CASE NUMBER: 22 - 011. Variance: Blades Lawnmowers
APPLICANT: Charles Harding, Owner, Blades Lawnmowers.
VARIANCE REQUEST: To vary to the following sections of Unified Development Code: Sec. 4-230, 4-235, and Table 6-4. To allow for the outdoor storage and display of U-Hauls for lease, and to reduce the required minimum parking.
LOCATION: 4180 Old Austell Road.
ZONING: Light Industrial (LI) PIN: 19094600130
STAFF RECOMMENDS: See Table 1. PLANNING AND ZONING RECOMMENDS:
BACKGROUND: The property owner was cited by code enforcement for operating U-Haul rentals without a business license for that use. This triggered a review of other compliance issues related to outdoor storage and minimum parking requirements. A section of the available parking was enclosed by a permitted fence installation in the Spring of 2021, which resulted in the available parking falling below the required minimum for the business location. Additionally, the 2 angled spots (Figure 2 top right) adjacent to the entrance driveway are not compliant, resulting in 8 total available parking spots when 14 is the minimum requirement.
Table 1. Illustration of staff recommendation by code section, code provisions, existing conditions, and applicant request.
SURROUNDING AREA: Blades Lawnmowers is located on Old Austell Road, which is just off the commercial corridor on Austell Powder Springs Road. Commercial zoning districts prevail within this area of the city. Light industrial zoning is adjacent to the subject site to the northwest, and CRC zoning prevails on Austell Powder Springs Road to the north and east. To the south of blades lawnmower is residential zoning (R-20) in the county.
Figure 1. Zoning Districts within the City. Red rectangle denotes Blades Lawnmower. Grey: LI. Pink: CRC
ANALYSIS:
The application was reviewed against the following criteria:
Any applicant requesting consideration of a variance to any provision of this development...
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