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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPEC CUP criteria- housing_022508Solar Vail Conditional Use Permit Application For Employee Housing in the (H) Housing Zone District Whereas, Section 12-6I-3 of the Town of Vail Town Code lists Type VI employee housing as a conditional use in the (H) Housing Zone District, and, Whereas, the applicant is seeking approval to construct not-for-sale 82 EHU’s of various sizes and configurations on the existing Solar Vail site, and, Whereas, the applicant is seeking approval to assign the deed restrictions to entities other than the applicant who need to satisfy TOV EHU requirements, and, Whereas, Section 12-13-3 (E) requires a management plan to be included in the CUP application: Written Management Plan For Type VI EHUs: For the purposes of this title, a type VI EHU is an EHU which shall be governed by a written management plan or other written program approved by the planning and environmental commission. The management plan is the principal document in guiding the use of a type VI EHU. The management plan shall be reviewed and approved by the planning and environmental commission as part of the conditional use permit application for a type VI EHU in accordance with chapter 16 of this title. 1. Management Plan Contents: a. Parameters: The management plan shall include all relevant material and information necessary to establish the parameters of the type VI EHUs. b. Exclusive Use: The management plan shall demonstrate that the type VI EHUs are exclusively used for and remain available for employee housing. c. Notice Of Record: The management plan shall provide a mechanism to provide adequate notice of record to prospective owners to ensure that the requirements of the plan shall be met with any future changes in ownership. d. Occupancy: The management plan shall include adequate provisions to ensure that the EHUs shall be occupied, and shall not remain vacant for a period to exceed three (3) consecutive months. e. Affidavit: No later than February 1 of each year, the owner of a type VI EHU shall submit to the department of community development one copy of a sworn affidavit on a form from the department of community development, to establish that the EHU has been used in compliance with the management plan. The applicant herein presents their proposed Management Plan: 1. Parameters: Per conversations with the Staff and the attached spreadsheet, we propose the following parameters: a. The proposed project is comprised of 82 EHU’s of various sizes. Proposed (and subject to refinement as the design moves forward) are: 1) 57 studios 2) 12 one bedroom units 3) 1 two bedroom unit 4) 4 three bedroom dormitory style units 5) 8 four bedroom dormitory style units All units, except for (7) studios and (3) one bedroom units on the top floor are equal to, or in excess of, TOV minimum sizes as dictated in Ordinance #8, series of 2007. As the design progress, it may be possible to enlarge the top floor units to meet the minimum sizes required. The number of “beds” associated with these units shall be pro-rated to 350 SF per bed. At the time of this CUP submittal, we are showing a total of 150.23 EHU “beds” in the project. b. All units shall be rental type units and none are proposed for sale. Rentals shall be controlled by the applicant’s management company. Priority shall be given to employees working in the Town of Vail and rents shall be “attainable” for employees working in the Town of Vail. c. All units shall be deed restricted per TOV requirements in place at the time of PEC approval. Deed restrictions shall be recorded prior to the building receiving a CO. Deed restrictions shall be assignable to entities other than the applicant and these assigned deed restrictions shall be allowed to satisfy EHU requirements that an entity may be obligated to provide to the TOV. 1) Deed restrictions shall be by unit except as noted below. 2) Assignment of deed restricted “beds” (as defined in Ordinance 8, series of 2007) shall be by entire unit except as noted below. Assignments are permanent and may not be reassigned. Except as noted below, assignments are not required to be made prior to building CO. d. To replace the existing deed restricted units on the site, 5730 square feet of EHU floor area shall be deed restricted under a “blanket” type deed restriction and the “beds” assigned to the Applicant/Building Owner. This area of EHU’s may not be used to satisfy future EHU requirements however, this area of deed restricted units may be transferred to other EHU’s off site per previous agreements with the TOV. Assignment shall take place at the time of deed restriction. e. If approved by the PEC as a conditional use. The proposed office space (currently shown at 4850 sf) shall have 3.1 EHU beds assigned to the Applicant/ building Owner as required by Ordinance #7, series of 2008. These beds may not be used to satisfy future EHU requirements. Assignment shall occur at the time the units are deed restricted. If the office space expands in the future to the full 6000 sf requested in the Conditional Use permit, additional EHU “beds” shall be assigned to the Applicant/Building Owner per the formula in place at the time of PEC approval. 2. Exclusive Use: The Applicant has maintained employee housing on the Solar Vail site since acquiring the property so he has a long standing track record of providing housing for his employees. The proposed redevelopment does not contain any for-sale units, all units will be deed restricted and the applicant intends for this project to meet his employee housing needs well into the future. 3. Notice of Record: The units are all deed restricted which will show in the title report. 4. Occupancy: With no for-sale units to offset the development costs for this project, it is in the Applicants best interest to maintain as high an occupancy rate as possible. 5. Affidavit: The Applicant shall comply with the requirement for an annual affidavit. Whereas, Section 12-16-6 directs the PEC to consider the following factors with respect to the proposed Conditional use: 1. Relationship and impact of the use on development objectives of the town. 2. Effect of the use on light and air, distribution of population, transportation facilities, utilities, schools, parks and recreation facilities, and other public facilities and public facilities needs. 3. Effect upon traffic, with particular reference to congestion, automotive and pedestrian safety and convenience, traffic flow and control, access, maneuverability, and removal of snow from the streets and parking areas. 4. Effect upon the character of the area in which the proposed use is to be located, including the scale and bulk of the proposed use in relation to surrounding uses. The applicant herein provides the following response to the above factors: 1. The TOV has identified employee housing as a top priority. This project will substantially increase the number of EHU’s on the site. 2. The increase in the number of residents living on this site will have no appreciable effect on light and air at this site or the adjacent school or open space. Ridership on the TOV bus routes will increase as the residents will use both the Sandstone and West Vail routes to access Vail Village and the shopping in West Vail. The existing pedestrian bridge will provide easy access to Lionshead and it is likely that there will be increased usage of the adjacent bike path and sidewalks. It is not likely that there will be too much of an impact on the adjacent school or nearby parks as the proposed units and the living environment is not conducive to families with children. 3. A preliminary traffic study is being prepared and will be submitted for review by the PEC and the TOV. The location of the Solar Vail site may actually reduce the number of vehicular trips into and around the Town since it is so easy to walk or take the bus to almost any point in Town. Increasing the number of employees housed on this site means that many fewer employees living elsewhere in the Valley who need to drive to work and find a place to park. The scope of this project includes improvement of the existing vehicular access including a snowmelted turn-around spur for trash, fire and delivery vehicles. The access drive and (minimal) exterior parking have excellent south exposure so maintaining the access drive will not require full snowmelting of the drive to keep it clear of ice and snow most of the time. In times when there is a need to store snow, we would propose to use the 4 guest parking spaces at the southwest corner of the site for temporary storage of snow until it can be removed off site. There is also an area at the east end of the property that has historically been used for snow storage. Pedestrian safety will also be enhanced. Current residents either walk down the unimproved drive at the east end or cross onto the Elementary School property and either walk down their access drive or through their playground. The proposed project includes a new stair-and-sidewalk connection to the existing sidewalk along the Frontage Road at the west end of the site that will hopefully provide a more direct route to the bus stop and Frontage Road walk/bike path. 4. The neighborhood for the Solar Vail site is characterized by TOV open space to the east and the Elementary school to the west. The property rises steeply behind the project and there is TOV open space immediately above that. Increasing the number of EHU’s on the site, with the corresponding increase in scale and mass will have little or no impact on the surrounding uses or the character of the area.