License and Variance Board Meeting - A. MAX BACON CITY HALL - COUNCIL CHAMBERS — Minutes
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March 26, 2025 10:00 AM City of Smyrna License and Variance Board Meeting 2800 King Street SE Council Chambers Page 2 of 11 B. V25-028 Public Hearing - Variance Request - V25-028 - Reduce the required parking spaces from 37 spaces to 31 spaces - Land Lot 810 - 3468 Spring Road - Shahzad Pirani Ward 1 Councilmember - Glenn Pickens Caitlin Crowe, Planner I, provided the following background: The subject parcel is a 0.32-acre lot located on the southwest corner of the intersection of Woodruff Drive and Spring Road (see Figure 1). The subject parcel and the adjacent parcels to the south, east, and west are zoned GC (General Commercial) and are occupied by a glass installation shop, an auto sales facility, and an orthodontist, respectively. The adjacent property to the north across Spring Road is zoned RM-12 and is occupied by the ibex Park apartment complex. The property was formerly occupied by Carfast Financial Holdings, a used car financial facility, but has been vacant for the last several months. The subject property is currently occupied by a 2,726 square foot building and covered patio, with access off both Spring Road and Woodruff Drive. The applicant is proposing to remodel the interior of the existing building to accommodate a new coffee shop, complete with a new open concept, new restrooms, and outdoor seating. No new impervious coverage will be added within the property boundaries, as the parking lot will remain relatively as-is, with striping and fixing minor potholes being the only improvements. Since the property is changing uses from an office space to a restaurant, Section 906.17 of the Zoning Ordinance requires 37 parking spaces on the subject property for a restaurant providing patron use, which is calculated at one space per 75 square feet of gross floor area. The proposed plan shows the property under-parked with 11 parking spaces. However, the applicant has secured a shared parking agreement with the adjacent property to the east, located at 2482 Spring Road, providing up to 20 dedicated parking spaces. This brings the total available parking spaces to 31 spaces. As a coffee shop, the majority of orders are small and for carryout, resulting in a high turnover of parking spaces. With 31 total spaces, there will be ample parking available both for customers who wish to dine in and for staff, making the parking supply sufficient. Therefore, Community Development supports the proposed parking reduction. Since the subject property is located at the intersection of two well-traveled roadways (Spring Road and Woodruff Drive), the available buildable area is limited. In order to erect the dumpster enclosure out of the front setbacks and still maintain as much parking as possible, the enclosure has been shifted to the back of the property, within the side setback. However, the dumpster enclosure should have little impact on surrounding properties and will not be highly visible from the right-of-way, thus staff is supportive of this request. The applicant is requesting to deviate from the City’s required parking minimums, Spring Road Corridor Design standards, and side setback. According to Section 1403 of the Zoning Ordinance, variances must be reviewed under the following standards: (1) Whether there are unique and special or extraordinary circumstances applying to the property; (2) Whether any alleged hardship is self-created by any person having an interest in the property; (3) Whether strict application of the relevant provisions of the code would deprive the applicant of reasonable use of the property; and (4) Whether the variance proposed is the minimum variance needed. Community Development has reviewed the requests against the variance review standards and recommends approval