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Home My WebLink About1569-PDATE: August 20, 2001 TO: Planning Commission and City Council FROM: Stephen C. Richardson, Planning Manager W SUBJECT: Request for a specific use permit to allow a job shop that uses a computer and a waterjet to cut metal for the petro-chemical industrial trade. The property is zoned GC -MD (General Commercial -Multiple Family Dwelling) District. STAFF REPORT The Planning Manager recommends approval of the specific use permit for the subject lot. This application is in compliance with the Comprehensive Plan. This approval is conditioned on the property being rezoned to C-M. Mr. Chenoweth is leasing a 3,200 square foot metal warehouse building from Jef C. Russell, Jr. located at 2900 S. Fourth Street at Rockwell. The process involves cutting metal and other materials to order from 4 feet to 8 feet in size and up to 8 inches thick. The material is cut using an ultra high pressure water stream with garnet powder used as an abrasive. The cutting head is controlled by a computer. There is no other system like this operating in our area. Very little heat or noise is produced by the waterjet machine. The property owner is also requesting a zone change from GC -MD and RM-H to C-M for Block 116, Cartwright 2 d Addition. Mr. Chenoweth's site is Lot 6 of said Block 116. Exhibits are attached. PUBLIC NOTIFICATION Notices mailed to property owners 19 Responses in Favor . Responses in Opposition LEGAL DESCRIPTION FOR ORDINANCE PURPOSES Being Lot 6, Block 116, Cartwright 2 nd Addition, City of Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas, containing 0.16 acres, more or less. ll]] I I • ® !1' . 1 File 1569-P: Request for a specific use permit to allow a waterjet join shop in an area NORTH L./,tc zoned C-M (Commercial - Manufacturing). (Zone change to C-M pending) I Location: 2995 S. 4" St. a@ Rockwell Applicant: Robert Chenoweth, P.E. SCALE 1n=200" C + N ./ M • IM 11 1" .i • 1 1 � ` .1�' � I E I � 1 a 1 O pflitRIE AVE. .2 i 10 N !toy ai .0 ` r® d AA . ! � J t i TERRELL A ` �y fill, ..� n ! O SO + I "✓� fp TERRELL AVE.Lot . • � r At r • r p ,w s u • r E C T1 ri �o Jt j i.. � #T g � v -+ 1 � 1 /o WASkSOMN i BLYO � t MIS �. G`WEL► y r i ROCKWELL AVE. I bwo 4 ' WASHINTON BLVD. u 40 IN /9 M 40 lJ r� {i 11 I rE I EiJCL wee X 0 0 (A r- S. 4th St. -p- f"i L4 to m -0 (D x."I ca O (c)(00.0 0 Cn "0 CD U) :3 0 00 0 0 I Technical Assistance, Inc. Plat for Proposed WaterScythe Location 7-18-2001 K. 0 in Cr CS Business Plan - WaterScythe Page I of 5 Description of the Business Technical Assistance, Inc. is an engineering firm that has been incorporated since 1983. Over the past ten years we have maintained a small specialty fabrication facility with the capability of fabricating with carbon steel; stainless steel, and aluminum. WaterSeythe, a subsidiary of Technical Assistance, Inc., is an expansion of the existing services to include precision, no -heat, shape cutting of a wide variety of industrial materials. Cutting capabilities include metals, stone, tile, rubber, glass, and plastics. V%geq The cutting bed capacity can handle materials I 0, up to four feet by eight feet in size and eight inches thick. Larger sizes can be accommodated by placing the materials over the top of the cutting bed and moving the material to complete the cut. We will cut the material using an ultra high pressure water stream (55,000 psi) with a garnet powder entrained as an abrasive, thus the subtitle of the business, "Abrasive Watedet Cutting". The precision of the cut can be held to 0.005 of an inch. The cutting head is controlled using a PC operated CAD generated vector file program. FLOW INTERNATIONAL ABRASIVE WATERJET CUTTING MACHINE Business Plan - WaterScythe Page 2 of 5 The Competition WaterScythe plans to market to machine shops, specialty fabricators, large industrial facilities, sip companies, architects, custom glass installers, specialty floor designers, etc. We are considering several aspects of initial marketing strategy. No other abrasive waterjet cutting machines exist to our knowledge between Houston, Texas and Lafayette, Louisiana. We preliminarily visited five machine shops located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Dallas, Texas, and Houston, Texas. One shop in Dallas informed us that they are doing long distance services for Beaumont at this time. There are several main competitor locations. One is in Houston where we have located several companies with machines. One is a similar service to our own and has only recently opened shop as a start up business. There is a second company with locations in Louisiana and in Houston. It is a woman owned business and appears to be well , established from the data shown about it in the Thomas Register. A third company is also located in Louisiana in Baton Rouge. It is a small job shop that should not pose any significant competition here in Beaumont. Another machine is located in Galveston. It is also ajob shop. Business Plan - WaterScythe Page 3 of 5_ Our first marketing focus will be in a geographic area within a 100 mile radius of Beaumont, inclusive of the Golden Triangle and other industrial areas along the Gulf Coast. This presentation contains a list of potential clients that we will contact in an initial mailer and a list of potential clients that we have already spoken to first hand. We are presently using the services of shops in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Houston, Texas to provide abrasive wateiJet cut parts to our customers in the Beaumont, Texas area. We have also provided parts to a company in El Paso, Texas. Over the past two years, we have offered services and successfully acquired $ 20,000+ worth of business. A list of our invoices is included in this plan. At this time we are actively receiving orders from several established customers. We have posted our web site - www.WaterSeythe.com and it is now under construction. A copy of this is included in this presentation. There are many industrial sites along the Texas Gulf Coast and on the Texas -Mexico border which are potential clients. Our long term marketing.plan includes expansion to Houston, Corpus Christi, and McAllen. Our business plan includes hiring a full time salesperson to market from Baton Rouge to Houston. We think that hiring an established salesperson is key to our success. WaterSeythe will be the first to provide a service of this kind within 80-100 miles around the Golden Triangle. Most metal products can be cut using one of these methods; precision flame cutting, plasma cutting, laser, or hot wire EDM. These methods leave a heat effected zone which effects the structural integrity of the material and may require clean up labor. The abrasive watedet equipment produces a part ready to use with little or no cleanup. In situations requiring high precision turn -out, the produced parts can be cut so that they require minimal machining. This equipment can cut materials other than metal such as glass, plastic, stone or ceramics with no special attachments or adjustments. This equipment can cut tempered or hardened materials without affecting the properties of the material. Business Plan - WaterScythe Page 4 of 5 Location We have investigated three possible start-up location scenarios in Jefferson County, Leasing existing built structure Purchasing existing built structure. Purchasing land and building an appropriate structure. We estimate that we will need approximately 1500-2000 square feet of area with offices for the first five year period. The location needs to be accessible to delivery trucks and to three phase power. Street frontage is not a necessity for marketing since our market is definable in scope and requires face to face sales. We have chosen to consider locations in Beaumont and Mid -Jefferson County. We are considering a location within an "enterprise zone" in order to qualify for state and federal grants. We are choosing to lease a facility to minimize the start-up capital required. Business Plan - WaterScythe Page 5 of 5 Management WaterScythe will be a woman owned small business. It is: our goal to have four persons trained fully to operate and manage the machine and its computer software within the first two years. Initially, we will be an owner operated business with owners functioning as salesperson, manager/technician, and office managedreceptionist. As soon as work flow permits, we will hire and train additional people to operate the machine and fill these positions. We anticipate that the machine will potentially be operating two shifts per day within the first year. Personnel Kathryn Cox, President, Technical Assistance, Inc., is a graduate of University of Texas with degrees in architecture and architectural engineering. Ms. Cox recently completed her Masters of Science in Engineering through Lamar University. She has many years of experience in marketing and project management She is the primary stock holder and will be in charge of general management, marketing, design and management of the computer aided drafting portion of the business. She will be trained during the first year to use the machine. Her long term interests are in handling all architectural applications such as flooring and other architectural ceramics and mosaics. Robert Chenoweth, Vice President, founder and initial manager, Technical Assistance, Inc., is a graduate of Texas A & M University and Lamar University. He holds two Masters Degrees, one in Agricultural Engineering and the other in Mechanical Engineering, He presently works full time 7q as Supervisor of Mechanical Design with Ameripol Synpol Corporation in Port Neches, Texas. He is the secondary stock holder and will be the initial trainees. He is experienced in materials and equipment handling, and has extensive experience in fabrication and industrial design. His long term goal is to build the industrial side of the business, moving into a full time position with WaterScythe. He will maintain his position at Ameripol-Synpol until such time that the business will support him full time. Nancy Carlisle is a graduate of Lamar University in accounting. She will handle all bookkeeping and payroll for WaterScythe. She is a very important member of the team in that she has had many years of experience as a general business manager and accountant for construction related businesses. She is owner of Quality Care Sitters located in Beaumont and has the personnel and computer capability in place at this time to handle our financial business management and general accounting. She will act as a mentor to the company in all' business matters. She will be on contract rather than being a full time employee. ANALYSIS CONDITIONS FOR APPROVAL OF SPECIFIC USE PERMIT (SECTION 30-26.E, ZONING ORDINANCE Application Application is in is not in Comments Compliance Compliance Attached CONDITIONS: 1. That the specific use will be compatible with and not injurious to the use and enjoyment of other property, nor significantly diminish or impair property values within the immediate vicinity; x x 2. That the establishment of the specific use will not impede the normal and orderly development and improvement of surrounding vacant property; x 3. That adequate utilities, access roads, drainage and other necessary supporting facilities have been or will be provided; x 4. The design, location and arrangement of all driveways and parking spaces provides for the safe and convenient movement of vehicular and pedestrian traffic without adversely affecting the general public or adjacent developments; x x S. That adequate nuisance prevention measures have been or will be taken to prevent or control offensive odor, fumes, dust, noise and vibration; x 6. That directional lighting will be provided so as not to disturb or adversely affect neighboring properties; x 7. That there are sufficient landscaping and screening to insure harmony and compatibility with adjacent property; and x 8. That the proposed rise is in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan. x ANALYSIS continued This application is in compliance with the eight conditions necessary for a specific use permit, pending a zone change to C-M. Comments on items 1 and 4 follow: 1) The block bounded by 4" and San Jacinto and Rockwell to Terrell is occupied by several old metal warehouse buildings. Most of the land uses in this block are heavy commercial in nature. They include a plastic fabrication shop, a transmission parts distributor, furniture repair and a former nut and bolt manufacturing company. Some of the buildings are now vacant. Original zoning was C-2 (Central Commercial) but was changed to GC -MD in 1981. Several of the existing structures existed prior to the 1955 original Zoning Ordinance. 4) The Traffic Manager approves the existing parking on the lot. All equipment and material loading and unloading must occur off-street. GENERAL INFORMATION/PUBLIC UTILITIES APPLICANT: PROPERTY OWNER: STATUS OF APPLICANT: LOCATION: EXISTING ZONING: PROPERTY SIZE: FLOOD HAZARD ZONE: EXISTING LAND USES: SURROUNDING LAND USES: NORTH: Heavy commercial uses EAST: Heavy commercial SOUTH: Conunercial uses WEST: Package store, seafood, other commercial uses Robert Chenoweth Jef C. Russell, Jr. Tenant 2995 S. 4"' Street at Rockwell GC -MD (General Commercial -Multiple Family Dwelling) District 0.16 acres "C" - (Minimal) Metal building GC -MD (General Commercial -Multiple Family Dwelling) District RM-H GC -MD GC -MD GENERAL INFORMATION/PUBLIC UTILITIES continued COMPREHENSIVE PLAN: Conservation and Revitalization A MUMMUMMIN "T'' FEATURES: None STREETS: Fourth Street - a major arterial with a 60' right-of-way and a 46'pavement. Rockwell - a 60' right-of-way with a 20' pavement. DRAINAGE: There is a 24" storm sewer in 4"' Street and a 24" in Rockwell. WATER: There is an 8" water line in Fourth Street and a 2" line in Rockwell. SANITARY SEWER SERVICE: There is a 6" sanitary sewer in Rockwell. FIRE PROTECTION: Fire protection is provided by Station #10, 3855 Washington Boulevard. ADEQUACY OF SERVICE: Existing services and utilities are adequate,