11-18-1996 Planning Commission Minutes

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• MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING HELD ON NOVEMBER 18, 1996 ( #10 - #2195 Genmar Industries - Continued) Gaffron reported that the application is for a commercial site plan review and variances for a property in the B -2 lakeshore district which has been operated by Minnetonka Boat Works. The applicant plans to replace the existing 30'x80' building with a smaller 24'x40' building. The property will be leased to King's Cove Marina based out of Hastings. Variances requested are for lakeshore setback, requiring 75' and proposed at 49'; and street setback requiring 30', existing at 12', and proposed at 17'. The required side setback is 10' and is proposed at 15'. The plan calls for a grassy area to the lake side of the new building to be used for boat sales and display purposes. Park and hardcover variances are also needed, in addition to lot area, lot depth, lack of sanitary facilities and boat storage variances. The existing building has been used for storage. Retail sales occurred on the property in the past but the current parking does not accommodate retail sales. There are no changes planned for the parking lot. Any alternative use of parking stalls would require a variance. Gaffron indicated that there seems to be an over usage of the site. He noted that it could be argued that the proposed use of the grassy area might convert it to hardcover at some point due to the heavy pedestrian traffic. In reviewing the parking, Gaffron indicated that the code requires 6 stalls for every 10 boat slips. The property currently has 68 parking stalls for its 111 slips. Additional parking spaces are needed for the planned uses, as well as three spaces for the employees, for a total of 78. Gaffron reported that the applicant proposes 12 slips currently used for rental to be converted to use for display of boats for sale, which the applicant considers would bring the parking requirement to 71. The code, however, does not differentiate between the two uses resulting in a 10 stall variance required to accommodate the retail sales. Also, if the green space is not used for display, and display boats are placed on the parking lot, then additional spaces would be required. There has also been a tendency to park the overflow on weekends at a neighboring marina. Gaffron said the use could be limited to include no weekends or holidays. Gaffron said the applicant has agreed to close the sales operation on Sundays except for four Sundays per year chosen by the applicant. Gaffron noted that the slips on the west side of the road have been served by parking on the east side of the road through a variance granted in 1989. Gaffron reviewed the hardcover calculations for the property on the east side of the road. Hardcover in the 0 -75' setback currently exists at 36.9% and is proposed to decrease to 35.4 %, but noting that the green space will be used for storage, which is not included in this calculation. Hardcover in the 75 -250' setback exists at 73.9% and is proposed to decrease to 72.2 %. The overall result in both zones is a 1300 s.f hardcover reduction. 22