01/05/2012 Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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John Mom•oe, attorney for the applicant; George Kanis, Lucky Break Cafe; and Tony DiBenedetto, property owner were sworn in. Mr. Monroe thanked the board for allowing the reconsideration. He reviewed that there were four buildings/parcels in the center, all of which are owned and managed by the DiBenedetto family. The number of parking spaces is an existing condition. Building 2 which is the location of the cafe is not fully occupied nor is most of the other buildings within the center. The DiBenedetto's are trying to fill their vacant units. There is an existing cross access easement for parking which is located across the street in the old Tops parking lot. The tenant spaces which are currently occupied do not generate enough traffic to fill or exceed the existing parking spaces available. The landlord is willing to create a cross access easement to cover all parlcing within their center if needed and is willing to assign parlcing spaces for the tenants in Building 2. The practical difficulty is pre-existing as the building and parlcing spaces don't meet code for any tenant. Mr. DiBenendetto described the light use of parking spaces based upon existing tenants. A copy of the easement for across the street was submitted to the board and Mr. O'Malley said that although the property owner had such an easement he recommended the board not include the agreement as a condition of approval. Ms. Wenger reviewed the applicant's process through the boards and commissions and how the parking variance request was determined. While the applicant could meet required parking using the entire plaza plus parking across the street, that would require an additional variance for parking across the street and increase the variance request for spacing. Ms. Wenger pointed out that customers do not recognize parcel lines when determining where to park, they park in an available area. Mr. O'Malley said City Council granted the applicant a conditional use permit and recommended the board grant the parking variance with the condition the owner submit a cross access agreement for parking to the west. Mr. Lopez asked if the occupancy of the entire plaza was taken into consideration when the parking variance was calculated. Ms. Wenger said parking is based on the square footage of the building not whether or not a space is occupied. Ms. Rudolph felt a cross access easement was a private matter between landlord and tenants. Mr. Lopez said he would only be comfortable granting the variance if an access agreement was in place. Ms. Bellido said she visited the site multiple times throughout the week to observe the parking lot and found that no matter what time she went it never appeared full. 1VIr. Lopez moved, seconded by Ms. Diver to grant a variance to CMS11-23: Lucky Break Cafe of 26715 Brookpark Roacl Ext. for insufficient parking of 34 spaces based upon the conditions that a cross access easement for parking between all buildings is submitted to the City and that City staff has the authority to determine if there is a need for assigned parking spaces for each tenant in Buildings 1& 2, which passed 5-0. Mr. Moruoe aslced that the occupancy permit not be held up as it would take up to 60 days for the easement to be approved and filed. Mr. O'Malley said a conditional occupancy permit can be issued by the building official subject to the easement being filed within 60 days. Election of Chair and Vice Chair Ms. Bellido nominated Ms. Rudolph to serve as Board of Zoning Appeals Chair for 2012, which was seconded by Mr. Raig and passed 5-0.