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Avon delays Nirvana Sports plan after debate over waivers and a disputed shared-parking easement
Summary
The commission continued DPR 2609 (Nirvana Sports, approx. 15,000 sq ft) to July 27, 2026 after staff recommended denial of four waivers. Petitioners agreed to drop or revise two waivers and work with staff; a recorded 1996 shared-parking easement between nearby parcels prompted a request for more time from Regal Cinemas.
The Avon Advisory Plan Commission on June 22 continued a decision on DPR 2609, a proposed roughly 15,000-square-foot indoor recreation building (Nirvana Sports) at 313 Shiloh Crossing Drive, to its July 27, 2026 meeting after extended discussion about four requested waivers and a newly surfaced dispute over a recorded shared-parking easement.
Staff told the commission DPR 2609 seeks one development-standard waiver (foundation plantings adjacent to the south facade) and three design-standard waivers (faade articulation for long elevations, the requirement for two roof features on flat-roof buildings, and an interior/exterior pedestrian network connection). In staff's analysis, each waiver failed to meet the required findings: staff recommended denial of waivers A through D and said the requested modifications appeared driven by an effort to fit a larger building footprint onto a constrained site.
Architect Joseph Leacey (Progress Studio) and Nirvana Sports owners told the commission they were willing to withdraw waivers C (roof features) and D (pedestrian network) and to work with staff to revise waivers A (foundation planting) and B (faade articulation). Leacey said the team planned to try to eliminate or materially reduce waivers C and D through design adjustments and HOA coordination.
A complicating issue surfaced when Mike Sandy, general manager of the adjacent Regal Cinemas, said the theater and its landlord were unaware of a recorded 1996 declaration that appears to grant shared use of parking and cross-access easements across the movie-theater parcel and neighboring parcels. "Nobody at my corporate office knows about this," Sandy said, asking for time for corporate and legal review. Petitioners and staff responded that the recorded declaration is on file, that the petitioner has a contractual right to shared parking and pays HOA dues, and that maintenance obligations are addressed in the recorded agreement.
Given those issues, multiple commissioners and staff recommended a continuance to let the petitioner work with planning staff on architectural massing and pedestrian connections and to allow the Regal representative time to review the recorded easement; the petitioner agreed to submit updated materials two weeks before the July meeting. The commission voted to continue DPR 2609 to July 27, 2026.
Project details discussed in the hearing included a 48-foot peak building height (within the UDO maximum of 65 feet), staff's calculation that the proposed indoor recreation use would require 38 parking spaces, and staff's view that shared parking is supported by a recorded easement showing an excess of parking on the movie-theater property.
What happens next: petitioners said they will work with staff on design changes and with the HOA to establish the pedestrian connection; petitioners committed to deliver revised documents to staff by July 10 to be included in the July 17 packet for the July 27 meeting.
