Village of Los Lunas Planning & Zoning Agendas

MINUTES PLANNING & ZONING MEETING September 17, 2014 The Village of Los Lunas Planning & Zoning Commission met in their regular session on Wednesday, September 17, 2014, at 6:00 pm in the Village Council Chambers. Members present were as follows: Commissioners Stephanie Williams, Terry Ulibarri, David Crawford & Walter Baca. Commissioner Frank Vigil was absent. Staff members present were Nathaniel Feddes, Special Project Planner and Marie Marquez, Recording Secretary. Members of the public present were as follows: Paul Sanchez, Mr. & Mrs. Martin G. Dourte, Karen Francis, Vivian Jaramillo, Jose 0. Lopez, Bruce Jordan & Juanita Lopez. The Meeting was called to order by: Chairman Stephanie Williams APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chairman S. Williams called for any changes or additions to the agenda. Commissioner T. Ulibarri made a motion to approve the agenda as presented. Commissioner W. Baca seconded the motion. Everyone voted yes, motion carried, SWEARING IN OF PARTICIPANTS AGENDA ITEMS: CONDITIONAL USE - Martin & Constance Dourte ITEM 1— CONDITIONAL USE — Martin & Constance Dourte Chairman S. Williams introduced [tern 1- Conditional Use submitted by Martin & Constance Dourte. The action requested of this commission is to have a public hearing to recommend approval or disapproval of the request for this Conditional Use. Chairman S. Williams called on Nathaniel Feddes, Special Project Planner to present the item. Nathaniel Feddes presented the item submitted by Martin & Constance Dourte. He said, they have applied for a Conditional Use on Lot 78 of Buena Vista de Los Cerritos Subdivision, Phase I, Village of Los Lunas. The purpose of their request is to start a home occupation business, building outdoor furniture workshop in the garage of their home, which is located at 981 Capital St. NW. Nathaniel said, notices were sent to all home owners within 300 ft. from the subject property. To date, no commentaries in opposition have been received. It is the recommendation of staff to make a finding of conformance with the Municipal Code and Comprehensive Plan for the approval of the Conditional Use Permit. Chairman S. Williams called for any questions from the commissioners to staff. There were none. Chairman S. Williams called on the applicant either Mr. or Mrs. Dourte. Mr. Dourte approached the podium and gave the commissioners a little more detail information for his request. Mr. Dourte said, he is a member of the board of directors for the Buena Vista Homeowners Association and has a commitment to the community. He said, he wants to maintain the best community anyone can have and that is why he is here tonight. He said, having worked for 34 years in Aviation and the funding for some of these government contracts he had been working with lately, have gone down and he is not going to wait around for anyone else to pick him up and carry him along. He will do that himself and part of that is starting this new business calling it Northern Sky Woodworks. He makes western red cedar outdoor furniture, not just chairs but tables, foot rests, gliders as well. He said, the garage would not be used as a store front it’s strictly for saws, sanders, drills. All he plans to do is manufacture furniture in the garage. It’s on his website and will be sold in various spots in New Mexico and Southern Colorado. He will be doing this in his garage for about a year, until he gets on his feet, then he will be working with Community Development for finding a location & good zone to be produce the furniture. He has been looking elsewhere in Albuquerque, but doesn’t want to drive 50 miles to work, he would rather keep it in this community. Mr. Dourte was then open for any questions from the commission. Commissioner T. Ulibarri told Mr. Dourte, home occupations are very common here. The concern you are going to hear from your neighbors here tonight are several things such as noise factor, saws going, is it going to destroy their general life style? The storing of furniture, and traffic. He asked Mr. Dourte to give a little more detail about that. Commissioner T. Ulibarri said, neighbors don’t mind home occupations, if it doesn’t mess up their life style, especially if they paid so much money for a quiet life style. So he needs to ask those kinds of questions. Mr. Dourte replied, as far as the saws going in the garage, he would be the only sole worker and the only saw that would be going on is the saw, and the sander and never at the same time. With the garage door closed and with a dust collection system and air filter, there shouldn’t be very much sound coming out. If need be, he will add some sound proof on to the garage doors. The home is already sound proof. The only thing that will take place at the home is the manufacturing of furniture. There will be no traffic; the only one will be the UPS or Fed X trucks to drop off supplies. The finished furniture would be moved to a storage shed or trailer and moved to another location. Chairman S. Williams asked him if he would only be doing custom orders? He said, yes and some show pieces for shows to use as examples of furniture. Commissioner D. Crawford asked him if his housing division had an HOA? He said, yes, Buena Vista HOA. He said, what do the covenants say about home businesses? Mr. Dourte said, there was nothing in there about home businesses in the HOA covenants. Commissioner W. Baca asked about signs. Mr. Dourte replied, there would be no signs at all. Chairman S. Williams called on anyone in the audience that would like to speak in opposition. Karen Francis, homeowner in the Buena Vista Subdivision came up. She said, in the covenants itself, it stipulates what is permitted and not permitted. She read several of the requirements under Section 3.6. to the commissioners. One of her concerns was, that once this permit is issued that weighs precedence for others wanting permits as well. Another concern that other neighbors had was the notification of this meeting. Commissioner D. Crawford asked her, if her HOA board had heard about it. She was told that the only homeowners notified were those within 300 ft. of that property. Nathaniel pointed out that the Village does have a very extensive policy on home occupations and it is very specifically looked at like a carpenter’s workshop, which would require a conditional use permit and that ordinance is in place. This is not setting a precedence, the precedence was already set. Chairman S. Williams called on Mr. Dourte to answer Commissioner Crawford’s question regarding the HOA in that area. Mr. Dourte came up and told the commissioners, that he was one of two directors in the HOA board. One lives in Colorado or Utah and himself. He said, they are the only two people running the HOA right now. He said, he called Ms. Brianna Hanna at entrust to have her look at the covenants to make sure that this wasn’t going to interfere with any of them, and it doesn’t, but he said, your concern about having a precedence set is valid as Mr. Feddes said. Commissioner T. Ulibarri said, we are here to discuss this particular case in relationship to our policy. We will not get into a conflict with any homeowners association and the policy that the city has. The policy that the city has, takes precedence. Vivian Jaramillo also came up she lives within the 300 ft. circle. She said, she knows for a fact that shutting the garage door is not going to do too much for the noise. She has a business of her own in Belen that has power tools and they make noise whether the door is open or shut, and there are owners who have small dogs and when they hear the noise, they will bark and bark which will be disruptive. She said, there are 3 rentals next door to her home that are not being taken care of. The president of that association is no longer on the board. She said, there are renters there, if they see something they will do it too. They feel they don’t have to get approval from anybody, because they’re renters and they’re not accountable, the homeowner is accountable. I have to live there, my house is paid for and I do not plan on moving. She said, when she bought the house, she was told there would be no rentals and now they want a start a business there no, she doesn’t agree. Jose 0. Lopez also lives there and had several concerns. He said, they walk around the neighborhood and know what’s going on. He said, once you get this business in, it is going to be like a domino. There will be others doing the same. Sometimes there are problems with neighbors, there are yard sales which bring in lots of traffic, blocking of driveways, because people park everywhere. It creates a lot of traffic. He was very opposed to it. Paul Sanchez also came up and said, It’s very hard for me to believe this, since he has no knowledge of this type of business but is opposed to it, because of traffic, noise, fire hazard etc. Bruce Jordan came up and was also opposed to it as well due to the same concerns. There were no further comments. There was no one in the audience who spoke in favor. Commissioner D. Crawford had a question for staff on terms of storage and/or the usage of equipment, but Nathaniel told him that would come under step 2, the business application process because the fire marshal would have to inspect the building and regulate the storing of lumber or any fire hazard. Commissioner T. Ulibarri said, first of all there is no precedence set Village wise, and that’s what we have to deal with. Home Occupations are common, we need to look at hazards of any kind such as; noise, traffic etc. to the residents in the area. He said, he hears and understands the concerns, but on the other hand there is an individual, who is wanting to start a business as a business man, he understands the high cost of going out initially and renting or maintaining a facility to do business. He said, that’s why we have home occupations, but again we have to look at policies that the city has. Commissioner D. Crawford said, sometimes we have policies or covenants that are abused, but we have policies that the City has that we have to look at. Commissioner W. Baca still had concerns about the noise, sawdust and glues, etc. used in this type of business. He said, he has a neighbor that uses saws all the time and they can be heard from his home. Chairman S. Williams said, as you can see, this is a difficult situation. We don’t take things lightly, we are a community voice board and volunteer board. We can see, understand, and feel both sides of the issue. Someone asked about the noise ordinance. Nathaniel said, that would be interpreted from our code enforcement that any noise such as saws running in the evening or night hours would be an unreasonable noise. Commissioner D. Crawford asked what the procedure was for calling someone in the evening in regards to unreasonable noise? Nathaniel stated that the regulations for non-emergency calls to that effect such as noise are referred to dispatch and they in turn send them to Code Enforcement, since there is always a code enforcement officer on call at all times. Commissioner T. Ulibarri said, 99% of the time he would be forthcoming with the motion to approve a home occupation, but he was very concerned about the saw dust. If it was something, having to do with assembling furniture it wouldn’t be a problem. Nathaniel said, he can tell you why the recommendation was made. He said, he had no intention of persuading the commissioners one way or the other and the recommendation follows along the lines of our Municipal Code 17.44.170 titled Home Occupations. It falls in line with the table of permissible uses. That is why staff recommended this Conditional Use. Chairman S. Williams also told the audience, you all know you have a Home Owners Association, where have you all been? That’s where you should of gone first, and anyone of you can be in the board. It was also in the newspaper. She said, you must really get involved with the board. Chairman S. Williams called for a motion or recommendation. Commissioner W. Baca made a motion to deny this request for the reasons that have been discussed and past experience he has seen and would like more information in the future if they choose to come back. The vote was 3 against and I for. Commissioner T. Ulibarri seconded the motion. Everyone voted yes, motion carried. ITEM 4—APPROVAL OF MINUTES — Minutes of 7/16/14 Chairman S. Williams called for a motion to approve the minutes 7/16/14. Commissioner T. Ulibarri made a motion to approve the minutes for 7/16/14 with I minor correction. Commissioner W. Baca seconded the motion. Everyone voted yes, motion passed. ITEM 5-DISCUSSION Community Development Activity Report—Nathaniel Feddes gave the commissioners a brief update on the new business already operating which is “I Hop” and the businesses forthcoming. Code Enforcement Issues Commissioner W. Baca & Commissioner T. Ulibarri had complaints for violations — they received. One being sent to the wrong address, the other not returning calls and not following up after completion of violation. Nathaniel told the commission that he would bring it up to Christina about calls not being returned. He also told the commissioners that code enforcement officers do a good job, they work very hard, and are proud of what they do, but are often reprimanded. As far as Charlie Mills, he is new and is being taught by one of the other code enforcement officers. Commissioner D. Crawford also had another complaint regarding some neighbor down his street. He said, he would rather have some excited person ticketing than not at all. He was told to call code enforcement and report it. ITEM 6- ADJOURNMENT Chairman S. Williams called for a motion to adjourn. Commissioner D. Crawford made a motion to adjourn, W. Biaca second the motion. Everyone voted yes, motion passed. Absent Frank Vigil, Commissioner Walter Baca, Commissioner