1997, OI to B2CU, tabled

1993, OI to B2CU, tabled

Thoroughfare Improvements:

The proposal property lies on the western side of Piney Plains Road. It is one of 2 adjoining 14-acre tracts, which are identified in the Southeast Gateway Plan for Office and Institutional uses or Commercial Low Intensity use. These land use types were chosen in the plan to facilitate a suitable transition between the more active commercial areas to the north and east and to the proposed medium density residential areas to the south.

Auto dealerships with design compatibility and visual buffers is listed as an example of this use type.

The plan sets out that a commercial low intensity use is one which tends to produce only modest external impacts including visual, traffic, noise, odor or air pollution.

CLI uses include some or all of the following site characteristics:

Not located in shopping centers,

Largest tenant should not exceed 20,000 square feet,

Typically generates less than 1000 vehicle trips per day

Generates, low numbers of rush hour trips, typically less than 100 at heaviest peak hour

Has no adverse impact on the surrounding community

Maintains architectural compatibility or provides visual separation or buffers as mitigation.

The proposal is to provide a parking area for an auto dealership inventory, adjoining the existing dealership. The land falls from Piney Plains road west to US1. The applicant has offered conditions of a 100-foot streetscape buffer and a 60-foot buffer to the southwestern property boundary. A 100-foot buffer is required to the boundary with US1.

The area is not within a shopping center; the parking area will not generate a significant number of vehicle trips per day or at rush hour. The use will be sharing the existing driveway. The buffers proposed will minimize visual impact on the area.

Therefore it is broadly compatible with the land use plan and a land use plan amendment is not required.

It should be noted that development of this tract in isolation from the tract to the southwest would reduce the area and therefore the opportunity for a larger coordinated office development in this location. However, no such proposal is on the table. Further since the SE Gateway Plan was adopted in1998 Dillard Drive has been extended south of Lowes as proposed in the plan. The resulting road alignment makes Dillard Drive-Piney Plains the major through road. The alignment of Old Piney Plains road has been offset by the formation of an intersection and has effectively downgraded the road and the prominence of the property from the highway.

Finally, a review of the land use proposals made in the SE Gateway Plan is underway. A report on the scope and timetable for the review will be made to The Council in January. A focus of this review will be on the traffic generation issues of the land uses. However, notwithstanding this review, this proposal is considered to be of a minor scale that will not have a significant bearing on that review. The rezoning can be determined now on its merits.

The property is identified in the Open Space and Historic Resources Plan as Potential Open Space (POS) because significant resources of mixed hardwood/conifer forest were identified at the southern end of the parcel facing Piney Plains Road. POS consists of privately held vacant, undeveloped, or slightly developed land that could function as open space. POS may include all or part of an individual parcel. All Potential Open Space is currently being evaluated for preservation and/or acquisition in accordance with the OSHRP.

The property is also located within an Open Space/Greenway Corridor as denoted on the OSHRP. These conceptual corridors link greenways, existing and potential open space, and significant resource areas identified in the OSHRP. This property lies within an Open Space/Greenway corridor, and will be evaluated to determine if opportunities exist to preserve additional open space.

At the public hearing there were some comments concerning the proposed use and the effect of the use with the existing vegetation. Since the hearing the applicant has provided additional conditions to limit the use for vehicular parking/storage and provided increased buffers to promote open space on the site.

As stated in the land use review, this request is now consistent with the land use plan and is a low traffic generator for the Crossroads area. The site is retaining open space by establishing extensive buffers for the use proposed. This area also potentially would have a greenway link from the south towards Dillard Road on the east of the tract.