denial appropriate.) I move to recommend DENIAL the proposed rezoning. While I find it to be generally CONSISTENT with the purposes and intent of the Comprehensive Plan because it provides up-to-date zoning tools, I find recommending DENIAL of the rezoning request is reasonable and in the public interest because the use is too intense for the generally low-intensity O&I zoning district.