Planning Commission

May 4, 2021 7:00 p.m. Planning Department City Annex Building MEMBERS PRESENT: Commissioners Brent Dixon, Gene Hicks, Lindsey Romankiw, Natalie Black, George Morrison (late tech-difficulties), Margaret Wimborne, Arnold Cantu. MEMBERS ABSENT: Joanne Denney ALSO PRESENT: Assistant Planning Directors Kerry Beutler, Caitlyn Long and interested citizens. CALL TO ORDER: Brent Dixon called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. CHANGES TO AGENDA: None. MINUTES: Black moved to approve the Minutes of the April 6, 2021, Romankiw seconded the motion. The Motion passed unanimously. Public Hearing (s): 1. ANNX 21-005: ANNEXATION/INITIAL ZONING. Annexation & Initial Zoning of LC, HC, I&M for 46 acres. Dixon opened the public hearing. Applicant: Black Jolley, Connect Engineering, 1150 Hollipark Drive, Idaho Falls, Idaho. Jolley introduced the location of the property of north of Anderson and west of Holmes. Jolley indicated that this property gives a good opportunity for mixed use. Jolley showed the location of each proposed zone. Jolley indicated that there are potentially 2 entrances to Holmes, and they will start discussion with people on the south to see if they can get traffic flow on that end. Jolley stated that they have contacted people in the area and got ideas and thoughts on the proposed zoning. Jolley indicated that businesses in the area could benefit from this portion of property developing. Jolley showed a drone video of the property. Hicks applauded Jolley on his presentation. Morrison doesn’t feel that HC is the right use for the property as it doesn’t front a Highway. Dixon stated that the property to the North is HC, so it would be HC next to HC. Wimborne indicated that it makes the piece consistent for the piece they are considering and the piece that abuts it, otherwise there will create weird zone that is totally different for the area. Wimborne feels it makes sense to keep the zoning continuous in the area. Beutler presented the staff report, a part of the record. Support/Opposition: Gary Mills, 777 Linden Place, Idaho Falls, Idaho. Mills thought when he looked at this, he thought the implication was that it would include an approval of a plat because of the lines on the pictures, and now he can tell that it is not. Mills asked for input on platting for the future. Mills feels this is a good use for zoning especially with the LC. Mills asked if the development could incorporate the Willow Creek Drainage into the development and not cover it up and pipe it in because it is a natural drainage in the area that has been there for decades. Mills doesn’t want Planning Commission Minutes May 4, 2021 Page 1 of 4 what happened to Crow Creek Drainage once it was piped in and covered up and the 1990’s the City had to face difficulties with flooded homes near Idaho Falls High School and how Crow Creek had been covered up. Mills works at a business that is located just east of the property that faces Holmes. Mills gets to experience every day what it is like when trains stop on the tracks and people sometimes wait, and sometimes people get frustrated and make a big U turn and try to take another route to skirt the train. Mills stated that the car dealership on the North west corner of Anderson and Holmes have blocked the driveway entrance with snowplows so that people cannot cut through the sales lot because people were cutting through dangerously. Mills stated that he pictures this development becoming an easy cut through to avoid the stopped train for many people. Mills suggested when they plat the property to find a way that would make T’s or connect stubs and not make a graceful curve that would bring you directly to Anderson and make it difficult to get through to make it a traffic calming situation. Applicant: Blake Jolley, 1150 Hollipark, Idaho Falls, Idaho. Jolley added that Willow Creek is a natural buffer, and it is something that could be maintained, and one of the names that the owners have thrown around is Willow Creek Park. Dixon closed the public hearing. Black enjoyed the drone footage. Wimborne agreed and thought that it is wonderful that this project is being proposed to fill in and she feels the zones makes sense and are consistent. Wimborne moved to recommend to the Mayor and City Council approval of the Annexation of Approximately 46 Acres, Section 7, Township 2 North, Range 38 East, with initial zoning of LC, HC, and I&M with the Airport Overlay, as presented, Black seconded the motion. Dixon called for roll call vote: Black, yes; Cantu, yes; Hicks, yes; Morrison, yes; Romankiw, yes; Wimborne yes. The motion passed unanimously. 2. ANNX 21-006: ANNEXATION/INITIAL ZONING. Annexation and Initial Zoning of R3A for 39 acres. Dixon opened the public hearing. Applicant: Blake Jolley, Connect Engineering, 1150 Hollipark Drive, Idaho Falls, Idaho. Jolley indicated that this is north of where Fremont turns into North 5th West on the north end of Idaho Falls. Jolley stated that this property has been discussed with staff and is currently being farmed and identified as R&D with the Comprehensive Plan. Jolley stated that R&D includes the ability for higher density housing zones and so one of the reasons why they have applied for annexation with initial zoning of R3A is to have a mixed-use possibility with residential and/or offices. North 5th West is a higher density traffic street. Jolley has met with staff on multiple occasions and staff has met with airport to discuss ideas of what would be allowed and potential street networking. Caitlyn Long presented the staff report, a part of the record. Dixon asked what is allowed on the upper left-hand corner that is on the approach surface. Beutler stated that residential is specifically excluded from that area and very limited commercial could be allowed. Beutler stated that mostly they would use it for storm drainage. Dixon asked if parks are allowed. Beutler indicated that parks are not allowed, so if it is a drainage pond, it Planning Commission Minutes May 4, 2021 Page 2 of 4 cannot also be a park. Beutler clarified that parks are not allowed in the overlay zone because birds go to parks and get in air traffic. Dixon asked if it would be appropriate to have the corner have a zoning that is in opposition to the FAA requirements or should they look for a different zone. Beutler stated that they don’t need to look at a different zone, because the overlay zone in place and that overlay will restrict the uses, so even with the R3A designation, because the overlay is in place, they are still compliant with the recommendations of the FAA. Dixon asked if the overlay goes with the annexation. Beutler agreed that the overlay zone is part of the initial zoning. Beutler stated that the City adopted the overlay zone across the entire City, so it is included in the annexation and initial zoning. Beutler stated that it is appropriate for the Commission to include that as part of their motion. No one appeared in support of opposition. Dixon closed the public hearing. Morrison moved to recommend to the Mayor and City Council approval of the Annexation of approximately 39.543 acres in the SE ¼ of Section 1, Township 2 North, Range 37 East, with initial zoning for R3A with the Airport Overlay Zone as presented, Wimborne seconded the motion. Dixon called for roll call vote: Black, yes; Cantu, yes; Hicks, yes; Morrison, yes; Romankiw, yes; Wimborne yes. The motion passed unanimously. 3. RZON 21-008: REZONE. Rezone from R&D to R3A. Dixon opened the public hearing. Applicant: Blake Jolley, Connect Engineering, 1150 Hollipark Drive, Idaho Falls, Idaho. Jolley stated that this is the same idea as the previous item, except it was already annexed into the City and so they are asking for a rezone from R&D to R3A. Jolley stated that they do not have a contract on the corner parcel and that is being left out. Black asked what is located on the corner property. Beutler stated that there are two homes and an outbuilding and shop. Caitlyn Long presented the staff report, a part of the record. Dixon confirmed that the current zone is R&D with an airport overlay. Dixon asked what the current zone allows as it is not in the staff report and suggested putting it in the staff report in the future. No one appeared in support or opposition. Dixon closed the public hearing. Wimborne moved to recommend to the Mayor and City Council approval of the Rezone from R&D to R3A with the Airport Overlay Zone for 18.5 Acres SE ¼ of Section 1, Township 2 North Range 37 E, as presented, Black seconded the motion. Dixon called for roll call vote: Black, yes; Cantu, yes; Hicks, yes; Morrison, yes; Romankiw, yes; Wimborne, yes. The motion passed unanimously. Planning Commission Minutes May 4, 2021 Page 3 of 4 Miscellaneous: Comprehensive Plan Update. Beutler indicated that it is going well, and Caitlyn Long is going through the report of the City-Wide Survey and that will go out to Commissioners shortly. Beutler stated that they got great feed back and great quotes from residents and they seem to be impressed with the outreach efforts. Beutler stated that they are figuring out how best to communicate the information going forward to the public. Beutler stated that if they like the tables and graphs then give feedback so they know how to represent the information to the public. Beutler stated that in June they will have one meeting that looks pretty straight forward so they are going to just have one meeting, and Cramer wants to do a second meeting in June to talk about Comprehensive Plan items and go through some of the survey results in detail. Beutler asked about thoughts of doing a second meeting in June focused on long range plan. Dixon asked if the commissioners are comfortable with doing a “Bacon” meeting. Black stated that she is ready for bacon and meeting in person. Wimborne stated that it is nice to have the Webex option as she is out of town. Beutler stated that they could do Webex and in person so the 2nd Tuesday would be 15th, or they can do the 5th Tuesday in June. Dixon stated that Bacon is usually on a Friday morning. Beutler stated that they would float dates and decide what would work. Wimborne would prefer earlier in June like the 15th. Dixon asked if there are any Comprehensive Plan topics that the Commissioners would like to see discussed that haven’t come up. Dixon stated that they are talking about the walkway and trail things on the South end of town. Dixon stated that as they start to see the potential for growth they will start to need to talk about traffic and road systems. Black stated that she wants to talk about parks for the City. Wimborne stated that they need to be careful and not ask the developer to take on all of the costs associated with Parks and the City needs to take some responsibility. Morrison agrees with the park discussion and they need to put the pressure on the City to work the budget to buy properties. Beutler stated that he will have updated maps to share in June to have a further discussion on this topic. Dixon stated that the area south of Sunnyside along Holmes has a big area that has one thing (single family detached), and the Comprehensive Plan has the idea that they need mixed uses throughout- and that mixed use requirement has not been enforced, and they have just allowed the same thing to be requested over and over again, and does the Commission need to talk about an enforcement (when appropriate) for mixed use. Black agreed and stated that some of the large residential going in they are not adding in much commercial so there is a lot driving to get gas and groceries and they need to look at some of that and plan some areas. Dixon stated that as the City gets larger the idea of redevelopment to higher density closer in makes more sense. Dixon stated that major cities that have high density in the center of town didn’t start that way, but if the City gets growing fast, they could eclipse 100,000 in the near future, so they need to start to increase density within the areas they have, and they need to encourage fill-in. Next meeting June 1, 2021. Dixon adjourned the meeting at approximately 8:00 p.m. Respectfully Submitted Beckie Thompson, Recorder Planning Commission Minutes May 4, 2021 Page 4 of 4