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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12.08.92 Planning PacketAGENDA PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR DECEMBER 8, 1992 1. CALL TO ORDER 7:00 P.M. 2. APPROVE MINUTES November 10, 1992 Regular Meeting 3. PUBLIC HEARINGS 7:00 P.M. Request from Farmington Parks and Recreation Department for a Conditional Use to Build an Information Kiosk at the Kuchera Entrance to. Rambling River Park 7:00 P.M. Continued Hearing Based Upon the Request from Elm Park Limited, Inc., to Build a 45 Unit Apartment Building on the South Half of Block 17, Northeast of the Intersection of First and Oak Streets 4. DISCUSSIONS Bongard Conditional Use Continued Deliberations on the Request from Craig Bongard to Rebuild an Equipment Maintenance and Storage Building East of County Road 31 TO Development and Excavating, Inc. Continued Deliberations on the Request from James and Therese Reisinger to Install an Equipment Maintenance and Storage Use on C -1 Conservation Land East of County Road 31 Request from Steve Finden Request for the Commission to Explore Rezoning the West Side of Highway 3 Between Willow and Pine Streets from I -1 to B -1 Very Low Density Housing City Design Standards 5. ADJOURN Implementing Standards in Certain of the Existing Agricultural Districts Draft Developed by the Staff for Consideration by the Planning Commission and City Council 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. APPROVE MINUTES AGENDA REPORT PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR DECEMBER 8, 1992 3. PUBLIC HEARINGS 7:00 P.M. Request from Farmington Parks and Recreation Department for a Conditional Use to Build an Information Kiosk at the Kuchera Entrance to Rambling River Park The attached topographical map indicates the proposed location for the kiosk adjoining the path leading to the bridge over the Vermillion River. The kiosk is an open 12' x 12' structure which is situated 110 feet from the street, well behind the existing building setback in this block and approximately 60 feet from the bridge. Because the pathway is 75 feet from the east property line, the building will be approximately 60 feet from this same property line. The location selected for the kiosk adjoins the floodway, but actually is located within the R -2 Medium Density District. Public parks and playgrounds are listed permitted uses, whereas public buildings are conditional uses. The purpose of the structure is to provide a covered area where people may stand while reading the information provided within. Recommendation Approve the information kiosk as requested by the Parks and Recreation Department. 7:00 P.M. Continued Hearing Based Upon the Request from Elm Park Limited, Inc. to Build a 45 Unit Apartment Building on the South Half of Block 17, Northeast of the Intersection of First and Oak Streets The reason for continuing the hearing was that a landscape plan had not been submitted for the Commission to evaluate. Following the meeting, it was discovered that the. HRA had mixed feelings about the proposal which were not entirely resolved. The HRA will be meeting on December 2nd to revisit many issues with regard to the proposal. This analysis is based upon the proposal which arrived in the office on December 1st and assumes that it follows the direction given by the HRA. It can be said right away that the landscape plan is by far the most detailed and thoughtful plan submitted in conjunction with any conditional use application. There are some minor details that staff has questioned. For example, the additional paving adjoining the pedestrian way adjoining the east side of the property appears to be unnecessary until it is recognized that there will be two way traffic on the north /south portion of that alley. Staff has recommended two additional sugar maple trees for the boulevard on Oak Street and the note referring to sod on all turf areas should be augmented to specify the limits of that turf. It would also be important for the bedding areas under certain of the shrub plantings to identify a ground cover other than grass. The zoning issue involved two questions. First, does the Developer plan to proceed with the plan if the Zoning Ordinance is amended? That question should be solved by the time of the meeting. If the HRA grants approval to this project on December 2nd, the project will proceed and can only be accomplished if the requested two lots are rezoned. The second question involves the future of the lots to the south which are in the long range expansion program of Lamperts. A suggestion was made to rezone Planning Agenda Report Page 2 the property now rather than wait for the Lampert proposal. Because of the zoning history of these blocks, it probably would be more desirable to wait until a specific proposal has been prepared for the site. Unlike the Elm Park proposal, there is no land which separates these lots from other B -2 zoning. The variances requested in this proposal again involve parking, density of units, setback from First Street and the width of curb cuts. The parking variance request essentially is one half of a space per unit. The enclosed plan shows 69 spaces, 22 of which are on the Oak Street right of way. Two reasons for granting the variance are that Oak Street will have no other purpose than to provide access to this apartment building once Lampert expands, and that the marketing of the units is focused upon the age group of 55 and older, where typically there are fewer automobiles per unit than found among the general public. The density variance as indicated in the earlier analysis is for 6 units based upon the use of Oak Street in calculating land area. The reason for granting this variance is that the Planning Commission has long recognized the great disparity between elderly and handicapped housing densities and regular market rate housing in the Zoning Ordinance. This should be remedied as it is difficult to justify the difference of 40 units per acre which now exists in the ordinance. The setback from First Street can be justified when looking at the site plan provided. The two housing units to the north on First Street are already on the right of way line rather than setback 10 feet as suggested last month. The width of curb cuts has been eliminated as a variance since the site plan now shows parallel parking on Oak Street. Therefore, three variances are being requested and can be justified. The last barrier to approval of the conditional use has now been satisfied. The landscape plan as submitted will provide a reassuring setting for this apartment building. Recommendation Approve the conditional use for a 45 unit apartment building with the three variances noted and recommend rezoning of Lots 8 and 9, Block 17 from R -2 to B -2 to the City Council. 4. DISCUSSION Bongard Conditional Use The attached letter from James Bates raised enough questions about this process for the staff to again check with the City Attorney for direction prior to developing the Agenda Report. Mr. Harmeyer will forward his analysis of the status of the existing conditional use directly to the Commission. Whatever that opinion is, there are other questions about the Bongard request which the Commission must address. The primary issue involves the use of crushed concrete as a substitute for a bituminous parking lot. Preliminary investigation by the City Engineer suggests that crushed concrete is not a suitable substitute for a bituminous surface primarily because of the dust. He will prepare a final report to the City Council for their December 7th meeting, at which time they can decide to proceed with developing amending language regarding paving for parking lots or not. This should clarify the conditions with respect to paving that the Planning Commission will place on the Bongard site when authorizing the issuance of a building permit. In addition, the applicant needs to clarify where the bituminous material ends and the crushed concrete begins. Staff would also recommend a more efficient parking arrangement adjoining the office building which would decrease the amount of paving and increase the plantings adjoining the building. The entire planting plan will need to be detailed, if the permit is issued, by showing the plant materials involved and specifying the species of evergreens that will be planted along the Akin Road side of the existing gravel surface parking lot. Additional evergreen plantings are recommended both to the north and to the Planning Agenda Report Page 3 south of the gravel area. The Commission may also wish to limit the future growth of this conditional use since it has grown from a five truck to a fifteen truck operation. In addition, the approved location for parking vehicles which are left running overnight should be either 300 feet from Akin Road or 100 feet from the southeast corner of the proposed shop. Another question which needs to be evaluated is that the building will be substantially expanded to provide office space for the business. This in itself goes to the original question of the status of this conditional use. The office addition would not be possible under the terms of the first conditional use. One final point is that the City Engineer has asked for a grading plan of the site and basic utility plans including the location of the on -site septic system and connections to City water. The septic system is important if the site is to be substantially paved. The system will not work if covered with asphalt. City water is also important since there is a main on Akin Road within easy reach of the building. A basic condition of this conditional use shall be connection to the City water system. Recommendation Address the conditional use issue as advised by Dave Harmeyer, the City Council with regard to paving, the City Engineer with regard to a grading plan and utilities, and the City Planner's comments on the site and landscape plan. 5. DISCUSSION T &J Development and Excavating, Inc. Request to Install and Equipment Maintenance and Storage Use on C -1 Conservation Land The issues in this request are different from the previous request since no conditional use permit has been issued for the site. The driveway was built to provide access to the agricultural land to the east. There are no physical improvements to the property other than the filled area which will be used to park the heavy equipment. Another difference is that the proposed use will expand business use along Akin Road at the edge of a residential neighborhood. The question of the moment is whether or not the Commission would expand this business use in conflict with the City Compre- hensive Plan. Of the six criteria listed for approval of a conditional use, the proposal submitted meets half of them. The proposed use does not preserve the objectives of the Zoning Ordinance and is not consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. It does not produce a visual impression and environment consistent with the neighborhood and the four 6 foot pine trees and six foot berm will not produce a harmonious relationship of grounds to adjacent properties unless the number of trees are substantially increased. On the other hand, if the Commission believes that the adjoining use has already interfered with the residential qualities of the neighborhood sufficiently to grant a new conditional use, the applicant will need to meet the paving requirements of the code unless the Council authorizes drafting a revision to the ordinance with respect to paving. Questions raised during the public input on November 10, 1992 included the relationship between this request and the trial which was scheduled to begin on November 17, 1992. The City Attorney has said that there is no relationship between the two, other than if the request is granted, there is probably little need to proceed with the trial. Because of illness, the trial date was postponed until January 12, 1992. As stated in the agenda report for the November 10, 1992 meeting, "The central issue with this request is that, if granted, it will expand a commercial /industrial use Planning Agenda Report Page 4 that is not recognized in the Comprehensive Plan on a neighborhood collection street at the edge of a growing residential area." Recommendation Deny the request based upon its long range negative impact on the neighborhood. 7. DISCUSSION Request From Steve Finden for Rezoning West Side of Highway 3 Between Willow and Pine Streets from I -1 to B-1. One of the issues being discussed by the Design Center is the future design and use of Trunk Highway 3. By mid December, Bill Morrish plans to hold the last of the three Steering Committee meetings at which recommendations will be made. As you remember, the Design Center staff suggested the need for four moving lanes of traffic and two frontage roads is probably overkill based upon the amount of traffic that this road carries, particularly when it is merely a two lane facility both to the north and south of Farmington. If the road were to be more narrow and without frontage roads, the possibility of a retail strip raises more questions. In essence, the Comprehensive Plan has suggested that retail uses should be encouraged to locate within existing centers either downtown or in Townsedge and only at such other locations as would create activity nodes. This concept has worked well over the past 20 years in that the Farmington portion of Highway 3 frontage is remarkably clear of strip commercial uses. This has broken down substantially within the townships where business strips and mixed uses are the traveling public's introduction to Farmington. Across the street from this request is business in both directions. North of the site is a B -1 Highway Business District which was established by the City. To the south is a legal nonconforming use which has stood vacant for a year and, therefore, now categorized as an obsolete building. Once the Design Center Report has been issued and absorbed by various policy makers, it probably would make some sense for the Commission to initiate a Highway 3 Land Use Study in connection with the HRA to provide some overview of the questions raised by this request. 8. DISCUSSION Implementing Very Low Density Housing Standards in Certain Agricultural Districts. The attached map and accompanying explanation were developed to show how the very low density housing concept can be implemented without using up the development rights of other individuals. If you look carefully, the land area utilized for this analysis is in the most southwesterly corner of Farmington. The zoning map may be helpful in understanding the flood plain limits which are very light on this print. Please keep your copy of the map as long as you need it, but at some time be prepared to turn it in so that the Council can reuse them. 9. DISCUSSION City Design Standards Draft sent earlier in previous agenda package. 44, Charles Tooker City Planner