It appears they are asking for 299 parking spaces so they don't trigger a more comprehensive review for project that happens with 300+ spaces.
A Nigerian scam in our own backyard. Enough!
It appears they are asking for 299 parking spaces so they don't trigger a more comprehensive review for project that happens with 300+ spaces.
A Nigerian scam in our own backyard. Enough!
[ZappBrannigan]
I've witnessed the construction game played via incrementalism, and that's what my gut says this is.
[/ZappBrannigan]
In my experience, local code enforcement will set the parking lot size for you according to your proposed occupant count. We found that out the hard way in Carroll County.
Sent from Foxtrot-Mike 19
This is within the power of the county to control, right up front. Take them at their word, set the fire occupancy rate for cars, then bind them legally to that standard and no more.
There were many good points made by the community at last night's meeting about the Winners Chapel International proposed development. Clearly the first thing to roll off everyone's tongue was: Traffic. So let's start there.
First off, I do not believe that the Winners Chapel and it's representatives are accurately depicting the traffic that will be generated by this development. The traffic study, and all of their calculations appear to be based upon 299 cars. Those 299 cars will fill the 299 paved parking spaces that they plan to build. That number has been derived from the 900 (really 897) fixed seats in their sanctuary, as code requires 1 parking space for every 3 fixed seats. (897/3 = 299). Why 299 parking spaces? Because 300 requires special approval, which opens the door to community input.
If a full sanctuary means a full parking lot, then what about the rest of the building, and by "rest", I mean the majority of the building? There are classrooms, a cafe, offices, a commercial kitchen, etc? Do they expect us to believe that all these other rooms will stand empty when there is a service going on? And speaking of standing, what about all that empty floor space in the sanctuary? 897 seats sounds like a lot, but that is a really big room, there will be a lot of open floor space. What's to say that there will not be people standing there? Do they expect us to believe that they will turn away parishioners when the last fixed seat is filled? And speaking of turning people away, who will do that? The staff, of course. It takes a lot of staff to properly manage 900 people, and the 300 cars they arrived in. Where is the staff going to park?
Well, folks, I think Mr. Parrot's lack of a definitive response to the last question of the evening speaks volumes about their approach to parking and the traffic that fills those spots. When asked by a neighboring property owner, if the church would make a commitment to the community that it would not spread gravel on the unused part of their property and call it "Temporary Parking", he would not make that commitment. There is an approximately 5 acre portion of their property located to the south of Cox Rd. They have shared very little information about their plans for that area, and have even left it off of some of their drawings. As allowed under existing code, they can spread gravel, 4999sqft at a time without requiring a permit (Don't worry, we're not tipping them off to anything they don't already know.) So, if they only put gravel over just half of that 5 +/- acre space, that works out to over 200 "Temporary" parking spaces.
So, let's start looking at the impact on our community based upon what CAN happen, not just what they tell us they "plan" on happening: 500+ cars, 1500+ people coming, and 500+ cars and 1500+ people going, at the same time, as they turnover from one service to another. You think 300 cars is scary, try 1000.
The pastor told us that the church will grow, if there is one thing that we should believe when they tell us, it is this.
First off, I do not believe that the Winners Chapel and it's representatives are accurately depicting the traffic that will be generated by this development. The traffic study, and all of their calculations appear to be based upon 299 cars. Those 299 cars will fill the 299 paved parking spaces that they plan to build. That number has been derived from the 900 (really 897) fixed seats in their sanctuary, as code requires 1 parking space for every 3 fixed seats. (897/3 = 299). Why 299 parking spaces? Because 300 requires special approval, which opens the door to community input.
If a full sanctuary means a full parking lot, then what about the rest of the building, and by "rest", I mean the majority of the building? There are classrooms, a cafe, offices, a commercial kitchen, etc? Do they expect us to believe that all these other rooms will stand empty when there is a service going on? And speaking of standing, what about all that empty floor space in the sanctuary? 897 seats sounds like a lot, but that is a really big room, there will be a lot of open floor space. What's to say that there will not be people standing there? Do they expect us to believe that they will turn away parishioners when the last fixed seat is filled? And speaking of turning people away, who will do that?
I think Mr. Parrot's lack of a definitive response to the last question of the evening speaks volumes about their approach to parking and the traffic that fills those spots. When asked by a neighboring property owner, if the church would make a commitment to the community that it would not spread gravel on the unused part of their property and call it "Temporary Parking", he would not make that commitment. There is an approximately 5 acre portion of their property located to the south of Cox Rd. They have shared very little information about their plans for that area, and have even left it off of some of their drawings. As allowed under existing code, they can spread gravel, 4999sqft at a time without requiring a permit (Don't worry, we're not tipping them off to anything they don't already know.) So, if they only put gravel over just half of that 5 +/- acre space, that works out to over 200 "Temporary" parking spaces.
If it gets built it is over and it will grow, grow, grow. Traffic on 450 sucks in that area already.
That's no different from all the other baptist churches that have to hire off duty police to block roads when they let out their parishoners from their huge parking lots.