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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998-10-13 Planning MINASHLAND PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 13, 1998 CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chairman Steve Armitage at 7:05 p.m. Other Commissioners present were Russ Chapman, Chris Hearn, Alex Amarotico, Mike Morris, Marilyn Briggs, Mike Gardiner, and Anna Howe. Staff present were John McLaughlin, Bill Molnar, Mark Knox, Maria Harris and Susan Yates. Armitage introduced Alex Amarotico, the newest Commissioner who has taken Ron Bass' place. APPROVAL OF MINUTES AND FINDINGS Briggs said page 4, paragraph 2, "Richardson said there would be no 'fiat' roof..." should read "...no 'metal' roof. Howe moved to approve as corrected, Chapman seconded and the minutes of the September 8, 1998 meeting were approved. PUBLIC FORUM - No one came forth to speak. Chanqes to agenda: PA98-106 has been postponed. PA98-109 will be heard before PA98-105. McLaughlin announced there will be a public hearing before the Planning Commission regarding the Transportation Plan on October 27, 1998 at 7:00 p.m. at the Council Chambers. TYPE II PUBLIC HEARING PLANNING ACTION 98-091 REQUEST FOR A SITE REVIEW TO DEMOLISH THE EXISTING HOTEL AND CONSTRUCT A 10,901 SQUARE FOOT RETAIL BUILDING, AND CONVERT THE EXISTING 24 HOTEL UNITS TO STUDIO APARTMENTS FOR THE PROPERTY AT 1520 SISKIYOU BOULEVARD APPLICANT: ALEX JANSEN Site Visits and Ex Parte Contacts Previous site visits were made by Fields, Chapman, HeaRn and Morris. Briggs, Gardiner, Howe and Armitage had current site visits. Amarotico abstained. STAFF REPORT Molnar reported the applicant has supplied an addendum to their application addressing several items from the last meeting. The Planning Commission suggested removing trees and installing several large caliper trees (6" dbh). The applicants have submitted a revised landscaping plan. They are proposing installing eight, four inch caliper red oak trees throughout the site, situated at the rear of the structure, close to the entrance and along Siskiyou Boulevard. An additional retaining wall has been introduced alongside the driveway entrance off Siskiyou Boulevard enabling the existing red maple and cedar trees to be retained. The revised plan shows the driveway location has been pushed further up Walker but it appears they could push it another five feet. The applicant has increased the public space. The revised plan shows 1,015 sq. ft. provided which does not include the walkways. If the Planning Commission agrees that it should not include the walkways, that is a minor issue. There is an existing large cedar tree behind the structure off the parking lot. There have been some revisions to the plan in order to reduce the impervious surface in the dripline of the tree by introducing pavers. Staff felt the paver area should be expanded to include the entire dripline. The applicant has highlighted the building entrances by recessing the windows and using a wider and deeper awning above the entrances and a narrower awning over the window areas as well as incorporating columns adjacent to the double door entrances. Molnar suggested Condition 4, dealing with the revised landscaping plan. The street trees along Siskiyou be four inch caliper. The Tree Commission recommended not having the vine maples four inch caliper. Include street trees at four inch caliper with the exception of the vine maples. Strike the second sentence of the Condition. Go on to say: "Street trees along Siskiyou Boulevard shall be located within the sidewalk and planted in the ground." On Walker, it would be as stated in the first sentence--behind the sidewalk. Howe does not see any plans for planting while moving the driveway up Walker. Molnar said there should be some obligation to replace plants. Molnar noted the two letters in the packet that were submitted. Molnar received a letter from Mr. and Mrs. Peter VanFleet. They have purchased a new historic property in Talent and could be interested in taking any mature trees from the applicant if it would work. PUBLIC HEARING DAVE RICHARDSON, project architect, 1105 Siskiyou Boulevard ALEX JANSEN LEO JANSEN JOHN GALBRAITH, landscape architect. 815 E. Jackson Richardson said they overlooked providing the square footage of the public space and the extra 65 square feet can be added. Moving the driveway five more feet can probably be done as well but that will require a retaining wall. Briggs said there is a double trunked cedar tree where there is a proposed patio off Walker. Could the cedar be saved if the patio were on the level of the parking and cut a corner of the building out to accommodate the cedar? Richardson said the patio is down about six feet from grade. He .could not get an opinion from anyone on how far back the building would have to be cut to save the tree.. Briggs wondered if they could hold the building back to the dripline? Richardson said yes, but it is still no guarantee the tree will survive. Galbraith said the four inch tree will look good initially but will not grow as fast. A smaller caliper tree will grow faster. The Tree Commission agreed. He agreed to re-planting at the Walker entrance. Fields wondered if all the planters on Siskiyou are at grade. Richardson said yes, however, there will be some slope because the road slopes but they will be at grade. ASHLAND PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 13, 1998 Fields wondered what light fixtures they would use. Richardson said they would be placed out by the sidewalk. Molnar said an appropriate design will need to be discussed internally since this will establish a pattern on Siskiyou. Howe asked Richardson if he is agreeable to extending the rear permeable surface around the tree. Richardson agreed. RALPH LEPRE, 2605 Ashland St, #631, is opposed to this project. The cedar is majestic. Site review says as many healthy trees need to be saved as possible. The Planning Commission has the power to require retention of the existing trees. This is a major intersection into town. The large trees anchor the property. LePre put a sketch up on board. He does not buy the fact that there should not be a two-story building.. The original plan encompassed everything. He wants the trees saved. JOHN FREEDOM, 150 Nursery, drove by the site today and looked at the trees. It is a shame to bulldoze the trees. He gathers there is no clear policy in the City of Ashland regarding the management of old trees. It would seem if there had been discussion, the building design would have taken into consideration the trees. Before approving the plan, they ought to see what the possibilities are of maintaining the health of the trees on this site. He agreed with the comments of the previous speaker. We should avail ourselves of other opinions before deciding the fate of the trees. Staff Response Molnar met several times with the applicant and there was originally a two-story footprint proposed. Rebuttal Howe said the two-story plan addresses a lot of the problems the Commission is having with retaining the trees. What was thinking that turned you away from this plan? JANSEN said the first approach was to save the trees and try a two-story concept. They have done their homework for the last six months and the design of the single story building is being driven by prospective tenants. They found it would be more difficult to find tenants to rent a two-story design. COMMISSIONERS' DISCUSSION AND MOTION Howe moved approval of PA98-091 with the recommendations of Staff with the following modifications: That a requirement be included that the public open space for the commercial property be brought up to the 1,090 square foot level. Condition 4, the second sentence should read: Street trees along Siskiyou Boulevard shall be located behind the sidewalk and any sidewalk cuts be covered by permeable hard surfaces...(continue sentence). Condition 9 read: This modification including landscaping be reflected on the revised site plan. Chapman seconded the motion. Briggs feels the applicants have not honored and respected the magnificent trees. They did not bring any modifications except change the calipers of the trees. She referred to page 3 of the Staff Report where it refers to the trees and efforts be made to save as many healthy trees as possible. Howe said the applicants have tried to mitigate the removal of these trees by installing larger than required trees. She respects the applicants desire for market driven spaces. Chapman believes the Jansens have been such responsible caretakers of this property and to say now that there are changing market conditions and it will no longer be beautiful is something he cannot accept. ASHLAND PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 13, 1998 He trusts the applicants will continue to care take, Fields sympathizes with the applicant. It is a terribly difficult site to develop with removal of buildings and landscaping and he believes there has been a lot of thought that has gone into this project. The details of the elevations have not been worked out so it is important to have the building work but he is willing to take the reach that they will make it come together. The motion carried with Gardiner and Briggs voting "no". Amarorico abstained. TYPE III PLANNING ACTION PLANNING ACTION 98-109 LOCAL STREET STANDARDS The basis for the street design standards is traditional neighborhood design. It is a blend of land uses arranged in manner so that travel by walking, bicycling, transit or auto are all options. It is based on the design of neighborhoods before WVVll and tried to bring the best of those features and combine them with the conditions today to make livable neighborhoods. Harris gave a brief overview of the draft Street Standards. Harris reviewed the current street standards (page 19). The main changes for the arterials and collectors are the sidewalks, planting strips and bike lanes which are larger. In the neighborhood collector the curb- to-curb pavement width is a little narrower but still two travel lanes with no parking, parking on one side or parking on both sides. The old standard was 42 feet for parking on both sides. The proposal is for 32 to 3,~ feet in a residential setting. The travel which was 13 feet in the old standard has been reduced. The most changes are proposed for the neighborhood streets. It is limited primarily to single family zones. The proposal is for 18 to 20 foot wide street with no parking, five to six foot sidewalks and eight foot planting strips. There are cuing streets where there is parking one side with an 11 to 14 foot cuing, so if by chance there are two cars parked directly across from each other and two cars coming from opposite directions, one might have to pull over and let the other car come through. Harris said that the narrower streets seemed to be working well in other cities. Briggs wondered why not leave the width at 20 feet instead of 18 feet because we don't know when a neighborhood street might become a collector. Harris said typically when a street gets built the city knows what the long-term classification will be. If a street is built residential, it will be residential for the next 20 years. A national manual states that using a nine foot travel lane is workable. There are a couple of standards in town where the 18 foot standard seems to be working (Hillcrest). Briggs thinks 20 feet would be safer. McLaughlin said the 18 foot standard would be on streets with the lowest of the low volume so at the peak hour might have 100 trips per day. The conflicts would be low. ' - The Commissioners made other comments and corrections that will be incorporated in the draft. Howe mentioned the 20 foot street width in the area on Iowa between the two ball fields. Why isn't it comfortable? With the 20 foot width in a car, you are at the mercy of whatever car is coming at you. There is no way to get away from a dangerous situation. Hearn too has some level of discomfort with skinny streets and feels they can be dangerous. PUBLIC HEARING ASHLAND PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 13, 1998 ALAN DEBOER, 2260 Morada Lane, beginning with page 1 at the bottom -- referring to sidewalks on both sides -- he would like added, "or necessitate removal of parkrow". His biggest problem is with the 20 foot street widths with a two-way street with no parking. He would like to see this Commission to allow no less than a 22 foot street to be built in Ashland. This would be for the neighborhood collector residential with no parking. He would propose to make it 22 foot width with 11 foot travel lanes. DeBoer believes it is a problem pulling onto a 20 foot street, especially with a fire truck. The extra two feet makes is so much nicer. If we make a mistake with street width now, we cannot do anything about it later. KEITH WOODLEY, Fire Chief, said they have reviewed the standards presented by Harris and he is comfortable with standards presented. He does not have a great problem with most of the designs, however, there are a few that create some real concerns for access for emergency vehicles. Assistant Chief Paul will address those. DON PAUL said the Fire Department has been involved in the planning process and have been able to provide input. As streets have narrowed, it has required the Fire Department to have a different way of thinking. The Fire Department's vehicles are typical in other communities. Their vehicles measure 9' 2" and the largest is 10', 6". When a fire truck enters a street, traffic freezes because people don't know how to respond. As they approached finding an agreeable width, there was at one time an agreement that with parking on one side, 25 feet would be a little less than what they would like, but it could work. When they got to 22 feet the Fire Department got pretty concerned. It is tight. When they saw 20 feet and 18 feet proposed, it seemed time to make a statement. They have reached what they feel they can work with without encumbering the drivers. Eighteen feet would be in conflict with the present ordinance of the Urnform Fire Code (20 feet is the minimum). Twenty-two feet is probably the expectation. It is not ideal but they can work with it. Woodley said they can look at narrowing the streets and some new designs but for the Fire Department the bottom line is functionality. The physical measurements of their equipment will not change. Howe reviewed page 19 with Woodley and Paul. Under neighborhood collector residential, no parking, DeBoer suggested 22 feet and 11 feet. Would an 11 foot lane accommodate a fire truck? If you assumed that a fire truck is 11 feet with two feet of driving room on each side of it (totals 15 feet) and a parking lane is seven feet that is 22 feet for a minimum for one lane of parking. Does that seem reasonable? Woodley said that design would be zero risk. Paul said he would prefer 22 feet of width in the Neighborhood Collector and Neighborhood Street with no parking or parking on one side. McLaughlin noted the 20 foot minimum width has been the minimum standard since 1980. It was before Iowa Street was done He believes the 20 foot streets have been effective in slowing down speeds and working well in neighborhoods. You don't see cars jumping the curb daily. How often do those levels of risk occur compared to the daily livability of a neighborhood? If Iowa were 22 feet, it would be a faster street than it is now. All those in favor of a 22 foot street width on neighborhood collector residential no parking are Fields, Chapman, Hearn, Briggs, Gardiner, and Howe. Morris, Amarotico and Armitage voted for 20 feet. McLaughlin suggested using Don Paul's suggestion of 22 feet to keep it consistent. This will eliminate the no parking option. Everyone agreed. Gardiner moved and Hearn seconded the motion to recommend approval to the Council to adopt the Local Street Standards with the amendment as stated in the paragraph above and with the other minor amendments. The motion carried unanimously. ASHLAND PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 13, 1998 TYPE II PUBLIC HEARING REQUEST FOR FINAL PLAN AMENDMENT AND VARIANCE. THE FINAL PLAN AMENDMENT ADJUSTS BUILDING ENVELOPES TO FIT THE NORTH MOUNTAIN NEIGHBORHOOD SETBACK REQUIREMENTS. THE VARIANCE IS FOR LOTS 17, 18, AND 19 TO REDUCE THE GARAGE SETBACK REQUIREMENT. APPLICANT: MOUNTAIN MEADOWS LLC Site Visits and Ex Parte Contacts - Site visits were made by all. STAFF REPORT Knox explained the applicant is requesting an adjustment of the envelopes approved at Final Plan. The Variance is for Lots 17, 18, and 19 (the three bluff lots). The applicants are requesting instead of going to 15 feet setback behind the facade, they would like to stay with the traditional 20 foot setback from the front property line and have the porch sit up front to minimize the visual impacts of the garage. The Variance can be justified because the loop street acts as an alley/street because eight of the 12 lots served by the street already front out to the main streets. Staff would agree there is some uniqueness about this circumstance. In the rear of the three lots, it drops off. Staff agrees that the circumstance was not purposely self-imposed. If the applicants would have known about the setbacks, they would have provided for longer lots. The applicants also note that the North Mountain Plan does not really accommodate single level senior housing. Staff somewhat disagrees with this point as the North Mountain Plan was not intended to serve just one type of housing but an entire array of housing types and sizes to accommodate multiple income levels and multiple housing types. Overall, Staff believes this change will reduce the problem with the garages up on the street better than the original plan would have done. Staff has recommended approval of the Variance with an added Condition 3 stating: "The applicants look at some surface improvements or design elements that would help mitigate or minimize the appearance of the garages on the three noted lots to be done at the Staff level." PUBLIC HEARING LARRY MEDINGER, 115 Fork Street and MADELINE HILL, representing Mountain Meadows, 641 Nepenthe Medinger said there are some possible problems with the North Mountain Neighborhood Plan with regard to setbacks and he will address those to Staff. Fields commented that if the street is not traditional but more like a private drive, everything is very close and has different scale. With Medinger's plan, it seems like it is neither. H~11 said they are trying to provide housing for seniors. COMMISSIONERS' DISCUSSION AND MOTION Gardiner moved to approve and the motion was seconded. Briggs commented that in the future she would hope we are careful about street/alley combinations. Fields said they have no control over how the back side is dealt with and we are giving away the front ASHLAND PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 13, 1998 elevation of the building Howe noted we are at a point now where we could start doing flexible Performance Standards. For example, the average setback has to be ten feet behind the house so certain lots could be 20 feet or in the backyard with an alley access and others that are closer to the front of the house. In other words so the houses are not all the same setback. The motion carried unanimously. OTHER Volunteer Hours for the City--The Commissioners agreed they spend between eight and 14 hours per month (sometimes more, sometimes less) volunteering as Planning Commissioners. ADJOURNMENT - The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 p.m. ASHLAND PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 13, 1998