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Walgreens 2 City of Yelm Community Development Department 105 Yelm Avenue West P.O. Box 479 Yelm, WA 98597   Pre-Application Meeting November 2005 These comments are preliminary in nature and are not intended to represent final comments and or requirements for the City of Yelm. Until a complete application is made, the Community Development Department can only attempt to inform the applicant of general requirements as they appear in the form presented by the applicant at the time of pre-submission. Proponent: Walgreens Project Proposal: Construct a Walgreens Drug Store Project Location: Corner of Creek Street and Yelm Avenue E. Zoning and Setbacks The property is zoned Commercial (C-1) which is codified at Chapter 17.26 YMC. The C-1 district was created to provide for the location of business centers to serve the needs of the community for convenience goods and services such as food, drugs, household supplies, automobile servicing, recreation, entertainment and other uses related to, but lesser in scope than the downtown core. The C-1 district allows drug stores as a permitted use subject to site plan review approval in accordance with Chapter 17.84 YMC. Building setbacks are 10 feet from side property lines, 20 feet from rear property lines, and 15 from front property lines. The maximum building height is forty (40) feet. Landscaping and Design Review Street Fronts (SR 507 and Creek Street) The design guidelines require that development must define the street edge with building, landscaping, or other features, must provide direct access to the building from the frontage, and provide treatment to spatially define the street edge when parking is adjacent to street frontages. Type II landscaping is intended to provide visual separation of uses from streets, and visual separation of compatible uses so as to soften the appearance of streets, parking areas, and building elevation. This landscaping is used around the perimeter of a site, and adjacent to buildings. Type II landscaping would be required along the perimeter of the property. Type II landscaping is characterized by an 8 foot landscape strip between uses and a 5 foot strip around buildings of any combination of evergreen and deciduous trees (with no more than 50 percent being deciduous), shrubs, earthen berms and related plant materials or design features may be selected; provided, that the resultant effect is to provide partial screening and buffering between uses and of softening the appearance of streets, parking and structures. Type III landscaping is intended to provide visual relief where clear sight is desired. This landscaping is utilized along pedestrian corridors and walks for separation of pedestrians from streets and parking areas. Type III landscaping would be required along Creek Street. Type III landscaping is typified by a six foot landscaping strip with street trees for a large overstory canopy along streets and pedestrian corridors and grass or other approved vegetation for groundcover. Earthen berms with grass or other vegetative groundcover and other design features may be worked into landscaping provided the resultant effect of providing a pedestrian-friendly environment and visual relief where clear site is required can be achieved. Side and Rear Yards The design guidelines indicate that service areas be located away from neighboring properties to reduce conflicts and requires screening of refuse containers located behind the building. The refuse area must be large enough to accommodate a dumpster and recycle bin. Refuse areas must be screened with an enclosure of a material and design compatible with the overall architectural theme. A six foot wall or fence shall enclose any outdoor refuse collection point. The fence shall be a solid material such as wood or masonry. Multiple Building and Large Lot Developments The design guidelines indicate that providing for public transportation, encourage buildings to complement adjacent activities and visual character and create comfortable human environments, and to incorporate screening, mitigation, utilities and drainage as positive elements. Street Corners Developments on corner lots must enhance the property’s visual qualities by installing substantial landscaping, a decorative screen wall, providing pedestrian access, and architectural cover treatments. Pedestrian Circulation The following elements must be provided as part of the site plan for new developments: All pedestrian paths must comply with the ADA. Adequate lighting must be provided for pedestrian access. Walkways should be integrated with the required parking lot landscaping. Provide pathways through parking lots Integrate transit stops into the planning of site improvements Provide weather protection such as a canopy to create a covered pedestrian open space. Provide at least 200 square feet of landscaping at or near the entry. Provide pedestrian facilities such as benches, kiosks, or bicycle racks. Provide pedestrian scaled lighting Adjacent window displays Provide artwork or special pedestrian scaled signs Building Design and Details To encourage buildings that are comfortable at a human scale, at least three of the following features must be incorporated into the building design: Balconies in upper stories Bay windows Pedestrian oriented space Individual windows Gable or hipped roof Porch or covered entry Spatially defining building elements that define an occupied space Upper story setbacks Composing smaller building elements near the entry or pedestrian oriented street fronts To ensure new development is compatible with Yelm’s architectural size and character, at least two of the following features must be incorporated into the building design: Upper story setback Horizontal building modulation Modulated roof line Building articulation To encourage unique, identifiable architectural features at intersections, at least one of the following features must be included on a façade facing public street: Decorated roofline Decorative treatment of windows and doors Decorative railings, grill work, or landscape guards Landscape trellises Decorative light fixtures Decorative building materials (masonry, wood details or patterns) Concrete block walls must use textured blocks, colored mortar or a mix of other masonry types. Metal roofing must be of high quality with a standing seam and can not be brightly colored. Concrete must be architecturally treated. Blank walls must be treated through trellis and plantings, landscaping beds or other methods. Parking Lot Landscaping Type IV landscaping is intended to provide visual relief and shade in parking areas. At least 24 square feet of landscaping is required for each parking stall proposed. Each area of landscaping must contain at least 100 square feet of area and must be at least six feet in any direction. Each planting area must contain at least one tree. Live groundcover shall be provided throughout each landscaping area. No parking stall shall be located more than 50 feet from a tree. Ingress and Egress Ingress and egress at the site shall be consistent with the Yelm Development Guidelines, Section 4B.140. The access from Creek Street shall be aligned across from 106th Avenue. The access on Yelm Avenue East shall be reviewed in the Transportation Impact Analysis to determine distance from intersection, and possible restricted access. The location of all points of ingress and egress to parking areas are subject to approval by the City Engineer The Traffic Impact Analysis required as part of the environmental review will indicate the impacts that the development will have on the transportation system and suggest mitigation measures that may be required. The City of Yelm has adopted a Transportation Facility Charge (TFC) of $750.00 per PM peak trip generated by new development. The code provides a default table that the applicant can use to determine the number of new PM trips generated by a proposal. A Retail Shopping Center between 10,000 and 49,999 square feet generates 5.59 new peak PM trips per 1,000 square feet pursuant to the concurrency code. Based on 15,000 square feet of retail space, the proposed development would be responsible for an impact fee of $62,887.50 (Peak PM Trip Rate * (Gross Floor Area/1,000)) * $750.00 = TFC (5.59 * (15,000/1,000))*750 = $62,887.50 Parking The requirements for off-street parking and their design shall be regarded as the minimum; however, the owner, developer, or operator of the premises for which the parking facilities are intended shall be responsible for providing adequate amounts and arrangement of space for the particular premises even though such space is in excess of the minimum set forth. Chapter 17.72 retail establishments require one (1) space per 250 square feet of gross floor area. Yelm Development Guidelines 4G.110 states; “in all commercial and industrial developments, parking areas shall be so arranged as to make it unnecessary for a vehicle to back out into any street or public right-of-way. A parking plan shall be submitted to the Community Development Department for review and approval at the time of application for site plan review. All parking areas must be surfaced with asphalt or concrete, and shall be striped and landscaped to the standards of the development guidelines. A standard stall is 9 feet by 20 feet while a compact stall is 8 by 16. A loading space must accommodate a truck 45 feet in length, 12 feet in width, and 14 feet tall. State Environmental Policy Act Process The previous SEPA threshold determination will be reviewed for adoption. Site Plan Review Process A Site Plan Review application as established by Chapter 17.84 YMC is an administrative review process. The minimum application requirements can be found at Section 17.84.060 YMC and are listed on the application form. A notice of application is mailed to all property owners within 300 feet of the site. The site plan review committee’s decision on a site plan review application may be appealed to the Hearing Examiner, who would hold an open record hearing on the issue. The Examiner’s decision can be appealed to the City Council, which would hold a closed record hearing and determine if the decision was supported by substantial evidence or contrary to law. If a SEPA appeal is filed, the site plan review would be combined with that appeal and the Hearing Examiner would become the decision maker with a recommendation from the SPR Committee. An open record hearing would be held by the examiner on the site plan review application, if combined with a SEPA appeal. A conceptual landscaping plan is required with the application for site plan review. The final landscaping and irrigation plan is required as an element of civil plans, with installation and approval prior to occupancy of the business. Land use approval typically contains conditions of approval that the applicant must complete prior to receiving a building permit. Upon satisfactory completion of all conditions of land use approval, the applicant can submit building plans for approval.