TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Dustin Anderson, Director of Community Development
SUBJECT:
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Ordinance Approving a Special Use Permit to Allow an Automobile Storage Lot for an Existing Used Automobile Sales Business, Located at 115 N. Center Street (ZBA 2024-60)
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BACKGROUND:
The petitioner and business owner, Bujar Shabani with 1st Choice Auto Sales, is requesting a special use permit to use the property at 115 N. Center Street to store extra inventory for their business. 1st Choice Auto Sales is a used car dealership located one block north of the proposed storage lot at 201 N. Center Street. The dealership lot is 6,000 square feet and contains a small office building and 18 parking spaces. The dealership is located at the northwest corner of Center Street and Oneida Street and has no room to expand. The petitioner has operated 1st Choice Auto Sales at 201 N. Center Street since 2018 and purchased the lot at 115 N. Center Street in 2021.
The lot at 115 N. Center Street can hold approximately 16 vehicles and would only be used for the storage of vehicles - no sales would be conducted on the property. The property is accessed from an alley off Center Street that runs along the south side of the site. As conditions of approval, the petitioner would need to make several site improvements including re-paving and striping the parking lot, replacing deteriorated sidewalk along Center Street, and replacing the alley apron off Center Street.
The property is zoned B-3 (general business) and has been a parking lot for decades. Staff finds that the request meets the criteria for special uses in that it will not be detrimental to public health or general welfare and will not be injurious to the use of other property in the immediate vicinity. Staff does not take a position as to whether or not this is the highest and best use for the parcel.
The petitioner previously requested the same special use permit under Petition 2022-73, which was recommended for denial by the Zoning Board of Appeals in December 2022 and denied by City Council in January 2023. More than one year has elapsed since that denial.
ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS PUBLIC HEARING:
The Zoning Board of Appeals held a public hearing on this matter on December 19, 2024. Bujar Shabani, petitioner and business owner, represented the petition. One person spoke in support of the petition. One person spoke and submitted a letter in opposition to the petition. Meeting minutes are attached.
RECOMMENDATION OF THE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS:
Jim Riggs moved that the Zoning Board of Appeals recommend denial of the Special Use Permit request to allow an automobile storage lot for an existing used automobile sales business at 115 N. Center Street. Brigette Roehr seconded the motion, which passed with six (6) aye votes and no nay votes. Voting aye were: Hennessy, Nachtrieb, Bias, Roehr, Riggs, and Radakovich. Voting nay were: none.
RECOMMENDATION:
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If the Council elects to grant the Special Use Permit to allow an automobile storage lot for an existing used automobile sales business at 115 N. Center Street, staff recommends that it be subject to the following conditions:
1. That no sales or repair of automobiles shall be conducted on the property;
2. That no inoperable vehicles shall be stored on the property;
3. That the property shall be re-paved, and the parking spaces marked (painted) in accordance with an approved City plan prior to utilization of the lot;
4. That the public sidewalk adjacent to the east side of the property and extending to the south side of the alley, and the alley apron, shall be replaced within 6 months of ordinance approval in accordance with the requirements of the Public Works Department;
5. That the Special Use Permit shall terminate if the Variation of Use for 201 N. Center Street (Ordinance #8562) is revoked or if the use is abandoned for longer than one year;
6. That the Special Use granted shall herein terminate and lapse unless a building permit or certificate of occupancy is obtained not later than 180 days of the effective date of this ordinance and the erection or alteration of a building is started or the use is commenced within such period. The Board may grant an extension of this period, valid for no more than one hundred and eighty (180) additional days, upon written application and good cause shown without notice or hearing. Whether or not there is an intention to abandon the Special Use, if any special use is discontinued for a continuous period of one year, or if an intent to abandon the Special Use is evident in a shorter period of time, the Special Use for such use shall become void, and such use shall not thereafter be reestablished unless a new Special Use Permit is obtained;
7. Should the property be declared a public nuisance, it shall be subject to a rehearing and a possible revocation of the Special Use Permit.
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