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Summary Staff Report:
The C-1 Commercial Neighborhood District is described in
Section 3-200 of the Ordinance as:
Generally a town center type district allowing neighborhood
commercial activities and some residential uses. Its main
purpose is to provide areas for neighborhood type retail and
service convenience shopping. The areas should be located
so as to provide pedestrian access from nearby
neighborhoods. The size should relate to the neighborhoods
served and the configuration should allow for internal
pedestrian movement.
This neighborhood-scaled, pedestrian oriented character
envisioned for the C-1 district is further reiterated in the
Comprehensive Plan for areas with C-1, including New
Baltimore and Marshall. The proposed text amendment seeks
to modify the provisions of the C-1 Zoning District in order
to facilitate development within the District more in
keeping with the neighborhood scale commercial and mixed use
centers envisioned by the Comprehensive Plan. Under
existing regulations, such form often cannot be achieved
without approval of waivers or modifications of provisions.
While this text amendment was stimulated by several pending
rezoning applications in the New Baltimore Service District
on land envisioned by the Comprehensive Plan to be
Commercial Neighborhood, C-1 properties are found throughout
the County and the proposed text amendment therefore has
broader implications. Staff has calculated that 412
parcels containing approximately 432.94 acres are currently
zoned C-1, with the largest concentrations of C-1 zoning
located in the Marshall and Calverton Service Districts. An
inventory of the parcels zoned C-1 is provided as Attachment
1.
Process
This text amendment was first initiated by the Planning
Commission on December 10, 2008. Since that time, the
Commission has held work sessions on the proposed text
amendment and two public hearings (February 26, 2009 and
March 26, 2009), making significant changes to the draft
language in response to public input. Earlier versions of
the regulations required all but the smallest development in
the C-1 district to be built as two-stories and located
within 10 feet of the street, whereas the version ultimately
recommended for approval by the Commission provides
substantially more flexibility. Only developments over
50,000 square feet must incorporate two-story buildings, and
then only on a limited basis. While buildings are still to
be set closer to the street, with parking to the rear and
side, more flexibility is provided in the amount of
setback. Flexibility is also enhanced through broad waiver
provisions built into the regulations.
The key changes proposed to C-1 are discussed in more detail
below.
Proposed Changes
Increase in Total Development Size from 50,000 to 100,000
Square Feet
The existing C-1 regulations do not allow shopping centers
(defined to be a group of three or more businesses and/or
uses) to exceed a total of 50,000 square feet. The
proposed text amendment increases the total size of a
shopping center allowed from 50,000 square feet to 100,000
square feet, with special exception approval, in order to
facilitate mixed use development with upper story uses—a
more traditional town form—rather than a typical strip
shopping center. To ensure that the increased square
footage is utilized to create these traditional mixed use
forms of development rather than just a larger retail
shopping center, the following limitations are included for
developments over 50,000 square feet:
A. No individual building footprint shall exceed 15,000
square feet.
B. No individual building size shall exceed 25,000 square
feet.
C. The amount of first-floor space shall not exceed 50,000
square feet.
D.
Buildings shall predominately be at least 25 feet in height,
to include some two-story buildings.
E.
Any historic structures located on the property, as
determined by the Board, are preserved and incorporated into
the proposed development.
The intent of the standards is to assure that larger
developments are comprised of a collection of small to
medium sized buildings, rather than larger boxes. The
Planning Commission spent substantial time refining these
standards, particularly as they relate to the issue of
two-story buildings. The original draft required two-story
within development over 50,000 square feet in size. The
current standards require most buildings in such a
development to be two stories in height, with only limited
functional two-story buildings required. For developments
over 50,000 square feet, there will of necessity be some
two-story buildings, as the increase over 50,000 square feet
is only allowed to provide upper story uses. The
development community felt strongly that the absolute
requirement for two functional stories for all buildings was
economically infeasible. This revised language provides
significantly more flexibility for the County and an
applicant to work through the issue of height on a
case-by-case basis with the special exception process.
The last standard above, related to historic structures was
added by the Commission to address concerns that the
provisions do not have the effect of encouraging the removal
of historic structures; the new standard addresses this
issue with respect to developments over 50,000 square feet
in size.
Residential Uses
The type of development envisioned in the C-1 areas by the
Comprehensive Plan is typically multi-story buildings with
lower stories devoted to retail or other commercial uses and
upper stories devoted to residential or commercial uses.
Yet the existing regulations only allow upper story
residential uses through the special exception process,
providing a strong disincentive to the provision of such
units. The proposed text amendment eliminates the special
exception requirement for residential units over commercial
uses. The existing special exception standards for such
residential uses are incorporated as use limitations in
Article 3, continuing to limit density and assuring adequate
open space for residents. The specific limitations include:
1.
Multi-family dwellings are permitted only in buildings where
the first floor is devoted to commercial use, with
residential use on the first floor limited to the minimum
area needed to provide an entrance and lobby to the
residential units.
2.
The total residential density shall not exceed 8 units per
acre.
3.
In addition to the 10% minimum landscaped green space
required by Section 3-409 for the C-1 zone, development
incorporating 10 or more residential units shall provide a
minimum of 2,000 square feet of consolidated, usable open
space, with a minimum dimension of 30 feet in any
direction. The consolidated open space shall be designed as
an integral part of the development and shall be accessible
to all residents by internal pedestrian sidewalks or
walkways. An additional 200 square feet of consolidated,
usable open space shall be provided for each unit over 10.
Building Relationship to the Street
The existing setback requirements in the C-1 Zoning District
do not promote the traditional form of development
envisioned for the District. The setback requirements
create a more suburban form of development, with buildings
set back from the street and the large setback areas
typically devoted to parking.
The proposed language eliminates the substantial setback
requirement and prohibits parking and paving from being
located between the building and street. In combination,
these two factors will encourage buildings closer to the
street, with green space and sidewalks between the building
and street rather than paved areas. Larger setbacks are
maintained along Route 29 where it may not be desired to
have development actually address the street. Existing
buildings are allowed to expand without meeting this
provision, and waiver provisions are also provided so that
flexibility is available to address unique circumstances.
Use Limitations on Building Orientation, Scale and Massing,
Access and Parking
The proposed text amendment adds limitations related to
building orientation, scale, massing, and access and parking
which would apply to all uses in the C-1 district. These
limitations are intended to create development of a smaller
form, scale and character consistent with surrounding
neighborhoods. The limitations also seek to establish a
more pedestrian-oriented form of development.
Building Massing and Orientation
The regulations do not eliminate the ability to do larger
buildings. However, they do require that buildings larger
than 5,000 square feet be designed to avoid large blank
building walls, discouraging the suburban form of
development now possible under the C-1 provisions. Such
massing requirements already exist in the C-1 District for
retail and office buildings over 5,000 square feet; the
amendment extends the massing requirement to buildings for
all uses.
The provisions further require that buildings be designed
with an entrance addressing the street, a key element to
creating pedestrian character. These requirements, in
combination with the reduced setback requirements, should
lead to a more traditional form of development in C-1 areas.
Questions were raised at the February Planning Commission
meeting regarding which building faces must be articulated
and which street must a building face when there are
multiple streets. In response, staff added language to the
draft which clarified that the massing and articulation
requirement apply only to building faces visible from a
public street or public place, such as a park. Language
was also been added to clarify that the street a building
must face is generally the existing public street. Staff
reviewed the existing C-1 lots in the County and determined
that in almost all cases, the street and parcel layout is
such that buildings should be designed to face these
existing public streets. Only in cases of larger parcels,
where new public streets and/or private streets may be
created in conjunction with development, does the question
of which street is most important typically emerge. Since a
special permit or special exception or rezoning would
typically be involved in these larger scale developments,
the hierarchy of streets and relative importance of
pedestrian orientation could be determined by the County in
conjunction with these approvals.
Access and Parking
The proposed language also requires that parking be located
behind buildings, rather than in front of buildings as is
now allowed and is typically done. In recognition that it
may not always be possible for parking to be located
entirely behind buildings, parking is also allowed beside
buildings where necessary to meet minimum parking
requirements. Access into lots is limited to alleys and
shared entrances, or for new streets created into the
property. Streets are required to be laid out to help
create a grid in the larger surrounding area, where
possible.
Waiver Provisions
The proposed text amendment incorporates waiver provisions
allowing the Zoning Administrator, in conjunction with site
plan approval, the Board of Zoning Appeals in conjunction
with special permit approval, and the Board of Supervisors
in conjunction with Special Exception or Rezoning approval
to waive the use limitations set forth in Article 3 where:
- the alternative proposed does not diminish the
development’s neighborhood-scaled, pedestrian character, or
- it is necessary to allow minimal use of the property;
or
- where it facilitates the preservation of an historic
structure; or
- or, in the case of open space for residential uses,
where other open space and facilities are nearby.
No waiver is proposed for the special permit or special
exception standards limiting footprint and building sizes
for retail/shopping center development.
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