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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-03-10 Planning Board Minutes PLANNING BOARD MINUTES WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2010 ITEM 1. CALL TO ORDER AND ATTENDANCE President Pro Tem Caldwell called the regular meeting of the Planning Board to order at 7:02 p.m. in the Commission Meeting Room, City Hall, 121 North Rouse Avenue, Bozeman, Montana and directed the secretary to take attendance. Members Present: Staff Present: Brian Caldwell, Vice President Tim McHarg, Planning Director Trever McSpadden Chris Saunders, Assistant Planning Director Jodi Leone Tara Hastie, Recording Secretary Chris Budeski Jeff Krauss Eugene Graf Members Absent:Guests Present: Erik Henyon Chris Mehl Ed Sypinski Bill Quinn 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 no general public comment forthcoming, President Pro Tem Caldwell closed the public comment portion of the meeting. ITEM 3. MINUTES OF OCTOBER 19, 2010 MOTION: Mr. McSpaddenmoved, Mr. Krauss seconded, to approve the minutes of October The motion carried 6-0 19, 2010 as presented.. Those voting aye being, President Pro Tem Caldwell, Mr. McSpadden, Mr. Budeski, Mr. Krauss, Mr. Graf, and Ms. Leone. Those voting nay being none. ITEM 4. FORMAL DISCUSSION ITEM 1. Planning Board recommendations for exceptions within the U.D.O. for the th North 7 Avenue TIF District and the Northeast Neighborhood. President Pro Tem Caldwell directed the Board to discuss the item and added he had some comments to provide. He stated turning movements in and out of existing sites, intersection improvements to existing sites, parking standards, were identified issues than needed discussion th for the North 7 and northeast sides of town. He stated storm water standards and design were also a concern and added he felt the requirements were vague and subjective when existing 1 City of Bozeman Planning Board Minutes of November 3, 2010. conditions applied. He stated the discussion of the TIF Districts would be specific to identifying infill. He asked for any Board member’s recommendations for discussion. Mr. Krauss stated the B-3 TIF District should include a UDO amendment doing away with parkland requirements for residential development within the B-3 zoning district as well as the other District. He stated the requirement for Workforce Housing should be abolished in B-3; the idea that a lucky lottery winner gets a reduced rate for a condo should not be included. He stated the parkland requirement especially should be removed. He stated there should be special th regulation of the North 7 Avenue District; the community would like to see new buildings close to the street and to achieve this goal curb cuts would need to be reduced and shared parking included. He stated the Board would have to say something about the existing curb cuts; some of them would need to be removed eventually and there were not many curb cuts down town. He th stated the Commission had approved grants for North 7 Avenue last week; the Urban Renewal Board could be approached for approval of a grant (TAG). He stated the big W’s could be turned into little W’s (what, why, where, etc.). He stated there were vacant lots, empty Quonset huts, Frontier Pies and other opportunities in those locations. He stated most people liked fewer complications and more incentives. President Pro Tem Caldwell suggested the Board discuss Mr. Krauss’ comments. He stated the downtown plan called for 400 residential units in the next 10 years; when related to dwelling units it would be millions of dollars worth of parkland dedication that would discourage development in that area. He stated the Workforce Housing exemption was less than 5 acres which could be th increased in size. He stated the curb cut idea fell in line with a parking plan for the North 7 Avenue area including sharing access points. th Mr. Budeski stated development would drive the incentives and the lots on North 7 Avenue were not deep lots. He stated the aggregation of access could not be accomplished unless the neighbor was agreeable. He stated parking in the rear would be problematic due to the shallow depth of the lots. He suggested including language in the UDO that would dedicate the owner’s portion and would require work with the neighbor toward an agreement for shared access. He th stated he had not seen a lot of development along North 7 Avenue for the last ten or fifteen years. President Pro Tem Caldwell stated there were fragmented rights of way for alleys along the east th side of 7 while on the west side they were mostly intact; he suggested a strong alley system could help move vehicular traffic as well as ease parking situations. Mr. Budeski responded downtown was being used as an example when there was no comparison to the downtown area; until someone developed the property nothing would change. Mr. Krauss responded the Snowload building was a similar instance that was successful. President Pro Tem Caldwell responded he was just pointing out alternatives to the current situation. Mr. Krauss added there were regular blocks and cross streets along North7th Avenue as well. Mr. Budeski stated individual sites would not be improved until someone developed the site; he suggested language needed created to provide for long term planning and should include “shall” and “must” in the requirements. 2 City of Bozeman Planning Board Minutes of November 3, 2010. Mr. Graf stated he was nervous about the word “develop”; each site developed would have to be brought up to code and caution would need to be taken to ensure the owner could afford the improvements. President Pro Tem Caldwell suggested a great example was the old Quick Way site that had been turned into a pizza restaurant; a tremendous level of risk was taken in the acquisition of the property but there were a number of overlaying issues with the site. Mr. Krauss th suggested the North 7 Avenue Design & Connectivity Plan addressed many of the issues already and should be the guiding document. He stated there would be some amount of discouragement, but the thought of money would encourage them. He stated Ferraro’s, the tobacco shop, etc. had been improved and the Famous Dave’s had been constructed. Mr. Budeski responded there had th been few developments along N. 7 Ave. due to site constraints. Mr. McSpadden asked if it was plausible to alter development standards to motivate development; could all of the standards be applied more lenient or unique development standards for the TIF Districts. Director McHarg responded he thought that would be the goal. He stated there would have to be very specific zoning standards that applied to distinct areas with distinct characters. Mr. McSpadden added it was a bit of an exercise in social engineering. Director McHarg responded he did not think there was social engineering aspect to it but instead it was an economic aspect with a desired built environment outcome. Director McHarg added there were some districts where the pedestrian would always have to be separated from vehicles. President Pro Tem Caldwell stated the real advantage to infill development was to take advantage of the infrastructure that already existed; he had seen developers go out of business and the issue could be addressed in an Urban Renewal District by direct site improvements counting as impact fee credits; he suggested the impact fees could be lessened in the Trip Exchange District. He stated collecting of impact fees within the districts was a slap in the face to redevelopment in the core area of Bozeman. Director McHarg stated a project within that area could pay a set of impact fees for their area while other areas would be assessed on a different impact of their development. Assistant Director Saunders stated that any time an impact fee update was reviewed, the analysis had to include whether or not to include separate districts; the data was required to be provided in the analysis of the update. He stated in-fill development was provided a credit for what occupied the site in advance and the new development was assessed the difference. President Pro Tem Caldwell stated impact fees usually applied to major development where the th problem with N. 7 Ave. seemed to site improvements only as they came along. He reiterated what items had been identified and suggested other relative items included the impacts of storm water management on site. Mr. Budeski stated most of the existing sites were impervious surface and storm water detention would not be required though the City would likely adopt a program for water quality. Director McHarg suggested regional water quality facilities funded through the TIF could also be a remedy; it would be a more regional approach treated as an overall area as opposed to incrementally on individual properties. He suggested on-street parking credits to adjacent uses could be instituted in the District. Assistant Director Saunders added that the downtown parking 3 City of Bozeman Planning Board Minutes of November 3, 2010. district included language that would allow a 15% decrease in the parking requirements if they were within a certain distance of the downtown parking garage. President Pro Tem Caldwell stated he thought it was important to consider the length of time it would take to develop the properties and suggested encouraging not having to build a parking garage in advance of demand. He stated he thought as stronger commercial districts were created, the enticing development aspects of a different District were removed. th Mr. Budeski stated it was interesting that you could park on N. 7 Avenue, but not on arterial or collector residential streets; he suggested a long term remedy would be to remove the parking lane and creating a landscaped strip with a raised sidewalk. He stated the lots were paved right up to the curb and could instead include street lights, landscaping, and pedestrian amenities. Mr. Krauss stated the road sections were in the plan. Mr. Budeski responded people’s property would need to be bought to provide those features. Assistant Director Saunders added the road sections were pretty constrained near the intersection of Main Street. Mr. Budeski suggested a long term way to accomplish the plan’s goal would be to eliminate the parking strip on each side th of 7 Avenue. President Pro Tem Caldwell stated he would like to recap a list and given a recommendation to the Planning Department to provide recommendations for a future agenda. President Pro Tem Caldwell listed the items that he thought had been identified by the Board. MOTION : Mr. Krauss moved, Mr. McSpadden seconded, to endorse the idea of removing th parkland requirements and workforce housing requirements in the N. 7 Avenue and Downtown TIF/B-3 Districts. Director McHarg stated there would be other affected boards/commissions that would need to be consulted prior to moving forward with recommendations. Mr. McSpadden suggested the Board lean towards a larger view of the recommendations; he added modification of the individual development standards of each district could be discussed. Director McHarg suggested including the individual recommendations would be considered and would then be identified as either long term or short term goals. President Pro Tem Caldwell stated the motion seemed a true statement, but should be applicable to all Districts. He cited the Brewery project as an example of a substantial cost associated for redevelopment in that area. Mr. Krauss responded he did not know enough about the District or the Board to amend his motion to include the Northeast District. President Pro Tem Caldwell suggested the Workforce housing applicability of the ordinance for redevelopment sites did not exist. Director McHarg suggested Board members could attend the meeting with the advisory body to discuss the item more thoroughly. 4 City of Bozeman Planning Board Minutes of November 3, 2010. Mr. Graf stated he thought it was unfair to allow a lower standard when the district was not in attendance requesting the reduced standard. He stated new developments should be encouraged and should not have the same reduced standards; redevelopment would be very difficult to promote. Director McHarg responded Staff would approach those boards and Staff would return with their comments; they might not want reduced standards but it was unknown. Mr. Graf stated it would be helpful for him to have an example to provide a scenario of the modified standards for reference. Director McHarg stated he did not know if Staff could provide a good example that could legitimately be used. President Pro Tem Caldwell opened the item for public comment. Mr. Mehl asked if the motion was advisory. He stated one board member had indicated he would like to participate in a meeting with the advisory bodies and suggested they would be eager to meet with the Planning Board. President Pro Tem Caldwell responded he thought the motion was advisory. Mr. Budeski stated the intent was to provide incentives for the development of those areas and to get people in to do something more major. Mr. McSpadden suggested getting the discussion going for a series of modifications to re- incentivize the TIF District. Mr. Krauss added Mr. McSpadden did not want to take the project one bite at a time. The motion carried 6-0. MOTION : Mr. McSpadden moved, Mr. Krauss seconded, to direct Staff to provide recommendations for modifications to development standards of individual TIF Districts. Mr. Krauss suggested he would prefer to discuss the District specific design standards that might incentivize development. The motion was withdrawn. President Pro Tem Caldwell added that it was not only the Planning Department but also the Engineering Department that affected the requirements. MOTION : Mr. Krauss moved, Mr. Graf seconded, to meet with TIF Districts as well as City Engineering Staff to identify specific design standards that might incentivize development within the TIF Districts. Ms. Leone excused herself from the meeting. Assistant Director Saunders responded the two departments (Planning and Engineering) were reciprocal; a larger development would affect municipal services differently than a smaller development. President Pro Tem Caldwell stated the improvement of the intersection of Peach 5 City of Bozeman Planning Board Minutes of November 3, 2010. Street and Rouse Avenue was like roulette to determine who would make those improvements. He stated he thought it was important that issues related to the corridors included infrastructure issues. Mr. McSpadden asked if other Boards/Commissions should be included. Mr. Krauss suggested asking for recommendations from other boards after the TIF boards had provided their suggestions. The motion carried 5-0 . Mr. McHarg stated Staff would attempt to map out a schedule of meetings with the advisory th bodies. Assistant Director Saunders added the meeting of the 16 would include proposed code amendments as well as the Workforce Housing discussion. ITEM 5. NEW BUSINESS President Pro Tem Caldwell stated he had issue with the lack of attendance at the meetings; he added it was demoralizing and it took away from the purpose and the task of the Board. Mr. Krauss stated it was the responsibility of the Board’s President to contact other review agencies when items that affected them were being discussed; a person aware enough of what was coming up on the agenda could make the call. He stated he did not think the attendance at the meetings was as important as attending to the Board. Mr. Krauss suggested any recommended future discussion items should be mentioned at this time. President Caldwell stated he remembered a time when items were prepared in advance by membership of the board. Mr. Budeski stated some of the recommendations had already been implemented by Staff for site plan review. He stated 15 minutes of public comment time seemed too much and suggested “up to 3 minutes per person”. Mr. Krauss suggested the Recording Secretary check the Commission agenda to see how public comment was worded. Director McHarg suggested the Board could request specific information or people’s attendance for discussion and Staff would make the arrangements. Mr. Krauss stated the TCC had not received any of the grants they had applied for the study of the conversion of one-way to two-way streets. President Pro Tem Caldwell stated he was of the opinion the request had been railroaded into a high dollar estimate. Mr. Krauss stated the REMU District had been approved. He asked Staff to discuss recent meetings with the Subdivision roundtable as well as the Impact Fee Study meeting. Director McHarg responded the update to the impact fee was currently underway. Assistant Director Saunders added the request for proposals was being drafted. President Caldwell suggested one member of the Board should interact with the impact fee update process. Director McHarg 6 City of Bozeman Planning Board Minutes of November 3, 2010. suggested he would like the developers to bring in an example development to identify issues that were frustrating or halting the development. Mr. Krauss suggested a legislative fix to include subdivision triage to allow suspension of certain subdivision regulations. ITEM 6. ADJOURNMENT Seeing there was no further business before the Planning Board, President Pro Tem Caldwell adjourned the meeting at 9:05 p.m. __________________________________ __________________________________ Brian Caldwell, President Pro Tem Tim McHarg, Planning Director Planning Board Planning & Community Development City of Bozeman City of Bozeman 7 City of Bozeman Planning Board Minutes of November 3, 2010.