Substitute
Public Hearing: YES ☒ NO ☐ Department: Planning & Sustainability
SUBJECT:
Title
COMMISSION DISTRICT(S): Commission District 03 Super Districts 06 and 07
Application of Deandre’ B. Mathis for a Special Land Use Permit (SLUP) for a proposed boutique wine shop within the C-1 (Local Commercial) Zoning District and the I-20 Overlay District.
Body
PETITION NO: SLUP-22-1245323 (2021-3521)
PROPOSED USE: retail wine shop.
LOCATION: 1691 Candler Road, Decatur, Georgia 30032
PARCEL NO. : 15-183-05-015
INFO. CONTACT: Brandon White, Current Planning Manager
PHONE NUMBER: 404-371-4922
PURPOSE:
Application of Deandre’ B. Mathis for a Special Land Use Permit (SLUP) for a proposed boutique wine shop within the C-1 (Local Commercial) Zoning District and the I-20 Overlay District.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommended Action
COMMUNITY COUNCIL: Approval.
PLANNING COMMISSION: Full Cycle Deferral.
PLANNING STAFF: Approval with conditions (Revised 2/22/2022)
STAFF ANALYSIS: The proposed request is to convert the existing office building into a boutique wine shop. As shown on the provided floor plan, the proposed wine shop will consist of several wine tasting rooms and a showroom to sell wine. The proposed wine shop will be located on a nonconforming lot. Minimum lot width and minimum lot size for the C-1 (Local Commercial) Zoning District is 100 feet and 20,000 square feet, respectively. Additionally, the site contains a number of nonconforming development standards or zoning deficiencies (e.g., no designated parking, no transitional buffers, exceeds maximum lot coverage, etc.). The proposed wine shop may be consistent with the retail and other commercial uses along this portion of Candler Road. There are various uses along Candler Road such as medical/doctors’ offices, business offices, and retail stores in the vicinity of the subject property. Considering the small commercial lot sizes and nonexistent transition from Candler Road commercial properties to the residential area, low intensity commercial uses (e.g. tax office, law office, boutique shops, sandwich shop, etc.) would be recommended along this portion of the corridor. Alternatively, there are residential properties directly west of the subject property. The applicant’s impact statement states “[t]he response I got from the neighborhood when I sent out letters was an overwhelming acceptance and anticipation.”.
Additionally, at the January 27, 2022 Board of Commissioners Zoning Meeting, a few people spoke in support of the request.
Based upon the impact analysis and land use analysis above, the special land use permit request appears to be consistent with the intent of the 2035 Comprehensive Plan Update. The proposed use may be consistent with the policies and strategies of the Commercial Redevelopment Corridor (CRC) character area, which encourages redevelopment and revitalization of vacant and declining commercial corridors. Therefore, staff recommends approval of this request with the conditions
PLANNING COMMISSION VOTE: Full Cycle Deferral 8-0-0. Vivian Moore moved, Jon West seconded for Full Cycle Deferral to the March 2022 zoning agenda, per Staff recommendation. Jana Johnson was not present for this vote.
COMMUNITY COUNCIL VOTE/RECOMMENDATION: Approval 9-0-0. Applicant answered board members' questions re: nature of the proposed use, hours of operation, public notice for the community mtg., etc. to their satisfaction.