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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-17-07 Planning Board Minutes.pdf ** MINUTES ** CITY OF BOZEMAN PLANNING BOARD, RAFT COMMISSION MEETING ROOM, CITY HALL WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17TH, 2007 7:00 P.M. ITEM 1. CALL TO ORDER AND ATTENDANCE Acting President, Dave Jarrett called the meeting to order at 7:01PM and asked the secretary to record the attendance. He announced a new Planning Board member who is the county representative and introduced Mr. William Quinn. Mr. Jarrett asked him to give the board members a little background on his experience. Mr. Quinn stated he retired from the Montana Department of Livestock and has been a resident since 1969. He volunteered for this advisory position to assist in providing creative input for the planning process. Members Present: Members Absent: Dave Jarrett JP Pomnichowski (excused) Brian Caldwell Randy Carpenter(excused) Caren Roberty Steve Kirchhoff, Commission Liaison Edward Sypinski Erik Henyon William Quinn Guests Present: Kirsten Emborg Tom Henesh Greg Stratten Erik Nelson Ileana Indreland Mike Delaney Bret Olson Joe Billion ITEM 2. PUBLIC COMMENT (0-15 MINUTES) {Limited to any public matter within the jurisdiction of the Planning Board and not scheduled on this agenda.Three-minute time limit per speaker.) Seeing there was none,Mr. Jarrett closed this portion of the meeting. ITEM 3. MINUTES OF JANUARY 17TH, 2007. Seeing there was no corrections or additions to the minutes,Mr. Sypinski moved to approved the minutes as written, seconded by Mr. Jarrett. All in favor, motion passed 5-0. ITEM 4. PROJECT REVIEW 1 Billion/Norton East GPA#P-06065 —A Growth Policy Amendment Application requested by the owner, Joseph Billion, and applicant, Joe Billion, and representative, Kirsten Emborg, to amend the growth policy by changing the land use designation, as shown on the Future Land Use Map of the Bozeman 2020 Community Plan, from Residential to Community Commercial for 34.0 acres. This property is legally described as NE1/4 SE1/4 less 41 feet X 1,320 feet on the east side, Section 9, T2S, R5E, PMM, Gallatin County, Montana. (Sanford) Staff Report: Senior Planner, Jody Sanford gave the staff report. She noted the applicant is proposing to change the current designation of a large portion of this property from Residential to Community Commercial. Ms. Sanford stated that staff has evaluated this proposal against the review criteria and is recommending denial of this application. She noted staff is concerned about taking such a large portion of this property and change it from high density residential uses to commercial because it is a significant change to the City's growth policy. This is detrimental to the success of Valley West's adjacent neighborhood commercial node. Valley West is a large residential subdivision adjacent to this property. Planner Sanford did note that staff is interested working with the applicant in seeing his car dealership expanding in the City of Bozeman. She closed by noting this application could be better addressed during the 2020 Growth Policy update. Questions for Staff: Mr.Erik Henyon asked where the nearest commercial node is located to this property. Ms. Sanford responded the closest commercial node would be north of Durston within the Laurel Glen subdivision. Mr. Henyon asked what the Ridge proposal is zoned for. Ms. Sanford answered the Ridge property is zoned Business Park and the PUD was approved by the City Commission. Applicant Presentation: Ms. Kirsten Emborg, representing Joe Billion, expressed his desire to see the expansion of his twenty year business. In 1995, Mr. Billion approached Dave Norton about purchasing his property to allow the continued growth and success of his family business. The agreement was met after Mr. Norton's passing. Due to strict guidelines by Nissan, Mr. Billion has been given a deadline of 2012 for expansion of his dealership. Ms. Emborg stated he does not want to change the portion of neighborhood commercial designated property. Kevin Spencer and Tom Henesh from Valley West have been in constant communication with her regarding the commercial growth of this area because it is adjacent to their residential subdivision. She noted they have been approved for 200 acres of residential density. This is six times the size of Mr. Billion's 34 acre tract. The Spencer residential development will help to contribute to the success of these neighborhood commercial nodes. She stated that Mr. Billion's proposal to expand his existing development will not threaten the viability of these commercial nodes since Mr. Spencer's development will more than compensate for this change. Both Tom Henesh and Kevin Spencer are in 2 support of this growth policy change. In the past twelve years,Mr. Billion went before the Planning Board on several occasions to get their direction and guidance as to what the city desired to see happen on his property. Ms. Emborg noted their direction was to avoid corridor based commercial development and in March, the Planning Board advised them to proceed with this growth policy amendment application. Mr. Billion realizes that planning staff is willing to work with him,but does not want to take his business outside of city limits. He is planning on putting in a car wash, a body shop, a detail shop, coffee shop, and many other components that could contribute to this neighborhood commercial design and share with the Nissan expansion. This is a perfectly functional and necessary element in a neighborhood commercial area. Questions for Applicant: Dave Jarrett asked Mr. Billion if he owns the land directly to the West of the other side of the creek from his existing dealership. Mr. Billion stated he looked at that property many years ago, but due to wetlands delineation, there is only about nine usable acres. The City Commission back in 1993 directed him to develop to the north because that is where they liked to see commercial nodes. He stated he is aware the city did not want him to have a strip mall of car dealerships along 191, yet he notices there are other dealerships along Huffine. Joe Billion stated he was advised to keep this dealership together. He does not want' to buy property out in the county just to accommodate this expansion. It seems to make sense that the current dealership expand its shops and other facilities adjacent to his current location to allow sharing of networks and phone lines that are there. He has 125 employees. This application would trigger a site plan review and he .does have a wetland running through this area and would like to put in some trees and possibly a picnic area as a park type buffer to the residential area. Mr. Billion said that with this expansion,he could have up to 250 employees and is also looking at putting in a daycare center to accommodate this growth. He closed by stating that the real time to expand is realistically going to be 2011, and knows he is early with this application but would like to plan ahead. Erik Henyon asked about the added employees and how this expansion will affect this traffic along this area. Mr. Billion noted that with the additional employees, there will be additional customers and Cottonwood is a future arterial. Bill Quinn asked if he owns the property that is currently being used at 19th and Main. Mr. Billion responded he is leasing that from his ex-wife and it is too small to accommodate all the vehicles. He is planning on moving this dealership to his newly expanded lots in this proposal. Brian Caldwell asked if the footprint for his proposed facility is going to be in excess of fourty thousand square feet. Mr. Billion replied that the Ford facility is about fifty thousand square feet and he's thinking about twenty five thousand square feet with a shared service area between the dealerships. Mr. Caldwell stated that with the neighborhood commercial, the type of zoning from this is most likely B-1, yet car dealerships are not a permitted use in this zone. He advised Mr. Billion to chose the adequate designation to meet his needs. Planner Sanford stated that if this 3 application were approved, they would have to be given a B-2 designation for a dealership. Ms. Emborg noted that they are going to submit a Community Commercial zoning request when they go before the Zoning Commission. Ed Sypinski noted that since there is so much high density residential across from Cottonwood, he wanted to know how this will be compatible with the surrounding development if this were approved. Mr. Billion stated that with the stream going through the north end of the property, he would like to put a nice park there and feels this would be a buffer to this residential area. He also added that most of the car displays will not be facing the residential area and there will be other proposed small shops in conjunction with this park area that would mix well. Mr. Jarrett reminded Mr. Billion that daycare centers are allowed in R-4 as well. He asked how many acres are leased at the corner of 19th and Main and Mr. Billion responded it is only about five acres. Mr. Jarrett stated there is no where for the public to park and this is not ideal for his dealership. He asked Mr. Billion how many acres he needs in total to expand his business appropriately. Mr. Billion answered he needs about twenty acres per dealership,but will need an additional 10 acres for the service areas. He also stated he does not know what he is going to do with the rest of the property yet, but may possibly put in some storage facilities. Public Comment: Tom Henesh representing Big Sky Land Consulting and speaking on behalf of Norton Properties stated that his client wanted to-swap Mr. Billion's residential node in trade for the B-P zoned area of his client's property. However, this has - never materialized. Mr. Henesh noted his client will be adding another 600 homes to their property adjacent to this and adding a community commercial node is appropriate. He asked the board where Mr. Billion's business should be located if the city does not want to allow him to further expand his business with this Norton property. He added he is in support up keeping Mr. Billion's business in the location of the proposed application. Both he and his client are in support of this application. Mike Delaney and his wife Ileana Indreland own property close to this proposal. They are both in support of this application. They are doing a mix of development in the surrounding area. Mr. Delaney noted how important it is to have a liveable, walkable community and this application will bring us closer to that objective. He would hate to see Mr. Billion's business move three or four miles west of Four Corners. Questions for Staff: Mr. Jarrett noted there is no car dealership allowed in a B-2 or B-3 zoned area. He asked Planner Sanford to clarify how this could be an allowed use. Ms. Sanford clarified that a car dealership is classified as a retail establishment so it is allowed in the B-2 zone. She added that given the whole range of activities described by the applicant, it would be appropriate and is recommended to have a B-2 zoning designation. Bill Quinn stated that adding a commercial node could be detrimental to the adjacent residential properties in the surrounding areas. He suggested that in 4 keeping with the residential appearance on West Babcock, approving this would change the character of that area. He asked if it was possible the client could start the commercial at Fallon instead of starting it at West Babcock. Ms. Sanford noted the city has issues with compatibility on this project and is concerned about moving from residential to commercial uses. She added that the neighbors could possibly bring up concerns about the value of their property once this large scale commercial node is approved. She closed by stating that Cottonwood is designated as a principle arterial in the 2020 Growth Policy so this could accommodate all the incoming and outgoing traffic. Discussion: Brian Caldwell noted it is important to mention that his office in involved with designing an office across from this property and does not feel that this is a conflict of interest. He stated it is a clear case of a perfect plan but difficult to address. Mr. Caldwell noted that the community would have difficulty with an M-1 designation just as much as a B-2 designation. He added that the Planning Board and Commission both directed Mr. Billion to proceed with this growth policy amendment and this should be recognized. This is simply a request to accommodate Mr. Billion's growth and the decisions as to what he wants to put on this property can be decided at a later date. He is in support of this application. Ed Sypinski stated that since the City is undergoing its update of the 2020 Growth Policy Plan, he would prefer to wait for this process in order to look at this property with the correct perspective. In addition to the other comments made, he is in full support of keeping Mr.Billion's business in Bozeman. He closed by noting that this property's designation could be changed during the Growth Policy Update and the application should be addressed at that time. Mr. Sypinski stated they might be done with that update by the end of the year and he will not be in support of this application. Caren Roberty noted that this application does not prove to be deficient in regards to the Growth criteria. It is not inconsistent with the intent of the Growth Policy. She stated that she disagrees with staffs comments and feels that this proposal does not negatively impact the surrounding area. Ms. Roberty closed by stating this project really makes sense and there is no urgency to have this proposal approved immediately. She is inclined to approve this application because it makes sense. Erik Henyon stated this project does make sense and is in favor of the applicant's proposal. He disagrees with staff and feels this meets all the review criteria. Mr. Henyon noted that approving this application is the right thing to do since this is the direction the City gave him. There is no testimony against this project except positive reinforcement that this is a good direction to move in. He will be in support of this application. Bill Quinn noted that he will be in agreement with this application. Dave Jarrett thanked the applicants for coming forward with their presentations. He noted to Mr. Sypinski that he does not see the Growth Policy update being completed in a year since the UDO amendments have two years and have yet to be approved. He feels that commercial should not be close to the wetlands in the back 5 of this property. He would like to see some other proposal for the stream corridor besides commercial when the applicant is ready to present their plan. Mr. Jarrett closed by stating he will be in support of this application and should recommend approval. Motion and Vote: Ms. Caren Roberty moved to recommend approval of growth policy amendment application#P-06065. Seconded by Brian Caldwell. Those in favor being Dave Jarrett, Caren Roberty, Erik Henyon,Brian Caldwell, and Bill Quinn. Those against being Ed Sypinski. Motion passed 5-1. ITEM 5. PRESENTATION MSU Long Range Campus Development Plan—A presentation by Walt Banziger to introduce the proposed long range campus plan. This will serve as a guideline to preserve the university's history and advance its future aspirations. Acting president,Mr. Jarrett stated this item has been postponed to February 6th, 2007. ITEM 6. NEW BUSINESS Mr. Sypinski stated he and two other members of the Planning Board have met with Planning Staff to review the RFQ's for the consultants that will be working on the update for the 2020 Growth.;Policy. ITEM 7. ADJOURNMENT Dave Jarrett motioned to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Ed Sypinski. Meeting adjourned at 8:08PM. Dave Jarrett, Acting President Andrew Epple, Director of Planning City of Bozeman Planning Board and Community Development, City of Bozeman *City of Bozeman Planning Board meetings are open to all members of the public. If you have a special need or disability,please contact our ADA Coordinator,Ron Brey,at 582-2306(voice)or 582-2301 (TDD). 6