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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNovember 4, 2004 P&Z Minutes Meridian Pianning & Zoning November 4.2004 Page 31 of 64 Borup: Yes. Canning: Before you start the next hearing, I wanted to introduce someone to you. The blond haired gentleman behind me is Josh Wilson and he's our new planner, our new associate city planner, and he's hot seating it with Craig right now until Mike Valentine gets me an office space. Zaremba: Welcome. Newton-Huckabay: Hello, Josh. Borup: Thank you. Canning: He comes to us from Blaine County. They have trained him really well how to do subdivisions, so he's doing great stuff for us and we enjoy having him here. Item 6: Public Hearing: PP 04-037 Request for Preliminary Plat approval for 11 commercial building lots and 2 common lots on 36.93+ acres in a C-G zone for Smitchger Subdivision by Ustick Marketplace, LLC - NEC of Eagle Road and Ustick Road: Borup: Okay. Okay. Next item is Public Hearing PP 04-037, request for preliminary plat approval of 11 commercial building lots, two common lots, in a C-G zone for Smitchger Subdivision by Ustick Marketplace. I'd like to open this hearing and start with the staff report. Hawkins-Clark: Thank you, Chairman Borup, Members of the Commission. This item is on the property located at the northeast corner of Ustick and Eagle Roads. The application is for a preliminary plat, 11 commercial building lots. The property is -- was annexed several months ago to Commercial General and as you may recall, there was a development agreement that discussed the Lowe's Home Improvement Center, which is under construction right now. Today, as you can see, there are two parcels that exist and that is the only two legal lots that they have today, so the purpose of this request is to subdivide into further lots that they can convey. The property, as I mentioned, this aerial does not reflect it, they are in the process of making several improvements, the most substantial of which is a new commercial street, which is running along this eastern boundary. The P&Z Commission and City Council also required a six-foot sound wall along that entire east boundary, which is also currently under construction. This is a copy of the preliminary plat that they submitted with their application. You can see down here in the southeast corner the footprint of the Lowe's and, then, generally their lot is this area. It is, actually, a flag lot that has frontage on Highway 55, Eagle Road. That's the only flag lot that is in here. There are two other lots that are, actually, internal to the project that would have access on an internal commercial driveway that don't have frontage. All the rest either have frontage on Ustick Road or Eagle Road. Many of the landscaping issues were dealt with during the building permit for the Lowe's building. They submitted at that time a perimeter landscape plan that showed a 20-foot Meridian Planning & Zoning November 4,2004 Page 32 of 64 wide buffer against Providence Place Subdivision on the east. As I mentioned, there is a sound wall there as well. Landscaping on Ustick and Eagle Road is 35-foot wide buffers. The main question -- there is two issues that were brought up in the staff report that I wanted to point out orally here on the record and those start on page five of the staff report. Well, just before that, there is finding E. There is those five findings that the city does have to make before you can approve a preliminary plat and one of those findings does deal with the health, safety, or environmental problems or issues that maybe arise because of a plat. In there staff just wanted to point out the fact that Market Square hearings -- during those Market Square hearings, which was the name of the annexation for this project, there was quite a bit of discussion about traffic and what would be generated at this site. Obviously, it is a critical intersection for Meridian and for this entire area of the valley, really. The analysis that was provided by Earthtech Engineers, traffic engineers, projected at build out they would have 10,825 vehicles per day, 272 a.m. peak and -- and p.m. peak of 945. I'm sorry. So, as you know, the -- I mean I guess I point that out, because this Commission can, in reviewing plats -- and, obviously, traffic is a concern out here -- make decisions, in part, on transportation issues, as long as it's tied to this finding and the Ada County Highway District has reviewed it, their commission has approved this. And ITD has also granted the property owner two points of access onto Highway 55. The first one is right here on this flag lot that Lowe's has, that is right in, right-out only. The second one is on the north boundary that is shared with the Nazarene church to the north and that's Bald Cyprus. That was approved as a full approach left and right. Special consideration number one on page five is the West Broadleaf Street extension. That is shown here coming -- stubbing to this property from Providence and the applicant -- this was really dealt with during the development agreement process, but just to refresh your memory that it's a pedestrian only, not a full vehicular access. We are basically just asking for Ada County Highway District to confirm that they are okay with that. I was told by the applicant tonight that their staff report actually says that they are okay with the pedestrian only, so I guess if the Commission is comfortable with that, then, that's fine. They are, basically, going to extend landscaping into the right of way a little bit, because this is a 50-foot wide opening and, of course, the pedestrian is only ten to 15, so they are going to close that with landscaping within ACHD's right of way. So, that would be a license agreement with them. Zaremba: Mr. Chairman. Brad, excuse me. Hawkins-Clark: Uh-huh. Zaremba: And I may not recall it -- be recalling this correctly, but -- although it was going to be a pedestrian access, we did still want to preserve some emergency access through there, didn't we? Or are they closing it down too far that a fire truck couldn't go through there? Hawkins-Clark: Commissioner, I don't recall your recommendation to the Council. That may have been your recommendation, but the way that the Council approved it was pedestrian only. Meridian Planning & Zoning November 4, 2004 Page 33 of 64 Zaremba: Okay. Newton-Huckabay: I don't think we recommended to the Council that it be pedestrian access only. Hawkins-Clark: And it is -- Zaremba: I remember discussion about it and I didn't -- and I, frankly, don't remember the exact result of the discussion. But I know we talked about it, because the neighbors didn't want a vehicular access and since it goes directly into the back of a building, I would be willing to believe that we agreed to that, although I don't remember it that way either. Hawkins-Clark: Just for clarification on that, the emergency services would be Boise city at that boundary. So, in terms of response, I mean I -- granted I believe there is memorandums of agreement or whatever between the emergency service providers, but, you know, this is a service boundary between Meridian fire and Boise fire. Zaremba: Okay. Thank you. Sorry to interrupt. Hawkins-Clark: No. That's fine. Thank you. The second issue we wanted to point out was the right-in, right-out. There were no details provided to us how that will be controlled. That's something that, for the most part, is going to be an ITD decision, although it is on the -- within the boundaries of this plat, of course, so I think if -- we have seen the pork chop designs, which, you know, basically, you have a raised median there, which force the right turn and it just -- it's less of an incentive for people to try to make a left and, you know, just ask Mr. Smith, who is representing them tonight, to kind of maybe touch on that and to clarify with the Commission how that's going to -- how that's going to work. And, then, the third item was on Bald Cyprus on the north there. The city code says that if you're the sub-divider of land, you need to provide all the street buffers there. There is currently -- the landscape plan, nor the plat show a ten foot wide landscape easement on the south side of Bald Cyprus up here and that as long as this is one phase, all the improvements within that single phase would need to be provided by this sub-divider, so we are just asking for the-- to be added in. And I guess that's probably the main issues that I had. Borup: Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. Anything the developer would like to add? Mr. Smith. Smith: Matt Smith, 12601 West Explorer Drive, Suite 200, Boise, Idaho. Just a couple. I concur with everything the staff has done. They always do a great job. Just to clarify a couple things, the -- safety is always an issue. The road that we have put in on the east side of the property was to help alleviate a lot of the traffic that's going on. That was, actually, a million dollar cost for our project, but we do think that's an important part to bring traffic off of Eagle and to be able to circulate it up through there. Secondly, to Meridian Planning & Zoning November 4,2004 Page 34 of 64 address Brad's comment on the pork chop on the right-in, right-out, we, too, on the best way to do a right-in, right-out. My suggestion would be that we work with ITD, as well as the traffic engineers to find the best way to do that. Pork chops -- the only problem that we have seen with pork chops is the truck drivers have a real tough time and it is always hopped over and the snow plowers always hit them. So, I would suggest that we work with the traffic engineer and staff here to try to find, if not a better way to put that together, but we, too, are interested in controlling that. And with that that's all we have. Borup: Questions from the Commission? Zaremba: I do have one. And this is referring to the ACHD report, which you probably don't have memorized, but on page five a discussion on the right of way. In the capital improvements plan they are expecting Ustick to be five lanes with curb, gutter, and sidewalk, but they say after analyzing the site, staff believes that the intersection will require seven to eight lanes at the intersection of Eagle and Ustick and I guess my question do you -- if you have read that or if you remember that -- Smith: I know it very well. Zaremba: -- and are you allowing -- in your design are you allowing for that to eventually happen? Smith: We are. Zaremba: Okay. Thank you. Smith: You bet. Borup: Anything else? Okay. Thank you. Do we have anyone else that would like to testify on this? Have we got anybody signed up? Beck: My name is Richard Beck, I live at 3723 North Bottlebrush Avenue. Mr. Chairman, Members of the Commission, tonight I come representing the Heather Meadows neighborhood association. They -- the board of directors asked me to come and present some concerns and questions that we have. The first -- the concerns -- the concerns we have have to deal with findings that you would have to make to approve this subdivision. Particularly finding D and E. They deal with existing services and safety and health issues. First traffic. As many people who drive Ustick know, at the peak hours in the evening there is a considerable backing or stacking. Would it be possible to get the aerial photo? Is there a laser pointer? It isn't -- it is common at times to have the traffic back up even to the first entrance of Heather Meadows. I've even seen it back up to the second. There is a third entrance back here. But one of the concerns that we have as far as existing services go, our question is can the existing services meet -- I guess naming the traffic -- the traffic infrastructure, can they support this development. One of our concerns will lead to cut-through traffic through the Meridian Pianning & Zoning November 4,2004 Page 35 of 64 neighborhood in this manner. I know probably when I sit down Mr. Smith may term cut- through traffic as a red herring, but it is something that we are already experiencing in the neighborhood. And I guess the primary concerns -- you know, as you have heard -- we hear rumors of other developments, other things may be coming in in the future in probably the four corners, we are concerned about the infrastructure now. Another item we are concerned about with the new road and Bald Cyprus going through is speeding. We'd like to know if there is going to be anything -- anything put in place to help with that. They are straight -- straight roads, both of them, and wide. The other question we have are such as with police services. We were wondering how many -- I guess how often the area will be patrolled, how many people will patrol it, and those type of things. If the police -- police officers for the City of Meridian are -- have enough staff to cover it. And some of the complaints -- some of the complaints that we have had -- does that mean my time's up? Borup: Yes. Beck: Can I have a couple more minutes? Borup: Pardon? Beck: Can I have a couple more minutes? Borup: Commissioners, would you like to hear some more? Moe: Mr. Chairman, he did point out when we first started that he was representing the subdivision, so I would say yes. Borup: Okay. Go ahead, sir. Beck: I will finish up quickly. Thank you. A few other things that neighbors have mentioned are construction start times. A few people have complained about early early start times in some of the construction, they are concerned about some of the future buildings and the start times there. And some airborne pollutants. I'm not sure if there is already existing city codes that would cover these, but those are some of the questions that were brought to our intention. But we would ask you to consider the existing infrastructure, the services, and thank you for allowing us to provide some public input. Borup: Any other questions from the Commission. I just wanted to -- the construction start times you're -- it's for the project that's before you tonight, the new construction along Eagle Road? That's where the concern was? Beck: Uh-huh, It's basically brought up with the Lowe's project -- with the Lowe's building. Melidian Planning & Zoning November 4,2004 Page 36 of 64 Borup: Right. And that's already -- and that was why I asked. It looks like that's a pretty good buffer, the building. Beck: Yeah, I guess the only other area of concern was to the north where the other big .box might be located. Borup: Okay. Zaremba: There are rules about the hours that construction can go on. How has your experience been with the Lowe's project? Beck: Well, I'm not privileged to live adjacent to the site. We do have some friends who live there and I'm not -- they have never really -- I don't remember specific start times, they just said it was early. Borup: Okay. Thank you. Okay. Emma Beck, did she wish to testify, too? Steven Holland? Okay, Thank you. Okay. That's all that signed up. Was there anyone else that -- okay. Mr. Smith, anything you'd like to conclude with? Smith: I don't think I got all the points, but just to comment on some of them. The cut- through traffic, that's one of the reasons we did put that road in there, that new road, is so that -- and that's one of the reasons Broadleaf is a pedestrian, is because we thought -- I think the Commission especially thought that that would be a cut. I think that was a good idea. I think to cut through the neighborhood up to Bald Cyprus is pretty difficult. It's swings. The developer did a nice job designing that through there. So, I think that's pretty tough. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I think people will be more apt to go ahead and take this new road that goes directly north that they are trying to cut this subdivision. So, I'm hoping and believe that will help mitigate that. Also, as far as the current structure, it's -- we all know we have problems on the roads. We -- just to let you know what's happening there, we are working with the developer on the other side - - we are hoping this will work -- with Winston Moore over here on this piece to come together and to front some of the cash hopefully to be able to widen this earlier. We are working with ACHD to do that. We think it's -- we think it will handle it as is. It's not going to be optimal. But I think as we go ahead and get that widened earlier, it will be to everyone's benefit, so we are working on that. And, then, working time -- Borup: So, you're saying you're looking at doing those improvements -- Smith: Not ourselves, we are working with ACHD -- Borup: To move that timetable up? Smith: Correct. We are trying to find the funds to put that together. Just as a way of information, we are working pro-actively to try to put that together with all four of the corners right here to make that a better intersection earlier and with ITD, so just as a way of information. Meridian Pianning & Zoning November 4,2004 Page 37 of 64 Newton-Huckabay: Well, I'm sure everybody wants those widened. Smith: Yeah. It will help. There is no question. Just a matter of getting the funds and we can do it. Working time. I think -- I think the ordinance is 5:00 to 11 :00. I'm sure they are noisy. We are -- we have had some calls, we have responded to those as soon as we received those, and both contractors -- one is doing the -- the building and ours, we are doing the site improvements -- have worked with them. We have asked the contractors to definitely abide by those times, so we are cognizant of that and working. It's not an easy thing, but we are definitely reminding and calling as soon as we are hearing of those happening, so -- Borup: Okay. Questions from any of the Commissioners? Thank you. Moe: Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to close the Public Hearing. Rohm: Second. Borup: Motion and second to close the hearing. All in favor? Any opposed? MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Moe: Mr. Chairman, I move that we forward to City Council recommending approval of PP 04-037, to include all staff comments and conditions of the staff memo for the hearing date November 4th, 2004, received October 27th, 2004, with one change and that would be on page six on item number two of the special considerations, I'd like to just add one last sentence that the developer will work with staff and ITD to design proper right-in, right-out approach. End of motion. Rohm: Second. Borup: Motion and second. All in favor? Any opposed? MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Item 9: Public Hearing: CUP 04-041 Request for a Conditional Use Permit for an espresso/internet café in the C-N zone for Joltz Internet Café by Joltz Internet Café, LLC - SEC of West Franklin Road and Linder Road Borup: Thank you. Next item is CUP 04-041, request for a conditional use permit for an espresso/internet cafe in a C-N zone for Joltz Internet Cafe. I'd like to open this hearing and start with the staff report. Hawkins-Clark: Chairman Borup, Members of the Commission, this Conditional Use Permit is for a new restaurant use in a C-N zone. The current Meridian city code does require restaurants in the C-N. This is -- of our three commercial zones, this is the least