Planning Commission

PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES May 5, 2022 @ 5:30 p.m. The Planning Commission held a meeting on Thursday May 5, 2022, at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall Council Chambers. Commissioners Present Wendell Miller, Chairperson Larry Smith Cheryl Monfee John Choate Cody Black Eric Westcott, City Council Liaison Commissioners Absent Don Jacimore, Vice-Chairperson Justin Cothren, Secretary Luke Duffield Shirley Hatley Visitors: Mayor Richard Harris, City Attorney Trey Smith, City Planner Sara Jondahl, Planner I Victoria Marchant, Flood Plain Manager Ben Gray, Jim Lynch of City Corporation, David Garza of Barrett & Associates, Sherry Poynter, Marcus Langford, and Julia Langford. Welcome Visitors The First Order of Business is a request to review and approve the minutes of the Planning Commission Meeting April 7, 2022. Commissioner Black made a motion to approve the minutes as written. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Choate and passed unanimously. The Second Order of Business is a Special Use Permit to allow a Child Care Center in a R-1 zone, located at 5979 N Arkansas Ave. Submitted by Sherry Poynter on behalf of Renee Massey. (SPUP-0422-000206) City Planner Jondahl stated that this was a Special Use Permit for a Child Care facility located at the city limits line. She stated that part of the property was inside city limits and part was outside city limits. City Planner Jondahl stated that the City had coordinated with the City of Dover to ensure all requirements were met for both jurisdictions. She stated that the existing conditions were that this property was zoned R-1 Single Family Residential. She stated that an existing home was repurposed for a child care facility and that a child care facility had not been in operation at this location since 2019 and as a result this lost any allowance for the use to continue without Special Use Permit approval. City Planner Jondahl stated that the property to the north was a church, and diagonally across highway 7 was the Dover Sonic. She stated that there was a gravel parking area on the adjoining property. City Planner Jondahl stated that a Child Care Facility was in line with uses appurtenant to a residential district, however as a Special Use Permit this application did require special consideration. She stated that any building permit would require the property to be re-platted as an Incidental Subdivision. City Planner Jondahl stated the building was in visual harmony with the neighborhood and ADA accessible access to the front of the building would be required. City Planner Jondahl said hard surface parking would be required and due to the location, the City of Dover commented that they would need 5 total hard surface parking spaces, 1 of which must be ADA Van accessible. She stated that due to the dual jurisdiction on this property, since the parking would be in the City of Dover, staff did defer to the City of Dover’s requirements regarding parking. Staff recommended forwarding this application to City Council for approval of this special use permit with the following conditions: 1. Provide 4 hard surface parking spaces per Dover plus 1 ADA Van Accessible Parking space per Federal Regulations; and 2. Provide ADA access to the front entrance of the building As a result of the findings below: 1. The applicant demonstrates compliance with the regulations within Article 2.3, Article III, and Article VI of the Russellville Zoning Code; and 2. The proposed use is in line with the adjacent use in this district; and 3. Current traffic routes are constructed in such a way to handle the traffic from the business. Commissioner Choate made a motion to approve the application as presented. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Smith and passed unanimously. The Third Order of Business is a Special Use Permit to allow an Used Auto Sales lot in a C-2 zone, located at 3807 S Arkansas Ave. Submitted by Langford Motors, Inc on behalf of James Clark. (SPUP-0422-000208) City Planner Jondahl stated that this application was a Special Use Permit for auto sales. She stated that this was the previous location of Greenway Tractor. She stated that the property was zoned C-2 Highway Commercial. She stated that the property was along S Arkansas Avenue to the south of the railroad tracks. City Planner Jondahl stated that the property was primarily developed and there was an existing gravel driveway accessing 38th Street. She stated that surrounding the property there was a mix of older development and vacant properties starting to redevelop. City Planner Jondahl stated that auto sales were permitted by Special Use Permit. She stated that no building permit may be issued to a metes and bounds property and any work that required a building permit would require an Incidental Subdivision plat. She stated that the parking and driveways shall be hard surface and the eastern driveway needed to be paved to meet this requirement. City Planner Jondahl said that the western driveway on 38th needed to be closed, removed, and filled with dirt and grass as it was too close to the intersection. She stated that 1 ADA Parking Space would be required. City Planner Jondahl said that the structure was in visual harmony with the surrounding structures, however, it was not in compliance with Commercial Building Design. She stated that any improvements to the front facade should be in compliance with Article 3.20. Staff recommended forwarding this application to City Council for approval of this special use permit with the following conditions: 1. Pave the eastern driveway on 38th as primary access to the site from 38th; and 2. Remove the remaining paved partial driveway closest to the intersection at 38th and S Arkansas and fill with dirt and grass. As a result of the findings below: 1. The applicant demonstrates compliance with the regulations within Article 2.10 of the Russellville Zoning Code; and 2. The proposed use is in line with the adjacent use in this district; and 3. Current traffic routes are constructed in such a way to handle the traffic from the business. Commissioner Black made a motion to approve the application as presented. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Monfee and passed unanimously. The Fourth Order of Business is a Final Plat for Beldin Addition, located at 592 Water Works Road. Submitted by Barrett and Associates on behalf of Joshua Beldin. (ISUB-0422-000207) City Planner Jondahl stated that this was a minor subdivision at 592 Waterwork Road. She stated that similarly to the previous minor plats that the Commission had seen, the right-of-way in this area had not been dedicated. City Planner Jondahl stated that this was an R-1 Single Family Residential zoned property. She stated that it was currently vacant and that a structure had previously sat on the property. City Planner Jondahl stated that the owners currently owned up the centerline of Water Works Road. She stated that this property was south of the Russellville Country Club. City Planner Jondahl stated that typically Incidental Subdivisions were reviewed by staff, however the right-of-way had never been dedicated to the City. She stated that the applicant was proposing to dedicate 30’ of right-of-way from the centerline of the road to the new edge of their property. City Planner Jondahl said the existing 10” waterline would be located within the right-of-way and did not require a separate easement. She stated that all other requirements were met. Staff recommended forwarding this recommendation to City Council for approval of the Final Plat and acceptance of the Public Right of Way as a result of the findings below: 1. The Final Plat will conform to the Final Plat requirements outlined in Section 5.4 B of the LSDC prior to being recorded; and 2. The dedication of 30 feet of ROW is in an acceptable location from the centerline of the road; and 3. Construction of Residential Single Family homes is the highest and best use of the property. Commissioner Smith asked for clarification on what an Incidental Subdivision was. City Planner Jondahl stated that an Incidental Subdivision was a minor plat, a one lot subdivision, or a replat of a few properties. She stated that typically it was a staff level review unless certain conditions were not met and then the application was brought before the Planning Commission and City Council. Commissioner Smith made the motion to approve as presented. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Black and passed unanimously. The Fifth Order of Business is a discussion of the Russellville Zoning Code Update. City Planner Jondahl stated that there was not a lot to update the Commissioner’s on at the time of the meeting. She stated that Garver was going through and put all of the pieces into the Zoning Code that had been discussed. City Planner Jondahl pointed out that the project mission for the Zoning Code Updates were to design for people and places, to have clear standards, and to have predictable and simplified processes. She stated that staff had previously reported on several items. City Planner Jondahl stated that staff was still looking for responses on the visual preference survey and at the time of the meeting, there were 55 respondents. She stated that with the City having approximately 30,000 residents, staff wanted considerably more responses and asked the Commissioners to share the survey if they saw the Planning and Development department posting it online. City Planner Jondahl stated that she had previously reported on Commercial Building Design Standards, Multi-Family Design Standards, Fences, Walls, and Landscape requirements, Allowances for difference housing choices - lot area requirements, the Walkable Neighborhood zoning, Mixed Use Zoning, and Streamlined Review Processes. She stated that there was not a lot to update the Commission on and the bulk of the work was updating code based on comments provided to address items including: El Paso District Regulations, Solar Regulations, Short Term Rentals, Regulation Compliance Thresholds, Large Scale Development, Sign Code Updates, Food Truck Regulations and Non-Conforming Structures. City Planner Jondahl stated that staff had been looking at updating the Bulk Area Table which was going to be combined so that all the requirements would be in one spot. She stated that staff was looking at smaller lot sizes and higher density. She said that the Fire Marshal’s office had provided comments that were under review by Garver. City Planner Jondahl stated that Garver was also taking into consideration comments from the March Public Input Meeting. She stated that staff was trying to have new documents provided for the June meeting for the Commissioners to review. City Planner Jondahl said that the goal was to get the final updates to the Commission by September to hopefully have it adopted before the end of the year. She said that there would be one more long range planning committee meeting and one more Public Input Meeting that had not been scheduled yet. Commissioner Black asked how long the public input survey would be open. City Planner Jondahl stated that the survey would be open for a little while longer, probably another month. She stated that staff was sharing it with the Chamber of Commerce so that they could share it to all their members to see if the City could get more responses. City Planner Jondahl stated that she was looking at having some sort of booth at the June Art Walk as well to try to get some more responses at that event. Commissioner Black asked what the results of the survey were ultimately going to help with. City Planner Jondahl stated that the results of the survey were going to help staff and Garver figure out if the standards and proposed changes to the Zoning Code are in line with the citizen’s wants. She stated that staff wants to ensure that when new developments come in are the citizen’s in support of the standards staff is looking at. City Planner Jondahl stated that so far the results were showing that the citizen’s were in support of the proposed changes, but staff only has 55 responses and that was not conclusive enough evidence to show that the changes were what the citizens wanted. City Planner Jondahl stated this was why staff wanted more results on the survey to give them a better confirmation that they were moving in the direction they should be. Commissioner Monfee asked where the survey was being advertised. City Planner Jondahl stated that the survey was being advertised at all the public input meetings, on the Planning and Development Facebook page, shared it to Russellville Word of Mouth on Facebook, and it had been discussed in a newspaper article. Commissioner Monfee said from a research perspective the amount of responses were not anywhere near representative of the population. City Planner Jondahl stated that was why the survey was still up and why staff had been looking at different ways to get responses. Meeting adjourned. ____________________ Chairman Wendell Miller