[0:00] January 10th 2024 City V Planning Commission

[0:05] meeting hope you had a good set of holidays and a Happy New Year and here we are we're back at it uh on behalf of

[0:13] the rest of the Planning Commission uh we welcome you we're grateful you're here in person and for those tuning in

[0:21] remotely say it every time but your curiosity and participation and feedback is vital to this process as we navigate

[0:28] change together here n regarding the way in which we'd like to use our land uh the Planning

[0:35] Commission is made up of volunteer residents uh like yourselves uh

[0:41] appointed by the city council so we make decisions but mostly recommendations regarding land use we represent a large

[0:48] array of backgrounds expertise perspectives and passions that

[0:55] really help in my opinion provide some confidence to the community that we are

[1:01] watching your backs and we're focused on the future so tonight we have one public

[1:08] hearing we have some new instructions so in case you've tuned in before we have a

[1:14] new number for which you are to call and access code so uh for those who'd like to provide testimony remotely if you'd

[1:21] like to get ready you can do so by calling the following number 312

[1:27] 535 8110 and enter access code

[1:34] 2631 642

[1:40] 0716 oh and the password is 5454 and when you'd like to get in the

[1:46] QE to speak press star three is that enough it's a lot so we'll we'll

[1:52] probably have that up on the screen for you to follow later I'll repeat it again once we get to the public hearing

[1:58] um just so you know the city's committed to collecting your feedback and we do so

[2:03] most effectively through our engagement website which is betterto together.org if you've provided commentary before you

[2:11] don't need to provide testimony tonight but we welcome you to do so if you'd like to and uh regarding what to expect

[2:20] uh we will start with a call to order a roll call approve tonight's agenda and

[2:26] the prior meeting's minutes followed by Community comment which is your chance to speak about a matter not on tonight's

[2:33] agenda and then as I mentioned we have one public hearing and then we follow

[2:38] that with chair and member comments staff comments and adjournment so without further Ado we'll call the

[2:44] meeting to order and roll call commissioner felt

[2:50] here commissioner Miranda here commissioner Pia here commissioner Smith

[2:55] here commissioner Schultz here commissioner day here Comm commissioner

[3:00] Strauss here commissioner Bornstein here chair Bennett here thank you next on the

[3:06] agenda we have the approval of tonight's meeting agenda so I'd welcome a motion

[3:12] motion to approve tonight's agenda second all those in favor say I I so

[3:18] moved next we have the approval of the prior meeting minutes from December 13th 2023 if anyone has any comments or

[3:27] proposed modifications now the time or or welcome a motion to approve

[3:32] that motion to approve the minutes second all those in favor say I

[3:39] I so moved all right next we have the community comment period as I mentioned

[3:44] this is your chance that speak about a matter in person uh not on tonight's agenda so if

[3:51] anyone is here and would like to speak about that please come forward to a Podium you got three minutes

[4:01] I saw one head shake to the side and that's only head in here so uh we will

[4:06] move along so we have one public hearing tonight and the process for that which

[4:14] we'll follow is Staff has provided uh a report and they will

[4:20] provide a presentation to us the Planning Commission we'll respond with some questions comments and then we open

[4:28] it to the applicant to provide either a presentation or opportunity to answer questions and then we will open it to a

[4:36] public hearing which is your chance to speak about this matter tonight and once we

[4:42] close that we bring it back to the Planning Commission to deliberate and make a recommendation for approval or

[4:49] denial and without and with further without further Ado we got planner AER

[4:54] here to present thank you thank you uh chair members of the Planning Commission

[4:59] uh this is a front year setback variance request for 4603 maryane the subject property is located

[5:06] on the north side of marilane where this right Red Dot

[5:13] is the property owners are hoping to add on to their existing home this is

[5:19] a survey of the existing home with the addition showing to the West they would

[5:25] like to add garage space and then living space above

[5:30] uh the property owners actually have submitted a permit application and that's been sitting in Project docs uh

[5:37] our electronic System since late October um because there's been other things

[5:43] going on with the permit in terms of information that had to come in but also

[5:48] um planning did indicate that we needed to know what the fronty setback requirement was uh for the property

[5:56] because any addition to the house would have to maintain the front yard setback requirement in this particular instance

[6:03] and I don't know if anybody's familiar with marilan it's a kind of a curved Street um the homes along the north uh

[6:11] the ones at the end of the culdesac are very far back from the street the zoning ordinance requires that the Front Street

[6:17] setback shall be the average front yard setbacks of the dwelling units of the two abing lots or the average on the

[6:23] Block unfortunately in this situation um the required front yard setback is is

[6:59] proposed addition has been on hold given um that they have to go through the variance process in order to address the

[7:07] very deep frontyard setback um based on the ordinance requirements so on the one

[7:15] side of the um illustration here are some photographs of the existing house

[7:22] uh with no addition on the side and then also renderings of what it will look

[7:28] like from the street once once they add on the garage Edition with the living space

[7:34] above on the left um of the screen is the existing uh lower level where the

[7:41] garage is and then this is showing that same floor plan to the right that uh of

[7:46] the screen that shows that Addition Garage addition and then there would be

[7:51] expansion of living space above they will be also remodeling uh the interior of the house and and you'll noticed on

[7:57] those renderings that they're also putting new windows in um probably some siding painting uh General improvements

[8:05] to the house and then um this is the existing uh bedroom level they would be

[8:13] expanding that uh over that garage new garage area uh not by the entire extent

[8:20] of it but just uh extending the existing space so this would be the rear

[8:27] elevation um showing you that addition going to the West if you're facing south

[8:33] and then also the um the west elevation uh that's facing the neighbor closest to

[8:40] the West so uh the

[8:46] variance um is Justified in staff's opinion the variance would be in harmony

[8:52] with the general purpose intent of the ordinance the purpose intent of the ordinance um is to maintain a consistent

[8:58] front yard setb back along an established Block in this situation um

[9:06] it's there is a consistency if you go further west along the block um this

[9:13] house actually when you look at it it's it's virtually behind the house the closest house to the West um but uh by

[9:22] virtue of where that adjacent house is located on it's sort of a neck lot further back in it throws off the

[9:29] average and um certainly does affect the subject

[9:34] property uh the variance is needed to address the established average front a setback requirement given that the home

[9:41] to the east is about 200 ft deep it meets all of the other requirements um the property is

[9:48] relatively unique in that is um on a block with one home having that extreme front yard setback as compar compared to

[9:54] the other homes fronting the north side of maril Lane the subject property must include the front yard setback of the

[10:00] adjacent neighbors we couldn't um just average the ones that are to the West you have to also include the one that is

[10:07] adjacent to the east so um it has to be addressed through a variant situation

[10:13] and the proposed addition will be located behind the most affected neighbor to the west um their garage

[10:19] it's a detached garage I mean the house is is the existing house is um almost

[10:25] behind the most affected neighbor um that's directly to the West

[10:30] the addition will blend in with the existing structure and would be difficult to detect as an addition once

[10:36] complete staff recommends approval of the 56.3 Ft front yard setback variance

[10:42] from the 116.4074

[10:59] um included in the January 10th 2023 Planning Commission packet and date stamped December 5th

[11:06] 2024 compliance with the engineering's memo and then also compliance with the

[11:11] required uh requirements of the tree preservation or ordinance and with that

[11:16] I will answer any questions you may have the uh property owner is here available for

[11:22] questions thank you Chris look to fellow planning Commissioners yeah commissioner

[11:28] Strauss thank you U planer yeah that screen the picture we have up is fine um so what

[11:35] properties determined I mean um maybe you can just kind of point out I mean we we met the same situation on cux or

[11:44] curve streets whatever and there's really nothing straightforward so but I'm just you know curious for which

[11:50] homes actually determined sure they actually have two choices um this house

[11:56] is not included it's at the very end of the cult saac um it would be this house that's directly to the east which is the

[12:03] 116 or 200 ft actually is is where they're at and then um the house that's

[12:09] directly to the West they can either average those two or average them all

[12:14] along the side of the that side of the block between intersections although the one that's the F furthest to the South

[12:21] is actually uh facing south I believe that's long mate Lane so that one is not included um but in either instance it

[12:30] wasn't to the advantage they still needed a variance and it was a deep setback variance so um usually you're

[12:39] able to have some opportunities with uh either or um in the ordinance but in

[12:46] this particular situation it doesn't help them thank

[12:52] you any other

[12:57] questions yeah commissioner day so just to be clear this was

[13:03] determined between by the properties to the east and west directly to the east and west the 116 ft correct okay did do

[13:11] we what do we know what the number is if we take into account the average of everything on the same side of the street it doesn't help them it's not

[13:18] doesn't help them by much okay looks like the resident knows but so I took

[13:24] all the other houses along to the West next oh

[13:31] sorry I took the averages of the other house the other five houses to the west and they are 34 ft 40 ft 33 ft 53 ft so

[13:42] but in the one to the east is 198 ft so that's the I mean it really skews the

[13:48] average and we're at 60 ft so we are still behind all the other houses it's

[13:55] just that one that really is throwing the average off on the whole

[14:01] block do we know when was this ordinance put into place it predates me and okay I'm just

[14:10] wondering in relation to the construction of 4602 and why they was allowed to have such a deep setback oh

[14:15] uh oh this one here you can go back as far as the rear yard setback if you

[14:21] decide to build your home as deep on the lot as you want but it throws everybody else's setback

[14:27] off okay or a c well that's that's what I wanted to establish right is that somebody else can do something that

[14:33] therefore then puts everybody else in a bind right okay thank you also um so I

[14:39] also I live in the neighborhood currently um actually across the street and the neighborhood had large acreage

[14:46] Lots at one point I think back in the ' 50s um 15 20 acre lots they divided

[14:52] those and separated them off so some houses are set way far back and then others are kind of like more of a

[15:00] smaller Lots one acre lot two acre lots so it there's some of them that you can see that are quite old and then there

[15:07] are newer

[15:12] ones yeah I did pull up penipen County's property tax information page so I could

[15:19] see the adjacent lots and that really helps I mean this lot is one quarter the

[15:24] size of the one to the east the three I mean they're incredibly deep Lots they

[15:31] look like they're over 300 feet deep that that would have

[15:37] really helped on this image I

[15:42] think and even yeah even that next image helps too cuz it it shows the adjacent

[15:53] houses the one without all of the image without all of the Fage oh this one yeah

[16:00] yeah it's showing the subject and then the one that's okay and what it's difficult to see though is that there's

[16:07] it's kind of a neck lot it's way back that light green line keeps going back

[16:13] you've got the there's a tennis court or some Court back there that's still not at the rear of the proper

[16:23] line any other questions other is we'll give an opportunity the applicant if you want to

[16:30] come up assuming that's you since you've been speaking otherwise you're a very

[16:36] informed resident just introduce your say s full

[16:41] name address y my name is Carrie ha I live at two Marine which is

[16:47] um go right back to the map

[16:57] here yeah sure

[17:05] yeah so I live at this house right here and we have a really long driveway

[17:12] and my property actually goes we're not even halfway so they are really deep

[17:18] it's probably a 600t deep lot so um yeah the numbers skew and I know that this

[17:25] house right in the center just was finished construction so this house sits

[17:31] closer to the street than both my house and what is the address of this

[17:38] one this one so I don't know if they had to have a variance as well but they're I mean they're sitting still far back but

[17:44] they're closer than both neighboring properties and I couldn't look up on the city's history if they had have a

[17:50] variance for theirs but um yeah like I said it's um these houses all along here

[17:57] are sitting anywhere from 34 ft to 53 ft and ours is going to be at 60

[18:05] ft at the closest point and we're still not coming any closer than it currently exists we're still sitting back than the

[18:11] front the front wall I don't know if you have a

[18:17] presentation or if you want to just answer any questions we might have yeah I can I don't have a presentation but uh

[18:23] any questions from Commissioners yeah

[18:30] uh my only question is uh is there any feedback from any of the neighbors I didn't see any un bettered together e

[18:35] Dino um I just spoke to uh the neighbor um at

[18:41] 46 4604 today and she said it looks beautiful um they're

[18:47] excited okay thank you anything

[18:55] else all right thank you we will open this now for a public

[19:00] hearing as I mentioned before there's two ways to provide testimony here

[19:06] either remotely or in person not seeing anyone else here in person so I'll give the info for those who might be tuning

[19:13] in remotely once again please call 312 535

[19:22] 8110 good now enter access code 2631 64 2

[19:31] 0716 good the password is

[19:37] 5454 all right got it now press star three on your telephone keypad to get in

[19:43] the queue to speak and we'll give it about a minute cuz there's a delay in this

[19:48] broadcast and uh we'll check back in and see if anyone's in the queue

[20:03] re

[20:37] nobody has joined our queue to speak so I think it's safe to proceed all right

[20:43] since no one's there and no one is here uh I would welcome a motion to close a

[20:48] public hearing move to close the public hearing second all those in favor say I

[20:54] I so move public hearing is closed and now we'll bring a back to the Planning Commission to deliberate yeah

[21:00] commissioner Miranda yeah I think excuse me I think the uh this ordinance makes sense only

[21:08] in the context of you know a typical Suburban development with same siiz lots

[21:15] that are shaped the same way sized the same way you know sort of thing so when you've got lots like this that are um

[21:23] you know as you pointed out that are so widely different in size um you know the whole

[21:29] logic falls apart and so I think this is a perfect example for exemption for this

[21:38] thanks welcome any other comments or even a

[21:44] motion well just one comment I mean I agree I think this is

[21:50] the perfect example of you know why we're here to kind of Grant variances for um things like this and I do

[21:57] appreciate that they um remodeling the home it's a 55y old

[22:03] home remodeling it rather than tearing down and sensit sensitively doing it so

[22:09] I'm in support of this variance thanks so I move to approve the

[22:17] variance second any comments otherwise we'll just

[22:23] go to a motion or to I guess all in favor say I I I

[22:29] opposed all right motion carries good luck with the project thank

[22:37] you all right well that was as quick as I think we all thought it would be not all variant requests are

[22:44] necessarily that straightforward and this one definitely was all right moving

[22:49] to the next item on the agenda we have chair and member comments um I guess one

[22:54] thing I would request I was unable to make the work session that preceded this one and we're talking about adus and

[23:02] drafting an or ordinance to put before the city council so if anyone has an

[23:08] update regarding how that went and any other comments welcome

[23:14] them yeah uh thanks Jimmy I just have a couple comments so what happened today

[23:21] uh the Planning Commission uh we had a quorum we met we reviewed uh and

[23:29] continued our discussion on adus very good discussion everybody um

[23:34] chimed in on their thoughts feedback good collaboration um there were some sticking points around um you know

[23:42] setback requirements Etc but we worked through that in a really logical way and really this was a buildup um over many I

[23:50] think Cycles where um the team got to deliberate and have a

[23:55] conversation I think over the last year you know we've done a lot of work engaging um the city residents for their

[24:03] feedback input and really sharing um and and promoting what an Adu is right so we

[24:11] did a lot of forums and and and such so it certainly was a journey and I think we finally I think

[24:18] you know today got to a point where we cut through as much of the key items the

[24:23] discussion points that we wanted to and we got to a good um resolution on most

[24:29] questions and so I thought that was a really good accomplishment and I want to thank the team for doing that um the the

[24:37] next steps now right um is that we want to make sure and um get residents to see

[24:44] it so I think there's going to be a couple things from what I understand and you guys could correct me uh the first

[24:49] one is is more of an internal review by the planning team including the City attorney to make sure the language looks

[24:55] right everything looks nice and tight and then then um the the planning team

[25:01] is going to bring it um to the formal

[25:06] meeting with the Planning Commission for us to officially vote on it and I think during that time as well they're going

[25:11] to put it out there for public input so residents would have a shot at looking

[25:16] at what the ordinance looks like and give us additional feedback on what our final resolution resolutions are uh once

[25:24] that's done um and if we agree it's going to then um go to the city council

[25:34] for the city council to uh weigh and give their feedback on it as well I think that as far as I think we could

[25:40] see and depending on um what they think it could determine what path we take

[25:46] next either we we take it back into conference and we try to work it through or um they agree and then it moves

[25:53] forward into an official new ordinance that we have for the city so so a lot of

[25:58] great work a lot of good steps um we got a lot of feedback including yours Jimmy that you email we we did talk about that

[26:05] so I feel like everybody's voice was heard and and so it was a really good process and we're now in that final stage now of trying to wrap things up

[26:12] and get it to our final review by the city council so a lot of good work on good

[26:18] progress awesome any other comments from anyone about either that or anything

[26:24] else pertinent to land use or anything you're passionate about here yeah yeah so um as we all know we had a

[26:32] we had a either an approved or almost approved work plan and then things got changed as

[26:38] the city council added uh a small area plan to our to our work plan so so I'm

[26:45] in the unenviable position of having three committees that I'm chairing right

[26:51] now so so I think we need to think about having um someone else take over over or

[26:59] other people take over chairing the parking committee because I can't do that with my two new um requirements

[27:07] heading the uh uh Lincoln and London da small area plan as well as the uh areas

[27:14] of change in the city so so I think we need to have somebody else step up and

[27:19] take that okay yeah we can talk about that now for sure so maybe remind us too of what groups

[27:28] comprise that right it's not just Planning Commission LED there's other commissions so it's led by planning um

[27:36] and but the um the work plan item calls for input from uh energy and environment

[27:42] and the Transportation Commission so those there's been two members from each of those commissions attending uh

[27:49] meetings so uh uh yeah so they've had input too but

[27:54] the we're we're primarily responsible for it so it's it's a our it's our deliverable so to speak they provide

[28:01] input to to the to the final

[28:07] process and where are we at in that process currently so we've had several meetings

[28:14] in the fall we were supposed to have another meeting yesterday um but you know I like I said

[28:19] I need to push back and and work on my other priorities for the year so um so

[28:26] we haven't had a meeting yet this year but but we've had uh three or four in the

[28:32] fall so I guess one thing we'd want to do is yeah just help you out and then

[28:38] spread the burden and one other thing to consider too is we're down a planning

[28:43] commissioner which we haven't discussed usually the processes to fill that in

[28:49] March when the typical appointments happen uh but maybe we

[28:54] could move to kind of push that process earlier get another person on board to

[29:01] then help unless there's someone here that would be willing to jump in yeah

[29:07] Jerry it's it's also probably uh even more important with Lou uh needing to

[29:13] sort of remove himself and I really only have one maybe two meetings left so um

[29:20] one thing about the work on this um parking plan I think it's all known as

[29:28] done I mean it's sort of cuz we were almost there and then we got pulled back so there isn't there there won't be a

[29:34] real uh deep learning career I mean the the the the stuff is prepared and now it's just getting it into a final form

[29:43] and U so I mean I don't think it's going to require a great deal of background

[29:48] work just kind of get up to speed but like I said uh both Lou and I will not

[29:54] be there so I guess keeping that in mind if no one is like able to show interest

[30:01] right now tonight let's just keep it on people's minds and we'll revisit this

[30:07] next meeting we'll I'll get in touch with the planning staff and see what we can do cuz we are down a commissioner

[30:14] and we will we'll have someone back fill you when you're done Jerry uh serving

[30:19] all three terms in two months or so and Addison was Addison was was the uh City

[30:26] staff he's very I mean he's been in in in in that process for a couple years so

[30:31] he's very familiar with all the material you know so you get and there

[30:37] is a lot of material prepared Powerpoints and all sorts of well thanks for sharing Lou I I don't know if I'm

[30:43] hearing anything right now it's kind of crickets and that's okay cuz we did have a lot on our work plan especially with

[30:50] the addition of the small area plan so I'm I'm kind of thinking maybe it makes

[30:55] sense we revisit this next meeting but maybe it just kind of sits for a

[31:01] couple months till we get another set of hands on the team that doesn't have

[31:07] anything on their plate where they could kind of jump in so we'll just keep that in mind also with maybe who we select or

[31:14] who we recommend for selection um if there's an ability to do so when the city council

[31:21] appoints the next two cool thanks anything else anyone

[31:26] that that could even be a question that they ask you know when they're you know would you be willing to take this kind of thing on because everybody here is

[31:32] already committed super Sy sympathetic like I mean I I actually would volunteer myself to do it if I

[31:38] didn't know that I had work and personal life burdens that are probably going to prevent me from doing that this year

[31:44] especially in the next like six months but um but it's a totally reasonable question to ask the new person you know

[31:50] everybody else on this commissions on a committee you know can you agree to take this on for this year seems like then

[31:58] everybody's doing something so great yeah yeah that's perfect

[32:03] feedback anything else outside of those work plan items or

[32:10] adus thanks a lot uh we'll move on to staff

[32:15] comments oh that that's a no so then we have one final item and

[32:24] wow I don't I don't know if I've sat through this short of a meeting ever do I move to a Jour yeah move to a journ

[32:30] move to a journ second lots of second all those in favor

[32:37] say so move the meeting is a journ thank you

[32:56] everyone

[33:26] e for