Manhattan Urban Area Planning Board

MINUTES MANHATTAN URBAN AREA PLANNING BOARD City Commission Room, City Hall 1101 Poyntz Avenue Thursday, February 13, 2025 MEMBERS PRESENT MEMBERS ABSENT Brad Buser Ryan Wilson Ken Ebert Ann Christian Kelly Karl Hannah Fehr, vice-chair Debbie Nuss, chair STAFF PRESENT Barry Beagle, Senior Planner; John Adam, Assistant Director of Community Development; and Lance Wackerla, Planner I 1. CALL TO ORDER 1.1 The chair called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Staff called roll and stated there was a quorum. 1.2 Open Public Comments: Mel Borst, 1918 Humboldt Street, asked about how to relieve drainage issues in his surrounding area. Borst said that larger roof eaves caused extra runoff onto neighboring properties which were not equipped to deal with the extra drainage demand. 2. CONSENT AGENDA 2.1 Approve the minutes of the January 23, 2025, Manhattan Urban Area Planning Board meeting Christian moved to approve the consent agenda; Buser seconded. Motion passed 6–0–0. 3. PUBLIC HEARINGS 3.1 REMOVE FROM THE TABLE and conduct a PUBLIC HEARING to consider a REZONING of the Heritage Square South Commercial Planned Unit Development (PUD) District to CC, Community Commercial District, a 32.56- acre commercial development located on the south side of US 24 Highway MUAPB Minutes Page 2 02/13/2025 approximately 0.8 miles east of Levee Drive (applicant: City of Manhattan; file no. REZ-24-152) Buser moved to remove the item from the table. Wilson seconded. Motion passed 6–0. Beagle gave the presentation Buser asked if there were any conversations with property owners about the rezoning. Beagle said that there had been specific notice sent to the property owners, but that staff had not received any inquiries. Karl asked if the ownership was the same for the last remaining undeveloped lots. Beagle said that he recalled them being the same owner. Wilson asked how the rezoning fit within the East Manhattan Gateway Plan since the plan called for urban residential development with supporting uses for the area. Beagle said that as the area was currently zoned and developed that there would be almost no opportunity for residential development. Adam clarified that the East Manhattan Gateway Plan had not yet been adopted so it could not be taken into consideration. Wilson said that the quote came from the 2015 Land Use Plan, but that generally he felt it would be best to allow for flexibility with this initial rezoning than to rezone it again later. Beagle agreed but said that the comprehensive plan as currently adopted called for community commercial development. Beagle said that in general there would be broader opportunities within the East Manhattan Gateway Plan. Wilson asked if the board would eventually come back to the issue and adjust CC or rezone once the East Manhattan Gateway Plan was adopted. Beagle said that there would likely be implementation recommendations in the Plan to address that issue but that he could not currently speak to what those might be. Adam said that there was not much to talk about implementation at this point, but that generally there was a large amount of floodplain in the area and so residential would likely only be advisable in 500-year floodplain zones. Nuss asked why the development was a PUD in the first place and what specifically bound the PUD together. Beagle said that he did not find any binding standards for the PUD during his research, such as design standards, associations, private easements, etc. Nuss said that it made sense that many of the changes to the PUD happened quite easily. Wilson said that he favored the idea of reducing the number of PUDs and asked that PUD files be more accessible to the public. Public hearing opened MUAPB Minutes Page 3 02/13/2025 There were no comments Public hearing closed Buser moved to initiate the rezoning of Heritage Square South from PUD to CC, Community Commercial; Karl seconded. Motion passed 6–0. Buser moved to approve the request to rezone; Fehr seconded. Motion passed 6–0. 3.2 A PUBLIC HEARING to consider REZONING No Stone Unturned, Unit 1, an 11.54- acre PUD, from the No Stone Unturned PUD district to BP, Business Park district, located east of Grand Mere Boulevard and the Kimball Avenue Roundabout (applicant: Jeffrey Hancock, SMH Consultants; file no. REZ-24-150) Beagle gave the presentation. Fehr clarified that the PUD plans had expired. Beagle confirmed. Karl asked for clarification on the expiration of the plans and the benefits of the rezoning. Beagle said that the property was originally zoned in 1992 for Office and Research use, which is why the 2015 land use map included the property as Office and Research. Beagle said that he could not recall another instance of a PUD expiring and becoming void. Beagle said that there would be more flexibility by zoning to the BP, Business Park district. The applicant Jeff Hancock, SMH Consultants, said that he was available for questions. Public hearing opened There were no comments. Public hearing closed Karl moved to approve the request to rezone; Christian seconded. Nuss said that the planning board had discussed the development in the past and had always concluded that nothing would happen unless the intersection was improved. Now that the intersection was improved, Nuss said that it was good to see something happening with the property. Motion passed 6–0. 4. REPORTS AND COMMENTS 4.1 Planning updates from staff. Nuss asked staff what would be upcoming. Adam said that there would be some final plats and that the City Manager would like to introduce herself to the board and discuss the upcoming year. MUAPB Minutes Page 4 02/13/2025 4.2 Comments from Board members. Wilson asked for clarification on public comment rules. Nuss clarified the rules. Wilson additionally asked about the difference between public hearings and work sessions. Adam and Nuss clarified the difference. Nuss asked staff to have a presentation and discussion on the issue of lot coverage that had frequently been brought up during public comment. Wilson asked about the drainage concerns brought up during public comment. Nuss said that it would be an issue addressed by Public Works. Adam confirmed. Buser applauded staff for reducing the number of PUDs and asked staff to continue researching PUDs. Buser also applauded staff for continuing to address housing issues around the community. Buser also asked for the ADU discussion to be brought before the board when ready. Nuss said that she had not realized that Manhattan had so many PUDs. Nuss cautioned staff about removing PUDs if they have a legitimate purpose. 4.3 Next meeting: Chair announced the next meeting is February 27, 2025. 5. ADJOURNMENT Meeting was adjourned at 6:48 p.m. Submitted by Lance Wackerla, Planner I