HomeMy WebLinkAboutSP-22-003 - Supplemental - 1795 Shelburne Road (3)
180 Market Street, South Burlington, Vermont 05403 | 802-846-4106 | www.southburlingtonvt.gov
TO: South Burlington Development Review Board
FROM: Marla Keene, Development Review Planner
SUBJECT: #SP-22-003 1795 Shelburne Road
DATE: May 17, 2022 Development Review Board meeting
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Site plan application #SP-22-003 of RHTL Partners, LLC to modify a previously approved plan for a 10,000
sf automotive sales, service and repair building on an existing 2.61 acre lot. The amendment consists of
constructing a 3,155 sf building expansion, 1795 Shelburne Road.
CONTEXT
The Board held a hearing on this application on March 2 and May 17, 2022. The Board reviewed the
application with the applicant, provided feedback, and continued the hearing on both of those dates for
the purpose of allowing the applicant to make necessary modifications to the project for the project to
be compliant with the City’s Land Development Regulations. The applicant is reminded that the Board’s
responsibility is to the land development regulations and cannot approve a project that does not meet
the regulations.
The applicant provided revised materials on May 23. Review of these revised materials is incorporated
herein; criterion which Staff considers to have been addressed have been removed from this report.
COMMENTS
A) ZONING DISTRICT & DIMENSIONAL REQUIREMENTS
10.05D Urban Design Overlay District Standards
(1) Entries. Buildings on subject properties must have at least one entry facing the primary road in
the corridor.
Staff reminds the Board that the applicant’s desired building configuration has largely driven how
compliance with these criteria are approached.
Any entry shall:
(a) Be an operable entrance, as defined in these regulations.
(b) Serve, architecturally, as principal entry. Front entries shall be a focal point of the front
façade and shall be an easily recognizable feature of the building. Possibilities include
accenting front entries with features such as awnings, porticos, overhangs,
recesses/projections, decorative front doors and side lights, or emphasis through varied
color or special materials. This requirement does not preclude additional principal entry
doors.
The applicant has modified their previously shown provided a double door facing Shelburne
Road to have a small awning and be framed by sidelight windows. The applicant has
provided elevations illustrating the entrances. Staff considers this criterion to be met.
(c) Shall have a direct, separate walkway to the primary road. This walkway shall be at least
eight (8) feet in width and may meander for design purposes, but must serve as a
pedestrian-oriented access.
No changes have been made to the site plan, which includes steps connecting to Shelburne
Road. The steps connect to a north-south roadway, shown on the provided plans, which
does eventually reach the proposed entry. The walkway is not “direct.”
1. Though Staff considers an alternative configuration locating the walkway nearer to the front
entry may be possible, a direct connection is not possible due to the location of existing street
trees and the applicant’s proposed front entry location. Without moving the front entry, the
alternatives are to accept the configuration as proposed, locate the walkway where the
bicycle racks are proposed, or to locate the walkway south of both the front entry and the
side entry. Staff recommends the Board discuss whether improvements to compliance with
this criterion are needed.
B) SUPPLEMENTAL REGULATIONS
13.02 Off Street Parking and Loading
F. Access management Requirements. It is the intent of the City to minimize traffic and
pedestrian conflicts caused by vehicular driveways on public roadways by reducing the
number of required driveways and by minimizing the number of vehicles utilizing such
driveways off public roadways. All applicants must make an effort to reduce these impacts. All
commercial lots (retail, restaurant, office, service uses, excluding residential, agricultural and
industrial uses) located adjacent to other commercial lots must provide a driveway connection
to any adjacent commercial lot. If the adjacent property owner does not want to provide for
that connection, the applicant must provide an easement to do so in the future when
circumstances may change. This driveway connection or easement should be located where vehicular and pedestrian circulation is most feasible.
On 3/2 and 5/17, the Board discussed with the applicant that this criterion is not met for the
property to the south and directed them to provide an easement. The applicant provided a
draft easement, which was reviewed by the Deputy City attorney, who had two significant edits
and several minor edits. The first significant edit is to the applicant’s proposed third paragraph,
which as written may be constructed such that it allows the subject property owner to prohibit
use of the easement by the beneficiary of the easement (the property to the south). The second
significant edit is to the fifth paragraph, which as written allows the subject property owner to
relocate the easement. The proposed edits are to align the draft easement language with
standard practice in the City. The original proposed easement and the Deputy City attorney’s
edits are in the packet for the Board.
2. Staff recommends the Board discuss with the applicant whether they accept the general
objective of the edits proposed by the Deputy City attorney. If so, Staff considers the Board may
allow the finalization of the draft easement as a condition of approval.
13.04 Landscaping, Screening & Street Trees
B. Except for parking spaces accessory to a one-family or two-family dwelling, all off-street
parking areas subject to review by the Development Review Board, shall be curbed and landscaped
with appropriate trees, shrubs, and other plants including ground covers, as approved by the
Development Review Board. Sections of recessed curb are permitted if their purpose is to allow
stormwater runoff from the adjacent parking area to reach stormwater collection, treatment and
management infrastructure. The Development Review Board shall consider the adequacy of the
proposed landscaping to assure the establishment of a safe, convenient, and attractive parking area
and the privacy and comfort of abutting properties.
Since this is an amendment to a previously-approved site plan, the applicant is required to retain
previously required landscaping and provide supplemental landscaping as necessary to meet the
requirements for the modified portion of the parcel as well as to meet the required minimum
landscaping budget for the proposed addition. A full discussion of landscaping standards is included
herein in order to allow the Board to evaluate the proposed landscaping budget.
(1) All off-street parking areas shall be landscaped around the perimeter of the lot with trees,
shrubs and other plants. Perimeter planting shall be set back from the curb sufficiently to allow for
snow storage. The purpose of perimeter planting shall be to mitigate the view of the parking lot
from the public way and from adjacent uses and properties, and to provide shade and canopy for
the parking lot. In some situations it may be necessary both for surveillance purposes and for the
perception of safety to install the size and type of plants that leave visual access between the
parking lot to the public way or other pedestrian areas.
There is limited parking lot landscaping. The applicant is proposing to provide a small amount of
parking lot landscaping in the form of perennial grasses. The March 3 staff report suggested
perimeter planting as a way to meet the required minimum landscaping budget. The City Arborist
recommends trees be set back 10-ft from curbs to provide protection from snow plowing.
(2) In all parking areas containing twenty-eight (28) or more contiguous parking spaces and/or in
parking lots with more than a single circulation lane, at least ten percent (10%) of the interior of
the parking lot shall be landscaped islands planted with trees, shrubs and other plants. Such
requirement shall not apply to structured parking or below-ground parking.
This criterion is not met for the existing parking lot. The applicant is not reducing compliance with
this criterion. The applicant has referred to 95 of the parking spaces as “vehicle storage.” Outdoor
storage and display may be permitted by the Board as a conditional use pursuant to 13.08. Since
this site contains an existing nonconformity proposed to be reduced, Staff considers it unnecessary
to review the application under 13.08 or as a conditional use.
(3) All interior and perimeter planting shall be protected by curbing unless specifically designed as
a collection and treatment area for management of stormwater runoff as per 13.04(B)(5)(c)
below. Interior planted islands shall have a minimum dimension of six (6) feet on any one side, and shall have a minimum square footage of sixty (60) square feet. Large islands are encouraged.
The applicant is proposing to install landscaping to screen the existing sewer pump station. This
landscaping will not be protected by curbing. The applicant is proposing to protect the landscaping
with bollards. Staff considers as a retrofit that the Board may accept the proposal to provide
alternative compliance with this standard and recommends the Board find this criterion met for this
location. Other plantings are proposed to be perennials and located at least 6-ft from the edge of
pavement. Staff considers this criterion met.
(4) Landscaping Requirements
(a) Landscaping shall include a variety of trees, shrubs, grasses and ground covers. All
planting shall be species hardy for the region and, if located in areas receiving road runoff or
salt spray, shall be salt-tolerant.
The City Arborist reviewed the plans on 2/15/2022 and indicated that the landscaping plan is
acceptable. Since that time the applicant has added two trees, slightly modified the selection of
shrubs, added a small number of perennials, and added a perennial bed consisting of 48
daylilies.
(b) At least one (1) major deciduous shade tree shall be provided within or near the
perimeter of each parking area, for every five (5) parking spaces. The trees shall be placed
evenly throughout the parking lot to provide shade and reduce glare. Trees shall be placed a minimum of thirty (30) feet apart.
This criterion is not met. However, noncompliance with this criterion is reduced by reducing the
number of parking spaces.
(c) Trees shall have a caliper equal to or greater than two and one-half (2 ½) inches when
measured on the tree stem, six (6) inches above the root ball.
This criterion is met.
(d) Where more than ten (10) trees are installed, a mix of species is encouraged; the
species should be grouped or located in a manner that reinforces the design and layout of the
parking lot and the site.
Fewer than ten trees are proposed.
(e) Within the City Center FBC District, landscaping required within this section shall not
count towards meeting minimum landscape budget requirements as detailed in Section 13.04(G).
N/A
(7) Snow storage areas must be specified and located in an area that minimizes the potential for
erosion and contaminated runoff into any adjacent or nearby surface waters.
Snow storage areas have been specified on the plans. Staff considers this criterion to have been
adequately addressed.
C. Screening or buffering. The Development Review Board will require landscaping, fencing, land
shaping and/or screening along property boundaries (lot lines) whenever it determines that a) two
adjacent sites are dissimilar and should be screened or buffered from each other, or b) a property’s
appearance should be improved, which property is covered excessively with pavement or structures or
is otherwise insufficiently landscaped, or c) a commercial, industrial, and multi-family use abuts a
residential district or institutional use, or (d) a parking or loading area is adjacent to or visible from a
public street.
Staff considers that the proposed site is not dissimilar enough from the adjoining property to require
additional screening beyond that required in B(1) above.
D. Front Yards of Non-Residential and Multi-Family Uses. In the case of non-residential and multi-
family uses, the required front yard and/or the frontage along designated arterial and collector
streets (see Article 3, Section 3.06 for this list) shall be suitably landscaped and maintained in good
appearance. Landscape elements that reduce stormwater runoff and promote stormwater infiltration
are encouraged. The Development Review Board shall require the applicant to meet the provisions of
sections 13.04(F) and (G).
Staff considers compliance with this criterion is improved by the applicant’s proposed landscaping plan.
Since the minimum required landscaping value is not provided, Staff considers additional front yard
landscaping to be an opportunity to meet landscaping budget requirements.
G(3) Landscaping Budget Requirements. The Development Review Board shall require minimum
planting costs for all site plans, as shown in Table 13-4 below. In evaluating landscaping requirements,
some credit may be granted for existing trees or for site improvements other than tree planting as
long as the objectives of this section are not reduced. The costs below are cumulative; for example, a
landscaping budget shall be required to show a planned expenditure of three percent of the first $250,000 in construction or improvement cost plus two percent of the next $250,000 in construction or
improvement cost, plus one percent of the remaining cost over $500,000. The landscaping budget shall
be prepared by a landscape architect or professional landscape designer.
The cost of the proposed building addition is $1,965,000, requiring $27,150 in landscaping value.
At the March 3 hearing, it was noted the applicant’s proposed landscaping budget was deficient by
nearly $15,000. The applicant has revised their proposed landscaping plan and is now proposing
$19,133 in plantings, including $10,105 in trees and shrubs and $9,028 in perennials, and the following
additional elements.
Item Cost
Stone Facing on Retaining Wall $4,950
Patio Pavers at bike racks, picnic
table, & entrance
$6,500
Sub Total $11,450
As part of the proposed landscaping plan, the applicant is proposing to replace a previously required
tree that has died in a location near the southwest corner of the existing building not in an area affected
by the proposed construction. 13.04I requires all plantings shown on an approved site plan to be
maintained by the property owner in a vigorous growing condition throughout the duration of the use.
The value of the replacement tree is correctly not included in the above.
3. When the Board finds the other provisions of the landscaping criteria to be met, they may allow the
applicant credit for landscaping elements other than trees and shrubs. Staff recommends the Board
discuss whether the project does enough to address perimeter planting requirements of 13.04B and
13.04D before allowing credit for site improvements other than trees or shrubs.
3.08 Temporary Structures and Uses
The applicant is proposing a number of temporary structures during the construction phase of the project.
A. General Provisions. Any temporary use of a lot, not approved in connection with the primary
use of that property, shall be restricted according to the provisions of this section. This section shall not
apply to peddling activities that are regulated through the Ordinance to Regulate Peddling.
B. Location of Temporary Uses and Structures. Temporary uses or structures on a lot shall not be
placed or conducted in such manner as to obstruct or interfere with vehicle circulation and parking,
pedestrian movement, block sidewalks, obstruct crosswalks or damage landscaped areas.
Since the principal building will not be in use by customers during construction, Staff considers the
proposed temporary structures meet this criterion. The Fire Chief reviewed the plans on 5/12 and
indicated that there are some issues with the construction plan, but that the necessary changes may
require relocating the temporary structures by a foot or two, rather than a wholesale rearrangement.
Staff recommends the Board include a condition requiring the applicant to update the construction plan
to the satisfaction of the Fire Chief prior to issuance of a zoning permit.
C. Temporary Construction Structures. Temporary structures used in conjunction with construction
work shall be permitted only during the period that the construction is in progress.
Staff recommends the Board include a condition to this effect.
D. Temporary Outdoor Storage. Temporary outdoor storage used in conjunction with the principal
use or uses on that property shall be permitted for a period up to one month during a calendar year. Permits for temporary outdoor storage shall be issued by the Administrative Officer in accordance with
the provisions of this section.
Staff considers this criterion not applicable to storage of construction materials. Construction materials
must be removed prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy for the proposed project.
Recommendation
Staff recommends the Board work with the applicant to address the issues identified herein.
Respectfully submitted,
Marla Keene, P.E.
Development Review Planner