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Home My WebLink About~Master - Planning & Zoning Minutes 01/18/2012 1 MINUTES CITY OF AMES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION Date: January 18, 2012 Debra Lee 2012 Chuck Jons 2012 Call to Order: 7:00 p.m. * Elizabeth Beck, Chairperson 2012 Norman Cloud , Vice-Chairperson 2013 Place: Ames City Hall *Mark Stenberg 2013 Council Chambers Jeff Johnson 2014 Troy Siefert 2014 Adjournment: 7:32 p.m. *Absent MAJOR TOPICS DISCUSSED: 1. Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment to add a New Minimum Off-street Parking Requirement for Residential Units in Independent Senior Living Facilities 2. Preliminary Plat for Aspen Ridge Subdivision, 2nd Addition ____________________________________________________________________________ CALL TO ORDER: Norman Cloud, Vice-Chairperson, called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: MOTION: (JONS/JOHNSON) to approve the Agenda for the meeting of January 18, 2012. MOTION PASSED: 5-0 MOTION: (JONS/SIEFERT) to change the order of the items listed on the Agenda. MOTION PASSED: 5-0 APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF JANUARY 3 AND JANUARY 4, 2012: MOTION: (SIEFERT/JOHNSON) to approve the Minutes of the meeting of January 3 and January 4, 2012. MOTION PASSED: 5-0 ____________________________________________________________________________ PUBLIC FORUM: There were no public comments. ____________________________________________________________________________ Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment to add a New Minimum Off-street Parking Requirement for Residential Units in Independent Senior Living Facilities Chuck Jons excused himself from participating in the discussion and voting on this agenda item because he is on the Board of Directors for the Green Hills Retirement Community. 2 Ray Anderson, planner, gave an overview of the proposed amendment to the Zoning Ordinance. On December 20, 2011, the City Council referred to staff a letter from Silverstone Partners, Inc. requesting a zoning text amendment to reduce the number of parking spaces required for a senior housing development. Silverstone Partners, Inc. is a real estate development firm based in Middleton, Wisconsin, that specializes in “Section 42” senior independent living apartments in the Midwest. On January 11, 2012, Silverstone Partners, Inc. submitted a formal application requesting a zoning text amendment to allow a reduced parking standard for residential units in an Independent Senior Living Facility. The requested zoning text amendment is to establish a requirement of one parking space per unit for apartment dwellings that are deed restricted to persons aged 62 and older, provided that spouses/partners aged less than 62 shall also be allowed. The applicant is interested in constructing a 42-unit senior Iowa Finance Authority project on land zoned as F-PRD (Planned Residence District) at 601 South 16th Street, also known as the proposed Aspen Ridge Second Addition, Outlot C. No one from the audience spoke for or against the proposed text amendment. MOTION: (SIEFERT/LEE) to accept Alternative #1, which states: The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended that the City Council approve the zoning text amendment to Table 29.406(2) to add a minimum off- street parking requirement for Independent Senior Living Facilities of 1 space per residential unit. MOTION PASSED: 4-0-1 Abstention (Chuck Jons did not vote on this item) ____________________________________________________________________________ Preliminary Plat for Aspen Ridge Subdivision, 2nd Addition Sam Perry, planner, gave an overview of the proposed preliminary plat for Aspen Ridge, 2nd Addition. Currently, the subject property is one Outlot, most recently platted in 2004. The subject property is a total of eight acres just east of the newly opened South Grand Avenue and west of Aspen Ridge Town Homes. Outlot C (2.87 acres of the subdivision) is zoned Planned Residence District for future expansion of the Town Home development. The remaining four lots (totaling 5.14 acres) are all zoned Highway-Oriented Commercial. They were rezoned from F- PRD to HOC in 2009 in anticipation of a proposed hotel. Across the street to the south is Pheasant Run Apartments and Aspen Business Park, a professional office park. The Grove Apartments are west of the subject property, across South Grand Avenue. The long range plan is to continue South Grand Avenue north across Squaw Creek to relieve South Duff Avenue from being the principal north-south arterial street. Yvonne Wannemuehler, 1518 Golden Aspen Drive, spoke to the Commission about the heavy traffic that is occurring because of the apartments that have been constructed on South 16th Street. She then asked how the vacant area south of South 16th Street is zoned. Mr. Perry explained that this area is zoned RH (Residential High Density), which could mean apartments, townhomes, congregate housing. Ms. Wannemuehler expressed concern about this higher density zoning designation because the traffic in this area is already a problem.