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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.apz.20120904 Special City Planning & Zoning Meeting— Minutes September 4, 2012 Comments 2 Conflicts of Interest 2 1110 Black Birch Dr— Stream Margin Review and Residential Design Standards 2 1 Special City Planning & Zoning Meeting— Minutes September 4, 2012 Stan Gibbs opened the regular meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission in Sister Cities Meeting Room at 4:40. Commissioners present were Stan Gibbs, Ryan Walterscheid, Bert Myrin, Keith Goode, Cliff Weiss, Jasmine Tygre and Stan Gibbs. Jim DeFrancia and LJ Erspamer did not attend. Staff in attendance were Debbie Quinn, Assistant City Attorney; Jennifer Phelan and Sara Nadolny, City Community Development; and Jackie Lothian, Deputy City Clerk. Comments Jasmine Tygre thanked Community Development for the incentive gift. Bert Myrin thanked Jennifer for the monthly reviews and Jessica for the West of Maroon Creek updates. Jasmine asked about conditions of approval being placed on plat maps and recorded so when the property changes hands the new owner becomes aware of those conditions. Jennifer replied that was due diligence. Debbie Quinn asked which documents. Jasmine said it always seems like a surprise to the new owners. Cliff said it was listed as an encumbrance. Debbie said it was actually an exception in the title commitment where the Resolution or Ordinance or recording numbers are listed. Jennifer stated the State Conference was going to be held in Snowmass Village on October 3rd through the 6th and so far LJ, Jim, Cliff and Bert showed an interest in attending. Jennifer noted an Aspen Valley Hospital site visit for October 30th or November 6th Declaration of Conflicts of Interest None stated. Public Hearing: 1110 Black Birch Drive - Stream Margin Review and Residential Design Standards Variances Review Stan Gibbs opened the public hearing on 1110 Black Birch Drive. Sara Nadolny introduced Kim Weil and Keith Howie from Poss & Associates and Glen Horn, planner. Sara stated the applicant plans to fully demo the existing house and rebuild 4,339 square feet of floor area for the new residence. The high water line of Castle Creek will be memorialized with the Top of Slope which delineates the Top of Bank of the River. Sara utilized power point (also page 4 of the memo) to show the Top of Slope, the High Water Line, 15 foot setback from Top of Slope and the 15 foot setback from the High Water Line. The applicant has met the review criteria. 2 Special City Planning & Zoning Meeting— Minutes September 4, 2012 Cliff asked the difference of Top of Slope and Top of Bank. Sara replied they were the same. Jennifer said the City Engineer maps the mechanism in the code with FEMA for the Top of Slope. Sara stated the applicant is requesting 2 variances from the design standards Building orientation this was a curvilinear street so the code reads that the front fagade of all structure shall be parallel to the tangent if the midpoint of the arc of the street. Black Birch Drive is a cul-de-sac style street and the proposed residential development has been designed such that the front fagade is eleven degrees from the midpoint of the arc of the street. Staff supports this request. Sara said in the Building elements the code says the door shall face the street and be back no more than 10 feet from the front most wall of the building. In the proposed design, the front most wall of the building is the mechanical unit that is attached to the garage. The entry door does face the street but is approximately 28 feet back from the front most wall of the building. Sara said that this was a completely new development and staff feels that there are opportunities to produce a design that does not require this variance. Staff does not recommend approval of this variance request. Bert asked if the request was reasonable and the difference was minor. Jennifer replied that you should look at the intent of the standard. Stan asked if this process was to get the Engineer to change the Top of Slope, is that an ad hoc or is the City going to want to look at all the properties. Jennifer replied that it would be property by property; we do have properties that we use a map because it is a reasonable Top of Slope. Jennifer said it is a redevelopment that has to happen in these areas and handle it as redevelopment occurs. Cliff asked how deep it is from Top of Slope to edge of Creek and how high does the water have to rise before it comes to the edge of this house. Jennifer said they used the FEMA flood plane which is issued by the Federal Government. Keith Howie replied that the FEMA line is the 100 year flood plane and the city has a requirement saying that the finished lower most elevation from the house has to be 1 foot above the 100 year flood plane. Cliff asked how high is the FEMA line above the edge of river. Keith Howie replied at that point the FEMA line crossed at 976.5 basically. Glen Horn said that he did the work out there with Trish (City Engineer) and in this case the FEMA line more restrictive in the Top of the Bank or Top of the Slope and the building is about 34 feet from the high water mark and the Top of the Bank is in between that. 3 Special City Planning & Zoning Meeting— Minutes September 4, 2012 Debbie Quinn said the notice for posting was appropriately provided. Glen Horn represents the owner who has put the property under contract, Aspen River Investors LLC controlled by Robert and Lexi Potankin. Glen said that Kim Weil and Keith Howie from Poss Architecture were the Architects and Chris La Croix was the attorney for Lexi and Robert; right now the property is owned by an estate and Kristen Henry is here and makes the decisions for the estate. Glen used plats from Black Birch Estates to show the 3 streets and the meadows; the area was secluded and very heavily vegetated; it is also irrigated with ditches. Glen said some of the existing conditions are the house was built in 1970 and it located on the lot and the northern part of the lot was encumbered by an irrigation ditch and it isolates the southern part of the lot from the northern. The lot is 17,000 square feet in size and it is constrained because some of the slopes on the property and the water in the irrigation ditch, the creek and the issue of the Top of Slope; when you do all of the calculations that apply under the code there is effectively only 12,000 square feet of land that can be used for calculating floor area and even less land that can be used for development when you consider the irrigation ditch; another factor that affects this site is the curvilinear nature of the street. Glen said when they did the Top of Slope grand map of the entire city this Top of the Bank maps was set by the City Engineer with little flags. Glen used a drawing showing the Top of the bank and the FEMA line and the irrigation ditch and easement were factors that Keith took into the plans for the house. Glen showed photos of the different houses and how different they were. Cliff asked what the FAR was for this lot. Glen replied 4200. Keith Howie said the only residential design standard they were going for was the setback of the front door to the garage. Keith said they have site constraints with the triangular shaped lot and the irrigation ditch. Keith utilized power point showing the garage doors and they would mix those doors into the fenestration of the house. The garage doors are side loaded and they feel that the variance for the doors are justified and improving the safety of the street. Cliff asked if it was the actual front door or are the garage doors setback. Sara replied that there was a porch element to the garage doors. Bert asked about Section A of the adjacent structures. Kim Weil showed the adjacent structures. 4 Special City Planning & Zoning Meeting— Minutes September 4, 2012 Jasmine said the front door is recessed to avoid running over people as you back out of the garage. Keith replied yes. Debbie said the guidelines indicate that they were passed by Ordinance 52, 2003 and one in 2005 and 2010. Jennifer said it was in place by 2003 for sure. Bert said when the code says to look at the context of the neighborhood and the context of the neighborhood has different standards and how the standards apply. Sara said the houses are different all through the neighborhood. Jennifer said it was up to each commissioner to make that determination of the neighborhood being mixed enough for this design to fit into it. Cliff asked the distance of the patio portico to the edge of the curb. Kim replied that was about 10 feet to the curved setback lines. Cliff asked the distance from the door to the curb. Keith said it was a 25 foot setback. Kim said there was no curb it was to the pavement. Stan Gibbs opened the public comment portion of the hearing. Public Comments: 1. Darryl Morrow stated that he lived next door to the proposed project; he looked at the plans and they seemed good to him. Darryl asked that the garage doors remain the way they are shown in the drawing would be acceptable to him and more important to the neighbor across the street. Stan closed the public comment portion of the meeting. Bert said on page 14 of the staff memo has an "a" and "b"; in "b" he can find the site unusual but agrees with staff and will have to look to "a" to make this work. Cliff wanted to have a conversation with his fellow commissioners; he only had one hang up that is that we are consistent in how we deal with the code. Cliff said he was looking for a solution. Ryan said this site was extremely constrained with the river and setback; the previous applicant that came before us to change what had already been approved and the lot was much deeper in that application. Ryan said in this development the applicant has hidden the garage door which is the intent and the design standards that are more for the West End. Ryan said the intent is met here. 5 Special City Planning & Zoning Meeting— Minutes September 4, 2012 Stan agreed with Ryan because the site was constrained and the curvilinear lot the door is about where it should be and meets that standard. Bert found the intent of the design standards on page 6 and to create an element of uniformity with the rest of the neighborhood. Stan said the standard was not applicable to the door which can't be moved forward because of the setback on a constrained site. Jasmine said that Ryan's and Stan's comments were taken very well and the garage doors are now being perpendicular to the street and you are not staring at garage doors. Jasmine said there were constraints on the site and it is acceptable to both "a" and "b". Discussion prior to the vote: Bert said he could support this by "a". Cliff said he will also support this under "b"; the site is constrained. MOTION.- Bert Myrin moved to recommend approval of the request for 1110 Black Birch Drive for the Design Standards in Resolution 15; seconded by Keith Goode. Roll call vote: Ryan Walterscheid, yes; Cliff Weiss, yes; Jasmine Tygre, yes; Keith Goode, yes; Bert Myrin, yes; Stan Gibbs, yes. APPROVED 6-0. Adjourned at 6:05 pm. a Deputy City Clerk 6