The property located at 4 32nd Street West is a mixed commercial building with retail and office space located at the northwest corner of 32nd Street West and Central Avenue.  For years, the building had full access off of Central Avenue and one access from 32nd Street West.  With the widening of Central Avenue this past summer, access was limited to one access from Central Avenue and the access from 32nd Street West was eliminated.  Engineering worked with the property owner on these accesses during the project.  It was planned that the owner would submit for a variance for access from the alley off of 32nd Street West.  This access is further away from the intersection of 32nd Street West and Central Avenue than their previous access and would make for a safer access. 

Section 6-1203(r) of the Site Development Ordinance reads:  Limited access through the alley. Customer access via an alley to any commercial use on a lot which is adjacent to an alley which abuts an "R" zone shall not be permitted over that alley.  The property to the north is zoned residential, therefore the property owner has submitted a variance request to utilize the alley for access to their existing building.  Attached is copy of the variance application, variance request, and a site plan.  Engineering is in favor of this variance.  The building was existing when the Central Avenue project was constructed and concessions had to made in order to construct Central Avenue, including taking out their existing accesses and parking.  Allowing this variance will help make the building more accessible.  The business on the other side of 32nd Street West also accesses the alley and a variance was approved for that access in 2014.

The Council may:

• Approve the variance which allows alley access; or
• Disapprove the variance. If the variance is not approved, the applicant will have to find another access point to their parking lot.  This may include another access along 32nd Street West closer to the intersection.  This is not desirable from a traffic standpoint.

The administrative cost of the variance is offset by the application fee.

Staff recommends that the City Council approve variance from the site development ordinance to allow customer access via the alley for 4 32nd Street West.