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HomeMy WebLinkAbout7.15.2021 P&Z Minutes_exppdf 1 City Staff and Others: Alan Parkinson – P&Z Administrator Tawnya Grover – P&Z Administrative Assistant Natalie Powell – Compliance Officer Spencer Rammell – City Attorney Mayor Jerry Merrill opened the meeting at 5:00 p.m. Roll Call of Planning and Zoning Commissioners: Roll Call. Present: John Bowen, David Pulsipher, Randall Kempton, Sally Smith, Aaron Richards, Jim Lawrence. Absent: Chairman Rory Kunz, Greg Blacker, Vince Haley, Kristi Anderson, Todd Marx. Minutes: Planning & Zoning Meeting July 1, 2021 (action) MOTION: Motion to approve the June 24, 2021, Planning & Zoning minutes as recorded, Action: Approve, Moved by Sally Smith, Seconded by John Bowen. Commissioner Discussion on the Motion: None VOTE: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 6). Yes: Aaron Richards, David Pulsipher, Jim Lawrence, John Bowen, Randall Kempton, Sally Smith. Commissioner Appreciation: Kristy Anderson – Served from May 7, 2017 – July 15, 2021 – Impact Area Member Appointed by City – Mayor Jerry Merrill. Kristy was not present; we will thank her at the next P&Z meeting. Joint Planning & Zoning/City Council Work Meeting: Form-Based Code – Scott or Alan Vince Haley arrived. Introduce New Commissioner: Bruce Casper – Impact Area Member Appointed by City – Mayor Jerry Merrill Some of you might know Bruce; he has been a member of our community for a long time. He was a member of our City Council. Bruce has agreed to serve on the Planning & Zoning Commission. We welcome you and thank you for your willingness to serve. Greg Blacker arrived. Joint City Council/P&Z meeting: Form-based Code – Scott Johnson - Scott thanked the group for the number and sequence changes they identified. They appreciated that input as well. The following are the main items the group submitted:  When will the City Council and Planning & Zoning get to see projects that are being developed? 35 North 1st East Rexburg, ID 83440 Phone: 208.359.3020 Fax: 208.359.3022 www.rexburg.org Planning & Zoning Minutes July 15, 2021 2 o Traditionally, the role of City Council is not to look at the specifics of projects, it is a focus on land changes. If there is a change in land use the Commission and Council will still be looking at that. As long as they meet the criteria in this form-based code, there is no need to see the project. Vince Haley said the zone is as it is, the request would not come before P&Z. Scott said only when changing transects. Aaron asked if a person can request go back to euclidean if they request it? Scott said no.  How does form-based help with predictable outcomes? o The code is more specific about the building, making the building predictable. This does not mean we are calling out what color the brick is. How that building reacts with the public space is predictable.  What is an Adminstrative Use Permit (AUP)? (Pg.9) Chairman Kunz arrived. o P – permitted by right. A person can develop a permitted use without talking to anyone in zoning. They pursue building permits. PU – permitted on upper floors. Again, these uses are allowed by right. AUP – a person would have to present to a group to be approved. Traditionally, this would be a presentation to the Planning & Zoning Administrator. It is like a Conditional Use Permit, but as an Administrative process. David Pulsipher referred to the process. If a developer doesn’t like the decision of the Zoning Administrator, why then are they going to a committee chaired by again, the Zoning Administrator, the person they disagreed with. Why was the process set up this way? Scott said this is similar to the Design Review Committee, the Zoning Administrator does not vote in that committee. Alan said typically you bring in a planning & zoning member, a city council member, and a community professional with expertise in the building or drafting field. The group decides if the plans presented fits the city. Scott said we may want to clarify in the form-based document that the Zoning Administrator does not vote. David said the Zoning Administrator would need to be part of the meeting to explain his decision. It was also not clear how many people are on the committee. The document just says “drawn from these four pools”. Do you create whatever size of group you want each time? Scott said, it is usually a three-person group. We could spell this out a little better. Scott said the Zoning Administrator is part of an internal committee that would look at an AUP use. Then, there would be an appeals process you could go through, which could finally end with City Council. Vince asked why an AUP avoids coming to P&Z. Scott said these are noncontroversial type things. These are items that would not affect neighboring properties. This also speeds up the process. Alan said uses are more of a range in form- based code. Vince’s concern is looking at the administrative abilities in the county, he really likes the ability for the public to see these requests. David said at this point the public would never be informed that a review was happening. There would be no chance for public input. You are saying these requests do not rise to the need for the public to need to know. Chairman Kunz said all he is hearing are questions that flow with current procedures. Scott said the public is going to have the opportunity to review this code and have their say on the code itself. This code is not focused on the use, and use is usually what concerns the public. Tisha asked if any on the use require a CUP. Scott said none of the uses require a CUP. David said how did you determine which uses need to be reviewed 3 and which uses do not? Scott said we have studied about twenty different codes. We have attended classes on form-based code. A lot of the choices come from what they have learned and from looking at what is successful and what is not. And, we looked at Rexburg. We are not these other cities. A focus was made on the “gotcha” uses. Even once this code is passed, this will be a living code, and changes will be needed. Right now, this is our best guess.  How are lot sizes determined? o A lot of codes out there are a lot more strict than we are for lot sizes. In fact, many places mandate a large size of square footage. We wanted to make sure there were opportunities for large and small developers. We sat down with real estate agents, developers, architects, and other building professionals to look at square footage in the downtown.  Why is ground floor fenestration important? How does it affect initial development and how can it be changed with use? o When you look at buildings interacting with the public space, what you do not want is solid walls. Solid walls are not inviting. Downtowns you connect with, it is because you can see things happening, even on the inside of the building. Ultimately, fenestration allows for this to happen. What if in the meantime there is residential on that main floor instead of commercial for awhile? The fenestration stays, but inside they could use window treatments.  How are changes of use regulated, and why? This has already been discussed.  How are short-term rentals regulated? o Short-term rentals are regulated the same as the rest of our zones by state law. Ultimately, there are some parking requirements at 1 parking stall/bed. Randall Kempton said on the table short-term rentals are listed as an AUP. Scott said the reason why it is a AUP is because the city needs to be aware of it for parking, business licenses, life-safety reviews, etc.  What is the role of City Council and P&Z once form-based code is adopted? o P&Z and City Council are still responsible for the same things that you are responsible for now. Chairman Kunz said we are not doing the whole city in form-based code, just the downtown area. The process was presented. Scott is aware the graphic will need to be amended. The verbiage was changed, but the graph was not changed. Some other things that came up were some unfamiliarity with form-based codes. Traditionally, in Euclidean zoning, there are setbacks. In form-based code, we do not want the buildings setback. There is a build-to line to interact with the public space. John Bowen clarified the building will not be on the sidewalk. Scott said we will avoid some things that protrude out on to the sidewalk. John is in the Henry’s Fork commercial park. The businesses are going through some things that have happened during the development. For example, the lighting was never put in. Wires are running on top of the ground. Scott said we can still bring this to the attention of the building inspector. Alan said internally three groups of Staff look at the plans, the Building department, the Planning & Zoning department, the Public Works department, and often the Fire department. The Public Works department would look at the plans and make sure the light poles are put in. The Building department would make sure the lightpoles are energized. John said the developer has long since gone. He hopes this kind of thing is not happening anywhere else in the city. 4 Greg said Scott had mentioned Staff looking at form-based codes from other cities. What other Idaho cities have form-based codes in Idaho? Scott answered Staff has looked at Idaho Falls has form-based code for their downtown. Boise has a hybrid approach. Time was spent looking at the Mesa, Arizona code; this code had more stringent requirements. No matter what code you have, there are pros and cons. For us, we were seeking the answer to the question, what do we really want to accomplish in our downtown? Chris asked if the Smoke & Fin is in the downtown in Idaho Falls; he is trying to visualize the form-based code. Scott confirmed. Other buildings are being redeveloped under the Idaho Falls form- based code. Scott said this is not a new concept. It is a call to the past. This form was what Rexburg used to be. Shops were on the bottom floor and living space up above. Vince asked about Trailer Food Court. Would this use fall under Eating and Drinking Establishments? Scott answered, Trailer Food Courts are handled under a separate ordinance. Right now, the two are not married. Ordinance amendments are in the works to come before the groups in August. We do not have true mobile vendors. For us, mobile has meant a time period of six (6) months. In every other city, a mobile vendor comes in the morning and leaves at night. And, the vendor can use city right-of-way to sell on. Vince asked about adoption of the form-based code. How long from the adoption of the code to when you start to see movement and buildings change to meet the code? Scott said every city is different; a lot depends on demand. He said Mesa took a little while; their code is very stringent. Once it started, we actually talked to two developers down there, and they were actually glad to know exactly what to do. Idaho Falls, once it passed, there were two developers ready to go. The city will also lead the way. Alan said we already have people interested in developing under the Rexburg, City-Center, Form-based code. Tisha said the City even has a development they are working on for the downtown. Vince said the code is more involved with interactions between properties. Is there going to be a race to the top? Scott said when the church office building was first built in Salt Lake City, there were some ugly meeting minutes. Once they went up, then others followed. Land starts to become valuable. Vince said Scott has shared a positive example. Could there be a negative affect? Vince gave the example of ten car dealerships in the same area. Scott said this could happen, but he has not seen this in other cities. Because we are not worried about land use, so Darrell’s lot on main street fits well there, does this mean another car dealership could tear down a building and put in another car dealership. Rory said the dealership would have to build a building to the form-based code build-to line. Randall said the building still looks like a typical downtown building, regardless of the use. Vince said he has not studied form-based code enough to see the 20-year vision and determine a negative situation. Chairman Kunz said he does not see a negative situation, uses could come and go, but there will always be a usable building. Randall said it was difficult for him to see Main Street to stay the same, but stack three stories on top of it. Scott said Provo is a similar example with form-based code. Scott said the buildings are built two stories and then the additional stories are set back. Some of the students’ examples from the four classes, who did projects according to the city’s form-based code, were buildings on Main Street. Mayor Merrill said in Provo, you do not notice as you walk the stories set back. Driving, you notice the set back of the buildings more. Alan said as you drive by Cedars, it is appealing to drive down the street; they have done a very good job. Sally said you do lose your satellite radio. Scott said the form-based code is designed for pedestrian activity, not vehicular traffic. Vince asked when Center Street done, was it developed with the vision of form-based? Scott said Main Street is unique for Rexburg because it is a state highway. Center Street is more of our ceremonial Main Street due to the University at one end, a lot of civic-use buildings, the park at the other end, etc. David said the University bought up a bunch of land on Center Street. The University, if they were to develop 5 that land, would need to follow the form-based code as well. Due to the vision, the University has offered to sell their parking lot to help participate in this vision. Randall Kempton said there was a lack of educational uses. Scott said he knows what BYU-I was going to do with that land. The University is really not buying up land right now. In cities with public universities, you would see downtown an off-campus book store, an alumni center, etc. could be off-campus and in the downtown. With this private University, this will not be what happens. John Bowen noticed in other countries this form-based is common and there are tons of people there, many people want to live in the downtown. Scott said we have a young, single-adult stake that is not University affiliated. These single adults say they would love to be located in some nice, downtown living spaces. Professors are looking for condos in the downtown, who could walk to the campus. John said if we could get some prototypes going this would help move things forward. Scott referred to a consultant doing some analysis to help the city understand what people are looking for. The city is looking at being the lead for what development should look like. He reminded the group 50% of land on the city is off the tax rolls. Downtown, because of the densities, should be the highest-revenue- producing area. 25% of the downtown land is off the tax rolls. One of the things we are doing, is we are looking to create mixed-use parking structures to sell off flat-surface parking. Randall said it will take a long time, twenty years, maybe. BYU-I is in its awkward teenage phase. The City is also in the teenage phase, because traditionally you tell me what the zone is and I will do what I want to do. This code is saying, we are becoming a bigger city and you need to do this, because we want to have a nice city. Mom and Dad are saying this is what the building is going to look like, but you have some freedom to do what you want inside those buildings. Keep your room clean, because we want people coming into our community to like what they see. This is going to ruffle some feathers. Scott said there is a little bit of give and take. You are right, we are looking to create the environment. Scott’s job is to create a place where there can be jobs and businesses. Aaron asked about when the public hearing is scheduled. Alan said form-based code will probably go to public meeting in September 2021. Aaron asked when the document rolls out for the public to look at? Alan said once the public hearing is noticed, the people can look at the form-based code. Aaron asked if there any projects sidelined, waiting for this code to pass. Scott said the city’s, a private entity is actually waiting to build the structure so it will be on the tax rolls, and the city is a partner. The Downtown Strategic Vision via the city’s rexburg.org website on the planning efforts page was shown on the screen. The map in the Downtown Strategic Vision pg. 25 shows a red area. We call this area the Beehive block. The area is about ¼ of the block where the city’s project will be located. The area is large, due to the fact the city has been contacted by two different entities that said, if you are going to do that and sell off some flat-surface parking, we want to put in a hotel. One project is going to spur some other projects. In the green area, we have been meeting with Madison County for a joint City and County Administration building. Scott said there is a lot in the vision document to review and understand. Mayor Merrill said right now the City is putting money aside in the budget to build that administration building. The challenge has been getting our community partners to understand. At first the County said, why do we care? The County gets their taxes, including from the city. The more property on the tax rolls, the more money the County receives in taxes as well. School district discussions are similar in that we could be looking long-term at the tax revenue we could be obtaining. Dan said we will have the changes by next week. We will email you a link to that document. Vince asked about some things we asked Attorney Rammel follow up on for this meeting. 67-6519 is the Idaho statute we were following up on. Attorney Spencer Rammell said we will table the item for now, until next public meeting. The stand by the public, was any kind of meeting cannot be held without giving adequate notice to the water districts. The statute does not apply until something is being platted. He 6 believes the City is following the statute. Nonetheless, Alan and City Staff are taking some steps to notify the water districts for all land use actions, which they are not legally required to do. Alan said he has notified all water districts and water companies have been notified by email and by regular mail in the 7th N area. If they needed further information, we would be happy to provide this to them. Also, if they choose not to receive notice, this would have to be noticed in writing to take them off of the mailing list. This is a courtesy. Mayor Merrill said this is going above and beyond, because the statute says we do not have to notify these water entities unless they request it. Vince said when the question comes up and we untable this zone request, and the question is raised, by the public, was the water master notified. Alan will say we have notified the water districts by mail and email. Vince asked, in the future does the Commission have an obligation to notify water entities. Alan said the statute says no. A rezone has nothing to do with the irrigation side of things; platting does. Platting would require notification because you are changing the use of that land that will affect those water entities. Chairman Kunz said that is why the discussion that night was so frustrating. What the people wanted to talk about had nothing to do with what we were basing our decision on. Randall said that was interesting, the public was saying the water district did not sign off on this; the this they were referring to was a previous plat. Alan said the mistake was made where verbal agreement was made, but it was not written. And, the City was not the last person to sign on the plat; now the City will be the last to sign the plat to make sure the instrument is filed, before the plat is recorded. Vince remembered, Bron saying water masters have to sign the plat now. Alan said their signature means the water district on that land is not affected. Tawnya said keep in mind the signatures are on a plat. Tabled Items: 1. (21-00377) 525 E 7th N Parcel #RPR6N40E176600 – Rezone from Low-Density Residential 2 (LDR2) to Low-Density Residential 3 (LDR3). A previous rezone request (21-00063) of Medium-Density Residential 1 (MDR1) for this property was tabled April 7, 2021 and denied on May 5, 2021. There is an issue with a water ditch in this area. (action) – Jeff Freiberg Heads Up: August 5th Hearings: 1. Mobile Food Court – (21-00475) – Development Code Amendment – Add section for Mobile Food Court with additional definitions and necessary amendments to current zones. Adjournment 6:08PM