|
|
|
 |
PUBLIC HEARING
June 2, 2004 MINUTES
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT
Tom Quinn, Chair Bill Marino
Ken Lloyd Rich Urbanowski
Wilmae "Bunny" Malm Charles Choi
STAFF PRESENT
Roger Noonan, City Attorney Amy Arnold, Planning Intern
Roger Wadnal, Manager of Develop. Review Anne Heine, Lead Develop. Review Engineer
Susan Piercy, Senior Planner Ben Mehmen, Civil Engineer I
Chad Minor, Senior Planner John Padon, Traffic Engineer Technician
Kara Mueller, Planner II Gail Spencer, Code Enforcement Supervisor
Tina Dill, Planner I Vicki Kaufman, Planning Commission Sect'y.
Olga Mikhailova, Planner III
___________________________________________________________________________________
The following are the minutes of the June 2, 2004 Lakewood Planning Commission
Public hearing. A permanent set of these minutes is retained in the office of
the City Clerk and a tape recording is located in the department of Community
Planning and Development, City of Lakewood.
____________________________________________________________________________________
INDEX
RZ-03-003 Rezoning request of Larry & Kris Mahoney, Marquis Builders at
8090 West Mississippi Avenue
RZ-03-007 Major modification to the existing Trailerland Planned Development
5991 West Colfax Avenue
FI-03-009 & PI-03-006 Subdivision request of Keith Gantenbein at
1800 Yarrow Street
OA-03-001 Recommended adoption of additions, clarifications and amendments to various sections of Article 2, Article 5 and Article 6 of the Zoning Ordinance to allow Special Use Permits for the Animal Day Care Facilities.
The roll having been called, a quorum was declared and the following business was conducted.
CHAIRMAN QUINN explained guidelines to be adhered to. Then stated the order would be reversed so cases FI-03-009 and PI-03-006 could be considered first this evening
ROGER WADNAL, DEVELOPMENT REVIEW AND ENFORCEMENT MANAGER, introduced the first item saying staff had received some additional information on this request for the final plat and preliminary map. Roger explained the applicant would be explaining the issues further but, given the fact that this has not been resolved, and that it should be able to be resolved within the next thirty days, Staff recommends these cases be continued.
KEITH GATTENBEIN, APPLICANT for Cases FI-03-009 & PI-03-006, who lives at 8106 Stu Hill Road, Golden, Colorado, asked for a six-week continuance. He explained they might have a lot area issue with a right-of-way vacation. He wanted to make sure his information is accurate. The subdivision was platted in 1935 and the applicant has been unable to research details this afternoon.
CHAIRMAN QUINN confirmed that the new information would be available at the continued hearing date for the public as well as the commissioners.
COMMISSIONER MALM then moved that cases FI-03-009 and PI-03-006 be moved to July 21, 2004 at the applicant's request. Allowing the applicant time to resolve the technical problems.
COMMISSIONER MARINO seconded the motion.
Motion carried by a vote of 6 to 0.
CASE NO. RZ-03-003, Rezone from R1-A to 2-R Zoning Classification
COMMISSIONER URBANOWSKI excused himself from hearing this case due to a conflict of interest and sat out in the hall.
JOSH ROWLAND of 9137 S. Richland Blvd., Suite A, Highlands Ranch, CO, 80129, and who works for Land Architects is representing the owner, Chris Mahoney. Russell Hall with Highline Engineering who was the civil engineer on this project was also present. There are two pre-existing filings of the Allison Glen subdivision. This request is for Filing 3. Once rezoned to 2-R, this property, which covers 1.7 acres, will be subdivided into 9 single-family home sites with a minimum of 6000 square feet. Some of the project benefits are the extension of utilities to complete a water main loop along South Ammons St., West Mississippi Ave. to the north and Allison Pkwy. to the east. Applicant was requested to provide the right of way connection through to Mississippi and to add a stub street for future development to the west.
The owner added that a tree lawn will be provided, detached sidewalks, curb and gutter will be installed and an irrigation ditch that's currently open will be piped along West Mississippi Avenue.
There were three people who turned out for the neighborhood meeting and none had any complaints.
SUE PIERCY, SENIOR PLANNER, gave the Staff Report, entered the Zoning Ordinance,
the Subdivision Ordinance and the plat into the record for case RZ-03-003 in
Dru Siley's absence.
Staff recommended the commission recommend approval of the rezoning.
COMMISSIONER QUINN said the commissioners had an opportunity to go out and look at the site.
JOHANN COHN who lives at 1208 S Brentwood St., 80232, to the west of this area. He stated he favors this project in terms of similarity, same zoning designation, the Mahoney's have already constructed quality homes in the area and live in this neighborhood. Concerned only about the extra street running into this subdivision.
ELMER WHITMAN of 1178 S. Brentwood St., 80223, for 37 years. Concerned about the added traffic on Mississippi Ave., Mr. Whitman said there have been five bad accidents on Mississippi Ave. and Brentwood. The accidents are due to the fact that no one maintains the weed control in the ditch from Butler Way to Ammons. He said you cannot see west off of Brentwood onto Mississippi Ave. He spoke tonight hoping the commission could put added pressure on council to respond to this issue because of this development.
COMMISSIONER CHOI asked what the roof coverage would be for this development vs. what could occur under the current zoning. His concern was the sheet flow from west to east onto unplatted ground.
ANNE HEINE, CIVIL ENGINEER FOR THE CITY, said the city has approved a drainage report for this parcel and the flow will be collected generally on Ammons St. and discharged to the south, to a portion of Ammons St. that's built into a storm sewer system and into the detention pond that was constructed with Allison Glen Filing I and II. The pond will be slightly expanded to accommodate the additional flow. The drainage flow will not go into the Salisbury Lateral Ditch, which is an irrigation ditch.
COMMISSIONER CHOI asked if the five eastern lots would have finished grading that redirects the flow back to Ammons St.
ANNE HEINE said the five eastern lots will have a basin break in the middle of the roof so the backyard will discharge into the back area and that will flow to the southeast into the detention pond but the front part of the house and the driveway will flow into Ammons St. The general approach is to maintain historic drainage patterns as best as possible.
COMMISSIONER MALM wanted to follow-up on the discussion about the traffic safety. She wondered who is responsible for the weeds? Who owns the ditch?
ANNE HEINE said the ditch is called the Salisbury Lateral and is owned by a separate ditch company and managed by the Denver Water Board. Typically the ditch companies are responsible and do maintain the ditch rights-of-way although the weed cutting is typically a twice a year event.
COMMISSIONER MALM said she felt this was a valid concern and that perhaps we could keep an eye on the weed cutting.
COMMISSIONER QUINN remembered there being an overall drainage issue in this area to the south.
ANNE HEINE said there are some neighborhood drainage issues mainly on the south property of Allison Glen II. There is a stub street from Brentwood on the south side of the parcels to the west of this new parcel. Since there is a stub street, it overlaps into the Allison Glen detention pond. There was some concern about adding a detention pond on the south side of Allison Glen filing II that would create some ground water and seepage issues for the existing homes. The detention pond was built with a PVC liner to help prevent ground water and seepage issues and that appears to be working. There is still some drainage heading from the Alabama stub street to the east that does get routed to the detention pond.
COMMISSIONER MARINO moved that, based on the finding of facts and the staff report, the Planning Commission recommends that City Council approve the rezoning case RZ-03-003.
COMMISSIONER MALM seconded the motion.
The motion passed by a vote of 5-0 with one abstention.
After a five-minute break, the Planning Commission reconvened with the Secretary calling the next case.
Case RZ-03-007 Modify a Planned Development to allow for Mini-Storage
BERNIE LASH, PRIVATE LAND PLANNING CONSULTANT, with an office at 26 West Dry Creek Circle, Suite 600, Littleton, CO 80120, is representing Hank Saipe on his application for adding a specific use to the Trailerland PD. Hank is purchasing the entire property, about four and a half acres. But the self-storage is only on two and a half acres.
HARVEY (HANK) SAIPE, THE APPLICANT, who lives at 250 Jersey St., Denver, CO 80220, has the property under contract to buy. He wants to put in a self storage facility with a combination of single, two story, and one three story building that will face Colfax Ave. The art deco design will compliment the West Colfax revitalization of the neighborhood. There will be a three-story building facing Colfax along with the two-story managers residence and the office. The Colfax and Harlan self-storage will have a minimum impact on the area. There will be several security measures at this site. Mr. Saipe has two other self-storage units around town.
BERNIE LASH felt the goals of the Colfax Comprehensive Plan had been met. They recognize the fact that they need to meet six or seven of the design standards in the Comprehensive Plan and feel they have met those. In terms of compatibility, there was only one neighbor who came and raised any concern. Hank has met with the owner of the auto body shop next door. The office and managers residence were set back further to the west to accommodate the auto body shop visibility. They did try to limit the fencing to open wrought iron fencing and limit the landscaping so as to not obstruct the view of the auto body shop. Bernie mentioned that Hank is professional in his business accomplishments.
KARA MUELLER, PLANNER II, gave the Staff Report, entering the Lakewood Comprehensive Plan, Lakewood Zoning Code, West Colfax Revitalization Plan, Edgewood Neighborhood Plan, and the Molhom Area Plan into the record for case RZ-03-007. Kara showed slides of the area. Staff recommends the commission recommend approval of the rezoning.
RANDY CLAY, of 172 S. Ammons St., Lakewood, CO 80226, owner of Apex Auto Body Shop, wanted to speak against putting the building in the front but is not against the development. He said Article 15 speaks to having consideration for your neighbors. Randy said he gave an easement to the city for a frontage road between Fenton St. and Harland St. and would never have thought in a million years they would use the small piece of land for a two-story building. He is in the middle of the block and feels by putting the building and a fence in front, along Colfax, it will eliminate any eastbound traffic from seeing his business. He stated that he has spent tens of thousands of dollars on landscaping and only been in business for two months. He also stated that he is a small shop owner but will eventually have up to nine people working there and hopes to bring in revenue of two million dollars yearly.
Parking is also a concern for Randy. The district manager of Checkers Auto Parts Store is also very concerned with the parking and will be present for City Council.
The fence is also a concern for Randy. City states the fence is an open fence but the fence will eliminate the view of the wholesaler who leases the office on the west side of Randy's building. The wholesaler sells small volume cars and has an open stamped concrete pad to display the cars or motorcycles.
Randy acknowledged that he and Hank Saipe have sat down and talked but never felt a compromise was reached. Randy said he would like to offer an option allowing the access to be closer to Colfax, allowing the building to be set back farther from the front. However, his concern would be that his building would still be blocked. He isn't trying to be hard to get along with but has gone to a lot of expense to have a business on Colfax Avenue in Lakewood where he feels it is a privilege to have a business.
JIM SMITCAMP, ATTORNEY for Randy (and his partner), whose office is at 75 Manhattan Dr., Boulder, CO 80303, wanted to discuss the fact that the detention pond is right on the property line. Also, that the building and the fence would go all the way around the building, and the various buildings heights by comparison to the Apex building that is only 18 feet high, thus blocking the view for the eastbound traffic. Their proposal would be to get rid of the fence and move the 1100 sq. ft. building onto the front of the building. He feels Mr. Saipe could move the resident building to the west.
BERNIE LASH spoke in rebuttal of the comments by Randy Clay, and his attorney, saying that if you're looking for an auto body shop you don't usually find one by driving down the street but by going through the phone book or through your insurance company.
ROBERT BROWN, LAWYER for Mr. Saipe, whose office is at 633 17th St., Ste. 3000, Denver, CO 80202 wanted to focus on the legal aspect. In connection with zoning and subdivision decisions, it is the character of the neighborhood that gets addressed. Especially here where there is no comprehensive rezoning but a change of use on a small parcel of property. What is appropriate is to see what happens in the neighborhood. An individual neighbor does not have a legal right to make a challenge based on what is otherwise a legal use of the property. Mr. Clay knew what the frontage was when he purchased his property.
COMMISSIONER CHOI commented positively on the thoroughness by all parties and staff. There is one part of the Comprehensive Plan that, as authors of the plan, the issues need to be addressed. How did the cross access easement get established in the first place? And, is it intended to go all the way to Harlan St. as a service road and all the way down to Fenton St.?
KARA MUELLER said the cross access easement has existed from Fenton St. from Checkers and, when Apex came in, the city decided to go ahead and continue the cross access to provide access to the businesses without having to be on Colfax Ave. It is not necessarily a frontage road but it is a straight through access for traffic as well as West Metro Fire Dept. At this time there is no direct access to Hank's proposed site so the cross access goes from Fenton Street, across Hank's property, that has already been recorded and goes out the curb cut that exists on Hank's commercial site.
COMMISSIONER CHOI asked if the curb cut onto Colfax would be retained.
ANNE HEINE said Nolan's RV site originally had two accesses on Colfax Ave. One was shared between what became Apex Auto Body and The Trailerland site. And one was just west of the Trailerland site that's under the rezoning application tonight. The shared access on the property line was relocated during the development of Apex to be completely on the Apex Auto Body site. That precipitated the need to have a cross access easement between the Apex site and the Trailerland site. Since Apex only had one access off Colfax, they needed a secondary access for West Metro Fire and that became the access for Checker. The commercial site has adequate access on Harlan and Colfax so the need to continue it all the way to Harlan is not necessary.
COMMISSIONER CHOI said what the commissioners are really looking at is a curb cut and a cross access easement for three property uses. ANNE concurred.
COMMISSONER CHOI appreciated all the testimony about low plantings and the see through fences. However, he thought Staff needed to take a look at problems of this nature in terms of the "zipper line" and give the commissioners an appraisal of what the pros and cons are that have occurred and asked Staff to do this in the future whenever possible. He thinks it boils down to Apex's need for visibility from the road. He doesn't think Apex wants their building to be a monument but just to be seen. He asked if anyone had considered the idea of a single sign for both businesses.
COMMISSIONER MALM agreed with the idea of collective signage. And then she
asked if it was absolutely a requirement for the residency to be a two-story
building. HANK said yes, it was where the
Resident Manager would live and he wanted them to have a nice home. He said
they have reduced the ceilings to 9 feet and 8 feet. Commissioner Malm encouraged
the applicant to work with the owner of Apex. She said she felt the issue of
respect for the neighboring business had not been met and that was a very important
issue in the Comprehensive Plan.
HANK SAIPE said he has tried to work with Randy Clay as well as the city.
COMMISSIONER MALM asked him to go to a higher level if possible.
COMMISSIONER MARINO wanted to be clear about the planned development being a total of 4.25 acres. Tonight we are discussing use on 2.49 acres approximately.
KARA MUELLER responded that those figures were correct and Apex falls within the Trailerland Planned Development.
COMMISSIONER MARINO then asked what right the owner of Apex has, other than showing up and speaking tonight. The applicant can do what he wants and not have Randy's approval. He also feels there is an issue of respect. The heart and soul of the Comprehensive Plan, in his opinion, is to get uses to perform with minimum impact on adjacent land uses. The idea of common signage is a good idea. He felt the idea of creative compromise is a good idea. He would like to know that every conceivable alternative has been considered to mitigate the impact on an existing business.
COMMISSIONER URBANOWSKI wanted to know if the two property owners have met together and with the city. Have there been sit-down meetings with the design side of this issue? Have issues being discussed tonight already been covered in previous meetings between the owners and the city?
KARA MUELLER said there have been meetings and she asked to show slides explaining the new, shared, drive cut. The cross access easement from Fenton goes across Checker's, connects so that anybody can cross into all properties and would connect into Hank's proposed project. The easement would run down and across Hank's property. One of the slides showed the shared drive cut super-imposed on the property to show the ministorage. Kara explained that if someone were going eastbound any building would block the Apex building. She also stated there is a tree lined median in the middle of the street. She said further that any building in the 5-C area could be up to 60 feet tall and Staff would want them close to Colfax. Also, Randy has an interestingly designed sign that is not yet installed, showing a car going through a wall. Staff felt that if they shifted the manager's unit and the office it would block the view of Apex's sign for eastbound traffic. The westbound view of Apex was Staff's primary concern since one must be going westbound to get to the site. Checker's Auto Part store sticks out already further then Apex and existing landscaping blocks the westbound view more than the proposed placement of the manager's unit and office. Staff agreed that 25% of the frontal view of Apex was still blocked however, walking along Colfax, you would still be able to see Apex. There always has been a concern with what to do with the manager's unit.
COMMISSIONER URBANOWSKI wanted to know if there could be a possibility of no fence along the front.
KARA MUELLER said there is a six-foot high fence around the detention pond.
ANNE HEINE said there is no engineering requirement that the water quality pond be fenced. The pond has a small retaining wall that goes around three sides. We would have to look at safety issues but a barrier fence is not a requirement.
COMMISSIONER URBANOWSKI asked if you could turn the water quality pond to the east and the building on the north side? ANNE said there is no reason it couldn't get done from a design standpoint.
COMMISSIONER LLOYD asked what Mr. Saipe wanted to do on the retail side of his project.
HANK SAIPE stated he would sell or lease the property. There is approximately 70,000 sq. ft. of vacant ground. He wants to get a business in that would be complimentary to Colfax. As of right now, he doesn't plan to use the space himself.
COMMISSIONER LLOYD also wondered how Staff thinks this project will combine with the Citizens group for West Colfax and how they are heading.
ROGER WADNAL said he thinks this project would work well with the overall look along Colfax from the design standpoint.
COMMISSIONER URBANOWSKI wondered if the setbacks are being met?
KARA said setbacks are being met. Also, along the fashion of Colfax, Hank's project agreed to the design standards that include a neon sign. The sign must meet the corridor standards; there will be one on the building as well as a monument sign.
COMMISSIONER CHOI said he would like to discuss the sign idea. Is it possible to have a conversation between the property owners?
There was some discussion about the parking spaces.
COMMISSIONER QUINN, as CHAIR, wanted to suggest a continuance of this case to a date certain, June 16, 2004 was suggested with no need to do another neighborhood notification.
ROGER WADNAL asked the commission to clarify what direction the applicant would need to focus on related to both the building and the signage.
At this time there was a five-minute break.
HANK SAIPE, APPLICANT said Randy would like to request a two-week continuance
to June 16, 2004
for the purpose of further negotiations.
COMMISSIONER CHOI moved to continue Case Number RZ-03-007 until June 16, 2004.
COMMISSIONER MALM seconded the motion.
Vote was 6-0 in favor of the continuance.
COMMISSIONER MALM added her feeling that both of these businesses are great additions to the city of Lakewood and she hopes the owners might be able to get together and make this work for both of them.
Case OA-03-001 Recommend adoption of the Animal Day Care Ordinance
KARA MUELLER gave the Staff report. Staff's suggestion was to recommend that there is a need to add the use of Animal Day Care facilities to the ordinance in order to allow and regulate these facilities within the City of Lakewood.
ANDREW HANSON, of 1690 Miller St., Lakewood, 80215, assumed that the Staff report request for Special Use Permit would allow for case-by-case review. He was concerned with the amount of setback required.
KARA said Staff chose 20 feet because it is a common buffer for any use. It is a setback that Staff is very familiar with. In the case of Andrew Hanson, an exception request through the Special Use process to lessen the setbacks would be required.
COMMISSIONER QUINN closed the Public Hearing section of the meeting, seeing no one else who wished to speak on this case.
COMMISSIONER MARINO said there is a specific clause allowing for appeal of the decision.
COMMISSIONER MARINO moved the Planning Commission recommend approval of OA-03-001.
COMMISSIONER MALM seconded.
Vote was 6-0 in favor of the motion.
COMMISSIONER QUINN said Kara Mueller did an excellent job.
COMMISSIONER MARINO credited the CHAIR with having done a good job as well.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM APRIL 7, 2004 MEETING
COMMISSIONER URBANOWSKI said there were a couple of typographical errors that could be faxed in to the commission secretary for correction.
COMMISSIONER MALM caught a couple of errors that will be corrected.
COMMISSIONER MALM moved to approve the minutes with corrections.
There was a vote of 6-0 to approve the minutes.
4. GENERAL BUSINESS
No general business tonight.
There being no further business to conduct the meeting was adjourned at 9:50 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT
Vicki Kaufman, Secretary to the Lakewood Planning Commission
 |
||
Americans with Disability Act (ADA) Notice |
||
