Session 04-23, a Special Meeting of the Homer Advisory Planning Commission was called to order at on October 27, 2004 at 6:30 p.m. by Chair Chesley at the Homer City Hall Conference Room located at 491 E. Pioneer Avenue, Homer, Alaska.
PRESENT: COMMISSIONERS CONNOR, BARTLETT, FOSTER, PFEIL, CHESLEY, LEHNER, HESS, BARTLETT
ABSENT: COMMISSIONER PFEIL (excused)
STAFF: CITY PLANNER MCKIBBEN
DEPUTY CITY CLERK JACOBSEN
Chair Chesley said he would like to switch items B & C.
The agenda was approved as amended.
PUBLIC COMMENT, PRESENTATIONS
The public may speak to the Planning Commission
regarding matters not on the agenda.
The Chair may prescribe time limits.
Public comment on agenda items will be heard at the time the item is considered
by the Commission. Presentations
approved by the Planning Director, the Chair, or the Planning Commission. A Public Works representative may address
the Planning Commission.
There were no Public Comments
PUBLIC HEARINGS
The
Commission conducts Public Hearings by hearing a staff report, hearing public
testimony and then acting on the Public Hearing items. The Chair may prescribe time limits. The Commission may question the public.
There were no Public Hearings scheduled.
COMMISSION BUSINESS
The Commission hears a report from staff, testimony
from applicants and the public.
Commission business includes resolutions, ordinances, zoning issues,
requests for reconsideration and other issues as needed. The Commission may ask questions of staff,
applicants, and the public.
A. Staff
Report PL 04-84 Re: Proposed Ordinance of the City
Council of the City of Homer Amending HCC Chapter 21, HCC 21.48.060(h) Central
Business District, Landscaping Requirements, HCC 21.61.105(l)(7) Conditional
Use Permit, Landscaping, proposed Code changes address landscaping requirements
in the Central Business District and for Large Retail and Wholesale Development
– Continuing.
Commissioner Foster raised a point of order. The agenda said that the meeting was being held in the Council
Chamber and wondered if there may be public in the Council Chamber for the
Planning Commission meeting. Deputy
City Clerk Jacobsen said that Deputy City Clerk Johnson was downstairs at the Port
and Harbor Commission meeting and would direct anyone who may be there for the
Planning Meeting to the Conference Room.
City Planner McKibben passed out her proposed changes for the Commission
to review and there was discussion about punctuation and appropriate wording
for HCC 21.48.060.h. and HCC 21.61.105.l.7.
Commissioner Lehner suggested “10 feet minimum width adjacent to road
rights-of-way and in parking lots with 12 spaces or more”. Commissioner Hess said HCC 21.48.060.h. says
12 spaces and HCC 21.61.105.l.7. says 30 spaces and recommended that the two be
changed to make it consistent. City
Planner McKibben said that if changes are made to the parking requirement that
are too restrictive, it will be difficult for property owners to meet the requirements
without coming to the Planning Commission to request a variance. Commissioner Hess said he feels the
landscaping requirement is one of the best ways to improve the visual aspects
of the community and the 10-foot minimum was a mechanism to mitigate parking
areas negative visual impact. If 12
spaces is considered a small parking area then maybe the 10-foot buffer is too
large of a requirement for 12 spaces.
The Commission agreed that 24 parking spaces would be an acceptable
number to stay consistent between these two chapters of the Code. City Planner McKibben asked if it would be
appropriate to make the language consistent in the other commercial districts,
GC1 GC2, Marine Industrial and Marine Commercial. Chair Chesley said that what ever changes are made, it won’t be
bullet proof, City Planner McKibben and Planning Technician Eggertsen-Goff will
have to work with property owners and their zoning permits when this won’t be
appropriate and the owners will have to come before the Commission to request a
variance.
Chair Chesley asked the Commission what they thought about the sentence
at the bottom of City Planner McKibben’s handout with her proposed wording and
adopting it as HCC 21.48.060.h.1.b.i.
The Commission agreed to the change as well as the change on
HCC21.61.105.7.1.ii. from Dividers and Islands to Parking Lots. The Commission discussed City Planner
McKibben’s change on HCC21.61.105.7.1.ii.2. and agreed to change it to read
with 15-foot minimum landscaped buffers in this section and throughout
the Code where this applies. Chair
Chesley asked City Planner McKibben to schedule a public hearing for the
changes.
B. Staff Report PL
04-72 Re: Commission Work List – Continuing.
The Commission discussed the Bridge Creek Watershed Protection District
driveway mitigation and moving it to number two on the work list. City Planner McKibben said she is planning
to work with an intern at the Cook Inlet Keeper to put the Mitigation Handbook
together and bring it to the Commission to review, but it will stay on the work
list as a separate item. Commissioner
Hess said he would like to move grading drainage and fill ordinance onto the
list. City Planner McKibben said she
feels that does not belong in Title 21 and she does not want it, but will see
where it belongs. They agreed to try
for January to further discuss the grading permit. Commissioner Hess also suggested changing the steep slope
ordinance to develop a sensitive area ordinance to include watershed from the
hillside to the beaches. Commissioner
Foster reported that a person at the City Council meeting had said that with
water and sewer coming in the lot size would change and their lot won’t meet
the definition of Rural Residential. He
said he wanted to make sure that it will get discussed soon. City Planner McKibben said that the Planning
Department has had discussion about LID’s extending into Rural Residential
areas, which could allow a lot to be subdivided into smaller sizes. She said at some point there will need to be
discussion whether Rural Residential should remain larger lots or if the City
should not extend water and sewer to Rural Residential. Commissioner Foster said he would like to
consider reviewing and amending the trailer/mobile home regulations in Central
Business District. City Planner
McKibben said they should move non-conforming uses to the top of the list and
do a work session with City Attorney Tans.
Commission Bartlett said he sees the need to talk about park areas and
open areas since the zoning the annexed areas and would like to see a clear plan
for Homer to designate an amount of land for parks and recreation. Chair Chesley asked if the Parks and
Recreation Commission has a park plan.
City Planner said that Planning Technician Engebretsen has recently
become the staff person attending their meetings and sometime soon they could
have a joint meeting with the Parks and Recreation Commission to discuss
this. Commissioner Bartlett also said
that they should also look at beach and coastal properties, doing something
different like an over lay district or a sensitive area. Chair Chesley said he was considering
proposing to the Commission that they propose a moratorium on construction of
revetments in coastal zones until they can get some standards in place. Commission Foster mentioned the lighting
going in along East End road going against what the Commission had discussed
for lighting in the Rural Residential districts.
C. Staff Report PL 04-56 Re:
Review Of HCC 21.42 Zoning –Continuing
City Planner McKibben said she had a hand out for the Commission that
better defined what the new language is.
Chair Chesley asked her to hold off on passing her information out. He said that the zoning permit has caused
trouble for the Commission in the past and he thinks that City Attorney Tans
should review what City Planner McKibben prepares before it is brought to the
Commission to help ensure that it meets all the criteria Mr. Tans and the staff
wants it to meet. Commissioner Lehner
and Commissioner Hess said they wanted to discuss the topic and see what City
Planner McKibben had prepared. Chair
Chesley said if they wanted to talk about intent and the overriding goals and
principles that would be fine but he doesn’t want to get into specific proposed
wording until City Attorney Tans goes over it.
He said this is a very important part of the Code and a lot hangs on
it. There has already been a big
division on the interpretation of this, he wants the City Attorney to review
it, and then the Commission can get into more specifics. City Planner McKibben said something that
has been discussed administratively is that a number of their ordinances have
been going straight from the Planning Commission to the City Council and
haven’t been getting the necessary review.
She said that if the Commission finishes acting on something on
Wednesday night, it isn’t going to the Council the next Monday, it will go the
Monday after so that City Clerk Calhoun, City Manager Wrede and City Attorney
Tans will have an opportunity to review them.
Chair Chesley reiterated that he would like the City Attorney to look at
what City Planner McKibben has prepared before it is given to the
Commission. Commissioner Hess said he
disagreed with the Chair and said he thought the Commission should get the
basic concept down to what they expect City Planner McKibben to present. He said he felt what they have now isn’t
what they want to consider as a basic concept.
Commissioner Lehner said she is curious to hear what Mr. Hess has to
say. Commissioner Foster said he wanted
to discuss what the others had to say.
Commissioner Connor said they might as well discuss it since they are
all there. Commissioner Bartlett said
he agrees with Chair Chesley that the City Attorney should review it first and
if the Commission tears it all apart, it goes back to the Attorney again. He said it has to start somewhere and if
they know that is what the rules are when they start to dive in, they know that
some of the specific wording that is in place has been blessed. Chair Chesley challenged Commissioner Hess
and said the part of the Code they are dealing with is what the Commission has
made a determination that this section of the Code is clear, Staff and Public
Works has contended that it is not clear and that is what created the problem. Chair Chesley asked Commissioner Hess what
he could add that would clarify the issue.
Commissioner Hess said he did have something to add and asked if it
would be acceptable to have City Planner McKibben’s handout. City Planner McKibben said her handout is
essentially the same as what the Commissioners have only it is clearer because
it has the right underlining and bold and it would be more helpful when
reviewing it. Commissioner Hess said
that he does not have a problem working with Staff on his suggestions, but thought
the Commission would like to hear some of the basic concepts. Chair Chesley said that City Planner
McKibben is the professional staff person to write Code for them and they need
to resist the temptation to weigh in.
Commissioner Hess said he agrees but thinks some basic concepts are in
order. City Planner McKibben handed out
her page of revisions. Commissioner
Hess said that permits should not be required in anything that is not regulated
in the zoning code. He said there
should be a blanket statement that would cover all of the other development
activities of a parcel that are regulated by this title that require a
permit. So if a permit is required for
anything that is regulated in title 21, then the blanket statement covers it
and it will cover anything that they add to the Code as they go on. Commissioner Hess said he would get his
proposed wording to City Planner McKibben.
Commissioner Foster suggested discussing with City Attorney Tans a
definition of the thinning of trees.
There was also discussion about change of use permits and its
requirements. There was also discussion
on the $5000 level of cost and whether the cost was defined and the City
Attorney should clarify it when reviewing the changes. City Planner McKibben said she wasn’t sure
about the turn around time with City Attorney and it would be better to
schedule this for December 1st meeting.
PLANNING DIRECTOR’S REPORT
City Planner McKibben reported that the appeal that was scheduled for November 9, has to be rescheduled because the appellee is going to be out of town. The hearing was rescheduled to December 8, 2004.
INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS
Items listed under this agenda item can be HCC meeting minutes, copies of zoning violation letters, reports and information from other government units.
There were no informational items
to discuss.
COMMENTS OF THE AUDIENCE
Members of the audience may address the Commission
on any subject. The Chair may prescribe
time limits.
COMMENTS OF THE COMMISSION
Commissioners may comment on any subject, including
requests to staff and requests for excused absence.
Commissioner Foster said he had worked with Kenai Peninsula Borough Assemblyperson Millie Martin at the Borough Comprehensive Plan Meeting and his comments about coastal bluffs and the Northern part of Kachemak Bay were added under the flooding section. He said they added three types of research that is needed and Assemblyperson Martin added one about research and assessment of the stability of the Homer bench and said he was pleased that the Borough was interested in the information.
Commissioner Connor said she sees a lack of connection between the Commissions and thinks it would be a good idea if every 3 months or so they have a meeting with someone from each Commission to discuss what is going on to weave a better net of information. She also said that she is interested in getting together with Roger Imhoff to help her get a better understanding of plat maps and wondered if anyone else is interested in something like that. Chair Chesley said he would go over plat maps with her sometime before a meeting and said she could also contact staff with questions. City Planner McKibben said the surveyors had done training in the past and she would check to see if they were interested in doing another one. Commissioner Foster brought up that the Borough has a Plat Committee that deals specifically with plat approval and then reports back to the Borough Planning Commission. If the person requesting plat approval doesn’t agree with the Committee’s decision they can appeal to the Planning Commission. Chair Chesley asked City Planner McKibben to check with City Attorney Tans to see if a body could be authorized for this Commission.
Commissioner Bartlett told the Commission that he has to give up his position on the Commission because he is going to have to go help his family for an undetermined about of time. He said he wanted to give them as much notice as possible so they could start thinking of a replacement. He said he has really enjoyed being on the Commission would like to come back to it when he returns when there is a position available.
Commissioner Hess said he bummed about Commissioner Bartlett leaving.
Commissioner Lehner shared a booklet that the Soil and Water Conservation District has been working on. The booklet is designed to give background on issues when a person is faced with when trying to decide what to do and where to do it on their property. She said they had received funding from an EPA grant and are looking for funding for the review process and trying to get something final. She said she thought it might be appropriate to have something like this for people in City limits to find information that is relevant for them. She copied some of the contents so the Commission could see what is being covered and discussed that there are Best Management Practices (BMP’s) for different circumstances and what the property owner is trying to accomplish. She said they are still trying to get the current information for soils, wetlands and other areas before they can finalize it. City Planner McKibben suggest Ms. Lehner look at a copy of “Living in the Mat-Su”. She said it is a homeowner’s handbook and is similar to what Ms. Lehner has presented.
Chair Chesley said he would reserve his comments until after they adjourn and can talk as a Commission.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the Commission the meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m. The next regular meeting is scheduled for November 3, 2004 at 7:00 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers, with a Worksession to commence at 6:00 p.m.
MELISSA JACOBSEN, DEPUTY CITY CLERK
Approved: