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HomeMy WebLinkAboutP&Z MINUTES DECEMBER 01, 2005 ORM F EQUEST R RAVEL T P&Z LANNING ONING M INUTES 19 E. Main (PO Box 280) Phone: 208-359-3020 x326 Rexburg, Idaho 83440 Fax: 208-359-3024 www.rexburg.org planning@rexburg.org December 1, 2005 Commissioners Attending: City Staff and Others: Rex Erickson – Council Member Shawn Larsen - Mayor Winston Dyer– Chairman Kurt Hibbert – P&Z Administrator Ted Hill Randall Porter Blair Kay – City Clerk David Stein Thaine Robinson Richard Horner – Chief Financial Officer Joe Laird JaNell Hansen – Secretary Chairman Dyer opened the meeting at 7:08 pm Chris MannMary Haley councilman elect attended tonight. was excused from the meeting due to illness. Winston DyerBethany Caufield expressed appreciation for and her faithful service as secretary. She had a baby boy and both are doing well. 1. Minutes: November 17, 2005 Thaine RobinsonRandall Porter motioned to approve the minutes for November 17, 2005. seconded the motion. Motion carried None opposed. . 2. Unfinished/Old Business: A.Presentation on Design Entrance Corridors The gentleman who was going to make a presentation was unable to attend the meeting due to traffic accident. B.Design Entrance Corridors - US 20 Kurt Hibbert gave a presentation on the design entrance corridors on US 20. He met with IPD and discovered that on both sides of US 20 in Fremont, Jefferson and Madison a 25 ft no build area is required. He was unaware of that. For the last 3 years Kurt is unaware of the number of violations to that. The landscape section won’t work under those terms, and needs to be re-thought. They are trying to get away from the design corridor concept because it creates a tunnel effect. They want to be able to see the mountains. The landscape berm corridor creates a wall on both sides. Consultants advised that this idea be re-thought. They would like a more natural environment particularly on the north side down Main Street, out around the north side of US 20, through the north Rexburg exit with the river bottoms transition. This is thinking out of the box. We need to think about a more natural environment rather than a constructive berm state. 1 Thaine Robinson thought the reason for using the landscape berm approach was to hide the industrial type businesses on US 20 so people wouldn’t be seeing into the bone yard. Kurt Hibbert said that our comprehensive plan is more for residential/agricultural rather than industrial. It’s okay to see houses. Maybe we need to do different things for different areas. We want people to enjoy driving through Rexburg on US 20 and not shield it. There is already a good precedent set with the golf course transitioning into agriculture. Joe LairdKurt Hibbert asked if the width was fenced. said no, there is just an easement of 25 ft. He isn’t sure if it will fall into the right of way. The right of way agent will provide information to the City so we can see what was agreed upon. He hasn’t been shown that agent yet. They have met with Jefferson, Fremont, and Madison County. It just has a no build easement. Chairman Dyer asked if there were stipulations as to what is allowed. You would expect that some type of landscaping would be allowed there, maybe not trees. Kurt Hibbert said he hasn’t seen the agreement yet. Apparently it was about protecting that corridor and such. Chairman Dyer asked if it was for all properties along US 20, not just Rexburg. He has never heard of this Kurt Hibbert requirement before. said it is for all properties and he will bring in the plan when he receives it. He didn’t know about the requirement either or apartments wouldn’t have been built where they are. A corridor study has been done. Maybe the City could get assistance from IPD about viewscapes. In meeting with Jefferson County, they felt there should be consistency and flow between Madison and Jefferson. He doesn’t know what Bonneville County wants to do, but Fremont, Madison, and Jefferson could definitely do that. Randall PorterKurt Hibbert asked if the current fences were on the right of way. thinks those are on the Randall PorterKurt Hibbert property line. asked if it was requiring the right of way on people’s property. Ted Hill said it’s already in place on private property. It is on the deeds. said he has sold property in this area and it wasn’t on deed. Rex Erickson asked if that would apply on the De Patco project. Would they have to take some of that Chairman Dyer property away from those lots? said if that was the case then when they sell those lots they Kurt Hibbert would be subject to a 25 ft easement on the back of that lot. said there is an encumbrance that Chairman Dyer they can’t build on that 25 feet. asked Rex Erickson if it was on his deed. Rex Erickson responded that it wasn’t. There area a lot of places on the south end of Rexburg on US 20 that Kurt Hibbert would be in violation. said those properties were compensated for that as far as the acquisitions Chairman Dyer Kurt when they bought the property. requested to see the cross section of the deed and Hibbert agreed. He said they insisted they did have them. Rex Erickson stated that there are so many already in violation that it would be hard to enforce. Chairman Dyer has seen easements like this that do allow landscaping but not tall trees that can fall into the highway right of way. C. Industrial Design Standards Kurt Hibbert passed out information on industrial streaming. He discussed supplementary regulations in Chapter 4 of the Building Code regarding streaming and fencing. He is working with Craig on new drawings but he did include the drawings from last meeting under parking areas in commercial industrial use and Hwy 20 design corridors. He wanted to know if that is what the commissioners were thinking. Kurt is working on getting our own drawings or they could be amended to be more context sensitive to what we do in Rexburg. Unless there was some huge reason to change that, we would put those drawings in conformity with what the 2 Chairman Dyer code reads. Drawings would be included to help interpret the expectations. said that drawings are helpful for amenities and enhancements. Kurt Hibbert said they discussed making an exception in industrial zones of the berm idea if the building was subject to architectural design standards. Kurt hasn’t gotten that language done yet. Chairman Dyer said there have been struggles with how to handle a building near a well traveled street in an industrial zone whether to make the face of the building look architecturally attractive knowing that there are Kurt boxes, etc. out in front or to plant trees and hide it. Kurt Hibbert is indicating you don’t need to do both. Hibbert agreed that if someone wants to have a nice looking building that meets the design standards then they wouldn’t need to do berming and buffering. Thaine RobisonChairman Dyer asked if the City had won an award for trees. responded that the City is a certified Tree City USA which indicates that we are aware of trees and are incorporating, encouraging, and promoting trees, which is reflected on Main Street. He would like to see some trees on the east side of US 20. 4.New Business: A. Resolution of the Rexburg Planning & Zoning Commission relating to the North Highway Urban Renewal Plan, South Addition, for the City of Rexburg. Richard Horner gave a presentation of the North Highway Urban Renewal Plan. He said the purpose is to have the commission review whether the plan fits within the comprehensive plan. Chairman Dyer felt it would be helpful for commissioners to know about the background of the Redevelopment Agency and how it functions. This would be helpful for them to know there is a plan in place because Planning & Zoning has to decide if it reflects the plan. nd Richard Horner : The redevelopment agency was established in 1992. The first project was to develop 2 East by Wal-Mart. This included widening the road as well as putting in pathways in that area. Since then they want to enlarge the area to include the southern end (see the map in Attachment 1 in the packet). They want to include the light green area which will pick up a lot of vacant land. This will include the LP property to the left, or west, of Kmart. Most of this is ground that either will be developed or is owned by the City. In order to implement the pathways they had to include a lot of this area. Both sides of the river weren’t included in that area. The goal is to provide the ability to extend pathways and capture some tax increments from those properties. When you set up a district like this, whatever is on the tax rolls at the time is a base, and anything above that is new development, which will go to the Redevelopment Agency rather than to the City or County. The Redevelopment Agency can then use that money to improve areas. The main purpose is to provide nd economic viability to an area and make it so businesses want to come. The 2 east project turned out very well. David SteinRichard Horner asked when the north one would expire and typically how long the bonds are. said in the year 2022 and they are typically 30 years. The new law is 24 years. The north one would be dissolved in 2023. Chairman Dyer commented that half a million dollars were borrowed to do those projects. Part of the reason for the length is that the borrowed money gets paid back through tax payments. It takes that long to make it work David Stein commented that if the original bond was paid off in 2008, there would be another 14 years until the bond expired. $3.5 million was the tax base and it’s now worth $30 million. That is a surprising increase. Where would all the revenue go after 2008? 3 Richard Horner responded that the only goal right now is the pathways. They would like to put more pathways, shelters, and resting spots above the Walker property. There is a bank going in south of Arby’s, which wants to help with the pathway. Randall PorterRichard Horner asked if we could retire the bonds. replied that they would expire in 2008. At the time they couldn’t borrow enough money to do everything they wanted to do, so they borrowed what they could. Randal PorterRichard Horner asked if the LP property was in the flood plane. said the flood plane goes st over to 1 North. If you built a building there you would want to raise it up above the flood plane, but most of it will be grass. Randall PorterRichard asked if it was economically feasible to raise the entire area above the flood plane. HornerChairman Dyer said that was their first guess. interjected that the cost would be about $700,000 to do Richard Horner that. said some buildings will go in there and will want to be raised up above the flood plane. Rex Erickson said some of the area has already been raised up four feet or more. Randall Porter said the reason the issue came up is there was an option that originally came up was for a high Richard school or other school. It would have to be raised above the flood plane. Is that a dead issue? Horner responded that property was purchased somewhere else for a school. There is no plan at this point. Once the revenue has been looked at, public input will be taken. He then asked if there were any problems with Steve Zollinger the comprehensive plan. said that as development takes place in the park, they will try to get money for the bridge. David SteinKurt was unclear about the criteria to vote on the motion to approve the redevelopment plan. Hibbert responded that one of the principles in the comprehensive plan is the smart growth principle. This is consistent in encouraging redevelopment rather than sprawling out. It does support redevelopment and reinvestment within our community. David Stein moved to pass the resolution of the Rexburg Planning & Zoning Commission relating to the North Randall Porter Highway Urban Renewal Plan, South Addition, for city of Rexburg. seconded the motion. Motion carried. None opposed. 5. Report on Projects: A. Residential Business District (RBD) Final Draft Chairman Dyer said the commissioners made notes on the draft which they turned over to staff. Kurt Hibbert addressed the concern about the document not preventing the domino affect in this zone. This is answered on page 2, paragraph four. The RBD zone shall only be allowed if the areas requested for designation are contiguous to either a commercial zone other than RBD industrial zone or medium or high density zones. This prevents the leapfrog effect. Kurt Hibbert said the other issue has to do with application of the zone and how it would be applied. This was addressed in the language. It was originally written that its application would be governed by the comprehensive plan. 4 Kurt Hibbert stated that another issue was parking. There is no side or front yard for corner lots. It was rewritten to include businesses on corner lots, where there is no backyard. The businesses would be able to use rd existing driveways as their parking. See page 4, Section 3.25120, 3 paragraph. Kurt HibbertDavid Stein said the key is that when this is implemented this is an amendable document. voiced concern about Code 6254 (page 2), on shoe repair and hat cleaning, expressing that it should not include Chairman Dyer dry cleaning because of noise and chemicals. asked if Code 6251 included dry cleaning. Kurt Hibbert responded that he thinks there is a separate SIC Code for dry cleaning. There are some SIC codes that they didn’t have assigned. Professional Services was one because that could be for a whole range of uses. So, he didn’t put a specific SIC code there for that. Randall PorterKurt Hibbert asked if there was any language that addresses professional service providers. responded that professional services include such a broad area that there are a lot of SIC codes that could be put there. In the future, they may want to exclude or include something. Chairman Dyer mentioned hours of operation and hours of delivery. This was agreed upon on page 5. He said they did pair down permitted and conditional uses in accordance with what was deliberated. Kurt Hibbert said he will bring information before the commission about a product that is put over grass which supports the weight of a vehicle and allows you to create a driveway without taking the grass out. This would be good in the RBD district where there is inadequate access to a back yard. We need to look at this and see if we can start offering this product, rather than ripping out yards. Joe Laird asked about an area that was zoned R1 on one side of the street and HDR on the other side. If on the R1 side there was an undeveloped piece of property, would that be considered for HDR? It is right across from Kurt Hibbert new apartments. read that the RBD zone established is for the use of residential homes. He thought that would not meet the criteria. Chairman Dyer said they could build a home and then petition to convert it to a residential business. They wouldn’t be allowed to put a store or a commercial building in it. It would have to be a single family home and then be converted for business use. Kurt Hibbert said people have asked if they could tear down a bunch of single family homes and build office Chairman Dyer buildings. responded that this was addressed in the ordinance. th Chairman Dyer stated that this amended document will be on the December 14 City Council agenda for the rd 3 reading. He told the commissioners that any other input needs to be submitted to City Council. 6. Additional Items: A. Heads up on CUP for the Eastern Idaho Community Action Partnership – Head Start Program in HDR1. B. Annexation on south side of Rexburg. Rex Erickson asked if Bill 939 required approval tonight. Chairman Dyer responded that this bill was already recommended to City Council with changes. Some of the commissioners were discomforted about making sure that the changes were made to the document with the Kurt Hibbert intent that was discussed. was reporting that those changes had been done. Commissioners were given the information for review. Rex Erickson wanted to know if he could go ahead with the recommendation. It was a 4 to 2 vote in favor. 5 Chairman Dyer confirmed that the changes have been made and reviewed by P & Z. There was consensus that this document was okay. Randall Porter Rex Erickson asked about postponing this bill until after the first of the year because of three . new council members coming in He felt it makes sense to postpone it and let the new council members vote Rex Erickson for it because they are the ones who will take the heat. responded that if it is postponed then they will have to start over on the readings. Also the current council members are more qualified to vote on it because they have been in on the hearings. Randall Porter did not disagree with Councilman Erickson. He did comment that two of the council members who were in favor of it were not reelected, possibly because of their thoughts on this. Chairman Dyer stated that the question of postponement was debated in City Council at their last meeting and they determined how they wanted to handle it. They are very cognizant of the situation. After long deliberation, th it was decided that it would be on the agenda December 14 for further discussion. It may or may not be voted th on December 14. Rex Erickson said council members felt Donna Benfield should vote on it. She was not at the last meeting. He feels it will come up for vote; whether it will pass will be up to the council men. Meeting adjourned at 8:10 pm 6