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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-04-21 PZC MINUTES·~ • • • Planning and Zoning Commiss ion Study Session Case #2008-03 Downtown and Medical Di stri ct Amend me nt s April 2 1, 2009 Page I of 5 CITY OF ENGLEWOOD PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING April 21, 2009 I. CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the City Planning and Zoning Commission was ca ll ed to order at 7:03 p .m. in the Community Development Conference Room of the Englewood Civic Center, Chair Bleile presiding . Present: Absent: Staff: Bleile, Roth , King, Welke r, Calonder, Krieger, Knoth, Brick, Kinton Fish Alan White, Director, Community Development Department Tricia Langon, Senior Planner John Voboril, Planner Nancy Reid , Assistant City Attorney II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES March 3, 2009 Knoth moved: Krieger seconded : TO APPROVE THE MARCH 3, 2009 MINUTES Chair Bleile asked if there were any modifications or corrections. Mr. Roth noted on page 2, second paragraph, the last word (of) should be deleted. AYES: NAYS: Bleile, Roth , Welk er, Krieger, Calonder, Knoth, King, Brick None ABSTAIN: None ABSENT: Fish Motion carried . April 7, 2009 Roth moved: Knoth seconded : TO APPROVE THE APRIL 7, 2009 MINUTES Chair Bleile asked if there were any modifications or corrections . • • • Planning and Zon in g Commi ss ion Study Se ss ion Case #2008-03 Downtown and Medical Di strict Amendmen ts April 21, 2009 Page 2 of S There were none. AYES: NAYS: ABSTAIN: ABSENT : Bleile, Roth, Welker, Krieger, Calonder, Knoth, King, Brick None None Fish Motion carried . Ill. UDC TEXT AMENDMENTS FOR THE NEW MEDICAL ZONE DISTRICTS ~ The Commission briefly discussed how the y would review tonight's proposed amendments. They all agreed the y wanted to discuss the proposed parking amendments and not what was reviewed at the April 7th meeting. Mr. Voboril reviewed the structure of the public hearing to take place on May 5th. He stated there will be two cases , 2008-03 (T ext Amendments) and ZON2009-01 (Amendm en t to Zoning Map ) heard under one hearing. There will be two sets of Findings of Fact. Ms. Krieger asked if there were to be two separate motions. Mr. Voboril said yes, there will be two separate motions and votes. The Text Amendments will be heard first. Mr. Voboril began a PowerPoint presentation on parking. He reviewed past discussions on parking and the Walker Parking Study that was completed in Decemb er 2008 . The value of the Art Shuttle was discussed . Several Commissioners feel smaller businesses need more parking, not less, but is hard to do on small lots . Mr. Welker stated he is a believer in shared parking, but the smaller businesses are not going to be able to do that as easily. Mr. Voboril said most cities basically follow the Institute of Transportation Engineers Parking Generation Manual. The y determin e parking generations rates for different types of uses. They are usually based upon a fairly small sample of observations, typicall y 20 or fewer in locations that are not documented. That's an issue because not all locations are the same . The American Planning Association believes off-street parking requirements should be determined based on surveys of local conditions . They believe a City should look at current existing uses , study them, find out what type of parking they are generating and use that as a basis for determining codes for new development. The liberalized approach a number of cities, such as Milwaukee and Portland, use is to establish a very low base line of minimum parking standards and then essentially leave it to the market to decide. This creates a lot of flexibility for inner city developments. He reviewed sample requirements for both Milwaukee and Portland and compared them to Englewood 's current Code. Next, the Denver Main Street Zoning and Cherry Creek North Parking Codes were reviewed. Discussion ensued. • • • Planning and Zoning Commission Study Session Case #2008-03 Downtown and Medical District Amendment s April 21 , 2009 Page 3 of 5 Mr. Voboril presented a slide of proposed Medical District parking requirements. Next, he showed slides of several different size lot la y outs showing how the proposed parking would lay out. Commission members commented on each slide . Mr. Welker asked the members to propose some wording for the Ordinance and required number of spaces for a certain size lot. Mr. Brick said 2 spaces for a small lot. Mr. Roth would like 3 spaces . Mr. Knoth reminded the Commission the new Codes will onl y come into effect if a property is torn down and rebuilt. He would like to see the higher parking ratio as that will be better for the City long term . Discussion ensued . Chair Bleile said Mr. Voboril cannot frame anything unless the Commission gives him directions and what he is hearing is the Commission is all over the board at this time . Mr. Brick asked if some of the smaller lots could become public parking. Mr. Voboril stated it could if the City had the money to purchase the properties. Ms. Reid reminded the Commission that the buildings currently in this area are grandfathered in . Mr. Kinton exited the meeting at this time . Mr. Welker said parking is going to be a continual problem in areas of the City. If the City is generating rezoning that is going to change the density of building, the Commission must think about the parking we are requiring or we have to start building parking and pay for it. Ms . Krieger agreed . Mr. Knoth asked for a show of hands of who wants more parking than proposed on small lots . Several raised their hands. Next he asked those who did not raise their hand if the y wanted to keep the parking as is or just don't care . Mr. Welker said he did not know. Chair Bleile said he doesn't know enough to make a decision. Mr. King said he believes the City must give some leeway regarding parking on the small lots or people are not going to build anything. Ms. Krieger said she felt several of Mr. Voboril 's examples were fine. After lengthy discussion the Commission suggested adjustments to be made to the proposed parking requirement chart. Several Commissioners commented on the fact that the larger retail users in the City appear to have too much parking available. Ms. Langon noted that just because it appears there are excess parking spaces available, that ma y not be a result of the City requiring a certain number of parking spaces but the developer wanting more. The City's standards are minimum standards. Mr. Voboril suggested the parking section be omitted from the Text Amendments due to the fact more discussion is necessary. Mr. Welker stated he would like to see the parking standards relaxed to a point that they are realistic, but not to a point where they are a problem. He would like to encourage development. • • • Planning and Zoning Commission Study Session Case #2008-03 Downtown and Medical District Amendments April 21, 2009 Page 4 of 5 Consensus was to remove parking from the current Text Amendments and revisit the issue at a later date. Mr. White said one item has come up regarding the hospital that is a concern. The concern is with removing Hospital as a permitted use in the MU-R-3-B and M-0-1 zone districts in the Table of Allowed Uses. The way it is structured would remove hospital use from every MU-R-3-B zoned property in the City. The intention of these text amendments is to create a medical zone district and standards for this particular area. Adjustments to the Table of Allowed Uses that affect areas other than the Medical District have not been considered . Further, this change has not been discussed with Swedish to date. The definition of Hospital in the Code also includes ancillary fac ilities to a hospital. Swedish currently has offices in the proposed M-0-1 zone district. The question becomes "what can they really do with this property if you remove hospital as a permitted use ". Do we write some grandfathering language into this Ordinance? Mr. Welker said he would like to propose a solution. First of all, he doesn't mean the same thing for M-0-1 and MU-R-3-B . He doesn't have a problem with ancillary buildings on Girard Avenue, but he does have a problem with the hospital expanding further or past a certain line. If we leave it so that the hospital and/or ancillary buildings can be in MU-R-3-B anywhere, we have done nothing to protect this neighborhood. He believes the overlay district, M-0-1, needs to be separate from MU-R-3-B so Hospital is not allowed in MU-R-3-B . Mr. King asked about including the M-0-1 zone district to the north of Girard in the M-1 with a 32 foot height restriction. Mr. Welker felt that was a very good idea. H e does not wan t to take anything away from the hospital. Ms. Krieger asked if th e Commission can do that in the upcoming hearing. Mr. Welker said he could not. Ms. Krieger said that was the point she was just trying to make. Ms. Krieger said it seems to her the answer is to change the definition of hospital remo v ing ancillary structures. After length y discussion it was decided to look into either changing the definition for "hospital" or giving the M-0-1 zone district its own column in the chart. The chart, as written at this time, regarding hospital use will be left as is. The issue will be revisited at a later date. IV . PUBLIC FORUM ~ There was no public present. V . DIRECTOR 'S CHOICE Mr. White had nothing further . • • • Planning and Zoning Commission Study Session Case #2008-03 Downtown and Medical District Amendments April 21, 2009 Page 5 of 5 VI. STAFF'S CHOICE ~ Ms . Langon provided an update on future meetings: Public Hearings -UDC Amendments and Rezoning of Medical and Downtown District. Tentative: Continuation of Landscaping Discussion She noted at last nights City Council meeting driveways and parking areas were discussed. The Planning and Zoning Commission will be seeing that issue in the future Council proposed crushed rock as an approved material. The 7,000 pound weight limit of commercial vehicles will also be coming back to the Commission at som e point. VII. ATTORNEY'S CHOICE ~ Ms. Reid had nothing further to report. VIII. COMMISSIONER'S CHOICE ltjlJ Chair Bleile said he thought if a person did not have alley access to their backyard the rule that you must park a trail er in the backya rd was not in effect for that particular piece of property . Ms. Lan go n said zoning does not address the t ype of ve hicl e. Chair Bl eil e said he und e rstood that, but what if a property do es not have a back yard. Ms. Langon stated zoning does not address that issue. She said she believes Code Enforcement may have discussed that in the past and noted City Council discussed it a week ago. Chair Bleile asked if a trailer is parked in the front is that a zoning issue or Code Enforcement issu e. Ms . Reid stated it is a Code Enforcement issue. Chair Bleile asked if it could be brought into zoning. Ms. Langon noted there are three Titles of the Code that address the same areas and are not consistent. The issue will b e coming forward in the future . Mr. Brick stated he had recentl y read the most recent Community Development 2008 Annual Report and felt it was very well done. He said kudos to the department. The meeting adjourned at 9:25 p .m . ~. Barbara Krecklo w,