Public Hearing: YES ☒ NO ☐ Department: Planning & Sustainability
SUBJECT:
Title
COMMISSION DISTRICT(S): Commission District 03 Super District 07
Application of Alex Brock for a Special Land Use Permit (SLUP) request to allow a drive-through restaurant in the C-1 (Local Commercial) zoning district, at 3507 Memorial Drive.
Body
PETITION NO: N8-2022-2258 SLUP-22-1246086
PROPOSED USE: Drive-through restaurant.
LOCATION: 3507 Memorial Drive, Decatur, Georgia 30032
PARCEL NO. : 15-200-02-040
INFO. CONTACT: Planning & Sustainability
PHONE NUMBER: 404-371-2155
PURPOSE:
Application of Alex Brock for a Special Land Use Permit (SLUP) request to allow a drive-through restaurant in the C-1 (Local Commercial) zoning district. The property is located on the south side of Memorial Drive and the west side of Columbia Drive at, 3507 Memorial Drive, Decatur, Georgia. The property has approximately 500 feet of frontage along Memorial Drive, 500 feet of frontage along Columbia Drive and contains 12 acres.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommended Action
COMMUNITY COUNCIL: Approval.
PLANNING COMMISSION: Denial.
PLANNING STAFF: Denial.
STAFF ANALYSIS: The applicant is seeking a special land use permit (SLUP) to “renovate” the site and re-establish a drive-through restaurant within the existing footprint. The previous restaurant ceased operations in 2018. Per the applicant’s letter of intent, “[t]he proposed improvements include the renovation of the existing Sonic to transform it into a ±l,430 square foot Dunkin restaurant and other minor improvements ('Proposed Development’). It should be noted that the Applicant is reducing the existing restaurant's footprint by ±37 square feet.” The requested use, “restaurant[] with a drive-thru configuration in activity center character areas,” is subject to SLUP approval with C-1 (Local Commercial) zoning and when located in an activity center. The subject property is located in the Belvedere Town Center (TC) activity center. The subject property is also included the study area for the Belvedere Master Active Living (Small Area) Plan (2013). While the TC activity center generally promotes mixed-use development, reduced automobile travel; walkability; and increased transit usage, the small area plan provides more targeted recommendations. Near the core of this town center activity center, it is the desire of the community to see the site redeveloped in a manner consistent with the Comprehensive Plan (up to 80DUs/acre, and a mixture of residential and nonresidential uses at the core). The proposed SLUP to allow for a drive-through facility-a primarily automobile dependent use-may inherently pose challenges to the transition and evolution of the surrounding area towards many of the land use goals of this activity center. The Belvedere small area plan specifically highlights Belvedere Shopping Plaza, however, it only provides a hypothetical future concept (pg. 34). Furthermore, the Belvedere Master Active Living Plan includes the following applicable zoning and redevelopment design guideline recommendations: • Buildings should be sited close to streets with active ground floor uses and pedestrian amenities that will help strengthen pedestrian connections (pg. 37); • Outparcels should be located to front along primary driveways at intersections with adjacent corridors (pg. 37); • Buildings should be oriented with windows and main entrances facing streets. Loading areas and other facilities should be screened from view of the main vehicular and pedestrian connections (pg. 37); • Commercial and residential uses should be either vertically integrated within mixed-use buildings, and/or horizontally through a finer street network (pg. 37); • Keep and Update the PC District (existing PC districts were converted to MU-1 or MU-5 zoning districts); (pg. 40); and • Prohibit drive-through service windows and drive-in facilities between a building and the street (pg. 40). The site should be adequate for the proposed use. Adverse impacts based on the manner and time of operation should be minimal. The applicant appears to have addressed applicable supplemental regulations. The proposed building footprint exceeds the maximum required setback (60 feet). A variance will be needed. While the applicant makes a persuasive argument regarding consistency with surrounding auto-dependent uses, the distance of residential uses, and the reuse of the existing building footprint, the proposal, nevertheless, does not contribute to the future goals for the character area. Despite its relatively small scale, the replacement of a drive through restaurant detracts from the long-term changes that the community desires for this character area. Therefore, upon review of Sections 7.4.6 (G and H) and 4.2.23 of the Zoning Ordinance, staff recommends “Denial of the special land use permit request”.
PLANNING COMMISSION VOTE: Denial 6-1-1. Jon West moved, Jan Costello seconded for denial, per Staff recommendation. Edward Patton opposed; Vivian Moore abstained.
COMMUNITY COUNCIL VOTE/RECOMMENDATION: Approval 6-0-0. The council recommended approval and indicated that the proposed business would restore more business to the area and that the proposed renovation was better than having a boarded up vacant building.