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HomeMy WebLinkAboutP&Z MINUTES MAY 22, 1996 • DATE: (052296) Planning & Zoning 5/22/96 Those Present: Chairman: John Millar Members: John Watson Mike Thueson Ted Whyte Davawn Beattie Mary Ann Mounts Doug Smith Richard Smith City Clerk: Rose Bagley Attorney: Stephen Zollinger Councilwoman: Marsha Bjornn Engineer: Joe Laird RE: P.H. FOR A VARIANCE FOR RICKS COLLEGE FOR A PARKING LOT - 3RD S & CORNELL TOPIC: (400,85,,,VARIANCES,RICKS COLLEGE,PARKING LOTS,3RD SOUTH, CORNELL AVENUE,SETBACKS) 8c00 P. M. Public Hearing regarding a proposed issuance of a variance to provide as follows: That the property at the intersection of 3rd South and Cornell Ave be granted a variance for construction of a • parking lot within a residential area. This property is within an LDR1 zone at the present time. The variance is for the parking of two vehicles in the setback area which is in noncompliance with our ordinance. Open for public comment: Jack Van Houten asked how many parking places they would have. There will be 20 parking places. There will be a picnic area and a lot of landscaping. Jack told them everyone on Cornell Ave are pleased about it. Mike Thueson and Davawn Beattie declared a conflict of interest. John stated because we barely have a Quorum we will table a decision until later in the meeting. A motion was made by Davawn and seconded by Ted to approve the minutes of April 24. All Aye RE: JAIL CONSTRUCTION DISCUSSED - ALLEY BY JAIL TOPIC: (400,85,,,JAIL,ALLEYS) John Watson reported that the jail project is out to bid. They will need to close the alley during construction directly behind the jail. He was told to talk to the mayor and police department. RE: DOUG SMITH NEW PLANNING & ZONING BOARD MEMBER TOPIC: (400,85,,,PLANNING & ZONING BOARD} • John Millar introduced the member of the Planning Board, Doug Smith. ~~ RE: P.H. FOR A VARIANCE FOR PARK PLACE APARTMENTS FOR PARKING • TOPIC: (400,86,,,VARIANCES,PARK PLACE APARTMENTS,PARKING,SETBACKS, MAIN STREET) 8:15 P.M. Public Hearing for a request for a variance to allow for the parking of vehicles in the required setbacks from the public streets. The property is zoned HDR. The property is known as Park Place and is located at approximately 255 East Main. (copy on file) John Millar explained that the property owner has paved the area between the building and the sidewalk commonly known as the setback area and is utilizing that as parking which is in violation of the ordinance. We have discussed it many times. He opened the hearing for Public Comment. Ron Cambell he owns 5 units in that complex.. His address is 1954 West 3000 South. They are struggling for parking and ask the planning board for help. That is why they paved that area and because of the upkeep and maintenance on trees and shrubs. Randy Schwendiman- He represents a group that owns 6 units in the complex. The complex is a condo association but has been turned into a rental unit. The parking has been a serious problem probably from day one. This is the only solution they can find as they attempted to find parking. Close hearing and turn over to Planning & Zoning. • ~~ ~~ Marsha told them the over all general feeling of the City Council t at they would like to work with them. Stephen had looked up the minutes after the flood when these units went in. Originally they were condominiums and they have now changed the use for the most part to rental, but under the guidelines at that time they were not required to have more parking. In the minutes the zoning tried to get them to have more parking early. Stephen stated he was not sure try was the right word, there was discussion about the lack of parking at that time, but because it was a condominium and not an apartment they would make the rkin lace er exception or allowance. They let them go with one pa g p p unit as a concession but probably this has not been enough from the beginning. Marsha stated that they have tried to purchase some land but they have not been able to do that. There is some parking available but it is not close and convenient. The feeling Marsha got from the City Council was to let them keep the asphalt but have them dig up the area between the sidewalk and the curb and put in some type of landscaping that would meet with this board's approval. That was the feeling because these apartments were built a long time ago, we should work with them. Mary Ann asked if C.B.D. was the only zone that allows paving out to the street? She asked because they boarder C.B.D. would it be out of line to extend that zone? She sees the need of the parking, but to her it jeopardized the integrity of the zoning ordinance. That is what bothers her as how they can fit the variance requirements because the • hardship has been created by themselves. In the beginning when it was set up there wasn't a hardship obviously. In the zoning guidelines v ~% r~ ,~ • i• they have to not create the hardship. By changing from a condominium to a rental unit, she can't get past that they have created the hardship themselves. She is struggling as to how to base their decision so when the naxt person comes in we know what to tell them, that is why she wondered about a zone change? John Millar told her C.B.D. does not allow for rental units. Stephen pointed out that when we say they, he did not think any of the present owners were in on it when these units were built. Randy Schwendiman stated that was approved as a condominium association and it never was a condominium association. Whenever you say those that built it were the ones that created a problem, the city had a hand in that. There was an agreement with them and the city. Stephen explained if the city granted a variance or a conditional use permit in 1976, according to the minutes they came in and said they were going to put in condominiums and that is what got the city to say they would not hold them to the two parking places per unit. We have to find a legal way to change that. A condominium can be rented. Mary Ann stated that it is not that we don't want to give them more parking, we have to find a legal reason because if someone decided to sue because we gave it to Park Place and won't give it to them. We have to meet the guidelines. Randy stated that is a rental unit and if they don't get adequate parking, it will be turned into a rental unit that no one wants to own. Even with this parking they are short of parking but this is as close as they can come. (discussion) Stephen stated that the problem was created through a two phase process, one thing we did not have the Planning Board functioning as we do now and two we had an individual developing the land who probably misrepresented so he could get the parking approved the way it was. It sounds Like all along he knew these would be apartments but called them condominiums so he could get the parking approved. At this point we are not looking at who created the problem, in order to expand the parking we have to find a legal rational reason to call this a variable unique circumstance. John Millar stated that if an error was made it was probably made twenty years ago and left a problem with no solution. The uniqueness is we are trying to clean up something that happened twenty years ago. Right now we would not allow this in a new development, there would be 48 parking stalls or fewer apartments. We will come back to this issue to go to our Public Hearing scheduled at 8:30 P.M. RE: C.U.P. FOR ASSISTANT LIVING CONCEPT - BETWEEN 5TH & 6TH SOUTH EAST OF 3RD WEST; C.U.P. GRANTED WITH CONDITIONS TOPIC: (400,87,,,C.U.P.,ASSISTANT LIVING CONCEPT,STREETS,PARKING) 8:30 P.M. Public Hearing regarding proposed issuance of a conditional use permit to provide as follow: That the owner of located between 5th and 6th South, East of 3rd West in Rexburg. That they be granted a conditional use permit for the construction of an assisted living facility containing 35 units. The property is currently in a HDR zone. John Millar opened it up for public comment. ~f (~` ~ ~~ F t Sh i • orres annon, K rkwood Architects, Spokane, Washington- Representing Assistant Living Concepts. He gave a presentation. This will be a 35 unit Assistant Living facility. Assistant Living Concepts was established in 1994 by a doctor who has spend the last 19 years in the field of aging adults. The facility will be established on 3rd South, and will be a donut shaped building. The building is designed so in future years it can be expanded if needed. The concept is they want to develope a residential look on the exterior as well as interior building. About 80~ of the individual apartments are studio units and have a little over 300 square feet and about 20% have one bedroom units which would have 480 square feet. Each unit is fully contained, it has it's own bathroom, living area, sleeping area and a small kitchenette. There will be a corridor around the building so in poor weather the occupants can walk around it. There is also a center yard protected from obstacles that they can trip on. The occupants can come and go as they wish. Typically the residents in this type of complex would be in their 80s and the reason they are there is they don't want to cook for themselves, do laundry or clean their apartments. The care they get is pretty normal. They are living on their own. They have staff to prepare three meals a day. If they need specific nursing assistance for medications or injections, that is available. Basically their needs are addressed on an individual bases. There is not a specific program they have to follow. (showing plans) It is a one story building. The employees will vary during the day from 15 to 1$, with the heaviest shift having 8 to 10 employees. They stagger their shifts so their employees aren't leaving at the same time as the rest of the • i! businesses in town. Food deliveries will be about once a week, with t not a high volume of traffic. About 1~ of the residents will own a car. Jeanette Burnside- She was with two other ladies at the meeting and represented them. They asked where the access to the complex would be? She was told it would be off of 3rd Street which is not completed but will have to be completed. The front of the building faces 3rd Street. Jeanette told him they would be lacking an access to the north. Richard Smith-Do you intend to finish the streets? He thought they did, but we would have to ask Assistant Living Concepts and Lorin Harris, the Realtor. He was sure the street would have to be finished as part of this facility. John Barnes, Registered Land Surveyor- He has been doing work on that block. He showed a map and explained. There is an existing sewer line and a 6" water main. The college own 99 feet on block 21 and are interested in selling it. If 6th South were projected there is an 18" water line running down 6th South. They are talking about five acres and it would face 3rd West. John Millar told him there is no dedicated street, no right-a-way. It has never been platted. Lorin Harris-2nd West is not dedicated but is paved. They have John Barnes working on it to make sure all the dedications are worked out, to make sure Assistant Living Concepts gets into this thing. They will record the plat that John is working on it so they will know what they are selling. • i• i• Joe-We have asked that they plat this entire area. It was owned by one owner but has since been sold off in parcels, which is more than our City ordinance allows. We have asked that they plat 3rd West, 6th South and 2nd West. There is a problem with taking 6th South all the way through because Grandview Townhouses did not make accommodations for it. John Millar stated that Marilyn Fife told him there was some land dedicated on 2nd West and she has a copy of the deed that was not recorded. The Conditional Use Permit is required because of the size of the facility. As far as the site plan and other information will have to be supplied and approved. We do need to move ahead on the Conditional Use Permit which the hearing is for. John Watson stated he checked the ordinance which says they only need 2.5 parking places per bed which would be total of 9 spaces. John Millar stated that it is similar to Brenchley and asked what they did for parking with Brenchley and asked Rose to check the minutes. Doug Smith asked if you have to be a senior citizen to live there. Mr Shannon stated it was for senior citizens, it was not just for handicapped but he did not think they would not allow handicapped. Most of the time the residents are paying their own way. John Millar told them .they would need to come back with the site plan for approval. Richard pursuant to the ordinance for a Conditional Use Permit we can require more restrictive requirements than are generally applicable in the statute. The two things we really need to look at are parking and a commitment on someone's part to dedicate the streets and make sure the plat work is done. Richard recommended the C.U.P. with the provisions that we insert possibly more restrictive requirements as well as a firm commitment that the streets be dedicated and completed with curb gutter, paving and sidewalk. (discussion} John Millar told them if it changes to apartments they would have to come back to this group again. John Watson discussed what was required for a site plan. Stephen stated that even though he has showed same plans this is not a site plan review. Richard suggested that we are in a position to impose more stringent conditions before site plan review or we will have to go strictly by the ordinance. (discussion} A motion was made by Richard Smith that we recommend to the City Council that they be issued a Conditional Use Permit with the conditions (1) That the entire block be platted. (2} As a condition of construction, 3rd West be paved with curbs, gutters and sidewalks to the facility. (3} That we require sufficient parking to the facility which we may determine at a later date since because this facility does not fall exactly within the definitions in our ordinance that we may require additional parking upon further determination of the parking needs of the facility and the business. Seconded by Davawn Beattie. All Aye John Millar told him it will go before the City Council and will need to come back to this board for site plan review. All issues that are in the ordinance and in addition to that it will need to meet the ~~ conditions set to be shown on the site plan. Discussion on the fire • lane that is shown and is in gravel. RE: RAY WALKER ACRES PLAT PRESENTED AND ACCEPTED TOPIC: (400,90,,,WALKER*RAY,PLATS,BARNEY DAIRY ROAD,FINAL PLATS) Glen Walker was at the meeting to finalize the Ray Walker Acres plat. John Millar declared a conflict and asked Mary Ann Mounts to chair this issue. Glen showed the plat and explained. The one acre which is Lot "I" they moved it back of the road. The right-a-way easement has been removed. The right-a-way that had been talked about, the Barneys didn't want to participate in it, so the Walkers decided not to participate in it so the road will not straighten out. It has all been platted and they are getting signatures from the neighbors now. John Millar stated that the county felt they would like to do a road south of Keith Walkers house. Glen explained it would be on the property line between Smith's and Walkers and eventually straighten the road out to the cemetery. Richard stated that he had a couple of residents out there really complaining about straightening that road out. They are just asking for one lot on the end of it and it will be done and comply with state code. If anything different is done in the future it will come back to this board. {discussion} Richard talked to Ray Walker about the frontage and drainage problem on the opposite side of the road. A motion was made by Davawn to accept the plat, seconded by Richard. All Aye except John Millar abstained. Richard stated that he feels we should protect that road from the corner into town from J. Fred Smiths house. RE: SILVERTREE BUILDERS PLOT PLAN ON 2ND SOUTH & BIRCH; PRELIMINARY PLAT APPROVED TOPIC: (400,90,,,SLIVERTREE BUILDERS,PLOT PLANS,2ND SOUTH,BIRCH, PRELIMINARY PLATS,LINCOLN SCHOOL) Silvertree Builders Plot Plan on 2nd South and Birch. (handout of plot plan} Erett Hastings representing Silvertree Builders was at the meeting to .present the plat. This property is straight across from Lincoln School tre corner of Birch and 2rd South. The property fronts onto Birch and 2nd South. The approximate acreage is about 3.7 acres. This property is zoned LDR1. He explained the plat. There is a sewer manhole which is under someone's barbecue pit. There is a sewer line that stubs in out in the back and they will be proposing to tie into that sewer line and explained where the water line runs.. (showing and explaining the plat and utilities and storm drains) All lots are 8000 square feet except two which are bigger. Sidewalks are required on the plat but in the development agreement it can state that sidewalk will be put in at which time a house is built. There are two existing fire hydrants but they are proposing to put in one more fire hydrant. The dedication for the road is 50 foot wide with 5 foot wide sidewalk. They have retained one foot of ownership along one side of the road that runs east and west, basically to protect them so they won't have any commercial business come in because they are abutting a business overlay. ~~ • • i• Joe discussed the plat. He showed the adjacent subdivisions on all sides which Mr Hastings had not shown. There is somewhat a problem because the storm drain will still come back of those houses making them hard to build upon because they are narrow particularly the corner lot. They will end up after the setback with a 35' x 50' usable piece of ground over to the edge of the storm drain. There a couple of lots that are slightly under 8000 square feet, but the road could be shifted. The lots are rather narrow so it will be hard to get the proper house on the lots. Explaining the utilities and fire hydrants. The street comes down and squares off and he discussed curving it instead of the right angle bend. The city would like to see the corners rounded off to 25 foot radius. You would have to shift the corner lot over 5 feet. Our street sweeper does a better job because they can't make the corners and leave a lot of dirt. It does meet our subdivision requirements. He suggested they should put another manhole in. He told them we would need a development agreement and subdivision improvement drawings prepared by an engineer. John Millar stated he was concerned about the slope of Rosewood on the plat and we do have a requirement in the ordinance for no more than a 6o grade. He suggested changing the entrance because of the grade. (discussing the grade) A motion was made by Ted Whyte to approve the preliminary plat based on the drawings and leave the road as it is drawn so it is in compliance with a 5' north property line to Dr Crouch's property. That the corner maintain a 30' radius on lot 13, and a minimum of 25' on lots 12 and 16. That they comply with Joe's recommendation on water, sewer and storm drainage. Seconded by Mary Ann. All Aye RE: GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH REQUEST FOR A SIGN ON THE RIGHT OF WAY ON 4TH SOUTH TOPIC: (400,91,,,GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH,SIGNS,4TH SOUTH,RIGHT OF WAY) Reverend Richard Hartman request for a sign on the right-a-way on 4th South. He went to the City Council last week. They have permission from the property owners on 4th South which abuts against 4th West, the property just east of the Chamber of Commerce to put up a Directional Sign for their church. Because it is in the right-a-way the council told him he had to come before the Planning Board and asked for permission or special exception. If they put the sign out of the right-a-way it would be out of sight because there are a couple of good sized trees in the yard and the side wall is right at the street. Their church is on 2nd West and they have a lot of Sunbirds asking where the church is because they can't find it because it is out of the way. It would be a relator type sign. John Millar told the group that our ordinance states no signs in the public right-a-way. Stephen told them in all other respects directional signs are acceptable. He felt our ordinance is inconsistent. The only restriction on the directional sign is it can not be in the Clear Site Triangle, which would always be in the right-a-way. Stephen stated that with this ordinance technically we can't put up stop signs but he could argue that we are exempt for stop signs. He felt it should be looked at in the ordinance to see if we wanted it to apply to directional signs. There should be a difference for municipal directional signs, ecclesiastical, and ~~ _ commercial. There are a few other things in the sign ordinance we need • to discuss. John Millar told him the best bet was to let us work on the ordinance. It was suggested that he put the sign up so it can be moved if necessary no bigger than 6 square feet, limited to a non commercial directional sign for the Grace Baptist Church. He would not need a permit and have Joe not do anything about it until we can revise our ordinance. If the ordinance is not resolved in the church's favor, the sign might have to be taken down. RE: PARK PLACE APARTMENTS PAVING TABLED TOPIC: (400,92,,,PARK PLACE APARTMENTS,PAVING) Park Place Paving- A motion was made by Davawn to table the Park Place Paving, seconded by Richard Smith. All Aye Stephen stated he talked to Randy Schwendiman and he wanted to table the issue and maybe go with Mary Ann's suggestion to rezone it to CBD with a Conditional Use Permit. Mary Ann stated she had researched it to great length to see if there was a way we could give them a variance and one thing that is very clear is that you can't do it for economic hardship. Stephen told them the city council's recommendation was to put landscaping from the curb to sidewalk and leave the rest from the sidewalk to the building in paving. (discussion) John Watson stated he was the one that drew the Park Place plans and it was condominiums from day one. John Watson • stated that he was sympathetic because he remembers in the old days when he would take a site plan into the city and ask if he needed more parking, they would say you have enough it looks good and that bothers him. He feels this is one of the growing pains issues. John Millar stated he hated to rezone it for the wrong reason. He felt that it was built that way and we can't change it unless they tear it down, he thought they had justifiable variance with that to get adequate parking. He did not know what other option we could give them. (discussion) Stephen stated that when they try to alter what they have then we have to find justifiable reason for a variance to allow them to pave those five spots as oppose to a justifiable reason for letting them stay as they were. (discussion) RE: VARIANCE GRANTED TO RICKS COLLEGE FOR PARKING LOT AT 3RD SOUTH & CORNELL AVENUE TOPIC: (400,92,,,VARIANCES,RICKS COLLEGE,PARKING LOTS,3RD SOUTH, CORNELL AVENUE) Ricks College Variance- Davawn Beattie and Mike Thueson declared a conflict of interest. Richard stated we have struggled with that lot for three or four years with plans before us that would not fit on the lot and he thought that lot was unusable for anything except the parking lot. (discussion how this differs from Park Place and if it qualifies for a variance) Mary Ann stated the college serves a broad public purpose. Davawn stated that what the college is trying to do is relieve the parking on Cornell. • i ,~ A motion was made by Richard Smith to grant the variance for Ricks College and direct Stephen to write the Finding of Fact.(It discussed that it serves a broad public purpose.) That we have considered the requirements of the ordinance regarding a variance and it meets the requirements. Seconded by Doug Smith. All Members voting aye except Davawn and Mike who abstained. Davawn stated that it is open parking. John Millar stated that Mr Schwendiman wanted his issue tabled. We have 60 days to act on it. Meeting Adjourned. •