HomeMy WebLinkAboutEXERPTS FROM MINUTES - City of Rexburg - E Main Area - Rezone to add Professsional OverlayExcerpt from Minutes - Professional Overlay
Rexburg Planning and Zoning Commission
City of Rexburg
City Hall
Rexburg, Idaho
January 9, 2002
(Transcribed by Marsha Sparhawk from a tape of this meeting. The taped discussion lasted about
fifteen minutes.)
Present: Winston Dyer, Chairman
John Watson
Glenn Walker
John Millar
(We don't have a list of all those who attended this meeting)
Winston Dyer: Okay, that brings us down to a discussion on the Professional Overlay and
we'll turn the floor to Mr. Watson to lead that discussion if you will please.
John Watson Let me only just say that I .... before and I only have one drawing and
I'm not asking for any kind of approval. I see this as a planning issue.
However, within I would say another sixty to ninety days, I would like to
nail it down and so I have drawn what in my mind — you're only going to
see one drawing. I should have given you a picture of it.
Some inaudible member comments here.
John Watson You might want to come up and look at this John (Millar) because I'm sure
you'll have an input.
I've just taken a magic marker and made what I would suggest, me
personally, as a planning and zoning member, what ought to be entitled.
I'm not changing any of the zoning that happens to be there, but just
adding the professional overlay concept.
Now I think our first discussion was a little bit different. But what I'm
suggesting is the courthouse being right here and I see a considerable
development occurring right here and see building now at the top of Bob
Schwartz's house.
Actually, I do see there is a Master Plan. I don't know who's seen it yet,
but it is in the process of being worked on and I don't believe I have been
asked to ... directed to present it to the Planning and Zoning yet, but
but it is in the process of being worked on and I don't believe I have been
asked to ... directed to present it to the Planning and Zoning yet, but
nonetheless there is going to be quite a bit of growth in here and we have
the position where there is a lot of... we're lacking in medical office
space.
Doug (Smith) [a Planning and Zoning Board member] wants to build a new
building and so what we have is some older homes in this area. We have
some older homes right in here. We have some — a few right there. Not
that one. We have a few — just a few right in there. We have the nicest
home in Rexburg right there. Do you know which one it is? (Laughter)
Nonetheless, nonetheless, if you look down the road twenty years that
hospital is probably not going to move and basically I don't really see that
it needs, we need a lot of additional space.
The Master Plan which was presented to the hospital illustrates that they
can add without buying property another couple hundred thousand square
feet can be built on that site. However, parking then becomes an issue.
And we are proposing a parking structure right here about four stories — it
needs to be five but that's another story. (Laugher) I can't be serious. I
just can't be serious.
And so the hospital board is concerned. Should we be buying some of
these properties? So that is one of the things that and should we be buying
some of these properties. And my answer to him is: I don't see any reason
to get excited about it except as these homes get older and deteriorate and
they're up for sale, maybe the hospital ought to buy them and maybe it's
for parking only because we can put a couple hundred thousand square feet
in here.
And so in order to and then the other issue we have is that you recall Dr.
Lovell came in and presented some of these properties. (Inaudible) Now I
can see (Inaudible).
Winston Dyer ... strong direction where the board here is to where we are going with
this overlay that would help steer that Comprehensive Plan discussion and
so we as a commission could go ahead and when you're comfortable put
this up for a public hearing and get input and so forth on this at any time
without having to have the emphasis of development if someone requested
it. We can do that if you feel that that's in the best planning interest and
the future of the community.
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Different Voice My personal is ................. the other way ....................
Different Voice I think we have a consensus pretty much.
John Watson That's fine. I'm just wearing about three different hats here, one of them is
a planner. I think that .. .
?? ... Public input ... Public hearing ...
?? I know good and well if there is a public hearing ... (Inaudible)
Clerk John
?? ... for me that's what I don't get.
I'm not saying these are nicer here.
I frankly, I would much rather have professional than ...
... You look tired. Ya well. You know what I'm saying.
... I appreciate that.
?? or if you have a dentist office or a lawyer's office or a federal office
building maybe ...
John Watson I'm done with my ... I just wanted to bring it up, talk about it.
Winston Dyer I think on the basis of discussion, the chair would entertain the motion to
set this up for public hearing on the basis of the boundaries that we've
described.
?? Could that be established ... public hearings?
?? Actually this is the zone change.
?? But like you say it would facilitate then the next discussion which is on the
Comprehensive Plan because if this is going to go those directions that will
affect anything that we looked at around this.
Glenn Walker I would make a motion then that we take this overlay described as all of the
boundary lines to the west that follows the hospital property lines to the
east in the drawing and make that public hearing the professional overlay.
Clerk Now are you taking the whole drawing that he has there?
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Glenn Walker No. It is modifications to it and that is what I was describing. You just
follow the westerly drawing that he has there and then as it meets the
hospital property lines it follows, it follows the hospital property lines.
?? ... probably ought to be developed within the city ...
Glenn Walker West of Ash, you're saying east of Ash follows the property lines. There
you go. What you gain by putting it behind here. That's already in a
professional zone. Yes. Actually the drawing itself. Okay.
That makes sense. So it stops at Ash.
This is already .... Shouldn't that be generated by your proposal.... .
Winston Dyer Are you comfortable with that motion? Do we know what we're
Clerk We don't
Winston Dyer Okay.
Clerk You have moved ... because it's really hard when you're planning on
something.
??. Probably John could tell her better.
John Do you want to do that
Glenn Walker The motion first you want?
The motion would be for us to accept the westerly drawing of this map as a
professional overlay stopping at Main and Ash on the easterly side.
Winston Dyer Well, John will give us in a moment clarifications of exactly which blocks
of the city plat are involved here.
Clerk Stopping at the hospital and Ash?
?? The other two are in transition of changing.
Clerk Except the westerly drawing of the overlay.
Winston Dyer Okay. Another way to do this is to say it is bordered by such and such a
street on such and such a side. Let's do it that way.
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Glenn Walker Bordered on Second East and second — let's see — no
Winston Dyer Bordered on the west edge by Second East, bordered on the south by First
South, bordered by the east by Ash Avenue and Third East.
Another voice Then it follows Main down and meets First East. (Another voice - Third
East) Yeh, it would be Third East. That's right. I'm going the wrong
direction. Excuse me.
Winston Dyer Then bordered on the north by First North. That's it.
Winston Dyer And we'll publish a map.
Woman Yes, that would be nice.
Winston Dyer And Glen's made the motion and who's seconded it?
Voice I'll second it.
John Watson There, I drew it for you. Done.
Woman Are you moving that they accept this and go to public hearing?
Winston Dyer Sure enough — public hearing as a proposed zone change —
professional overlay.
Winston Dyer Moved and seconded for the overlay as discussed. Any further discussion
then?
Mr. Watson is confirming the boundaries in green pen.
... Professional overlay
... I can color
... Tell if I'm ...
Clerk I will rewrite this.
... It's a green line.
?? Okay, so we're all in agreement where the boundaries are?
So the motion is following the green line. Really. That works. All right.
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There it is.
Winston Dyer Okay. Let's call for question.
Maybe
Are we ready?
It's been moved and seconded. All in favor. Aye. Any opposed? (None)
Motion carries.
Winston Dyer See that that gets set up.
John Watson I apologize that I was out of order, but I don't apologize for the humor.
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Excerpt from Minutes - Professional Overlay
Rexburg Planning and Zoning Commission
City of Rexburg
City Hall
Rexburg, Idaho
February 27, 2002
(Transcribed by Marsha Sparhawk from a tape of this meeting. The taped discussion lasted about
fifteen minutes.)
Present: Chairman Winston Dyer
Board Members Ted Whyte
Bobbette Carlson
Jacob Fullmer
Ladawn Bratsman
Doug Smith
John Watson
Glen Walker
Mike Ricks (9:00 p.m.)
Clerk Janet Williamson
P.F.C. John Millar
Attorney Stephen Zollinger
Excused Robert Schwartz
Winston Dyer Next item on the agenda is comments on the professional overlay. Mr.
Sparhawk you can come forward and we'll give you the floor here for a bit.
Don Sparhawk Good evening. I'm Don Sparhawk and I live at 37 South Third East which
if you want to visualize it — the tennis courts at Smith Park — that street is
Third East and it goes up the hill from there.
I understand that you've been talking about a professional overlay between
Second East and the hospital. Am I correct that you've discussed that?
Winston Dyer That's correct.
Don Sparhawk I live in a residential neighborhood that's included. You can see John's
(Millar) pointing at where I live right there. That block of Third East is
zoned R-1 and it's just a lovely residential area.
All the homes on that street are owned by families. There are no rentals
there. They are modest homes. They are not big fancy homes, but they're
modest but well kept.
there. They are modest homes. They are not big fancy homes, but they're
modest but well kept.
It's a very well established, intact neighborhood and I wont' about you
including that area in the professional overlay because of its nature as a
residential area right there.
There are no offices in that area. The closest offices are in Professional
Plaza and on the other side there's an office where he's pointing right near
the hospital.
We feel. I strongly believe in what you do and I strongly believe in zoning
and I believe that an R -I zone protects a residential neighborhood from
encroachment and I just don't see any kind of encroachment there at all.
It's just a well established place to live with people just trying to make a
living and raise a family.
I'm just concerned that you include that area in the, in any consideration of
development allowing offices. Am I correct that if you approve that, that
offices could be allowed in that area?
?? Inaudible whispering.
Don Sparhawk Could somebody explain to me why that area would even be considered for
offices?
Winston Dyer I think our big thought was its proximity to the hospital and there is some
move forward adjacent to the professional plaza particularly you know for
some of those homes to either be razed or turned into offices particularly
Don Sparhawk But not on our side.
Winston Dyer Second. Not at this point there hasn't been. There hasn't been, but I think
it was just a move to do it all at one time rather than do it piece meal.
Don Sparhawk Well, I think we would prefer not to ever do it.
Winston Dyer Are you speaking for your neighborhood?
Don Sparhawk I haven't spread this around much because, because I didn't know exactly
what, how far along it was, but I'm sure that the neighbors there, the ones
I've talked to would come down here and not be in favor of the overlay. 1
could bring down the whole neighborhood if you'd like.
Winston Dyer Is that on both sides of the street?
Don Sparhawk Yes. There are lovely homes on both sides of that street plus over father —
what's the name of that street — Ash. You know there are very nice homes
over in there too.
Don Sparhawk John —
John Watson I'm curious where you found out about this because, this because this has
not come up for public hearing.
Don Sparhawk You told me about it. (Much laughter)
John Watson When did I do that? (More laughter)
Don Sparhawk On that bus trip down to Provo and Orem. (More laughter)
Winston Dyer Now we know where our leaks are. (More laughter)
John Watson Maybe I should clarify for the group, our logic. Okay.
It has come before this board. A couple of those homes over by
Professional Plaza and there were some requests by some of these
physicians to have that professional overlay on the first of these homes and
convert them, tear them down whatever, putting into parking, put into
additional medical office space.
And my firm is doing a Master Plan for the hospital and Master Plan means
that it's a really long, long look into the future — 20, 30, 40, 50 years. And
so the hospital requested that we need to start buying properties
somewhere because we've never going to be able to. In other words, we
wouldn't have enough room to build.
So a study was put together by my firm and I showed the hospital they can
actually put about 250,000 square feet of additional building space,
whatever it may be, for medical facilities on the hospital property without
buying any more property.
However, you've seen the changes in the courthouse and the jail. I don't
mean to say you've served any time in there. You may have. And that in a
town is really I think damaging. These people remember what it looked
like before when the courthouse and that general area right there was
pretty residential and I think the best piece of property in the entire
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community is where the old hospital is, right at the end of Main Street
And so since I work for the county and the hospital and some other clients,
we have no where in the community that's designated as professional office
space. So how do you acquire because you have the hospital probably.
They'd consider probably buying some of these if they probably could. In
fact, there have been some who have offered to sell it to them.
But what happens is that the hospital needs to take a hard look at how fast
they're going to grow and so that's the purpose of me doing an exploratory
for them and there's so many supporting elements that go with that —
professional offices, accountants, and so on.
This professional overlay is not interested in razing this area and start
moving offices in. What it is, is 20, 30, 40 years it allows the older homes
to be torn down and professional offices built at some point in time. It
could be fifty years. I have no clue.
But, if you wanted to sell your house and this were approved and
somebody wanted to build a dental office there, they could do that. But the
motive is from a planning point of view. It makes really good sense to
complete that entire area from the courthouse ....
Don Sparhawk Well, that may be your opinion, but that's our neighborhood and it's a real
neighborhood, John, and I don't know that you'd want offices up in your
neighborhood. There must be other places in this community where we
could have offices, not where people have lovely homes.
Winston Dyer Let me clarify for the record if I may by reading Professional Office
Overlay District out of our current code:
"The Professional Office Overlay is established to provide land for
professional offices near the community's medical facilities and in areas of
transition from residential to commercial. Such offices shall be located and
designed to conform to the residential character of the neighborhood. Site
plan review by the Planning and Zoning Commission is required to
minimize the potential nuisance activities of offices in the residential
neighborhoods."
So it's not just to tear the house down and put up an office. It is
something that could be done that would fit in with the residential
neighborhood, be appropriate, by reviewed by Planning and Zoning and
city staff to that end. I know it doesn't resolve all your concerns, but that
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is better than what you were thinking.
Don Sparhawk Oh, I understand.
John Watson Maybe one last comment from me. The lifeblood of the hospital is the
ability to recruit specialists and other medical, basically medical specialists
and there's no work involved and so that's why an avenue of opportunity
down the way, maybe not immediately, but down the road. But the way
hospitals work today, they're heavy in recruitment.
Don Sparhawk Well, isn't there more, there space over by the high school that would be
ideal for offices. I mean why do you have to start to work.your way into a
neighborhood? It just doesn't make sense to me. I understand ... That
medical center shouldn't even be there in the first place. I wish it wasn't.
But that doesn't mean that, mean everything between the medical center
and the hospital should become offices. That just doesn't make any sense.
John Watson ... I think this is going to come up because I have been asked by the
hospital at a point in the future to bring this as an agenda item.
Doug Smith Could I make a comment also. The people in the Professional Plaza. There
are several of them that want that to happen. The homes around the
Professional Plaza.
Don Sparhawk But they don't live there.
Doug Smith Well, yes they do and they have. We are not bad neighbors. I'll tell you
that. I think the people who live around the Professional Plaza enjoy it
being where they are. Their kids play in the parking lot at night. Skate
board and create some problems.
?? Doug has got sound barriers on his walls so you never hear the people
screaming. (Laughter)
Doug Smith That's right.
Winston Dyer To sum up, your concern is both sides of South Third East.
Don Sparhawk And all the way to the hospital. I think that whole block.
Winston Dyer Okay. Well, we appreciate the input. This matter has been discussed on a
semi -formal basis before. The board trying to look at probably boundaries
and we've gone far enough to draw some lines on a map. And as such
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point in time as anyone wishes to bring it to a formal proposal and
presentation, we would then schedule the appropriate public input hearings
and so forth.
Don Sparhawk How far away do you think we're at?
Winston Dyer According to Mr. Watson, in the not too distant future. Fair enough?
Voice Secret. (Laughter)
Don Sparhawk Okay
John Watson I have to be directed specifically by the hospital and that has not ... but I
would suspect within six months.
Don Sparhawk Thank you very much.
Winston Dyer Anyone else wishing to make a comment on that at this time. We'll
certainly have more later, I'm sure. Thank you. We'll move on then.
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