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02-12-13KALISPELL CITY PLANNING BOARD & ZONING COMMISSION MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING FEBRUARY 12, 2013 CALL TO ORDER AND The regular meeting of the Kalispell City Planning Board and ROLL CALL Zoning Commission was called to order at 7:00 p.m. Board members present were: Chad Graham, Rory Young, Phillip Guiffrida, Ken Hannah, Charles Pesola and Matt Regier. Richard Griffin was absent. Tom Jentz, P.J. Sorensen and Sean Conrad represented the Kalispell Planning Department. There were 14 people in the audience. NEW BOARD MEMBER President Graham welcomed the board's new member, Matt Regier to the planning board and added the board members were looking forward to working with him. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Guiffrida moved and Pesola seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the December 11, 2012 meeting of the Kalispell City Planning Board and Zoning Commission. VOTE BY ACCLAMATION The motion passed unanimously on a vote by acclamation. PUBLIC COMMENT No one wished to speak. ACCESSORY USES ZONING A request by DewGood, LLC for an amendment to Section 27.34.040 of TEXT AMENDMENT the City of Kalispell Zoning Regulations. Currently the ordinance limits the maximum percentage of floor area allowed for casinos as an accessory use when located within 300 feet of churches, schools, parks, city residential zones, and other casinos, to no more than ten percent. The request would increase the maximum percentage to twenty percent. STAFF REPORT KZTA-13-01 P.J. Sorensen, representing the City of Kalispell reviewed Staff Report KZTA-13-01 for the board. Sorensen noted both agenda items area related to the same project. The Loading Dock building located on the corner of 1 st Avenue EN and E Center Street, was remodeled and now is occupied by a restaurant, bottle shop, hair salon and soon a bakery going in. The second floor is currently vacant but what they are hoping to do is add some additional seating for the restaurant and add an accessory casino space. Sorensen reviewed conceptual drawings of the space for the board. Sorensen continued currently casinos are allowed in the B2, B-4, and B-5 zones which are core commercial zones and a conditional use permit is required to operate casinos. The general rule is there should be at least a 300 foot minimum buffer between the casino and churches, schools, parks, city residential zones and other casinos, measured from property line to property line. The second part to that rule is that it can be located closer than 300 feet to any of those uses but they then need to meet certain standards to qualify Kalispell City Planning Board Minutes of the meeting of February 12, 2013 Page 1 of 7 as an accessory casino use. A minor accessory use for casinos currently is set at 10% or less of the floor area and the primary use, typically a restaurant or bar would be at least 90%. The casino area would be shielded or screened from the primary use and there are a number of design standards that could be assigned mostly related to signage, number of entrances and landscaping requirements that would soften the impact to the surrounding area. Sorensen said the problem that Brannigan's ran into is mostly due to the fact that they are a smaller restaurant that is trying to fit within a space they are redeveloping in the downtown area. The only changes to the rule is they want to decrease the percentage of the primary use floor area to 80% and increase the accessory use floor area to 20%. Under state law gaming is regulated by the State Legislature and not the cities. The licensing and limits on the number of machines is tied to liquor licenses is regulated by the State. However what the city can do is regulate the location and impacts. Back in 2000 casinos were allowed in most of the B zones with a conditional use permit and there were not any special conditions tied to them. However issues came up in regards to proliferation and location of some of the casinos, such as next to a residential area and patrons were parking in front of the houses which caused some problems. City council looked at a rule which eventually led to the adoption of the 300 foot buffer requirement to minimize some of the impacts. Then in 2006 the city found there were new businesses that were not able to come to town because of the 300 foot buffer rule. There were problems because gaming is tied to liquor licenses and there is a limit on the number of liquor licenses that can be in a city. The City of Kalispell is over its cap of liquor licenses additional licenses cannot be issued within the city. Instead they have to purchase the license from an existing location and that has caused the liquor license prices to become very high. The city council then modified the rule and allowed for accessory casinos. Currently there are two businesses that have come to town and have accessory casinos. The Hilton Garden Inn (PUD) and the Montana Club (CUP). Prior to that change neither one of those businesses could have been approved in their current location. Sorensen said there are two things that have become apparent: (1) The 10% limit functions better with larger restaurants than if you are trying to rehabilitate a space that is smaller and; (2) older machines were 17" wide and now they can be 28" wide or up to 4 feet wide and to generate the same amount of gaming activity there needs to be more space. Kalispell City Planning Board Minutes of the meeting of February 12, 2013 Page 2 of 7 Based on that staff felt it was a good idea to revisit the rule to see if 10% still made sense or if the percentage should be increased to 20%. Staff supports the proposal because it will keep the main rule intact. The amendment would not change the use from being an accessory, incidental use that is separated and shielded from neighboring uses and also creates a more equitable situation for smaller restaurants and bars. Sorensen noted that after the staff report was sent to the board our office received a letter from Jenny La Sorte whose letter addresses some of the problems that could arise from gambling that is not done responsibly and some of the impacts gambling could have on families and society. She urged the board to think long and hard about making any changes to the current rules. Sorensen noted the board members were provided a copy of her email to review before the meeting. Staff recommends that the Kalispell Planning Board adopt Staff Report KZTA-13-01 as findings of fact and recommend to the Kalispell City Council that the proposed amendment be adopted as provided in the staff report. BOARD DISCUSSION Guiffrida clarified the state limits in regard to the amount of gaming machines per license regardless of the usable space of the facility. Hannah asked if the entire area of the establishment needs to be in use in order to be counted as square footage and Sorensen said similar to parking ratios it is based on gross square footage rather than getting into a day-by-day analysis of exactly how the entire facility is being used. Hannah asked if the city knows how many other existing establishments are sitting at 10% and would be interested in expanding their business if this amendment was approved and Sorensen said there are 20 or 25 full or accessory gaming licenses in the city but he doesn't know how many existing establishments would want to expand. Hannah clarified any establishment that is not within the city limits is not covered under this rule even if they are within 300 feet of a park or school and Sorensen said that is correct this only pertains to businesses within the city limits. TECHNICAL I None. SUPPORT/APPLICANT Kalispell City Planning Board Minutes of the meeting of February 12, 2013 Page 3 of 7 PUBLIC HEARING I No one wishing to speak'the public hearing was closed. MOTION Guiffrida moved and Pesola seconded a motion that the Kalispell Planning Board adopt Staff Report KZTA-13-01 as findings of fact and recommend to the Kalispell City Council that the proposed amendment be adopted as provided in the staff report. BOARD DISCUSSION Board member Young stated his firm, Jackola Engineering & Architecture, is part of the design team that has been working with Dewey Swank on this project. Young asked if the board members felt it would be appropriate for him to step down from this portion of the meeting and the board recommended recusal. Hannah said one of the findings in the report was machine size and he thinks it should be noted that although machine size may have grown from 17" to 28" the human body hasn't shrunk and it would take the. same amount of space to occupy each machine so machines stacked 17" on center would not be feasible. Hannah liked some of the alternatives and methodologies used in the staff report such as using the first 6000 square feet vs. 20%o of a 10,000 sf restaurant which would create a very large casino. Pesola said after reviewing the property and staff report he personally believes that any way we can help a new or expanding businesses, especially in the core area and in a way that will not adversely affect the community, is a good thing. Guiffrida agreed with Pesola and added this would be a city-wide change. He noted it is important to have plans like the Core Area Plan and finds ways to make them a reality. Anything that the board can do to look at policy in general that will help move our plans forward and achieve the overall goals is very positive. Guiffrida supports the text amendment. Regier asked why 20%? If the board wants to help out these businesses why cap it? Guiffrida said they also have to keep in mind that this could potentially affect the large businesses and the impacts that could have. This would be a hidden, accessory casino, signage is at a minimum, and the idea is not to turn Kalispell into Las Vegas. In this case he feels the 20% is appropriate and he added the rule can also be revisited in the future if necessary. Graham said having the cap is a way to delineate an accessory casino from a full blown casino. Sorensen said when this accessory use was approved having a specific percentage was what people wanted so it was clear what would be a minor accessory use. Jentz added before there was an accessory use for casinos if you were within 300 feet of a school, Kalispell City Planning Board Minutes of the meeting of February 12, 2013 Page 4 of 7 park or another casino you couldn't get a conditional use permit for a casino. Then there were a couple businesses in town that were basically shut out because of these restrictions so the city council asked the staff and planning board to come up with an idea to open this up a little and that's when the 10% limit was approved. Regier asked how they came up with 20% and Sorensen said with this proposal 20% was the figure that would make their project work. Graham said this would be a model project that could apply to other forms of redevelopment in Kalispell, most notably in the core area and working with the older buildings. Hannah said this amendment will help the downtown core area most where they will want to take a good historical building in the downtown district and revitalize it. Although this could apply to anywhere but he foresees the biggest use will be in the downtown district. Pesola said within eyesight of this building you can see two full casinos so he thinks the impacts to the area for this proposed use are minimal. Guiffrida said the amendment would only change the percentage of this overall regulation and there are still really good parts that are staying intact that help the community as a whole such as signage and landscaping. ROLL CALL I The motion passed on a roll call vote of 4 in favor and Regier opposed. BRANNIGAN'S A request from DewGood, LLC for a conditional use permit to CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT operate a casino in an existing building zoned B-4 (Central Business). The property is located at 101 East Center Street (Site of Loading Dock building) at the northeast corner of the intersection of 1" Avenue EN and East Center Street. STAFF REPORT KCU-13-01 P.J. Sorensen, representing the City of Kalispell reviewed Staff Report KCU-13-01 for the board. Sorensen reviewed the location of the proposed casino/expansion as part of Brannigan's Pub. He reviewed the other tenant spaces that are occupied and are still vacant and said an elevator has been installed to provide handicap accessibility to the second floor. -- --- - - --- - - Sorensen also reviewed the floor plan of the proposed expansion. There is no new infrastructure required for the expansion. Sorensen noted during Site Review two issues came up, one related to fire protection and the probable need to sprinkle the building - Kalispell City Planning Board Minutes of the meeting of February 12, 2013 Page 5 of 7 which they are discussing with the Building/Fire examiners; and Public Works asked for a condition that relates to painting the curb on the street yellow to indicate no parking along Center Street. Sorensen reviewed the remainder of the requirements and the conditions listed in the staff report. Staff recommends that the Kalispell Planning Board adopt Staff Report KCU-13-01 as findings -of fact and recommend to the Kalispell City Council that the conditional use permit be approved subject to the 8 conditions listed in the staff report. BOARD DISCUSSION Hannah asked if an expansion has to be complete before they can open for example, could they open the casino and then before the 18 month completion deadline of the CUP finish the restaurant expansion and Sorensen said no the second floor expansion would need to be totally completed. Graham asked if the Certificate of Occupancy referenced is for the second floor and Sorensen said yes. Graham noted the floor plan that Sorensen showed is different from the layout in the application so which one is it and Sorensen they made some changes after their initial submittal but the one shown during the presentation is the correct floor plan. TECHNICAL None. SUPPORT/APPLICANT PUBLIC HEARING No one wished to speak and the public hearing was closed. MOTION Pesola moved Hannah and seconded a motion that the Kalispell Planning Board adopt Staff Report KCU-13-01 as findings of fact and recommend to the Kalispell City Council that the conditional use permit be approved subject to the 8 conditions listed in the staff report. BOARD DISCUSSION Guiffrida said he supports the conditional use permit. In this day and age restaurants struggle and having the ability to have an accessory casino like this helps them stay alive. Since our concepts are to try and get rid of vacant and blighted buildings it is important to set businesses up with the ability to be successful so we can meet those objectives. He also appreciates all the hard work that has gone into this revitalization project. It really looks great and it really helps move us into the future. Hannah also wanted to express his support for the conditional use permit. It is a good use for the downtown district and this building and if we are going to continue to revitalize downtown Kalispell this is the type of growth we need. Kalispell City Planning Board Minutes of the meeting of February 12, 2013 Page 6 of 7 Pesola said anything we can do to fiscally help an existing project survive, especially in this economy and the core area, while not affecting the visual appearance or feel of our community in a negative way he supports. ROLL CALL The motion passed on a roll call vote of 4 in favor and Regier opposed. OLD BUSINESS: None. NEW BUSINESS: Jentz reported there will be a planning board meeting in March to hold a public hearing for the Gardner/Volkswagen planned unit development which will be discussed as a work session immediately following this meeting. Guiffrida asked if the board should vote on a new Vice President at the next meeting and Jentz said noted the regular board elections will be held in May and the board felt this item could be address then. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at approximately 7:45 p.m. WORK SESSION A work session was held immediately following the regular meeting to discuss the following: 1. Gardner Investments — Planned Unit Development — Volkswagen dealership NEXT MEETING The next meeting is scheduled for March 12, 2013 beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the City of Kalispell Council Chambers located at 201 1st Avenue East in Kalispell. NEXT WORK SESSION The next work session has not been scheduled. Mad GrahamV Michelle Anderson President Recording Secretary APPROVED as submitted/corrected: :3 / /13 Kalispell City Planning Board Minutes of the meeting of February 12, 2013 Page 7 of 7