Planning Commission

Russellville Planning Commission Minutes December 23, 2019 @ 5:30 p.m. The Russellville Planning Commission held its regular meeting on Monday, December 23, 2019 at 5:30 p.m. in the Russellville City Hall Council Chambers. Members Present Chairman Wendell Miller Vice-Chairman Don Jacimore Secretary Nathan Barber Justin Cothren Luke Duffield Larry Smith Cody Black Council Liaison Eric Westcott Members Absent Shirley Hatley Jim Lanier Also present: Mayor Richard Harris, City Attorney Trey Smith, City Planner Sara Jondahl, City Engineer Glenn Newman, Fire Marshal Richard Setian, B/O Brian Holstein, Planning Assistant Lequitta Jones, and Jim Lynch/City Corp, Dave Garza of Barrett & Associates, Vernon Williams/GNE, Brian Black/BCOTH, Bucky Croom, Preston Rood, Eddie Rood, Cliff Goodin, Kim Lovely, and Dylan and Stephanie Casto. Welcome Visitors The First Order of Business was a request to review and approve the minutes of the Planning Commission November 25, 2019 meeting. Commissioner Smith made the motion to approve the minutes as written. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Duffield and passed unanimously. The Second Order of Business (Tabled at the November 25, 2019 meeting) (Tabled at the December 23, 2019 meeting) a public hearing requesting review and recommendation of approval for a special use permit to allow placement of an off-premise sign for Arkansas Heart Hospital Clinic and Carti Cancer Center, located at 209 South Portland Avenue in a C-2. Submitted by Kevin Nelson on behalf of Wobbe Lane, LLC. (SP.19.11.174) Commissioner Black made the motion to table. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Duffield and passed unanimously. The Third Order of Business was a request to review and approve a Large- scale Development with concurrent special use permit for Cogswell Ford Lincoln located at 1900 East Main Street in a C-2. Submitted by Vernon Williams P.E., of GarNat Engineering, LLC, on behalf of Cogswell Motors. (DV.19.12.161) City Planner Jondahl said due to the site being five acres this moved it into a Large-scale Development. They are remodeling and adding a carwash on this site. It does meet the commercial building design. It is my recommendation that we do upgrade the sidewalks on Main Street to the 5 foot that is required by Section 3.2.1 for commercial uses and structures. It’s not feasible for them to build sidewalks along 2nd Street because of the drainage and other requirements that it would need. I did not require sidewalks on South Utica or South Sidney. I am recommending upgrading sidewalks on Main Street to the 5 foot sidewalk that is required for commercial uses and structures. I am also recommending that they do an Incidental Subdivision to recombine into one lot. There are currently 36 individual properties and a vacated ROW. In the review of this proposal, in the C-2, Section 2.10.2 refers to the Table of Permitted Uses where an Auto Sales Operation is a Special Use Permit. This operation has been in existence as a car sales lot, so I’m running the application for a concurrent Special Use Permit to allow auto sales as a formality to ensure they have all the required permits and approvals to continue the operation on the site. City Corporation has a 12-inch waterline along the frontage and in the Incidental Subdivision process, I’m requesting they provide a 10-foot easement to allow access. The Fire Department has asked that we determine proximity to the Fire Department connection, verify sprinkler system, and we can do that during the building review process. With this, I do recommend approval of the LSD with the following conditions: 1) I am requesting to close the western most driveway on Main Street currently park vehicles in front of it as if it was closed. 2) Complete the Incidental Subdivision process with easement provided of the public 12-inch waterline and dedication of consistent ROW at intersections. 3) Requesting the Planning Commission grant the City Planner authority to approve the plat with this approval since we are getting a little bit of ROW and requiring easement. 4) Remove the parking from within the ROW along Utica. 5) Build the 5-foot sidewalks along the entire frontage along Main Street with the understanding that I’m not requesting them on Second and Utica or Sidney. 6) Remove all fencing and any existing light fixtures within the ROW. 7) Ensuring all City Corp and Fire Department requirements based on the comments above are met through the building permit phase of the project. 2 Additionally, recommend forwarding the approval of the Special Use Permit to City Council for their approval. Mr. Vernon Williams with GarNat Engineering joined with Brian Black with Black Corlet Owens Hughes, Architect on the building. We just want to get started, so we are requesting approval of the LSD/SUP and decide later on the variance to the Board of Adjustment. Mayor Harris said they had expressed some concerns on the sidewalk issue and, I think they are planning on coming back at some point to ask for a variance on that. I just wanted to make sure the Planning Commission was aware of their concerns about that requirement. Planner Jondahl is going by the code and the code says this is what we have to do. Commissioner Cothren made the motion to approve the LSD and Special Use Permit. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Duffield and passed on a voice vote five for and none against with Commissioner Black abstaining. The Fourth Order of Business was a request to review and approve Phoenix Cove Subdivision located at the intersection of West L Street and North Omaha Avenue. Submitted by Daniel H. Pote. (SD.19.12.354) City Planner Jondahl said this application is being brought to the Planning Commission to grant permission to the City Planner to approve an Incidental Subdivision that is not abutting a public street. In reviewing this application, my only concern is there is a strip of approximately 25 feet from the northern side of lot 2 and the access easement previously defined in deeds. It would be my recommendation that we receive documentation of sorts granting access to the easement for the driveway or realign the access via lot 3 for lot 1 prior to signing the Incidental Subdivision. It is my recommendation that the Planning Commission grant the Public Works Director authority to sign the plat upon confirmation of access to lot 2 either through lot 3 or by receiving a letter providing access across that strip of land. Mr. Daniel Pote said we will try to establish how that strip was dropped out. We are working with a surveyor to clean this up. Commissioner Black made the motion to give the Public Works Director the authority to sign the plat with confirmation on access to lot 2. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Smith and passed unanimously. The Fifth Order of Business was a request to review and approve a water line extension outside the city limits for Travis Arnold that is constructing a house on North Jackson Avenue. Submitted by Dave Garza of Barrett & Associates on behalf of City Corporation Board. (MS.1912.98) 3 City Planner Jondahl said this application is a request to extend a water line to a new residential single-family home outside the city limits within the planning boundary. This property is located in the county just north of the city limits along Gum Street off of North Jackson Avenue. It is my recommendation that we forward this to the City Council for their consideration and approval with the condition that they complete an annexation agreement before extending water service. Commissioner Duffield made the motion to approve as requested. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Black and passed unanimously. The Sixth Order of Business (Tabled from the October 28, 2019 Meeting) was a public hearing requesting review and recommendation for approval for clarification and/or amendments to the Russellville Zoning Code in regard to amending the El Paso/University Zone. (MS.19.09.94) Record only Agenda 4B. City Planner Jondahl said this is to remove some regulations that we have already had variances approved on. This will, if approved, make the El Paso District go smoothly. These are the ones that we have already seen that were brought to my attention in applications that I would like to clean up. 1) Clarify that Prairie Creek and College Hill Zone remove some confusion that they are part of the El Paso District by clearly placing them on the table zones. 2) Clean up the Table of Permitted Uses. 3) Not allowing duplexes in the El Paso Zone that were not intended. 4) Cleaning up the scrivener’s error. 5) Updating parking requirements so the El Paso Zone does not require any parking for commercial developments. This refers over to the parking table for Article 4 so the parking regulations are the same from the El Paso District to other districts, however, we are maintaining that they can still have shared use agreement which are not permitted in other areas so we can offset some of those areas. 6) Adding some verbiage to clarify for consistency and this is the requirement 2.18.9, removing the requirement maintaining the 25 and 35 foot widths. City Planner Jondahl said she recommends forwarding these updates to the El Paso Zone text to City Council for approval. Commissioner Duffield made the motion to approve the request as submitted. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Black and passed unanimously. The Seventh Order of Business (Tabled from the October 28, 2019 Meeting) Tabled at the December 23, 2019 meeting) a public hearing requesting review and recommendation for approval for clarification and/or amendments to the Russellville Zoning Code in regard to amending Section 3.21 Residential Sidewalk Standards. (MS.19.09.94) Record only Agenda 4C. 4 Commissioner Duffield made the motion to table. The motion was seconded by Commission Smith and passed unanimously. The Eighth Order of Business (Tabled from the October 28, 2019 Meeting) was a public hearing requesting review and recommendation for approval for clarification and/or amendments to the Russellville Zoning Code in regard to Amend Article 4 Parking. Updating regulations for spaces, location, type, adding verbiage for vehicle storage areas and trees. (MS.19.09.94) Record only Agenda 4D. City Planner Jondahl said I would like to table the regulations for spaces, location, and type for the parking. It was brought up in our last work session, and I fully admit that I did not realize on duplexes that there was an issue with our current zoning code because I have no solution at this point. We will have an additional work session on that. We are also working on sidewalks, I believe you have received a copy via email of the sidewalk plan map that we will be starting to discuss what the plan is. It is in draft form. The two items that I would like to move forward to City Council are 4.3.2 and 4.3.4 and 4.3.6. Items 4.3.2 and 4.3.4 grant me authorization to allow vehicle storage areas as gravel, areas currently not fully addressed in the zoning code. It says “all surfaces are supposed to be hard surfaced” and I don’t believe that was the intent. So I would like authorization to allow vehicle storage areas as gravel. Then 4.3.6 is to add one tree for every 12 parking spaces within parking lots. They can be in planter islands, but they are not required to be in planter islands, but could be around the perimeter of the parking lot. Preston Rood said what we have here still says that it does not allow gravel. Mr. Rood said the trees would be more of a hindrance. I’m okay with the trees, I just don’t know about putting them in parking lots. City Planner Jondahl said in the pave surface requirement which is 4.3.2, I just wanted to make sure that I was looking at the same section that he was. It does say that any area that is used for off-street parking shall be paved, but it goes on to say vehicle storage areas are not required to be paved. It does give some 6 inches of compacted gravel maintained in a matter to provide a dust free area. I’m just asking you to grant me the authority to allow those areas to be unpaved. As far as the trees I want one tree for every 12 parking spaces. Bucky Croom said the 4.3.1 and 4.3.2 Sub 2 is the one you are talking about the gravel. Is that correct? City Planner Jondahl said “yes sir”. Regarding Sub 1, I would like to have more discussion on that in our next working session. Mr. Croom said he would like it more defined in the sentence. We are talking about substantial cost if you had a large lot and you would have a driveway up to it and if there were some issues of unclarity down the road the City may say that you are required to have hard surface paving. That’s in the driveway section, which we are not moving forward at this time. We can 5 absolutely add language in the driveway section as we go through this. The way I read this is only parking lot and vehicle storage areas, this isn’t the driveway. Bucky Croom said we have other things to work through, maybe just clarify that sentence with the other stuff we are working on. It seems like a fairly easy thing to clarify. Commissioner Duffield made the motion to table; updating regulations for spaces, location, and type. The motion was approved by Commissioner Black and passed unanimously. Commissioner Duffield made the motion to approve adding verbiage for vehicle storage areas and trees. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Smith and passed unanimously. The Ninth Order of Business (Tabled from the November 25, 2019 Meeting) (Tabled from the December 23, 2019 meeting) a public hearing requesting review and recommendation for approval in regard to update the Land Subdivision and Development Code to ensure that requirements are consistent between the LSDC and the Zoning Code for sidewalks widths. (MS.19.11.97) Record only Agenda 8. Commissioner Smith made the motion to table. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Cothren and passed unanimously. The Tenth Order of Business was a request to table until the January 2020 meeting. A request to close a portion of South El Paso Avenue between West 2nd Street and West 3rd Street. Submitted by Dave Garza of Barrett & Associates on behalf of First Baptist Church. (ST.19.06.93) Commissioner Black made the motion to table. The motion was seconded by Commission Duffield and passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned. _____________________ Chairman Wendell Miller 6