Committee of the Whole

CITY OF VERONA MINUTES JOINT COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE AND PLAN COMMISSION MEETING JUNE 26, 2012 1. The meeting was called to order by Mayor Jon Hochkammer at 6:30 p.m. 2. Roll call (Committee of the Whole): Jon Hochkammer, Jeremy Charles,William “Mac” McGilvray, Steve Ritt, Clark Solowicz, Richard Streich, Evan Touchett. Absent (excused): Scott Manley, Brad Stiner. Roll call (Plan Commission): Jon Hochkammer, Steve Heinzen, Jon Hochkammer, Jeff Horsfall, Jack Linder, Patrick Lytle, Steve Ritt. Absent (excused): Janie Ritter. Also in attendance: Bill Burns, City Administrator; Bruce Sylvester, City Planner. 3. Public Comments. None 4. Minutes of the May 21 Committee of the Whole Meeting. Motion by Touchett, seconded by Ritt to approve the minutes of the May 21, 2012 Committee of the Whole Meeting. Motion carried 6-0. 5. Downtown Redevelopment. Staff provided an overview of four recommendations for changes to downtown zoning and overlay districts which include: • Expand and consolidate the Downtown and Verona Avenue overlay districts. • Establish a List of Prohibited Uses in the overlay district area. • Require a Conditional Use Permit for Indoor Institutional Uses in the overlay district area. • Apply the current Verona Avenue design guidelines to the entire overlay district area. Comments from the Committee of the Whole and Plan Commission members included: from the Committee Members included: • I would like to see the City continue to plan for future right-of-way needs in order to ensure that buildings are not pushed too close to the street. • The recommendations reflect a good start and can be modified if needed. • Some members indicated a desire to require a Conditional Use Permit for other uses including Indoor Sales. Other members were concerned with making the requirement too broad and negatively impacting the business community. • It was suggested that a minimum lot or building size could be used to trigger a Conditional Use Permit requirement. • Different tools may be needed to address different goals.  • The City may need to invest funds in order to accomplish changes in certain target properties. • It would be helpful to flesh out the criteria that would be used to evaluate a Conditional Use Permit. • The City should solicit feedback from the business community including the Chamber of Commerce. The Mayor and staff will solicit feedback on the proposed changes and work on draft zoning ordinance amendments for consideration by the Plan Commission and Council. 6. Multi-Family Residential Development Policies. Staff provided an overview of four recommendations for changes to downtown zoning and the overlay districts which include: • Allow for new development to have either exclusively single-family housing or a mix of single-family and multi-family with a target of at least 75% single- family. • Establish a cap on the number of new multi-family units that may be approved each year. • Require developers to provide notice of the potential for multi-family housing within a project. • Work with developers to voluntarily downzone developments. Comments from the Committee of the Whole and Plan Commission members included: from the Committee Members included: • There were several questions about how a cap on multi-family units would be implemented and how it could carryover to future years. • Some members indicated support for a cap while others raised concerns with having a hard cap that would not allow desirable projects to be approved. It was suggested that the City retain authority to exceed a cap if desired based on the characteristics of the project. • Members indicated that they support the recommendation to exclude senior housing from the cap on multi-family development. • There was discussion of the objective in the City’s Comprehensive Plan to include a mix of housing types in new development. Some members indicated that they would still like to see the ability to include multi-family development in transition areas when appropriate. • Several members indicated support for the proposed notification requirements and with working developers to voluntarily downzone parcels or to encourage them to pursue senior housing development. Staff will work on preparing a draft policy with additional detail for consideration by the Plan Commission and City Council. 7. Adjourn. Motion by Ritt, seconded by Solowicz, to adjourn the Committee of the Whole meeting at 8:30 p.m. Motion carried 6-0. Bill Burns City Administrator/Recorder