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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-20-2005 Planning and Zoning Commission '0~\Y>"',",'»""<" , PLANNING AND ZONING COM'MISSION " ", " ," ',,' :' ': .',' ",' , " ' ,',: ,', " '" '--",,"'--, :":,',,< '-: " ': ': ::,' :" :, ":'" ',: " ' , , Thursday, January 20, 2005 . 7:30 PM Formal Meeting Iowa City City Hall Emma J. Harvat Hall 410 E. Washington Street AGENDA: 1. Call to Order. 2. Public Discussion of Any Item Not on the Agenda. 3. Rezoning/Subdivision Item: REZ004-00017/SUB04-00017 Discussion of an application submitted by Third Street Partners for a rezoning from Low Density Single-Family Residential (RS-5) zone to Planned Development Housing Overlay - Low Density Single-Family Residential (OPDH-5) zone and a preliminary plat of Village Green, Part XXIII and XXIV, an 83-lot residential subdivision on 25.67 acres of property located on Wintergreen Drive. (45-day limitation period: January 24,2005) 4. Other Items: 5. Consideration of the January 6,2005 Meeting Minutes. 6. Adjournment. . . Informal Formal U comin Janua 31 Februa 3 Plannin & Zonin Februa 14 Februa 17 > Commission Meetin s: Februa 28 March 14 March 3 March 17 A ril4 A ril7 --------~...._, - "MM' , """"""'P" n" City of Iowa City Date: January 14,2005 To: Planning and Zoning Commission From: Robert Miklo Re: REZ04-00017/SUB04-00017 On January 14, the applicant submitted a concept plan and elevation drawings for the zero-lot line dwellings (lots 65- 84 and lots 131-134) proposed for Village Green Part XXIII and XXIV. Given the late submittal staff has not completed a review. We will try to have a memo and recommendation prepared for the January 20 meeting. . .. - ","-- . . . .. ¡ ¡ <Ii, "f( --,," \,;," iJJI:"" ( ~ -~. f' fr.'.' ¡.,,¡ ~~, -',,,, , ¡f.'\ /f~"hJ 'ì;;.;~ 'JJï .,,'. ""," 'II' '-'" \ .. .. J' " m,q~,_ '\ " .-- i})". .. · . .. . ,,4 - · - . ~ . ! , \\AW .. 11:" .. .. ~ ~ ~ .. , 1- ~ ~ r- V) -:::::J ,...j . -.J .. , , . , . ~ .. .. . · .. ,,", ",,- , . ,¡¡. "t: .. II- J{ 'f4 ,,:'t.. ¡, , , .' .. l' ¿;;.,~/~:- " .. ,~~ .. ~¡B~.~:~~ - , .. " ! . , '. I LL U sTft!11'laJ 13 CIS l{)/f ()f P UPLf[X.) I LLUsrr<¡J.T)O',J c ~ ~< <S -.> r "':t .~ i- "'Î :::> .J .J "'^ ... THE SITE PLANS IllUSTRATED HEREON ARE INTENDED TO BE IllUSTRATIVE OF THE DESIRED CHARACTER OF DEVELOPMENT AND SHAll NOT BE CONSTRUED TO BE lOT SPECIFIC. IllUSTRATIONS A1, A2 OR B ARE CONSIDERED APPROPRIA TE FOR lOTS 65 THROUGH 72. All IllUSTRATIONS ARE CONSIDERED APPROPRIA TE FOR lOTS 73 THROUGH 84 131 THROUGH 134. DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS: 1. MINIMUM SET BACK fOR GARAGES SHALL BE 20' 2. fRONT PORCHES MAY EXTEND UP TO 5 fEET INTO THE REQUIRED fRONT YARD 3. WHERE GARAGES ARE ADJACENT, THE DRIVEWAYS SHALL BE SEPARATED WITH A LANDSCAPED MEDIAN, 4, UNITS CONSTRUCTED ON CORNER LOTS SHOULD CONSIDER HAVING ONE GARAGE/DRIVEWAY ON EACH STREET, IllUSTRA TION A 1 IllUSTRA TION A2 IllUSTRA TION B IllUSTRA TION C IllUSTRATION D MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION JANUARY 6.2005 EMMA J. HARVAT HALL MEMBERS PRESENT: Ann Freerks, Jerry Hansen, Bob Brooks, Don Anciaux, Benjamin Chait, Dean Shannon MEMBERS EXCUSED: Beth Koppes STAFF PRESENT: Bob Miklo, Mitch Behr OTHERS PRESENT: Bill Frantz, Robert Croush, Kim Kirchner, Ted Halm, Regina Alatalo, John Arthur, Victoria Concha, Larry Schnitjer, John Arthur, Mary Ott, Jeff Jansenins RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL: Recommended approval, by a vote of 6-0, SUB04-00031, a final plat of Saddlebrook Meadows Part 1, an B.95-acre, 47 -lot residential subdivision located south of Whispering Meadows Drive and west of Pinto Lane subject to Staff approval of legal papers and construction drawings prior to consideration by City Council. Recommended approval"by a vote of 6-0, CZ04-00002, a rezoning from County Resort District (A-2) to Suburban Residential (RS) for 3.25 acres of property located east of Sand Road and south of Sycamore Street SE, subject to the unpaved driveway to Sand Road being closed and that subdivision of the property be limited to two lots until such time that the property is annexed into the City. Recommended approval, by a vote of 6-0, an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan to amend the Southwest District Plan to change the land use designation from Large Lot/Rural Residential to General and Office Commercial for property located North of Highway One, West of Highway 218 and east of Kitty Lee Road. CALL TO ORDER: Anciaux called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm. PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANY ITEM NOT ON THE AGENDA: There was none. REZON lNG/SUBDIVISION ITEMS: REZ004-00017/SUB04-00017, discussion of an application submitted by Third Street Partners for a rezoning from Low Density Single Family Residential (RS-5) zone to Planned Development Housing Overlay - Low Density Single-Family Residential (OPDH-5) zone and a preliminary plat of Village Green, Part XXIII and XXIV, an 83-lot residential subdivision on 25.67-acres of property located on Wintergreen Drive. Miklo said Staff had received a revised plan that addressed some of the concerns raised by the public, the Commission and the Staff at the 12/13/04 meeting. One of the major changes made was a revision to the proposed alley system in the center of the block. The alley had been revised to remove a leg of it which allowed more open space in the outlot for the private park. Staff feel this was a real improvement which addressed the concern about the amount of open space. Additional items of concern or questions raised at the previous meeting were: 5-foot setbacks: The Commission had requested an evaluation to determine if this would be compatible with the rest of the neighborhood. Normally a setback in an RS-5 zone is required to be 20-feet. The applicant was requesting that the setback be reduced to 5 feet. Staff had suggested to the applicant to use a 7-foot setback which would still allow room in the alley for cars to park behind the garages but provide more of a setback. The applicant had proposed to landscape the 5-feet, which Staff felt would help to buffer the housing units from the street. Miklo said one of the reasons for having a 20-foot setback Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 6, 2005 Page 2 was to provide privacy to the dwelling unit and a buffer from the sidewalk/street. A principle that had been successfully used in other communities and planned developments in Iowa City was the use of a front porch in lieu of a yard to provide a buffer. Small entry porches had been proposed for some of the units. Another technique that could be used was to increase the grade of the dwelling to approximately 3-feet above the sidewalk so the residents inside the dwelling units would actually be above pedestrians on the sidewalk which would help to provide privacy as well. The applicant had agreed to place the floor grade 30-inches above the sidewalk. Staff continue to suggest that the building be moved back two more feet to allow slightly more of a buffer. Compatibility with zero-lot lines across the street. Staff were concerned that as submitted the plan didn't address this design concern, Staff have suggested that the applicant look at alternative designs to make the two sides of the street more compatible. Landscapinq for the larger development. When the initial part of Village Green South had been approved there had been a landscape plan for the stormwater detention area which had not been installed by the previous developer. Staff have suggested that as part of the planned development process, the landscaping be required before a certificate of occupancy is issued for any of the new buildings. This would allow construction to begin but the units could not be occupied until the landscaping is completed. Landscaping for individual lots wouldn't have to be installed until the units were built and occupied, but for the common open spaces it was within the City's preview to require the landscaping upfront before the buildings are occupied. Traffic When Sterling Drive is extended to the east to connect to the existing Wintergreen Drive there may be more traffic in the neighborhood. Transportation Planning had looked at the street and street network in this area. Sterling Drive and Dover Street are both 28-feet wide streets with parking allowed on both sides of the street. The Transportation Planners recommended parking on the street as it would serve to slow traffic down in a situation like this. Because this would be a circuitous route to points further east, to go through this neighborhood would require several turns on curvy streets which could serve as a disincentive to use these local streets versus staying on Scott Boulevard and using Muscatine Avenue. Wellington Drive, a collector street to the north would also pick up some of the potential new traffic. As far as Staff could tell currently this area was not being used as a cut-through, Staff project Sterling Drive and Wintergreen Drive would not be used as cut-through streets. Existinq speedinq on Sterlinq Drive The neighborhood could apply for the City's traffic calming program and look at techniques to slow traffic if it was found to be a problem. The City would first do a study to measure traffic volumes and speeds to see if they were unusual in that area. Staff's recommendation on the circulation pattern was that the plan before the Commission was a good design. It had been planned that Sterling Drive would extend to the east and eventually provide a secondary outlet to Scott Boulevard. It would be a benefit for emergency vehicles by providing a second way into the neighborhood. Staff would not recommend any changes in the street pattern. Existinq Drainaqe City Engineering had reviewed the concept for the drainage system. The grade of the farm field was actually higher than the subdivision to the west so there had been some pooling and ponding of water. With the proposed development and Sterling Drive being extended to the east, the grade would be changed. The proposed streets and storm sewers would be designed to draw the water to the detention basin. Two storm sewers which would improve the drainage situation for existing properties on Sterling Court had also been proposed. City Engineers feel the situation would improve and not become worse with the proposed development. Miklo showed an illustration of the planned development that was approved in 1993 and detailed proposed changes. He said Staff feel it would be possible to increase the density through innovative designs such as the alley but there needed to be more work in terms of increasing the compatibility of the development on the east side with what was proposed in the center of the development. Staff recommended deferral of the application to allow the applicant more time to address the design issue. Public discussion was opened. Bill Frantz, partner in Third Street Partners, applicant for proposed plat. Frantz said they had developed the Wellington Condos to the north, both he and his partner lived in the area so they were neighbors to this development. They'd purchased the land in 2001 so they would have a say in how the remainder of Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 6, 2005 Page 3 the land in Village Green South developed. They were very concerned about it because of the project to the north and wanted it to be developed in a way that they felt was a proper design. City Staff and the developers had worked on the list of concerns previously discussed by Miklo over the past couple of months. The final issue was the duplex lots on the east side and on the south side which would back up to the railroad tracks. Frantz said it was their intention to market and sell the duplex lots to builders and/or to private individuals. The market was currently in need of duplex lots. They'd like to have the ability to allow the purchaser to come in with the design of their choice and build on their lots. That would be similar to what had already occurred in the developed area to the east. Robert Craush, 42 Pond View Court, said at the last meeting he'd asked about the issue of noise from the buildings located across the railroad tracks. He was not sure if that issue had been addressed. Had a buffer or noise barrier been planned for this issue? Miklo said the plan showed a row of white pines along the railroad tracks which would be planted as part of the landscaping development. Frantz said the minimum size of planting for those pine trees would be six-foot in height. Kim Kirchner, 2906 Sterling Drive, asked how many units would be in the center area - had it increased or decreased. Miklo said in that particular area it had not changed. One of the single family lots had been removed to allow the remaining lots to meet the required minimum 60-foot lot width and 8,000-square foot lot area. Overall compared to what had been approved in 1993, there would be 17 more units. Kirchner asked if the open space at the south end had increased. Miklo said it had increased slightly, it was proposed to be 17,OOO-square feet. There would be grass, trees and a playground area which would be privately owned. Public discussion was closed. Motion: Chait made a motion to approve REZ004-00017/SUB04-00017, a rezoning from Low Density Single Family Residential (RS-5) zone to Planned Development Housing Overlay - Low Density Single- Family Residential (OPDH-5) zone and a preliminary plat of Village Green, Part XXIII and XXIV, an 83-lot residential subdivision on 25,67-acres of property located on Wintergreen Drive without any design restrictions. Shannon seconded the motion, Freerks said she felt that would not be a good course of action. This was an OPDH, 17-lots were being gained and more thought should be put into the way the two sides of the street be put together. She felt that was what an OPDH was for. If it were just a rezoning to an RS-8 she might feel differently. The two sides as they currently were were not compatible. She felt it was up to the Commission to try to make this a unified neighborhood. The developer himself had expressed his concern regarding the design of the neighborhood. Freerks said she felt another couple of weeks would have a better end result. Chait said he couldn't think of other places in the City that were similarly developed where lots were sold other than the Peninsula where there was a design standard on a lot. Miklo said that was not correct. The only place in an OPDH where designs were generally not seen was RS-5, single family lots. These were not single-family lots, they were attached zero-lot lines on fairly small lots. In planned developments the building elevations were always seen by the Commission except for single-family homes. It was a requirement of the zone that the Commission approve a specific plan. Chait asked how were the concerns and issues resolved in Sand Hill in terms of higher design requirements. Miklo said those were single family lots. Staffs proposal had been to put some regulations on some of the narrower lots. City Council had chosen to require a 25-foot setback in lieu of the standard 20-foot setback. Chait said if a set of duplex lots were for sale, the builder or future homeowner would have to choose from a pre-determined design in order to get it approved. Freerks said there could be a group of designs or certain standards that would need to be adhered to. As it was now she didn't think it was a cohesive neighborhood, it needed more work. Chait said his question had to do with property rights and free Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 6, 2005 Page 4 market. If a person wanted to buy a lot and build a home there, the Commission was trying to put design standards on what could go on to that particular lot. Freerks said 17-additional units were being allowed in an RS-5 zone. Chait said he was looking for a context in which that criteria existed in. Miklo said in an RS-8 zone a duplex or zero-lot line could be built without any parameters other than the setbacks. Because this was an RS-5 zone, the planned development process called for some parameters and design considerations so that there were assurances that the neighborhood would be compatible with itself and the larger RS-5 zone" which included the properties on Sterling Drive and Sterling Court. Chait said he was trying to understand where a builder now in the City did not did have the choice to do anything except something that was already approved. Miklo said in any RS-5 or RS-8 zone, but there would be set-back and height standards. This was not a new precedent that was being set, there were several PDH's on the west side of town. Hansen asked if Sand Hill had been one. Miklo said for the narrow lots 30- and 35-foot lots there had been very specific plans that the Commission had approved. For the other lots there had been parameters. Shannon Drive, Irving Avenue, Mackinaw Village located off Foster Road were all examples of when there had been very specific plans that the Commission had approved, Also much of the west side of town off of Mormon Trek Boulevard had been developed as an OPDH in this very same manner. Miklo said once the zoning was in place, it was not a concern of the City whether the developer or an individual built the dwelling unit. Chait said then his question for the developer would be, "What's the problem." Miklo said Staff had suggested that the developer chose a menu of designs. Staff's concern wasn't the style of the façade of the buildings but the placement of the building on the lot, that the developers try to make it more compatible with what was on the other side of the street. With a planned development, style and architecture could be dictated which was not necessarily what Staff was trying to do. They were requesting the developers make an effort to make the two sides of the street compatible. The plans that Staff and the Commission had seen so far didn't necessarily do that. Anciaux asked for a clarification of wh ich were the duplex lots. Miklo said lots 65-84 and 131-134 were zero lot lines, the houses would basically straddle the lot line, Lots 85-102 and 111-130 were zero lot lines except they were much smaller lots for which the developer had requested the 5-foot setback and the alley and driveways would be located in the rear. Miklo said for the original plan there had been a lot of negotiation and discussion about this. There had been an attempt to make both sides of the street the same. A principal of zoning was that you strived to have things on both sides of the street compatible or comparable. That was what was changing in the area of increased density. Shannon said he was really confused. As long as he'd been on the Commission, they'd talked about having different types of housing thrown together and not cookie cutter. He didn't understand having everything the same on both sides of the street all over town. He could think of streets all over town where things were hugely different on both sides of the street. One place that came to mind was north of Rochester Avenue on First Avenue. There were three and four story buildings located across from condominiums, it made for nice diversity. He thought they tried to plan for diversity. Shannon said he absolutely was not in favor of the City having a set of plans and presenting that to a builder who'd purchased the lot. He was not comfortable with it. If he purchased a lot, he didn't want to have only three, four or ten sets of plans that he could chose from. Builders had successfully built very nice neighborhoods north of downtown, he knew residents who lived there and were very happy with what they had. Miklo said that to allow that to occur, the area would require RS-8 zoning and not an RS-5 zone with an OPDH. Freerks said a five- or seven-foot setback had been proposed. She didn't see that as a continuation of the previous neighborhood, it was a very big difference and drastic change from one side of the street to the other. It was their job to make sure that it was a neighborhood that worked, Freerks said she didn't think they needed to set too specific of sets of plans but what the Commission did need a few more outlines in terms of what they were expecting. A seven-foot setback and the addition of 17 lots was a big thing. If the Commission wanted the developer to be able to build what they wanted without restriction then they might need to consider zoning to RS-8. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 6, 2005 Page 5 Chait said if the City and the Commission had already "done this" then his concern about setting a precedent was not valid. He understood the tradeoffs for a PDH development. If the Commission voted this down, then the developer would be back to square one and that wouldn't work either. Chait said to withdraw his motion would allow for time to resolve whatever needed to be resolved as long as it was not precedent setting, which was what he was being told. His concern was with micromanaging and telling a private owner what they had to do. Miklo said the applicant had the choice of building what was previously approved in 1993 or building single family homes according to the RS-5 zone or submitting plans as required by the OPDH zone. There were options available. Chait said he'd like to withdraw the motion for the sake of not having this thing die. Freerks said she'd prefer that as well, she didn't want to have to go back to square one. Shannon withdrew his second to the motion. Motion: Freerks made a motion to defer REZ004-00017/SUB04-00017. Hanson seconded the motion. Brooks said if they were deferring, he felt it should be part of the motion what would be expected to be resolved by the next meeting. Chait said the issue that needed to be addressed was the design standards on the lots. Brooks asked if the 5-foot versus 7-foot setback was still an issue. Freerks said the developer had had plenty of conversations with Staff about that already but it was still an issue. Miklo said the set- back and the design of the zero-lot line duplex units were still unresolved. Other items on the 'laundry list' of concerns from the previous meeting had been addressed. The motion passed on a vote of 6-0. Miklo said for members of the audience, the next meeting would be January 20, 2005. Letters of Notice were not sent again after an item had been on the Commission's agenda the first time. SUB04-00031, discussion of an application submitted by Saddlebrook Meadows LLC for a final plat of Saddlebrook Meadows Part 1, an 8.95-acre, 47-lot residential subdivision located south of Whispering Meadows Drive and west of Pinto Lane. Miklo said this was the final plat. It was a planned development and the Commission had seen very specific designs. The Commission had approved the rezoning and the OPDH plan on this last year. This made it official by final platting the lots and the configuration of the lots shown in the preliminary plat. There were also legal papers and construction drawings. The plat had been revised and the technical deficiencies noted had been corrected. Further work was needed on the legal papers and construction drawings. Staff recommended approval of SUB04-00031 subject to Staff approval of legal papers and construction drawings prior to consideration by City Council. Public discussion was opened. There was none. Public discussion was closed. Motion: Brooks made a motion to approve SUB04-00031 a final plat of Saddlebrook Meadows Part 1, an 8.95-acre, 47-lot residential subdivision located south of Whispering Meadows Drive and west of Pinto Lane subject to Staff approval of legal papers and construction drawings prior to consideration by City Council. Freerks seconded the motion. The motion passed on a vote of 6-0. CZ-04-00002, discussion of an application submitted by Annetta Hull for a rezoning from County Resort District (A-2) to Suburban Residential (RS) for 3.25-acres of property located east of Sand Road and south of Sycamore Street. Miklo said an existing house was located on the northern part of the property and another house on the southern portion of the property. Two houses located on one lot was not allowed by either City or County zoning in most circumstances. The property was located in the Iowa City growth area and was a candidate for annexation in the future. The fringe area agreement indicated that the City should look at those areas very closely. In this particular case the rezoning would allow the owner to split the property in Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 6, 2005 Page 6 two so that each existing house could be sold separately. The actual rezoning would not create any additional building lots. The City had a concern about an existing driveway on to Sand Road which it would like to see closed as a condition of this rezoning because Sand Road was an arterial street. Staff also recommended that this be subject to being limited to the two proposed lots at this time. If this property were annexed into the City, there could be further development under City standards. Staff recommended approval subject to the closure of the unpaved driveway to Sand Road and that subdivision of the property be limited to two lots until such time that the property is annexed into the City. Hansen asked how many units could be built on Suburban Residential. Miklo said he thought one acre lots. The A-2 Resort Zone in the county had often been used near the river, the idea had been for use for summer cottages or dwellings of that type. Hansen asked if the South District Plan called for that area to be multi-family housing. Miklo said it showed the potential for neighborhood commercial at this location, perhaps a convenience store. Otherwise it was a low density housing area. (The plan does indicate the potential for townhouses on Sycamore Street.) Public discussion was opened. There was none. Public discussion was closed. Motion: Hansen made a motion to approve CZ-04-Q0002 a rezoning from County Resort District (A-2) to Suburban Residential (RS) for 3.25-acres of property located east of Sand Road and south of Sycamore Street, SE subject to the unpaved driveway to Sand Road being closed and that the subdivision of the property be limited to two lots until such time that the property is annexed into the City. Freerks seconded the motion The motion passed on a vote of 6-0. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN ITEM: Discussion of an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan to amend the Southwest District Plan to change the land use designation from Large Lot/Rural Residential to General and Office Commercial for property located north of Hwy 1, west of Hwy 218 and east of Kitty Lee Road. Miklo said a full staff report which had been provided at the previous Commission meeting was available for any members of the audience who wished a copy of it. The current Comprehensive Plan showed that this area was appropriate for low density residential, the same as for the areas to the north and to the west. The reason for that designation was because at the time the Southwest District Plan was drawn up, there had been an inability of the City to provide sanitary sewer to this area. The larger Comprehensive Plan talked about the potential for larger commercial development at this interchange rather than at the Melrose Avenue interchange. The applicant had worked with City Engineering staff and had devised a way to provide sanitary sewer to this area. They had requested that the City change the Comprehensive Plan to show commercial at this intersection. Miklo said Staff feel now that this area can be provided sewer service at no great expense to the City and there were logical reasons consistent with the larger vision of the Comprehensive Plan that would make this appropriate for commercial, Le, its location at a highly visible highway interchange and the location at the highway made it conducive for commercial development and possibly less conducive for residential development due to the noise at the interchange. Staff were cognizant of the residential area to the north and the potential residential area to the west. The proposed plan showed an office commercial buffer between the commercial at the interchange and the existing residential properties. Miklo said with the buffer being shown, this would be an appropriate change to the land use map of the Comprehensive Plan and Staff recommend approval of the proposed change. Brooks asked in the area directly west of the commercial why didn't the City look at it being something more of an intensively used office commercial area or the use of duplexes or town-houses as a buffer or transition zone between the residential and commercial zones, Miklo said that was something the City would probably look at in the future. There is only limited sewer capacity available and not sufficient capacity to serve the area to the west. It might be a number of years before sewer capacity was available so that is why it was still being shown as low density. It would require a major improvement to the sanitary sewer system and Staff had identified it as a desirable to do in the Comprehensive Plan. Staff did not anticipate more intensive traffic on Kitty Lee Road. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 6, 2005 Page 7 Public discussion was opened. Ted Holm, 4090 Kitty Lee Road, resided at this address for 30 years. He said in terms of the long range Comprehensive Plan for the Southwest District, it called for large lot rural residential. In Item E of the annexation, there was no long range rural residential in the Plan. Since they were looking at buffers he wondered why the City didn't have more rural residential than all commercial. Further down Kitty Lee Road, there were a lot of long established rural residential residences that had at least an acre of property each. The long range plan drawn up for south west Iowa City included a lot of rural residential but it was not included on the annexation of the 60+ acres. To him it would be a logical buffer to have some residential in the plan. Instead of having soft commercial as a buffer behind their properties, why couldn't it become some type of rural area for houses instead of all commercial. Holm said he'd had conversations with John Yapp and Rick Dvorak, they'd recommended he attend the Commission meeting. He'd been out of town or would have attended the previous Commission meeting. Holm said he had no qualms about commercial developing on the south side of Hwy 1. If a lift station were going to be built to support all commercial development, Holm felt there should be some way to build a lift station to support rural residential if that was what the long range plan called for. The long range plan showed the extension of Kitty Lee Road and rural residential built all around that area, so why wasn't it a part of the City's plan at this time. Miklo said when the developer had initially approached Staff about annexation into the City, Staff had responded that if the area were to become some sort of commercial there needed to be some type of buffer. An Office Commercial zone was often used as a buffer from intensive commercial to residential. It was an ideal buffer in that it had low key uses in most locations, was well landscaped and there was not the same level of signage or lighting seen with retail or intensive commercial developments. There were many places in the City where single family homes were located next to an office zone and had tended to be compatible. Miklo said if the proposed buffer area were to become rural residential, then there would be no buffer for people who purchased those lots. Another consideration was the topography and how the property would be accessed. There was a concept plan that might or might not come to fruition that showed the access, based on topography, coming from the south from the more intensive commercial area. It would be wider, more conducive to commercial property and would not have residential traffic traveling through an intense commercial area. That is one reason why Staff felt the commercial office was more appropriate there and a better buffer than rural residential would be. Regardless of what it would be zoned, there would also be a large vacant open-space area for storm water which Staff felt would also provide a good buffer on Outlot A. Miklo said as an example, the proposed Commercial Office area could be similar to the one on Mormon Trek Boulevard where there was commercial development, the car lots and then the Farm Bureau insurance agency beside the residential area. Miklo distributed copies of the landscape plan that had been received from the developer. Reaina Alatalo, 3671 Olde Oak Lane, said the way Item D in the copy of the Comprehensive Plan read, reading it exactly, it would include the residential area and all the houses would be changed to general office commercial. Any homeowner could sell their property and it would general office commercial. She requested Staff to review the wording. Miklo said if approved, the colored map would be included in the Comprehensive Plan. The language she was reading from would not appear in the Comprehensive Plan. Alatalo stated she had concerns about the: Fence: if this were rezoned to office commercial, what type of fence would the developer be required to install. Currently it was a rickety old wire fence with barbed wire at the top which was not a good barrier from residential to commercial. When there had been cows behind her property, they'd had cows in their yard all the time. She asked Staff to look into this and see what the requirements would be. Buffer/Tree size: at the previous Commission meeting, persons from a different development had had starter trees used for a buffer and had to wait 10- to 15-years for the trees to mature. She requested something larger than a starter tree be used for the buffer as the commercial development and its Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 6, 2005 Page 8 occupation would begin very soon. She didn't want to wait 10- to 15-years for the buffer to grow, they deserved privacy now. She requested that the buffer trees be planted before construction actually started. Traffic: it was already very dangerous to drive on the highway now. There were two lanes of traffic exiting and entering Iowa City. The lanes exiting town merged into one lane, exactly where Kitty Lee Road was. Alatalo said she had almost been rear-ended numerous times when she was slowing down to turn onto Kitty Lee Road and other vehicles were speeding up to exit Iowa City. Persons also tried to pass on the left-hand side which was not possible because of the median. She'd almost been side-swiped numerous times as well. Pulling off onto the gravel shoulder to turn was not safe either because of the way the shoulder sloped. Something definitely needed to be done. She requested that the traffic study be performed when students were back in town as traffic was considerably heavier when students were in town. Also that the study to be done during rush hour between 6:30 - 8:30 am and 4:30-6:30 pm were the most dangerous times. There had been an accident at the corner of Kitty Lee Road and Hwy 1 which had resulted in a fatality. John Arthur, 4104 Kitty Lee Road SW, said with respect to the Comprehensive Plan he wished to reiterate what his neighbors had already said. The Comprehensive Plan showed intensive commercial which in and of itself was intense. Theirs were single family residences, not multi-family residences, condos or duplexes which abutted the soft commercial area in the example given on Mormon Trek Boulevard. He felt there should be more of a residential type buffer rather than commercial type buffer between their properties and the proposed office commercial area. The buffer would have a direct effect on them as property owners because their property would be devalued if it sat right next to a commercial area. One map showed lots behind the houses on Kitty Lee Road next to the pink area. There were no buildings on those lots right now, access was currently from Olde Oak Lane which was a dead end. The map showed the road turning south. Miklo said the road actually was not there. Staff had used a plat map which probably was not the best map to use for illustrative purposes. Arthur asked if were an accurate map of what would be approved with the new Comprehensive Plan because it didn't conform with the next rezoning item on the agenda. Miklo said Comprehensive Plan maps were generally conceptual maps which generally didn't follow property lines. The map was very conceptual, it was meant to convey an idea instead of a specific plan. He referred to the Carson Lake area shown on the plan. In the future the streets wouldn't necessarily be laid out as shown but the drawing did show the idea of a stormwater facility and park around it. The plat and the rezoning pattern would be much more specific. The community commercial and intensive commercial were both shown in red. Brooks asked if it would be possible to revise the Comprehensive Plan map so it would more accurately show the lots as they were proposed to be, readjust the border along the pink area and expand the area where the community commercial would be so it reflected what the Commission was actually rezoning. Miklo said Staff could update the map, take off the lots that were platted but not actually built and convert the area in yellow so it more accurately reflected where the change in zoning would take place. Victoria Concha, 4086 Kitty Lee Road, requested that the pink area not be revised and be left as a buffer zone which would keep the commercial development to the east further away from their homes. Freerks said the Comprehensive Plan map was a 'blob' map that showed approximations. Miklo said the difficulty with Concha's suggestion was that it would require the extension of the private street and Harpin Street to develop those lots residentially. That street wasn't anything Staff would want to put more traffic on so it was Staff's feeling that it was better to leave that area independent and have the development feed to the south rather than back through. Holm asked if there was other soft commercial in the Comprehensive Plan. Was that part of the City's long range Southwest District plan? Miklo said they would become part of it if this amendment to the Comprehensive Plan was adopted. The next item on the agenda was to consider a request to rezone this area to Office Commercial. If it was zoned such, it would require a rezoning and a hearing before the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City Council before it could be some other type of commercial. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 6, 2005 Page 9 Holm said there was a major pipeline that ran through that property that would have to be moved. He'd been told there was projection for a road to connect to Kitty Lee Road coming over the top of the pipeline. Did Staff have more information on that? Miklo said the property owner was looking at moving the pipeline along Kitty Lee Road so it would become part of the buffer between Kitty Lee Road and the development. The developer's concept plan showed the potential for a road intersecting with Kitty Lee Road. Depending upon the particular easement for a pipeline, a road could generally run across the pipeline but not run perpendicular over the top of the pipes in most cases. Holm said there was an approximate 2.5-acre lake located 'back there'. Would the lake stay where it was at or would it be moved? Miklo said he'd ask the applicant's consultant to address that particular question as he didn't have the information for it. Holm said surveyors had been working back there for quite some time, were they surveying for the buffer? Miklo said he'd defer to the applicant's consultant for that answer. Holm asked how big would the buffer be, how much space between the property, the commercial and the residential? Brooks said the plan said 15-feet on center, so two rows of white pines, 15-feet on center, eventually looking at two rows 40-50 feet in width of plant material. Shannon asked Holm if he felt his whole neighborhood was totally against the Office Commercial. Holm said he couldn't speak for everyone but most of them knew something was going to happen off Hwy 1 and they were fine with that. Their concern was, most of them had resided in their rural residential for over 30-years and what was going to happen immediately behind them. What type of traffic patterns would develop, there were children who played out back, they just didn't know what was going to happen to their road. They were a small knit group and had always seemed to get along. At one time he'd tried to purchase the lot behind him. He'd been told that Olde Oak Lane couldn't go any further because it was too close to Hwy 218 to make a turn there, so that lane would be dead-ended where it was now forever. No one had addressed the fact as to why a buffer couldn't be rural residential as opposed to commercial. Freerks said that if it was rural residential someone would live there and then they would want a buffer. It might be a buffer for Holm and existing residents, but it wouldn't be a buffer for the new lots. The City was talking about a true buffer, the rows of white pines. Holm said originally the lots behind him had been rural residential but now approximately four had been made into commercial. That was his biggest concern and the only thing he was not comfortable with yet. Larry Schnittier, MMS Consultants, said he was not an engineer he was a landscape architect and land planner. Outlot A was approximately 5.8 acres which was considerably more than the 3 or 4 single family lots that had not been developed. Extendibility of Olde Oak Lane to serve the lots. Schnittjer said he believed the information relayed by Holm had come from the County to Mr. Davis subsequent to the construction of Hwy 218, Schnittjer had not investigated whether or not if Olde Oak Lane could be developed. There would be some topographic constraints which would make it tough to do. Pond would not stay as it was. There were a certain amount of wetlands in those areas which needed to be accommodated. Part of that would be a modification of the pond. There would be some pond in that area but it would be recreated to be more of a wetland type facility. It probably would not be as deep but the total area around the pond that was allocated as green space would be much greater than what the lots which were being removed would be. The developer was in the process of obtaining the Corps of Engineers approval. The Corps didn't like to give final approval until the City had given approval and the City wouldn't give approval until the Corps had, so there was a work-through process to make everyone happy at once. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 6, 2005 Page 10 Pipeline could be crossed perpendicular in most situations. In some situations where there was an existing pipeline, the' pipe had to be excavated and reinforced. There were three pipelines that went through there, it was not such a problem with them. Tree Buffer - Minimum size of planting for evergreen material in Iowa City was 6-foot. Depending on what type of materials were available from nurseries they might be able to possibly do more. On a particular project, Mr. Frantz had been able to put in larger stock because it had been available from the nursery. Schnittjer said they'd look for the larger stock but didn't know if they could find it. Buffer timinq - No particular information available on that. At this point in time it could be included in the Commission's zoning agreement. Width of Buffer - trees would actually cover more of the ground area than what had been allocated. A 25- foot wide strip had been allocated. The trees could be planted up to that 25-foot but they would spread out a lot more than that. Fence - No discussion with Davis yet, Schnittjer will discuss it with him. Holm said John Yapp had said that the buffer possibly could be expanded from 25-feet to 40- or 50-feet to the east so there would be more buffer to the east. Would that be possible? Schnittjer said at this point in time he was not authorized to give any more information. Alatalo said she was not representing their neighborhood. From her perspective they were not trying to be difficult, she just wanted it done right from the git-go. Many of her neighbors had lived there for a long time and had put a lot of money into their homes. They wanted to know that they were going to have adequate buffers and to protect the value of their property so if and when they decided to sell their properties that they'd get the money out of it they put into it. John Arthur, 4104 Kitty Lee Road, said at the last meeting he'd inquired about how Outlot A was going to be developed and landscaped. Both he and Ken Moss had indicated at the last meeting that they'd prefer to see the landscape buffer brought down behind their properties, but that was not how it was designed on the landscape plan. He had questions about the ownership of Outlot A and the long-term management of it and enforcement of it being maintained. The deep water pond was proposed to become a shallow pond and wetland area. Arthur's concern was that it wouldn't just become a mosquito haven and that the run-off be managed properly so that it wouldn't flood the area and kill whatever was there. Anciaux said Arthur's concerns would be more appropriate to the annexation discussion. Public discussion was closed. Miklo said there had been interest shown in having the Comprehensive Plan corrected to show certain lots as pink and removal of the street. The map was conceptual. The Commission could choose to direct Staff to do so or leave it as it was. Motion: Freerks made a motion to approve an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan to amend the Southwest District Plan to change the land use designation from Large Lot/Rural Residential to General and Office Commercial for property located north of Hwy 1, west of Hwy 218 and east of Kitty Lee Road subject to Staff's correction of the map by removing the street and with the understanding that the map was conceptual, not specific. Brooks seconded the motion. Shannon said the reason he asked about the possible transitions was often times when transitioning from single-family housing to a different zoning, a different type of housing would be used to facilitate the transition. He wondered if anyone else had given that consideration. He'd been trying to visualize what it would be like to have soft commercial against single-family homes. In fairness to the current residents, they should have some type of idea what was going to happen. Hansen said he usually was very reluctant to change a Comprehensive Plan but this intersection was a natural for commercial. If handled properly, this piece of property could make a good addition to the commercial base of Iowa City. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 6,2005 Page 11 Freerks said she agreed with Hansen. The reasons why it was not outlined as commercial initially had to do with sewers. This was probably what would best serve the larger community at that particular intersection. The motion passed on a vote of 6-0. ANNEXATION ITEMS: ANN04-00001/REZ04-00030, discussion of an application submitted by James Davis for a Comprehensive Plan amendment, voluntary annexation of approximately 62.03 acres and a rezoning of approximately 50.4 acres from County Ai, Rural, to CC-2 (18.18 acres), CI-1, Intensive Commercial (18.1-acres), Commercial Office (10.92 acres) and RR-1, Rural Residential (2.83 acres) for property east of Kitty Lee Road including Highway 1 and west of Highway 218. Miklo said a full report had been provided at the previous meeting, copies were available. Staff was waiting on the traffic study that would address the traffic implications of this development. They would be a major part this proposal, Staff recommended that this be deferred until the traffic study was completed. There had been a question about Outlot A in terms of maintenance and responsibility. Outlot A was shown on the concept plan but it really was not a part of the annexation or rezoning. That would come at a later time when this was platted. Similar to a homeowners association, there would need to be a business owners or property owners association that would be responsible for the maintenance of the pond to make sure that it drained and functioned properly as a detention facility. The wetlands improvements associated with that would also be a part of that requirement. Those details would be contained in the legal papers at the time Outlot A was final platted. Anciaux asked Miklo to review the traffic circulation. Miklo said with a commercial development of this size there was a proposal to have the extension of Naples Avenue to the north which would serve the commercial development including the commercial office, retail, intensive commercial and another street that would go back to Kitty Lee Road. At a minimum, Kitty Lee Road would need to be improved to provide access to the commercial development and there should be an escrow fund for a portion of the eventual long-term improvement of Kitty Lee Road. The City was looking at the possibility of a traffic signal being required at Naples Avenue. Traffic studies would also examine the implications of traffic from the exit ramp from the Highway, the long-term implications for this intersection and the general design of Highway 1 in this area. The Iowa DOT would be involved in this analysis and review. Part of the traffic study would assign a cost to the development, who would pay their fare share for what they were generating in terms of the need. Anciaux asked what was the distance from the first residential lot to the intensive commercial? Miklo said 120-feet. Anciaux said if the Commission recommended approval of this annexation, could they recommend that the buffer be carried down and around? Miklo said as part of the CZA they could require that the white pine buffer be extended. Staff had received mixed indications from the property owners as to the buffer. At one time there had been an indication that they wanted views of the pond and didn't want the buffer, now there seemed to be different opinions. The Commission could make that a condition of the rezoning. Staff would try to communicate with the property owners and the applicant to find out exactly what everyone's desires were. Chait said with respect to the buffer issue (view or no view), he'd like to comment specifically with regard to the persons who didn't want it or felt they didn't need it. To him it didn't matter if they wanted a buffer or didn't want a buffer. For planning purposes, if Staff and the Commission felt there should be a buffer, that was the issue, not if someone did or didn't want it, because the lack of a buffer could affect future property owners. Brooks said part of the issue was that the Commission had felt Outlot A was somewhat functioning as a wide buffer between some of the residential properties and the adjoining. The buffer behind the first two lots had been disbursed out over Outlot A because there had been room to do it there. In the northern portion the developer had been trying to develop those lots but there had still been the need to screen and buffer between them. If the homeowners had a strong preference, buffer or no buffer, he'd support them. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 6,2005 Page 12 Chait said to have a white pine buffer or the pond as the buffer would be reasonable to him. However to not have a buffer because the person living there didn't want one or think a buffer was needed was a mistake. Brooks asked if it was realistic that the traffic study would be ready for the January 20 meeting. Miklo said Staff had indications that it would not be ready until the end of January. A deferral to the February 3 meeting would be acceptable if the applicant didn't have a preference one way or the other. Schnittjer said he didn't have control of the traffic study, he too wished he had more information about it. Mr. Davis had been in his office earlier in the week questioning whether they should defer. Schnittjer had counseled him that he didn't see reason to push any further with the project until the City had the traffic study, had had ample time to review it and assess their position. Schnittjer said they'd all felt that early February would be the soonest the developer could get back to the Commission with the information they wanted. Miklo said since this was an annexation a written deferral would not be required. The Commission could defer this item indefinitely and Staff would send out letters once this item would be back on the agenda. Hansen asked if they were waiting on a Corps of Engineers approval for the wetland. Schnittjer said they'd not received final approval yet. The Corps had reviewed the concept plans and were in general agreement. They had to develop the plans further to get a permit from the Corps. Miklo said that would come with the subdivision. Public discussion was opened. John Arthur, 4104 Kitty Lee Road, said some of his questions regarding Outlot A had been answered. His concern was that as an adjoining property owner he probably would not be included in the group that had responsibility for maintaining the outlot/pond/wetland area. Whoever did manage it, it would have a direct effect on him. He didn't want it to turn into an un-maintained swamp area. If the commercial area to the south had a lot of run-off it would have a tremendous effect on Outlot A and how the wetland functioned. He requested that during the rezoning process something be added to assure that the outlot was maintained in a proper manner and that there would be repercussion from the homeowners if it was not maintained properly. Miklo said generally issues of drainage and stormwater management were handled with a subdivision plat so there would be opportunities for the City to put controls on that. Behr said often times the provision that was included stated that if the homeowners association didn't maintain it the City gained the right to go in and do the work and the cost of it became a lean on all the lots. Brooks asked if the provision of a general management plan was a requirement or could that be a stipulation of approval of the subdivision. To say something was 'maintained' was an interpretative statement. Behr said he'd have to defer to public works on that question. Brooks said he was looking for a way to not put the residents in a position where they finally got fed up and called the City. Was there a way to build into the plat a plan for normal routine maintenance and define normal routine maintenance. Schnittjer said that normal routine maintenance would be a part of the plan that would be approved by the Corps of Engineers. The Corps required monitoring for 5-years and anything that was going haywire would have to be restored during that period of time; After that point in time, everything should be pretty well established. Schnittjer said during the break he'd told the members of the audience that the reason the surveyors were on the property was that they were gathering information to work up the engineering plans for the property, Le. property lines, topographic lines, utilities, etc. Marv Ott, 4056 Kitty Lee Road, said her lot was the original lot #2 of the Richard Davis subdivision. She and her husband had moved in there in 1970. Ott said she'd noted that there were a lot of maps and they were all a little different. In 1984 she and her husband had entered into a long term lease agreement with Richard Davis with option to purchase. The little triangle of land behind lots 1 & 2 was where they'd planted a lot of trees when the highway had been built. They were exercising their right to purchase that lot. They didn't wish to annex. That information was not indicated on many maps. Ott requested if it would be possible to get one map so everyone would know what they were talking about. Ott asked if Kitty Lee Road were annexed would the City be in charge of it or would it still be a county road. Currently the County did a good job of plowing and maintaining the road. Miklo said generally the Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 6,2005 Page 13 City entered into an agreement with the County, and then they decided who would maintain it. Miklo said because of the unknown on the west side of Kitty Lee Road, Staff had suggested that rather than improve Kitty Lee Road, a fee be paid toward the improvement of it. Ott said there is a visual problem with how the widened Highway had been poured at the Kitty Lee Road intersection. The illusion was that it appeared that there were two lanes but actually it was only one lane and a median. All of a sudden the highway went down to one lane. One of their neighbors had been sideswiped and another person killed in an accident at that intersection. It was a very dangerous intersection for anyone trying to turn onto Kitty Lee Road. Ott said she could only foresee traffic out there getting worse. Ott said Kitty Lee Road was a proving ground for all the car dealerships in that area. They all came and test drove their cars to see how well the brakes worked and how well the cars took the hills. The majority of cars going down Kitty Lee Road had dealers license plates. Concha asked with respect to the 5-year Corp of Engineers watch over period on the wetlands, was that 5-years form the date of application or 5-years from when it was developed (when all the improvements were done and when all the land had been developed.) Schnittjer said it would be 5-years form when the developments were completed. Concha said with respect to the annexation, the map that had been mailed to the homeowners after the last Commission meeting had shown the point that Ott was purchasing as not part of the annexation. It didn't mention any other part of the triangle. At the last meeting they'd discussed whether Olde Oak Lane and north of it would be annexed or not. Miklo said the application had been amended to remove that piece, the remaining would be annexed and zoned RR-1 Rural Residential which was similar to the zoning they had in the county. Concha said it had been discussed that they should request that the annexation run on the south side of Olde Oak Lane. Brooks said the Commission had moved the RR-1 zoning but the annexation had not changed. Concha asked if there would be discussion with respect to grading and things for the proposed Office Commercial development that was proposed to go right behind their homes. Right now it was a nice hill and then it dropped off. If the development began on the other side of the hill it would not impact her the same as if they started wiping out the hill and grading it down so she'd begin seeing two-story buildings. Could it be required that the topographical flow be maintained and it would also help with the transition from residential homes to commercial development. Jeff Jansenins, 3663 Olde Oak Lane, asked what would be the parameters for the DOT study for the traffic. Miklo said they would look at existing traffic, projected traffic based on the proposed development, other potential developments in the area, speeds, it would be comprehensive. Anciaux said there was a traffic model which was actually a moving model which took into account how a property was zoned, types of expected developments; the models projected how much traffic would be generated by each type of zoning. Brooks said they'd probably work off of existing vehicle counts on Hwy 1 and build on to that what might be generated by developments in that area. The study would look at turning and different time periods of the day. Jansenins said as mentioned multiple times earlier, their concern was the need for turning lanes, etc. Also the height of the buildings that would be behind them. If the buildings could be built into the hill as part of the buffer it could make the transition flow easier. Brooks said the Commission could look at those types of issue to see what could be done to mitigate them. Alatalo asked if this area was annexed into Iowa City, would the City's noise ordinance apply to this area and how would it protect the homeowners. It was a well known fact that a Menards would go into this area. She'd been at Menards and they'd blared into their loud speaker, "Save big money, Shop at Menards." She didn't want to hear announcements when she was in her backyard. Alatalo said on her property there was a little hill behind it and then it dropped off considerably. They'd have to have 50-foot trees there to do any good as a buffer. Since they would be moving lots of dirt it would be nice if they could put dirt in for Alatalo so she could have a buffer and the trees would appear to be taller than what they were. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 6, 2005 Page 14 Miklo said he was not familiar with the noise ordinance. Staff would look into that and report back to the Commission. Hansen and Brooks said they'd like to hear a detailed Staff report. Behr said the City ordinances would apply, but he was not familiar with them either. Arthur asked after the 5-year window for Corps monitoring had expired, were there City ordinances that would dictate how a wetland would be maintained. Something to serve as a reference for the homeowners as to how a wetland should be maintained and if a problem was developing. Were there ordinances so that the homeowners would have a recourse if something went wrong. Schnittjer and Brooks said the Corps monitored very closely for the 5-year period and after that they had the responsibility for making sure that the wetland area stayed viable. Schnittjer said the developer's plan would be approved by the Corps and it would become a public record at the time the Corps completed their review of it. Notice would be given that the plan was available for review. Arthur suggested that consideration be given to transferring ownership of the outlot to the City or to a non-profit organization which would actually maintain the property and not rely on the commercial property owners to do so. Hansen asked Arthur if he felt they wouldn't. Arthur said his fear was that it would be used as a retention pond instead of a wetland. The water table would rise and lower so much it would kill the wetland instead of maintain it. Schnittjer said the Corps would reprimand the developer if that were happening. Arthur said if that area were to become a Menards, there would be a huge parking lot with a lot of runoff that if not managed correctly would infiltrate the wetlands. Allen said with respect to the intensive commercial area, would the lights and their design be regulated by City ordinances as well? Lights and noise would be an issue. Hansen and Miklo said they were fully regulated. Concha said she'd brought this issue up at the last meeting. She asked for some type of assurance that appropriate signage would be placed so traffic would not attempt to use Kitty Lee Road to get to Rohret Road and find out it was a dead end. Public discussion was closed. Miklo said the Commission had several options. They could defer indefinitely until the traffic study was received and then Staff would send letters to the residents to let them know that this item would be placed on the next Commission meeting agenda. Motion: Hansen made a motion to indefinitely defer ANN04-00001/REZ04-00030, a voluntary annexation of approximately 62.39-acres and a rezoning of approximately 50.4-acres from County Ai, Rural, to CC-2 (18.18-acres), CI-1, Intensive Commercial (18.1-acres), Commercial Office (11.12-acres) and RR-1, Rural Residential (2.98-acres) for property east of Kitty Lee Road including Highway 1 and west of Highway 218 until the DOT Traffic Study had bee received and reviewed by Staff. Brooks seconded the motion. Hansen said receipt and analysis of the traffic study was a very big issue. The Commission had received a lot of comment regarding the traffic situation out there with the entrance and exit ramps to Hwy 218, the lanes on Hwy 1, turning traffic and Kitty Lee Road traffic itself. . He was comfortable with the buffering being suggested for use between the commercial and the residential. Office commercial was a lower intensity of commercial use, typically had traffic only during daytime business hours and was not 24/7 as was intensive commercial. He personally would rather have the office commercial adjacent to his property. With respect to the Comprehensive Plan, Hansen said he felt this was a natural area for this type of development. The motion passed on a vote of 6-0. OTHER ITEMS: Anciaux requested that the 45-day Dates of Limitation date be placed on the agenda again. Chait said it was his understanding that they served and made recommendations to City Council. City Council could do what ever they wanted such as ignoring the Commission's recommendation(s), having Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 6, 2005 Page 15 joint meetings with them, etc. They as a Commission simply made recommendations. He'd served on the Commission for 7-years or more. His concern was that it seemed more and more that there was a contentious relationship between Staff and the Commission. In his observations it also seemed to be directed to the constituency, the lack of respect. His objective was to have everyone be treated fairly and respectfully, he felt that the Commission worked really hard for that. It seemed like it was an us 'Commission' and them 'Staff' situation. He asked if the other Commissioners felt this way, Anciaux said if this was a concern for other Commissioners, perhaps they should meet in a smaller group with staff to resolve the concern. Shannon said he didn't think Chait was the only one who felt that way. He didn't think having a talk with three people would solve anything, he couldn't see this magically being fixed, His feedback was from developers and people on the street. He'd not been personally beaten down but he was hearing this all the time. He never heard anyone say they were really happy, that they'd had a swell interaction with Staff. He felt this was affecting the City. Chait said that was not what he was referring to. His concern was an "us vs. them" attitude between staff and Commission. He wanted to know if other Commissioners felt this way or shared this concern. Freerks said she personally didn't have that feeling and she'd never felt Staff were contentious with the public. If there were problems they should fix them. She'd heard the opposite, developers and people who spoke honestly that there was give and take and they felt staff treated them professionally. Miklo asked if there were specific cases or instances that the Commissioners could provide. Shannon said no specific cases come to mind. Anciaux said he'd requested specific flow charts be created to show City Council the process of and how much time it took for an annexation to occur, from annexation to final plat, documentation of how long it took to get from Point A to Point B. There was a lot that went on before items even reached the Commission. He said if there was a flow chart of how a case progressed, it would be possible to determine if the delays were on the part of the City or the applicant because they had not submitted complete applications. Brooks said being new, perhaps he only got glimpses of what was happening. If the Commissioners were sensing something then perhaps Staff was sensing something as well. There might be frustrations on both sides that needed to be put on the table and ways looked for to get through them. His concern was that they had a monumental task in front of them to finalize the Code rewrite and there would be a lot of contentious debate/discussion that would go on between the Commission and Staff and the Commission and the public. He didn't want to waylay Chait's concern but to get the Code rewrite finished up they were all going to be working very hard. Chait said he didn't feel his concerns were timely to the point that they had to be addressed before the Code rewrite. They might to look at better understanding their roles, their duties and responsibilities and the relationships to more eliminate the us and them. Staff were the support for the Commission and the support for the applicants and the mediators for everyone. Miklo said it was a concern to him if the Commission felt Staff wasn't serving them well or that they were doing something untoward, He felt it might be wise to have the Commission Chair and individual commissioners meet with Staff to say what were the issues, put them on the table and come to some agreement. He would rather do it sooner than later, to be more productive for the City. Anciaux said was willing to meet any time. He'd like to have at least Chait present and anyone else who wished to attend. Miklo said they should try to put the first meeting together for next week. Through phone calls they'd arrange the meetings. Miklo said Staff would like to set up a special meeting to begin going over the Code rewrite now that the Commission had it as a whole package. Staff had begun reviewing it and had identified some minor Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 6, 2005 Page 16 things that didn't quite work together that would need further study. An informal Code review meeting was scheduled for 5:30 pm on Tuesday, January 18. Hansen said at some point he was probably going to make the motion that a sunset clause be included in the Code rewrite, If a person applied for a rezoning, the rezoning was approved, it had to be acted on within a certain amount of time or it would revert back to what it had been. Freerks requested that Hansen's suggestion be listed as an agenda item so the public would know about it. Miklo said the current PDH said that it expired after two years and the City had the right to go back and rezone it. The City had never acted upOn it. Behr said they could make a Plan Expirer but they couldn't say it would revert from one zone to another. CONSIDERATION OF THE DECEMBER 16. 2004 MEETING MINUTES: Motion: Brooks made a motion to approve the minutes as typed and corrected. Hansen seconded the motion. The motion passed on a vote of 6-0. ADJOURNMENT: Motion: Brooks made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 10:29 pm. Freerks seconded the motion. The motion passed on a vote of 6-0. Elizabeth Koppes, Secretary Minutes submitted by Candy Barnhill s:/pcd/minutes/p&zI2005/0 1-06-05,doc