Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout09.19.19 P&Z Minutes_exppdf 1 City Staff and Others: Scott Johnson – Economic Development Stephen Zollinger – City Attorney Natalie Powell – Compliance Officer Tawnya Grover – P&Z Administrative Assistant Chairman Rory Kunz opened the meeting at 6:30p.m. Roll Call of Planning and Zoning Commissioners: Present: Rory Kunz, Bruce Sutherland, Kristi Anderson, Vince Haley, David Pulsipher. Absent: Melanie Davenport, Steve Oakey, John Bowen, Greg Blacker, Keith Esplin, Todd Marx. Minutes: From Planning and Zoning meeting – July 18th, 2019 - (No Quorum.) MOTION. VOTE. Public Hearings: None Items for Discussion: - Scott Johnson Scott introduced Alan Parkinson as the new Planner. Will has been interning with us and will be the Planning Technician. In addition, Tawnya and Natalie are part of Alan’s department. In the past, there was one department – Community Development which has been separated into two different departments, Planning & Zoning then the Building Department. Alan stated today is the introduction of the Form-based Vision; in the near future, the Comprehensive Plan work will begin. The Downtown Vision will be p art of the Comprehensive Plan.  Form-based Vision presentation & review – One of the big things we have been doing is working on the downtown. The Downtown Vision is the most important component and form-based code is one tool to help achieve the Downtown Vision. The Downtown Vision is in the draft stage. Scott encouraged the Commissioners to read the document and provid e input. Tax revenue is a major issue for the downtown. 50% of the downtown is non - taxable, producing no revenue. Brad Wolfe asked how does this compare to other cities in nearby areas? 35-40, no one at 50. Helena, Montana has about 40% of their land off the tax rolls. Bruce Sutherland, says the problem is compounded due to our tax levy rate, which is one of the lowest in the state and we can only raise the tax 3% annually. The answer is to raise tax revenue. Schools, churches and city office buildings, parks, and county-owned property are non-taxable. Just the high school is 67 acres. The city was broken down into districts; certain districts should be producing revenue. Single-family neighborhoods do not produce revenue due to homeowner’s exemptions, etc. A significant amount of infrastructure is needed to serve a few people in single -family neighborhoods is needed. When you get into multi-family and commercial, you start generating enough revenue where 35 North 1st East Rexburg, ID 83440 Phone: 208.359.3020 Fax: 208.359.3022 www.rexburg.org Planning & Zoning Minutes September 19, 2019 2 the city is not losing money, and focus for development can work within the infrastructure that you have. The downtown district should be producing revenue, but is not. The infrastructure is already built in the downtown and the city allows the downtown to be built at a much denser level. Our downtown is underdeveloped. 25% of the downtown boundary land is off the tax rolls. The city has been considering for about four years, how do we take an active role in trying to change some of these issues. How can we keep the parking amenity in the downtown, but put some of the city’s own property back on the tax rolls? How can we promote the city-center area? Rory Kunz sits on a committee that is working on the Downtown Vision. Scott’s job is to bring in businesses. Envision Madison identified the need for businesses to keep families in the community. Businesses want talent. Place needs to be created to draw businesses. Businesses want to be in the downtown. One of the benefits of our downtown is the synergy and its close proximity to the University. Objectives, strategies and tools are in the Downtown Vision document that has been handed out to Commissioners tonight. The Vision has a picture on the front showing a glimpse of the city’s past. Form -based code is a call to the past. The photograph shows living space or offices above businesses. Form - based is a focus on the building and how it interacts with the public spac e. Less focus is on regulating the uses within the buildings, allowing the market and the developer to determine those uses. An example is Kettle Embroidery, by our current code it is questionable for this business to be downtown, because the business is considered a manufacturer. To allow it, Kettle was required to have a store front. The idea is to create the environment for the core of our city. Form-based code, general ideas have been introduced prior to tonight. The majority of the code has been written the city would like to implement. Some experts are looking at what has been written to identify potential problems. People have said, parking will not be needed due to self-driving cars. Parking will actually increase with self-driving cars; the last thing we want you to do is to send it back home, doubling the trips on our roads. Euclidean 3 zoning focuses on a separation of uses, which is what we currently have. Form-based focuses on the interaction of the building with the public space. This does not mean we are going to allow heavy industrial in the downtown. There are still going to be uses like heavy industrial we worry about. The idea is the buildings are built to a certain standard. For example, Rory buys a block of the downtown and he says he wants to do a mixed use project. He comes to us and says, the commercial is not working, I can’t fill it. Rory wants to know if he can build residential. Rory can, but the bottom floor will need to be built with 15’ ceilings, because we believe the retail will come in eventually and need those standards. The experts, two companies: MGBA and CRSA, have been working with the city on the form-based code. These companies work with cities all over the country. The two companies have introduced a couple of ideas regarding parking; some ideas don’t apply to Rexburg, Idaho. The numbers the companies have suggested for shared parking are general numbers. One situation not taken into account is the Wal-Mart shuttle. Generally, what they are looking at is what we would call shared parking. The extent they are proposing is different than what we are used to. A table of percents was shown regarding the shared parking on weekdays and weekends for different facilities like residential, churches, etc . Residential parking, according to the table, should be used 100% from midnight to 7a.m. 7a.m. to 6p.m., 50% of the parking will be needed for residents, so the remaining 50% can be shared with retail uses. A comment often heard by residents and business owners is the downtown does not have enough parking. A 3-month, parking study has just been completed, recording parking lot usage in the city at different times of day. The city has a lot of underutilized parking in the downtown. The parking may not be placed on the street you wanted, but it is less than a block away. Scott shared a story about a movie date with some friends of his. The group goes to the movie, but there is no parking on Center Street. Main Street was full. Scott suggested they go p ark in the Porter’s parking lot. His friends didn’t realize Porter’s parking lot is public parking, even though there are 8 signs in that lot that say public parking. His friends, say, but that is so far away. Scott asked his friends if they were in Idaho Falls at Texas Roadhouse for dinner, would you walk from Texas Roadhouse to Edwards Cinema to watch a movie? His friends answered, yes. The distance is the same. The perception is you need to see where you are going from where you park. Kristi Anderson asked is this looking at the parking in general which can be used for any business? Does this include future parking garages? Scott answered, this includes the parking required by any business who wants to come in and build in the downtown. For example, let’s return to the Rory example. When Rory decides to build 6 floors of housing and he building two-bedroom units, how much parking will be needed? Rory would need 2 stalls per unit. This is a lot of parking that would sit empty during the day. For mixed-use projects, the city wants to make sure there is enough parking for the retail, services or office space uses too. Kristi Anderson asked if the Hemming development was considered shared parking? The Hemming development is one of our test cases. So far, we haven’t heard of any problems. At certain times, the parking inside their parking structure is open for public parking. So far it is working. North Point has been told they have to keep some of their parking as only commercial. Flat-surface parking is one of the worst uses of downtown land. Shared use models and parking structures are better. Places of worship percents were discussed. From midnight to 7a.m., we will probably have no people parking in lots for places of worship. David Pulsipher stated the places of worship would probably not allow people to park there overnight anyway. On weekends, the parking for places of worship 4 goes up. When the city sends out the information, the city is asking Commissioners to take an in-depth look to see if you see any potential problems or questions. A few changes have been made to the form -based map shown previously to Commissioners; originally, there were only 4 colors. The consulting companies have suggested Main Street be looked at as its own, separate area. The reasoning was due initially for historic buildings. Rexburg has a few historic buildings, but no significant theme for the downtown buildings. Traditionally, Main Street has a pattern of about 3-stories; you may want to keep that Main Street feel. What we can do, is on Main Street, even if someone wants to building higher, along the street there would be a maximum of 3-stories, but require a setback to go higher. Then, the Main Street feel is kept. Scott Johnson showed an example of a building in Bozeman, Montana. Provo, UT has it on their Center Street and others have done it. The city is looking for input. Bruce Sutherland says this makes sense with the line-of-sight seen by pedestrians. The rest of the areas, the idea is to go as high as you want. Vince Haley asked about the interest of someone coming in to tear down a building and building something else back up? Scott Johnson answered, there are tools that make this kind of development possible, called the New Market Tax Credit. The Hemming development made their project work with Federal monies that require a 20% down loan option, which allows after 7 years, part of the loan to be forgiven. People are actively talking about wanting to develop in the downtown. As you read the Downtown Vision, you will read about additional tools that can be used in the downtown. Vince Haley asked if there were people currently requesting development in downtown? Scott Johnson said, yes. Kristi Anderson likes the 3-story idea, for those people who resist changes, to allow the feel of the downtown to be preserved. Vince Haley asked about the amount of lost square footage for the developer due to this requirement. Scott asked Will if the setback amount has been determined. Will Klaver answered, the 20’ setback could be used as a patio rooftop for a restaurant for example; the space is not being taken away. Vince Haley asked if they city knows of developers that would be deterred due to this requirement. Scott Johnson knows this will be an issue for some; no matter what is decided, someone is going to want to come in and do something different. Minimums are currently in the form-based code that have to be built to. 5 floors or greater is needed to make the project pencil in the downtown due to the price of land. The proposed code is requiring 3 floors as a minimum build. Kristi Anderson says as things are built, they will not be all built at the same time. The Main Street zone will allow a base of 3-stories, while the old and the new mesh. Someone could come in on Center and 1st street and build 8 –stories. Think of the church office building in Salt Lake City. This was the only tall building in this area when it was built. The residents complained about the change. Now, the church office building is surrounded by other tall structures. There are actually requirements on the city as well with form-based. This includes cross sections for all of the streets in the downtown and how they are to be built out . Sidewalks, trees, seating areas, etc. are all spaced out. The city is helping to create the environment. Scott and Will were inside talking to an employee inside the Chocolate Factory. The two were facing him, but the employee was faceting outside. They see his eyes get really big. He saw a microburst pick up an umbrella to break a second-story window and come back down. This surprised a lot of people who were working at Navex Global. Scott is still working with his team to finish up a few sections in the form -based code itself. He will get this document to the Commissioners when these sections are completed, but right now he wants the 5 Commissioners to review the Downtown Vision in a week. Scott is looking for Commissioners to come in and ask questions. Please take the vision document home and really look it over. Alan is taxed with rewriting the Comprehensive Plan and the Downtown Vision will be a part of the Comprehensive Plan. Vince Haley asked about: Social media – Target is not coming, even though this has been spread in social media. When Target goes to higher employees, Target states they are hiring in the Rexburg area, but this is the Idaho Falls store, because the distance they use is within 50 miles. Scooters have come. The city did not pursue the scooters to come in. Someone at the University initiated the discussion, but others at the University do not want them. At Council, two weeks ago, the City Council did not get to approve anything. The city is actually only doing a 6-month, test pilot program. After the 6 months, if the city feels they need to move forward with it, an Ordinance process will begin. Thursday, the city sat down with all scooter companies and let them know why the city does not want e-scooters. Many hours of research have been conducted by the city regarding e -scooters. Many cities are banning the e-scooters; Atlanta is just the latest. The challenge ultimately is how they are treated. This is so vague; even at the state level, the scooters are not well defined. Are they pedestrians? Bicycles? If you are on a sidewalk or in a crosswalk, you are a pedestrian. If you are on the street, you are a bicycle. However, you can change back and forth. On our streets, the e-scooter users are difficult to see. 20mph on a sidewalk is dangerous not only for pedestrians, but those vehicles pulling out of parking stall. In the pilot program, there are certain areas the speed must be reduced. The scooter companies control these options by geo-fencing areas. In the downtown, e-scooters can only go 10mph. Pedestrian heavy areas are only 10mph. Shop-owners hate the e-scooters crowded in front of their stores. Abandoned scooters for 24 hours or more are collected by the city and the e-scooter company is charged a $100/day fine. We have limited the number of scooters that can be brought in. The insurance liability coverage required, (the city is using the national standard), is expensive. If the e-scooter operator wants to park in front of a store, he/she has to get permission from the store owner to park there. Store owners are required to maintain the sidewalk in front of their business. You will not see the e-scooters in the winter because the batteries won’t work under a cert ain temperature. If the e-scooters get plowed, it is the company’s problem. 5 companies wanted to bring the e-scooters in, only 1 company of 30 scooters has taken the challenge. There is a national movement that seeks the e -scooters out and seek to destroy them.  Updates to food court ordinance – The reason we proposed the items we did regarding the food court ordinance were those criteria placed by Administrators. Scott ’s job is to be pro-business. Generally speaking, we believe our community want s food truck vendors. Food trucks allow someone to start a business and see how it works. The people paying taxes for brick and mortar are choices the business owner made. We only charge $25 for a business license. We charge every other business impact fees and food trucks do have an impact. Scott believes the annual business license fee should be higher. Logan, Utah, charges $75 every 6 months plus 1% of gross sales, which can be $200, $300, $400 to the city 6 depending on the success of the business. Idaho cannot take a percentage of sales. The city can only charge a registration fee. On top of that, they are paying rent to be on someone else’s property. Brad Wolfe asked, can we charge a registration fee based on volume? Rob, consulting attorney, does not think so, but he will go back and look at the statute. Bruce Sutherland suggested this may look like or act like a tax, and the state controls taxes. Brad Wolfe asked about an impact fee. An impact fee, as long as it is reasonable, may be possib le. One of the key issues that were brought up in discussion was bathrooms; they should meet minimum criteria. Logan, Utah’s ordinance, says they cannot be on vacant property or undeveloped property and there has to be restroom facilities provided. Scott likes these ideas. If the food trucks are on property currently being used like Albertsons, Albertsons is paying taxes, which removes the tax issue. Also, Albertsons has the facilities needed. Let Albertsons and the food truck work out the parking issue. This takes the city out of the parking issue. Bruce Sutherland sees a gray area with the empty Wal-Mart property. Under Logan, Utah’s ordinance, the food trucks would not be able to be on the empty Wal-Mart land because it is vacant. David Pulsipher asked about Carrie Anne’s? Carrie Anne’s would not be able to be on the undeveloped land where it currently does business. The individual that owns the land is out of California on the old John Deere property. The gentleman does not have any real ties to the community except the land and his desire to make some money. The previous proposal before the Commission would allow 15-20 food trucks on the land at $350 per truck per month rent and with that income, the land will not redevelop. Also, taxes will not be generated on the property. A balance is needed; should he be able to do this? The Assessor cannot tax mobile vendors; he is struggling with this as well. This proposal is just something to be thinking about. David Pulsipher thinks this is a good way of approaching the food trucks. Vince Haley cannot think of another food truck, other than the one outside of Brad Wolfe’s business, which meets Logan, Utah’s requirements. The Hot Dogs on Main Street shares with the Mattress Outlet. None of the food trucks on 2nd E would comply. Seven food trucks were behind Dairy Queen taking Dairy Queen’s parking and using his bathrooms. Brad Wolfe suggested the owner to build up the property to accommodate the needs of the food trucks. Grease traps and bathrooms would have to be built. The question for the assessor is how do we tax them. The County Assessor has contacted the State to try and get some answers. Rob, consulting attorney, talked about a lot of citizens who love the food trucks. When you are just driving up and picking up food and leaving, why are we requiring all these things? Rob believes a sit-down area for eating is an item to consider. It changes the message of drive -up, pick-up and leave for eating somewhere else. These items suggested tonight are just proposals. The reason why the Food Court and Food Truck Ordinance was being looked at was due to complaints from brick and mortar businesses. Scott feels the proposal suggested tonight is actually less onerous on the food truck businesses and less onerous for the City and to allow for developable land. Scott is looking for feedback. Brad Wolfe talked about the face of business changing all the time. The internet forces businesses to be competitive. Restaurants 20-years ago didn’t want food trucks. People want food trucks right now. Business is changing. Rory Kunz agrees, but part of the reason why these food trucks work is because of the brick and mortar places. If brick and mortar businesses are driven out by food trucks, we will need the balance restored. Kristi Anderson clarified the food truck overlay would not be a part of this new proposal. David Pulsipher stated this would allow people to actually come in and develop an empty lot. Scott talked about larger cities and the dumping of grease with grease traps. Businesses 7 would have to demonstrate how they are getting rid of their grease. Brad Wolfe feels this is headed in the right direction, requiring some of the procedures a brick and mortar would have to follow. Bruce Sutherland feels this allows the food trucks to be responsible too. The Commissioners at this meeting are one of the first groups to hear this new food truck ordinance idea.  Vince Haley asked about an update on tiny homes and the accessory apartment. We will have to ask Stephen Zollinger about the updates from Boise.  2nd E & 7th N – What is the progress? - Alan Parkinson, City Planner responded, Keith is in the process of putting out the bids for the stoplights. The roads will not be closed off right now. Spring is the time frame for completion. Basic American plans to be done Nov., Dec. The light is proposed as a $4-million-dollar project. The potential road changes were described. The State wanted the City to take all of Hwy 33 through Rexburg, which would require millions of dollars to maintain. The City looked in to state law; the State can only do this if the city chooses to take over the road. The current received funding will pay for the signal to go in and the two lights will be linked as a short-term fix. Vince Haley talked about China tariffs which have raised the price on the signals. The State has agreed to the light, but want to wait and see and approve all of the drawings for the bids. Bruce Sutherland asked about a widening on 7th N. Originally, yes, but the City is waiting to see what happens. Vince Haley asked if the other changes will happen down the road? Right now, the counts are on 2nd E and Yellowstone to see how many people are actually turning off to Sugar City. This will give the City more information on what would be the best action forward. One light at Thomson Farms and the other on 2nd E at the Christensen Auto Body will go on the east-west roads. Moody and Hwy 33 intersection plans are being drawn.  Parking Structure – 3 pieces of property are needed. 1 landowner has committed and the other two are being negotiated. The City is hopeful to be able to get the parcels needed to move on the project. Negotiations are projected through October. RFI, Request for Qualifications, then Request for Proposal. Heads Up: Oct. 10th – Mtg. canceled – Stephen will not be back in time to report on the tiny homes by then. The form-based code is not quite finished. The Downtown Vision document needs to be approved first. Rory Kunz proposed the meeting be canceled. Vince Haley seconded the decision. Do we have to have a quorum to count the meeting? We did have a joint meeting in August with City Council. So, we have had a Planning & Zoning Commission meeting each month so far. Oct. 24th – Rezone hearing? Adjournment: Commissioner Rory Kunz adjourned the meeting at 7:51PM.