Hearings Official Decision - Laserfiche WebLink

Policy 2. No arterial or limited access road will be allowed within the Valley except as necessary to serve Valley residents, as it would physically and thus destroy the neighborhood. Finding: The proposed PUD includes no arterials or limited access roads subject to these policies. The proposed improvements to Capital Drive and the proposed new private drive, which are intended to serve the residents of the immediate area, are outside the boundaries of the Laurel Hill Plan. Policy 4: All future construction in the Valley or East Laurel Hill shall include adequate off-street parking to accommodate not only permanent residents but a reasonable number of visitors. Although on-street parking should be discouraged, in some areas pull-out facilities for parking should be developed, particularly where congestion exists. Finding: The proposed PUD does not include the exact locations of individual homes within the footprint of the proposed lots. However, in the R-1 zone, a minimum of one parking space is required for each single-family lot. On-street parking along one side of the street is provided on both Cupola Drive and Capital Drive, which would accommodate some additional parking needs. While any proposed building must comply with the R-1 standards, the hearings official does not consider one off-street parking space to be adequate to accommodate both permanent residents and a reasonable number of visitors as required under this policy. As discussed in more detail below, access to the proposed PUD will be reliant primary on Capital Drive, and to a lesser degree, on Cresta de Ruta, both of which connect to Spring Street, from which all access is dependent. Below the proposed development site, those streets are not constructed to current city standards. Because those streets are narrow and currently experience significant on-street parking, it is critical that the proposed development provide adequate off-street parking to ensure that residents and visitors to the development do not rely on the existing street network for parking. In addition, as further discussed below, neighbors report that currently emergency vehicles have difficulty turning around on both Capital Drive and Cresta de Ruta. The proposed Cupola Drive will be a loop street, which can serve to increase the maneuverability of emergency vehicles, not only for the proposed development, but also for the existing neighborhood. To that end, it is critical that on-street parking along Cupola Drive not impede the ability of emergency vehicles to use that street. Accordingly, in order to adequately accommodate residents and visitors, as required under this policy, approval of this PUD is conditioned upon a requirement for two or more off-street parking spaces per lot. East Laurel Hill Area Policy 6: Development and expansion of park facilities and bicycle paths is encouraged. The South Hills ridgeline park plan shall be continued. Finding: The east end of the proposed PUD site is located within the East Laurel Hill area. The subject property currently has a pedestrian connection at the end of Capital Drive to the adjacent Hendricks Park and Ribbon Trail, which are part of the South Hills ridgeline park plan. The proposed PUD will not impact continuation of the South Hills ridgeline park plan. Hearings Official Decision (PDT 17-1) 30