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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFebruary 15, 2007 PZ Comm Meridian Planning & Zoning February 15, 2007 Page 21 of 80 Moe: Not necessarily. I'm pretty much in favor of the project. It's a great addition to that corner, as a matter of fact. Rohm: Commissioner Siddoway? Siddoway: No. As long as the width is at least 30 and there still will be alternative compliance required by staff as it comes through for final plat. I don't have a problem with that. I do think that the -- I would just add a comment to address Mr. McGraffs concern. A concrete wall alone would not buffer much sound. It actually can echo it. But landscaping can reduce that noise quite a bit and as they look at the required buffers between land uses along there, I just encourage staff to make sure that -- that that is a dense buffer with landscaping that can help mitigate that noise. Rohm: Thank you. Commissioner Borup? Borup: I have nothing. I mean we kind of looked at a lot of this when the rezone came through and when we talked about -- well, I didn't realize it was clear back in '05, though. I thought it was more recent than that. Rohm: Thank you. I guess my only final comments on this is having been around Meridian for a long fame, I gassed up at that corner for a long time and, you know, I'm sure this is going to be a great development and it's going to improve the looks of that corner, but, you know, just from a nostalgic perspective, I enjoyed going in there and buying a pop and it's definitely a change for the future and Meridian's growing up and I think this will be a nice improvement and -- but with that being said, I'm going to miss the old gas station. Could we get a motion, please? Moe: Mr. Chairman, after considering all staff, applicant, and public testimony, I move to recommend approval to City Council of file number PP 07-003 as presented in the staff report for the hearing date February 15th, 2007, with the following modification to the conditions of approval. That being that the applicant will provide alternative compliance along South Meridian Road prior to the City Council. End of motion. Borup: Second. Rohm: It's been moved and seconded to forward onto City Council recommending approval of PP 07 -003, with including all staff report with the aforementioned modification. All those in favor say aye. Opposed same sign? Motion carried. Thank you all for coming. MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE ABSENT. Item 11: Continued Public Hearing from January 4, 2007: AZ 06-058 Request for Annexation and Zoning of 38.01 acres from RUT (Ada County) to R-8 zone for Sagewood Subdivision by M & H Development, LLC - 4435 S. Meridian Road: Meridian Planning & Zoning February 15, 2007 Page 22 of 80 Item 12: Continued Public Hearing from January 4, 2007: PP 06-057 Request for Preliminary Plat approval of 115 single-family residential building lots and 6 common/other lots on 38.01 acres in a proposed R-8 zone for Sagewood Subdivision by M & H Development, LLC - 4435 S. Meridian Road: Rohm: Okay. At this time I'd like to reopen the continued Public Hearing from January 4th, 2007, Items No. AZ 06-058 and PP 06-057. Both of these items related to the Sagewood Subdivision and begin with the staff report. Watters: Thank you, Chairman Rohm, Members of the Commission. The applications before you are an annexation and zoning and preliminary plat request for Sagewood Subdivision. The property is 36.34 acres in size and is currently zoned RUT in Ada County. The subject property is located at 4435 South Meridian Road on the west side of South Meridian Road, approximately a half mile south of Victory. The property is bordered on the east by property that contains storage units, zoned RUT in Ada County. On the west by agricultural land, zoned RUT in Ada County. On the north by Meridian Heights Subdivision, zoned R-6 in Ada County. And on the south by residential property and agricultural land zoned RUT in Ada County. The property currently has an existing house and associated outbuildings at the southeast corner of the site. These buildings will be removed. The applicant is requesting that this property be annexed and zoned to the R-8 medium density residential zoning district, which complies with the Comprehensive Plan map designation of medium density residential. A preliminary plat is proposed for 115 single family residential building lots and seven common area lots on 36.34 acres of land. All lots meet the minimum dimensional standards of the R-8 zone for the property size. All lots, except for Lots 3, 8 and 9, Block 5, meet the minimum street frontage requirement of 50 feet. The applicant will be required to revise the plan to meet this requirement. The gross density of the proposed subdivision is 3.16 dwelling units per acre. Lot sizes range from 5,655 to 16,035 square feet. A variance is also requested to exceed the maximum block length allowed in a residential district. Staff is recommending denial of this request, because the applicant can comply with this requirement by adding a 15 foot wide pedestrian pathway within Block 1 midway here, which will provide pedestrian access from Meridian Road to South Springfield Avenue. The Commission is not required to make a recommendation on this application. The applicant -- put a copy of the landscape plan on here. The applicant is proposing 5.6 acres or 8.6 percent of the site as usable open space. Incorporated into the open space are walking paths, a ten foot wide multi-use pathway that runs along the southwest corner of the site here and also the applicant isn't proposing one I don't believe on here, but one is required along the state highway here. Walking paths are also proposed within the subdivision. A gazebo and patio area here at the corner here and playground equipment up at the north boundary here. A 40 foot wide buffer is proposed along South Meridian Road and a varying 20 to 40 foot wide buffer is proposed along West Harris Street here at the north of the property. A ten foot wide multi-use pathway is required along South Meridian Road, as I previously stated. Access to the site will be provided on the north by two public streets that intersect West Harris Street. One stub street is provided at the west boundary and one is provided at Meridian Planning & Zoning February 15, 2007 Page 23 of 80 the south boundary for future connectivity. Direct lot access to South Meridian Road is prohibited, except for the temporary emergency access point required by the fire department. ACHD and ITD have reviewed and approved the access points proposed on the plat. There are several homes in Meridian Heights Subdivision north of the site up here that take direct lot access to Harris Street, which is a collector street here. The applicant is proposing to combine some of the existing access points for the homes in Meridian Heights to prevent individual driveways to the collector. Staff is recommending approval of the subject annexation and zoning and preliminary plat applications based on the conditions stated in the staff report. I will stand for questions now. Rohm: Thank you, Sonya. Any questions of staff? Siddoway: Just one. Sonya, where was the multi-use path required? Watters: The multi-use pathway is required -- excuse me -- Commissioner Siddoway, Commissioners, along the southwest corner of the site and, then, also, since this development is along a state highway one is required along South Meridian Road here. Siddoway: Okay. Thank you. And the one along Meridian Road will be detached? Watters: It will be, yes. Siddoway: Okay. Moe: Mr. Chairman? Rohm: Commissioner Moe. Moe: I'm just kind of curious, Sonya is the southern portion of this subdivision -- is it part of the mixed use in the staff response for the south Meridian plan? That area right in there. Looking through your map I was kind of struck that it is actually part -- it looks like it's a little bit of -- in the mixed used area that was -- Watters: Commissioner Moe, Commissioners -- excuse me just one second here. The site is -- excuse me just a moment. Moe: I'm assuming it's, then, to the north of the mixed use area? Watters: Commissioner Moe, Commissioners, it is -- it excludes that. This lies within the medium density residential designation. Siddoway: Mr. Chairman? Rohm: Commissioner Siddoway. Meridian Planning & Zoning February 15, 2007 Page 24 of 80 Siddoway: One additional question. You mentioned the requirement to revise lots to meet frontage requirements. Does staff feel that's a simple task, that there is additional frontage in adjacent lots or are they going to wind up needing to remove a lot in order to make that happen? Watters: Commissioner Siddoway, Commissioners, I do believe that the applicant can do that. Siddoway: By adjusting? Watters: Uh-huh. By adjusting. Rohm: At this time would the applicant like to come forward, please? McKay: Good evening, Mr. Chairman, Members of the Commission. Becky McKay, Engineering Solutions, 1029 North Rosario, Meridian. I'm representing the applicant on this application. As Sonya indicated, this particular parcel lies along the south side of Harris. Harris Street is just a partial right of way approximately 40 feet wide with about 25 feet of asphalt, so it's kind of a substandard roadway. There is rolled curb, gutter, and sidewalk along the north side. Meridian Heights was platted in three phases. The first phase in '72, I think the second in '76, and, then, the last one in the mid '90s. This is the half mile at Highway 69. Therefore, as you well know, it's ITD's preference that if there is any signals or any collectors and also the city's preference, that they be at that half mile. So, in meeting with the neighbors out there, their primary concern was their nine lots which currently have -- abut Harris and back directly into Harris Street. So, their number one concern was can you come up with something that would allow us to enter Harris and not create a hazard. So, what we did is we -- I was fortunate that I had other developers in this section that I'm working with, we did a concept for Greg Johnson, a concept for Lee Centers, and, then, Lee Centers owns two 80 acre parcels that go onto the west. We also did just a rough bubble plan here for Walt Warner, so we could kind of fit all these puzzle pieces together and look at the picture as a whole. We had Washington Group International do our traffic study and they looked at the impact of the three projects in their entirety, even though this is what's before you this evening. Harris Street, Tanana Valley, will come in here with another roadway. They had a condition of approval that they would trust fund for 50 percent of the light if it could meet the warrant under the ITD standards. We would align with that and create a new collector roadway. Therefore, retaining the rolled curb, gutter, and sidewalk, the 25 feet of asphalt and, then, we would construct an eight foot wide median and, then, 25 foot curb openings. This would create almost like a frontage roadway with landscape buffering between the new corrector and the existing homes that front along Harris. So, the collector roadway would, therefore, shift to the south and would be completely rebuilt. Now, as the collector comes in and talking with ACHD, they envisioned that it would continue in. They didn't want it coming straight in, so it would come in in this fashion and, then, it would T off as another collector here. What we envisioned in the middle here is this is designated as a -- like a neighborhood park area right here in the mid section, so that would be the view corridor from this collector. You also had -- the Meridian Planning & Zoning February 15, 2007 Page 25 of 80 Williams pipeline runs along the southwest boundary of the subject property, goes up diagonally like this. In talking with Anna, she indicated that it was the city's desire, even though it's not shown on the current pathway plan, to make that a major multi-use pathway, since we have a 75 foot corridor that we have to protect anyway, so that's why we showed this corner and the multi-use pathway section here. That's just a little piece in the overall puzzle. As this property develops you will see the pathway here and, then, when we bring this parcel in for development, the pathway would continue on and, then, would lead to a future neighborhood park. So, that's kind of what we envisioned. As far as the density that's before you this evening, we are about 3.16 dwelling units per acre. The Meridian Heights Subdivision, just to kind of give you an idea of the existing density that's out there, is approximately 3.9 and that's based on the three phrases. They have kind of a mix out there. There are some stick built homes. I believe there are some mobile homes and some manufactured homes. So, it's kind of a -- because it was done over a long period of time, a little bit of a hodge-podge. The neighborhood was overly supportive I thought of the project. They all said we understand that at some point in time this property would develop, come up with an idea to, obviously, improve Harris, protect our access, and see what can be done to, obviously, facilitate getting that light in. We will be required to trust fund for 1/6th of that light. We did provide ACHD with a full traffic study and, then, our traffic engineer went back and did an analysis on the warrants for the light. So, hopefully, ITD will allow a signal to go in sooner than later. That's the hope of the neighborhood. As far as the project, our lot sizes range from about 56, 55, I think all the way up to I mean like 12,000 square feet on the bigger corner lot, but the medium lot size that you're looking at here is about 8,483 square feet. We have got 8.6 percent open space. Our primary open space is here along that corridor for Harris. We have got -- if Anna could put up the landscape plan -- or, sorry, Sonya. So, that kind of shows you the landscape plan. We'd have a pocket park here. It would be open to Harris, so you wouldn't have a real wall effect. Our landscaping along here varies from 20 feet to 40 feet here. That's primarily due to elevation changes. There is about a 40 foot elevation change from the southwest corner and right down here to the northeast corner where there -- it's kind of a hole there. The property's rising as you go south and I kind of envision that, you know, this is going to create a nice view corridor. We have openings into the development and, then, placing the play equipment down on the south end of this pocket park, so that it's surrounded by the lots and have that non-sight obscuring type fencing. The multi-use pathway you see here I planned on like a little gazebo there. When that multi-use pathway gets built it would be nice to have little openings, I thought, of open space, gazebo, sitting areas and stuff, intermittent places for people to sit down, rest, or watch their kids play, whatever the case may be. We are required to have 30 feet along that Meridian Road corridor. We have provided 40. I did that primarily because of the elevations and just wanted a little bit of margin of error. In your UDC it mentions that there has to be a ten foot berm or some type of other acceptable masonry type wall that is, I believe, ten foot above the elevation -- center line elevation of the state highway. I indicated to Sonya this is a low spot here, so we will have to kind of evaluate that. I know -- I looked through the code, it does allow for some alternative compliance. So, I don't -- I'm not sure exactly what that's going to look like. This elevation of Harris is kind of fixed where it intersects with Meridian Road. So, I'm not sure exactly what we can do with this -- Meridian Planning & Zoning February 15, 2007 Page 26 of 80 with this corner or low spot here. With this project there weren't a lot of options for us to look at with the state highway here. We do have an existing house that's located here down in this corner. It was -- we looked at trying to get a cul-de-sac down to service that, but the cul-de-sac took up so much room that the net gain was only one lot. When you weighed the cost of the improvement versus the gain of the lot, it didn't make a lot of economic sense. My thought was when the properties here develop that that probably makes sense that that be re-platted and included as part of the development south, because it is kind of isolated. We provided stub streets to the south, looked at, like I said, a bubble plan here to make sure that that would work. We have a stub street going west and, then, obviously, we will take Harris to the western perimeter and it would function as a collector roadway. As far as utilities, this is the Black Cat trunk. I think if you notice in your staff report Mike indicates that the Black Cat trunk is not at this location at this time. So, obviously, this project is subject to sewer-ability and extension of necessary services and we understand that. Do you have any questions? Rohm: Could you address the two lots that the staff report indicated needed to be adjusted? McKay: I believe it's the lots right here on the corner. As the street -- as the street bends here I think we have got like 41, 42 feet. It's this lot and this lot here. So, the bending -- as the street curves it creates a narrowing or a pie effect, so we just need to kind of widen those necks out. I believe Sonya's correct that we could go in and adjust those easily. And staff typically, you know, relies on us. If we can't meet frontage requirement, then, we have to drop a lot in order to do so. Rohm: Okay. And you're okay with that? McKay: Yes, sir. Rohm: Okay. Siddoway: Mr. Chairman? Rohm: Commissioner Siddoway. Siddoway: Two questions. One, the collector road south of the landscape median handles two-way traffic south of the median, there is not one -- McKay: No. Siddoway: Can you clarify that for me? McKay: Yeah. Let me bring the board. This is basically the same thing that you see up on the screen. It just kind of gives you a little larger view of what's transpiring. As you can see, this is the existing roadway now that's Harris. It's just a partial roadway section. The rolled curb, gutter, and existing sidewalk is all along the north. What we Meridian Planning & Zoning February 15, 2007 Page 27 of 80 intend to do is come in off of those intersections and build an eight foot landscape island and, then, it would have 25 foot like access opening. So, these lots would back out onto -- almost like a little frontage road or drive, then, they would come out front ways. This would be a 36 back-to-back. So, Harris, basically, shifts south and we have done this all the way down to protect those homes that currently front on Harris. At the time they were -- this was approved, you know, in the 'lOs, they did allow front-on housing on residential type collectors and, you know, now that's not allowed. This has worked in other areas. Duncan Street is a good example off of State Street. There are some duplexes where they went in and built something very similar to this and it functions very well. It's been used in Boise on two or three different locations. Siddoway: So, Harris Street -- the new Harris Street does handle two-way traffic as a collector of its own? McKay: Yes. And it would have detached sidewalk, vertical curb -- Siddoway: Okay. And the width of the frontage roads, for lack of a better term here, is what? McKay: Approximately 25 feet. Siddoway: Okay. That's all. Thank you. McKay: Thank you. Rohm: Before we continue, just for the audience that wasn't able to see that portion of the presentation, basically, the existing roadway is going to be a frontage road with an eight foot buffer and they will build a 36 foot roadway south of the eight foot buffer. McKay: Yes, sir. That is correct. Rohm: Okay. Borup: It was just a larger view of what's already up here. Rohm: Yeah. That's all it was, so -- thank you. McKay: Thank you. Rohm: Any additional questions of this applicant? Okay. We didn't have anybody signed up for this particular project, but at this time the floor is certainly open to anyone that would like to speak. And we do not have anybody that's come forward, so I think if Becky has any final comments now is the time or we can move forward from there. Siddoway: Mr. Chairman, I move to close the Public Hearing. Meridian Planning & Zoning February 15, 2007 Page 28 of 80 Borup: Second. Rohm: Okay. It's been moved and seconded to close the Public Hearing on AZ 06-058 and PP 06-057. All those in favor say aye. Opposed same sign? Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE ABSENT. Siddoway: Mr. Chairman, I have one last clarification question for staff. I'd just like to - - the point at which this project is contiguous, is it a corner to corner -- Watters: Commissioner Siddoway, Commissioners, yes, it is. It's at the northeast corner it's contiguous with Tanana Valley. Siddoway: Okay. Rohm: Okay. Could we get a motion to -- okay. Siddoway: I will try it. Rohm: Okay. Commissioner Siddoway. Siddoway: Mr. Chairman, after considering all the staff and applicant testimony, I move to recommend approval to the City Council of file numbers AZ 06-058 and PP 06-057, as presented in the staff report for the hearing date of February 15th, 2007, with no modification. Moe: Second. Rohm: It's been moved and seconded to forward on to City Council recommending approval of AZ 06-058 and PP 06-057, both items related to the Sagewood Subdivision. All those in favor say aye. Opposed same sign? Motion carried. Thank you for coming in. MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE ABSENT. Item 13: Continued Public Hearing from January 4, 2007: AZ 06-059 Request for Annexation and Zoning of 224.26 acres from RR to R-2, R-4 and R-8 zones for Blackrock Castle Greens Subdivision by Providence Development - west of S. Eagle Road and south of Amity Road: Continued Public Hearing from January 4, 2007: PP 06-059 Request for Preliminary Plat approval of 644 residential lots and 31 common lots on 224.26 acres in the proposed R-2, R-4 and R-8 zones for Blackrock Castle Greens Subdivision by Providence Development - west of S. Eagle Road and south of Amity Road: Item 14: