Planning Commission

MINUTES PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING JULY 16, 2012 – 5:00 P.M. CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Sookram, Members, Barton, Sawyer, Synovec, Wiese and Winter, Planning Director Rian Harkins, Chief Building Inspector Marv Hansen and Secretary Deb Pruss ABSENT: Members Emanuel, Fooken and Ridder Chairman Sookram called the meeting to order. Roll Call Vote was taken – 6 present. Chairman Sookram read a statement that this meeting was preceded by publicized notice in the Fremont Tribune and the agenda displayed in the lobby of the Municipal Building and posted online at www.fremontne.gov; and distributed to the Planning Commission, Mayor and City Council on July 11, 2012 and is open to the public. Chairman Sookram also stated a copy of the agenda was kept continually current and available to the public at 400 East Military, 3rd floor and a copy of the open meeting law is posted continually for public inspection located near the Council Chambers entrance door by the agendas. Moved by Sawyer, seconded by Synovec, to approve the legality of the meeting. Roll Call Vote showed all members present voting aye – 6 ayes. Motion Carried. It was moved by Synovec, seconded by Winter, to dispense with the reading of the Minutes of the June 18, 2012 Regular Meeting and approve as received. Roll Call Vote showed all members present voting aye – 6 ayes. Motion Carried. Chairman Sookram stated the general public is invited to address the Planning Commission regarding any item on this agenda at this time or wait until discussion of their request is taking place. No public comments were received.  Consider request of Pebley, Inc. to subdivide part of Lot 1, Meierhenry Subdivision, Fremont, Dodge County, Nebraska into two lots. LI – Limited Industrial District. Planning Director Harkins stated as discussed in Study Session this request adjusts the boundary line in order for the south lot to obtain municipal water and sewer. The existing issues as far as the rear yard setback for the building to the south still exists so that would be something if there is ever a issue they would have to deal with. Otherwise, staff doesn’t see any other issues and recommends approval. Moved by Sawyer, seconded by Winter to recommend approval of the request. Roll Call Vote showed all members present voting aye – 6 ayes. Motion Carried.  Consider request of Borisow Properties and Roger and Billye Jo Bignell to subdivide part of Lots 2, 3, 5 and 6, Wacek and Van Patten’s Addition, Fremont, Dodge County, Nebraska into two lots. R4 – High Density Residential District. 1 Planning Director Harkins stated this lot split request incorporates an apartment complex and a single family residential unit suggesting the boundary line for its current location to the east. Staff doesn’t have any issues with the proposed lot split as it is shown. Member Synovec stated as discussed in Study Session it is really just for potential future growth. Harkins stated it gives them a little extra breathing space. Moved by Winter, seconded by Sawyer to recommend approval of the request. Roll Call Vote showed all members present voting aye – 6 ayes. Motion Carried.  Consider request of Fremont Hospitality, LLC, to subdivide Lots 3 and 4, Fremont Travel Center, Fremont, Dodge County, Nebraska into two lots. GI – General Industrial District. Dan Martinez, Apex Land Surveying, was present. Mr. Martinez stated as mentioned during the Study Session the primary reason for this lot split is to add 30 feet to the Mel’s Diner property on the south to accommodate parking. At the same time, to resolve a little bit of the approach with the existing parking lot and power to the light pole on the hotel site as the hotel is actually wishing to have a 10 ½ foot strip on the east side of Mel’s Diner but at the same time selling 30 feet to the south side. Moved by Barton, seconded by Synovec to recommend approval of the request. Roll Call Vote showed all members present voting aye – 6 ayes. Motion Carried.  Consider request of Paul O. and Patricia K. Hartung, Trustee and Del F. and Norma L. Hartung to subdivide Tax Lots 28 and 30, Section 9, Township 17 North, Range 8 East, Dodge County, Nebraska into two lots. AG – Agricultural/Urban Reserve District. Chairman Sookram stated this item was discussed in Study Session. Planning Director Harkins stated this request essentially creates a 10 acre tract and the remainder of the 60 acres is the second tract. Currently this is zoned AG – Agricultural/Urban Reserve District. It is on the fringe of the community. Harkins stated this is a new business looking at coming into town and right now they are looking at just starting off with the 10 acre tract so they are trying to keep the rest open for their future expansion or to sell it off, however the market dictates and gives them more flexibility. Member Sawyer asked if there were utilities through that property. Harkins stated the property owner and the developer would be extending utilities to the property as the business coming in is paying for utility extensions to come in to the site. Harkins stated as discussed in the Study Session if the Planning Commission felt the need they could make it contingent upon the rezoning being approved. Moved by Synovec, seconded by Wiese to recommend approval of the request contingent upon the rezoning request being approved. Roll Call Vote showed all members present voting aye – 6 ayes. Motion Carried.  Consider request of Paul O. and Patricia K. Hartung, Trustee and Del. F. and Norma L. Hartung to rezone part of the SW ¼ of Section 9, Township 17 North, Range 8 East, Dodge County, Nebraska from AG – Agricultural/Urban Reserve District to GI – General Industrial District. Planning Director Harkins stated as discussed in Study Session, the corporate boundary right now, the area across the highway, is zoned General Industrial so this would be a continuous tract and not be spot zoning. The request is just for the 10 acres so that the business looking at developing on site has the property zoning. 2 Member Synovec stated this request looks pretty straight forward and since he made the last motion he would go ahead and make the motion to approve. Moved by Synovec, seconded by Barton to recommend approval of the request. Roll Call Vote showed all members present voting aye – 6 ayes. Motion Carried.  Consider request of Tom and Marka Sawyer to rezone Lots 2-5, Block 3, Sawyer 2nd Addition, Fremont, Dodge County, Nebraska and Tax Lots 14, 18, 19, 20, 63, 64 and 65 of the NW ¼ Section 26, Township 17 North, Range 8 East, Dodge County, Nebraska from GC – General Commercial District to LI – Limited Industrial District. As a potential conflict of interest, Member Sawyer has removed himself from the room for this agenda item. Moved by Winter, seconded by Weise to allow member Sawyer to abstain. Roll Call Vote showed all members present voting aye – 5 ayes. Motion Carried. Planning Director Harkins stated as discussed in Study Session, this request involves the property along south Broad. The properties to the east are currently zoned LI so this is just an extension of that zoning district across the road up towards Shuster Ranch Road. There is no spot zoning involved because there are properties along Shuster Ranch Road that stay GC and then the properties north of that remain GC as well. Essentially you have a hook pattern between the two zoning districts. This is basically to give the property owners the utmost flexibility as they are looking at potential things in the future for business opportunities. Member Synovec stated again as discussed in Study Session it seems like there is a lot of parties involved here and as long as we have everyone signed and on board. Harkins stated the owners, the applicants, and the property owners have been in very good communication as that was one of the things when they first approached our office about this process that we spoke about was making sure everyone was on the same. Staff has not seen anything to indicate otherwise. In fact, every conversation that staff has been involved with goes to the idea that they are all in agreement that this is what they want to do. The applicant is just the one leading the charge. Moved by Wiese, seconded by Synovec to recommend approval of the request. Roll Call Vote showed all members present voting aye – 5 ayes. Motion Carried. Member Sawyer returned to the meeting.  Consider request of City of Fremont to rezone Lots 1-8 and Tax Lot 144 of D. Schroeder’s Subdivision, Fremont, Dodge County, Nebraska (Fremont Technology Park) from AG – Agricultural/Urban Reserve District and LI – Limited Industrial District to BP – Business Park District. Planning Director Harkins stated this is the Tech Park area. Basically after additional discussions after the Study Session where potential zoning options were discussed for the Tech Park, GFDC feels going from LI to Business Park, which is what we actually have in our current zoning code, gives them the best amount of flexibility and gives them what they feel is necessary to assist with marketing and business attraction to the park. They have been very adamant that it needs to be this way for them. Staff is recommending approval to help move the process along for Tech Park development. If it is seen that we need to make changes, the City is willing to come back later and pursue other options or look at other things but right now the City is trying to be a good partner and move the process along so hence staff’s recommendation. Member Synovec stated it was his belief that if there is anything we can do to get that thing going, he thinks we need to do. Moved by Synovec, seconded by Sawyer to recommend 3 approval of the request. Roll Call Vote showed all members present voting aye – 6 ayes. Motion Carried.  Consider the Replat of Lots 5 thru 6, Menard’s Addition, Fremont, Dodge County, Nebraska (Menard, Inc.) GC General Commercial District. Planning Director Harkins stated this request is essentially replatting Lots 5 and 6 from the current configuration to basically reversing the lot size. Right now Lot 5 is the smaller of the two and with the replat it becomes the larger of the two lots. Again, this is for a business that is looking at purchasing one of the lots and it gives them the exact size they are looking at for their business. Nate Buss, Olsson Associates, Agent for the applicant, was present. Mr. Buss stated the replatting is necessary for the parking strategy. Moved by Winter, seconded by Sawyer to recommend approval of the request contingent upon receiving a signed copy of the replat. Roll Call Vote showed all members present voting aye – 6 ayes. Motion Carried.  Consider amending Zoning Ordinance No. 3939, Article 12, Section 1208 (b) (2-3) to alter the procedure for appeals to the Board of Adjustment. Planning Director Harkins stated this has been discussed a lot in the past and we talked about it in Study Session. Research was shown that Fremont is the only City that does it this way, not only as a First Class City but Harkins stated he didn’t even know a County that does the process the way that we do it. Harkins stated he understood the idea of trying to have more people involved to give more opinions but again when you go back to State Statutes they have kept them not only in Nebraska but in most states apart for a reason. The Board of Adjustment typically needs to be its own decision making body. It has to have its own independence rather than having to lean on or be guided or told what to do by another board. It is unique in its natures because of what it does as far as its jurisdiction and it’s written that way purposely so that it can be strictly an appeal body rather than a body that takes on the normal planning and zoning functions as that typically is left to the Planning Commission. The converse of that is the Planning Commission typically is not kept in an appeal role purposely so that they have the freedom to make their decisions as they see fit. Both bodies then essentially have that ability and that function. Again, the only place as I mentioned where there is any overlap is where it comes into the membership. There is one member that is specially spelled out in State Statute to be a member from the Planning Commission. Of course, there is an appeal process from the Board of Adjustment to District Court if somebody has a grievance but the idea that as far as this process Harkins stated he would remind the Planning Commission that over the last couple of months they have done the process without one body depending on the other and the Board of Adjustment has done a pretty good job. Member Synovec stated apparently they don’t feel comfortable because they have approached members from the Planning Commission to help in this process. Harkins stated tonight is the first night that he has actually been told directly any of those things so it’s nice to finally hear that from members of either body Harkins stated that is also why we have worked at trying to train Planning Commissioners and starting to train Board of Adjustment members so that they are better equipped so that they don’t really need to rely on each other. There is some legal liability but it’s also a matter of because of the nature of what each group does you keep them separate for a reason. The County would have its own Board of Adjustment typically that does not rely on the Planning Commission for decision making guidance. They have specific guidance in what they, as far as an area of responsibility, interpretations, appeals of the map, appeals of the ordinance, variances, things of that nature. Those are very limited in scope. The Planning Commission has the rest of that jurisdiction when it comes to planning and zoning items. Harkins stated this will be talked a lot about in 4 September when a training session is held on the Board of Adjustment but in terms of the procedure for appeals and variances staff was recommending taking this out of the ordinance basically to finalize what we have been doing over the last couple of months. Harkins stated he understands the idea of not totally feeling comfortable and lacking initial input but the Planning Commission has been making actual motions to give recommendations so the Planning Commission has been making decisions on an area that they are not authorized to under State Statutes. That’s the problem and that is why staff has made the moves that we have and offered this amendment. Member Sawyer confirmed with Harkins that the City Attorney and the City Administrator are on board and have recommended change. Harkins stated they have reviewed it and, in fact, the City Attorney went through State Statutes over the course of two or three days reviewing everything as he was getting information and is in support of this amendment. Member Winter stated this is the procedure we have been following the last two months. Harkins stated that was correct. Winter stated Harkins was recommending the Planning Commission formally approve. Harkins stated that was correct. Member Synovec stated again he was still not comfortable with this as he believes the Board of Adjustment can always use the input and again in speaking with Mr. Crumlin he really doesn’t see the liability issues so Synovec was not sure why it hurts to go ahead and leave it with our Board. Planning Director Harkins stated he would direct Mr. Crumlin to talk to Tom Houston of Cline Williams, Oldfather in Lincoln and also Dave Ptak of Norfolk, both land use attorneys and Kent Seacrest of Lincoln, another land use attorney. All would probably disagree. Granted you get more than one attorney in a room and you will get multiple opinions. Harkins stated when he spoke to land use attorneys over the last 30 days about this process in the state, they have all said they are surprised that we would continue to pursue this. Harkins stated in the long run maybe there is some other ways we can take some opportunities to get additional input in between Planning Commission and Board of Adjustment on variances and other matters that would help give that extra guidance and input. Chairman Sookram asked if this particular issue should be continued. Harkins stated the Planning Commission could do this as it could be voted up, voted down, they can modify it as somehow he is not totally sure how. Sookram stated he would like to see the Planning Commission together on this completely. Member Sawyer asked what would be gained by continuing it. Sookram stated just to make sure that everybody on the Planning Commission when they are all here are completely comfortable with it for the sake of the entire Commission. Sawyer stated he was in agreement with Member Synovec and what Skip Sawyer, Board of Adjustment Member who spoke at the Study Session, but on the other hand he feels the Board needs to go with Rian Harkins as it sounds like we are the only City still doing it and when the City Attorney is on Board to get it taken care of. Sawyer states he sees all sides, especially when you have more people, but he would make a motion to approve the changes to the Zoning Ordinance. Moved by Sawyer, seconded by Winter to recommend approval of the request. Roll Call Vote showed 5 ayes – 1 nay (Synovec). Motion Carried. Planning Director mentioned in the September Meeting they will have David Ptak, who is a land use attorney from Norfolk, attend. Mr. Ptak will talk about Board of Adjustment and findings of fact. This will be during the September Planning Commission Meeting. He has invited the Board of Adjustment as both bodies need to really walk through the idea of findings and fact and what goes into those decisions but also the idea that both bodies then have a chance to pick Dave’s brain. For those of you that were at the Nebraska Planning Conference in March, Dave was one of the speakers. He has been speaking for a number of years and Dave actually is the 5 chair of the Board of Adjustment in Norfolk, has been a City Attorney in the past as well as a frequent lecturer on land use topics in Nebraska. Member Winter asked if that will be after the meeting. Mr. Harkins replied it would be at the end of the regular agenda items. Meeting adjourned at 5:30 p.m. 6