Planning commission approves zoning amendment for automotive sales use standard

The Augusta Planning Commission approved a proposed amendment to Section 10 of the city's adopted zoning regulations to add a specific use standard for automotive and equipment sales, rental and manufactured home dealers. The commission voted in favor of the staff-drafted changes at its meeting; the item will go to the City Council for final consideration on April 21.

The amendment creates a tailored standard for car lots within C-3 zoned areas and adds requirements for parking, lot coverage, setbacks and compatibility buffers. Staff said the proposal was prompted in part by a specific 23,000-square-foot lot under consideration for a car-sales use. That site contains a 2,400-square-foot primary building and a 1,200-square-foot accessory storage building, leaving roughly 19,758 square feet for sales display and circulation.

Cammie, planning staff, said the city typically uses national parking standards (three spaces per 1,000 square feet of gross floor area) but proposed an alternative specific to car lots: "I'm recommending sticking with the 1 space per 3,000 square feet because that will provide a spot for your ADA, that will provide adequate parking for employees, and also for remaining spaces for customers." Under the national standard applied to the building area, staff said the site would require about 11 parking spaces (including ADA), while the 1-per-3,000-square-feet standard would yield seven spaces total, one of which must be van-accessible.

Staff noted the applicant had told planning staff there would be two employees and two service bays at the site. Using the 1-per-3,000 standard, staff estimated two employee spaces and four customer spaces would remain after meeting ADA requirements. The proposed amendment does not set a fixed limit on the number of cars that may be displayed for sale; staff said site-plan review and circulation requirements would constrain how vehicles are placed so that access to service bays and pedestrian circulation are maintained.

The draft amendment also adds compatibility-buffer requirements per Article 7 and raises the jurisdiction's maximum lot-coverage allowance for car-lot uses to a stated percentage (percent value not specified in the staff report) "subject to all applicable setbacks and buffering and/or screening requirements," according to staff. Staff clarified that where lots are already largely impervious, setbacks and screening may limit additional paving; undeveloped lots would still need to preserve required setback planting or grass areas with impervious surfacing allowed only outside those setbacks.

The commission opened and then closed the public hearing without public comment on the item and subsequently voted to approve the amendment as outlined in the staff report. The meeting record does not include a roll-call vote or named vote tallies; the motion carried on a voice vote. The item will be forwarded to City Council on April 21 for final action.

Background and next steps: the amendment applies only to the specific use standard for automotive sales and does not change other C-3 uses. Site-plan review by city planning staff will be required for any car-lot conversion or new car-lot use, and the associated paving, circulation and ADA access requirements will be reviewed at that time.