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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity/County Planning Board Minutes 07.02.2009DRAFT MINUTES LAUREL-YELLOWSTONE CITY-COUNTY PLANNING BOARD JULY 2, 2009 7:00 PM COUNCIL CHAMBERS MEMBERS PRESENT: Dan Koch, City Rep. Dick Fritzler, County Rep. Deb Horning, City Rep. John VanAken, County Rep. Kathy Siegrist, County Rep. Hazel Klein, City Rep. Greg Nelson, City Rep. OTHERS PRESENT: James Caniglia, Planner Cheryll Lund, Secretary The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm. The minutes of the May 7, 2009 were reviewed and a motion to approve them was made by Dan Koch, with a second by Kathy Siegrist. Motion carried 7-0. The minutes of the June 4, 2009 meeting were reviewed and a motion to approve them was made by Dan Koch, with a second by Greg Nelson. Motion carried 7-0. PUBLIC INPUT No one spoke during public input. Public Hearin - Zone Chan u Re guest from Residential Manufactured Home to Heavy Industrial -- Cenex Pi eline/Circle Land Mana emen Inc. Proponents: Ken Billingsley from Cenex spoke. Mr. Billingsley requested that the zone change be amended to request a change from Manufacture Home to Light Industrial. This amendment is due to the concern expressed by the neighbors and the board of having a Heavy Industrial zone so close to a residential neighborhood. Dick Fritzler asked for clarification on the traffic coming out of this proposed new facility. He questioned why the traffic cannot exit the Refinery onto Highway 212. He also stated that northbound traffic will most likely go S. 8t' Avenue to W. Railroad Street and then over S. 5"' Avenue. The westbound traffic will more than likely go across S. 4`h Street to the controlled traffic light on S. 1 st Avenue. He asked what Mr. Billingsley's thoughts were on this issue. Mr. Billingsley stated that the access to Highway 212 through the Refinery is not a good solution because of safety issues. There is a limited sight line and faster speed limits. Using the north exit would be a safer way for the employees to go. As far as going through the residential area via W. Railroad he stated that the road is designed for traffic and would be the preferred way for traffic to go. An option would be to have additional stop signs placed on the south side as such that traffic would be encouraged to slow down. James Caniglia stated that Public Works Director has suggested putting up a median that would not allow a right hand turn onto S. 0' Street coming from the Refinery. He felt that would be a better solution than adding more stop signs on the south side. Dan Koch asked if the shift workers would have staggered shifts. Mr. Billingsley stated that there are some shift workers that would be traveling other times than the regular shift workers. Mr. Billingsley went on to state that Cenex had a meeting with the Laurel School District regarding the timing of the traffic during school hours. The timing of school hours and the Cenex employees working hours are not the same. John VanAken asked what objection the refinery would have in installing a traffic light like Wal-Mart did. Pat Kimmet from Cenex spoke. He stated that Cenex has worked with MDT the past few years on traffic lights and traffic control. To this point they have not been successful in making any changes. At one point they had looked at totally changing their traffic pattern and going north which was one of MDT's suggestions. So, as you came out of the Cenex Plant traffic would go west of the tracks and come out on S. 0'. There are negatives to that as well. What MDT is looking at is possible placement of a traffic light at the eastbound exit off of I-90 that goes onto Highway 212 going south. There are some serious safety risks of that traffic turning left to go south onto Highway 212. At this time there has been no resolution to the traffic problems. Pat goes on to say right now the preferred traffic route for their employees would be to travel on W. Railroad Street. Dick Fritzler stated that traffic is a big safety issue. If that traffic does get backed up on W. Railroad Street it could become an even a bigger problem under the underpass (on S. 1't Avenue). He asked for Pat's input on that scenario. 2 Pat states that this is the best plan that they have been given at this time. The Cenex employees don't all leave at the same time. Right now they have all of their professional staff leaving at the same time from the office complex on the eastside of the sky bridge so there is a tremendous amount of traffic funneled onto Highway 212 at the same time. What they are moving out into the proposed area is their lab and maintenance staff which makes up a smaller percentage of their employees than what you currently see corning out of the Refinery. Pat pointed out that Railroad Street is an official truck route. Dick Fritzler stated that Railroad Street is not a recognized truck route although it is used as one. Pat stated that he has been told it was a truck route. Dick Fritzler stated that he still thinks that westbound traffic will use S. 0 Street and then they will have that traffic going through the residential areas. He has a problem with kids, extra traffic and safety issues. Pat Kimmet stated that they spent some time with the school superintendent and with the hours as to when Cenex starts and stops and the kids start and stop school. Pat said the superintendent had a better understanding of the proposal after that discussion and felt more comfortable with Cenex's proposal. James Caniglia told the board that for this type of non-commercial retail building a traffic impact study is only required for any building(s) over 43,000 square feet. In this case the projected amount of building space is under that amount. Those figures were gone over during the pre-application meeting held with Cenex prior to the zone change application. Ken Billingsley stated that the sum of all of the proposed buildings might be over 43,000 square feet. He will look into this more and get back with James. Pat Kimmet stated that at last month's hearing the public and some of the board members suggested that Cenex consider changing the zone to Light Industrial. Cenex has agreed to do so because their plan is only for office type buildings, not heavy industrial. He went on to say that he appreciated the input on that issue. Pat went on to state that with the addition of this complex it will add $280,000 in tax revenue. Dan Koch asked if the addition of the warehouse will generate additional truck traffic. Pat stated that it will generate some additional truck traffic. Dan asked what kind of equipment and parts will be stored in the warehouse. 3 Pat stated that it will house valves and pipe and equipment. It will be a significant warehouse but the zoning classification of Light Industrial, from Cenex's legal review, will work fine for the warehouse and laboratory. Pat clarified that the area just north of the Cenex facility is also zoned Light Industrial and will fit in well. Pat went on to state that from their understanding there are residential businesses located within the neighboring Residential Manufactured Home zone that could be classified under Light Industrial zoning. James stated that he has been made aware that there are some businesses in that area that are not legal within a Residential Manufactured Horne zone without going through the Home Occupation process that the Planning Board reviews. Opponents: Aletha Moran, 410 Badger Square spoke. She is concerned that there is only one road in and out of that area. She assumes that the trucks coming in will use their road and feels that Cenex should come up with another solution. She is asking about how much this will clog their one road and how safe school children will be that the bus brings in. Faith Jewett, 830 S. Yellowstone spoke. She is worried about her property being contaminated by a spill of chemicals. When the Coker Plant was built Cenex came and talked to them about putting a fence around the employee parking lot. That was never done. She is concerned about the safety of her children going over the overpass and from the large amount of employees coming out of the Refinery after work. She is also concerned with the people that speed on that street. A truck route sign suddenly appeared on S. 8"' Avenue when the Coker Plant was under construction to accommodate the large trucks carrying pipe and she felt her child was in danger because of it while they were attending South School. The garbage (from Cenex) was a problem and also there was no security as Cenex promised. They had items stolen and a mailbox stolen 3 times from their property. Because of the large trucks traveling on S. Yellowstone they called Cenex and had them replace the gravel on the road. She is worried that if the zone change to Light Industrial were passed Cenex plans to put in a rail turn-around for the rail cars. Increased traffic worries her a lot on the south side streets in Laurel because of all the children that live in that area. There are large trucks that turn around in her yard and recently there were surveyors that came into their yard without their permission. She has heard that kids are selling drugs out of the parking lot of the Coker Plant. Her land has already been devaluated because of the Coker Plant and she wonders what additional buildings will do to the value of her property. She runs a home business in that subdivision but was told long ago that there have been businesses ran out of that area since the subdivision was built. She thanked the board for listening to her concerns. Myrna Brester, 905 Bobcat Drive. She agrees with all of the opponents concerns. She told the board that she has been in her home since 1977 and feels she is being forced out 4 of her home. She thinks Cenex should buy them all out and give them a decent price so they (property owners) can move somewhere else. She goes on to say that there is already enough noise and if this is going to make more noise they have enough trouble sleeping now. James asked if there were any other opponents wishing to speak. There were none. Proponent's rebuttal: Ken Billings spoke and addressed some of the concerns of the opponents. The first concern was about contamination from possible spills coming from this new area. This will not be the case in this area with these buildings. The buildings will house people, products, equipment and chemicals. The largest container of chemicals is in barrels and totes which are about 3 cubic feet each. The probability of spills is nil. Even if there was a spill the land is graded as such that there would be no run off onto neighboring properties. This includes surface runoff from rain as well. The second concern regarding traffic from contractors involved with the Coker project a few years back. There will far less contractors for this proposed project and they will be local workers from within the state. The project will take between 12 and 16 months and there will be between 50 and 100 workers. As far as the speed limit on S. $a' Avenue being a problem, he feels that it was probably a problem prior to the Coker project and putting more people on that road is not what makes them speed. There are speed signs posted and those people need to adhere to those speed limits. The concern regarding people selling and using drugs in the parking lot of the Coker Plant was addressed. He is not aware that selling and using drugs is being done, although it could be possible. There was a large dirt berm that was placed in that area to hide some of the parking lot from the neighboring property which could be isolating that area somewhat. The new building will have at least 1 to 2 people present 24 hours a day so the same concern should not happen because of the around the clock presence. As far as extra night noise is concerned, the employees of the proposed new facility will all be gone by 5:00 pm each night although there will be 1 or 2 people present around the clock as stated previously. James commented on the traffic speed. Yellowstone County sets the speed limits on county roads based on the average of the traffic speeds (done during traffic studies). If there are safety issues involved and a larger volume of traffic the County could do another traffic study during the peak traffic hours and if there is proof that the traffic is slowing down they can lower the speed limits. This could be addressed at a later date if the traffic volume gets larger in the future. 5 Dick Fritzler asked Ken Billingsley to consider this scenario: if a traffic light was put into place on the east side of the refinery on the westbound exit of 1-90 would Cenex then re- route the traffic to that area. Pat Kimmet stated that if that was done it would make it much more difficult because there are people that have to come out of the Refinery to the north of that. Pat went on to say that there will be rail line added inside the Cenex plant but it will run parallel with the existing track and not be placed in the proposed Light industrial zone. John VanAken asked there has been any consideration of the new facility being built on the property to the east of the Refinery. Pat Kimmet stated that it would not be feasible to do so because an overpass (or underground underpass) would have to be built to accommodate their large equipment traffic. They did build a sky bridge over Highway 212 for pedestrian traffic between the office and the main plant but it would not be reasonable to do the same for large equipment traffic. Dan Koch stated that there is a lot of discussion about the new interchange going through to the west. He wondered if that traffic could be adjusted to go in the other direction. Pat Kimmet said that there has been talk with the city about a cloverleaf that would be at the south end of Golf Course Road. The City has been very interested in making sure that cloverleaf would go over the railroad track so it would create access to the south side of Laurel. Dan Koch stated that by doing so it would take a lot of traffic away from the residential area. The public hearing was closed at 7:45 pm. Board discussion: James stated that this is an interesting zone change that comes with a lot of concerns from both the board members as well as the neighbors. It is a difficult decision because of the financial impact Cenex brings to the County as well as the many concerns of the residents that live close to the proposed project. James asked the Planning Board if this is an appropriate place for a Light Industrial zone. James pointed out to the audience and board that the Planning Board is a recommendation board to the Laurel City Council which will ultimately make the decision on this matter. 6 Dick Friztler voiced concern over the traffic going through the south side. There are a lot of families that have small children in that part of town. He doesn't have an answer but hopes there is some way that they can route that traffic to go the safest way. Deb Horning also voiced concern over a large amount of commercial traffic going through a residential area on narrow roads. Dick stated that he wished there was a way of confirming how traffic would be routed out of the proposed facility. Greg Nelson stated that there is already a traffic problem on W. Railroad going onto S. First Avenue. Ken Billingsley reminded the board that the issue of the Cenex employees having to be moved out of the middle of the Refinery onto the outer edges for safety reasons should also be considered. He went on to state that if Cenex has to build this facility on the section of the refinery that is currently zoned Heavy Industrial the traffic will still have to go the same route on S. 8`l' Avenue into the residential zone. He went on to say that he is in favor of the city helping out with traffic concerns as it was stated previously, either with barricades restricting traffic on certain streets or by putting in a number of stop signs to help slow the traffic down. James stated that there are things the city could do to help with the traffic issue but he does not feel that city residents should be paying for any improvements that need to be made for traffic issues that will be caused by Cenex. Deb Horning added that the city residents are maintaining Railroad Street at this time. John VanAken asked how they barricades would deter people from turning right. He feels a police patrolman would have to be there all day to keep people from turning right even if there are barricades. John VanAken went on to say Wal-Mart traffic coming off of E. Railroad Street onto S. First Avenue already creates a lot of traffic problems and this will increase with Cenex employees coming off of W. Railroad Street and turning north onto S. First Avenue by the underpass. Hazel Klein asked Ken Billingsley to clarify what Cenex plans to do if they do not get this zone change. She asked if she was correct in hearing that Cenex's alternative plan is to build these proposed buildings on land already zoned Heavy Commercial and that traffic would be routed the same way anyway. Ken Billingsley stated that this correct. 7 Hazel Klein said that whether they build on the area they are requesting a zone change on or their alternative site, traffic is going to create a problem going through a residential area. Traffic is traffic. Mr. Jewett, 830 S. Yellowstone wondered why they don't build a larger parking lot on the east side of Highway 212 and require all of their employees to park on the east side of Highway 212 and bus those employees over to their job site. He went on to state that he is disappointed that a representative from MDT wasn't present at the meeting. Pat Kimmet stated that bussing employees is not a feasible option. Mr. Jewett, 830 S. Yellowstone Avenue also wondered why all of the people within his neighborhood did not get notified by letter about the hearing on the zone change. James stated that under current laws only those neighbors within 300 feet of the proposed zone change have to be notified by mail. (Note: a legal ad was placed in the Laurel Outlook on 2 consecutive dates prior to the hearing inviting all of those interested parties to attend this public hearing). Myrna Brester, 905 Bobcat Drive stated that the traffic is not the issue. Basically the board needs to decide to allow the zone change and make it rough for everyone that lives back there or to deny it. Greg Nelson made a point of clarification. Mr. Billingsley from Cenex pointed out that even if the city doesn't approve the re-zoning of this area Cenex can still build in the area inside the refinery that is already zoned Heavy Industrial and the city and surrounding residents will still have the same traffic problem. So the better way of looking at this is to find a better solution to make everybody happy because one way or another other new buildings are going to be built and there will be a traffic issue. Pat Kimmet stated he would like to continue to work with both the city and the school to put in additional stop signs to help with the traffic issues. He also pointed out that many of the contractors that will be working on the proposed project are members of the community and the employees that will be working out of the new Cenex buildings are members of the community and pay taxes to the City of Laurel. At this point a motion was made by Hazel Klein that this zone change go forward to the Laurel City Council, as amended by Cenex requesting that the zone be changed from Residential Manufactured Home to Light Industrial, and let the minutes reflect the discussion and concerns of the Planning board. The motion was seconded by Dan Koch and carried by a vote of 5-2 (Horning and VanAken). 8 Public Hearin - Saddle Ridge Subdivision - 2"d Filin - Preliminary Plat -5 Lot Minor This minor subdivision consists of 18.03 acres which will be divided into 5 lots with a maximum lot size of 8.6414 acres and minimum lot size of 2.014 acres. The legal description of this subdivision is Tr.2C-1, Amended Certificate of Survey No. 1138, Amended & Corrected (Amending Tract 2). The general location of the subdivision is West of Buffalo Trail aka Montana Highway No. 532 and South of Clapper Flat Road. James Hahn from Atlas Engineering spoke. The road that serves this carne into existence as a secondary access to the 1st Filing. Secondary accesses within Yellowstone County regulations are required to be built to county standards. It has already been approved by the Yellowstone County Public Works department. Each lot will have its own cistern constructed as specified in DEQ's approval. Each lot will have its own sewage treatment system consisting of a septic tank and drain field of such size and description as will comply with the DEQ's approval. James Caniglia, City Planner did not have many questions on this subdivision and he recommends the board recommend conditional approval of this subdivision. He added that the application was originally submitted as a minor subdivision and that there was a private easement on the plat in conflict with the 1st filing. Both of these changes have already been made. The applicant is requesting a variance from Appendix G, entitled "Requiring supporting documents for first minor preliminary plat applications", Item No. 4 requiring a Geotechnical Report. James recommends the variance go forward with a recommendation of approval. James read his proposed conditions of approval into the minutes (see attached). After a discussion by the board a motion was made by Greg Nelson, seconded by Deb Horning to recommend approval of Saddle Ridge Subdivision Second Filing, Preliminary Plat Minor, subject to James proposed conditions of approval. The motion carried by a vote of 7-0. There was no further business to come before the board. The meeting was adjourned at 8:54 pm. Respectfully submitted, Cheryll Lund, Secretary 9 1VI UO/4VV0 V4: 4L Plu CITY HALL r ` 115 W.-1ST ST. PUB WORKS: 628-•4796 WATER OFC: 678-7431 COURT- 628-1964 FAX 628_.2241 LAU hil rubLlu nuxhz) C. uus City Of Laurel P.0. Box 10 L1E1- ' ?aNT_eiaR: Laurel, Montana 5904 PT,z_1V1V`xNG SOARn P-PPLICATION FORM D1wPARTIvll;7v1 The undersigned as owner or agent of the f c11 owing described property requests a Zone Charge/Land. Use Variance as outli the City Zoning Ordinance: - s ne /. Zone Legal deecription of ro err : 511 T©2 S 1 ?pq O General location: Proposed use. cu"Em 41 ?0_;' 4. Owner (s) . S Agent (s) : (name) 2?rra ?-l!J SGG l (address .„ - (phone number) .6. Covenants or deed restrictions on property: Yes (if Yes, include copy) No T understand that the filing fee accompanying this applicatiori is not refundable, that it pays part of, the cost in processing; and that the fee does not constitute a payment for a Zone 'Change/Land Use Variance. Also, that all the information presented is true and correct. PETITIONER MUST BE PRESENT AT HEARINGS. PETITION NO,. FEE PAID PETITIONER'S SIGNATURE DATE f-=.Echaaae Y OF LAUREL C:iy Of ]Laurel is axt EEO Employer Rio- Box 10 Equal Housing Opportunity gX r,,mf, Montana 59044 GFSC, (phone number) -= -Vrt5tvne County Ineractw Maooino Disciairner 4 E _ t F -T-F-7 r- i i- - :=.?s r t - - r owl Range 14 l , 1 y r n r 1 ?rwi _-e 5ecrgns RWl DES taye rs d l ? ....-Cep L'rt1itS SIDS J Zoning Crow Indian Re?srvatllp --.Lna _« l { School District t--J _-Attendance Boundaries _ .: Schools J'..: Eiectpns r ` - `- 2000 Census v . . . q 567M .. .. ? t lemn: T?s `Narnrnc: !hrs data rs ni7t !c be used fpr an?? bulk!par;cna! mar,'ing BY Add¢$ V By Owner .1 By o+exvde By sabifivisim A ®y Tax ID 1 By Cerdficate of Survey - ?"?: TIMS ? Fs powered 6y ESRFs ArcMSS by YeRawsbne Caelnly , NT ,,: ;? c?ro?.ry?eezaao? s,?e ?,? The accuracy and $meliness d 711iF iniwrrreffiorr is z :::' yAap- ?Fi7542. 1'5&91319 La?gll-?tIX?: -1DB-784''$(-3A9° 47' 4?' 4'S-&59G(4?a° 39 35") - ink: 216 ,28+1 - Sc?rFactor. 1.5" ".51 .... nt.gm/webgies/yellowsk ne/view .Mtm JCeaed goup drd to open, J' Oprn gnap, dfdc b d(se. Map my a. .:= Hidden goup(w v, d k to me. r' Ville g-prl er, dck to hide. ?N Yik k?er hlt'o[.ak tl? ®le. '- -adO rk; k gmnp, dkk to sse. :f? UvQ, cI& to make ectlr e. Cunene ache Il C 5l on d* m. t. niggle legend. 1/1 r CITY HALL 115 West 1" Street City Of Laurel City Planner: 628-4796 P. Q, $O% FAX: 628-2241 10 Water Office: 628-7431 Laurel, Montana 59044 Zone Change Request Applicant: CHS Current Zoning: Residential Manufactured Homes y" Proposed Zoning: Heavy Industrial Location S 16, T02'S, R24E, 1222; Tract A-1 COS 1222 General Location: North of South'9t' St. lying between 9"' St. atld I-90 and between South 8' Avenue and Yellowstone Avenue Adjacent Zoning: The property is zoned Heavy Industrial (HI) to the east on property owned by CHS. The property to the north is zoned Light Industrial (LI). The property to the south is zoned Residential Manufactured Horne (RMH) and to the east the land is zoned Residential Tracts (RT) and is not subdivided. The HI to the east is divided by a road which is a significant dividing line and along with the residences across the street to the south; the circumstances do not give the applicant the absolute right to a zone change. Annexation: The applicant was requested to annex the property, but chose not to do so at this time. They have the right to request a zone change without annexation and have chosen to do so. If HI is granted to the applicant it will be nearly impossible to annex the land without a request for annexation from the landowner. However, they may choose to do so at a later date to obtain the water capacity they seek. City of Laurel water customers must ask for City council approval before extending a city water line and the line they wish to extend has fire flow issues and chlorination issues due to the length of the line they seek to extend. The Planning Board does not have the ability to turn this zone change request down solely because they want it annexed. It is illegal to reject a zone change request and allow it shortly thereafter because the second request for a zone change was accompanied by an annexation request. Growth Management Plan: The property does not appear to conflict with or support the GNP. If the zone change request is denied the applicant must wait a year before they can apply a second time. If the applicant is not confident the zone change will be recommended during the Planning Board they can choose to withdraw the request and re-apply at a sooner date. !1 W? l'`?Sh'eet City Of Laurel CRY Pimmar 62&47% P. O. Boa lU FAX: 629-224I WwWr ifflov. 629-7431, Laurel Montana 590" Saddle Ridge Subdivision Second Filins Type: subsequent minor Legal Description: Tr_ 2C-1 Am. Cert. of Survey 1138, Section 29, T.1 IS., R24E., P.M.M. General Location: S.W. corner of Buffalo Trail and Clapper Flat Road - just NW! of the Laurel container site RM0-M MDATION Staff recommends that the Laurel Planning Board recommend that the Planning Board conditionally approve the preliminary plat. VARIANCE RL UESTED A variance has been requested to waive a Geotechnical Report as one was recently completed as part of the conditional approval of the first filing. Staff recommends approval of the variance since completing a new Geotechnical Report is not necessary. PROPOSED CONDITIONS OF APPROVAL Pursuant to Section 76-3-60$(4), MCA, the following conditions are recommended to reasonably minimize potential adverse impacts identified within the Findings of Fact_ 1 _ Minor changes may be made in the SIA and final documents, as requested by the Planning and/or Public Works Departments to clarify the documents and bring them into the standard acceptable format- 2. The final plat shall comply with, all requirements of the County Subdivision Regulations, rules, regulations, policies, and resolutions of the Yellowstone county; and the laws and Administrative Rules of the State of Montana- To minimize effects on the natural environment, a property inspection shall be conducted by the Yellowstone County Weed Department prior to final plat approval. A weed management plan including a revegetation schedule shall be submitted to the Yellowstone County Weed Department and shall be included in the SIA. (County Weed Board Policy, Recommended by County Weed Department) 4. Approval by the Department of Environmental Quality 5. To minimize the effects on public safety, the 10,000 gallon water tank for use by the Laurel Volunteer Fiore Department shall be installed by the subdivider then inspected and signed off for correct installation and usability by the Laurel Volunteer Department, 6_ A petition for Saddle Midge second filing be included in the existing road RSID before final plat-