Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity/County Planning Board Minutes 04.10.2001MINUTES LAUREL CITY-COUNTY PLA1vNING BOARD April 10, 2001 7:00 pm City Council Chambers Members Present: Gerald Shay, Chairman Kate Stevenson, City Rep. Bud Johnson, City Rep. Laurel Haggart, City Rep. Tom Roberius, County Rep. Ziggy Ziegler, County Rep. Others present: Cal Cumin, City Planner The minutes of the March 1, 2001 meeting were read with the following changes: Laurel Haggart was present at the last meeting, and Ms. Bender, the attorney for Mesa, name spelling was Jeanne. Motion by Bud Johnson, seconded by Ziggy Ziegler to approve the minutes as corrected. Motion camed.0 Cal handed out six documents concerning the process of community planning in Montana including all the applicable laws, case law, plannirg boazd members' handbook; etc. Cal said he would try and fmd some short, applicable video presentations for the Board also. Review of Child Care, Adult care and Daycare Ordinances Reviewed changes to Zoning Ordinance on Child Care, Adult Caze, and miscellaneous bookkeeping changes; a new zone (alteratirm of the old R-20,000 Zone) was also included to allow for half-acre lots where central water or sewer are available. After a discussion Bud Johnson made a motion, seconded by Tom Robertus to hold a public hearing next Planning Board meeting. Motion carried. Annexation -Jim and Julie Taylor -Mathis Subdivision Cal asked that the annexation request from Taylor be put on agenda. Motion by Bud Johnson, seconded by Laurel Haggart to add the annexation request for Mathis Subdivision submitted by Jun and Julie Taylor. The motion carried unanimously. The Boazd then reviewed the annexation and Bud Johnson made a motion, seconded by Kate Stevenson to recommend that it be approved. Mofion carried. Bud said Ramon Mattix, the new Billings-Yellowstone County Planning Director, is speaking to the City Council this coming Tuesday evening, and it would be beneficial to the Planning Board members to come and meet her; she is very professional and competent. The Meeting was adjourned. Respectfully submitted, C ~.~.-~ Cheryll und, Secretazy CITY OF LAUREL REQUEST FOR ANNEXATION Aral Plan of Ar_nexation 1. Only parcelsof land adjacent to the City of Laurel municipal limits will be considered for annexation. "Adjacent to" also includes being across a public right of way. If the parcel tc be annexed is smaller than one city block in size (2.06 acres), the City Council must approve consideration of the request; the applicant must make a separate written request to the City Council (for parcels smaller than a city bloc'tc) stating their wish to annex a parcel of land less than one city block in size- and do so prior to fill~ng out and submittinc this Request for Annexation 2. P_pplicant landowner's name: I-Ftl('f~C 1'ta~-~P /~jCzm2S ~-~I~.~,~e_. address: (?OS 1.~, 1~I~ C-~ i FFyI~~~ telephone: l a~ ~-gr-} 3. Parcel to be annexed: (if it is not surveyed or of public record, it must be of public record prior to applying for annexation). Legal Description: LD~ ~{ \K y ~(~~-~-LS ~~~ nD ` N~ Size: '1S ~ X :~77 ~ Present Use: i~'Ct~,c~„`~ In'k' Planned use: ~ ~90a.~+ rr,9c~c.~.ic,,, :~ c~° hc-rn ' -1'{i 0 -~ iy Present Zoning: R~~d~~CGf~ ('~-~a4n (Land which is being annexed becomes zoned R-7500 when it is officially annexed (City Or. 17.12.220.F) uczC.a.r~aC 4. City services: The extension of needed City services shall be at the cost of the applicant after annexation by the City has been approved. As part of the application process, each of the following City services must be addressed: ~ ~ Sec~v ~r a ~ _ LE.~c~U '~'-- Water Service : ~~~~~ Location of existing main: Cost of extension of approved service: How cost determined: Timeframe for installation: How financed: Sewer Service: Location of existing main: Cost of extension cf approved service: How cost determined: Timeframe for installation: How finar_ced° Streets: Location of existing paved access: Cost of paving: How determined: Timeframe for construction: Other required improvements: Provide above information on attached pages. 5. A map suitable for review of this application of the proposed area to be annexed must be submitted with this application. 6. A written Waiver of Protest must accompany this application, suitable for recording and containinc a covenant to run with the land to be annexed, waiving all right of protest to the creation by the City of any needed improvement district for construction or maintenance of municipal services. This Wavier of Protest must be signed by the applicant prior to annexation by the City. 7. Requests far annexations are referred to the City-County Planning Soard for recommendation to the City Council. Applicants should contact the planning representative prior to filling out this application. 8. Within thirty (30) days after receiving the properly ,filled out applicatien with all required accompaniments and after conducting a duly advertised public hearing, the City-County Planning Board shall make recommendation to the City Council as to this Request for Annexation. If more information is needed from the applicant during the review of the application, such application shall be deemed incomplete and the timeframe for reportinc to the City Council extended accordingly, if. needed. 9. An application fee of one hundred fifty dollars ($150) must accompany the submission of this application. The City Council. of the City of Laurel, Montana, after review and consideration of this Application for Annexation found such to be in the best interest of the City, that it complied with State code, and approved this request at its City Council meeting of: ' -gym. aM~ 2 OVERVIEW OF THE ZONING, SUBDIVISION, AND ANNEXATION PROCESS (Prepared for the Laurel City Council by Cal Cumin, City Planning Duector January 18, 2000) Requesting a change in zoning to a zone classification that allows small lots is the first step in developing a piece of property. The Kukes Property is presently zoned to allow, at the minimum, single-family, residential housing built on-site on one-acre minimum-sized lots to Uniform Building Code standards. The developers are requesting a zone change to allow for manufactured homes on lots which, they say, will average about 7500 square feet in size. Part of the property along Main is also being requested as Highway Commercial Zoning. Laurel exercises extra-territorial zoning jurisdiction up to one mile (and no further) from its City Limits, as shown on the Zoning Maps. (It does not, however, have Building Code Enforcement in that adjacent one-mile area immediately outside the City Limits--which is ridiculous.) Beyond the one mile, there is no zoning until the extra-territorial zoning azea of Billings is reached to the northeast of Laurel. Billings, as a first-class city, has much greater reach with its extra-territorial zoning. There is also a County Zoning District by Thiel Road and on the County line southwest of Laurel. Under Laurel's city code, the Planning Boazd must advertise a public hearing and notify all property owners of record within 300 feet of the subject land. Once the Planning Board makes a recommendation (and that is all their decision is) to the City Council, the later also schedules a public hearing. When the Council advertises its public hearing, it must include what the recommendation of the Planning Board is in the newspaper. The Council is, however, not bound by the recommendation. State law, through a series of Legislative changes and convolutions, also requires that specific items be included when zone changes aze being considered; these aze listed in my written report accompanying the Planning Board recommendation to this Council. State law does not say that the items it requires to be considered are binding on the Council's decision; only the consideration is required and must be part of deliberations. Montana health laws require that the smallest lot size that may be created when neither a. centralized water system or a centralized sewer system is available is one acre; if either centralized system is available, the mandatory lot size can be reduced to one-half acre-- depending on specific groundwater and soil conditions on the property. The plan to go to 7500 square feet indicates the developers plan to use Laurel's municipal water and sewer system. Using Laurel's water and sewer systems will require that the property be annexed to the City. It is currently not contiguous, but the City could flag pole its boundary out to the property, encircle it, and annex it. One advantage to extending municipal water and sewer to such a project is that it allows land to develop in a more compact manner than spread over one-acre minimum size lots which gobbles up land and makes the provision of sidewalks, utilities, and other city services extremely expensive; as can be seen inmost such large lot subdivisions, city services do not exist, and the large lot developments all r+. tap into the ground water while returning their sewage wastes back into the same ground. Often the large lot subdivisions adjacent to the City have the ease of access to police, fire, schools, and other such central services--sometimes even water--without having to pay the costs that actually being inside the City Limits would incur. Extending City water and sewer services is up to the City Council. This issue will be addressed by the developers probably as part of the subdivision process. Subdivision may occur after the zone change request is approved. Usually a subdivision near a city requesting municipal services is prepared as "an addition to the city", and this is so stated on the face of the preliminary and final plats. The preliminary plat is the graphic document the developers must prepare in order to subdivide a piece of land. It shows the layout of the streets and lots. It also shows any other details of importance to the Planning Boazd and City Council that may influence the decision making process, such as adjacent land ownership, topography, zoning, utilities, existing buildings, lot sizes, park land, etc. Section 16.12.1101ists 26 different items that must be addressed on the preliminary plat. One of the most important documents that must accompany the preliminary plat, in addition to all the things that are actually shown on the face of the plat, is the Subdivision Improvements Agreement (SIA). The SIA is the proposed, binding contract between the City and the developers spelling out just what improvements aze proposed in the subdivision, such as sidewalks, paved streets, curbs, gutters, lighting, landscaping, water and sewer mains, fire hydrants, stop signs, etc. The SIA is very specific as to size, number, installation timing, cost, and how the improvements are to be financed. The SIA is submitted as a proposal in draft form along with the preliminary plat and is refined by negotiation with the City until a final form is agreed upon. The final SIA is signed by the City and the developers as a contract and filed with the final plat of the subdivision in the County Courthouse. It is a contract that runs with the land and is binding on whoever subsequently owns the property. In addition to the SIA, a Traffic Impact Study must also be prepazed for large developments. This study is done by a professional transportation engineer and detemtines how much traffic the subdivision will generate. The generation of extensive traffic may cause the developers to participate in the cost of traffic systems, such as roads or traffic control devices, off-site on roads leading to the subdivision. This was done, for example, when Entertainment Subdivision was approved by the Council several years ago. Because of the concern with everything from fences, viewsheds, soil conditions, ground water, property valuation, and irrigation systems, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) will also be required to be prepazed by the developers. The required provisions for EIA are listed in Laurel's municipal code in Chapter 16.44. Section 16.12.070 of the code also lists public interest criteria that the Planning Board and City Council must consider, under State law, during the review of a subdivision proposal. When all of the required information is prepazed, 24 copies of the preliminary plat and all its accompaniments, are be submitted to the Planning Board secretary. Copies are distributed to the Planning Board members, Planning Director, and all pertinent and interested agencies such as the County Public Works Department, City Public Works, Fire ,, ' :' Department, utility companies, Park Board, etc. The Planning Department schedules a public hearing in the Laurel Outlook for its next meeting, and all adjacent property owners are notified by mail. During the process of review and decision making from the initial discussion with the Planning Director, through the Planning Boazd, and on down to the Council, negotiations occur over what is allowed or may be required. If everything was hard and fast, there would be no need for deliberation, and decisions could be based on black and white facts. Such negations can include public or private streets, street widths, sidewalk locations, landscaping, park improvements and size, timing of construction of improvements, and so .forth. All that is agreed upon between the City and the developers is spelled out in detail in the SIA and reflected to the extent necessary on the final plat. After all the details are worked out, a final plat and final SIA aze prepared. ff the final documents reflect what was agreed to during the preliminary plat stage, the final plat is automatically approved; the City, for example, can not decide during the final plat stage to add any additional requirements. The City also requires a Waiver of Protest to accompany and be filed with the final plat. This waiver should be filed as a deed restriction on each property within the subdivision and waives the right of landowners present and future to protest improvements that the City decides need to be made to the property as some time in the future. Other finishing requirements include a title report examined by the City Attorney and assurance that all taxes have been paid.