Laserfiche WebLink
Planning Commission Meeting, June 20, 2023 <br />Page 4 <br />Legends multi-family residential building, then turning into the wash building away from <br />residential structure. Exiting traffic faces the institutional building and parking area. No <br />changes are planned for this pattern. <br />Item 3 relates to mechanical wash equipment standards. The mechanical wash <br />equipment is an existing condition of the facility, and is not proposed to change. <br />Finally, Item 4 requires that vacuum equipment be housed with the primary structure or <br />is situated and designed to avoid noise detection at the boundary of adjoining <br />residential property. Two residential uses adjoin this site, both multi-family structures <br />to the east, and then to the south across 38th Street NE. The proposed vacuum <br />equipment is shown located on a parking lot island nearer to the Legends building than <br />the current individual vacuum units. In addition, it is unscreened from view both to the <br />south and to the east. <br />The applicant has provided a specification sheet that indicates the vacuum equipment <br />will produce up to 76 decibels from a distance of 15 feet. The equipment location is <br />proposed to be approximately 50 feet from the easterly property line, and <br />approximately 125 feet to the property line across 38th Street to the south. As noted <br />above, the equipment is visible from both directions. No additional information <br />indicates the reduced noise volumes beyond the 15 foot distance. <br />To address this, staff would suggest that enclosing the equipment within a solid <br />screening structure should be adequate to minimize both noise and visual impacts of <br />the equipment. The enclosure should reflect the modest materials used in the principal <br />building, primarily colored concrete block. Such structure should successfully moderate <br />any noise impacts of the equipment, and would effectively block views from the <br />adjoining property. It is expected that the structure could be three-sided rather than <br />four, leaving the side open which faces the existing building for access and maintenance <br />of the equipment. It may also be possible to relocate the equipment and structure <br />toward the southwesterly corner of the building, rather than the southeast corner as <br />proposed – this would maximize its distance from the residential buildings. <br />Parking. The proposed location for the vacuum stations occupy the currently available parking <br />spaces on the site. Given the dimensions of the other paved spaces, parking in other locations <br />is likely to interfere with circulation or cause other issues. There may be potential for a small <br />number of parking spaces where the current vacuums are located, and near the proposed <br />equipment location on the plan. These areas should be designed and striped for staff or other <br />parking, separate from the vacuum spaces proposed. Only spaces to accommodate staff or <br />Lighting. A final note relates to lighting of the vacuum stations. The design of similar structures <br />includes a stream of LED lighting along the overhanging structure. The applicant should detail <br />the lighting of the site, and show how the lighting will not impact views of the structures from <br />the adjoining streets. The City Code’s nuisances section provides that lighting may produce no <br />more than .5 footcandles of light at the property line adjoining a residential use, or 1.0 <br />footcandles at other boundaries (such as the adjoining streets in this case). The applicant <br />should demonstrate that this standard is met with the proposed lighting design.