Commission approves contractor-shop conditional use at 700 Weaver Park Road with conditions

The Planning & Zoning Commission approved, 7-0 on Sept. 24, a conditional-use site plan allowing a contractor shop to occupy an existing building at 700 Weaver Park Road in the Weaver Business Park subdivision.

Phil Taylor, senior planner, told commissioners the one-acre property is zoned Mixed Use Employment and generally conforms to a 1984 approved site plan. Staff recommended conditional approval with four conditions: bring the site into conformance with the approved 1984 plan (including planting and parking striping), restripe to meet current ADA standards, add a bicycle rack, and prohibit outdoor storage. The applicant, Corey Cash, president of Sentinel Management and Touchstone Commercial Building Services, told the commission the proposed use would primarily be an equipment-and-supply hub for technicians who work on commercial HVAC and facility systems; he said the business would not perform heavy fabrication on site and did not plan outdoor storage.

Commissioner discussion focused on the outdoor-storage condition. Commissioners noted the use would otherwise allow outdoor storage in the zoning district; several members said a separate future expansion or addition should return to the commission or require additional review. Commissioner Mont moved to approve the conditional use with the modification that the staff’s recommended condition prohibiting outdoor storage be removed; Vice Chair Pullen seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Key conditions adopted: the applicant must bring the site into conformance with the 1984 site plan, restripe the parking lot to meet current ADA standards including a van-accessible stall, and install an inverted-U bicycle rack. Staff retained the condition requiring compliance with the 1984 plan and the other site improvements; the explicit prohibition of outdoor storage was removed by the commission as part of the approval.

Staff noted that expansion of an approved conditional use would require a return to the commission. The commission read the seven-day administrative appeal procedure into the record; the approval is subject to the same seven-day appeal window described for other land-use actions at the meeting.

Background: Taylor said the Mixed Use Employment zoning and Longmont’s Envision Longmont map encourage adaptive reuse of older employment buildings and a variety of light industrial and contractor uses. The subject parcel totals approximately 1.043 acres and is located at the intersection of Weaver Park Road and Primrose Court. The commission’s action will allow Sentinel/Touchstone to use the building as a contractor shop subject to the site-improvement conditions.

Appeal information: The approval enters a seven-day appeal period beginning at 8 a.m. the day after the meeting and ending at 5 p.m. on the seventh day.