Earlier this year, TD Bank filed to move from its current location in Old Town to 515 King Street, right in the heart of Old Town. Now, however, those plans are being challenged by city staff, saying yet more King Street frontage taken up with another bank would harm the area’s vitality.
TD Bank has filed for a special use permit to open a personal service establishment — a bank, in this case — with 30 feet or greater frontage on King Street.
The King Street urban retail zone was established to emphasize retail and other active ground floor uses. Personal service establishments are allowed by-right, meaning they don’t need a special use permit, with less than 30 feet of frontage along King Street.
The staff report recommended denial of the SUP request, saying the bank’s frontage along King Street doesn’t support the city’s goal of an active streetscape.
“The addition of another inactive use – a bank – with excessive frontage would negatively impact area vitality and an interactive pedestrian experience,” the report said. “The proposed use incorporating an expansive frontage would contribute to an experiential and visual interruption of a positive pedestrian experience along King Street.”
The report also said the shift to online banking over the last few years means banks are even less of an active use than they were before the pandemic.
“The Covid-19 pandemic solidified a trend of people accessing bank services online,” the report said. “Individuals no longer need banks for daily or weekly visits, as they may have in the past, highlighting how bank uses may now operate more similarly to an office use, rather than to other personal service uses.”
The report said the bank closing at 5 or 6 p.m. during the week and 1 p.m. on Saturday would “create a street activity void into the evening hours” and “generates no pedestrian activity on days that are commonly some of the busiest along King Street.”
Beyond just the effect on the streetscape, the report also recommended denial for “a lack of visual interest ” through the storefront windows, citing a sofa with its back to the window and a general “waiting area” vibe that does not encourage engagement.
If the City Council does ultimately move forward with the SUP request, the staff report suggested a few conditions to mitigate the damage to the streetscape.
Condition 8 is proposed to heighten pedestrian interest and engagement, first, by relocating the more active teller section to the front of the tenant space, providing more visibility of bank patron interactions. Second, the condition would require the applicant to provide a rotating art display in front of the ATM room which would be illuminated until 11 pm. daily to enhance visual interest and enrich the pedestrian experience. This part of the condition is consistent with page 9-10 of the King Street Retail Strategy which encourages temporary and rotating art exhibits. Lastly, this condition requires publicly accessible outdoor seating in front of the tenant space on private property to invite pedestrian interactivity with the bank site.
The permit is scheduled for a Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 3, and to the City Council on Saturday, Dec. 14.
Photo via Google Maps
