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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity/County Planning Board Minutes 11.18.1993 MINUTES CITY-COUNTY PLANNING BOARD NOVEMBER 18, 1993 7:00 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS MEMBERS PRESENT: John Smith, Chairman Don Gudgell, County Rep. Jim Ziegler, County Rep. Clarence Foos, County Rep. Gerald Shay, Member at Large Lonnie Kellogg, City Rep. Larry Thomas, City Rep. OTHERS PRESENT: Cal Cumin, City Planner Cheryll Lund, City Secretary Dan McGee, 1925 Pinyon Evelyn Steinhart, 315 Woodland Margaret Penne, 1012 2nd Ave. Mr. & Mrs. B.E. Kucera, 806 2nd Ave. Mary Elsenpeter, 813 wyoming Bunny King, 714 2nd Ave. Mr. & Mrs. Charles Fischer, 1508 W. Maryland Ron Marshall, 204 Durland Karen Maddaus, 310 Yellowstone Judy Goracke, 207 Yellowstone Darlene Thormahlen, 208 Woodland Phyllis Bromgard, 216 Yellowstone Mr. & Mrs. Sam Braswell, 213 Magelssen Dick Storment, 701 3rd Avenue Doug Miller, (address unavailable) Community HOPe- Special Review Community Hope has been (tentatively) given lots located in the 200 block of Cedar Avenue and would like to build a building in this area in the near future. The zoning of that area is Residential- Light-Multi-Family which does not allow charitable organizations in that zone without going through the Special Review process. Charles Fischer spoke concerning the application. Community Hope is a non-profit organization that serves the needy peop!q of the Laurel area. They give food, clothing, and money to people in need of help. Food, clothing and money is all obtained through donations. Mr. Fischer states that they will try to build the building to match the "look" of the neighborhood. They will put up a 6 foot cedar privacy fence around the entire building. Estimated cost of the building is $60,000. The land will be donated to Community Hope, if the special review is granted. Question on parking requirements. The City will address that when Community Hope representatives bring in the plans. The City does require paving of parking lots for commercial uses. Improvements to the road into the building were discussed. Mr. Fischer states that they plan to direct the traffic to come in on Cedar Avenue and then exit through the alley. Traffic will be heavier in the proposed area because they will have people coming and going from the site. There will be some "transient" traffic during the daytime hours, but they do not expect the transients to stay beyond 30 minutes. Community Hope receives food from the Billings Food Bank, and also some funds from the United Way. The rest of the funds comes from donations. Question on transients being in the area. Bunny King states that the transients are already within the southside neighborhood due to the closeness of the railroad tracks. She also stated that the proposed site of their building is beside commercially zoned property. Dick Storment spoke concerning the application. He explained that they do not have more extensive archetectural plans because of the money involved in doing so. Before they can apply for the grant they need to be able to prove that they own the land. Before they can get the land they need to know if the City will allow them to build within the RLMF zone. Cal states that they need to have definite plans of some type so that when and if the application is approved, stipulations as to what we are going to allow can be written do~rn and firmed up. There will be certain conditions that have to be met. Darlene Fischer spoke concerning the money assistance that they give to those requesting it. She carefully screens the applicants before giving money out. They do help people with mgney for utilities. Cal asks a time frame on the building. Mr. Fischer stakes that they figure about 18 months, due to having to apply for al grant. Opponents: Judy Goracke, 207 Yellowstone, spoke in opposition. She feels that Community Hope is a good organization, but it does not belong in a residential area. Her concerns are the extra vehicle traffic it will bring and the extra transients. At the most she sees between 5-6 transients that hang around under the trees in the park. She would be located about 1 1/2 blocks away from the proposed 2 building. When asked if there was anything that she felt could be done to help facilitate the residents and Community Hope, should they locate in that area, she stated "No". She submitted a list of people that are opposed to the location of Community Hope in their neighborhood. Darlene Thormahlen, 208 Woodland, spoke in opposition. She feels that Community Hope does not belong in a residential area. They have alot of children and elderly in the area proposed, and that they would not be safe. She feels that there is commercial land available and that should be used for Community Hope. Phyllis Bromgard, 216 Yellowstone, spoke in opposition. She feels that the vacant building on Main Street should be used. She doesn't want the extra traffic and transients in the area. They have very bad streets and she doesn't want them to get worse. Doug Miller, (didn't sign sign-in sheet) spoke in opposition. He states that if you look at the crime in Laurel you could relate it all to the transients passing through town. He feels the crime rate in his neighborhood will go up. Community Hope helps those in need, and in his opinion those in need steal. He doesn't want to have to start locking his doors at night. ProDonents: Butt Kucera spoke in favor of the application. He addressed the question of using the old building at the corner of W. Main and 2nd Avenue. Community Hope could not afford to do the work required to get that old building up to standards. They cannot afford to buy an old building and the land and then have to spend the money to fix it up. He also stated that some of the transients that come to them for assistance are very good people, but are down on their luck. Charlie Fischer spoke in favor of the application. The reason they are hoping to build is due to the fact that land was donated to them. Dick Storement spoke in favor of the application. Community Hope would not be able to build a building and buy land at the same time. They have to own the land before they can even apply for a grant. Community Hope is not a service to only transients...they serve the community of Laurel. Bunny King stated that their transactions with "transients" is about 5-10% of their business. Community Hope serves Laurel, Park City and those west of 72nd Street West. She also states that the transients do not hang around their building. They come in and get food or money and leave. 3 Doug Miller "transients" town. (opposition) states that the welfare department terms as people that travel from job to job and town to Dick Storement states that could be true. But if we are serving only 5-10% transients it means we are serving 90-95% of Laurel residents. Doug Miller (opposition) wonders if Mr. Storement would like it to be in his back yard? Mr. Storement states that he feels that the area that Community Hope is proposing is not in the middle of a residential area. As far as taking property value down, he has no answer to that. They will be located close to South First Street where there are many commercial ventures. He feels that eventually you will see the southside of Laurel as the place for future commercial ventures. Doug Miller (opposition) wonders what the difference between the perimeter of the zone or the middle of the zone is? Where Community Hope is proposing to build it will have houses on 3 Sides. Question on how much more traffic this will cause on the south side? It was decided that it would be difficult to say...but maybe another 25-30 cars per day. Community Hope is only open 6 hours per day. Doug Miller (opposition) stated that he worked at Laurel Ford (across the street from Community Hope's present location) and that there was alot of traffic going to Community Hope. Me is also concerned with the "eyesore" that is caused when people leaving articles leave it in the alley. He also stated that alot of people come and browse through the things dropped off over the week-end. Mary Elsenpeter, Community Hope, stated that they do have several ladies that go to the site over the week-end to put things inside. They also make several trips to the dump during the week. Sometimes people come to Community Hope during the week-end, see something that is sitting outside that they need, and they take it. In their new proposed site they will be putting up a 6 foot cedar fence to help eliminate the "eyesore". · The public hearing was closed at 7:50 p.m. Cal spoke concerning the application. He would like to see more detail submitted that would address some of the concerns brought up by the residents around the proposed site. He will put together a list of questions that he will have Community Hope answer, such as 4 traffic, street access, fencing, and etc.. Motion by Larry Thomas, seconded by Don Gudgell] to table any action on this proposal until the December 9th, 1993 meeting. Motion carried. Minor Plat- Braswell Subdivision- Dan McGee of McGee and Company spoke representing Sam and Dee Braswell, for a minor plat. The plat consists of 4 one-acre parcels. An adjustment was made to the minor plat. The owner would like to adjust lots 1 and 2 to make them closer to one acre and then adjust lots 3 and 4 to make them larger. The subdivision will be subject to Park land requirements. Cal recommended approval of the plat, subject to the requirements of the County Surveyor's office and that money, in lieu of park land, be submitted. After a lengthy discussion a motion was made by Don Gudgell, and seconded by Gerald Shay, to recommend approval to the County subject to the requirements of the County Surveyor's recommendations and that money be given in lieu of park land. Motion carried. PUBLIC HEARING- FRONT YARD DEPTHS No one was present for the Public Hearing. Cal recommends approval of basically "nailing down" the been somewhat unclear. this Ordinance. This Ordinance is wording of the Ordinance, which has Motion by Gerald Shay, seconded by Larry Thomas, to recommend to the City Council approval of this ordinance. Motion carried. PUBLIC HEARING- SUBDIVISION ORDINANC~ Cal recommended approval of these changes on Subdivision Ordinances. Motion by Larry Thomas, seconded by Gerald Shay, to recommend approval of these changes and additions to the City Council. Motion carried. HOME OCCUPATION- H & H BUILDiN~ H & H Building Maintenance is in violation of their Home Occupation due to the fact that they have not bought their business license as is required. Motion by Don Gudgell, seconded by Lonnie Kellogg, to recommend that the City Council revoke H & H Building Maintenance's home occupation. Motion carried. AIRPORT ZONING 5 A public hearing will be scheduled for the December 9th meeting of the Planning Board. Cal feels that we should take this opportunity to "firm-up" the zoning in the airport zone now while the airport is just starting to grow up. More zoning restrictions would help in the future development around the airport so that no one can come back onto the City when airplanes disturb their sleep. "OME OCCUPATIONS t~ydia Barbee did not Occupation application. attend the meeting concerning her Home It was tabled until the December meeting. DECEMBER AGENDA In December we will be reviewing the ISTEA application for Canyon Creek Battlefield. It has been approved by the County Commissioners and needs our final approval. We will need to make a decision on it. We will also have a public hearing on Airport Zoning. (Note: this will be postponed until January) Motion by Jim Ziegler, seconded by Clarence Foos, to approve the minutes of the November meeting. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Cheryll Lund, Secretary 6