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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1.16.2020 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 Stephen Zollinger introduced Spencer Rammell. He is a Prosecuting Attorney for the City and the County. In addition, Spencer will be working with Planning & Zoning. He specializes in criminal prosecution. Spencer Rammell said he went to high school here in Rexburg. He has been with Ada County. His dad retired as judge, so he could come here to work. He went to University of Idaho Law School. He liked the Boise area, but he is happy to be back in this area with the beautiful wea ther. Stephen Zollinger, current city attorney is advising. Chairman Rory Kunz opened the meeting at 6: 30 p.m. Roll Call of Planning and Zoning Commissioners: Present: Chairman Rory Kunz, Bruce Sutherland, Melanie Davenport, Greg Blacker, John Bowen, Steve Oakey, Vince Haley, Kristi Anderson, David Pulsipher, Todd Marx. Absent: Keith Esplin. Minutes: From Planning and Zoning meeting – January 2, 2020 MOTION. Move to accept the minutes for January 2, 2020. Approve, Moved by Steve Oakey, Seconded by Kristi Anderson. Commission Discusses the Motion: None. VOTE. Motion passed (summary: Yes = 6, No = 0, Abstain = 4). Yes: Chairman Rory Kunz, Kristi Anderson, Melanie Davenport, Steve Oakey, Todd Marx, Vince Haley. Abstain: Bruce Sutherland, David Pulsipher, Greg Blacker, John Bowen. Public Hearings: 1. 6:35PM – Val Christensen – 669 Pioneer Rd – Comprehensive Plan Map change from Commercial to Neighborhood Commercial/Mixed Use (19-00752). The request is to add housing to a commercial area. (action) Val Christensen – He is representing Ray Peterson and his family, who own the strip mall on Pioneer Rd. near the intersection of Pioneer Rd. and S. Yellowstone Hwy. Their request is to 35 North 1st East Rexburg, ID 83440 Phone: 208.359.3020 Fax: 208.359.3022 www.rexburg.org Planning & Zoning Minutes January 16, 2020 2 change the Comprehensive Plan and rezone the property with the purpose of putting a residential piece on this property. A survey has been completed over a three-month period and the conclusion is the parking is only being used at 50% of capacity. City Staff has confirmed the same usage of the parking. There is plenty of parking for this request before the Commission tonight. In the area to the North, there is neighborhood commercial/mixed use; this is the designation being requested. For the apartments that went in to the northeast, the developer came in and changed the Comprehensive Plan from neighborhood commercial/mixed use to moderate to high density residential. Chairman Rory Kunz asked if the Petersons are aware of the roundabout that is planned for this area. How will this impact parking? Val answered the Petersons are aware of the roundabout. Val has transposed the new plans for the roundabout and presented a parking lot plan to the city; no parking is lost with the plan Val has proposed. Vince Haley asked if anything would be torn down. Val showed an area between the two entrances that will have enough room for a small building. A drive aisle will still be able to go around the building. John Bowen asked how many commercial locations are on the property right now? There are more than six commercial locations and they will remain. Staff Report: Alan Parkinson – Ray Peterson has submitted a site plan to Staff for review. Staff’s biggest concern was adequate parking. The site plan shown to staff showed adequate parking, adequate buffering and the flow of traffic worked well. Staff has no concerns at this time. Tawnya Grover asked if there would be concerns with the parking if the uses change. One of the main concerns was with a majority of restaurant s in this area, which may provide some parking changes. You could possibly restrict the number of restaurants in the commercial units. Stephen Zollinger said Alan was jumping ahead of the Comprehensive Plan Map change and the rezone before the Commission tonight by talking about the site plan. It is good to know that the applicant has shown one feasible project. He focused the Commission on whether or not a Mixed Use would be a good fit for this area. Vince Haley asked if there was anywhere in town that is a Mixed Use project like the idea of Mixed Use that is being presented tonight? Stephen Zollinger responded, North Point and Hemming have mixed use components. The uses would not be stacked but would exist on the same parcel. Melanie Davenport asked if the Commission wants the housing. In other areas, we wanted the commercial in front and the housing in back. For the requests tonight, Alan suggested the need to focus on the proposed use. Chairman Rory Kunz reminded the Commissioners, their decision should be based on the use and not the location of buildings. Chairman Rory Kunz asked the Commissioners if they had any conflicts of interest or had been approached by any parties relative to this particular subject. If yo u believe your prior contact with respect to this subject has created a bias, you should recuse yourself, otherwise at this time please indicate the nature of your conversation or contact. Chairman Rory Kunz reviewed the public hearing procedures. Chairman Rory Kunz opened the public input portion of the hearing at 6:46p.m. Favor: None Neutral: None Opposed: None Written Input: None 3 Rebuttal: Val Christensen said as far as the restaurant is concerned, th is would come up in the building permit process with the site plan review. Chairman Rory Kunz asked if anyone else would like to speak. He closed the public input portion of the hearing at 6:48p.m. MOTION: Move to recommend to City Council to approve the Comprehensive Plan change from Commercial to Neighborhood Commercial/Mixed Use with the purpose of moving on to public hearing #2, Action: Approve, Moved by Steve Oakey, Seconded by Bruce Sutherland. Commission Discusses the Motion: None VOTE: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 11). Yes: Bruce Sutherland, Chairman Rory Kunz, David Pulsipher, Greg Blacker, John Bowen, Keith Esplin, Kristi Anderson, Melanie Davenport, Steve Oakey, Todd Marx, Vince Haley. 2. 6:40PM – Val Christensen – 669 Pioneer Rd – Rezone from Community Business Center (CBC) to Mixed Use (MU) (19-00753). The plat shows an undeveloped lot for proposed development. (action) Val Christensen – We decided to bring both requests at the same time because the requests coincided and to save everyone some time. Staff Report: Alan Parkinson – The Staff feels this fits within the requirements of Mixed Use and fits with the uses of this area. Staff recommends the Commission consider this request for rezone to Mixed Use as a viable option. Melanie Davenport asked is this where I ask about the location of the housing next to the street? She believes the decision by the Commission on University Blvd. development was based on the desire for commercial uses along arterial frontage with housing behind them. Mixed use allows commercial and residential uses within the same structure. There is no problem with putting the housing next to the street. The biggest issue is buffering of parking. Kristi Anderson voiced her comments toward Stephen Zollinger, City Attorney. When she read the Mixed Use description in the Development Code, she did not think the request matched the proposal. The idea for Mixed Use was moving building out to the street and having those buildings interact with pedestrians on the street, and placing the parking behind the buildings. Kristi asked if this is an issue? Stephen Zollinger said, generally speaking, the Development Code was written to apply to a blank canvas. As uses exist, it is more a discussion of a hybrid approach for Mixed Use. The project then becomes more of a site plan discussion and final project application to make sure the two uses will be able to coexist without creating problems for each other. The commercial owner is seeking to put residential in front. From an objective standpoint, the commercial users may suffer if he puts apartments in fron t of the commercial to block the view of the passing traffic. When you see the final project, you will see that the cars still have an open view of the commercial enterprises. Ingress and egress access will be reviewed. The areas of concern have been brought up by Commissioner Melanie Davenport. Mixed Use is intended to merge residential and commercial, so people don’t have to get in their cars to go to work. The hair academy and massage 4 academy may be the target market for this development. Right now, two of the three commercial units are merged for the massage therapy school. This is exactly what the city is trying to accomplish; merging the commercial and education space with residential, so our roads experience less traffic. Chairman Rory Kunz asked the Commissioners if they had any conflicts of interest or had been approached by any parties relative to this particular subject. If you believe your prior contact with respect to this subject has created a bias, you should recuse yourself, otherwise at this time please indicate the nature of your conversation or contact. Chairman Rory Kunz reviewed the public hearing procedures. Chairman Rory Kunz opened the public input portion of the hearing at 6:55p.m. Favor: None Neutral: None Opposed: None Written Input: None Rebuttal: Val Christensen responded, the Mixed Use and Commercial sections in the code are written to place parking behind the building. This request will do just that , matching the spirit of the Mixed Use section of the Development Code. Chairman Rory Kunz asked if anyone else would like to speak. He closed the public input portion of the hearing at 6:56p.m. Chairman Rory Kunz requested Kristi Anderson read the parts of the code she eluded to in her comments. Kristi Anderson read “the projects in this zone are intended to be pedestrian- friendly developments, facing and in close-proximity to the right-of-way. Parking lots are required to be behind the building. Other configurations may be considered on a case-by-case basis.” Steve Oakey feels it is great to expedite the process whenever a Comprehensive Plan and a zone change are required, to schedule them for the same meeting. This is less cost and more efficient. He feels the Comprehensive Plan is more of a nuisance. MOTION: Motion to approve the request for a zone change from Commercial to Mixed Use for the purpose of allowing Mr. Peterson to move along quickly with the process, Action: Approve, Moved by Steve Oakey, Seconded by Todd Marx. Commission Discusses the Motion: Vince Haley says this request seems pretty cut and dry. He is nervous about the precedence being set for other projects that are not as clear. He knows the Hemming Village is stacked Mixed Use. The presenter showed a bunch of examples that met the criteria he was requesting. He feels this motion sets forth a new configuration for future development. Chairman Rory Kunz suggested Alan show the zoning of the area. Stephen Zollinger shared examples of this type of Mixed Use in the city: Pines Apartments north of Hemming Village: Jimmy Johns, Kai Lanis. In these areas, residential is the dominant use and commercial is a smaller use. Tonight’s request is a little bit of a flip with commercial as the dominant and the residential as a smaller piece. Steve Oakey asked Vince expand about this 5 precedence. Vince gave the example of Walmart; apartments would not be built in Walmart’s parking lot. Steve Oakey said, if Wal-Mart values their parking space, they feel they can put a restaurant or apartment complex they could try this. If you have a good variation of uses, Steve does not see a down side. Vince Haley agrees downtown will be Mixed Use as intended with apartments above commercial. Purple on the map identifies the parcels designated as Mixed Use (MU). Melanie Davenport talked about Seattle allowing developers to do whatever they want. She does not feel we want developers to do whatever they want. She does not feel the request tonight is ideal, but can be approved. Chairman Rory Kunz said this is for the individual to decide. Vince Haley talked about Mixed Use where G’s Dairy is on a little bit of a zoning island compared to the surrounding area. This request would add to the island. Could conditions be put on the motion for parking? The Development Code stipulates parking requirements; additional parking requirements may be redundant . There is no need to put conditions on the rezone for parking. Stephen Zollinger said the parking requirements would stop the request on the site plan. Parking requirements need to be met to get building permits. Alan or the Building Department would stop the project. VOTE: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 11). Yes: Bruce Sutherland, Chairman Rory Kunz, David Pulsipher, Greg Blacker, John Bowen, Keith Esplin, Kristi Anderson, Melanie Davenport, Steve Oakey, Todd Marx, Vince Haley. Items for Consideration: None Heads Up: February 6th – No hearings are scheduled. Do we want a refresher course for Commissioner? The State used to offer this kind of training, but it is no longer available. Spencer and Stephen Zollinger could do a training. Melanie Davenport asked if there had been discussion about the tiny homes. Tiny homes are regulated at the Building Code level. At the planning level, if they meet your existing code. There is a code provision that homes have a minimum width. Below 24’ in width is not allow in certain zones. The only option is a mobile home -type park for tiny homes only. The Building Code requires a permanent foundation or tiny homes are treated as a camp trailer. The City gets involved when connections to electrical or water, sewer connectivity. Tiny homes are not inspected at time of construction that mobile homes do. Tiny homes do not apply to planning, but the Building Code. The requirement is on structures altogether for all residential structures. Steve Oakey says there is potential to change this requirement in the code. This requirement is prohibitive. If you want to recommend a change, you would visit with Alan. He would come back with language that would satisfy the body as a whole. The ultimate decision will be by the City Council. The rationale behind the decision was the desire not to have mobile homes all 6 over the city. The city cannot discriminate against mobile homes. Rexburg went with the minimum width option. Vince Haley said moving forward with tiny homes, opens up the option to put camp trailers all over the city. This is the risk. Stephen Zollinger said after the flood, there was a significant concern by elected officials because many trailers came in to supplement the housing and the concern those homes would remain indefinitely and there would not be incentive to rebuild. Many communities sought to regulate non-permanent structures in the city. There are a lot of creative ways to build living space. Steve Oakey was trying to look up an article about strong cities, brought up by Melanie about Seattle. There are certain cities with strict restrictions and zoning laws, driving up the prices of housing. Some creative developers went into a warehouse and constructed small quarters. The city prohibited this, because the city felt each person had a right for a certain amount of living space. There were willing customers who would live in this small living space. He suggests a recommendation City Council request an attempt at verbiage to encourage creative construction of living space. Stephen Zollinger countered, that children were willing to work in sweatshops. Steve Oakey countered too about this false comment. People moving from the countryside chose to live in this housing type. Chairman Rory Kunz suggested the tiny home discussion be added to the agenda. Adjournment: Commissioner Rory Kunz adjourned the meeting at 7:16PM.