HomeMy WebLinkAboutInfill Site Tour Handbook INFILL SITE TOUR HANDBOOK
CITY OF BOZEMAN
DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
SEPTEMBER 23, 2013
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Site Data Sheet List – Not all sites will be explored in detail during the tour due to time
constraints. The information is provided to help facilitate understanding of the sites which are
visited, and to provide additional information to aid in understanding the issues relating to infill. The locations marked with an asterisk are infill related stops on the tour. Locations marked with two asterisks are focused on post-subdivision platting issues. The sequence follows the order in
which the sites will be seen on the tour.
1. *City Hall (Circumstance 2)
2. Fresco Café (next to City Hall – Circumstance 2)
3. *South Wallace Avenue –
4. Small house @ 530 E Curtis (Circumstance 3),
5. Olive and Wallace industrial rehabilitation (Circumstance 2),
6. Seed Company/GYC (Circumstance 2),
7. Cider House (Circumstance 3) – Shows residential infill and scale issues, contamination clean up, commercial infill with redevelopment, land assembly with boundary locations
conflicts
8. *102 N. Broadway (Circumstance 4)
9. *Northside PUD (Circumstance 3) [option for exclusion]
10. *Western Drive (Circumstance 1)
11. *Babcock and Meagher (Circumstance 4)
12. **Oak Springs Subdivision – Post Platting stop 1
13. **Meadow Creek – Post Platting stop 2
14. *South Town Square – (Circumstance 3)
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Site #1 – City Hall
Description: (Circumstance 2 - Reinvestment) – The current City Hall was constructed as the
Bozeman Public Library in 1981. The building was repurposed to the City’s
primary administration building in 2008. Challenges for this infill site include the existing non-conforming building
setbacks along the creek. The parking interaction with the adjacent school
illustrates the challenges of maintaining buildings within a congested area with
limited parking resources. During the afternoon pick up times many people park in the City Hall parking lot who are going to the school thereby limiting access to the City Hall functions. However, often the highest use times for City Hall are in
the evenings for public hearings. That evening time period may see competition
for parking in the lot by users of the Fresco Café which recently was approved to
occupy an adjacent building. City Hall was remodeled as a LEED silver building which requires a focus on
energy conservation. As part of that effort solar panels were added to the roof.
This was readily achieved since the building has a flat roof. There can be a
tension with infill projects in regards to energy efficiency. It saves energy to reuse existing structures since the energy costs to demolish and dispose of an existing building are avoided and the energy embedded in the existing building is
preserved. However, older buildings are often constructed in a way which makes
them difficult to retrofit to current energy efficiency standards. Building heating
and cooling is one of the greatest sectors of energy consumption. Review process: The repurposing of the library to City Hall was processed as a
Certificate of Appropriateness.
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Site #2 – Fresco Cafe
Description: (Circumstance 2 – Reinvestment) – This site is very physically limited with
Bozeman Creek as a barrier on the west, multiple buildings on the east and public
right-of-ways on the north and south. The site has no on-site parking. The B-3 district does not require any parking for the first 3,000 square feet of a building. This means that all parking for the newly approved restaurant must come from
off-site. This may place pressure on adjacent users like City Hall and Hawthorne
school if they are having evening events.
The immediate adjacency to the Bozeman Creek posed a challenge for capturing and property pre-treating stormwater runoff as there was very little room on the
site. The use as a restaurant requires a second exit to the north for emergency
exiting as required by the building code. The northern building wall is
immediately adjacent to an alley and had no safe ADA compliant exit. The addition of the exit required relocation of dumpsters which adjacent landowners had used for an extended time and relocation of utility lines. This caused some
opposition from adjacent owners.
The Fresco Café was processed as a conditional use permit because of the request for on-site alcohol service.
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Sites 3-7 South Wallace Avenue Common Issues
There are four locations along South Wallace Avenue which are included on the infill tour. The
four sites share several common elements. The entire area has had varying levels of asbestos
contamination from shipping of raw asbestos in the 1940’s from the Milwaukee Road railroad
depot located where the present public library now is constructed. The City undertook the cleanup for the library site and adjacent roadways. Other projects as far away as the TireRama and Heebs grocery store were found to also have become contaminated which created delay and
additional expense. The City expended over 1.5 million dollars and 3 months construction time
in the clean up.The City was reimbursed for a large portion of this expense but it required much
additional staff time to work with the state to enable the reimbursement from the state for eligible cleanup costs. This illustrates the challenges contamination of a site can add to a project. Even projects like TireRama on Main Street which were not expected to be affected found themselves
caught up in the issue.
The area has also had a series of planning and zoning changes. The area was developed for industrial uses along the railroad lines. Much of the area was planned for residential uses beginning in the 1980’s and zoned accordingly even though that did not match the constructed
buildings and uses. In 2009, the long range planning for the area was changed to better match the
actual uses although the zoning map remained unchanged and showed residential districts.
Recent map amendments initiated by the landowners have changed the zoning map to support redevelopment of existing buildings. The City could have initiated those changes and simplified the process for the landowners and saved them money.
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Site #4 – 530 E. Curtiss Street
Description: (Circumstance 3 – Significant Intensification ) The site has been developed for
over 100 years for residential purposes. The site was reconfigured with a
subdivision exemption to establish two lots for two separate single household residences. The subdivision exemption provided an expedited way to configure the property through an administrative review process. Lot consolidation and
reconfiguration is a common need with redevelopment of existing areas that were
platted before 1950. The 2nd lot was smaller than normally allowed and was
permitted through the certificate of appropriateness with a deviation. This process allowed verification of the 2nd home being of an appropriate size and scale to the site. The new home is 780 square feet of living space with a small accessory
building. A larger structure would have been out of scale and created conflicts
with adjacent properties.
The means to ensure that projects are in scale with surrounding projects is one of the more challenging aspects of infill development. Zoning establishes a series of
dimensional standards and uses. The expectation is that if these standards are
complied with then uses are compatible. However, infill projects are often
occurring on odd shapes or sizes of property. Knowing the proposed development for the site enables an accurate review of compatibility and whether additional flexibility is appropriate. The importance of standards which properly address
scale and mass is illustrated by the various discussions about and the
modifications to standards for accessory dwelling units.
The project was reviewed as a certificate of appropriateness with a deviation followed by a subdivision exemption.
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Site #5 – 200 South Wallace Avenue, Olive and Wallace project
Description: (Circumstance 2&3 - Reinvestment and Significant Intensification), The site has
been used for a variety of uses over time and the building was divided into several
different portions. A new rehabilitation was recently approved. A short video about the upcoming project is included with these packet materials. Before the project was purchased by the current owner an issue regarding the property
boundary had to be resolved.
The building, like many industrial and older buildings, was constructed to what was thought to be the property line. This can lead to complications when it becomes time to perform maintenance on the building. Also, what is believed to
be a property line frequently isn’t. People will rely on fences or hedges which
may or may not be properly located. The building on this site had been built a few
feet over the property line onto land owned by the Library. The City and Library were willing to change the property line to correct the error
but it required an extensive public process to authorize the land transfer. Not all
adjacent owners are so willing to cooperate and will attempt to prevent a project
or significantly profit from the misfortune of the incorrect structure placement. These incorrect boundaries can also create significant conflicts when a survey has not been completed but one or more parties believe property lines are not where
they appear to be.
The project was processed as a site plan with certificate of appropriateness. The property owners had previously amended the zoning map to B-3. Otherwise the project would have required several exceptions to municipal code standards. The
project is demolishing parts of the building to provide for outdoor seating areas
and parking which was needed with the
conversion to new non-industrial uses. The project also required cleanup of asbestos from the site.
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Site #6 – 215 South Wallace Avenue, Greater Yellowstone Coalition/Seed
Company
Description: (Circumstance 2&3 – Reinvestment and Significant Intensification), The site was
originally developed in 1920 as the Gallatin Valley Seed Company. It was one of
the first substantial rehabilitations of old industrial uses to commercial uses along
the South Wallace Avenue. The old seed company, the taller building, was converted to a variety of offices and similar uses in the early-mid 1990’s. Because
the property was planned and zoned for residential purposes at that time it
required a conditional use permit to convert from one non-conforming use to
another non-conforming use. The residential standards also posed challenges for
issues such as signage; which was very limited in area.
The Greater Yellowstone Coalition wished to separate their building (the old
single-story warehouse section) from the seed company building and develop it as
a free standing office in 2009. This was a substantial intensification of the use of
the site. The growth policy designation for the site had by this time changed to a community core designation which supported such a change but the zoning had
not yet been changed. Therefore, a conditional use permit was required which
required public hearing and deviations. Had the zoning which is now in place (B-
3) been in place at that time the project would have been an administratively
approved site plan and likely would not have required any deviations for the project to be constructed.
The parking available to the site is limited and the more intensive use has created
some impacts to adjacent properties.
The project required multiple conditional use permits and deviations.
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Site #7 – Cider House
Description: (Circumstance 3 – Significant Intensification) This site has been developed for
residential uses for many decades. The site is zoned as B-3 so the existing single
household residence is non-conforming. The original proposal was to convert an
existing detached residential garage into a commercial hard cider manufacturing facility. Manufacturing is not an allowed use within the B-3 zoning district.
Staff discussed several options with the owner and determined that the site had
adequate size to create an on-site restaurant/bar to which the manufacturing would
become accessory. This required additional area of construction so the City’s regulations encouraged a more intensive development on the site. Due to the B-3 district having an exemption for the first 3,000 square feet of commercial space
from parking requirements and the small size of the project, no parking was
required. Without this parking exemption the project would not have been
possible. The owners reside in the on-site home. There were no off-site improvements
required other than repair to the adjacent sidewalk which was in poor condition.
The project was reviewed as a conditional use permit because of the on-premise
consumption of alcohol. A certificate of appropriateness was required for the
addition to the accessory building and the changes to the site landscaping.
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Site #8 - 102 N. Broadway Avenue
Description: (Circumstance 4 – Urban Undeveloped Land) The site is an unusual triangular
parcel bounded by Broadway Avenue, a vacant section of right of way for Lamme
Street, and a rail spur. The site configuration poses a substantial challenge to find enough buildable area for a financially viable building. The site has a 20 foot setback from Broadway and a three foot setback from the other sides. It is
common that oddly shaped or otherwise challenging sites to be left undeveloped
well after other properties in the area have been utilized.
The intersection of Broadway and Main is currently not at an acceptable level of service. Another project has agreed to a condition to signalize the intersection.
The municipal code has several ways to exempt an infill project from having to
address intersection problems. Sometimes those can be addressed
administratively. In this case Commission action was required. The project was reviewed as a site plan with two variances. One variance is for
the front yard setback and the other for not requiring intersections improvements.
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Site #9 – Northside PUD, 1263 North Rouse Avenue
Description: (Circumstance 3 – Significant Intensificaton)- The site was a host to a variety of
industrial uses including metal storage and fabrication, a granary, a hardware
store, and other uses. The majority of uses had stopped operation before the site was redeveloped. The project was done as a planned unit development to coordinate redevelopment and common spaces across several users. New uses
include retail, restaurants, and gymnastics facilities.
There were several areas with non-conforming setbacks. During the redevelopment process the State acquired additional right of way for Rouse Avenue which required some adjustments. The redevelopment of the buildings
required substantial reconfiguration of existing buildings and addition of new
building spaces to existing structures. The PUD provided opportunities for
additional uses not normally allowed within the M-1 zone. The intersection of Oak Street and Rouse Avenue was required to be signalized
before the project could be occupied. The City funded the great majority of the
signalization costs through impact fees. The design of the signal was changed
several times by MDT which delayed the installation and increased the cost. The project was reviewed as a planned unit development with multiple relaxations
from the municipal code.
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Site #10 – Western Drive
Description: (Circumstance 1 – Provision of Infrastructure) – The Farwestern Subdivision was
platted in 1958. It was developed with individual on-site septic systems and wells.
At that time the area was approximately ¾ of a mile outside of city limits. It is now over two miles within the City’s boundaries. The subdivision has lots of 0.25 and 0.33 acres in size. This range of lot sizes is substantially less than the
minimum size now considered necessary for healthy environments.
The municipal water and sewer services exist along Babcock Street and Durston Road and at various locations along the western and eastern edges. Access to municipal services to lots on the interior of the area require extensions of over ½
mile of water and sewer mains at substantial expense. This is unlike many other
areas along Babcock Street and Durston Road where connection to services
simply requires connection to the adjacent pipes. Extensions of such magnitude are beyond the ability of individual property owners.
There is little opportunity for further development of the property to generate
funds to pay for pipe extensions. The City has the ability to form SIDs or pursue
grants to help spread costs and lessen the burden on individual property owners. The City’s approach to annexation has been to wait for property owners to approach the City. In circumstances such as Western Drive that may not be a
functional approach. Only the cooperation of the entire area would have enough
financial capacity to approach the issue privately which would be extremely hard
to coordinate. The timing of when properties would be annexed and how soon connections to service may be required must be carefully considered.
If the City initiated the annexation it could follow several approaches including
Parts 7-2-43 and 7-2-45 MCA. This would relieve the property owners of the
expense of preparing application forms and application fees. An amendment to the zoning map would be needed in conjunction with annexation. A well
considered provision of services plan would be
needed since the typical annexation agreement
approach would not be available. This would require some differences in the approach to funding the needed infrastructure for services.
There are several similarly situated areas
within the City.
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Site #11 – Babcock and Meagher
Description: (Circumstance 4 – Urban Undeveloped Land) – The site was originally platted as
part of the Valley Unit Subdivision in the 1980’s. The site has not previously been
developed. Several different informal ideas have been considered over the years. A proposal for a subdivision will soon be seen by the City Commission.
There are no physical or legal restrictions on the property which prevented its
development. The owners have not seriously pursued development. Utilities are
readily available and the zoning allows flexibility in the uses allowed on the site. Similar to this site, there are several large tracts within Bozeman where the
owners have chosen not to develop. They are large enough that development
could readily comply with the standards of the municipal code. Sometimes these
tracts move into the development process when ownership changes through estate transfers; sometimes they have simply been held as investments and will develop when the owners think it will be most profitable.
These sites are infill according to the draft definition but don’t have the same
limitations that most infill sites do. The greatest challenge for these sites may be neighbor expectations if they are perceived as open space due to their long undeveloped state.
A subdivision review is underway for this site. The site could also have readily
been developed through a site plan process. The project substantially benefited from the use of cash-in-lieu of parkland. The site is across the street from Hyalite Elementary and the Asheim Fields. Without
the use of cash-in-lieu the site development
would have been constrained.
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Sites 12-13 Post Platting for Subdivisions Common Issues
The Staff has been evaluating what lessons could be learned from the last large
growth period that may help the City better handle the next growth period that is
upon us. Several changes in the municipal code have already been put into place
such as enhanced provisions to address phasing of both zoning and subdivision
development. Other changes are larger policy issues that need discussion with the
Commission. These are summarized in the issues and questions section of the
packet.
The Staff believes the core procedures in place for the initial review of
development are sound. Opportunities for improvement are being identified and
changes implemented at administrative levels such as electronic plan review and
greater focus on customer service. Staff has also identified some opportunities for
improvement that will require some code revisions.
Several big picture issues have been identified. To help the Commission be
familiar with how these things play out in new developments Staff has identified
two sample developments for this tour. A summary description of each follows.
Big picture questions:
• The proper role of property owners associations in the development process
and maintenance of infrastructure.
• What better approaches exist to ensure more even and equitable delivery of
services.
• Adequate tracking and enforcement installation of deferred improvements.
• Revised statutory authority to limit what improvements may be deferred.
• Revised cash-in-lieu of park land approaches and utilization.
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Site #12 – Oak Springs Subdivision
Description: (Post Platting stop 1) This subdivision received final plat approval for its first
phase in May 2006. The fourth and final phase received final plat approval in
October 2007. The project included a variety of housing types and lot layouts. A large park, approximately 10 acres, was platted. The development of the park was phased along with the subdivision although the land was set aside with the first
phase. The location of the park was coordinated with an adjacent subdivision
design to improve the location and functional configuration of the park. The
project made improvements to Durston Road and Oak Street. The eastern end of the park was improved with the first phase and is in good
condition. The central and western sections have perimeter streets and some
irrigation work installed but the park improvements have not been completed. The
size of the park enables it to be a community park serving a large fraction of the community instead of just one subdivision. The park fronts Ferguson Avenue which gives it good visibility and access. This is a good example of locking in
parks configurations for multiphase projects early.
The initial developer, like many, suffered during the 2007-2010 recession and the lender received possession of much of the property. During this period the financial guarantee securing the park improvements also lapsed although the
improvement agreement still exists. The park was supposed to be maintained by
the home owners association (HOA) until the City establishes a park maintenance
district. The HOA is just forming at this time and is interested in seeing the park improvements completed. They have contacted the Parks department to begin discussions on how to move that forward. This raises the question of the equity
and ability of a single HOA maintaining a facility that serves the larger
community.
Multi-phase subdivision
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Site #13 – Meadow Creek Subdivision
Description: (Post Platting stop II) This project was a multiphase subdivision. The overall
subdivision was approved in November 2005. The park and open space areas
were designed as a coordinated entity and they were an important part of the overall design. The project was located a considerable distance from municipal utilities. Due to the utility design issues the furthest portion of the subdivision was
platted first and required very large investments.
During the recession, the developer lost control of the subdivision to his creditors, including utility contractors. The property was broken up to give assets to creditors. No overall park easement had been required with the first phase.
Consequently, areas originally intended for parks are now in ownership of others.
This has complicated moving forward with the original park design as additional
phases of the subdivision are brought forward by new owners. The City has limited ability to require one owner to dedicate land for parks to benefit another landowner even though the original plan called for certain property to be a park.
The parks, lighting, and other common spaces were to be maintained by the home
owners association. With the break up in ownership questions as to control of the HOA, consistency of participation, equitable responsibility, and what items will ultimately be under control of the HOA have arisen. The HOA does not appear to
be active and maintenance has been unreliable. New owners and creditors who
took over sections of the property are making some efforts to correct outstanding
deficiencies like the medians in S. 27th Avenue. The complicated legal issues with the property make resolution more difficult. The project illustrates the challenges the City may face implementing a storm water utility and parks
maintenance district. It also illustrates the challenges of coordinating multi-phase
projects and relying upon property owners associations for completion of and
maintenance of infrastructure. The subdivision was processed in several
phases. Some have been completed through the
final plat step. Several phases timed out when
the original developer lost control of the project. Some of those expired phases are now being replatted as new subdivisions by the new
owners.
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Site #14 – South Town Square
Description: (Circumstance 3 – Significant Reinvestment) The site of this project was the
location of a church for many years. The church wanted to expand more than the
site would allow and sold the property. The planning designation for the site was changed to commercial and rezoned to B-1.
A proposal to redevelop the site as a grocery store passed through two different
application attempts and was not successful. Both proposals included substantial
variation from the standards of the B-1 district. The owners of adjacent residential properties strongly opposed the proposals. The City was sued over the decisions to not approve the grocery store project and prevailed.
A proposal was approved in 2008 to develop the site with five individual
buildings and common parking areas. The project generally conformed to the standards of the B-1 zone and was approved. Three of the buildings are presently constructed. They are used for a mix of restaurants, offices, and retail uses.
The project has been very successful. The number of restaurants has required the
owners to find more parking areas than were originally considered necessary for the project. An off-site shared parking agreement with a nearby church provides use of existing parking during the off-peak hours for the church. This enables the
South Town Square to meet its parking needs without having to dedicate its own
scarce land are to additional parking. It benefits the church financially as they are
paid for the use of their parking that they had already constructed. The City benefits by having less storm water generated, more land in productive activities rather than car storage, and businesses being able to be successful and contribute
to the community. The off-site parking option is built into the municipal code for
all commercial and institutional uses. The option is usually an administrative
review not requiring a variance or other special consideration. The development subsequently decided to
eliminate the future fifth building and reconfigure
the parking lot to add approximately 40 spaces to
the site in order to add convenience for customers and employees. The project does not have any available on street parking adjacent to the site and
relies heavily on off street parking. While the
project does utilize the allowable parking
reductions for neighborhood business in the code the new onsite parking spaces allow the project to better absorb the peak parking demand at certain
times of day. The fourth building on site is
anticipated to be constructed next year.
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