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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-17-07 Planning Board Minutes.doc ** MINUTES ** CITY OF BOZEMAN PLANNING BOARD, TUESDAY, JULY 17TH, 2007 7:00 P.M. ITEM 1. CALL TO ORDER AND ATTENDANCE President JP Pomnichowski called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM and directed the secretary to record the attendance. Member Present: Members Absent: JP Pomnichowski, President & Chair Kaaren Jacobson, Commissioner (excused) Dave Jarrett, Vice President Caren Roberty (excused) Randy Carpenter Bill Quinn (excused) Ed Sypinski Erik Henyon Brian Caldwell (arrived 7:03PM) Staff Present: Andrew C. Epple, Director of Planner & Community Development Lanette Windemaker, Contract Planner Kimberly Kenney-Lyden, Recording Secretary Guests Present: Terry Threlkeld, Great West Engineering 0:01:28 [18:45:36] 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 were no members of public present to give comment, JP Pomnichowski closed this portion of the meeting. 0:01:37 [19:00:24] ITEM 3. MINUTES OF JUNE 5TH, 2007 Seeing there were no corrections, changes, or additions to the minutes, Dave Jarrett moved to recommend approval of the minutes of June 5th, 2007. The motion was seconded by Erik Henyon. All in favor, motion passed 6-0. 0:01:54 [19:01:19] ITEM 4. PROJECT REVIEW Subdivision Pre-Application, #P-07025 (City of Bozeman - Mandeville). A Major Subdivision Pre-Application on behalf of the owners, City of Bozeman, and the representatives, Great West Engineering, to receive advice and direction in preparation of the preliminary plat application for the City of Bozeman Mandeville Major Subdivision to allow 25 industrial lots on 85.35 acres legally described as Tracts 1A, 2A, 3A, & 4A of COS 2153, T1S, R5E, PMM, City of Bozeman, Gallatin County, Montana. (Windemaker) 0:01:59 [19:01:44] Staff Report Seeing there were no conflicts of interest or board disclosures on this project, President Pomnichowski opened the item to staff presentation. Planner Windemaker gave the detailed staff report. She noted the purpose of this Subdivision Pre-application review is for discussion of the applicant’s proposal with the designated review committees in order to identify any requirements and applicable standards and policies, as well as offers the applicant the opportunity to identify major problems that may exist and identify solutions prior to making formal application. Ms. Windemaker stated the subject property is zoned M-2 (Manufacturing and Industrial District). The intent of the M-2 manufacturing and industrial district is to provide for heavy manufacturing and industrial uses, servicing vocational and employment needs of Bozeman residents. In addition, she noted the subject property is located with Entryway Corridor Overlay Districts for I-90 and U.S. 10. These are Class I corridors, therefore she added all development that is partially or wholly within 660 feet of the centerline of these roadways is subject to design review. Lanette Windemaker noted there are several key areas of discussion: 1. Safety concerns. Reeves Road, railroad tracks, Redwing (Wheat) Drive, and the proposed railroad spur intersection all interact within close proximity. Care must be taken in the design of this area to ensure that vehicular traffic is well controlled. Redwing Drive. It appears that Redwing Drive from the southeastern property line to where it becomes (or intersects with) Wheat Drive is intended to be eliminated. Even though the intersection of Redwing Drive with North Seventh Avenue might be substandard, care must be taken to ensure adequate connectivity with the State lands. Block length. This block length is in excess of 1,320 feet. An additional street needs to be located to bisect the block length (approximately along the property line of Lots 7 and 19). In addition, rights of way for pedestrians should be provided to further bisect each half. This block length might be considered to be necessary due to access control for the proposed rail spur. Block width. This block width is in excess of 400 feet in width. Rights of way for pedestrians should be provided. This block width might be considered to be essential to overcome specific disadvantages of orientation due to the proposed rail spur. Alternative location for Fire Station #7. This property is not located within the fire service area of Fire Station #1 or #2 as indicated on Figure 11-1 of the Bozeman 2020 Plan. It is indicated as being within 6 minute current deployment travel time of Fire Station #1 on Figure 16 of the 2006 – Fire Protection Master Plan. According to Figure 61, it is located within the 4 minute response time of the future Fire Station #7. This subdivision is in relatively close proximity to the preferred location of Fire Station #7. It might be advisable for the Fire Department to obtain one of the lots along Wheat Drive as a back-up site. Planner Windemaker closed her presentation by stating there has been no public comment received to date as pre-applications are not noticed in the Daily Chronicle. Questions for Staff: Brian Caldwell noted he was hoping to further understand the minimum lot length and width requirement because this project seems like the block length is four times in excess of the standard. He asked Planner Windemaker if she could clarify the ranges of width and lot lengths. She responded this is going to be an unusual subdivision with large lots and it already has access issues. Ms. Windemaker noted the city is currently dealing with the issues of having the trail corridor and railroad running through this property. Erik Henyon asked if the 12 inch water main going to be adequate pressure to satisfy the needs of these large industrial lots and added that in looking at the typical industrial square footage for a building, these lots look too small to accommodate an industrial sized building. Mr. Henyon asked Planner Windemaker where the lots are on this pre-application that the new jail would be located on. She responded the jail is south of this property on state lands. She added city staff is in discussion with Montana Rail Link and noted it is never easy changing the use of the railroad. Director Andy Epple stated there have been numerous meetings with which he attended including Bob Murray and Terry Threlkeld. After several of these meetings they were able to develop a pre-application that the city was ready to come forward with. Dave Jarrett asked if the City is going to build the railroad spur. Ms. Windemaker concurred. Mr. Jarrett asked who the owner of the property was and Mr. Epple replied it is owned by the City of Bozeman and added there is a complaint in district court regarding ownership. He noted this is the site where the transfer station was going to be located at. Mr. Jarrett asked if the City has a real estate department and Mr. Epple replied they do not. Mr. Epple added he was sure a real estate agent will be retained to handle the sale of these industrial lots on this property. He stated the City is trying to do something with this land so the tax payers get a return on their investment. Mr. Jarrett responded the owner of this property should come clean and tell us what they are going to do with these lots like other applicants do when they come forward with a pre-application. He continued by stating he was of the opinion that it is a big mistake for the City of Bozeman to be involved in the real estate business with the public sector. Randy Carpenter asked if the City has given any thought as to what the uses could be for these lots. Andy Epple responded the city has been in negotiations with a couple of heavy industrial users that need railroad access. He noted there have been inquiries over the years of developing this property with the rail spur. Railroad access is critical and becoming more important as transportation costs increase. Mr. Epple stated it is industrial users that need the rail road access. These lots are platted in a way to allow people to buy multiple lots. Erik Henyon asked if a user could have a single building cross a lot line. Mr. Epple responded the city approves plans like this for developers who own more than one lot on a monthly basis. JP Pomnichowski noted she researched the UDO and found nothing that addresses rail road right of way. She added it is usually really wide. She stated she would like to see how that right of way is going to work with the rail line. She noted she is curious to see how the right of way is going to work with the rail line and rail spur. Ms. Pomnichowski added this will eat some of the land. Lanette Windemaker responded this issue will have to be engineered to work and they will have to get a great plan together before they file for preliminary plat. She closed by stating the city is in discussion with Montana Rail Link. President Pomnichowski noted she would expect hazardous materials in this industrial area and is glad to see there is the possibility there is going to be another fire station located on this property. This would be a good site for a fire station especially because there could be heavy industrial users in this area. She asked if there will be access to this property from Wheat and those properties facing Reeves would have access from Reeves. Planner Windemaker concurred and added they are all local roads. President Pomnichowski replied she is concerned because if these roads are labeled as local, the truck access would be difficult since local roads don’t have the standards to allow for turning radius and weight. Ms. Windemaker noted these standards will need to be addressed. JP Pomnichowski asked what the City’s plans are for these lots and if the City will retain some lots and sell others. Ms. Windemaker responded these lots are too narrow for their depth to be subdivided, however if someone bought multiple lots, those lots could be aggregated. Ms. Pomnichowski asked if this will be it's own SILD. Planner Windemaker noted this has not been determined yet. She added that how lighting is handled is currently up in the air and stated this does have the potential of becoming an SILD. Ms. Pomnichowski asked if this site will host the new City Shops Complex. Director Epple replied it was talked about earlier, but the City picked up a buy/sell agreement with Cardinal distributing. The problem the City has now is that part of the Cardinal property lands on Railroad right of way. President Pomnichowski was concerned that there was a lack of floodplain delineation on this proposal and asked when it would be done. Ms. Windemaker responded there has been no floodplain delineation done and city engineer, Sue Stodola has requested this be done. She added there needs to be further design work on this project. JP Pomnichowski noted that with the Yellowstone Pipeline going right through there and with all the industrial uses of this property, the City will need to apply for 310 and 404 permits. Director Andy Epple noted the Planning and Engineering departments are reviewing this pre-app just as any other projects that come through here. 0:31:29 [19:02:35] Applicant Presentation: Terry Threlkeld, representing Great West Engineering noted the intent of this project was for a commercial development. There seems to be a need for this kind of property in the City. There are a number of businesses that have talked about having a site that is in close proximity to a railroad spur. Mr. Threlkeld added most of these businesses have shown interest in the fairly large lots. One of the issues that Bob Murray was looking for feedback on is the desire to have pedestrian facilities in an M-1 Zoned area. He noted they want paved parking areas facing the railroad tracks. He was not sure if they can provide for pedestrian safety. Mr. Threlkeld stated these facilities will not use all that much water unless there is a bottling plant on the premises in the future. He added the water main sizing is in accordance with the City’s water utility plan. A single family home would use 300 gallons a day. A manufacturer would you 13 gallons per day per employee. Mr. Threlkeld noted they will do a wetlands delineation once they get feedback on this pre-app. He added there has been some hydrology done. They first met with Montana Rail Link and sat down with a gentleman who does track design. What the City has envisioned is they might give an easement for this railroad spur line. We need to so this railroad spur will not be owned by Montana Rail Link. It gives us a little more control on how we want to handle it. He added they had the highway design crew look at this and there will be improvements to highway 10, possibly a signal. There has already been a traffic study done from the DNRC property to the south. He closed by noting he has no idea how the sale of the property will work. Questions for Applicant: Ed Sypinski asked if there had been a traffic study done for Griffin. Mr. Threlkeld responded there has only been signal studies done at the intersections there. What they have concluded is that the Redwing access will have to go away for safety issues. Everyone is in agreement that this will go away. Because there is access out of the south end of the property, the potential buyer would have a second way to get out. Mr. Sypinski asked how they plan to address and balance the industrial development in a Class 1 Entryway Corridor district. Mr. Threlkeld replied they actually have two entryway corridors, North 7th and the Entryway. There has been several discussions on which way the front of the buildings should be facing and because there is a double corridor, we’ve concluded the building fronts would face the highway and other streets. There is a setback along the west side of the property line that needs to be landscaped. Dave Jarrett noted that if they do plan on putting in a railroad spur, there would no access by pedestrians, bicyclists, or sidewalks. There would only be truck traffic. Mr. Threlkeld stated they haven't discussed the sidewalks yet. Mr. Jarrett responded there should be no sidewalks located anywhere near a railroad. He added he feels this is a mistake, to commercialize this property and the purchase was a mistake by the City Commission. Mr. Threlkeld replied he is of the strong opinion the City will not do that again. Brian Caldwell stated they have touched on block length and width. He noted that projects with 600 foot block length usually get stuck with a road. This could be a concern. Mr. Caldwell noted he feels this would be a poor reflection of consistency and does not think the City should come anywhere close to maximums under any regard. He asked if the roads will be constructed in a way that can really satisfy access to all these lots. Mr. Threlkeld concurred and added the City does not usually get subdivision applications that are industrial in nature so this project will need quite a bit more work. Lanette Winmaker noted there is about 200 feet from railroad track to railroad track on Reeves. Mr. Threlkeld noted it would be easy to synchronize signals in this area to decrease the board’s concern and there would also be an escape route down to Wheat Drive. If someone was in between these two tracks, he noted they do have a way out. 0:49:03 [19:02:06] Discussion Director Andy Epple noted there was one design feature regarding the I-90 Entryway Corridor that he fought for succeeded to get the roadway and property line landscaped instead of having the backs of buildings being seen by the public. The building fronts will be facing the streets and railway instead of looking at the backs. He added this will be a challenge and noted this area was always designated as industrial land. He closed by noting industry is consistently located close to rail lines. Brian Caldwell noted only one street bisecting this property is not enough. There needs to be one to three roads. He added there should be no additional trails and stated this proposal as is, is inappropriate as an indicator for block length. It's important from a planning standpoint and important for others who get forced into building roads that the City remains consistent. Mr. Caldwell asked the City to avoid any additional undue attention to this unique circumstance the City is in. The block length and width should be a City Standard. The short of the block in the front and long in the back is a good design feature. He added they will inevitably learn about the dog park, so eventually pedestrian access will come forward and be an issue. Mr. Caldwell noted the City was able to burn their historic barn structure that was on this site when any other property owner would have been restricted from doing that. He added there have been a few steps that are not in keeping with the City's standards and in the interest of fair play, it would be important for the community to know that if this route is taken, it's done in the most ethical way possible. Erik Henyon stated he would not like to see a jail or transfer station in our entryway corridor. He added it makes very little sense to lay out a preliminary plat for this type of project without knowing the types of businesses moving in there. His recommendation would be to take the land south east of Mandeville Creek and keep those lots for the City and make them public lands and use it for City purposes. The rest to the north west should be sold and the City should wash their hands of this and let a developer buy it so the market can do what it will. Mr. Henyon noted he is in agreement with the comments about pedestrian traffic and noted there should be no pedestrian traffic back there. Ed Sypinksi noted that in regards to selling off this property, he would like to see the land delineation first. He agreed with Mr. Henyon and noted since the City owns the property, it seems appropriate that the City of Bozeman keeps what it needs before they go and sell off the property. Randy Carpenter stated he likes the idea of the spur going down the middle of this property. He likes the west side of this project and added the south east side is bit troublesome with the easements already there. He closed by stating he is hopeful the City uses this as an opportunity to show how well an industrial area can be designed and developed in terms of landscaping and protecting water resources already there. The City should be able to raise the bar higher and he’ll be looking forward to see how that develops. Dave Jarrett noted the City should put the property on the market before they get any deeper. The city does not need to cut corners and government should get out of this business. JP Pomnichowski noted the industrial facilities will be provided with cross streets, but she fully expects the City will complete it's section of the Main Street to the Mountains Trails, just as long as this is not an island to itself. She likes the connectivity of this project. President Pomnichowski noted Mr. Threlkeld made the comment that most M-2 facilities will not fit on one of these lots and suggested these be better used at a larger scale. She did not think larger scale buildings are an option, but added the City should just aggregate these lots and sell them in 4 acre parcels. Ms. Pomnichowski stated she has spoken to many people and everyone is in agreement that the land the City owns should be used by the City because the City needs land too. She added there is a lot of expectation with this project and noted she did not think we have a great need for a rail spur. Ms. Pomnichowski closed by noting she would like the City to talk to GVLT about the sidewalk issues. She added these lots should not be aggregated until the City is aware of where the floodplain is. 1:10:39 [19:32:14] ITEM 5. NEW BUSINESS Erik Henyon asked Director Epple about the hotel on North 7th, right across from Murdocks and noted it is a City eyesore because it is deteriorating. He asked if the City can condemn it and could it be used for a great homeless shelter. Mr. Epple noted this is a huge problem and shows a weakness in the building permit program. He noted the City does not require bonding as a condition for building completion. He added this hotel is still in private ownership and our certified building inspectors have notified us that this building is structurally, not a safety hazard. We had another hotel/motel interest come forward about finishing this project. He closed by stating this project is on everyone's radar screen and he'll keep the board advised as he learns. Mr. Henyon stated he is worried about the safety factor because there could be a fire in this building. Mr. Epple responded that bonding could be a way to deter this outcome. Structurally, the City’s Fire Marshall and Chief Building Official has informed him this building is sound. JP Pomnichowski reminded all present of the joint County/City Planning board meeting on July 31st. She informed everyone that Tim Davis is lined up to speak and discuss the new SB201 recently passed. Mr. Carpenter concurred. Andy Epple stated this will be an opportunity to discuss the City's long range planning & the County's long range planning. President Pomnichowski advised the board about the 2020 Community Plan Update meeting at the Stiff Professional building on July 24th and asked that if any board member can spare the time, they should be present. Erik Henyon noted he received a letter from the Water Coalition and there is a tour on the 31st that will look at all the irrigation issues and all the water issues in the Gallatin Valley. He added he will e-mail the board members of the information. President Pomnichowski announced the departure of recording secretary, Kimberly Kenney and added this would be her last meeting. She and the other board members thanked her for her service. 1:18:23 [19:50:09] ITEM 6. ADJOURNMENT President Pomnichowski adjourned the meeting of the Planning Board at 8:20PM. ___________________________________ ____________________________________ JP Pomnichowski, President & Chair Andrew Epple, Director Planning Board Planning & Community Development City of Bozeman 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).