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Missoula Consolidated Planning Board December 15, 2009 Page 3 of 41 Mary McCrea: I believe that would come up in the title on the Conditions of Approval for the subdivision, the restrictions on those lots. Tim Ibey: Thank you. Don MacArthur: Thanks, Mary. VI. PUBLIC HEARINGS A. Rezoning Request – 1311 E. Broadway (former Missoula Athletic Club site) A request from Rick Wishcamper and Mike Bouchee of Rocky Mountain Development Group, Inc. to rezone property located at 1311 E. Broadway from OP-3 (Public Lands and Institutional) to C1-3 (Neighborhood Commercial, Intensity Designator = legally described as Lot 2B of Gateway Gardens No. 1 Lots 1B and 2B Subdivision, located in Sec. 23, T13N, R19W. Don MacArthur: Tonight we have one public hearing and two special presentations. The public hearing is a rezoning request 1311 E. Broadway, former Missoula Athletic Club site. Could we have a staff report, please. John Newman: Good evening, Planning Board members, John Newman with the Office of Planning and Grants and tonight for consideration a rezoning of property at 1311 E. Broadway; again, the former site of the Missoula Athletic Club. The proposal here is for rezoning from OP-3, which is Public Lands and Institutional to C1-3, which is Neighborhood Commercial and Intensity Designator of 3 and we’ll get to what exactly that means shortly. This is kind of a coarser-scale aerial, here, you can see the property outlined in black and in red there. The property sits on the north side of the Clark Fork River in Hellgate Canyon south of the Interstate. The property itself measures 3.38 acres in size and it’s about ½ mile east of the Eastgate Shopping Center, which we can see right here and the University campus, a number of other uses along Highway 200, there, East Broadway, and Mount Jumbo on the north, Sentinel on the south. A finer scale aerial, getting closer to what the site itself looks like. That white bubble was the tennis bubble, basically, for the Missoula Athletic Club. The bubble itself is gone, the courts are still there and the two buildings stand right now, but those are proposed to be removed. The property itself is within the Missoula Urban Transportation District, it’s served by Bus Route No. 4. It’s inside the Urban Growth area, wastewater facilities service area. It’s served by City Sewer and Mountain Water. The property was annexed into the City of Missoula in September of 1971 per Resolution 3063. Just a short while after that, per Ordinance 1417 the property was zoned C1 Commercial. In 1973, the property was zoned RH high-rise, multiple dwelling residential; so, a portion of the subject property, or the subject property and the adjacent property were both zoned RH high-rise multi-dwelling. That was per Ordinance 1588. The property itself was created with this plat that you see here, which is Gateway Gardens No. 1 and that plat was approved a little bit later in ’73 in October—October 23rd of 1973. The property was rezoned from RH high-rise multi-dwelling to P2, Public Lands and Institutions by Council in 1977 per Ordinance 1847. That rezoning was requested specifically to install the Missoula Athletic Club and at the time it was really the only zoning district, the P2 Zoning District, that explicitly permitted Country Clubs including, but not limited to, tennis, racquet ball, handball, running track, sauna and hot bath. So the reason for going with that P2 designation, despite the fact that this was proposed to be a private club it’s just that the use itself was explicitly mentioned in the P2 zoning district. ---PAGE BREAK--- Missoula Consolidated Planning Board December 15, 2009 Page 4 of 41 In August of 1983, an amended subdivision plat that relocated the boundary lines between lots 1 and 2 of that Gateway Gardens No. 1 plat was submitted. And that boundary line survey created Lots 1A and 2A, 2A there in red, so a jog in the property boundary and the property itself widened And then in 1986, a second boundary line relocation survey creating the property as it exists today as Lot 2B of Gateway Gardens No. 1. And then on November 4th of this year, Title 20 went into effect and the zoning designation itself transferred—or transitioned, I should say, from P2, Public Lands and Institutions to OP3, Public Lands and Institutional. So that’s how we arrive at what we’re zoned to this date. The applicable land use plan, or amendment of the 2005 Missoula County Growth Policy, is 1998 Missoula Urban Comp Plan for this property. The plan itself provides a sort of split designation for the property. In pink there is Community Commercial over about 7/8ths of the property and then the southern 1/8 there, in green, is Parks and Open Space. A Parks and Open Space designation is applied to steep slopes, floodplain, that sort of landscape, that type of land, and in this case, was applied to account for the floodplain and riparian area and steep bank of the river. The Community Commercial designation generally seeks to provide a mixed-use environment: residential and commercial. The plan itself, the 1998 Plan, talks a lot about minimizing the presence of strip commercial and breaking that up with residential uses. So, I think at this point along Broadway, along 200 there, you see that commercial, that stretch of commercial in pink on that aerial stretches further to the east…or, excuse me, further to the west, and you see that mixed-use in there. And right now, you know, moving this towards commercial, moving to the C1- 3 zoning designation would really further that goal of the Comp Plan. And it’s likely that…you know, the fact that this was zoned P2 in 1977, yet the 1998 plan designated it Community Commercial, it’s likely that that was done just to kind of move back to perhaps the original intent for the property, which was that zoning back in ’71, the C1, and it was sort of in a residential and commercial zoning district for most of its life and moving back to that seems to be the intent of the ’98 Plan. This is a zoning exhibit for the property there, seen in green. The property is surrounded by RM0.5, C1-4, some unzoned land to the south, and unzoned land to the north as well, which corresponds to the…actually, I shouldn’t say that, the land to the north is, I believe, CA-1, it’s a County Zoning Designation and that’s a Railroad and Highway right-of-way. The RM0.5 was the former RH C1-4, so Neighborhood Commercial with the intensity designator of 4 found to the west and two properties over to the east is basically corresponds to that C1 from the past. And as far as the intensity designators go, really, for Commercial Districts, the Neighborhood Commercial to C1 district, the intensity designator speaks more to building height than it does anything else. So for community…or, excuse me, neighborhood commercial districts, the minimum parcel area for commercial uses or vertical mixed uses…or there is not minimum parcel area, excuse me…the minimum parcel area for residential uses is 3,000 square feet with 1,000 square feet required per unit in single-purpose residential buildings. There’s a front yard setback that basically corresponds to the residential district or the district abutting it, if it is a residential district. And the requirements themselves are the same for all C1 districts—if you have a C1-1, a C1-2, C1-3 or C1-4, the parcel standards are the same, the only thing that changes with those intensity designators is the building height. So, in this case, going from OP3 to C1-3, we’re talking about going to a neighborhood commercial district that has a maximum height of 65 feet. Now, the C1-4 to the east and west permits a building up to 125, but if you’ve been out that way on East Broadway, there’s nothing existing right now that gets that high. So, the idea was to go with the C1-3 to match more closely with what exists in that area right now. ---PAGE BREAK--- Missoula Consolidated Planning Board December 15, 2009 Page 5 of 41 Let’s see…and as far as…there was a question as to Comp Plan compliance here with that southern eighth of the property in Parks and Open Space. It was discussed briefly, a split zoning designation and, really, the new Title 20 takes care of that Comp Plan designation because of the riparian requirements. So the Riparian Chapter in Title 20 requires any piece of property that has riparian vegetation to submit a plan, a riparian management plan at building permit and to include in that plan a buffer area, steps for keeping it, you know, pristine or in good shape and just a general management plan for it. So, the buffer that would be required per that section of Title 20 will take care of the southern eighth of the property as far as keeping it in sort of Parks and Open Space. We’re keeping to the Comp Plan compliance through that section of the riparian or of the Title 20 regulations. Some adjacent uses here, just some specifics. We have, again, Eastgate Center right here. We have the Montech Center right here, the Holiday Inn Express, I believe, is right in this area. This is actually built out as a park and ride for the University, this is University property. This is Riverside Health Clinic or Health Care Facility. We have some Missoula Housing Authority property to the east, a multi-family development there, and then this is the Creekside Apartment Complex here. And the south side of Creekside is a City of Missoula pedestrian easement, basically, I believe the property itself is in the hands of the City. And there’s a, through a COS, I believe it’s COS 136 there’s a dedicated 20-foot pedestrian easement that in some ways corresponds to a 20-foot utility easement. So, essentially, there’s existing easement on the south side of the subject property that would permit the extension of the pathway that goes south of the Creekside Apartments if that was, in fact, something that the City was interested in. And speaking to Jackie Corday at Parks, that was something that seemed interested in. So, I believe that will pursued with the applicants. Just a few photos now, here, before I finish up. This is looking west on Broadway from…the site itself has two entrances right now, so this is the eastern approach off of Broadway looking towards the west. Here we’re looking east on Broadway into the canyon. This is looking south towards what was the climbing gym building and you can see the, you know, the slope there, adjacent to Kim Williams, the parking lot, and the pool building, the larger building, there, that will come down. This is the existing path right now that sits in the floodplain. You can see the climbing gym building there to the right in this photo and that’s sort of up on a bench and it drops down to this terrace where you can see the riparian veg, there, some willows and that sort of thing. And this path connects up to that Creekside path, or the path south of the Creekside Apartments and continues on to the west as well. That’s another look looking east towards Creekside. And this is from that bench looking down towards the path. So it’s pretty well worn. Upon a site visit, there were a few folks out there, so it’s definitely used and you can see the frost on the vegetation—this was 3 o’clock in the afternoon—so it gets pretty chilly in there and to see people out there at that point, I mean, I think it was a good indicator that it gets a good amount of use. This is another view looking to the west from out top of that bench sort of even with the climbing gym building and some of that legacy foundation that’s there. And the Staff Recommended motion that the request to rezone be approved. So that concludes my presentation. Thanks. Don MacArthur: Thanks, John. So, we’ll next move to developer’s representative. Anybody who’d like to speak in favor of this. While they’re getting up to the mic, I will also indicate that as we’re…my architecture firm is being considered for some preliminary design work for this proposal, I won’t be voting on the action item here. Mike Bouchee: [inaudible, off microphone] Don MacArthur: You can lift that mic up a little bit, it will make it easier to hear you. Thanks. Mike Bouchee: Is that better? ---PAGE BREAK--- Missoula Consolidated Planning Board December 15, 2009 Page 6 of 41 Don MacArthur: Yep. Mike Bouchee: My name is Mike Bouchee with Rocky Mountain Development Group, and I want to thank you all for having us here tonight and giving us an opportunity to speak on behalf of the project. We’re an affordable housing development company and awfully excited about this project, which we’re calling the Silvertip Apartments which will be 115 unit affordable housing development on the subject property. And, of course, in order to make that project a reality, we’ve got to proceed with the zoning change application that is currently before you. We’ve been working with local representatives on this application and feel that there’s sufficient need, certainly in the Missoula community for the housing that we’re proposing to develop on this site. We feel that the use that we’re proposing of affordable housing certainly fits with the rest of the neighborhood and the comprehensive plan and just want to highly encourage you to take a close look at the application and support it. And be happy to answer any questions you might have. Don MacArthur: Okay. Thanks, Mr. Bouchee. Mike Bouchee: Thank you. Don MacArthur: We’ll hear from all the proponents of the application first and then if there’s any opponents and then do rebuttal and surrebuttal, if any. Anyone else who’d like to speak in favor? Lori Davidson: Hi, I’m Lori Davidson, the Executive Director of the Missoula Housing Authority. We’re a property owner next door to this property, we have 41 units of public housing that are situated right on the river. I want to speak in favor of the rezoning. We all know that affordable housing is a critical need in our community. This project, actually, has the benefit of having affordable rents that will house people up to 80 percent of median income and that is a segment of the community that it’s difficult to serve, between 50 and 80 percent. So, I think that this is a very project and as an adjacent property owner we’re in support of it and I urge you to give it your best consideration and approve the rezoning. Don MacArthur: Thanks, Ms. Davidson. Anyone else who’d like to speak in favor? Okay, seeing none, anyone who’d like to speak against? Any opponents? Okay, I’ll close the public hearing portion, move to Board questions and discussion. Or motions. Tim. Tim Ibey: Well, I happen to think it’s a great use for the property and I’d like to just start with a motion. Don MacArthur: Okay. Anyone have questions before then. Tim—other Tim. Tim Skufca: Nothing to do with rezoning, but I’m just curious, just for the project-wise, why are the…why are the one set of buildings being removed? Can they not be integrated into the project or…? Don MacArthur: I think Mr. Bouchee, maybe, or staff, I’m not sure who. Mike Bouchee: That’s a very good question and [inaudible, mic not on]. Don MacArthur: I think your mic might not be on. Yep, thanks. Mike Bouchee: Thank you. That’s a very good question and something that we looked at closely with both of these buildings, whether there was an opportunity to preserve and reposition these buildings and incorporate them into the project and unfortunately, given the site design as well as ---PAGE BREAK--- Missoula Consolidated Planning Board December 15, 2009 Page 7 of 41 the layout of those buildings, neither one of them would be practical for housing purposes and so we’ll be working with Home Resource to have them deconstructed and recycled as much as possible. Tim Skufca: So the whole…everything’s going to be demo’d? Mike Bouchee: Yes, both the climbing gym and the Missoula Athletic Club building. Don MacArthur: Okay, anyone else. Jerry, you had a question? Jerry Petasek: Just real quick…do we…so, Jackie Corday suggests that…she believes that it’s appropriate to make sure that an easement for the walk trail along the river be included as a Condition of Approval of the rezone. Is that something that we don’t typically do with rezoning, it’s not included. John Newman: We, unfortunately…well, I shouldn’t say unfortunately, we’re just unable to condition this type of rezoning, we could condition an overlay, so it’s just nothing that can be done in this instance, but… Jerry Petasek: Okay. Don MacArthur: So, that would be something that was raised at time of building permit or is that…? John Newman: Essentially, yeah. I think as the designs come in and prior to building permit, if that’s something that…but, really, I mean, there is no mechanism for requiring it. Don MacArthur: Right, just a negotiation with the developer? John Newman: Right. And considering the public benefit, I mean I would think it would be, you know, an interest. Don MacArthur: Is that it for you, Jerry? John, did you have something? John DiBari: I just wanted to make sure that…that easement persists because it’s on the plat, so it’s really a question…it’s not a question of there not being an easement, just whether it gets developed at the time of the project. John Newman: Right. The easement exists and whether or not…I don’t know if the easement was granted to the City or whether or not it was just a part of the Gateway Gardens plat, I’d have to research that a bit further on who actually owns the piece that goes through this property. As I said, the piece that goes south of Creekside is in the City of Missoula’s hands, but, yeah, the easement is there already. John DiBari: Would you like to speak to what your intent might be for that easement? Have you given it any consideration whether as a part of this development you’d want to improve that so that it would be useable by the people that are using it now, but in a more improved fashion. Mike Bouchee: Yeah. And we’ve had very preliminary discussions certainly within our company that that easement and the public right-of-way is important to us. It’s obviously an important community asset and something that we want to preserve and we feel that it will be a great asset for this development and our tenants as well to be able to access the river and that river trail. We’ve started to have some preliminary discussions with Jackie Corday at Parks and Rec about the best way to preserve that and what the development of that area’s going to look like, whether it ---PAGE BREAK--- Missoula Consolidated Planning Board December 15, 2009 Page 8 of 41 will be preserved in its natural state or whether there would be improvements made and by who those will be made. But at this point it’s very preliminary. Don MacArthur: Okay, anyone else before I let Tim make a motion? Okay, Tim, you’re on. Tim Ibey: I move that the request to rezone property legally described as Lot 2B of Gateway Gardens No. 1 Lots 1B and 2B Subdivision in Section 23 of Township 13 North Range 19 West P.M.M. from OP-3 (Public Lands and Institutional) to C1-3 (Neighborhood Commercial – Intensity Designator = 3) be approved based on the findings of fact in the staff report. John DiBari: Second Don MacArthur: Seconded by John, first. Any discussion on the motion? Jerry. Jerry Petasek: I just wanted to quickly say that I think it’s great the State of Montana was awarded 19.6 billion dollars to…of Neighborhood Stabilization funds to help ease the burden of foreclosures all around the state and it’s great that all the folks involved at the City and in the private development group got together and managed to get 5 million dollars of this for…for Missoula. So I really appreciate that. And also this money, like Lori said, is going to go to…it’s going to encapture a market that a lot of the nonprofit affordable housing developers have been unable to meet. So it’s really, it’s pretty darned exciting and I wish you the best of luck in your development. Don MacArthur: Okay, anyone else. Let’s have a voice vote. All in favor, say “aye.” [Board members say “aye.”] Any opposed? [Board members were silent]. Hearing none, the motion carries. You guys are…let’s see, is there a time for the Council Hearing? John Newman: The Council Hearing is January 11th…PAZ on the… Don MacArthur: January 11, 2010, great. John Newman: Thank you very much. Don MacArthur: Thank you very much. V. COMMUNICATIONS AND SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS A. Target Range Neighborhood Plan Special Presentation Don MacArthur: Okay, we have two communications and special presentations tonight, the first of those is the Target Range Neighborhood Plan Special Presentation. Why don’t we take a…do we need a couple minutes to get set up, or are we ready to go? The two…we’ll take a couple minutes, two minutes and then we’ll come back at 7:35. [7:33 pm BREAK] [Meeting reconvened at 7:39 pm] Don MacArthur: I’ll call the meeting back to order. So our first Special Presentation is the Target Range Neighborhood Plan Special Presentation. Do we have a staff report? Lewis Yellow Robe: I’m Lewis YellowRobe, Planner with the Office of Planning and Grants. I do not have a staff report for you this evening, but what I do have is a presentation, it’s a joint