Redevelopment Commission

TOWN OF GILBERT REDEVELOPMENT COMMISSION MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING JANUARY 17, 2024 COUNCIL CHAMBERS 50 EAST CIVIC CENTER DRIVE GILBERT, ARIZONA 85296 COMMISSION PRESENT: STAFF PRESENT: Casey Kendel, Chair Jim Torgeson, Council Member Cassandra Updike, Vice Chair John Baird, Deputy Town Attorney Boe Bigelow Amanda Elliott, Redevelopment Program Manager, Office of Adam Baugh Economic Development Sydney Bethel Price, Redevelopment Project Manager, Office of COMMISSION ABSENT: Economic Development TJ Claassen PRESENTER: Kristen Devine, Planner II, Development Services Ashlee MacDonald, Principal Planner, Development Services CALL TO ORDER OF THE REGULAR MEETING Chair Kendel called the Regular Meeting of the Redevelopment Commission to order at 6:02 p.m. ROLL CALL Amanda Elliott, Redevelopment Program Manager, conducted a roll call, determined that four Commissioners were present, and quorum was confirmed. COMMUNICATIONS FROM CITIZENS At this time, members of the public may comment on matters not on the agenda. The Commission's response is limited to responding to criticism, asking staff to review a matter commented upon, or asking that a matter be put on a future agenda. No requests for communication from citizens were put forward. ADMINISTRATIVE ITEMS 1. Meeting Minutes: Consider approval of the minutes of the regular meeting held on December 20, 2023. MOTION: Vice Chair Updike moved to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of the Redevelopment Commission held on December 20, 2023, as presented, seconded by Commissioner Bigelow. Motion passed 4- 0. Redevelopment Commission January 17, 2024 1 PUBLIC HEARING Items will be heard at one Public Hearing, at which time anyone wishing to comment on a Public Hearing Item may do so. Comments will be heard from those in support of or in opposition to an item. In order to comment on a Public Hearing Item, individuals must fill out a public comment form indicating the Item Number on which they wish to be heard. Once the hearing is closed, there will be no further public comment unless requested by a member of the Commission. After the Public Hearing, the Commission may act on all items not requiring additional staff, public, or Commission comment with a single vote. 2. Z23-08 HERITAGE NORTH: Request to amend Ordinance No. 2814 to amend the Heritage North Planned Area Development (PAD) for approximately 11.97 acres, generally located at the southwest corner of Gilbert Rd and Juniper Road, and zoned Heritage Village Center (HVC) PAD with a Planned Area Development overlay. The effect of this amendment will be to modify the approved development plan and conditions of approval. Commissioner Baugh recused himself from the discussion of file Z23-08 Heritage North due to a conflict of interest. Planner MacDonald presented an overview of the request. In Phase One, they would allow no more than 413 spaces to be reserved for guests of the hotel or multifamily. Surface parking shall remain public parking, including 84 spaces on level one of the residential garage. Planner MacDonald stated that staff will continue working with the applicant on parking conditions and any new conditions relevant to phasing. Staff also added some restrictions on how many spaces could be reserved at full build-out into this condition. Staff is proposing that the project shall have no more than 790 spaces reserved for office employees, hotel guests or multifamily residents, and there shall be a minimum of 500 public parking spaces. Staff added language in this condition that any reserved spaces in the south garage shall only be reserved between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. and signed as such to allow public parking outside of those hours. In addition, staff evaluated whether there was a need for additional conditions based on the phasing of the development. Planner MacDonald noted that staff added three additional conditions, one of which is part of the design review application, which will come back before the Redevelopment Commission. The applicant shall submit an exhibit identifying how parking will be accommodated during Phase Two construction. Staff added a condition that temporary construction fencing installed around the future phase should be enhanced fencing and approved as part of the design review application. Lastly, staff added that the hotel will be constructed as part of Phase One. The applicant shall utilize valet parking during peak hours until Phase Two construction is complete to accommodate the required hotel parking. With a valet parking model, one can get a few more parking spaces in there because they can stack them a little bit differently. COMMISSION QUESTIONS/COMMENTS Commissioner Bigelow asked what the timeline was between the two phases. Planner MacDonald noted that the latest that they could complete the construction of phase one is in March 2026. Phase Two, per the Redevelopment Commission January 17, 2024 2 development agreement, is slated to start at the end of 2025. Therefore, construction of Phase Two would start very shortly after the completion of Phase One. Vice Chair Updike inquired about the timeline for the temporary fencing and whether suggestions were made to ensure that temporary fencing is maintained. Planner MacDonald assured that staff would work with the applicant on the design review application for that fencing. Chair Kendel commented that a significant concern in the Heritage District is parking and asked how reserved spaces and off-peak time will be enforced. Planner MacDonald noted that the applicant may have some additional information on how that was monitored and enforced. The applicant did not propose, as part of this application, any additional reductions in parking spaces based on their uses. Therefore, they will still be required to provide the number of spaces previously approved. The applicant provided a brief overview of the project and what the requests are. Creation is one of the prominent developers based here in Phoenix who are responsible for some of the best projects in the valley. The first request that the applicant has for the minor modifications to the PAD is parking. The initial approval included a condition of approval that required the project to provide a self-contained parking supply. Still, it also included a prohibition on the ability to charge a fee for any space on the site. While the developer fully intends to provide efficient parking free of charge for the public, customers, and visitors to the site, for the retail component, there was a desire to be able to provide reserved spaces and charge a fee for those reserved spaces. The second request the applicant had was related to the phasing and the project to move forward. Phase One would include retail, the multifamily offsite improvements, and the public open spaces. Phase Two would include the office and associated commercial garage, and then the hotel will be built. Commissioner Bigelow inquired whether parking could be reserved during business hours once the offices were completed. The applicant pointed out that the revised condition does include a time frame from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for when the office parking can be reserved, and then after that, it would be open. Chair Kendel questioned whether the signage on top of the hotel was going to be replaced by a temporary or permanent structure if the hotel was not part of Phase Two. The applicant explained that if the hotel does move forward in Phase Two, there will still be signage located at that same corner, but not the initial site. It would be on the side of the corner but not on an actual building. MOTION: Commissioner Bigelow moved to approve Z23-08 Heritage North, with staff amendments, conditions, and recommendations as stated in the amended staff report, seconded by Vice Chair Updike. Motion passed 3- 0. Commissioner Baugh returned to the meeting. 3. DR23-101 CLEMENT’S GARAGE REDEVELOPMENT: Site plan, landscaping, grading and drainage, elevations, floor plans, lighting, and colors and materials for approximately 0.58 acres, generally located at the southeast corner of Gilbert Road and Cullumber Avenue and zoned Heritage Village Center. Redevelopment Commission January 17, 2024 3 Commissioner Bigelow recused himself from the discussion of file DR23-101 Clement’s Garage Redevelopment due to a conflict of interest. Planner Devine presented an overview of the request. The site is located southeast of Gilbert Road and Cullumber Avenue. The applicant is proposing to redevelop the existing Clement’s garage building currently located on the site. The site is approximately 0.58 acres in a zone heritage village center. The proposed development is approximately 10,000 square feet with 5,500 square feet of patio space. There is a three-foot- tall patio wall that buffers the patio from the sidewalk along Gilbert Road. Along this wall will also be two cabanas that face inward toward the patio. The restaurant is accessed by entering the patio area off Gilbert Road. The retail space also has access off of Gilbert Road. There are additional entrances to the businesses from the rear of the property. Planner Devine noted that as opposed to using a traditional refuse enclosure, the applicant has proposed to use a compactor internal to the building. On the pickup days, the compactor will be rolled out to the northeastern corner of the site for pickup and then be rolled back inside the building afterward. The environmental services team requires that trash trucks not back up over 50 feet. Therefore, since the Clement site is over 50 feet from Cullumber Avenue, staff will be establishing a temporary access agreement for them to utilize the parking lot north of Clement’s as the exit route for the trash trucks. This access is temporary until the development of the Ash Strait realignment in the future. Another requirement will be the widening of the alley east of Clement’s. The developer for the Clement site will be required to provide improvements to the alley and widen it to 21 feet from Cullumber Avenue to the southern property line of the Clement property. These improvements will also impact a portion of the parking lot north of Clement’s, and then landscaping for the site will be separated into two different categories, internal and external to the site. Red push pistachio trees are proposed along the street frontage with Murphy agave, Mexican feathergrass, and deergrass within the retail tenant patio space. Internal landscaping for the restaurant tenant is proposed to include date palms, fruitless olive trees, giant bird of paradise, lantana and brake lights, and Hesper aloe, and within the Heritage District design guidelines, they include a list of permitted landscaping within the district. During the Study Session in October 2023, the applicant proposed several landscape deviations. The original requests are on the left, and the updated requests are on the right. The applicant has removed the request for coral fountain, foxtail fern, ponytail palm, sago palm, umbrella plant, castle blue flax lily, creeping fig vine, natal plum, blue hibiscus, and dwarf pittosporum. In their place, they are requesting to add Spencer's asparagus, catclaw vine, red fountain grass, orange jubilee, Tacoma, and coppery mesemb ground cover. The applicant is proposing a 26-foot, eight-inch, one-story, mixed-use, two-tenant building. The restaurant tenant will be approximately 5,500 square feet with a 5,000 square foot patio, and the retail tenant will be approximately 3,400 square feet with a 500 square foot patio. Portions of the existing Clement’s garage building will remain and be incorporated into the design of the new building. The applicant is also proposing wood shutters and Spanish tiles as accent material to the rear of the building. The Spanish tiles are used to accent the recessed portions of the east elevation, and then the tiles are also located within the bottom of the cabanas off Gilbert Road. The south elevation of the project incorporates window cutouts from the existing building into the new project and adds a six-foot site wall to enclose the patio space at the front of the site. The north elevation is made up primarily of brick but includes some recessed stucco areas for future mural locations. The applicant has insurance and has included a combination of permitted materials, including brick and stucco with tile and wood access. Redevelopment Commission January 17, 2024 4 Planner Devine noted that staff would like to add the condition of approval to the project, the condition being that landscape deviation requests shall conform to the landscape plan exhibit approved by the Redevelopment Commission at the public hearing on January 17, 2024. Therefore, it will be apparent that the requested deviations should match the landscape plan exhibit. Staff reported that there is a waterline concern that has not been addressed on the grading and drainage plan as of yet. Therefore, staff would like to add a condition as well that the grading and drainage plan be approved administratively prior to permitting. COMMISSION QUESTIONS/COMMENTS Chair Kendel inquired whether the parking lot north of the building has any future plant recommendations. Planner Devine shared that there was no design for that yet. Still, it is anticipated that the parking lot will be cut down as the street realigns down Cullumber Avenue, which is why the temporary access agreement for the trash is not until that happens because it will bring the road closer to Clement’s and closer to that 50-foot requirement. She added that the landscape plan was submitted before the final site plan. The only modification is the corner where the refuse enclosure is. In addition, it was noted that the billboard will be removed. The project is estimated to start in the summer of 2024. The Commissioners discussed their thoughts on the project, expressing support for adaptive reuse and excitement about its potential success in enhancing the Heritage District entrance area along Gilbert Road. MOTION: Commissioner Baugh moved to approve DR23-101 with conditions one through five as stated the staff report , and the two added conditions as requested by staff : 6. Landscape deviation requests shall conform to the landscape plan exhibit approved by the Redevelopment Commission at the January 17, 2024 public hearing and 7. An updated grading and drainage plan showing installation of a water line in the alley shall be approved administratively prior to permitting. , The motion was seconded by Vice Chair Updike. Motion passed 3-0. REPORT FROM THE COUNCIL LIAISON ON CURRENT OR FUTURE EVENTS Council member Torgeson reported that on Tuesday, January 23, 2024, at 5:00 p.m., a Study Session will take place in Council Chambers for a discussion presentation on the Northwest Gilbert redevelopment and revitalization. As a reminder, the water tower plaza, located in the Heritage District, is now closed for reservations until the fall. Finally, Council member Torgeson reminded members to review the event calendar on the Town's website for information about Council and Commission meetings, events, and more. ADJOURN REGULAR SESSION Chair Kendel adjourned the meeting at 6:53 p.m. _______________________________ Casey Kendel, Chair Redevelopment Commission January 17, 2024 5