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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11.08.18 P&Z Minutes_exppdf 1 City Staff and Others: Craig Rindlisbacher – Zoning Administrator Scott Johnson – Economic Development Stephen Zollinger – City Attorney Natalie Powell – Compliance Officer Tawnya Grover – P&Z Administrative Assistant/Plan Review Tracker Rory Kunz is acting as chairman. He opened the meeting at 6:30p.m. Sally Christensen stepped up to recognize the Commissioners on behalf of Mayor Merrill. Recognition of Commissioners finishing their service Gil Shirley – He has served for 10 years. Val is the only one who has been here as long as Gil. After 3 years, he was asked by Elaine to stay on another year, and that was 7 years ago. Mark Rudd – Time flies. We appreciate your 6 years of service. You have done a great job to help the community. Heidi Christensen – She started in January 2016. She has done a lot of things including serving as chairman and we appreciate your service. Heidi thanked the Commissioners for helping her to do her job. Introduction of new Commissioners Todd Marx – He is appointed by the County like Gil was. He came to Idaho in 2013 to visit his cousin and liked it so much he decided to stay in 2016. He retired from the Navy in 1997 and government in 2016. He is ready to help out as a Commissioner. Keith Esplin – He has been in Rexburg 11 years. He has lived in Bingham county the rest of his life. This is his first time living in the city. He has served in Envision Madison a few years ago. He formerly farmed a number of years ago, and is working now as an association manager for Potato Growers of Idaho, and political action committee. He is an executive director for the Eastern Idaho Water Coalition working with the aquifer recharge group. Vince Haley – He is a Rexburg native. He has never left except for a mission and an internship. He grew up in the middle of town. He works for a company called Thurcorp in the trucking world. He is excited to serve. Roll Call of Planning and Zoning Commissioners: Present: Bruce Sutherland, Greg Blacker, Steve Oakey, John Bowen, Darrik Farmer, Rory Kunz, Kristi Anderson, Keith Esplin, Vince Haley, Todd Marx, Council Liaison Brad Wolfe (Not voting). Absent: Melanie Davenport. Appointment of a chair. Steve Oakey nominates Rory Kunz. Kristi Anderson seconded. Vote: Motion passed (summary: Yes = 9, No = 0, Abstain = 1). Roll Call Vote. Yes: Bruce Sutherland, Darrik Farmer, Greg Blacker, John Bowen, Keith Esplin, Kristi Anderson, Steve Oakey, Todd Marx, Vince Haley. Abstain: Rory Kunz. 35 North 1st East Rexburg, ID 83440 Phone: 208.359.3020 Fax: 208.359.3022 www.rexburg.org Planning & Zoning Minutes November 8, 2018 2 Rory Kunz is the new chairman of the Planning & Zoning Commission. Minutes: From Planning and Zoning meeting – October 4, 2018 Motion: Motion to approve the minutes as recorded. Action: Moved by Kristi Anderson, Seconded by Bruce Sutherland. Vote: Motion passed (summary: Yes = 7, No = 0, Abstain = 3). Yes: Bruce Sutherland, Rory Kunz, John Bowen, Kristi Anderson, Steve Oakey, Todd Marx, Vince Haley. Abstain: Darrik Farmer, Greg Blacker, Keith Esplin, Rory Kunz. Public Hearings: 1. 6:35PM – (18-00580) CUP - 2214 W 1000 S; The city needs to build a water tower to serve the water needs of the community on the West side of town. The land determined to be suitable is in a LDR2 zone. This zone requires a conditional use permit for public facilities. (action) Public Works Director Keith Davidson said the City of Rexburg is seeking a Conditional Use Permit(CUP) for the 2.5 million gallon water resevoir to service the needs of the community. It came to his attentiona CUP was needed after construction had already started. Keith fully intends to follow the landscaping requirement and other requirements for the CUP. The property is located across the street from Burton Elementary school. Steve Oakey asked how the land was acquired. Was it a fair market transaction? The landowner and the City traded land. The landscaping would be similar to his other water resevoirs. Grass will be planted. There will be a driveway, fencing, and planting of trees. Rory Kunz asked for any other clarifying questions. Keith Esplin is hoping the land will be maintained better than the City’s blue water tank. DEQ regulations for a well dictates the chemicals put down to maintain the weeds. Brett Sampson, BYU liaison, asked if the request was for something existing or something new? The information was repeated. John Bowen asked if a well has already been dug? A well has already been dug. It is a good production well. The tank will act as a reservoir and there will be pressure tanks to pump the water due to the elevation. This will help the fire flows and development in this area on the West side of town including the schools. There are large transmission lines currently in place to service the area. The water system only crosses US-20 in three places. Darrik Farmer asked about the landscaping plan to be presented. Public Works Director Keith Davidson passed out a landscape plan to the Commissioners. The requirements are trees 30’ apart and five, 5- gallon bushes between the trees. The blue area is for drainage to allow cleaning out the tank if needed, allowing infiltration back into the ground. Bruce Sutherland recalled the city was worried some time ago, that the water system was not linked to flow all the way around the city. 3 Keith responded, modeling was used to determine where the well would be needed to provide the pressures needed. Hydraulic head loss and friction in the pipes reduces pressures. This new well helps to alleviate this problem in this location. The tank is 42’, but part of it is buried in the ground. About 6’ is buried in the ground. They plan on berming up 6’ around the tank with the landscaping going around it. Greg Blacker asked about the noise involved. The pumps do create some noise, but they will be in a building to help mitigate the noise next to the residential neighborhoods. Keith Esplin has some concerns about how the upkeep on the tower east of BYU-Idhaho. Public Works Director Keith Davidson responded, the plan is not to paint this west-side tower. Painting was needed on the east-side tower due to its construction material, and cost a little over $300,000 to paint. The concrete exterior on the west-side tower will reduce maintenance costs for the reservoir. The project is estimated to be completed this Spring (2019). The columns are being poured on the inside. Construction for this season should be finished by Thanksgiving. In the Spring, they will wrap the tank and shock-crete on top of that. Todd Marx saw there is a generator on the inside. The noisiest thing inside the building would be the generator that would run if there is a power outage. Rory Kunz opened the public input portion of the hearing at 6:52 p.m. Favor: None Neutral: None Opposed: None Written Input: None Rebuttal: None Rory Kunz closed the public input portion of the hearing at 6:53 PM. He invited staff to report. 4 Zoning Administrator Rindlisbacher: None MOTION: Motion to approve this proposal, because the City has been working for many years to get the water system approved and this request will benefit the entire City of Rexburg., Action: Moved by Bruce Sutherland, Seconded by John Bowen. Steve Oakey sees it is unfortunate the City has bypassed its own rules which are applied to the private developer. Commission Discussion: No further discussion is needed. VOTE: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 10). Yes: Bruce Sutherland, Darrik Farmer, Greg Blacker, John Bowen, Keith Esplin, Kristi Anderson, Rory Kunz, Steve Oakey, Todd Marx, Vince Haley. Unfinished/Old Business: None New Business: None Compliance: None Non-controversial Items Added to the Agenda: None Items for Consideration: 5 1. Transportation Plan – What is it? How does it work? – Craig Rindlisbacher Craig Rindlisbacher said in larger metropolitan areas, there are Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) that function under the state and federal guidelines for transportation planning. Usually the areas that have a MPO are at a population of 50,000 people, which we are not. Madison County, Idaho Transportation Department, Sugar City, the City of Rexburg, and BYU-Idaho have formed a Rural Planning Organization (RPO), which is not supported by the state, but it is an opportunity to coordinate projects and work together on a transportation plan that covers the entire county. The RPO met this week and they are considering an update to the 2015 Transportation Plan, because enough has changed, the assumptions made in the plan may not be valid. His purpose is to inform the Commissioners about what goes into the plan and prepare them for future discussions. The 2015 Transportation plan is a cooperative, forward-looking effort. The focus is on vehicular transportation, but also includes other forms of transportation. Future traffic patterns and the resulting operating conditions of a roadway network are directly related to land planning and zoning and socioeconomic conditions. The plan is focused on Level of Service which is a performance metric to categorize congestion on streets: A, B, C are acceptable and D, E, F show congestion. The group who put the plan together, stated that all roads were at acceptable levels, however, they noticed excessive delays on certain roads. They used software that analyzes future traffic growth, determines expected problems, and evaluates the effectiveness of proposed solutions. By 2040, the population projection according to the model is expected to be 64,000. The current estimation by the city is still under 50,000 and will be in 2020. The Engineers and GIS took census geography tracts and reconfigured them to create traffic analysis zones. They determined what the housing, employment, or commercial activity was in each zone spread throughout the community based on the Comprehensive Plan. The boundaries probably show equal population areas. Inputs to the model were the street map, the numbers of lanes, and intersection configurations. The result is a projected traffic volume. Craig showed the projected traffic volumes for 2030 on the left and 2040 on the right. 6 The numbers are based on the existing system as if nothing was improved. Keith Esplin wondered in what year the numbers were determined. The 2014 study numbers were used for the Transportation Plan adopted in 2015. Wal-Mart went into their new building on 2nd E in 2017 drastically changing the traffic on 2nd E. The models have not been rerun. Craig continued, the problems based on 2014 numbers are along Main Street and 2nd E. Looking at the map, we need to look at how we accommodate the traffic flow as growth occurs. Public Works Director Keith Davidson says 2nd E is very busy, especially at certain times of the day. The interchanges are also becoming congested, especially as BYU-Idaho opens up for their semesters. The State is putting in diverging diamonds in 2024. Craig continued, the model output was a functional classification map used to set right-of-way widths: local – 68’, collector – 79’, and arterial – 100’. In a new subdivision, the city requires these right-of- way widths. Or if someone is developing along an existing road where the city does not have right-of-way, the city would require the width to be deeded. The plan also includes proposed short-term solutions to alleviate the congestion including widening 2nd E to 7 lanes, or a couplet – one-way traffic south on 2nd E in 3-lane configuration and going north one-way on 3rd E in a 3-lane configuration. This is common in bigger cities. The community did not receive this solution well. The plan also recommends expanding 2nd E to 5 lanes north of Moody Rd. Public Works Director Keith Davidson, said 2 lanes were added northbound when the new Wal-Mart went in. Right-of-way was not present and an irrigation ditch needed relocation to increase lanes on the southbound side. If traffic volume drove expansion of the southbound side, right-of- way would have to be purchased. Public Works funds are stretched. When developers come in, right-of-way is usually a trade with the city; the city builds the developer’s share of the road and curb, gutter, and sidewalk. Greg Blacker talked about the discussion of a stoplight at the intersection of the highway, when the new Wal-Mart went in. Public Works Director Keith Davidson said Wal-Mart paid for the stoplight going into their business. The traffic impact study was completed. Up on hwy. 33, the state did an analysis to see if the intersection warranted a signal. Currently, the intersection has not met the requirements. Some of the other short-term projects we may undertake or have worked on are traffic calming on 2nd E between 2nd N and 7th S, signs for pedestrian activity, a HAWK 7 signal, and extending University Blvd. to 4000 W where it currently ends in front of the high school and widening it. Darrik Farmer asked if the lines would be painted over on University. Public Works Director Keith Davidson responded, the painting was in the process for removal, but the paint was so thick, they were digging down into the asphalt. A chip seal will be needed over the lines, to get a better delineation. The County was helping the city with this project and ran out of oil for the winter season and they don’t store it during the winter. It will have to wait until Spring. Craig continued, the couplet would require a new bridge. Based on the input and the discussion today, it is not likely to be pursued. It is not supported by anyone he talks to. The couplet talks about being preferred because of the impact on the businesses for a 7-lane road. The engineers are more impacted by a 7-lane road vs. a 1-lane road. The vision scenario talks about the East Parkway Corridor, 5th W extension across the river, and overpasses over US-20 Moody, Poleline, and 7th. Those are pretty expensive projects and ITD would have to be persuaded to pursue any of these projects very heavily. Because the couplet system is not supported and the assumption in the plan was to the West and South and most of the interest right now is to the North and East, Craig is proposing to the RPO an update to the plan. The Commission will have proposals brought forth for the North side of town which will be impacted based on the couplet. 8 Steve Oakey asked if it would be appropriate to critique and voice concerns? Yes. There is an economic term called the crowding-out effect. The crowding-out effect argues when the private sector increases spending, it crowds out public sector spending. On p. iv, Steve read, “A transit system, particularly within the City of Rexburg should be considered in the future plans of the community. While many transit options exist, the most viable and affordable option for the area would be a fixed schedule bus system.” We have several transportation problems currently being solved by market on a voluntary basis: Zipcar, Uber, Lyft, Wal- 9 Mart bus, Ivy bus, TRPTA, bird scooters, voluntary transportation associations, and innovative systems coming on line in metropolitan areas. The assumption is when a problem exists, the people go to the government when the market could solve the problem by providing a service with a fee. On p.54, (outcome of this thinking) a study has been conducted by the Chamber of Commerce (quasi-public/private/gov. entity), BYU-Idaho (public entity), and other entities such as TRPTA (gov. subsidies), Steve read, “also included in the study will be the establishment of a transit center and/or Park & Ride facility at the new Super Walmart location north of town and expanding WE Car/Zip Car services currently on campus.” What it is assuming, is now we are using public funds to eliminate the private transportation methods that have already been engaged in and tested to put a center at a private entity, which will inevitably bypass all the other small businesses. Walmart and the Ivy will stop running their buses. The government is talking about subsidizing private entities. These are built-in to the verbiage of this plan, take care that if we will implement this, and the budget for public works is already stretched, there will be more problems. Let’s think in terms of intrusion of market forces to solve the problems of transportation. He suggests that we leave the market wide-open to implement solutions to solve the transportation problems. Report on Projects: None Tabled Requests: None Building Permit Application Report: None Heads Up: Reminder changes to updated meeting changes: Nov. 29th (No hearings scheduled), Dec. 13th, Jan. 3rd Motion: Action: Adjourn, Moved by Kristi Anderson, None seconded. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 10). Yes: Bruce Sutherland, Darrik Farmer, Greg Blacker, John Bowen, Keith Esplin, Kristi Anderson, Rory Kunz, Steve Oakey, Todd Marx, Vince Haley. Meeting adjourned at 7:25PM.