| REQUEST |
Approval of 1) a Specific Use Provision for Truck and Bus Repair, 2) a Specific Use Provision for Truck Sales/Leasing/Rental, and 3) a Specific Use Provision for Truck/Bus Storage.
LOCATION
4030 and 4040 Forest Lane |
| OWNER |
| 4040 Forest Lane Partners, LLC |
| PLAN COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION |
| On April 13, 2020 the Plan Commission, by a vote of seven (7) to one (1), recommended denial of 1) a Specific Use Provision for Truck and Bus Repair, 2) a Specific Use Provision for Truck Sales/Leasing/Rental, and 3) a Specific Use Provision for Truck/Bus Storage. |
| STAFF RECOMMENDATION |
| Denial of the request. |
| BACKGROUND |
The subject property is currently developed with five (5) buildings and several sheds, five hundred ten (510) heavy load vehicle parking spaces, and two hundred forty-two (242) automobile parking spaces (including four (4) accessible parking spaces). The applicant submitted the Specific Use Provision requests described below as a 30-day public hearing application.
The application was postponed from the May 5, 2020 City Council meeting to the May 19, 2020 City Council meeting upon request of the applicant.
The applicant provided response materials on May 12, 2020 for the Council's consideration, included in the attachments.
|
| SITE DATA |
| The site contains approximately 47.267 acres with 1,218.38 lineal feet of frontage along Forest Lane and fifty-six (56) feet of frontage along Easy Street. Access is provided to the site from one access point on Easy Street and two active access drives on Forest Lane, and an additional unused access drive on Forest Lane. |
| USE OF PROPERTY UNDER CURRENT ZONING |
The subject property is zoned Industrial (IN) District which allows a wide range of industrial uses that are generally not compatible adjacent to residential neighborhoods, and may or may not be compatible with some nonresidential uses. Such uses include manufacturing, processing, assembling, research and development, and warehousing and distribution. The Industrial (IN) District also accommodates support services for industrial development such as office, commercial, personal and professional services, and limited retail activities. The Industrial (IN) District regulations are designed to ensure compatibility among the various uses allowed in the district, and to protect adjacent non-industrial development from potentially incompatible uses and conditions.
All Industrial (IN) District uses (whether by right or by SUP) are indicated within the Land Use Matrix in Chapter 2 of the GDC. Parking within an Industrial (IN) District must be in compliance with Section 4.20 in Article 2, Chapter 4 of the Garland Development Code (GDC). Additionally, all other requirements of the GDC as well as referenced City Code, Technical Standards Manual, and similar referenced policy and regulatory documents are required.
Additionally, a small portion of the northwest corner of the site is zoned Community Retail (CR) District and has an existing Specific Use Provision for Retail Sales with Gas Pumps, in Z 06-65. |
| CONSIDERATIONS |
LAND USES
- The application proposes to establish permitted uses that exist on the site. In addition, the application includes uses that exist on the site without having been properly established in compliance with the Garland Development Code (GDC) requirements. City Code Compliance has taken action to address outstanding use and activity violations on the property. In response to Code Compliance actions, the applicant seeks to establish various uses on the site including Truck and Bus Repair; Truck Sales/Leasing/Rental; and Truck/Bus Storage. Additionally the applicant has included information that the following uses that would be operated on the property: a distribution center and a dispatching/logistics use. Considerations 2 through 7 examine these uses as proposed and as regulated by the GDC.
- Truck/Bus Repair. The application requests “minor and major bus, truck and trailer repairs”. The equivalent GDC use is Truck/Bus Repair, defined in Chapter 6 as: “An establishment that provides major and minor repairs to trucks, buses, trailers, and other heavy load vehicles for a fee. The term includes no outside storage except the parking of vehicles being repaired, which may remain on-site for no longer than ninety (90) calendar days. Further, a Specific Use Provision is required with a public hearing process.
Exhibit C shows various areas for the Allstate Truck/Bus Repair use. A truck/trailer repair shop is shown in pink color. The area on Exhibit C in a purple color is proposed for the trailer repair setup/staging areas. The application indicates that “Units that are waiting to be repaired or to be collected may be stored on the available parking spaces provided for the building and building land area.” Additionally, Exhibit C indicates the parking spaces in a flesh tone color without specifically identifying the spaces that would be used for the Truck/Bus Repair activities. Required parking spaces cannot be used for the storage of vehicles waiting repairs per GDC Chapter 4 Article 2 Section 4.2 (H) “Use of Required Parking and Loading Spaces. Required off-street parking and loading spaces may be used only for parking and loading spaces. Use for any other purpose is prohibited.”
The application includes two other Truck/Bus Repair facilities on this site: Weln Truck/Trailer Repair, and C&R Trailer Repair facility, which is also a Truck/Bus Repair use. That facility was established prior to the 2015 adoption of the GDC. Other than stating the location and proposed use, the application only includes the C&R Trailer Repair facility site location, building and parking areas as shown on Exhibit C.
While this use is allowed with a Specific Use Provision in the Industrial (IN) District, this use is not allowed in the Community Retail (CR) District, which is in the northwest corner of the site.
- Truck Sales/Leasing/Rental. This proposal includes the existing C&R Trailer/Fleet Equipment at the southwest corner of the site. The GDC defines Truck Sales/Leasing/Rental as: “The rental of new or used panel trucks, vans, and other heavy load vehicles that are in operable condition. The term does not include truck or bus repair services.” There are no Special Standards associated with this use. Another use is operated by C&R on the same property, which is Truck/Bus Repair, discussed above.
While this use is allowed with a Specific Use Provision in the Industrial (IN) District, this use is not allowed in the Community Retail (CR) District, which is in the northwest corner of the site.
- Truck/Bus Storage. The application requests Truck Parking, indicating this use is requested for both Allstate, Weln Truck/Trailer Repair and C&R Trailer/Fleet Equipment These are shown as lease areas on Exhibit C with a solid blue line (Allstate), dashed green line (Weln) and dashed pink line (C&R). Truck Parking is identified by the GDC as Truck/Bus Storage use and it is defined as: “An area for the temporary parking or long-term storage of operable (that is, no junked, wrecked, or inoperable) trucks, buses, RVs, trailers, boats, and other types of special and heavy load vehicles, owned by others, for a fee.” Detailed information regarding the Weln and C&R storage operation was not included with the application. However, the Allstate Truck/Bus Storage use is described as 248 identified and marked truck/trailer parking spaces and with more available if neighboring tenants agree to additional truck/bus storage. However, the submitted plan does not clearly identify these truck storage spaces.
While this use is allowed with a Specific Use Provision in the Industrial (IN) District, this use is not allowed in the Community Retail (CR) District, which is in the northwest corner of the site.
- Large Distribution Center (more than ten (10) shipping truck bays) and Small Distribution Center (ten (10) or fewer shipping truck bays). The application identifies warehouse/storage use, which is considered as either Large Distribution Center or Small Distribution Center by the Garland Development Code. The number of shipping truck bays indicates whether the use is large or small. Both types of distribution centers are allowed by right in the Industrial (IN) District. However, their operations must conform to the GDC regulations.
Two distribution centers are proposed for this site. The first, At Home, operates 450,000 square feet of the 603,795 square foot industrial building. The At Home area as shown on Exhibit C includes forty (40) shipping truck bays available for that tenant’s use. Therefore, At Home is a Large Distribution Center use. The second distribution center is Allstate Carriers which is identified with 12,300 square feet in two separate buildings. Neither of these buildings have shipping truck bays. The lack of shipping truck bays calls into question whether the Allstate Carriers tenant is operating as a Small Distribution Center.
Additionally, the western-most proposed distribution building is a part of a building that was granted a Specific Use Provision for Truck/Bus Repair in Z 15-29 (Exhibit D). This application (Z 20-08) does not propose to modify the existing Specific Use Provision under Z 15-29.
Furthermore, the GDC, Chapter 2 Section 2.52 Special Standards (30), prescribes that “With the exception of parking areas, loading docks and outside scales (if provided), all large or small distribution center activities must take place entirely within an enclosed building. Outside display or outside storage is prohibited, unless such is allowed (by right or by SUP) and approved in the zoning district wherein the business is located.” The application does not provide evidence that operations of loading associated with distribution centers having shipping bays will be conducted.
While this use is allowed in the Industrial (IN) District, this use is not allowed in the Community Retail (CR) District, which is in the northwest corner of the site.
- Vehicle Dispatch & Storage. The applicant proposes dispatching/logistics, which is dispatching vehicles to locations off-site for service. The GDC identifies such use as Vehicle Dispatch & Storage, which is defined as: “A private, commercial transportation service (not operated by the City of Garland or other public entity such as DART) that specializes in the dispatch and provision of specialty non-heavy-load vehicles such as ambulances, hearses, limousines, taxis, and paratransit vehicles for a fee. The term may include facilities for accessory uses such as the storage and maintenance of such vehicles, office space, and sleeping quarters for employees who are on-call. The term only includes outside storage where allowed in the zoning district wherein the business is located and is limited to vehicles dispatched by the business unless otherwise approved by Specific Use Provision.” The application does not identify further characteristics of the proposed use and the information indicates that Allstate operates heavy load vehicles rather than non-heavy load vehicles. More specifically, the applicant has verbally indicted that the operation is for the dispatch of heavy-load vehicles.
This use is only allowed for non-heavy load dispatching in the Industrial (IN) District. This use is not allowed in the Community Retail (CR) District, which is in the northwest corner of the site.
- Parking. The GDC Chapter 2 Land Use Matrix establishes parking ratios for all uses. Additionally, the GDC Chapter 4 Article 2 provides regulation for parking areas. Where parking spaces for multiple tenants are located on one property, the parking is calculated for the entire property. Parking for this site will need to be shared amongst the various uses. More specifically, GDC Chapter 4, Article 4.2 Section 2 (A) requires: In any district, when more than one use occurs on a site, the required off-street parking must be prorated according to the requirements of each use. Evaluation of the proposed and required parking indicates that the site, with the uses proposed may not have adequate parking. There are deficiencies in the application, resulting in the inability to calculate parking: floor areas not attributed to particular use(s), lack of clarity related to the location of parking, storage, and other spatially designated needs for the uses, and conflicting statements that identify duplicative use of storage, parking, and other areas of the site.
- The application does not identify the floor area devoted to Truck/Bus Repair uses.
- The application does not identify the floor area devoted to sales, leasing, or rental uses.
- The application does not identify the office floor area devoted to Truck/Bus Storage.
- The application assigns parking incorrectly for the Large and the Small Distribution Centers. These centers are required to park automobile parking, while the heavy load vehicles associated with distribution center uses is considered as a component of the distribution use and not automobile parking. Therefore, automobile parking spaces and heavy load vehicle (semi-trucks or other large vehicles) areas must be separately counted and provided.
- The applicant is proposing dual use of the heavy load vehicle parking, which is not allowed by the GDC.
- A use for the remainder (approximately 148,795 square feet) of the 603,795 square foot manufacturing is not identified.
Based on a best projection of the data provided, the site does not have adequate parking for the size of the buildings and the uses proposed.
|
| COMPREHENSIVE PLAN |
Industry Centers provide a cluster of trade and industry that cumulatively employ large numbers of people. Operations within this development type may require substantial infrastructure and may result in more significant negative impacts (sound, air, traffic, outdoor lighting, storage, etc.). Operations may include such elements as semi-truck traffic, loading docks, and visible outdoor storage. Overall, the architecture, character, scale, and intensity should be compatible with adjacent development types. Industry Centers are generally located along major arterial streets, and highways and at significant transit areas (bus/ rail). Site design addresses function and visual aesthetics that provide appropriate buffering at gateway corridors, between adjacent developments, and for residential neighborhoods.
Industry Centers range in scale and intensity based on the surrounding vicinity and may consist of one or more buildings. This development type includes a variety of primary and secondary uses that support the industry employment sector. |
| COMPATIBILITY OF REQUEST WITH SURROUNDING ZONING AND LAND USES |
| The land use pattern within the area surrounding the subject property is a mixture of employment, commercial, and support services. The proposed uses, if arranged in a well-conceived and comprehensive manner, could be compatible with the surrounding areas. |
|
.jpg)
