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Home My WebLink AboutHE Determination SP 2021-018 Orozco Daycare (DENIAL) CITY OF PASCO HEARING EXAMINER IN THE MATTER OF ) FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND DECISION SP 2021-018 ) Esperanza Orozco ) THIS MATTER having come on for hearing in front of the City of Pasco Hearing Examiner on November 10, 2021, the Hearing Examiner having taken evidence hereby submits the following Findings of Fact,Conclusions of Law and Decision as follows: 1. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. PROPERTY DESCRIPTION: 1.1 Legal: Lot 1, Short Plat 200 1-10 (Franklin County Tax Parcel #119493246). 1.2 General Location: 3804 West Octave Street. 1.3 Prope , Size: .28 acres(12,255.59 square feet). 1.4 Applicant: Esperanza Orozco, 3804 West Octave Street, Pasco, WA 99301. 1.5 Request: Special Permit: Daycare Center in an RS-12 Zoning District. 2. ACCESS: The site has access from West Octave Street. 3. UTILITIES: The site is served by both water and sewer services from West Octave Street. 4. LAND USE AND ZONING: The property is currently zoned RS-12 (Suburban) and is developed with a single-family unit and a garage. Surrounding properties zoned as follows: North RS-12 SFDUs East RS-12 SFDUs South RS-20 SFDUs West RS-12 SFDUs 5. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN: The Comprehensive Plan indicates the site is primarily intended for Low-density Residential uses. The Plan does not specifically address daycare centers, but elements of the Plan encourage the promotion of orderly development including the development of zoning standards for off-street parking and other development. Plan goal OF-5 suggests provisions should be made for educational facilities throughout the Urban Growth Area. 6. ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: The City of Pasco is the lead agency for this project. Based on the SEPA checklist,the adopted City Comprehensive Plan,City development regulations,and other information, a threshold determination resulting in a Mitigated Determination of Non-Significance(MDNS) was issued for this project on February 16, 2021, under WAC 197-11-158. SP 2021-018 Esperanza Orozco Page 1 of 4 7. PROPOSAL: Applicant wishes to operate a daycare facility to be located at 3804 West Octave Street. Applicant plans to modify an existing 2,579 square-foot house to serve the daycare use. 8. PROPERTY DESCRIPTION: The site is located at 3804 West Octave Street, in a residential neighborhood. The site is developed with a single-family unit. The site is approximately midway between West Court and West Sylvester Streets, and contains 12,281 square feet. 9. HISTORY: The site was annexed into the City (Ordinance 2971) and assigned R-S-12 zoning(Ordinance 2974) in 1994. 10. CODE REQUIREMENTS: Daycare centers and' early learning facilities are considered Community Service Facilities, level one, and as such, require Special Permit review under the provisions of Pasco Municipal Code (PMC) 25.200.020(4) Unclassified uses. Community service facilities of the level one category include day-care centers, nursery schools, hospitals, sanitariums, nonprofit community health clinics, governmental and quasi- governmental activities, and related uses, which provide similar services for citizens. 11. Educational facilities (schools) and daycares are typically located in or near residential neighborhoods. While the proposed facility is not a public school, it will operate somewhat like a school. 12. Pasco Municipal Code requires lot and street frontage improvements, including curb, gutter, sidewalk, landscaping, and utility installation in conjunction with any new construction. 13. The City of Pasco population has grown to 78,700 according to the revised 2020 Office of Financial Management estimate. Population growth has created a demand for preschool and daycare facilities. 14. Pasco Municipal Code 25.185.170(3) requires one parking space for each employee and one space per 6 children (0.17 per child). The proposed facility would house up to 5 employees and 38 children, ranging in age from 18 months to 5 years old. Based on these numbers, the total parking requirement would be 12 spaces (rounded up*),as follows: Proposed Number Spaces Total per Required Employees 5 1 5 Students 38 0.17 7 12* Total *Rounded Up 15. According to the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Trip Generation Manual, 101' edition, daycare centers (code 565) generate approximately 11.12 PM Peak Hour Trips per SP 2021-018 Esperanza Orozco Page 2 of 4 1,000 sq. ft. With a 2,579 sq. ft. building, per the Franklin County Assessor's Website, this would total approximately 28.69 PM Peak Hour Trips. 16. The existing driveway approaches do not conform to City Standards, as per PMC design standard ST-5. The added trips expected to the property due to the change of use may require frontage improvements be completed in accordance with the Concurrency section of the Pasco Municipal Code. 17. The proposed parking on Road 38 (81.6' width) would exceed the maximum allowable driveway approach width of 34 -feet for residential properties (35-feet for commercial). 18. The proposed parking would be located in the required front yard landscaping setback area. 19. The existing fence is nonconforming. 20. Public notice of this hearing was sent to property owners within 300 feet of the property and in the Tri-City Herald on October 19,2021. 21. An open record public hearing after due legal notice was held November, 2021 via Zoom videoconference. 22. Neither the Applicant, nor a representative, appeared at the open record public hearing. The Applicant was given notice of the date,time and manner of the public hearing. 23. Appearing and testifying from the public were the following individuals: 23.1 Aaron Thrasher. Mr. Thrasher lives at the end of the cul-d-sac. He stated that there is a daycare currently on the site and that there is significant traffic through the cul-d- sac and that the cul-d-sac is used as a turnaround area. He indicated that the increased traffic simply wasn't safe for the area. 23.2 Tonette Michael. Ms. Michael testified that Road 38 is quite narrow and there is no room for parking on the subject property. Additionally, if there is a pre-school on the site, the drop off and pick up lines for cars will be substantial and create a safety hazard. The scenario is that there will be parents there to drop off their children for the beginning of the pre-school session and will return to pick up their children from the pre-school session may create two pick-up/drop-off sessions in each day. 24. The Hearing Examiner finds that the proposed parking causes safety concerns due to the ingress and egress from the parking area, as well as lack of available on-street parking. The parking also interferes with the required landscape areas. 25. The staff report, application materials, agency comments and the entire file of record were admitted into the record. 26. Any Conclusion of Law that is more correctly a Finding of Fact is hereby incorporated as such by this reference. II. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW Before recommending approval or denial of the proposed plat the Hearing Examiner must develop findings of fact from which to draw its conclusion (PMC 21.25.080 and 25.200.100) therefrom as to whether or not: 1. The Hearing Examiner has been granted authority to render this Decision. SP 2021-018 Esperanza Orozco Page 3 of 4 2. Proposed,the project is not consistent with the Pasco Municipal Code, specifically related to parking and landscape. As proposed, there is no identified mitigation that will address these concerns. 3. Any Finding of Fact that is more correctly a Conclusion of Law is hereby incorporated as such by this reference. III. DECISION Based on the above Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, the Hearing Examiner DENIES Application SP 2021-018 Dated this 16 day of November, 2021. CITYOF P SCO HEARING EXAMINER And . Kottkamp Absent a timely appeal, this Decision is final' ' See Ch. 36.70C RCW(establishing a 21 day appeal period to superior court,and setting forth necessary review contents,along with filing and service requirements). SP 2021-018 Esperanza Orozco Page 4 of 4