Vogel Road Elementary School Conditional Use Permit and Variance
Introduction: This application requests approval by the City of Happy Valley of a Conditional Use Permit to allow construction of a new elementary school on property located at 18031 SE Vogel Rd. Although a name for the new school has not been selected as of this time, the District has given the project a working title of Vogel Road
Elementary School. The property included in this application is composed of Tax Lot 1500 and the northerly 2.40 acres of Tax Lot 1400 of Assessor’s Map 2 3E 6AA. The subject property was recently annexed to the City of Happy Valley and presently retains its Clackamas County Zoning of Rural Residential Farm Forest-Five Acre District (RRFF-5). In addition to the Conditional Use Permit, the applicant is requesting that the number of bicycle parking spaces be reduced from 48 to 20 and that they be allowed to be uncovered.
The City of Happy Valley is in the initial stages of its comprehensive planning process for the area containing the subject property. However, because the existing County zoning allows schools as a conditional use, North Clackamas School District may proceed with an application for a Conditional Use Permit at the present time. This is important to the District in order to allow for completion of the land use permit process in time to allow construction of the school to begin in the summer of 2018.
Existing Conditions:
The elementary school site contains a total of approximately 10.3 acres of land. An aerial photograph of the subject property is shown in Figure 3, below. This photograph shows that a single-family home and outbuildings that will be removed for the construction of the proposed school.
Existing site vegetation is predominantly comprised of an open grass fields, with isolated areas of trees. Surrounding homes are located on small acreage tracts. There is a
drainageway and associated Habitat Conservation Area offsite to the east.
Site topography, as shown on Figure 4, slopes from south to north. Slopes near Vogel Road are approximately 8 percent in grade. Topography flattens out to around 5 percent in the area where the school is proposed to be constructed.
Figure 4: Site Topography (Source: MetroMap)
Project Overview:
The new elementary school will provide for future enrollment of 550 students, and will employ 50-60 staff members. The school will include 24 classrooms, Media Center, Cafeteria, Gymnasium, school, office, and support areas in a combination one- and two- story building that will have 61,700 square feet of enclosed area. Major components on the site are parking and service areas, outdoor play areas, and an open soccer and softball field.
The site plan provides for a total of 78 parking spaces on-site. Access to the school will be from SE Vogel Road via a new access drive along the southern boundary of the property. Plans for the school also include playground areas and an athletic field that will provide for softball and soccer use. Construction of the new school facility is planned to begin next summer.
Orientation. Given the site’s natural slope, the rectangular school building and parking areas have been situated at a mid-elevation along the site’s natural contours and parallel to the contours (perpendicular to the slope) for a natural fit and minimizing of excessive earthwork. Interestingly, placement along the site’s contours results in a building
orientation generally parallel to the future collector street, resulting in (potentially) an even more natural condition than through parallelism with the site’s lot lines.
Parking. All vehicular parking is within two rectangular lot areas: one for staff/visitor parking and a parent pick-up drop-off loop (with queuing line) in front of the school’s entrance, and a second one for staff parking and a dedicated school bus loading loop. A service court is reached from the latter parking area. Paved service/emergency access roadways are provided that reach the rear areas of the school building.
Outdoor Play. Play areas are found at the north side of the school building away from parking areas. A hard-surfaced play area extends from beneath an open structure for covered play behind the gymnasium. A soft play equipment area is adjacent to this. An athletic field for soccer and softball is located on the western arm of the ‘T’ of the site.
There is a walking path planned around the playing fields.
School Building Design
General Arrangement. The elementary school building is composed of one and two- story building masses on either side of a central school entrance. Classroom and Media Center portions are arranged in a compact, two-story wing to the east. Gymnasium, Cafeteria, and support areas are placed in an opposing one-story western wing. Linking the two is a single-story school entrance, School Office, and central circulation hall.
Classroom Areas. Classrooms are clustered in groups of three at the corners of a
classrooms are common areas for teaching/learning uses as an adjunct to direct classroom instruction.
Media Center. At the core of the classroom wing is a double-height volume with a surrounding clerestory where the Media Center is situated. As the centralized hub of the classroom wing, the Media Center serves as a focal point of the school activity with clear connections to all classroom and common areas. The openness to the surrounding spaces aides in the connectivity among students and staff to the media center’s resources with movable furniture components at its perimeter to help ensure flexible usage for the spaces in the future.
Central Hall and Administration Areas. A central hall links the building functions with the classroom wing and includes side-by-side open stairs leading to the upper floor.
This central hall features a large glass wall to create a unique “wintergarden” room with open views to the north. To the immediate right of the entrance lobby are Administration, Counseling, and staff and student support spaces that make up the School Office. These spaces have direct access from the Central Hall and Main Floor classroom areas.
Activity and Support Areas. To the left of the entrance lobby is the school Cafeteria, where large areas of glass allow extensive daylighting and help define the school’s entry facade. The Cafeteria serving function is situated along the west wall with the Kitchen, Stage and Custodial areas all accessible from this location. The Gymnasium is located behind the Cafeteria with a proscenium opening at the adjacent Stage. Both the Music and Counseling rooms are located nearby, along the hall that connects the Cafeteria to the exterior covered play area.
Figure 5: Site Plan
COMPLIANCE WITH CONDITIONAL USE APPROVAL CRITERIA
The criteria which must be satisfied for approval of a conditional use permit are found in Section 16.64.040 of the Happy Valley Land Development Ordinance (LDO). The proposed elementary school site satisfies these criteria as outlined below:
16.64.040 Criteria, standards and conditions of approval.
A. Use Criteria.
1. The site size, dimensions, location, topography and access are adequate for the needs of the proposed use, considering the proposed building mass, parking, traffic, noise, vibration, exhaust/emissions, light, glare, erosion, odor, dust, visibility, safety, and aesthetic considerations;
Applicant’s Response: The elementary school site is located on SE Vogel Road between SE Foster Road (to the east) and SE 172nd Avenue (to the west). This location is appropriate for the proposed school site as it affords convenient access to the property from residential areas via Vogel Road, which will likely be designated as an arterial street when the City completes its planning for this area. The subject property is approximately 10.3 acres in area, a size well suited to the proposed use, as evidenced by the site plan. The plan accommodates the proposed school, provides needed space for parking and vehicular maneuvering areas, and maintains ample open space for playgrounds and athletic fields.
Hours of operation for the proposed school have not been finalized, but will be in the range of 7:15 am to 4:00 pm on typical school days. After school events for school and community use often extend into the evening hours. For a discussion of traffic generation associated with the school and the adequacy of the surrounding
transportation system, please refer to the attached traffic report prepared by Lancaster Engineering, Inc. There will be no significant noise, dust or particulate emissions from the school use that would impact surrounding properties.
2. The negative impacts of the proposed use on adjacent properties and on the public can be mitigated through application of other Code standards, or other reasonable conditions of approval; and
Applicant’s Response: Schools are generally seen as a use that is compatible with, and necessary for, residential development. Surrounding land uses are presently single-family homes on small acreage tracts. Future development will intensify these uses with development of residential subdivisions and/or multi-family uses once the City has completed its planning for this area. The only potentially significant impact upon the existing and future residential uses in this area would be from traffic
associated with the School. As demonstrated in the attached traffic impact analysis by Lancaster Engineering, the proposed school will function within accepted traffic design criteria.
Exhibit 1
3. All required public facilities have adequate capacity to serve the proposal.
Applicant’s Response:
Water: This area is served with public water by Sunrise Water Authority. The existing water line in Vogel Road does not meet standards for urban development. A new water main will be installed in Vogel Road by North Clackamas School District in conjunction with the development of this property.
Sewer: Sanitary sewer service will be provided to this site by Clackamas County Service District No. 1. This will require the extension of sewer from the existing sewer main in SE 172nd Avenue along SE Vogel Road to the subject property. The applicant will construct this line in conjunction with the school.
Storm Sewer: Storm sewer will be provided on-site, with construction of a storm sewer system to collect runoff from parking lots and roofs. This system will be piped to a storm water detention and treatment facility, as shown on the site plan. The detention pond will outfall to the natural drainageway at the northeast corner of the property.
B. Site Design Standards. The design review approval criteria (Section 16.62.030) shall be met.
Applicant’s Response: A separate application for Design Review has been filed by the applicant. That application contains a narrative that addresses all applicable design review approval criteria. Please reference that document for more details.
C. Conditions of Approval. The City may impose conditions that are found necessary to ensure that the use is compatible with other uses in the vicinity, and that the negative impact of the proposed use on the surrounding uses and public facilities is minimized. These conditions include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. Limiting the hours, days, place and/or manner of operation;
2. Requiring site or architectural design features which minimize environmental impacts such as noise, vibration, exhaust/emissions, light, glare, erosion, odor and/or dust;
3. Requiring larger setback areas, lot area, and/or lot depth or width;
4. Limiting the building or structure height, size or lot coverage, and/or location on the site;
5. Designating the size, number, location and/or design of vehicle access points or parking areas;
6. Requiring street right-of-way to be dedicated and street(s), sidewalks, curbs, planting strips, pathways, or trails to be improved;
9. Limiting or setting standards for the location, design, and/or intensity of outdoor lighting;
10. Requiring berms, screening or landscaping and the establishment of standards for their installation and maintenance;
11. Requiring and designating the size, height, location and/or materials for fences;
12. Requiring the protection and preservation of existing trees, soils, vegetation, watercourses, habitat areas, drainage areas, historic resources, cultural resources, and/or nature resource lands;
13. Requiring the dedication of sufficient land to the public, and/or construction of pedestrian/bicycle pathways in accordance with the adopted plans, or requiring the recording of a local improvement district non-remonstrance agreement for the same.
Dedication of land and construction shall conform to the provisions of Chapter 16.41, and Chapter 16.42 in particular.
Applicant’s Response: The applicant understands that appropriate conditions of approval will be attached to the land use decision on the proposed conditional use.
The applicant’s response to the proposed conditions of approval will be reserved until the staff report is prepared.
Class C Variance:
As mentioned above, the applicant is requesting that the number of bicycle parking spaces be reduced from 48 to 20 and that they be allowed to be uncovered. The standard would require that 35% of the spaces provided be covered. The reason for this requested variance is that the location of the subject property is not conducive to bicycle use by students or the community. Further, the requirement for that many spaces within 50 feet of the main entrance is not practicable without impacting pedestrian access. The approval criteria are discussed below:
16.71.050 Class C variances.
A. Applicability. Class C variance requests are those that do not conform to the provisions of Sections 16.71.030 and 16.71.040 (Class A and Class B), and that meet the criteria in subsections (B)(1) through (5) below. Class C variances shall be reviewed using a Type III procedure, in accordance with Chapter 16.61.
Applicant Response: The amount of the requested variance exceeds the 10% and 20% maximums allowable for Class A and B variances.
B. Approval Criteria. The City shall approve, approve with conditions, or deny an application for a variance based on all of the following criteria:
1. The variance requested is required due to the lot configuration, or other conditions of the site;
Applicant Response: The subject property is located on Vogel Road, which is anticipated to
lanes will likely be provided along this road when it is fully improved, the amount of traffic is not conducive to elementary school students riding to this site. North Clackamas School District provides bus service for students to and from the school and does not want to promote bicycle access in unsafe locations. There will likely be pedestrian connections to adjoining neighborhoods in the future, but use of these access points would be low in volume.
The District believes that 20 spaces will adequately meet the reasonable need for such parking. Given the low usage, covered parking is not needed.
2. That the condition requiring the variance has not been intentionally created to circumvent the Land Development Code;
Applicant Response: The variance is due to the location of the proposed elementary school on what will become a very busy street. There has been no intent to circumvent the requirements of the LDC.
3. That the variance, if granted, will not alter the essential character of the neighborhood or district in which the property is located, or substantially or permanently impair the appropriate use or development of adjacent property;
Applicant Response: The variance only impacts the number of bicycle parking spaces provided. It will have no measurable impact upon the surrounding neighborhood.
4. That the variance, if granted, is the minimum variance that will afford relief and is the least modification possible of the development provisions which are in question;
Applicant Response: The project architects have looked at providing more bicycle racks within the required 50’ distance of the main entry and do not believe it is feasible given the need to maintain uninterrupted pedestrian access. While it may be possible to put more bicycle parking elsewhere on the site, the District likes to maintain bike parking in areas of the site that are easily viewed by from the main entrance so that students are safe when accessing the building.
5. The variance will not result in violation(s) of any other adopted ordinance or Code standard; each Code standard to be modified shall require a separate variance request;
Applicant Response: There are no other Code standards that would be impacted by granting this variance.
6. In granting the variance, the City Administrator or appropriate and designated body or agent may attach such reasonable conditions and safeguards as it may deem necessary to implement the purposes of this title.
Applicant Response: The applicant understands that reasonable conditions of
