##VIDEO ID:PlyL7Oo9Rag## I'll go ahead and call it the order of the meeting of the Austin City Planning Commission for Tuesday October 15th 2024 uh first up we need to uh approve the minutes from the last meeting which was o or which was Tuesday September 10th any Commissioners have any additions or corrections to those minutes as written if not could I please get a motion in a second to approve them as written I'll make a motion to approve second thank you was that was that you Melissa okay have a motion from commissioner Swanson and a second from commissioner shck to approve the minutes from Tuesday September 10th as written all in favor of the motion please say I I all oppos no motion carries 60 the minutes are approved as written one item on the agenda open public hearing to consider petition from Mill on Main to LLC for a variance to the parking off street parking requirement or total stalls of parking requirement Holly um this uh property is on B2 commercial um to the north is uh multif family residential uh with commercial and to the South is commercial and then uh the Easter's mil Pond and Industrial uh and then West there's multif family residential uh the commer has applied for a variance from our Austin city code that requires uh 1.5 parking stalls per apartment or dwelling unit um so that would require 140 154.50 parking stalls for their new uh proposed apartment development um Milan main 2 proposes to provide 125 parking stalls uh which would equate to 1.21 or yeah 1.21 spaces per unit uh the existing Milan main um had added 1.6 bases per apartment or had uh provided 74% of the required parking um here they proposed to provide 81% of the required parking um but note uh that we have a new parking ordinance which reduced the requirement from 2.25 for the first millon main to 1.5 parking cells now which that's a little confusing but so the original Milan maid would now Milan made would now meet 100% of our required parking um but they did have some notes on their application that they let's see I'll go down here um that they Let's uh that they have uh typically only parked at 70% capacity um so that would equal a par parking ratio of 1.16 parking spaces per unit um they said Milan main will be the same use and is proposed again to be 1.21 parking spaces per unit um back up the um I just noted that the two neighboring properties are picket place and the 800 first drive condos which have their own parking the Planning Commission and city council must deci side that the variance uh required uh variance meets the statutory requirements um this would be a recommendation from Planning Commission again to city council city council will make the final decision uh the variant should be in harmony with the general purposes and intent of the zoning code the variant should be consistent with our comprehensive plan the application uh should have established that there are practical difficulties in complying with the provision and that the property owner possess proposes to use the property in a reasonable manner not permitted by the provision uh the plight of the land owners due to circumstances unique to the property uh not created by the land owner the variance will not permit any use that is not allowed in the zoning District where the affected land is located and the variance will not alter the essential character of the surrounding area um just going back down to the notes uh so yeah I just uh just have the notes Here on their application and they just note that um at the end constructing only the number of stalls required to make this facility operate successfully as a benefit uh to Austin as it reduces impervious areas on the site by not constructing unneeded parking stalls uh and uh I would agree that we do seem to have a plethora of parking areas that are not fully utilized and especially it's an issue I think in our downtown areas where space is a at a premium um and to encourage projects like this um sometimes they are going to go into you know in our downtown areas they're going to be uh maybe not easily fitting within our ordinary zoning code requirements is it is the current milon main building said they're only using 70% of their parking are they 100% rented 70% are they fully occupied that's my question how did they arrive at 70% where did they come from they just go out one day at 10:00 in the morning and count cars because that my understanding is that they've been fully occupied since they completed the project I mean if they're using that's why they're doing another if they're using 70% of their parking stalls and they're only 60% occupied they're actually going to be short to stall if 100% occupancy yeah no everything I've heard is that they are completely occupied and I think um can I comment at least and then I'd like com work for yeah uh the stencil group M and do you know if yeah they're completely full they have been since basically they opened I think a lot of the numbers come from some people don't drive some people um just ride their bike especially due to the location downtown um that's a huge thing and Melissa lives there too yeah I live there and I have two drivers um in my household and neither one of us ever have any issues with parking at the current apartment complex but you're you're a perfect example that it's more than 1.5 though right only because he's a minor you know otherwise it would just be me that is is is driving when when I have my kids then there's people that don't drive at all that don't have vehicles cuz there's a lot of people that maybe work at The Institute or at Mayo that come here for research a lot of them are from Dubai and they don't Drive they don't plan to drive here so they want to be at a place that's within walking distance for them and their family it's Unique you know back in the day I think you know everybody had a car you know if you had two people in your household two people had a car nowadays that's not the case a lot of them go down to one vehicle so or they're sharing that vehicle you know what I mean so this is the old overflow lot for the YMCA yeah so it's what's it being used for now and basically they've got equipment stored there and stuff start to has it been used publicly for any of the downtown festivities or any no no it's kind of a needs an area that could use some improvements to be fair and it does collect water during flooding events which they're aware of and we I think they planned to build there originally when they built the the first edition they mentioned at that they yeah they definitely plann to do two y from the beginning was going to go there so it's just been kind of setting there since but so it it would be a private parking situation then when it's yeah forever now yeah I don't think anybody parks in I mean I've don't know that I've ever seen anybody parking in there I I would say there is a trend um although every circumstance is unique but there is definitely a trend to require less off street parking for projects I see it all the time in engineering and planning uh conferences and webinars and actually the state is proposing some new zon zoning rules that they would like to apply to municip well the cities across the state that are I think lowering I'd have to look at it again but yeah there was a big thing in the Tribune just last weekend the Sunday tribute about up in the Metro areas a lot of the municipalities up there are reducing their M those requirements yeah yeah I mean they have more public transit to so that help in denser populated areas I think it makes sense on a Case by case basis but I'm not comfortable here yet with us going below 1.5 I don't as far as the ordinance goes I mean on a Case by case basis a variance like this I'm okay with that but don't uh especially when you get into the downtown areas I know it makes more sense but then the issue with if you don't have enough parking then people are parking on the street and it's even more congested because you're downtown exacerbates the problem that we have with parking so I really careful with it I mean perhaps they could use both Lots if since they own both one's underutilized and once over utilized I do look at that every time I go through that first Drive area and it's there's never a lot of parking on the street there and in fact they don't even allow parking in front of the mill building that's there's parking there I think there's one stall in front of the lanes as all so there's not it's not a problem with street parking now so and it doesn't look like the lot in back on the Main Street side is ever completely full so mhm I don't think it is a problem and I don't think this would be a problem for the new building but as far as I don't I just don't want to see us get too aggressive about reducing those numbers and all of a sudden saying we need less than one like they're talking about up in the metro area and stuff I don't I get a little nervous with that I closing my and so if I'm understanding this right forgive me I'm a rookie still um this would give them the ability to sell the property or do whatever they want with it if they reduce the needed or required parking capacity is that correct or um understanding that right I think it would just impact the design of the apartment buildings yeah they just because they don't have enough space there they'll offer so many stalls inside and then they'll offer so many outside and it's a total number that they're trying to keep as low as they can to keep the I forgot about the inside so does it currently current building have in inside I didn't realize that there's only like 48 outside and they said they 103 67 spots I believe it is inside yeah it's it's okay that's quite they have charging stations in there and everything else that are being utilized I know so it's yeah it's a nice setup so the required parking if they had all the spaces would be we did the same thing for those apartments by The Institute m i remember we approved a lower density for the parking lot there or two in that one by CSI that one has different occupancy numbers though I think I don't I'm not sure if they' even filled that thing up yet so was it the same thing with the building the new one by the post office I know they have underground parking there they didn't ask for a variance there so they must meet the requirement based on the number of units they have I guess yeah they're that's not quite as big they have fewer units like maybe was it like 43 or something like that I can't remember for sure but for no they didn't but they have quite a large space for the number of units um the let's see so they would be short let's see it looks like 29 spaces yeah that sounds right and they're proposing 125 so 1.21 spaces per unit versus 1.5 I mean I I can't imagine that they would want to be in a position where they would be short on off street parking but I guess we wouldn't know for sure until they got it occupied and we using the space you know depending on how the decision goes well when you rent there do they tell you how many spots you get they assigned spots well I have in I park in the garage um and then my son just parks in the in the regular parking so it hasn't it's never been it's never been an issue there's always plenty of spots assign you those spots or my indoor parking is assigned but the outside parking is not do you have to pay a fee to parking site they charge you a fe Char for the inside spot I do pay for indoor parking okay that's prpal any other questions from the commissioners if not is anybody ready to make a motion I'd make a motion to to recommend a council to approve uh this reduced from 1.5 spaces per unit to 1.21 spaces per unit is there a second I'll second okay okay we have a motion from commissioner Lindberg and a second from commissioner shck to recommend the council to approve the request for the variance on the parking from 1.5 per apartment to 1.21 as proposed by the developer uh J are you going to vote or I can't I'll have to obain all right so any other discussion all in favor of the motion please say I I I oppose no so motion carries 5 Z was one extension anything else no I got to get back to you guys on the automotive uses but I thought it might be a little crazy tonight and then it turned out to not be I thought it was going to be too I had a question about that too uh we get in the packet we get a list of the people who get notified on any variants or whatever where that's required we used to also get whatever they were sent in the packet oh usually I think that's in there but I didn't see it in there okay so I just wanted to ask make sure we get that so we know what it was they received okay like when they call or send us emails or whatever we know what they're talking about because I don't know I think we all got an email I know I got one I think everybody was copying on one thing okay about this parking issue no this was about the Ramsay thing yeah I think I think everyone did yeah I think yeah okay oh pretty much yeah I have nothing else any the commissioner's got anything else if not I will entertain a motion and a second to adjourn I'll make a motion to adjourn second thank you I have a motion from commissioner swensson and a second from commissioner Norman to adjourn all in favor of the motion please say I I I all oppos no motion carries we are adjourned