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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Planning & Zoning Minutes 09/06/2017 MINUTES CITY OF AMES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION [*Absent] MAJOR TOPICS DISCUSSED: 1. Public Hearing for the Report on the North Growth Gap Area (Cameron School Rd/GW Carver Ave) __________________________________________________________________________ CALL TO ORDER: Debra Lee, Chairperson, called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: MOTION: (Wannemuehler/Ragaller) to approve the Agenda for the meeting of September 6, 2017. MOTION PASSED: (6 - 0) APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF AUGUST 16, 2017: MOTION: (Ragaller/Bowers) to approve the Minutes of the meeting of August 16, 2017. MOTION PASSED: (6 - 0) ____________________________________________________________________________ PUBLIC FORUM: There were no public comments. ____________________________________________________________________________ REPORT ON THE NORTH GROWTH GAP AREA – (CAMERON SCHOOL ROAD/GW CARVER AVENUE) Charlie Kuester, Planner, gave some background stating that on May 9, 2017, City Council heard a report on sanitary sewer improvements that would be needed in the North Growth Gap area and addressed a request from Kurt Friedrich for a map amendment to the Ames Urban Fringe Plan to designate an area of land for annexation and development. The direction of City Council was to go ahead with a Major Amendment to the Ames Urban Fringe plan and include a couple properties on the east and west side of George Washington Carver Avenue to designate them as Urban Residential. Mr. Kuester stated that the Ames Golf and Country Club recently had a development approved with the condition that they would seek annexation when the City asked them to. He mentioned that the City had attempted to reach out to the Borgmeyer property a few years ago and then again recently by letters but have not heard back from them and not sure of their intent at this time. Mr. Kuester stated that the current Land Use Policy Plan Designation shows the Borgmeyer and the Friedrich properties as Priority Transitional Residential, under the terms of the Ames Urban Fringe Plan, any development would need to meet City Standards and full City of Ames infrastructure but would not be able to connect to City sewer or water. Mr. Kuester noted that the area north of Cameron School Road is designated as Rural Transitional Residential. The Irons area is assuming that they will be annexed and they have had all the infrastructure set up and ready to transfer to the City when available. Mr. Kuester stated that the request is to change the designation to Urban Residential and that would allow annexation and development to City standards. It would also preclude any development of the site until annexed and full City services are brought into the site. Mr. Kuester also showed a map of the Allowable Growth Area, noting that the allowable growth area extended to George Washington Carver and this is the area in the LUPP that states that the land is needed to ultimately meet the population projections and it was noted later that it was not consistent with the Designation of the Ames Area Fringe Plan, it would meet the growth demands but would be outside the City. He stated that another purpose of this amendment is to bring the Land Use Policy Plan Map and the Ames Urban Fringe Plan map into conformity with each other. He also mentioned that the request from Friedrich also includes a Convenience Commercial Node. Mr. Kuester noted that a Sanitary Sewer study was brought up during a City Council meeting, when Scenic Valley was annexed and developed, it was noted at that time that there were some downstream constraints for sanitary sewer service and during this study they looked at what it would take to serve the Friedrich property and it would cost between $500,000 to 700,000 to fix and would serve that area only. The City also analyzed the cost of a new trunk line to serve the Friedrich property and further areas to the north and it had cost estimates of approximately $14 million to serve over 1,000 acres. If Friedrich wanted to proceed they would be responsible for the cost of the sanitary sewer. Mr. Kuester stated they did have an outreach meeting with some of the property owners in the area along with representatives from Gilbert, Story County, and Franklin Township trustees, it was an explanatory meeting to see what issues there were. Most of the concerns were focused around the ability to provide sanitary sewer in this area and to the north. He mentioned that the South Squaw Valley area has already asked multiple times to be connected to City services, but the City does not have capacity. He noted that another concern was traffic and a traffic study would be recommended if development continues. Mr. Kuester stated the process for a major amendment to the Land Use Policy Plan is to have an outreach meeting, and then get feedback from the Commission to take to City Council which they will then direct Staff as to what needs to be taken back to the Public Hearing process. This is the first time the Commission will see this and will likely come back through the Public Hearing process. Mr. Diekmann stated that the land can be annexed to the City or not, which is the Urban Service Designation request and to add the Convenience Commercial Node. If there was no change then it could be a rural development. He would like a recommendation from the Commission as to what aspects of the proposal they would like City Council to consider for the Public Hearing process in October, this includes the Commercial Node and the change to Urban Residential. Mr. Basmajian asked to discuss the difference between the Priority Transitional Residential is versus the Urban Designation that would trigger annexation. Mr. Kuester stated that in the language of the Urban Fringe Plan the only difference would be they would be fully integrated into the City limits with connection to the sewer and water and the other one would not, the other would have to meet the same densities and would have to develop outside the City. Mr. Kuester mentioned that under the Ames Urban Fringe Plan 28E agreement with the County and Gilbert the City is unable to annex anything unless it is designated as Urban Service Area. Mr. Basmajian wanted to know if the properties to the north were on a septic system. Mr. Diekmann stated that the Squaw Valley is on a common collection system and all the rural properties are on an individual septic systems. Mr. Basmajian stated he knows that some of the property owners are not interested in annexation and wanted to know if the 80/20 rule would kick in at some time. Mr. Kuester stated that at this point there is no annexation in the pipeline and they presume that Friedrich would go ahead with the annexation and if this was to occur, they wouldn’t be able to take in the Ames Golf and Country Club without taking in Borgmeyer or they would need to come up with an alternative and go to City Council and ask if they want to go forward with the 80/20 or 100%. Mr. Kuester stated that the Ames Golf and Country Club will not be able to get City sewer service until it goes through the Borgmeyer property. Ms. Minhas questioned when going from Priority Transition Residential to Urban Residential as being proposed will it affect any annexation or development regarding the speed of the annexation and will it have to be Urban Residential only. It was stated that is correct. Ms. Minhas noted that this would set the stage for when the property does come into the City. She then stated she was trying to understand the cost and sewer aspects. Mr. Diekmann stated the proposed designation is the North Growth which is a non-incentivized growth area, the understanding from Council is that any infrastructure cost would be assessed to the developer. Ms. Lee asked to understand what the $14 million all entails and what it would take to have the City make this kind of investment. The trunk line would serve substantial amounts of growth, approximately a 10% increase in population however, we have other growth areas and different costs to serve them as well. This trunk line would also be the first leg to serve the Northwest Growth Area. Currently staff estimates the City has 10 years of single family home capacity. Ms. Minhas wanted to know if there is an urgency to this project or what is driving this especially with the Comprehensive Plan coming. Mr. Diekmann noted that the developer is interested in going through the steps of getting annexed into the City and ready for development faster than when the Comprehensive Plan can be completed. Mr. Bowers stated that right now the Commission is just opening this up for a discussion process that would allow input from the public, City Council, and the Commission and he would recommend adding the Convenience Commercial Node as well. Mr. Basmajian asked why there was some disagreement between the Fringe Plan and the North Growth and wanted to know the back story as to what happened. Mr. Kuester stated that as part of the settlement agreement with the developers of Rose Prairie they agreed to amend the Ames Urban Fringe Plan to Urban Residential and at that time they only went to the railroad tracks to the west, this was approved first and then at a later time they knew they had to update the Allowable Growth Map, they always recognized that there was a disconnect between the two maps. Ms. Minhas questioned what the population projections are and if there are assessments that need to be done and not sure if this needs to be talked about right now or if it is for a time when the development proposal is in front of them. Mr. Diekmann stated that it is more relevant to the zoning side and a good discussion for a later time. Ms. Minhas wanted to know what kind of zoning would be allowed if and when the area comes in as Urban Residential. Mr. Diekmann stated the default is Village Suburban Residential and then a choice of Village, FSRL or FSRM and with the Commercial Node it would be CVCN and potentially CGS. Mr. Basmajian felt that this is premature and needs to wait for the Comprehensive Plan as once the Comprehensive Plan is complete there may be a different direction for future growth than what we are already doing. Ms. Lee stated that she would have to disagree at this time as this is a relatively small piece where development has already occurred and the developer has already agreed to pay for the sewer work that would need to be done. Mr. Basmajian mentioned that he is not thinking about the cost but what kind of development we would have for the next 50 years. Mr. Diekmann stated staff did have several discussions regarding this request and City Council did let staff know they could consider it now as didn’t feel it will impact the Comprehensive Plan, part of the discussion previously was whether rural development densities would be best. Staff does have concerns about the proposed Commercial Node that will be evaluated with the next step. Mr. Ragaller stated it makes sense and this would bring the properties inline as there is already development. MOTION: (Bower/Ragaller) to recommend that City Council move forward as described on the Commission Action Form for Urban Residential with a Commercial Node. MOTION PASSED: (5-1) Nay: Basmajian Mr. Diekmann noted that this will go to Council on September 26, 2017 and they will do the same as today and see if there is anything they want to add or delete and then will back for a Public Hearing, with notice to adjacent property owners, in October. He stated that once the Commission has made a recommendation to Council it still has to go to Story County and Gilbert to take action on. Ms. Minhas asked if Mr. Friedrich knew what the time line would be for development. Kurt Friedrich came up to the lectern, stating that with this entitlement process it can take a couple of years. He stated they secured the property about four years ago and executed on acquiring the ground about two years ago knowing it is adjacent to the City. Mr. Friedrich stated that on the south side is Scenic Valley that went through the same process that they are going through now. He stated it is an ongoing activity for him in planning new neighborhoods as he doesn’t want to see a gap where they can’t put households, he noted that Ames is a vibrant community with a growing number of jobs and wants to have families live in the Ames community and not move elsewhere. ____________________________________________________________________________ COMMISSION COMMENTS: None ____________________________________________________________________________ STAFF COMMENTS: Mr. Diekmann stated that next Tuesday, City Council is having a follow up meeting from their workshop in July on occupancy to discuss some options in replacing the current definitions, from this meeting there will probably be some direction to write an ordinance. Any changes to the rental code will not come back to the Commission, but if it involves any changes to the zoning it will come back very quickly as something new has to be in place before January 1, 2018. Mr. Diekmann stated that on September 19 is a workshop night for City Council, they are going to have a kick-off meeting with a consultant to work on a complete streets policy for the City. He stated the Complete Streets is about making and completing connections for all forms of transportation, currently these are addressed Ad Hoc and this process will make a more planned approach to what is being done and this is being driven by the Public Works Department and is another thing that will be helpful with the Comprehensive Plan. He mentioned that they will probably have City Council prioritize upcoming Planning projects for the fall. Ms. Lee asked what happened to the Lincoln Corridor Plan. Mr. Diekmann stated that due to the occupancy being on the agenda this has been pushed back for developing an implementation plan. ____________________________________________________________________________ MOTION TO ADJOURN: MOTION: (Wannemuehler/none) to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 7:59 PM. _________________________________ ____________________________________ Debra Lee, Chairperson Amy L. Colwell, Recording Secretary Planning & Zoning Commission Department of Planning & Housing S:\Planning.Dep\PLAN_SHR\Council Boards Commissions\PZ\Minutes\2017 Minutes\P&Z Minutes 09-06-17.docx