To: Planning Commission
From: Planning and Building Department
Agenda Section: Consent
SUBJECT:
title
Gage & Amy Duran Conditional Use Permit
Assessor Parcel Number: 205-432-005
Record Number: PLN-2022-18014
Scotia area
A Conditional Use Permit is being requested to allow the upper floors of the former Scotia Hospital building to be adapted for use as a Hotel with up to nine (9) units. The Use Permit is sought to allow flexibility in leasing these units as monthly rentals as well as on a less-than-monthly basis as short-term lodging. Transient Habitation includes Hotels, which are a conditionally permitted use in the Community Commercial (C-2) zone in which the property is located. Design Review is not required as no exterior alterations to the building or site are proposed at this time.
end
RECOMMENDATION(S):
Recommendation
That the Planning Commission:
1. Adopt the resolution (Resolution 23-__). (Attachment 1) which does the following:
a. Finds the project exempt from environmental review pursuant to Section 15301 of the State CEQA Guidelines; and
b. Makes all required findings for approval of the Conditional Use Permit; and
c. Approves the Gage & Amy Duran Conditional Use Permit as recommended by staff and subject to the recommended conditions of approval (Attachment 1A).
Body
DISCUSSION:
Executive Summary: The project involves a request to authorize adaptive reuse of the upstairs portions of the former Scotia Hospital building for occupancy and use as a Hotel. The two-story building is located on a ¾-acre parcel and was constructed in 1924 to replace the town’s old hospital. The building was owned and operated by the Pacific Lumber Company for the majority of its life. The Hospital was in operation until 1958 and continued operation on the Main Level as Doctors Offices with dental and mental added later on. Southern Trinity Health Services operated their Scotia Bluffs Clinic from 2018 through July 2023, moving into their new space at the former Scotia hardware store on Main Street. As of now, the main level is vacant and listed on the MLS to procure a new commercial tenant.
Subdivision of the town was approved by the Planning Commission in 2007 and the project parcel was created during first phase of subdivision in 2018. The property was transferred to the Town of Scotia LLC before eventually being sold to the applicant in January of 2022. The applicant is currently in the process of completing interior alterations to the second-floor rooms to create seven (7) self-contained residential apartment-type units. A building permit for this work is currently ready to issue (BLD-2023-58510). Future additional phases of rehabilitation and adaptive reuse will include restoration of a basement level caretaker’s unit and the addition of two (2) owner’s units to the 3rd-floor/Attic space.
The property is zoned Community Commercial (C-2/D) and is located within an area subject to Design Review. Changes to the Code completed in 2012 added provisions allowing development of “multiple dwellings on the upper floors of multistory structures” where the ground floors are occupied by lawful commercial uses. Because the Scotia area is within one of the County’s mapped “Housing Opportunity Zones”, multiple dwellings on the upper floors of the building may be permitted ministerially (i.e. as a principally permitted use).
The parcels C-2 zoning also allows for the operation of Hotels and Motels as a conditionally permitted use. Hotels and Motels are an enumerated use in the Zoning Code and may be permitted in zoning districts which permit commercial and industrial uses (C-1, C-2, CH, ML, MH) as well as those intended for higher-density residential development (R-3, R-4) or Recreational Uses (FR - Forestry Recreation). The Code differentiates between Hotels and Motels and Bed and Breakfast Establishments classifying each under a separate Commercial Use Type. Hotels and Motels are listed under the Transient Habitation Use Type “motels, hotels, resorts, and other facilities providing lodging services to guests on a less-than-weekly basis.”
Parking
The property was the subject of a legal nonconforming determination concerning the number of off-street parking spaces currently provided vs. what would ordinarily be needed. This is detailed in a letter from staff dated November 1, 2021, and is included wThe degree of parking non-conformance is based on historic parking demand associated with the original hospital and clinic uses. Based on information concerning the historical prior occupancies, a total of 84 parking spaces (50 for the hospital and 34 for the clinics) would have been required to comply with the off-street parking requirements of the zoning ordinance. The parcel currently provides 14 off-street spaces so the historical nonconformance is 70 spaces. The calculated parking demand for the upstairs hotel use is 16 spaces (1 parking space per sleeping unit + two manager spaces). Therefore, the proposed new transient habitation use would not generate parking demand in excess of the historical hospital use.
CEQA: The proposed project is exempt from environmental review pursuant to Sections 15301 (Existing Facilities) and 15303 (New Construction or Conversion of Small Structures)
Project Location: The project is located in the Scotia area, on the East side of B Street, near the intersection of Eddy Street and B Street, on the property known as 500 B Street.
Present General Plan Land Use Designation: Commercial General (CG) Slope Stability: Relatively Stable.
Present Zoning: Community Commercial / Design Review Combining Zone (C-2/D).
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
The project was referred to responsible agencies and all responding agencies have either responded with no comment or recommended approval or conditional approval. A summary of referral agency responses is included in Attachment 5.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Based on a review of Planning Division reference sources and comments from all involved referral agencies, planning staff believes that the applicant has submitted evidence in support of making all of the required findings for conditionally approving the Conditional Use Permit.
ALTERNATIVES TO STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. The Planning Commission could elect to add or delete Conditions of Approval.
2. The Planning Commission could elect to specify a certain number of the upstairs units to be leased as apartments and authorize the remaining units for hotel use.
3. The Planning Commission could deny approval if unable to make all the required findings. Planning staff is confident that the required findings can be made based on the evidence submitted and subject to the recommended Conditions of Approval. Consequently, staff does not recommend further consideration of this alternative.
4. The Planning Commission could continue the item to a future meeting and direct the applicant and/or staff to address specific issues or items.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Draft Resolution
A. Conditions of Approval
B. Site Plan
C. Floor Plans
D. Plan of Operation
2. Location Map
3. Site Photo (2021)
4. Applicant’s Supporting Evidence
A. Letter Regarding Parking Nonconformance
5. Referral Agency Comments and Recommendations
Applicant/Owner
Gage & Amy Duran
16821 W 94th Place
Arvada, CO 80007
Please contact Steven Lazar, Senior Planner, at (707)268-3741 or by email at slazar@co.humboldt.ca.us <mailto:slazar@co.humboldt.ca.us>, if you have any questions about the scheduled item.