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Planning Board Minutes - February 10, 2009KALISPELL CITY PLANNING BOARD & ZONING COMMISSION MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING FEBRUARY 10, 2009 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL The regular meeting of the Kalispell City Planning Board CALL and Zoning Commission was called to order at 7:00 p.m. Board members present were: Bryan Schutt, Rick Hull, C.M. (Butch) Clark, John Hinchey, Jim Williamson and Troy Mendius. Richard Griffin was absent. Tom Jentz and Sean Conrad represented the Kalispell Planning Department. There were approximately 15 people in the audience. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Hinchey moved and Hull seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the January 13th and January 27th meetings of the Kalispell City Planning Board and Zoning Commission. ROLL CALL The motion passed unanimously on a roll call vote. PUBLIC COMMENT No one wished to speak. CORNERSTONE A request by the Cornerstone Church to rezone a portion of COMMUNITY CHURCH ZONE their 3.9 acre property located at the northwest corner of CHANGE & PLANNED UNIT the intersection of Northridge Drive and Highway 93. The DEVELOPOMENT zone change includes changing the zoning on approximately 3 acres from R-3 (Urban Single Family Residential) to B-1 (Neighborhood Buffer District) to accommodate the location of a new bank. The remaining 0.9 acre of land owned by the church along Parkway Drive will remain R-3. The church is also requesting a planned unit development (PUD) overlay zoning district on the proposed B-1 portion of the property. STAFF REPORT KPUD-08-03 Sean Conrad representing the Kalispell Planning Department & KZC-09-01 reviewed staff report KPUD-08-03 & KZC-09-01 for the board. Conrad stated the Cornerstone Community Church zone change & PUD is 3.9 acres in size and is located on the northwest corner of US Highway 93 North and Northridge Drive. He reviewed the current zoning and land use designations on the property. The owners of this property are requesting a zone change on the eastern portion of the property from R-3 (Urban Single - Family Residential) to a B-1 (Neighborhood Buffer) district and plan to retain the R-3 zoning district along Parkway Drive on the western portion of their site. Both the R-3 and B-1 districts are consistent with the growth policy. Conrad continued in addition to the zone change the PUD zoning is proposed over the B-1 portion of the property. The purpose of the PUD district is to ensure compatible development with the neighboring R-3 residential properties Kalispell City Planning Board Minutes of the meeting of February 10, 2009 Page 1 of 3 and to maintain the neighborhood integrity of the Northridge Subdivision located immediately west of the proposed B-1 site. As part of the PUD the owner is requesting 3 deviations which includes a zero side yard setback to accommodate an overhang for the proposed 4 drive -through lanes with the associated bank; a reduced rear yard setback from 20 to 10 feet to take into account the existing church building; and to allow a bank with 4 drive -through lanes, a 6,000 square foot footprint, with an ultimate size of between 8,000 & 9,000 square feet. Conrad said with the PUD the developer is proposing landscaping along Highway 93 and along the east property boundary to screen both the existing church and the necessary parking that is required for this project. The PUD would also ensure the neighboring residential properties of what is happening in their neighborhood and they can be assured that any significant changes on this project site would have to go back through the city council for approval. The planning board held a work session on this project 2 weeks ago and nothing has changed since that work session. Conrad indicated some of the planning board members had concerns about needing additional landscaping to help screen the long stretch of parking next to the highway. Conrad said the developer's consultant will address this issue during the public hearing. Staff recommends that the Kalispell City Planning Board and Zoning Commission adopt Staff Report #KPUD-08-03 & KZC- 09-01 as findings of fact and recommend to the Kalispell City Council that the zoning for approximately 3 acres of the property be changed to B-1, Neighborhood Buffer District and the PUD for Cornerstone Community Church be approved subject to the 10 conditions listed in the staff report. APPLICANT/CONSULTANTS Doug Kauffman, Thomas, Dean & Hoskins stated he is representing the Cornerstone Community Church. Kauffman said they did go back and revisit the entire parking area along Highway 93. They tried to reduce the parking along Highway 93 by using the large open space which is directly west of the church. He said there are some fairly severe slope constraints that run directly along the western edge and in trying to layout a viable parking scenario with access, there may be a gain of 6 spaces. However, he added, there would be a reduction of 2 existing spaces and therefore the net gain would only be 4 parking spaces. He said considering the construction constraints with the severe slope they looked at excavating 2-3 feet but then there were issues with existing utilities. There is a service line that comes in from the west and also a vault that would have to be reconstructed and reburied. Kalispell City Planning Board Minutes of the meeting of February 10, 2009 Page 2 of 3 Kauffman continued the second scenario was removing approximately 4 spaces from the northern area of the parking lot and relocating those directly in front of the church in what is now the open area. Kauffman said while that could have been functional the client prefers to leave that area open for church services and functions and an additional issue was emergency vehicle access. Fire trucks coming in off of Highway 93 encroached half -way into those spaces. Consequently, Kauffman said, they decided to go forward with the current configuration. He also pointed out that he re -measured the actual distance from the roadway to the property boundary, which is about 40 feet from the edge of the roadway to the edge of the R/ W and with an additional 12 feet of bermed greenbelt there would be a total of approximately 52 feet which is equivalent to what is on the other side of the highway. Kauffman said they contacted MDT regarding adding some green area to the pork chop entrance and MDT indicated they would approve the addition as long as it is irrigated and there is a maintenance agreement in place. Kauffman concluded by stating they are amenable to all of the conditions as currently written. Clark expressed his disappointment that the parking along the highway was not reconsidered. He said along the right hand side, in front of the proposed bank building, it appears that the berm will be much higher than the one in front of the eastern parking area. Kauffman said yes that is currently the way it is configured. They are proposing a 2-1/2 foot berm along the eastern parking area in the 52 foot buffer area and the berm along the bank is approximately 3-1/2 to 4 feet. Clark suggested increasing the berm to 3-1/2 to 4 feet all along the highway. Hinchey said he has the same concerns. He added with a narrower greenbelt in front of the parking area along the highway they are concerned about the visual affect. Hinchey suggested getting an agreement with the state to encroach onto the R/W to increase the berm. Hinchey said they are trying to achieve a visual pattern on the west side similar to the one on the east side of the highway. Kauffman said they could look into that but they are also partially constrained by the existence of the pedestrian bike path that is directly on the property boundary and he added with increasing the slopes you start getting into erosion issues. Clark restaed the height of the berm should be the same all the way along the parking on the east side of the property so it doesn't look like a parking lot. Hinchey added there was discussion regarding parking to the north of the church and Kalispell City Planning Board Minutes of the meeting of February 10, 2009 Page 3 of 3 asked if they looked at that. Kauffman said yes but in that situation they felt parking there would not be functional for the bank and the client has requested that they try to keep the area north of the church open for other purposes. Schutt noted west of the church is not really an option due to slopes and utilities and north of the church also has slope issues and Kauffman said yes. Schutt asked about east of the bank and Kauffman said there may be some parking availability there but that would have to be discussed with the bank's representative. PUBLIC HEARING Joel Hausen, 536 Parkway Drive stated he wasn't able to attend the work session but he is concerned with the added traffic coming to the bank and he suggested that a left-hand turn signal be added to the signal at the intersection of Northridge Drive and Highway 93. Pastor Luke Knoll - Cornerstone Community Church, stated he is representing the church. He said they inherited this building and now it needs a lot of repairs so they thought why not sell a piece of this property and then they could improve not only the building but their parking lot, curb appeal, etc. The bike path really limits them a great deal for improvements to the east. Most of the parking in this area is only used by the church on Sunday, Wednesday evenings and possibly Saturday evenings in the future. If they change the parking and the congregation has to park at the back of the church they will lose all of the spots on the east in order to make it wide enough to access that area. In addition it will limit the church's future plans to build a gymnasium or community center and would cause problems for elderly people who are dropped off in front of the church for services. Pastor Knoll said with the added improvements to the building, paving and the additional landscaping it will be nice and hopefully that will be enough. He added in looking at the parking across the highway the vehicles are not shielded very well and all he is asking is to be treated the same. Mendius asked if the bike path and berm is an impediment to having adequate space for parking and Knoll said adding the berm moved the parking even closer to the building so with the bike path the only way to extend the landscaping is if the path is taken out. Mendius asked Knoll if he was satisfied with the parking plan as proposed and Knoll said he is satisfied with the proposed plan vs. moving the parking north or trying to put parking on the steep grade to the west. Knoll added he doesn't want to spend the church's money to move the bike path either when they need their funds to remodel the inside of the church. Hinchey said he still doesn't like the parking design and suggested ways he thought would improve the layout. Kalispell City Planning Board Minutes of the meeting of February 10, 2009 Page 4 of 3 Clark asked for clarification on the shared parking with the bank and although Knoll didn't feel the bank parking would overflow to the east parking area Clark felt the bank employees would park in that area. Clark said the berm solution was the best way to remedy the visibility of the parking area. David Mitchell, representing Valley Bank said they had a road on the east side of the bank at one point to get access to the drive -through and talking to planning they changed the design. To the south of this site the funeral home has no greenbelt so what they tried to do with this design is create a heavy landscaped area right on the corner in front of the bank and then taper the landscaping away as you go north. After the bank the highway drops down severely and you really can't see too much of the church and the parking lot. Mitchell said a resolution may be to put a couple courses of a retaining wall, some bushes behind the wall and then dropping off into a berm so there could be about 3-1/2 feet to hide the parking area which would make the parking lot more attractive. Mitchell said the parking requirement for the bank is 30 spaces and he described the location of those spaces including the employee parking which will not be along the eastern parking area. No one else wished to speak and the public hearing was closed. MOTION Hull moved and Williamson seconded a motion to adopt staff reports KZC-09-01 & KPUD-08-03 as findings of fact and recommend to the Kalispell City Council that the zoning for approximately 3 acres of the property be changed to B-1, Neighborhood Buffer district and that the PUD for Cornerstone Community Church be approved subject to the 10 conditions listed in the staff report. BOARD DISCUSSION Hinchey said the issue is the discrepancy between the appearance of the parking areas on the west side of the highway and what is currently on the east. Hinchey said it seems to him he doesn't notice the parking to the east and asked if it has a bigger greenbelt? Jentz said they spent a lot of time working with the church, since last spring on this project. What you see right now on the west side is an open area with a building, and what you don't see is the trees and landscaping. It looks exactly like the east side did before it was developed. The berm on the east side is high enough to block the headlights and bumpers but not totally sight obscuring. Jentz said in the discussions about this development staff pushed them as hard as they could to find places for the landscaping and parking. There is an existing church which limits what they can do so staff couldn't ask for a duplication of the east side because there wasn't the room. Kalispell City Planning Board Minutes of the meeting of February 10, 2009 Page 5 of 3 However, Jentz added when the board sees it when it is all completed it will pull together really well. Having a higher berm in front of the bank is a priority because keeping those headlights away from Highway 93 is important. MOTION - ADD CONDITION Clark moved and Hinchey seconded a motion to add # 11 condition # 11 that would prohibit bank parking in the easterly parking area, along Highway 93. In addition signage is required that reads "Church Parking Only". BOARD DISCUSSION There was discussion on the parking requirements for the church and the bank. Conrad said the church is meeting their minimum with the 71 parking spaces and the bank needs a bit less than 1/2 of that amount. The bank has parking to the south of the bank and parking south of the church between the church and the bank, which will be plenty. Jentz said he thinks this is a good compromise and the bank's representative said they can live with that condition. ROLL CALL - ADD The motion passed on a roll call vote of 4 in favor and 2 CONDITION # 11 opposed. BOARD DISCUSSION Williamson said he is in the position of designing parking lots and he is not frustrated with the applicant because he sees some difficult design challenges, mostly because of the existing building and he thinks they have done what they can to carry the trend across the highway. To try and relocate some of the parking the board has heard from the developer's representative why they can't do that and in Williamson's experience what they are saying makes sense. This is a good layout for the property and for that reason Williamson can support it as is. Clark said under the circumstances this is a good layout and with the amendment he will support the project. Hull said they are not allowed the sign logo along the highway yet other businesses have signs facing the highway. Jentz noted those other businesses were part of the hospital PUD. Conrad said he wanted to address the comment made by Mr. Hausen regarding the need for a left -turn signal at the intersection of Northridge Drive and Highway 93 North. MDT is already planning to install left -turn signals at that intersection by this summer. ROLL CALL - ORIGINAL The motion passed, as amended, on a roll call vote of 5 in MOTION favor and 1 opposed. Kalispell City Planning Board Minutes of the meeting of February 10, 2009 Page 6 of 3 KALISPELL WEST GROWTH A request by the city of Kalispell to amend the Kalispell POLICY AMENDMENT Growth Policy 2020 by generally expanding the boundaries of the Growth Policy map west using Church Drive as the northern boundary, Two Mile Drive as the southern boundary, Farm to Market Road as the western boundary and using the existing city limit boundary and the Stillwater River as the eastern boundary. The Growth Policy amendment is intended to give broad policy direction to growth in this area should property owners wish to annex to the city. The policy anticipates the extension of urban services including sewer and water into this area over time and is designed to give guidance to this associated growth. STAFF REPORT KGPA-09-01 Tom Jentz, representing the Kalispell Planning Department reviewed staff report KGPA-09-01 for the board. Jentz reviewed the history of this amendment and public meetings including the planning board work sessions, West Valley Community Open House meetings, and meetings with the West Valley and Riverdale Land Use Advisory Committees, the West Valley School Board, large property owners in the area and the gravel industry. Jentz said this planning process has been generally well - received. He pointed out this plan has no affect on property owners who may want to develop their land and choose not to annex into the city. Those owners would then work with Flathead County. If however they choose to annex into Kalispell this would be the guiding document. Jentz continued during the meetings and work sessions, staff received 3 comments: What happens around gravel pits? Jentz said the gravel industry will for all practical purposes not come into the city and cannot be forcibly annexed into the city. There would however be a buffer around the gravel pits which is described in the growth policy amendment. Secondly, an issue came up that we missed some of the gravel pits on our map which will be added into our inventory. And finally, the board received copies of a petition that indicates that if Rose Crossing is extended in the future it should not connect with Rhodes Draw through their subdivision. Jentz said therefore 2 amendments should be considered by the board; to modify the Growth Policy Map by adding the known gravel pits and secondly to show the extension of Rose Crossing westerly to West Valley Drive as a solid line with an arrow pointing westerly to Farm to Market Road denoting the extension of Rose Crossing but not specifying a specific alignment. Staff recommends that the Kalispell City Planning Board Kalispell City Planning Board Minutes of the meeting of February 10, 2009 Page 7 of 3 and Zoning Commission take public comment, make any changes they feel appropriate and should, by resolution resolve to recommend the Kalispell West Growth Policy Amendment to the City Council for final action and adoption. BOARD DISCUSSION None. APPLICANT/CONSULTANT None. PUBLIC HEARING Harry Brown - 589 Church Drive said according to the description of the amendment it states that Church Drive will be the northern boundary of the growth policy. However the boundary does not follow Church Drive and in fact deviates and goes right through his house and bisects the County's Harvest View Subdivision. Jentz explained the location for the board and said it would be appropriate for the board to amend the northern boundary to follow the exact route of Church Drive. MOTION Clark moved and Hinchey seconded a motion to adopt Resolution KGPA-09-01 and recommend that the Kalispell West Growth Policy Amendment be forward to the City Council for final action and adoption. BOARD DISCUSSION None. MOTION - GRAVEL PITS & Williamson moved and Hinchey seconded a motion to ROSE CROSSING amend the Kalispell West Growth Policy Amendment Map to EXTENSION include all known gravel pits as of this date; and to change the future extension of Rose Crossing to shown as a solid line westerly to West Valley Drive and adding an arrow pointing west that indicates the actual alignment for extension beyond West Valley Drive is yet to be determined until development in the area occurs. ROLL CALL - GRAVEL PITS The motion passed unanimously on a roll call vote. MOTION - CHURCH DRIVE Hull moved and Hinchey seconded a motion to amend the BOUNDARY Kalispell West Growth Policy Amendment Map to follow the exact location of Church Drive for the northern boundary. BOARD DISCUSSION Schutt noted part of the reason they chose that boundary between West Valley Drive and Farm to Market Road is they were trying to avoid some of the issues they have had in the past where a road is built to County standards on one side of the road and to City standards including the road, curb, gutter, sidewalks, etc. when development occurs on the opposite side of the road. He added that is also the reason the west boundary was selected. Schutt asked the other board members if we are setting ourselves up for that same issue in the future. Kalispell City Planning Board Minutes of the meeting of February 10, 2009 Page 8 of 3 Jentz said this plan would not preclude the County side of a road from being developed as a City street. The growth policy map will not impact the level the road is built to if development occurs along the road. Jentz added the second reason why the boundary was chosen is it is also the boundary for the Kalispell Transportation Plan which was also the recommendation by the County Commissioners. In addition it is also the boundary for Kalispell's Public Works Facilities Plan and the Parks & Recreation Master Plan. However, Jentz felt this amendment was appropriate and would clearly define the boundary. Hinchey felt the amendment was appropriate and Clark concurred. ROLL CALL - CHURCH The motion passed on a roll call vote of 5 in favor and 1 DRIVE BOUNDARY opposed. ROLL CALL - ORIGINAL The original motion, as amended, passed unanimously on a MOTION roll call vote. OLD BUSINESS: None. NEW BUSINESS: Conrad and Jentz reviewed the projects for the next planning board meeting for the board. Hull suggested that the pre-release center hearing be scheduled first on the agenda and the other projects be scheduled to start at 8:00 p.m. Jentz agreed the center should be first on the agenda but added there is a community meeting regarding the center on February 26th, at 7:00 p.m., located at 2282 US Highway 93 South (the proposed location of the facility). In addition, the business/property owners in this area have been contacted by the company to inform them of the facility and answer any questions, which has been very well -received. Jentz thought since the information on the center will have had a good deal of exposure before the public hearing it may not be necessary to schedule the other agenda items at 8:00 p.m. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at approximately 8:30 p.m. BNSF (CORE) Immediately following the regular meeting a work session REDEVELOPMENT PLAN was held on the following item: 1. BNSF (Core) Revitalization Plan NEXT MEETING A work session of the Kalispell City Planning Board and Zoning Commission is scheduled for February 24, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. in the Kalispell City Council Chambers located at 201 1st Avenue East in Kalispell. The tentative agenda will include: Kalispell City Planning Board Minutes of the meeting of February 10, 2009 Page 9 of 3 1. An update on the status of the proposed Pre -Release Center. 2. Hockaday Museum of Art PUD 3. Kalispell City Zoning Ordinance Update. The next regular meeting of the Kalispell City Planning Board and Zoning Commission is scheduled for Tuesday, March 10, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. in the Kalispell City Council Chambers located at 201 First Avenue East in Kalispell. /s/ Bryan H. Schutt Bryan H. Schutt President APPROVED as submitted: 03/ 10/09 / s / Michelle Anderson Michelle Anderson Recording Secretary Kalispell City Planning Board Minutes of the meeting of February 10, 2009 Page 10 of 3