BZA Approves Use Variance For Future Grossnickle Eye Center Location
October 26, 2021 at 1:34 a.m.
By David [email protected]
City Planner Justin Taylor said the petitioner, Grossnickle Eye Center, has requested a use variance to allow a medical facility within an Industrial-2 zoning district. The property in question is a vacant piece of property along CR 200N.
“The proposed facility will be an optometry practice with approximately 100 employees. The hours of operation will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The practice anticipates seeing around 200 patients per day. The surrounding context of the site includes a parcel owned by Parkview so additional medical uses are likely in this area,” Taylor told the BZA.
Although the comprehensive plan recommends light industrial uses for this area, he said, “this request should not interfere substantially with the intent of the plan. It is the opinion of the Planning Department that this request should be viewed favorably when measured by the criteria delineated within the findings of fact.”
Attorney Steve Snyder, speaking on behalf of the petitioner, said the parcel is limited to a certain extent because of wetlands and woods, but the property before the BZA Monday is useable.
“Just as a little background, there’s no hurry for Grossnickle Eye Center to build a building and relocate. They’re looking down the road at the future and this site was available, and they looked at it favorably, and said, ‘Now is probably the time to move, even though it could be years before we need a new facility,’” Snyder said.
The property is 11.61 acres, and the area is zoned Industrial-2. The parcel immediately to the east is owned by Parkview Hospital.
“One of the things that I think is important to note, Mariner Drive, when the Y and Parkview put all that together, was dedicated right up to the edge of Deed’s Creek. Now, obviously, it’s not to put a boat in in Deed’s Creek. There is the plan, at some point ... that there would be a bridge over Deed’s Creek and that road could be extended further northward all the way up to 200N,” Snyder said, noting that was significant to the development of that area.
He asked the BZA to also approve – in addition to the use variance – to extend the operating period of the use variance beyond the typical six months. Snyder said Grossnickle obviously doesn’t have plans to move forward in six months and it could be considerably longer than that. He asked that the BZA approve the use variance without an expiration date.
City attorney Scott Reust said Snyder’s request was reasonable, but advised against leaving it completely open-ended. He said the BZA needed to put some end date on it.
Dan Robinson, of Robinson Construction, which is immediately adjacent on the west to the property in question, said they didn’t object to the petition. He also didn’t object to the time extension that Snyder requested.
The Board approved the use variance with a five-year extension.
Robinson also owns property to the west of the next property brought before the BZA Monday.
Marc Transparenti requested a use variance to allow a church within an I-2 zoning district. The proposed site is at 521 Anchorage Road and is flanked by a Residential-1 zone to the south, a Commercial-3 district to the east and a continuation of Industrial-2 zoning to the north and west, Taylor told the Board.
The petitioner wants to use the existing building to facilitate various meetings and events related to the church. The exact days and times are not currently known, he said. If approved, the petitioner would be required to get all applicable permits through the city and state regarding change of use to ensure compliance with safety regulations.
Taylor said the context of this site appears to be conducive to the petitioner’s request. A church would create a more desirable buffer between the R-1 zoning district to the south and other industrial uses to the north.
“It is the opinion of the Planning Department that this request could be viewed favorably,” Taylor said.
BZA member Jeff Johnson asked what the building is used for now. Taylor said he believed it was vacant. The building to the north is a 24-hour gym. Transparenti, the pastor of Calvary Chapel Lake City, said that was correct.
Transparenti said, “We’ve been approached by the business owner of the property who has set forth favorable terms for us to utilize the space, and we are excited about the opportunity.” He said the property owner plans to fix up the vacant warehouse that’s not being utilized currently.
“It’s kind of a wreck. There’s grass growing up through the gutters. It’s an eyesore. So he’s talking about basically doing a full rehab inside and outside, and then letting us utilizing this space,” Transparenti said.
The church currently meets at Lakeland Christian Academy on Sunday mornings. Transparenti said the LCA space is larger than the Anchorage Road property, so he wasn’t sure if the Anchorage Road property could accommodate them on Sundays. However, the space could be used for other activities and services throughout the week. The church wouldn’t purchase the property but lease the building.
Robinson had no problems with the church using the building, but had some concerns about how the city’s plans to revamp Anchorage Road would affect his property at 515 Anchorage Road, which he spent over $1.5 million to remodel and is used by AirWorx.
“I’ve got concerns and my tenant has major concerns because the city is intending to take part of our property away and our south parking there along the building, and that is going to impact a limited site already, so I was going to suggest to the city that if they’re going to take that away from us and impact that building ... that maybe they could acquire some of the property over there that this gentleman’s talking about, to swap out what they’re going to take away from us,” Robinson said, repeating that he didn’t object to the church.
Taylor suggested he and Robinson and Community Economic and Development Director Jeremy Skinner sit down and talk about the plans at a later time as it was a separate conversation.
Transparenti’s petition was approved 4-0.
The first petition to go before the BZA was from Lucas Ellsworth, who is in the process of building a residence at 850 S. Logan St. He sought a variance from development standards to allow a portion of his driveway to be gravel.
The city’s municipal code does not allow gravel to be used for travel surfaces or parking surfaces without approval from the BZA, Taylor said. Ellsworth has proposed paving the first 60 feet of the drive from Logan Street in order to mitigate the spread of gravel to the public right-of-way. Ellsworth later said the entire length of the drive would be about 200 feet.
Due to the excessive length of the driveway and the proposal to pave the most visible section of the driveway to prevent gravel from spreading, Taylor said it was the opinion of the Plan Department that the petition could be viewed favorably.
There were no remonstrators against the petition.
Bruce Woodward, Shadycrest Development Inc., sent an email stating, “As a neighbor and developer of the subdivision of which this tract is a part, we have no objections to portions of the driveway being a non-hard surface. The tract is 4 acres in size and well-suited for a more relaxed environment than the current zoning ordinance dictates.”
The motion to approve was made by Johnson and it was approved 4-0.
City Planner Justin Taylor said the petitioner, Grossnickle Eye Center, has requested a use variance to allow a medical facility within an Industrial-2 zoning district. The property in question is a vacant piece of property along CR 200N.
“The proposed facility will be an optometry practice with approximately 100 employees. The hours of operation will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The practice anticipates seeing around 200 patients per day. The surrounding context of the site includes a parcel owned by Parkview so additional medical uses are likely in this area,” Taylor told the BZA.
Although the comprehensive plan recommends light industrial uses for this area, he said, “this request should not interfere substantially with the intent of the plan. It is the opinion of the Planning Department that this request should be viewed favorably when measured by the criteria delineated within the findings of fact.”
Attorney Steve Snyder, speaking on behalf of the petitioner, said the parcel is limited to a certain extent because of wetlands and woods, but the property before the BZA Monday is useable.
“Just as a little background, there’s no hurry for Grossnickle Eye Center to build a building and relocate. They’re looking down the road at the future and this site was available, and they looked at it favorably, and said, ‘Now is probably the time to move, even though it could be years before we need a new facility,’” Snyder said.
The property is 11.61 acres, and the area is zoned Industrial-2. The parcel immediately to the east is owned by Parkview Hospital.
“One of the things that I think is important to note, Mariner Drive, when the Y and Parkview put all that together, was dedicated right up to the edge of Deed’s Creek. Now, obviously, it’s not to put a boat in in Deed’s Creek. There is the plan, at some point ... that there would be a bridge over Deed’s Creek and that road could be extended further northward all the way up to 200N,” Snyder said, noting that was significant to the development of that area.
He asked the BZA to also approve – in addition to the use variance – to extend the operating period of the use variance beyond the typical six months. Snyder said Grossnickle obviously doesn’t have plans to move forward in six months and it could be considerably longer than that. He asked that the BZA approve the use variance without an expiration date.
City attorney Scott Reust said Snyder’s request was reasonable, but advised against leaving it completely open-ended. He said the BZA needed to put some end date on it.
Dan Robinson, of Robinson Construction, which is immediately adjacent on the west to the property in question, said they didn’t object to the petition. He also didn’t object to the time extension that Snyder requested.
The Board approved the use variance with a five-year extension.
Robinson also owns property to the west of the next property brought before the BZA Monday.
Marc Transparenti requested a use variance to allow a church within an I-2 zoning district. The proposed site is at 521 Anchorage Road and is flanked by a Residential-1 zone to the south, a Commercial-3 district to the east and a continuation of Industrial-2 zoning to the north and west, Taylor told the Board.
The petitioner wants to use the existing building to facilitate various meetings and events related to the church. The exact days and times are not currently known, he said. If approved, the petitioner would be required to get all applicable permits through the city and state regarding change of use to ensure compliance with safety regulations.
Taylor said the context of this site appears to be conducive to the petitioner’s request. A church would create a more desirable buffer between the R-1 zoning district to the south and other industrial uses to the north.
“It is the opinion of the Planning Department that this request could be viewed favorably,” Taylor said.
BZA member Jeff Johnson asked what the building is used for now. Taylor said he believed it was vacant. The building to the north is a 24-hour gym. Transparenti, the pastor of Calvary Chapel Lake City, said that was correct.
Transparenti said, “We’ve been approached by the business owner of the property who has set forth favorable terms for us to utilize the space, and we are excited about the opportunity.” He said the property owner plans to fix up the vacant warehouse that’s not being utilized currently.
“It’s kind of a wreck. There’s grass growing up through the gutters. It’s an eyesore. So he’s talking about basically doing a full rehab inside and outside, and then letting us utilizing this space,” Transparenti said.
The church currently meets at Lakeland Christian Academy on Sunday mornings. Transparenti said the LCA space is larger than the Anchorage Road property, so he wasn’t sure if the Anchorage Road property could accommodate them on Sundays. However, the space could be used for other activities and services throughout the week. The church wouldn’t purchase the property but lease the building.
Robinson had no problems with the church using the building, but had some concerns about how the city’s plans to revamp Anchorage Road would affect his property at 515 Anchorage Road, which he spent over $1.5 million to remodel and is used by AirWorx.
“I’ve got concerns and my tenant has major concerns because the city is intending to take part of our property away and our south parking there along the building, and that is going to impact a limited site already, so I was going to suggest to the city that if they’re going to take that away from us and impact that building ... that maybe they could acquire some of the property over there that this gentleman’s talking about, to swap out what they’re going to take away from us,” Robinson said, repeating that he didn’t object to the church.
Taylor suggested he and Robinson and Community Economic and Development Director Jeremy Skinner sit down and talk about the plans at a later time as it was a separate conversation.
Transparenti’s petition was approved 4-0.
The first petition to go before the BZA was from Lucas Ellsworth, who is in the process of building a residence at 850 S. Logan St. He sought a variance from development standards to allow a portion of his driveway to be gravel.
The city’s municipal code does not allow gravel to be used for travel surfaces or parking surfaces without approval from the BZA, Taylor said. Ellsworth has proposed paving the first 60 feet of the drive from Logan Street in order to mitigate the spread of gravel to the public right-of-way. Ellsworth later said the entire length of the drive would be about 200 feet.
Due to the excessive length of the driveway and the proposal to pave the most visible section of the driveway to prevent gravel from spreading, Taylor said it was the opinion of the Plan Department that the petition could be viewed favorably.
There were no remonstrators against the petition.
Bruce Woodward, Shadycrest Development Inc., sent an email stating, “As a neighbor and developer of the subdivision of which this tract is a part, we have no objections to portions of the driveway being a non-hard surface. The tract is 4 acres in size and well-suited for a more relaxed environment than the current zoning ordinance dictates.”
The motion to approve was made by Johnson and it was approved 4-0.
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092