Planning Commission Study Meeting

WEST VALLEY CITY PLANNING COMMISSION STUDY MEETING SEPTEMBER 21, 2022 The meeting was called to order at 3:30 p.m. by Chair Fuller in the City Council Chambers at West Valley City Hall 3600 Constitution Boulevard, West Valley City, UT 84119, and using Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88955119737 WEST VALLEY CITY PLANNING COMMISSION MEMBERS Brent Fuller, Mathew Lovato, David McEwen, Darrick Porter, Harold Woodruff, Cindy Wood, and Martell Winters ABSENT WEST VALLEY CITY PLANNING DIVISION STAFF Steve Pastorik, Jody Knapp, Steve Lehman, Brock Anderson, and Kirsten Hunt WEST VALLEY CITY ADMINISTRATION Brandon Hill, Assistant City Attorney GENERAL PLAN/ZONE TEXT APPLICATIONS GPZ-7-2022 Petition by WASATCH COMMERCIAL DEVELOPERS requesting a General Plan change from Large Lot Residential (2 to 3 units/acre) to Business Park and a zone change from A (Agriculture, minimum lot size ½ acre) and A-2 (Agriculture, minimum lot size 2 acres) to B/RP (Business/Research Park). The property is located at 4890-5090 West Lake Park Blvd. on 39.5 acres. (Staff – Steve Pastorik at 801-963-3545 or steve.pastorik@wvc-ut.gov) Discussion: Steve Pastorik stated that if this application is approved, it would significantly change the City's plan. He explained that the applicant proposes a Biomedical Campus that would research, manufacture, and distribute medical-type products. Steve said that the proposed change would permit the following uses: office, research/lab, storage, and manufacturing space. He noted that the conceptual renderings mix tilt-up concrete and office-type buildings. Steve pointed out that in 2015, the thought was the subject property would be residential. Therefore, the City added landscaping to create buffers on the subject property. He explained that in 2015 the City downzoned property to encourage larger lots with more significant homes, and the subject property was part of that rezoning. Steve presented a map provided by the applicant depicting a substantial increase in office and industrial uses around the property in question since 2015. He explained that the applicant would like to group biomedical uses in this same area. Steve noted that there is an existing bus route servicing the area; however, currently, the service is limited. He stated that there are plans to have a regular bus service for that area. Chair Fuller asked why Ivory Homes did not proceed with their townhome proposal. Steve said that Ivory Homes stopped developing in this area. He explained that they received the entitlements around 2008, which was during the recession, and never closed on the property to the south of the subject property. Steve reviewed the impacts that would result from this property being zoned residential as compared to industrial. Steve explained that an industrial use would add three to five times more traffic than a residential use. He said the maximum tax value for residential would be approximately forty-two million compared to one hundred and sixty million for industrial. He stated the proposed project would employ fifteen hundred to twenty-one hundred people, and if residential, it would house approximately three hundred and eighty persons. Steve noted that the B/RP zone does have more restrictions than the manufacturing zone. Steve stated that there are still vacant properties in the Lake Park area estimated to be around fifty-three acres in size, leaving room for development in the Lake Park area. Commissioner Winters asked if any of the vacant property is zoned residential. Steve said not in Lake Park. Steve said if the Commission and the Council feels this proposal would be a good fit in this location, staff would recommend a development agreement that would offer some guarantee this would be a biomedical campus and not a warehouse. He mentioned that limiting the number of overhead doors or the amount of square footage used for warehousing could help keep the intended use. Steve asked the Commission if they had any thoughts. Commissioner Lovato said there might be concerns regarding the noise level. He said it is already pretty loud with the traffic and speeding in the area. Steve said most of their traffic would be box trucks and maybe a few semi-trucks, but the noise level should not substantially increase with the proposed use. Commissioner Lovato asked if someone should be concerned about living near this Biomedical Campus. Commissioner Winters said that he has worked in this industry for twenty-eight years. This facility would be manufacturing smaller  medical devices, such as hip and knee replacements and pacemakers, so there would not be any risk to those living around the campus. Commissioner Wood said that she has noticed many of these larger buildings sitting vacant and asked if the potential tenants plan to occupy the building. Steve said working in the biomedical industry requires employees to be onsite, so the proposed building should be occupied. He mentioned that it states they are working with the University of Utah in the application; however, they have not mentioned any specific companies. Commissioner Wood stated that she is conflicted because forty acres is a great deal of land that could be used for single-family homes. Steve said that is a great point. He explained that only eight percent of the City is left to develop, and there are benefits to both residential and industrial uses. Chair Fuller asked if Steve could find out if there were reasons behind the applicant not wanting to develop some of the vacant parcels in Lake Park. Steve reviewed the vacant land that had been purchased and said he would find out about the other parcels. Steve pointed out that many people continue to work remotely, and it is possible to continue that way into the future. He said this would leave large businesses with vacant parking lots, such as the Discover building. Steve feels it might be possible to develop that space for other uses in the future. Commissioner Lovato said that he works for Discover, and they will be downsizing because of the remote working options, but the vacant space will most likely go unnoticed until 2030. Commissioner Winters said he likes the idea of limiting the number of overhead doors to prevent the addition of a warehouse-type building now and in the future. Steve said that he doesn't want someone to purchase the building and have the ability to add more docs, for example. Commissioner Fuller said that the buildings appear to be one story and would limit the use of semi-trucks. Commissioner Winters stated that one benefit of this proposal is the biomedical business employs many different types of personnel, which would benefit the residents of West Valley City. Steve agreed and said there would generally be a higher pay scale, and the value of the property would be higher than that of a distribution warehouse. GPZ-8-2022 Petition by BRYAN and CHANTEL BRADFORD requesting a General Plan change from Large Lot Residential (2 to 3 units/acre) to Low Density Residential (3 to 4 units/acre) and a zone change from A (Agriculture, minimum lot size ½ acre) to R-1-8 (Single Unit Dwelling Residential, minimum lot size 8,000 square feet). The property is  located at 3816 South 3200 West on 0.69 acres. (Staff – Steve Pastorik at 801-963-3545 or steve.pastorik@wvc-ut.gov) Discussion: Steve Pastorik said the applicant proposes subdividing the property into three lots, two for new homes, and the existing house would remain on its own lot. He noted that the current garage would be demolished if this proposal was approved. Steve explained that the site would need some maintenance regarding clean-up, landscaping, and repair of the chain-linked fence. He pointed out that, currently, they are not meeting the setback requirements. Steve showed an image of the existing home and pointed out that the color of the brick on the exterior almost looks like concrete and gives the appearance of an older home. He said one suggestion would be painting the brick, giving it a fresher look. Commissioner Wood said that she feels it would require more than painting the brick to enhance the site. Steve stated that the staff had a few ideas on the layout of the homes and garages for the individual lots that would meet the code requirements and reviewed those ideas with the Commission. Steve explained that currently, they have a couple of window-mounted A/C units, and staff is looking into the possibility of adding a central air. Commissioner Winters asked if the owner could build the two new homes and rent out all of them to separate families. Steve said the City couldn't require the homes to be owner-occupied because any single-family home can be rented. Steve pointed out that if the Commission were to deny this application, other options would offer larger lots, such as the RE or R-1-12 zones. Commissioner Winters asked if there would be a reason that the City would not want to approve this proposal. Steve explained that the Council might wish to have bigger lots than those proposed. Commissioner Fuller asked what the housing requirements would be and if we could hold them to the previous housing standards. Steve said they propose that the new homes follow the previous housing standards as part of the development agreement. SUBDIVISION APPLICATIONS SMI-8-2022 Petition by CORBIN BENNION, with Dominion Engineering, requesting preliminary approval for the ARA Industrial Center Phase 4 Subdivision. The subdivision will consist of 2 lots on 48 acres. The subdivision is located at 2351 South 6505 West and is zoned M (Manufacturing). (Staff – Steve Lehman at 801-963-3311 or steve.lehman@wvc-ut.gov) Discussion: Steve Lehman explained that this application is a request for the fourth and final phase of the ARA Development. He noted that the road built during phase III, 6500 West, will be the primary access for the fourth phase. Steve explained that they are currently grading the property, and there is a significant amount of grading to be done before applying for a permit. He stated that, in summary, the applicant is petitioning to consolidate existing parcels to create two large lots for future development in the ARA industrial center. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:33 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Kirsten Hunt, Administrative Assistant