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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02.15.18 P&Z Minutes_exppdf 1 City Staff and Others Brad Wolfe – City Council Liaison Craig Rindlisbacher – City Planner Stephen Zollinger – City Attorney Planning & Zoning Administrative Assistant – Tawnya Grover Chairman Heidi Christensen opened the meeting at 6:30 PM. She welcomed everyone. Roll Call of Planning and Zoning Commissioners: Roll Call. Present: Chairman Heidi Christensen, Mark Rudd, Greg Blacker, Steve Oakey, Darrik Farmer, Rory Kunz, Council Liaison Brad Wolfe (Not voting). Absent: Bruce Sutherland, Melanie Davenport, John Bowen, Gil Shirley, Kristi Anderson. Minutes: 1. From Planning and Zoning meeting – February 1, 2018 Craig Rindlisbacher found the mistakes in the minutes. “Jonathon McMullin – 260 W 1st N – He is coming before the Commission today again for a Conditional Use Permit for reduced parking. The owner chose to add two new units in the basement of the Roost, instead of using these areas as storage units. Because of this change, his conditional use permit of 65% was not enough to cover his parking. He is coming before the Commission for a reduced parking percentage of 63%.” And New Business: Mixed Use Development Code Changes, “Mixed Use provides the opportunity to increase density and lower infrastructure costs. Hemming Cedars is Rexburg’s first real mixed use building. John Bowen asked about Hemming Cedars.” We have other mixed use developments, but the uses are beside each other, and Craig brought up the fact that Cedars is the first mixed use within the same building. Motion: Motion to approve the minutes for February 1, 2018., Action: Approve, Moved by Greg Blacker, Seconded by Mark Rudd. Vote: Motion passed (summary: Yea = 3, Nay = 0, Abstain = 3). Yea: Mark Rudd, Greg Blacker, Steve Oakey. Abstain: Chairman Heidi Christensen, Darrik Farmer, Rory Kunz. Even vote. Stephen Zollinger consulted and the minutes can be passed. March 1, 2018 meeting will be canceled. Because of a misprint, we need to wait until 6:45 PM. 35 North 1st East Rexburg, ID 83440 Phone: 208.359.3020 Fax: 208.359.3022 www.rexburg.org Planning & Zoning Minutes February 15, 2018 2 Public Hearings: 1. 6:45p.m. (#18-00020) to rezone the property at 220 S. 2nd W. (Arbor Cove) from Medium Density Residential One (MDR1) and High Density Residential One (HDR1) to Mixed Use (MU). – Johnny Watson Johnny Watson – 1152 Bond Ave. – Cedars project and Porter Park were identified. This has been an interesting journey. The parcel is a block from the University. They are right next to Hemming Village and the nice things they have done there. The project is within great walking distance. The high density has been the goal for this area. He identified the PED line. The PED line is wider in the southern part of this same area, but it has never extended to the northern portion. The owner is the same as Mountain Lofts. Mountain Lofts has about 1,000 students and he barely uses 60% of his parking. He can’t reduce his parking because he isn’t in the PED. He is in the redevelopment area which allows him to reduce his parking to 75%. The number of beds is regulated by the parking he can put on the lot, regardless of trying to put the higher density near the University. The Comprehensive Plan is Neighborhood Commercial/Mixed Use. The current zoning is HDR. The way the HDR ordinance is written, outside of the PED, reduced front yard setbacks are not allowed. If an owner wants to maximize his investment, he has to put his parking on the street and set his building back, which is contrary to what we are trying to achieve in the city. Bringing the buildings to the street, helps frame the street, slows traffic, it improves the pedestrian and the driving experience. Johnny talked with staff about the goals we want to accomplish. How do we get there? He originally only wanted to change 2 lots to High Density. He applied for an ordinance change first, to change the wording in High Density to those similar to the Landing in the PED. Then, staff saw the Comprehensive Plan. The best vehicle, they decided, was to wait for the ordinance change to be heard tonight. Then, the entire area could be rezoned to Mixed Use. The new ordinance allows reduced front yards and allows the building to be moved out to the street. He will be able to create the pedestrian experience and put the parking behind the building. Johnny is requesting the parcels to the new Mixed Use zone. Right now, there are 14 apartments and 5 rental single family homes in the existing Arbor Cove area. The new structure will be four stories. One building will be girls housing and one will be boys housing. It will house about 560 students. Those students will be closer to the University like a lot of the other projects coming through. Johnny said it sounds simple, but it has been a long road getting to this result. Steve Oakey asked if Johnny would be seeking reduced parking if he were to be in the PED zone. The proximity of the campus border looks unfair. Johnny has withdrawn from this hope, regardless of the business model. 3 Johnny talked about the project being great the way it is. The owner feels good about it. He will not pursue this. It is frustrating to explain to the owner or the investor the difference for the overlay. They see the streetscape next to the current developments, and want to do a similar project. With the new zone, they can get pretty close to what they want. Rory asked if the zone is approved for mixed use and the development code changes don’t pass. Johnny said, Windsor Manor is in the Mixed Use and came back and asked for Conditional Use Permit to reduce the requirement for commercial. One of the objectives of these Mixed Use changes is the owners don’t have to keep coming back to the Commission for a conditional use permit, allowing flexibility. Johnny could go with the current zoning and provide 10% commercial or apply for a conditional use permit. He is aware of the risk. This outweighs going back to High Density. Our current ordinance is written this way and that is how the City is applying it. Staff has been very helpful from the beginning by trying to help achieve a vehicle to provide the best solution for the community. Heidi Christensen opened the public hearing at 6:58 PM Favor: None Neutral: None Opposed: None Written Input: None Rebuttal: None Chairman Heidi Christensen closed the public input portion of the hearing at 6:58 PM. She invited staff to report. Staff Report – Craig Rindlisbacher – The parcels fall inside the Comprehensive Plan for Neighborhood Commercial/Mixed Use. No discussion. Motion: Move to recommend City Council pass the request as recorded for purposes of increasing the property values and the necessary housing requirements., Action: Approve, Moved by Steve Oakey, Seconded by Darrik Farmer. Steve Oakey says, he would like a clear record. He would like Brad to bring this to the attention of the City Council. This is a clear example of a prohibitive nature of our best intentions, that is to create the PED zoning where we can reduce the parking, to allow the developers to maximize their property values, to market their product, to a walking public that is in high demand to be close to the campus. This is the PED zone’s intention, but in this particular case these objectives have failed, because of the drawn lines. We have denied this developer from doing the intentions of the PED zone. The example represents one of the unintended dangers of zoning. Craig Rindlisbacher – Part of the PED zone has been encouraging the development in this area. Discussion has been, if we keep making the PED area bigger, the land values in the PED zone, 4 where we want the development, increase in value. The development moves to the areas where land is cheaper. The discussion with staff has been to keep the boundaries the same. Steve talked about a clash in vision between those who are creating the rules and enforcing the rules and those serving the market requirements. Chairman Heidi Christensen thanked Johnny Watson for his presentation. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 6). Yea: Chairman Heidi Christensen, Mark Rudd, Greg Blacker, Steve Oakey, Darrik Farmer, Rory Kunz. 2. 6:55p.m. (#18-00027) to rezone the property at 4 W. Moody Rd. (White Owl Business Park) from Transitional Agriculture One (TAG1) to Light Industrial (LI). – Bron Leatham Bron Leatham – 1272 N Yellowstone Hwy. – This is a project the Commission has heard a couple of time. The property has been annexed and the Comprehensive Plan has been changed to allow for this rezone to Light Industrial. The parcel is 26 acres. The applicant has been talking with staff about infrastructure. The intent is a real demand for Light Industrial in the City of Rexburg and Madison County. These would be local businesses to expand current operations. They would relocate from other parts of the city to this project. Nothing has been platted yet, but anticipating 4- 6 lots, so bigger lots. These are not businesses with a lot of traffic, they will be more service type business or light manufacturing. Craig Rindlisbacher – Staff has had discussion with the applicant about the intersection of Moody as well as a Frontage Road that will show up on the plat and will connect with 2nd East north of Moody road. The next step is the preliminary plat. Mark Rudd asked about the road plan. Craig explained the location possibly. The developers will put in the road as development occurs. Bron is being asked to include the right-of-way in his plat. Chairman Heidi Christensen opened the public input portion of the hearing at 7:08 PM. Favor: None Neutral: None 5 Opposed: None Written Input: None Rebuttal: None Chairman Heidi Christensen closed the public input portion of the hearing at 7:08 PM. She invited staff to report. No Discussion. Motion: Motion to recommend City Council approve the application for rezone to Light Industrial for 4 W. Moody Rd. as presented, because the applicant recognizes the need for the community to have more light industrial zoning., Action: Approve, Moved by Darrik Farmer, Seconded by Greg Blacker. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 6). Yea: Chairman Heidi Christensen, Mark Rudd, Greg Blacker, Steve Oakey, Darrik Farmer, Rory Kunz. 3. 7:05p.m. (#18-00045) to amend the current Development Code (Ordinance 1115) substantive and non-substantive items including changes to the short-plat definition, mixed use zone, and Highway 20 corridor. – Craig Rindlisbacher Steve Oakey asked if the changes are the same as presented on February 1, 2018. Craig said, yes. Craig Rindlisbacher – He references the summary sheet the Commissioners have been provided with. Changes include PED reduced parking minimum to 6%, the definition of a short plat to allow for up to 5 plats, Mixed-Use intent and flexibility, and densities, and the Highway 20 screening requirements. We didn’t talk about the removal of the 15’ pole limitation in PED lighting 6 requirement and a change of requirement of copies intended to hand out to Commissioners. The change has been made to a digital version to allow electronic distribution. Darrik Farmer asked about the parking lot lighting requirement. Craig responded, right now there is a 15-ft. limitation, originally for pedestrian scale, but it adds expense and is not practical. This is just in the parking lots, not on the streets. Chairman Heidi Christensen opened the public input portion of the hearing at 7:14 PM. Favor: Bron Leatham – talked about liking the change in the mixed use zone. He has made application for a change mixed use properties as well. He initially liked the higher densities. It takes a unique project to have the commercial requirement. He likes making Mixed Use an option and not a requirement. Johnny Watson – Staff has done a fantastic job of listening to some of his complaints. Steve touched on it a little bit. One of the zoning problems is we are talking about conceptual ideas that we want to achieve in our community and turning them into a word document that then gets enforced. Those conceptual ideas are drawn on paper and are given to the review people and it becomes a black and white issue. They don’t feel they have the latitude to exercise “common sense”. In the Mixed Use, the verbiage says “allow a 0-10’ front yard, but if you are strictly a residential building, it has to be 10’.” The intent is to create separation from bedroom windows and sidewalks. There are a lot of streets that are not on the parcel line. If you go to Rachel Woolery’s project, her building sits right on the property line. She was able to use the entire parcel. On the parcel Johnny is working on, since you have residential, he struggles with maximizing the property. On the side of his project next to Porter Park, the road could be narrower. But the 10’ front yard requirement does not allow him to use this space. There is a 22’ of green space landscaping between the parcel line and back of sidewalk. He is for the ordinance; it is great. Neutral: None Opposed: None Written Input: None Rebuttal: None Chairman Heidi Christensen closed the public input portion of the hearing at 7:20 PM. She invited staff to report. Steve Oakey asked, how old is the mixed use zone we are changing? Staff answered, about 10 years or so. He talked about missed opportunities over time with the best of intentions. The rules on paper become a barrier for those have to implement those rules. When we talked about changes discussed before, he highlighted “hotel”. It is part of a list of acceptable projects. Instead of the long lists; there is a fallacy about the complete vision. He suggests the elimination the long lists and create a simplistic, adaptable language, that represents the vision. He suggests this gets back to City Council. 7 Scott Johnson responded, the intent is to look at those lists, but the process cannot happen in two weeks. Motion: Motion to recommend to the City Council to approve changes to the Development Code as proposed in our public hearing on the basis it is less restrictive and encourages development that is desired and needed in the City of Rexburg., Action: Approve, Moved by Rory Kunz, Seconded by Steve Oakey. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 6). Yea: Chairman Heidi Christensen, Mark Rudd, Greg Blacker, Steve Oakey, Darrik Farmer, Rory Kunz. Unfinished/Old Business: None New Business: None Compliance: None Non-controversial Items Added to the Agenda: None Report on Projects: None Tabled Requests: None Building Permit Application Report: None Heads Up: March 1, 2018 P&Z meeting – No items are scheduled. March 15th: 1. Rezone the property at 261 S 3rd W + from Medium Density Residential 1 (MDR1) and Medium Density Residential 2 (MDR2) to High Density Residential 1 (HDR1). Motion: Motion to adjourn meeting., Action: Approve, Moved by Steve Oakey, Seconded by Rory Kunz. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 6). Yea: Chairman Heidi Christensen, Mark Rudd, Greg Blacker, Steve Oakey, Darrik Farmer, Rory Kunz. The meeting was adjourned at 7:25 PM.