29,400-square-foot commercial proposal at S. School Ave/W. 15th tabled for land-use clarification and facade/parking variances

A large-scale development application for a 29,400-square-foot commercial building near the intersection of South School Avenue and West 15th Street (LSD2025-006), submitted by Shervin Engineering, was tabled April 2 so the applicant can clarify the intended business use and submit any necessary variances tied to facade, glazing and parking standards.

Gretchen Harrison, planner, told the applicant the city needs an inventory of products or an interior-use description so staff can classify the land use and determine parking counts. "I am going to be tabling this project for planning today for two main reasons. One being that before this does move forward, I just want to verify what we would classify the business as from a land use perspective," Harrison said.

Staff also flagged several code-based issues tied to nonresidential design standards: required glazing visible from the public right-of-way, horizontal and vertical wall-plane variation, and principal-facade requirements such as pedestrian-oriented elements and minimum frequency of entries. Engineering noted ADA slope and sidewalk-grading adjustments and asked for clarification about removal of an existing wide driveway. Urban forestry requested a tree-preservation easement dedication and additional evergreen screening adjacent to parking.

Gretchen told the applicant the item is tabled to allow time to digest comments, submit clarifying materials and, if necessary, file variances to planning commission; the next submittal deadline referenced was April 16.