02/22/2011 Planning Commission Minutes

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Tuesday, February 22,2011 6:30 o'clock p.m. (#11-3500 CITY OF ORONO,AMEND CITY CODE SECTION 78-666, CONTINUED) The B-2 District Standards of the zoning code do not distinguish between the property owner and lessees in terms of operation requirements. The property owner is responsible for the property remaining in compliance with the code regardless of the leases it may choose to enter into with tenants. As a conditional use,under current code the boat club use will only be allowed if it can be shown by the property owner that adequate parking is available on the site to accommodate that business operation in addition to all other approved operations on the site. The premise behind this ordinance requirement is that a time-share boat club operation has the potential to create a higher level of use than a standard single-user/single-owner situation; for instance,because of the potential for overlapping parking needs of back-to-back users. The basic parking requirement of six stalls for each 10 slips assumes no more than 60 percent of boats being used at a given time,one car per boat. This standard has been in effect since creation of the B-2 District when the average pleasure boat stored at Orono's marinas was significantly smaller than today. With today's variety of large boats holding many passengers,there is a potential for inadequate parking at busy times, if passengers for a single boat arrive in separate vehicles. This may be exacerbated by a boat club if back-to-back uses result in the need for parking overlap, or if boat club members and their guests arrive in multiple vehicles. Because our marinas are all on busy county roads,nearby street parking is extremely limited and is to be avoided. Demonstration of parking adequacy for a boat club on the property should include a detailed written description of how the overall site is used,how the boat club operates,hours of operation,what space on the site is used for offices or other purposes,whether it is staffed full-time,how many employees at any given time, etc. other factors that come into play include the passenger capacity of club boats,what percentage of the marina slips are devoted to club boats,how many members per boat, and how much of a time interval is there between uses of a given boat. Many of these are all operational factors that can make a parking situation succeed or fail. For the Sailors World boat club CUP, approval was granted for a 100-member maximum boat club use subject to maintaining the exclusive availability of 25 off-site parking stalls during May through September with the City reserving the right to reconsider if parking issues or inadequacies arise at the marina or at the off-site parking location. None of the�ve Orono marinas are adjacent to private off-site parking facilities. Sailors World for a number of years had an agreement with the Minnetonka Art Center for parking, which is approximately 3/8ths of a mile walking distance from the marina. The current status of that arrangement is not lrnown. While off-site parking combined with a shuttle service may be technically feasible,whether it is a practice that should be used to allow for a boat club use where parking is inadequate is an item for discussion. Note that it would not be appropriate to accept a plan for off-site marina parking at one of the public landings. For most, if not all, of Orono's marinas,parking availability is already an issue given the number of slips each has historically maintained. Increased parking requirements to allow addition of a boat club use may not be possible at all of them.. The feasibility and appropriateness of off-site parking is a factor to consider. Page 11