12-18-14 Site Review MinutesSITE DEVELOPMENT REVIEW COMMITTEE SUMMARY
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Lower Level Conference Room
201 First Avenue East
ATTENDING:
Jeff Clawson, Building Official Chad Fincher, Parks & Rec. Director
Keith Haskins, Senior Civil Engineer Tom Jentz, Planning & Building Director
Rick Parker, Bldg. Dept. Inspector Wade Rademacher, Police Captain
Rebekah Wargo, Asst. Civil Engineer P.J. Sorensen, Chairman
Kathy Nelson, Recording Secretary
GUESTS: James Freyholtz, Montana Department of Transportation
PERFORMANCE BOND REMINDERS: None.
OLD BUSINESS:
J2 Office Products — 700 Sunset Blvd. —Wargo stated Public Works has sent them comments on the
Design Report. We are still waiting for a revised Landscape Plan. This project has two properties
under different names, although they are both owned by the same owner. They will need to
consolidate those. City Attorney Charlie Harball is working on the vacation of our easement that
goes through the property. Freyholtz asked about what was going along Hwy 93. Sorensen noted
they are putting in truncated domes with the sidewalk in two locations. Freyholtz stated they will
need an encroachment permit from MDT for any work they do within their right-of-way. This will be
on the agenda for next week.
NEW BUSINESS: None.
Earl Bennett Building II — We are still waiting for this project to come in. They will be opening
bids toward the end of the month. Jentz noted that Ken Siderius was in yesterday and suggested that
we try to get as much sidewalk in as we can because the parking lot for this project could serve as
overflow parking for Legends Stadium. Mr. Siderius plans to discuss this with the School District as
well.
PLANNING OFFICE ITEMS:
Stillwood Farms — proposed amended plat. Two townhouse lots at North Riding Road and Three
Mile Drive. They will have a shared driveway. Haskins noted they will need a plat change for no
egress. Sewer will be off of Three Mile Drive. There is a secondary emergency access going to North
Riding Road, with a minimum width driveway and be designated as a private drive. This will be on
the agenda for next week.
Financial Drive — Their proposal for four 4-plex units has been changed to three 4-plex units. Their
recreation amenities are working now. The stormwater is still a big issue. They are proposing a long
linear between the property line and the foundation. Wargo noted they would not approve this as
proposed. Their setbacks were discussed. They need to be 50' from the foundation. Public Works
will get back with the developer on this. They may aggregate the two lots. They also have some
encroachments and easements to work around. This will be on the agenda for next week.
OTHER BUSINESS:
Bloomstone — Haskins noted the project has gone through many iterations of design changes and
wanted to make sure everyone was okay with where the design ended up.
Recently the engineer provided a sheet on mailbox details for the apartment complex. Jentz noted he
recently had communications with a developer who wanted to purchase the apartment complex
property and improve the layout of the buildings, parking, and roadways. Haskins pointed out that we
already have water, sewer, and storm mains in at this project. The layout can't change too much
without having major impacts on the previously installed infrastructure.
Jentz is concerned about the noise barrier. He recalled there should be a 12' berm between the
property line and the parking lot. There are sections of sound berm and sound fence paralleling the
bypass. Jentz stated the sound fence would not work, as that is a residential fence, not a sound wall
which is required. If the fence is higher than 6 feet it is a wall and walls cannot be fence.
The fencing around the retention pond meets Public Works requirements. There is no detailing
provided regarding what the fence looks like. Because the pond is so close to the back lots, they
don't meet Public Works offset requirements for foundations and property lines. The engineer has
developed some foundation recommendations for the lots adjacent to the pond. Public Works has
asked them to put the geotechnical recommendations on the plat so someone purchasing the property
understands what the foundation finished floor elevation should be, and the depth of the crawl space,
and also the bearing pressure of the foundation walls. Because the 20 foot offset to property line isn't
met, the engineer plans to put a road down into the pond for maintenance; though a deviation from
the standards, this would meet our requirements. Haskins noted the pond side -slopes were 5 to 1 so
that the pond slopes could be mowed and maintained.
The parking lot layout and their roadways have not been reviewed yet. Between the buildings in the
apartment complex the engineer designed retention/retainage pond which is noted as a "shallow
pond", where the roof drains off of the buildings. Haskins is concerned about frozen ground in the
spring that will pond for a while.
Originally, the majority of Bloomstone's parkland requirement was going to be fulfilled by the 11
acres owned by DNRC which was going to be a neighborhood park next to them.
Bloomstone will probably need to sprinkler the apartment units due to the new building codes.
Haskins just wanted to make everyone aware of these changes.
Site Review — Because of Christmas Day and New Year's Day falling on the next two Thursdays, our
Site Review meetings for the next two weeks will be on Wednesdays at 10 a.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:40 a.m.
cc: Police City Manager FCAOA MDOT
Bldg Fire City Clerk City Airport
Planning Parks Comm. Dev. Public Works