Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutP&Z MINUTES SEPTEMBER 21, 2006 Planning & Zoning Minutes September 21, 2006 12 North Center Phone: 208.359.3020 Rexburg, ID 83440 Fax: 208.359.3022 www.rexburg.org Commissioners Attending: City Staff and Others: Winston Dyer – Chairman John Millar – Public Works Director Mike Ricks Charles Andersen Val Christensen – Building Official Joe Laird Thaine Robinson Natalie Powell – Compliance Officer Mary Haley Mary Ann Mounts Emily Abe – Secretary David Stein Ted Hill Dan Hanna Chairman Dyer opened the meeting at 7:01 pm. Roll Call of Planning and Zoning Commissioners Mary Ann Mounts, Thaine Robinson, Mary Haley, Winston Dyer, David Stein, Charles Anderson, Dan Hanna, Ted Hill, Mike Ricks Randall Porter was excused. Minutes: A. Planning and Zoning meeting – September 7, 2006 Mary Ann Mounts motioned to approve the minutes for September 7, 2006. Mary Haley seconded the motion. Ted Hill, Dan Hanna, Charles Anderson, David Stein abstained for not having been present. None opposed. Motion carried. Joe Laird arrived at 7:05 pm. New Business: A.School District update – Brent Mendenhall Brent Mendenhall represented the Madison School Board of Trustees in District 321. He said this is a public relations visit concerning the bond that was passed. He handed out information about where they are headed. When they purchased the property, they didn’t know the Planning & Zoning process very well. They don’t regret the purchase or feel that they made an error. They want to acknowledge what a heavy responsibility the bond money will be, and that the project has to be in harmony with what Planning & Zoning is trying to do. They didn’t know anything about the Comprehensive Plan before, but now it is face front to them. They have out-paced their available classrooms. They are using buildings that are contrary to Planning & Zoning. This is because they did not react fast enough. Know they know that since they are in the City limits, they need to come to the Commission as 1 their project proceeds. They hope the Commission will speak kindly and fairly to them, and if they are missing something, they will let them know. He said they hope to turn some dirt on some of the projects next spring. They are in the process of selecting architects. They will advise them that they must become familiar with the City Planning & Zoning process. They want to come give updates as they proceed. They want the Commission to know what they are doing, so they can correct things that will not work. Mary Haley asked if they are putting the Burton area school on the new property. Brent Mendenhall said it will be located on the property. The High school will be in the Southeast portion, and the Burton school will be in more of the Northwest portion. They are not sure what will happen with the rest of the property. They don’t have absolute plans on the Jr. High school. Chairman Dyer applauded the School Board for hearing the concerns of the Commission and opening dialogue and committing to keeping us informed as we work together to plan the Community for the best interest of the future. He said sometimes when architects are selected, they are asked to come in with a plan for ideas. He said just as soon as the School Board is comfortable with any kind of concept, the Commission would appreciate being able to see it. Brent Mendenhall said they would appreciate the Commission’s help. th Mary Haley asked if they wanted commercial development along 12 West. Brent Mendenhall they don’t have plans right now for a closed campus. If it is not, there will be obvious interested in having food available, etc. Mary Haley said there have been horrible accidents in the Rigby School District, with kids rushing back and forth through town. They discussed this issue. Mary Ann Mounts asked if there has been discussion on having a food court in the school. This might impact how they would zone the property. Brent Mendenhall said they have not discussed this, but they will consider this. They are planning to have patron input. David Stein asked if they will be sending out copies of the Design Standards with the bids. Brent Mendenhall said he doesn’t know. They will make sure the architects come to Planning & Zoning and know what is required. B. Sign Ordinance discussion – Val Christensen Val Christensen said City Council asked him to make this presentation that he made to them at the Mayor’s request. He presented a PowerPoint presentation on the Sign Ordinance along the Highway 20 Corridor. The City Council wants the Planning & Zoning Commission to think about what the proper size and height requirements would be for signs along the Highway 20 Corridor. Chairman Dyer said the City Council indicated that from an economic standpoint and attraction to the businesses closer to the freeway, they felt there is some room for a different standard. They have asked that the Commission take another look at the matter. David Stein asked what indication has been given that sign height is driving economics of a business. He has not seen the correlation between sign height and sufficient business. Val Christensen said there have been a number of builders and developers that have requested larger and taller signs by the corridor. Mary Ann Mounts said she has really made a point of looking at signs everywhere she goes. Signs in well-planned cities are getting nothing but smaller. If you go to the reconstruction of Draper, Utah, right now, their signs are so much smaller than ours; and they look so much better. Unless there are good statistics to show that larger signs correlate with real economic growth, there is no way she can be in favor of it. She wants to go on record right now saying “NO WAY.” That would not be forward thinking. 2 Mary Haley said the people making the request want to keep up with the “former Jones.” If we are going to be a well planned community, we can’t go back in time to keep up with the Jones, who were here in the antiquity of time. It is discouraging. The people that are complaining the loudest are the people who don’t comply to what they already said they would do. They Mayor and City Council need to know that this ordinance was not thought of lightly. They also approved it. Val Christensen asked the Commission to discuss the issue amongst themselves. He said he would present what they come up with if they would like. He said he has been asked to just throw out a suggestion. Thaine Robinson said the issue is divided as either an economic or beautification issue for the City. Joe Laird said the Planning Commission went through this about 10 years ago. They had a great deal of discussion as to sign height, size, distance from other buildings, etc. They at that time were very concerned and angry about the signs along the highway now. The Planning Commission went to a number of different cities and did a great study. The biggest economic indicators they found were the economic benefits to the sign developers getting more money for their signs. There was very little for anything else. They had many meetings to decide the sign requirements. David Stein asked if there was any discussion with City Council on the existing situation with the plethora of illegal signs? Chairman Dyer said they have had input from concerned business owners about the issue, and that is what is driving the discussion. Val Christensen said they are not asking for billboards. They are asking for signs a little bit bigger than currently allowed along the corridor. Public Hearings: nd 7:15 PM – Rezone from LDR1 to LDR2 at approximately 1085 South 2 East (DSC Investments) Chairman Dyer declared a direct conflict of interest and excused himself from the table. Thaine Robinson was selected to act as chair. nd Winston Dyer of the Dyer Group, 310 N. 2 E. He represented DSC Investments, the owner of the property, and the developer of this project. The property consists of about 5.3 acres. It is currently zoned Low Density Residential 1. The proposal is to consider changing it to a Low Density Residential 2 zoning with high-end twin homes located on the property. He said the developer is requesting a zone change that is conditional upon the presented development. The developer wants the Low Density Residential 2 zoning because this particular property is challenged. It is challenged by its small and narrow size, by the steep topography around the property, and by the adjacent uses. The elevated City water tank is adjacent to this property, along with many cell towers. There are challenges in being able to develop this area to the upper scale that is seen in the adjacent neighborhoods in the area. There is high-end residential being developed, and there are plans for that to be across the street from this property. It will not be possible to come into this area under the shadow of all these elevated structures, and think that you can build and market the million dollar homes. The LDR2 zoning with a conditional use for twin homes is being requested by this hearing tonight. This will allow some upscale development to occur that is less demanding than the million dollar home market, and therefore economically feasible to build and market. An additional advantage of this proposal is to clean up an area that has been and is still somewhat aesthetically challenged. He showed pictures of the proposed development. The developer of this property is the same developer of the homes across the street. He obtained this particular parcel for the purpose of being able to protect those investments by building something with the same type of feel. 3 Joe Laird asked what is going to go in south of the Heinz Manufacturing. Winston Dyer said the area is part of the master plan, to be developed as twin homes in a future phase. The public access to the water tower would be perpetuated. This proposal will allow for cleaning up of the area and all the easements that exist and creating something that is manageable. Winston Dyer showed pictures of the proposed twin homes. The footprint for each structure is 3,000 square feet, with a second floor. Each structure would have a total of 6,000 square feet. A further advantage of the nd development is that these properties will not have to have driveways onto 2 East. They will come out onto a nd private drive and access 2 East at a common point. The Commission discussed surrounding developments. Joe Laird asked if the neighbors across the street would be satisfied with the development, since the town homes would face the other direction. This end looks like a regular apartment complex. Winston Dyer said they can look into this. They are also considering other things to dress up this side of the development. There will be sidewalks, curbs, and gutters, a boulevard strip, a fence, and back yards. Since the owner of this property also owns the development across the street, they are trying to make it all cohesive and attractive. Chairman Robinson said the only issue on the table tonight is should the Commission rezone the property in question from Low Density Residential 1 to Low Density Residential 2. Chairman Robinson opened the public input portion. In Favor: Richard Smith; 950 Millhollow Road. He owns an irrigation well on this land that will continue to operate to irrigate lands to the East. This is a very appropriate use for this property. It is very sensitive to the traffic needs on nd 2 East. He believes that this approach of creating Tower Road is going to be the solution to a number of the City’s issues regarding access to the cell towers and their own property. Neutral: None Opposed: None Written Input: None Chairman Robinson closed the public input portion. Mary Ann Mounts said this is a good use for this land, and there is demand for this type of thing. They are attractive. Mary Haley said she likes the concept. She said they have heard from other developers that there is a demand for this type of a development. We already have two (2) twin home developments in the City, and they have both sold out. The twin home concept is a good fit for the property. David Stein said the back of the homes have some roof line issues. Charles Andersen said technically, if we approve the rezone, they could put manufactured housing on there right now. Based on what they are saying, this is now what they are doing. But that is the case. Do we change the zone now, or do we wait until we can do the rezone and the conditional use at the same time. 4 David Stein said this issue came up a couple meetings ago, and we needed council on whether we could do a rezone contingent upon a specific development concept. Can we do this? We have done it before. Joe Laird asked if we can hold this off to another meeting. This way we could approve everything together. nd David Stein motioned to table the rezone request from LDR1 to LDR2 at approximately 1085 South 2 East until we get clarification from legal council on whether we can rezone a property contingent upon a specific development concept. Mary Ann Mounts seconded the motion. None opposed. Motion carried. Unfinished/Old Business: New Business: C.Preliminary Plat – Valley View Townhomes Because of the earlier decision to table the rezone request on this property, this issue was not discussed. It will be rescheduled for a later meeting. D. Final Plat – Canyon Vies Estates nd Winston Dyer of the Dyer Group, 310 N. 2 E, presented the final plat for Canyon View Estates. There were a couple of issues in the preliminary plat stage. The public works department was worried about the ability to th continue Shoshone Drive on down to the South to eventually connect to 7 South. They have now made provision for a little curve in the right of way, so the road can be pulled over to run down the west side of the Harvest th Heights development. This will provide for the needed right of way and the correct alignment to connect with 7 South. Chairman Robinson asked if moving the road infringes upon the property rights of the people who own the other property. Winston Dyer said it will be matter of negotiation between the City and the owners of those lots. The City will have to make arrangements for the right of way. The Commissioners discussed the street situation in the area. Mary Haley motioned to recommend to City Council to approve the final plat for Canyon View Estates. Joe Laird seconded the motion. None opposed. Motion carried. Winston Dyer was restored as Chair. The Commission discussed conditional rezones. Compliance: 5 Non controversial Items Added to the Agenda: The Commissioners discussed the Sign Ordinance. They discussed other towns and their sign requirements. David Stein said we have looked at the issue, and this is not the direction other cities are going. These signs detract from the public good. Thaine Robinson said a lot of the billboards along our highway don’t advertise for Rexburg. Mike Ricks said you can look on the internet to find where you need to go in any town. He doesn’t think the future way of advertising is going to be off-premise signs and billboards. It is not fair to the established businesses with smaller signs if we allow bigger signs now. Thaine Robinson said he is in favor of tightening up the sign ordinance. He would rather see less signs and a more beautiful appearance to the city as you approach it or drive by. Dan Hanna said the ordinance only has impact on a limited number of businesses along the highway corridor. He agrees with the rest of the Commission. David Stein asked if it would be helpful to have a work meeting with City Council on this issue. He is concerned that if the City Council is getting a lot of pressure, it would be good to meet so we can all express our feelings. David Stein motioned to not make any changes to the Sign Ordinance at this time for the following reasons: 1) It is inconsistent with zoning trends around the country. 2) Larger signs detract from the public good. 3) In the electronic age, we are seeing less and less signs, as people get on-board navigation and things like that. We also recommend a work meeting with City Council to discuss the issue further if they would like. Mary Ann Mounts seconded the motion. None opposed. Motion carried. Report on Projects: The Commissioners discussed the recommendations for the Development Code from Val Christensen. The Commission will discuss pages 1-75 of the Development Code at the second meeting in October. Tabled requests: Building Permit Application Report: Heads Up: Chairman Dyer adjourned the meeting at 9:06 pm. 6