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Burch Lot 2-CS 970821 CITY OF COPPELL PLANNING DEPARTMENT STAFF REPORT CASE NO.: S-1084R, KWIK KAR P & Z HEARING DATE: August 21, 1997 C.C. HEARING DATE: September 9, 1997 LOCATION: Approximately 300 feet south of Bethel School Road, along the west side of Denton Tap Road SIZE OF AREA: 0.8 acres; proposed 900 s.f. addition to a 2,250 s.f. existing building CURRENT ZONING: C -S.U.P. (Commercial, Special Use Permit) REQUEST: Amend the Site Plan to permit a 900 square foot expansion for two additional service bays. APPLICANT: Kwik Industries, Inc. 4725 Nall Road Dallas TX 75244 214-458-9761 Fax 214-458-0948 HISTORY: On August 9, 1994, upon a favorable recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Commission, City Council approved a Special Use Permit for a four-bay automobile service facility. The City approved the final plat for the property later that year. On July 17, 1997, the Planning and Zoning Commission considered the current application and continued the public hearing to August 21. The principal purpose was for the applicant to provide more detail regarding the location of trees and measures to preserve them. TRANSPORTATION: Denton Tap Road is a P6D, six-lane divided thoroughfare built in a 100'-wide right-of-way. Nearby Bethel School Road is a collector street built in a 60'-wide right-of-way. Item # 4 SURROUNDING LAND USE & ZONING: North - hardware store; C South- dry cleaners; C East - post office; C West single-family residential development; SF-12 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN: The Comprehensive Plan shows the property suitable for mixed uses. DISCUSSION: When an applicant decides to expand upon an obvious commercial success, it presents an opportunity to correct small details which detract from the overall visual accomplishments of a project. This is particularly important when the project faces a major thoroughfare in a primary image zone. The original development of this site resulted in the removal of virtually all of the natural vegetation on the front portion of the property, pavement of more area than necessary, provision of minimal additional landscaping, inclusion of ten attached signs in addition to the business identification sign on the building, and installation of a highly inappropriate power pole with overhead transformers on the front property line. The consequence is a visual appearance that, while better than similar installations in other Dallas area cities, is still somewhat below the quality this community has come to expect. It is too late to put back the trees. It is probably impractical to remove concrete and replace it with landscape. However, the cost to improve on the signage and power source will be only a small fraction of the total value of on-site facilities, would greatly improve their appearance, and therefore may be well worth doing. To be sure, solving the power service problem now will be more expensive than it would have been to do it right in the first place. It will cost about $10,000 to move the pole farther back on the property and saw CUt through 25 feet of pavement width to provide underground lines between a new pole location and the old one. This is by no means the ideal solution, but it would provide a measure of improvement. The ideal solution would be to bore service under Denton Tap Road and place a pad mounted transformer in an inconspicuous location on site. However, the same voltages are unavailable from pad mounted transformer units, making the ideal solution far more costly today than it would have been originally (+$30,000 versus $11,000). Considering, however, that upon completion of the expansion the total value of the property is likely to exceed $500,000, an expenditure of even $30,000 (or less than 6% of total value) does not seem too excessive to remove an eyesore. Item # 4 As for the signs, the current number is unnecessary, as evidenced by a similar Kwik Kar facility in Southlake. The only sign shown on the building elevations for the Coppell facility, as submitted for Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council review in 1994, was one which read Kwik Kar Lube & Tune. After receiving approval of those building plans, the applicant installed 10 additional attached signs not shown on the building elevations submitted. The 10 additional signs are a Texas Vehicle Inspection Station sign, 3 Pennzoil signs and 6 customer directional signs. Had the planning staff seen all those signs on the drawings submitted originally, it is doubtful that we would have recommended approval of all of them. While most of these signs may be useful and some of them even necessary, visually they would not detract so much from an otherwise attractive building if they were at least color coordinated with the building materials and one to the other. As for the proposed expansion, the applicant has submitted a site plan which meets most City requirements and a landscape plan which exceeds City requirements. However, the site plan does not provide a screenwall on the west. In 1994, Council waived the requirement because of the resulting tree removal that would have occurred by placement of a screenwall on the western property line. Staff points out that City regulations do not specify that the wall be located on the property line. They simply say that a screenwall shall be located in such a way as to separate the rear of a non-residential use from an adjacent residential district. Therefore, a screenwall located at the edge of development, approximately 5 feet west of the western edge of the proposed expansion of concrete pavement, would satisfy screening requirements. Such a location would avoid cutting down more trees and would provide an effective sound barrier between the automobile service facility and the housing on the other side of the creek. With expansion of the paved area and additional bays located nearer to a residential neighborhood, requirement of the screenwall now would be fully justifiable. You will recall that issue being discussed at our first public hearing by a resident from Grand Cove Estates, the residential area just west of this site. According to the tree survey, only 3 trees are located within the building and pavement expansion area. Actually, the one shown in the third parking space north of the dumpster does not exist, so there are only 2. These are post oaks, in the 14" to 18" caliper range, located in the buildable portion of the lot. As such, under current regulations, the applicant would be entitled to remove them for expansion of a dry cleaners, hardware store, dental office or any number of other uses not requiring a special use permit in the "C" District. The landscaping plan provides 5 crape myrtles and 5 redbud trees to mitigate the loss of natural vegetation due to the encroachment of building and pavement. In addition, it provides automobile screening along Denton Tap Road which was inadvertently omitted from the original landscaping. Item # 4 The applicant proposes to preserve the 2 existing trees actually located within the building and pavement expansion area by removing 2 parking spaces. However, this area has already been filled upon to provide the slope for the existing parking area, which is elevated at least 3 feet above natural grade. Expansion of site development will only aggravate, the situation. Therefore, staff is of the opinion that tree preservation measures are unlikely to be successful. Due to the existence of 11 additional large post oaks in the area west of proposed development, as well as numerous additional smaller understory trees, the planning staff considers the loss of 2 trees to be acceptable, but agrees with Commissioner Stewart that measures need to be taken to protect the root systems of other nearby trees. Finally, staff assumes that the building expansion will match the existing building, but has no documentation to provide that assurance. RECOMMENDATION TO THE PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION: Planning staff recommends approval of the amendment to the Special Use Permit to allow expansion in accordance with the site plan and landscape plan submitted and subject to: 1) Restriction of the removal of existing trees to the 2 post oak trees located closest to the existing building. 2) Addition of concrete pavement to provide 2 additional parking spaces in the area where the 2 existing trees are removed. 3) Architectural elevations, to be provided by the applicant, which show building materials and style of the same nature as the existing building. 4) Removal of all attached signs except for the letters which read Kwik Kar Lube & Tune, the Official Inspection Station sign, and 6 customer directional signs, limited to 3 on each side of the building located on every other space between bay doors. 5) Redesign of the 6 customer directional signs in colors to match and coordinate with the business identification sign. 6) Removal of all portable signs, since they are not now and never have been permitted by Coppell sign regulations. 7) Provision of underground utility service beneath Denton Tap Road. 8) Construction of a retaining wall 5 feet beyond the edge of proposed pavement, to prevent filling over the root systems of 4 Item # 4 existing post oak trees within 25 feet of the proposed pavement. 9) Placement of temporary protective fencing along the eastern edge of the wooded area to prevent construction and construction equipment from disturbing more than 25 % of the area under the drip line of the 5 trees shown to be preserved east of the City sewer easement. 10) Construction of a screening wall on top of the retaining wall to comply with Section 33 of the Zoning Ordinance. 11) Engineering Department comments. ALTERNATIVES: 1) Recommend approval of the Site Plan amendment 2) Recommend disapproval of the Site Plan amendment 3) Recommend modification of the Site Plan amendment 4) Take under advisement for reconsideration at a later date. ATTACHMENTS: 1) Landscape Plan 2) Letter from U.S.A. Professional Services Group, Inc. 3) Departmental Comments Item # 4 DEVELOPMENT REVIEW COMMITTEE ENGINEERING COMMENTS ITEM: S-1048R, Kwik gar, zoning change from C-S. IJ.P. (Commercial, Special Use Permit)to C-S.U.P. (Commetvia~ Special Use Permit), by atttending the site platt of att automotive service center to permit 900 square feet of building expansion for two additional service bays, on property located approximately 300 feet south of the southwest comer of Bethel School Road and Denton Tap Road, at the request of Kwik Industries, Inc. DRC DATE: July 31, 1997 and August 7, 1997 CONTACT: Mike Martin, P.E., Assistant City Engineer 004-3679) COMMENT STATUS: Dovr r~,~nr~, ov /FINAL P~g$q-frE, D 1. Roadway Impact Fees will be required for the additional square footage of the building.