Planning Commission

September 22, 2014 The Russellville Planning Commission will hold its Regular Meeting on Monday, September 22, 2014 at 5:30 p.m., in the City Hall Council Chambers. PLANNING COMMISSION AGENDA Welcome Visitors 1. A request to review and approve the minutes of the August 24, 2014 Regular Meeting. 2. A Public Hearing requesting to review and a recommendation of approval to the City Council to rezone property presently M-2 (Heavy Industrial) to C-2 (Highway Commercial) for property located at 201 South Knoxville, submitted by Sandra J. Jones. (ZO.14.18.178) 3. A. A request to review and approval the Preliminary Plat of Airways Commercial Park Phase II located along Airways Lane, submitted by Dave Garza of Barrett & Associates, on behalf of David Collins. (SD.14.08.282) B. A request for a waiver not to construct sidewalks. 4. Tabled from August 25, 2014: A Public Hearing to consider revisions to the Russellville Zoning Code in regard to Permitted Uses in the C-1 and C-1B districts. (MS.14.08.78) 1  Russellville Planning Commission Minutes September 22, 2014, @ 5:30 p.m. The Russellville Planning Commission held its regular meeting on Monday, September 22, 2014, at 5:30 p.m. in the Russellville City Hall Council Chambers. Members Present Chairman Dennis Boyd Jimmy Sims Mike Wilkins Herschell Hargus Council Liaison Richard Harris Doug Skelton Members Absent Secretary Aldona Standridge Vice-Chair EricWestcott Jimmy Davenport Todd Meimerstorf Also present: City Planner David Harris, City Attorney Trey Smith, Planning Assistant Lequitta Jones, Building Official Brian Holstein, Jim Lynch/City Corporation, Director of Public Work/City Engineer Kurt Jones, W.E. & Sandra Jones, and J.David Garza of Barrett & Associates. Welcome The First Order of Business was a request to review and approve the minutes of the August 24, 2014, Regular Meeting. Commissioner Wilkins made the motion to accept the minutes as written. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Sims and passed unanimously. The Second Order of Business was a Public Hearing requesting review and recommendation of approval to City Council to rezone property at 201 South Knoxville from M-2 (Heavy Industrial) to C-2 (Highway Commercial). Submitted by Sandra J. Jones. (ZO.14.09.178) City Planner Harris said rezoning to C-2 from the current M-2 makes sense. The property is currently in a small pocket of M-2 surrounded by C-2. It is a commercial building in nature and sits on highway frontage. C-2 Highway Commercial would be the appropriate zoning for it. Mrs. Sandra J. Jones said every other property in that area is C-2 and their building has been used for commercial purposes. They just want the zoning to match the use and the area, and to allow continued use of the building for commercial purposes. Commissioner Wilkins made the motion to recommend approval of the rezoning petition to Council. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Sims and passed unanimously with Chairman Boyd voting yes to reach the required 5 votes. The Third Order of Business was a request to review and approve the Preliminary Plat of Airways Commercial Park Phase II, located along Airways Lane, submitted by Dave Garza of Barrett & Associates, on behalf of David Collins. (SD.14.08.282) Included in the request for plat approval was a request for a waiver not to construct sidewalks. City Planner Harris said this plat received Preliminary Plat approval back in 2000, but for some reason was never brought back to the commission for Final Plat approval. Consequently, it must go through the whole plat review procedure. Planner Harris said he had no issues with the plat. Applicants are requesting relief from the sidewalk requirements. Phase I, which sits between Phase II and 16th Street, was given a variance in May 2001 and, therefore, has no sidewalks. If sidewalks are constructed in Phase II, they would not connect to any other sidewalks because East 17th is a dead-end street. I think it would be reasonable for commissioners to give consideration to the request for relief from the sidewalk requirements (Note: For the record, the Letter of Intent referenced “construction of new homes,” which Mr. Garza stated was a typographical error). City Engineer Kurt Jones said no drainage report was submitted, nor were any street profiles submitted. Before we issue construction approval it will have to meet city codes. The drainage report is unclear, so I will get with Mr. Garza and make sure everything meets the drainage ordinance. The acreage on the legal description is incorrect. The plat is unclear as to what is proposed in regard to existing water and sewer. Mr. Jones said he would meet with Mr. Gaza to make sure all city codes are addressed before the final approval process. Mr. Gaza said the only thing he wanted to add was that they were only making some minor changes from the 2000 plat. Less asphalt is proposed, which will help reduce drainage a bit. We also straightened out a storm drainage pipe which will improve flow. Commissioner Wilkins asked how wide the streets would be. Mr. Garza replied “36 feet.” Commissioner Wilkins moved to approve the Preliminary Plat. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Hargus and passed unanimously with Chairman Boyd voting in the affirmative. Mr. Garza asked for clarification to be sure that the motion included the request for relief from the sidewalk requirements. City Attorney Smith said that the sidewalk request was included. The Fourth Order of Business tabled from August 25, 2014: A Public Hearing to consider revisions to the Russellville Zoning Code in regard to Permitted Uses in the C-1 and C-1B districts. (MS.14.08.78) City Planner Harris said the appointed committee had met and considered the changes that might be advisable, and had also considered the recommendations of the Historic District Commission. The committee's recommendations were included in the staff report and were fairly limited. They recommended a fairly short list of changes to make. The only uses they felt should be moved from Permitted or Special Use Permit to Prohibited, were Fraternity/sorority houses, Field crops, Removal of gravel/topsoil/material, and Extraction clay/gravel/rock. The committee members believed that those uses were inappropriate for downtown under any circumstances. The committee recommends moving several uses from Permitted Uses to Special Permit which would still allow those uses in C-1/C-1B, but with the added scrutiny and protection offered by 2 the Special Permit process. Early in the committee meeting the discussion had centered on placing some level of restriction on first floor residential in C-1/C-1B. At some point, 'first floor' had been dropped from the discussion. Planner Harris said he would like the commissioners to consider leaving residential uses (other than mobile/manufactured homes) as Permitted Uses in C-1/C-1B, but with added restrictions via the Special Permit requirement on first floor residential. That way, the City could continue to encourage downtown residential uses, while still being protected from too much first floor residential, which sometimes is detrimental to commercial activity in downtown areas. Commissioner Wilkins asked if there were existing companies downtown doing appliance repair and, if there were, would they be grandfathered on this. Planner Harris said they couldn’t grow or expand in any way without a Special Use Permit, but they could stay forever in their current form, and could be sold without losing the right to continue. Chairman Boyd asked Planner Harris if he thought the proposed changes were consistent with the thinking of the Historic Downtown Committee (HDC). Planner Harris said the HDC list had been a bit longer with what they suggested reclassifying from Permitted to Special Permit, but he saw no problems with the proposed changes. While HDC input is important, the Planning Commission is the more pertinent body when we are talking about amending the zoning code. He said he didn’t think HDC had any additional prohibited uses from those shown here, but they did have a couple more Special Permit Uses. Commissioner Skelton made the motion to approve the request as recommended by the Committee. Commission Wilkins seconded the motion and passed unanimously with Chairman Boyd voting in the affirmative. Meeting Adjourned. ___________________________________________________ Chairman Dennis Boyd 3