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HomeMy WebLinkAboutP&Z MINUTES MAY 04, 2006 Planning & Zoning Minutes May 4, 2006 12 North Center Phone: 208.359.3020 www.rexburg.org Rexburg, ID 83440 Fax: 208.359.3022 Commissioners Attending: City Staff and Others: Rex Erickson – Council Member Kurt Hibbert – P&Z Administrator Winston Dyer– Chairman Stephen Zollinger – City Attorney Mike Ricks Thaine Robinson Emily Abe – Secretary Joe Laird Randall Porter Ted Hill Charles Andersen Dan Hanna Chairman Dyer opened the meeting at 7:03 pm. Roll Call of Planning and Zoning Commissioners Ted Hill, Mike Ricks, Charles Andersen, Winston Dyer, Joe Laird, Dan Hanna, Randall Porter, Thaine Robinson. Mary Haley, Mary Ann Mounts, and David Stein were excused. Minutes: A. Planning and Zoning meeting – April 20, 2006 Corrections: -P. 7 – Where Chairman Dyer declares a conflict of interest, clarify that he left the table. -P. 16 – Under motion to pick up a tabled item, identify “Riverwoods Townhomes, Division 2” as the item to be picked up. Charles Andersen motioned to approve the minutes for April 20, 2006 as amended. Mike Ricks seconded the motion. None opposed. Motion carried. Public Hearings: None New Business: A.Preliminary Plat – Stonebridge Subdivision, Division 2 Chairman Dyer declared a direct conflict of interest and excused himself from the table. 1 Thaine Robinson acted as chair for this issue. Winston Dyer - engineer for the project, representing Stonebridge, LLC. He said the phase 1 improvements have previously been constructed. One year ago, they presented the preliminary plat with Division 2 being the southeast quadrant down to the river. The City Council asked for accommodation for the bike path planned for the north side of the Teton River in the area. The actual property line of the subdivision falls in the middle of the river, so the bike path area is private property. The developer asked for guidance and direction from the city to define what the path would be, what it would look like, etc. to see how well it would fit into the proposal. There has been no resolution to this problem, so the developer has decided to postpone this proposal until those issues can be worked out. They will concentrate now on expanding the subdivision to the east. The original phase 2 will probably now be phase 5. They would like to focus on phase 2 tonight. It is comprised of about six (6) acres, with 17 lots in the subdivision. This phase mirrors the size and location of earlier developments. It is appropriately zoned as Low Density Residential 2. The water line will connect through the southerly street, and the sewer line will go out onto th 7 North and come back to connect with the existing facilities. They will oversize the facilities as requested by the city to accommodate for future expansions. Joe Laird asked if there was a need for another water line as there is one already in the area. Winston Dyer said th there is not a water line extension on 7 North, so the City Engineer felt it would be better to tie onto that and run this twelve (12) inch line through the subdivision, as there has to be a water line there anyway. This would avoid thth duplicate costs of extending a water line along 7 North. It would then be ready to be extended further within 7 North or within some other development. Joe Laird asked what the storm drainage plans are for the subdivision. Winston Dyer said there is a piped storm drainage system throughout the subdivision. Eventually it will come down the easement, and there is planned to be a detention basin there by the river that would be appropriately sized to capture all the runoff. At the moment, there is a temporary detention pond at the end of the existing phase 1 development that would be modified or extended as required to pick up the additional drainage from the next phase. It is a piped system with catch basins utilizing the curb and gutter on the properties. Thaine Robinson asked about the staff review concerning the existing storm drainage problems. Winston Dyer said when the temporary detention pond was constructed at the end of the phase 1 construction, it was intended to be able to overflow out across the farm land, incase there was too much volume. The contractor left a quite a bit of bermed up dirt along the south edge, which has not been a problem for two years. However, this spring the pond filled up and the berm stopped it from escaping. The water backed up into the street. Modifications have been made to allow that to overflow if necessary. Randall Porter asked if there is a required green space in this subdivision. Winston Dyer said there is not green space required in the subdivision because City Council has elected to go with the impact fee arrangement. In this case, the buyers of the lots in the subdivision would be paying their impact fee, and the City has these funds to put in whatever recreation facilities where they want. There is the continuing discussion about accommodating the bike path along the river, which will most likely be done by easement. Kurt Hibbert said none of the department heads had any concerns with this plat. Joe Laird asked if we need to discuss the bike path issue and see if they can help the City Council resolve it. Kurt Hibbert said the TRAILS committee has been working with a BYU-Idaho student group on designing a pathway system through this area on both sides of the river. For a class project, the students developed some concept drawings and planning documents and gave them to the TRAILS committee. Hopefully this will help the issue move forward. 2 Randall Porter asked if there is an issue on who owns the property right down to the river. Kurt Hibbert said there is not an issue; this property is owned by the Hastings. The City will have to acquire the property through negotiation or acquisition of some sort. Dan Hanna motioned to recommend to City Council to approve the Preliminary Plat of Stonebridge Subdivision, Division 2. Joe Laird seconded the motion. None opposed. Motion carried. Chairman Dyer was restored as chairman. B.Architectural Design Review Kurt Hibbert presented the design plans for the ECIPDA Health Education and Business Development Center previously discussed in a Design Review meeting. He said they felt this building met all the intents of the standard, but did not meet some of the specific regulatory language in the standard. The Design Review Committee had approved the plans. The commissioners discussed the architecture of the building. Kurt Hibbert said they feel we should go through the standards and generalize them and try to be less specific on requirements. The requirements we have are more geared to retail. Charles Andersen suggested creating other requirements for office complexes instead of generalizing the ones we have for retail. Kurt Hibbert said they need to study this more. The commissioners decided to let Kurt Hibbert work on this to come up with solutions to the problem. Kurt Hibbert introduced Chris Southerland, an intern for the City Planning & Zoning. C.University Boulevard Gateway Project Kurt Hibbert said there has been a lot of talk with the development of University Boulevard and the South Rexburg arterial. He said the acquisition needed would require a 130 foot right of way. The first phase of the project will build a couple lanes going up University Boulevard, but the expectation is that eventually the boulevard will be built out of a section that will have a landscaped island between the lanes of traffic. Also, on the outside of the lanes there would be enough real estate to develop some greenway. This is an exciting project that the Planning & Zoning Commission should be very aware of and involved in. Chairman Dyer added the purchase of right of way is under way. It will be completed fairly soon. The commissioners discussed this project. D.Impact Area Amendments Kurt Hibbert presented the map given to the commissioners. It was drawn based on a discussion in a work meeting with City Council that was promo gated from an annexation request on the west side of town. The Mayor, Chris Mann, and Kurt discussed with the County how they wanted the City to proceed on this issue. The County feels the City should extend the impact area at the same time. He described the dimensions of the proposed impact area expansion. He asked the commission for any comments on how they felt about this. 3 Thaine Robinson said he is in favor if the County would control development outside their area and force the development into our Impact Area. He doesn’t see why we should expand our Impact Area if the County is going to keep allowing subdivisions all over the place. Charles Andersen agreed. He said there is so much growth going on outside that he doesn’t know how they are going to eventually tie into the sewer system. Without some kind of management of this situation, they are going to see major problems in these areas. Chairman Dyer said this is a goal of the County to do just what was stated. They don’t have the tools to make this happen. Kurt Hibbert agreed that the lack of tools is much of the problem. The County said they support the City with this request if we feel it is needed. Kurt Hibbert said the City Council made the decision to look at this request. They didn’t agree to this border necessarily, but they want to look at it. Ted Hill commented on the dimensions of both the south and east side of town. Neither of these areas have any current development. Kurt Hibbert said they felt it would be better to stay on section lines than to cut people’s property in half. This is the only reason for these dimensions. Chairman Dyer said it is important to consider timing and how fast we are going to grow. How much can the City handle? The commissioners discussed the nature of the proposal. Chairman Dyer said it is obvious that there are some weighty issues that will need to be discussed with this issue when the time comes. Unfinished/Old Business Compliance: Non controversial Items Added to the Agenda: -Request for Consideration of Variance Chris Nethercott: 673 North 3200 East, Rigby. She has questions on the property she owns in Rexburg on 145 nd West 2 South. They would like to split their lot from the top to bottom, with hopes to build another house. They want a variance on the minimum lot frontage because once split, it will not be the required 60 feet on each side. She wonders if they would make a consideration based on her desire to have two buildings in the front and all the parking in the back. If this is not allowed, they will end up putting a building in the back and turning the east side into parking. Thaine Robinson asked how wide the sides would be after the split. Chris Nethercott said they would be 44 feet on each side. Kurt Hibbert said they have plenty of lot size for what they are proposing, so it is really an issue of streetscape. Charles Andersen asked how they will access the parking in the back. Chris Nethercott said they will have a road down the middle of the two houses. 4 Kurt Hibbert clarified they aren’t asking for the variance, but they are asking if they should even proceed with an application. Chairman Dyer asked if they had considered tearing down the house and building something else there. This is what the zoning suggests; it is recognition of a neighborhood in transition. It was planned and zoned to encourage this kind of thing. Chris Nethercott said they are not big developers, and they can’t do that right now. Mike Ricks said they would need at least 24 feet for the road between the houses. He asked if that would leave enough room for a house on the other side. Chris Nethercott said they are planning on building more of a townhouse building that is narrow and extends further in the back. Ted Hill asked if there had been a precedence set on variance in this area. Kurt Hibbert said a number of homes in the area don’t meet the minimum lot frontage. Birch Plaza is behind these homes, and the homes in the area have for the most part paved the backyards for parking. Charles Andersen asked what the density would be if this second house is built. Chris Nethercott said there are twelve girls in the house currently there. There will be up to sixteen girls in the second house. They will tear down structures in the back to provide enough parking spaces. The property is 1/3 acre. Ted Hill asked how old the existing home is. Chris Nethercott said it was built in the 1930s. Dan Hanna asked if they had considered selling the property to a developer. Chris Nethercott said they have not; they want the houses for now. It depends on whether or not they can build another home. Chairman Dyer said in terms of what they are trying to encourage there, and the long term vision of the area, he is not in favor of this. Thaine Robinson said he would be in favor of leaving the front of the house the way it looks, and leaving the greenscape out in front. Dan Hanna asked how many adjacent lots would qualify for the same thing. Ted Hill said he would have problems with them building the second house. If they start clearing variances at this point, they are going to have a lot of problems. Chairman Dyer asked if the alternative of putting another structure back behind is legal and permissible, and if it would meet the current standards for the current zone. Kurt Hibbert said the applicant could do that right now without a variance. The question before the commission is streetscape parking or a home on the street. Mike Ricks said he didn’t see much difference between having a road between the two buildings and having the building in the back. They are still going to have almost 1/3 of the lot paved. He would support putting another building in the back more than building one in the front. Randall Porter asked how they would handle the snow removal. Chris Nethercott said there is enough yard space for this. Chairman Dyer invited the applicant to come forward with site plans for the two (2) alternatives. 5 -Report on Joint Planning & Zoning Committee Chairman Dyer reported on the progress of the Joint P&Z Committee. He said they finally developed an overall land use map of the greater community: Rexburg, Sugar City, and Madison County. They want to develop a color scheme for the map that will differentiate it from the zoning maps. They have also worked on making the terminology consistent on the map. They want to print the definitions of the different land use designations on the back of the map, as an indication of what is allowed in each designation. They will be requesting some changes in designations to match up with some in the other jurisdictions. Kurt Hibbert said this is tremendous from his standpoint; it will set a solid foundation for a similar process to happen on the comparison and integration of the zones themselves. A.Comprehensive Plan Discussion Kurt Hibbert said he was not able to get the three (3) chapters to the commissioners yet, but he hopes to send them in the next packet. -Written Statement from Rexburg Planning & Zoning Commission Chairman Chairman Dyer read a written statement he had prepared on the policy and direction of the Planning & Zoning Commission. The commissioners discussed some ideas on how to improve their processes. These ideas included alternative ways for the city to notify the commissioners when an issue has been noticed up for a public hearing, improving the applications, each commissioner being active in sharing their opinion on each issue, and more complete and detailed motions. Report on Projects: Tabled requests: th A. Rezone request from RR to LDR2 at 1139 East 9 North – (Mark Liebel) Building Permit Application Report: None Heads Up: A.Annexation/Rezone Request at 2540 West 1000 South (Kartchner Homes) B.Final Plat – Trejo Professional Park, Division 2 Chairman Dyer adjourned the meeting at 9:15 pm. 6