Planning staff, commission recommend denying special-use permit to replace downtown office with surface parking at 110 West Hancock

City planning staff and the Planning Commission recommended denial April 15 of a special-use permit request to replace an existing office building at 110 West Hancock Avenue with a 14-space surface parking lot.

Planning Director Bruce Launney told the commission the proposal would add 14 new parking spaces where six informal spaces exist today and that the submitted site plan largely met development-review standards for parking. He said the request, however, is "incompatible with the 2023 Comprehensive Plan" because it does not support preservation or adaptive reuse, does not decrease vehicle presence downtown or increase park space, and conflicts with the Doherty Street downtown design-area standards. Launney said the Planning Commission recommended denial and had held the item previously to give the applicant time to provide information on the need for more parking; no supporting parking-demand materials were provided.

Several commissioners expressed opposition to the proposal. Commissioner Lane noted the property had been removed from the historic district at last month's meeting but said the project "came forward and it was rejected by the Planning Commission" and that it does not conform to the comprehensive plan or zoning. Commissioner Reifley said the plan was similar to a 2018 proposal that had been rejected and described the surface parking as an inferior use for downtown property.

No members of the public registered to speak on the item during the meeting. The city staff report states the underlying commercial-downtown zoning and future land-use designation would not change if the special use were approved; the change sought was only approval for a parking use in the downtown zone as a special-use permit. The Planning Commissions recommendation for denial is now before the commission for consideration at a future voting meeting.