Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.apz.20130115 Special City Planning & Zoning Meeting— Minutes January 15, 2013 Comments 2 Conflicts of Interest 2 610 West End (The Gant) — PUD Amendment 2 1 Special City Planning & Zoning Meeting—Minutes January 15, 2013 LJ Erspamer opened the regular meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission for January 15, 2013 in Sister Cities Meeting Room at 4:30. Commissioners present were Stan Gibbs, Jasmine Tygre, Cliff Weiss, Bert Myrin, Cliff Weiss, Ryan Walterscheid, LJ Erspamer and Keith Goode. Jim DeFrancia was not in attendance. Staff present were Debbie Quinn, Assistant City Attorney; Jennifer Phelan, Deputy City Community Development Director, Jessica Garrow, Community Development; Jackie Lothian, Deputy City Clerk. Comments Bert Myrin asked about the update to Council and how that was coming. LJ asked if anyone would like a copy of that list. Bert said the future agendas seem fairly light. Jennifer said there were some additions. Jessica said there was a work session scheduled on February 4th with Council starting at 5 pm; Council will go over their priorities as it relates to the Community Department work program. Jessica said they would attach P&Z original memo as part of that packet and the update of things that Community Development is already working on. Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest Cliff stated that his best friend worked at the Gant but didn't feel that had any influence on him. Public Hearing: 610 West End Street— The Gant— PUD Amendment LJ Erspamer opened the public hearing for The Gant. Jessica Garrow presented the notices to Debbie Quinn. Debbie said that she has reviewed the notice and the posting did have the correct year. Jessica said this is a public hearing for the Gant at 610 West End Street with Donnie Lee representing them and Alan Richman and Sarah Broughton. Jessica said this was a remodel and to expand the conference facilities. Jessica used power point to show the area where the Gant was located and meeting spaces. Jessica said right now the conference facility has 2 kitchens, an exercise area, meeting room space and office, bar general purpose area, restrooms and a large interior deck between the site and the conference area. They were also consolidating the 2 kitchens into one more efficient one, changing the location of the office, updating/remodeling the restrooms, adding new storage under the parking area, reconfiguring the conference space and the general purpose area into a cafe space. The major addition and change is that they are uncovering the 2 Special City Planning & Zoning Meeting— Minutes January 15, 2013 deck/patio area that is internal to the site and adding a rooftop bar area and deck. Jessica stated in terms of size it is going from approximately 4500 square feet of floor area to about 6400 square feet of floor area; in terms of height it is now at 22 feet 11 inches and will go to 25 feet in height. This is in the R-15 zone district with a lodge and a PUD overlay. This is a non-confirming use and that is why they have the lodge overlay to allow the short term rental use. Jessica said that there was a detached trash enclosure that is proposed to become attached and consolidated into the building. Jessica said the street presence isn't very good so they talked about adding in some windows, better entry features, better landscaping and benches. The structure is setback 50 feet from Ute Avenue for the roof top bar area. Cliff said that you are looking for additional fenestration on Ute Avenue and he doesn't see much. Jessica showed the new window element and the entry was more prominent and landscaping with a bench and an added sidewalk. Stan asked if this was a renovation of the building or was it going to raze the building and start over. Jessica replied it was renovation and expansion so the bones of the building are staying and there is a storage area under the parking lot and the roof element is an addition. Bert said the code lets P&Z decide things that aren't decided by the Community Development Director so what was in the list of things the Community Development Director couldn't decide so he passed it onto P&Z. Jessica replied that staff felt that it was a significant change that P&Z should weigh in on. Alan said the dimensional standard gets varied. Bert said they we going from 4500 square feet to 6400 square feet, roughly 2000 square feet more so in that change is there any mitigation required. Jessica replied this is one where it doesn't trigger a growth management review; this is under the Growth Management Section of the code that is considered non-unit space. Jessica said that the only things that would go through are lodge pillows, lodge units, residential units and commercial space and it doesn't fall into those categories. Jessica said it is strictly a PUD review. Bert wanted to know what was the appropriate square footage, what do we use the neighborhood and context. Jessica answered in the situation you look at the building and what is happening on Ute Avenue; most of improvements are happening in the interior. Jessica said we are not going to have a significant impact on the neighborhood. 3 Special City Planning & Zoning Meeting— Minutes January 15, 2013 Jasmine asked when the original PUD was approved wasn't an FAR established. Jessica replied this is part of the odd history of the Gant and it was originally approved under the AR-1 Zone District and then there were a series of down zonings in the early 1980s and this and many other properties were rezoned to R- 15 so they became non-conforming uses and non-conforming structures. The PUD was not created until the 1980s then it was just kind of added, it didn't outline any kind of dimensional requirements so over the years they have come in for some PUD Amendments. Jessica said they need to add an ADA elevator and a check in area. Alan said that there were not very good documents in the old files. LJ asked if we were going to make the non-conforming a conforming use now. Jessica replied that it was made conforming when the lodge and PUD overlay was added. LJ asked if it was lodge or multi-family. Jessica answered it was residential multi-family with the ability to short term; it is truly a hybrid. Stan asked if there was a change in use because of the roof top bar. Jessica replied yes, there is an existing bar there now and Donnie can speak more to this on how it changes their operation and the added storage. Stan asked if there has been any concern for that roof top facility from any neighbors. Jessica answered that one of the reasons that staff is supportive of this is really a 2 foot increase in height of what is there now; it was a very minimal increase and so far setback and does not encroach into a view plane in this area. Stan said but you wouldn't currently have a group of 50 people on the roof on the conference center. Jessica replied that they would be on the interior deck. Cliff said that if conference facilities were expanding they would have more part- time employees but that doesn't trigger. Jessica responded that it does not; it wasn't under staff or P&Z purview. Alan Richman introduced himself and stated that he represented the Gant Homeowners Association and there were several folks present Donnie Lee, the general manager of the Gant, Sarah Broughton of Rowland Broughton Architects and Scott McCale of Rowland Broughton Architects. Alan said they have reviewed the staff report and are very pleased with their approach and recommendation. Alan said the Gant is a 143 unit project located between Waters Avenue and Ute; the neighborhood around the Gant was very similar that it was a mix of uses that includes single family and multi-family residential units. Alan said 120 units were rented all the time and the conference center has that dual character; it is accessory to and it supports both sides of the Gant, the residential 4 Special City Planning & Zoning Meeting— Minutes January 15, 2013 and lodging activities. Alan said they have done an enhanced public notice and outreach with the neighbors and there was no one here objecting tonight. Donnie said this conversation began a couple of years ago with the Board and some homeowners and accelerated once we brought on Rowland & Broughton and talked about concepts and to a presentation to the entire ownership at the annual meeting this past year in June of 2012. Additional conversations continued through the summer and a vote this fall of 75% of the ownership supported this project. Donnie said the Conference Center had a remodel 15 years ago but really didn't address a lot of other issues so the context of the conversations were what does the Conference Center need to be for the Gant and well into the future. The Conference Center supports the rental operation of the Gant and most of the owners participate in it so they are intimate with that understanding. Donnie stated that it houses the bathrooms for the pools and houses our recreational area so there is a lot of day use of the Conference Center and have had to be cognizant of the units that are adjacent to the Conference Center. The "J" building is the closest to the Conference Center and closer than any neighbors; they did send out information to the Clarendon, the Ute Place Homeowners Association, and the owners up and down Ute Avenue. Sarah utilized power point to show the existing and what is proposed that were in the drawing section Exhibit B. Sarah said there was an elevator added 15 years ago which does not meet any code and that is one of the things that they are trying to amend working with the building department. There are currently non- compliant ADA bathrooms for the pool and Conference Center. Sarah said the proposal was to push the ground level out to keep up with the market studies. Sarah said the proposal was a central stair and elevator, a cafe to be used for people who use the Gant and the current lobby of the Gant is not really a lobby with no welcome area so that is what the cafe space is meant to be. The lodge room remains the same; the kitchen is getting enlarged and the downstairs kitchen is being consolidated with the upstairs kitchen, the mechanical and walk-ins are being added and the trash enclosure is being revised. The subgrade exercise room is being revised and the bathrooms are being reworked so one half functions for the pool and the other half could function to the conference area. Sarah said the elevator will go all the way up to the deck level and it is not a public bar it is really a reception room and restricted hours will be placed on it. Cliff asked if there was a lodge room inside the conference center. Sarah replied that it was just called that it was a reception area. LJ asked to describe where the deck is located. Sarah replied that currently there was a deck facing the pool and 5 Special City Planning & Zoning Meeting—Minutes January 15, 2013 half the size it currently is and a deck on the roof. Donnie said the existing deck faces the pool into the property. Sarah said that they are keeping the big spruce tree and some glacial boulders on the Ute Avenue side adding some low landscaping, a bench, window, refining the doorway and a wider sidewalk. Sarah said the existing pool and spas and deck are being kept and adding that cafe area. Alan said the proposal needs to be an enhancement of existing conditions; the conference facilities that exist today do not meet the expectations of conference attendees nor do they function well in today's market. The rooms are dated in terms of styling, they don't offer break out capabilities and the kitchen becomes one efficient facility. Currently there are no ADA facilities and the accessibility is an enhancement in itself. Alan asked the commission to support the proposal. Cliff asked if they having group check-in at the conference area. Alan said the reception area was still the check-in but if someone has their bags and doesn't want to wait in the check-in area there is a room planned to log onto their computers, get a snack and wait for their bus or whatever. Donnie said that it was a 40 year old design that has served well for a number of things but they wanted to have a reception at night and it doesn't allow the Gant to do 2 things simultaneously with this you can sit down. Bert said from the application package 4.1 showed the proposed elevator but not the elevator overrun on the roof. Sarah stated that it was up in this flat roof area. Bert asked if there was an overrun for that flat elevator. Sarah replied no. Jessica said it was all interior to the bar area; one of the things staff likes is they have done a good job of consolidating all this stuff that happens on the roof. Jessica said there is the bar area and the elevator to access that space is enclosed within the same structure so there is no additional overrun, that is separate. Bert said every other building has had another overrun. Jessica said this is a 2 story building and they have incorporated a bar area into the elevator overrun and all done within the 25 foot height limit of the zone district. Sarah said she spoke to Scott and said the elevator would cost more money but one does not come above the building limit. Donnie said the other elevators do not go above that deck. U asked if that was a hydraulic elevator that you are putting in here. Sarah replied yes and right now they are between 2 elevators; one is $30,000.00 less that does poke up 2 feet above the roof and then there is one that is $30,000.00 more that keeps it within the roof height. Sarah said if we go with the negative $30,000.00 elevator there is a 2 foot pop up. Bert asked if that would happen at building permit and not P&Z. Jessica 6 Special City Planning & Zoning Meeting— Minutes January 15, 2013 replied that it would happen at building permit because the code allows up to 5 feet or 10 feet depending upon the different mechanical. Bert asked about the glass panel on the roof. Sarah replied that is in the guard rail surrounding the deck. Bert asked about the roof not being canopied or tented and leave it up all winter. Jessica replied no, they could have a 7 day tent that is allowed in our code for a private event but they could not tent over it on a seasonal basis because that would trigger an additional review. Bert asked if that review would be P&Z or just staff. Jessica answered it depends on the duration of that which would be a temporary use review that would go to city council or it would be a PUD Amendment that would go to P&Z or P&Z and Council. LJ asked if there were hot tubs going up on that deck. Donnie replied no. LJ asked if there were limited hours of operation to the top deck. Donnie replied yes, they were in a residential area and they don't allow anything past 10 o'clock unless it is interior. LJ asked if the kitchen facilities would be leased to somebody else. Donnie said no they have always had a catering style kitchen with a full time chef along with our conference director and they cater all the meals and will support this new structure. Keith asked if the parking was accessible through Ute Avenue. Donnie answered it is only accessible from Ute Avenue. No public comments. Commissioner Comments: Bert said that he struggles with this because the criteria is that it must be consistent with or an enhancement which is extremely vague. Bert said he didn't know if should be 2000 square feet bigger or 6000 square feet bigger but he is willing to support this. Cliff said that he has always been a proponent to conference space, meeting space for groups. Cliff said he was all for this; there were no complaints from neighbors and the 25 foot height is only in one spot it is not the whole building. Jasmine stated concern for the large tree and was worried that it would get damaged during construction and the only condition we have is any tree removal shall be reviewed by the Parks Department building permit application but it doesn't say how that is going to be addressed. 7 Special City Planning & Zoning Meeting— Minutes January 15, 2013 Jessica said that the applicant is intending to keep the tree and there is a process that the Parks Department uses if a tree does need to be removed and what needs to replace it. Donnie said in 2008 when they did their significant exterior work they dealt with this and worked very hard to keep all of the trees. Donnie said the boulder and the tree from removing them and we have every intention of preserving the tree. r LJ said the presentation was good and the elevator over run was good. Cliff said this was a well thought out design but he heard $30,000.00 or not $30,000.00; are they going to maintain those scruples.once P&Z is out of the picture. Ryan said that he liked the outdoor deck and at 25 feet; he was fine with the 2 foot overrun with the elevator. MOTION: Jasmine Tygre moved to approve Resolution 4, series of 2013 approving a PUD amendment for the Gant Conference Facility and expansion; seconded by Cliff Weiss. Roll call vote: Ryan Walterscheid, yes; Keith Goode, yes; Jasmine Tygre, yes; Bert Myrin, yes; Stan Gibbs, yes; Cliff Weiss, yes; LJ Erspamer. APPROVED 7-0. Meeting adjourned at 5:45 pm. / ckie Lothian, Deputy City Clerk 8