Planning Commission Meeting Minutes Thursday, January 22, 2009 City Council Chambers 220 East Morris Avenue Time: 7:00 p.m. Commission Members Present: Francis Lilly- Conducting Lloyd Anderson Joshua Smith Susan Dickstein Sarah Morrow Commission Members Excused: Staff Members Present: Larry Gardner Michael Florence Jennifer Allred Moment of Reflection: Pledge of Allegiance: Lloyd Anderson Approve Agenda: Commissioner Smith Commissioner Dickstein Vote: Moved to approve the agenda. Unanimous New Business: 1. Item: Six unit office /warehouse development Location: 324-326 East 3300 South Applicant: Abey Baraghoshi Michael Florence explained the applicant is petitioning the planning commission for a design review. He showed slides of the property. Currently it is two vacant lots that have been vacant for quite some time. Because the development is adjacent to a residential zone it requires -1-
planning commission approval. It is a half acre and an office/warehouse design. The office space is 549 square feet; the warehouse area is 525 square feet. The landscaping, not counting the turnaround area is 9%. There are 14 parking spaces and fencing with a ten foot landscape buffer between the residential property and the project, and a maximum solid, eight foot fence. There are six office/warehouse units. There is a ten foot landscape area between unit five and the residential property line. Unit six goes all the way back to the residential property line. The fire truck turnaround area needs to support a 70,000 pound fire truck. The design offered with landscaping and pavers will not work. He can work with the fire marshal about designing a turnaround with some landscaping. The front elevations one through four will have stucco, stone wainscot, and split faced block around the warehouse and an overhead door. The side elevations will have stucco and split faced block. Units five and six will have one office in each unit with warehouse storage. The units are approximately 14 feet, eight inches. The front setback will be 27 and a half feet so there will be a good landscaped buffer from the street. Staff recommends design review approval for 324 East 3300 South with the following conditions: 1. Applicant provide staff with a landscape plan. 2. A fire truck turnaround as per the fire code adopted by South Salt Lake. 3. A screened garbage receptacle is provided without removing additional parking or landscaped area. Commissioner Smith asked if the reason why the turnaround won t support a fire truck is because it is too small. Mr. Florence answered no, the space isn t too small but the pavers won t support the truck, it will just crush them. Abey Baraghoshi 6678 South Hidden Mill Cove, Cottonwood Heights, is trying to purchase the property in the city that has been vacant for many years. The condition of the sale is that he gets an approval from the planning commission. This plan is maxed out as it is. To change it will make it not worth doing. Unit six would be his own unit where he would park his motor home. Between unit 3 and 4 is another design for a solid surface. He could have concrete or asphalt instead of the pavers. It is important for him to make the last unit deep enough for what he is using it for. Commissioner Smith asked if he had any expectations of what the other units would be used for. Mr. Baraghoshi answered number five will be used by his friend for his boat and ATV s. One of the other units will be going to a gentleman that sells medical supplies. The other units are up for grabs. He doesn t want car sales or wood shops, but very low key businesses. He is planning on selling all five units. Public Hearing Open 7:12 p.m. Betty Rider 325 E. 3360 South doesn t understand where it says existing fence. That is her fence. She had to put it in because the realtor was taking care of the weeds in the back and what ever piece of equipment he was driving caught part of her fence. She is wondering if it will be the same fence across the two pieces of property. Her fence is wood. She just replaced it last October. His office will go right to that fence. -2-
Mr. Florence said the applicant is required to put up a new fence, it will have to be eight feet and of solid material. Public Hearing Closed 7:15 p.m. Commissioner Smith is excited to see something going in there. He is concerned about some of the landscaping. The ordinance does require 15% which has not been meant. Other than that he doesn t have any concerns. Commissioner Anderson thinks that area needs to be developed. If the fence is light tight he thinks he can support it. Commissioner Smith part of the landscaping concern for his is set back. The property is very long and deep and the landscaping isn t going to be seen from a majority of the community but only those that are leasing units. Commissioner Morrow asked if the landscaping has to be public use or could it be private. Mr. Florence answered all of it would be private. Commissioner Dickstein asked if the fence would be an addition, or would they take Ms. Rider s fence down. Mr. Florence answered that is something the two property owners would have to work out. Commissioner Lilly feels if the fire code says hard surface, then that is what needs to be there. Mr. Florence said Bruce is open to seeing something else but the standard is 20 feet of hard surface area. Commissioner Lilly asked what would happen if they were able to move this project along with the requirement he work with staff to increase landscaping, but if they couldn t reach an agreement, would the applicant come back to the planning commission. Mr. Florence thinks it would be best to either require the 15% landscaping or table it. If they want to require 13% landscaping, then he could work with him on that. Commissioner Lilly thinks if he is going to have more landscaping he would like to see it along the street. Mr. Baraghoshi submitted another sight plan during the discussion. Commissioner Lilly thinks if they want to submit a new sight plan than maybe it should be tabled. -3-
Commissioner Smith is concerned if they approve it as is then staff can t come to some sort of agreement with the fire turnaround. He is fine with the landscaping because it is such a deep property. Motion: Commissioner Anderson Commissioner Dickstein Vote Moved to table the application and review the new plan to see how it fits in with 15% landscaping and the fire truck turn around. Aye Commissioner Anderson Aye Commissioner Dickstein Aye Sarah Morrow Aye Frank Lilly Nay Joshua Smith 2. Item: Amendment to change the zoning map from CN to CB Location: 126 West 2700 South Applicant: Gamut Design Michael Florence explained the applicant is petitioning the planning commission to change the zoning from commercial neighborhood to commercial general. The applicants business consists of replicating 1939 era Ford station wagons. He likes the particular property because of the building that currently sits on it. There is a vacant lot to the north with a cell tower, there s a storage yard to the east, across the street office buildings and to the west is auto repair and machine shops. The current building on the property has been abandoned for the past 30 years. The applicant would like to refurbish the building. It is a corrugated metal type building. He feels it is compatible with his type of business. He thinks it will work well for his type of business and the type of cars he is building. The general commercial zone will allow for machine shops and auto repair type of uses which would be compatible with the type of business the applicant is doing. The general commercial zone allows for repair garages as conditional use permits. If the zone change is accepted Mr. Tolbert will be coming back for a conditional use permit. This zone change is a recommendation to the city council. Richard Tolbert 1917 Michigan Avenue has been in South Salt Lake for over 17 years on 7 th west and 3300 South. He has been in design development that whole time. Lately he is in this automotive niche. He would like to propose upgrading and restoring the building. Not doing any additions, but clean it up and landscape it. The buildings to the west are automotive and there is a machine shop there. He may require the neighboring property and clean it up as well. Commissioner Smith asked if the neighboring property would be for the same automotive business. -4-
Mr. Tolbert replied his company is pretty diversified. He would like to clean up the façade and clean up the front yard and see what opportunities evolve from that. The current owner is looking to retire. Commissioner Lilly asked if he would sublet it. Mr. Tolbert said no, they have 10,000 feet now. The thing he would like to do now is control his environment. He doesn t want to heat 10,000 feet. They work in little increments to do their project. Commissioner Morrow asked if he had plans for a show room or will it be work space only. Mr. Tolbert said the building is already in two increments. It was added on to in 1962. Originally it was a carriage shop, and later a sheet metal shop. He would like to keep the atmosphere of a neat old building. Most of his business is not a local market. Everything is pre-sold. It is very small scale, and he only needs a few parking spots. He doesn t expect to make more than four or five of these a year. Public Hearing Open 7:37 p.m. Public Hearing Closed 7:37 p.m. Commissioner Smith likes it and thinks it is a good use for it. Motion: Commissioner Smith Commissioner Anderson Vote Moves to recommend approval for the zoning change from Commercial Neighborhood to Commercial General for the property 126 West 2700 South. Unanimous 3. Item: Special exception to the city sign ordinance Location: 2800 South 400 West Applicant: Visible Marketing Michael Florence stated Visible Marketing has recently moved their business to the building on 400 West. There are a lot of industrial uses around them. They are asking for a special exception to the size of the sign on their building. They are allowed 3 feet of signage area for every square feet of building frontage. Based on the measurements of their building they would be allowed 500 square feet of sign area. The sign ordinance states no attached sign should exceed 150 square feet. The four banner type signs on the building now are around 1800 square feet of sign area. They would like to keep the sign on the south elevation. They would like to have 2000 square feet of total signage. According to the ordinance, the city may approve the special exception, -5-
approve the special exception subject to specific conditions or deny the special exception. In making its determination, the city shall consider the items found herein and others as deemed appropriate for the request. Mr. Florence read the rest of the ordinance pertaining to signs and special exceptions. The rest of the ordinance is on file. If the planning commission approves the special exception then staff suggests the following conditions: 1. The existing signs on the building be removed and brought into compliance with being constructed of a permanent material and meet adopted South Salt Lake construction standards. 2. Banner signs are not used as permanent signs that will be attached to the building. 3. A sign permit is obtained before any signs are attached to the building. 4. The special exception for signage be limited to the duration of Visible Marketing s time leasing the building located at 2800 South 400 West. 5. Visible Marketing will be able to increase their allotted square footage of sign are to 1,000 square feet. 6. All items of the staff report. The 1,000 square feet is just a recommendation to staff, the planning commission can increase that. Heather Barber 2800 South 400 West owner of Visible Marketing handed out packets to each of the commissioners. They manufacture custom inflatables, banners and signs, rent and sell tents. Included was a letter from their landlord. Their business has been in South Salt Lake for 25 years behind Miller Honey. They outgrew their space in May and relocated at their present location. The reason why they were attracted to this building is because of the highway frontage. Being a marketing company they liked to utilize it. Their revenues have increased. They would love to keep the south side banner because of all the northbound traffic. They are a little more flexible on the west side sign. They can make the sign out of the permanent material. Public Hearing Open 7:47 p.m. Nate Griffith 400 West 2800 South, they really like their building and south salt lake. They put up the banners as a temporary thing. They are more than happy to turn it into a permanent thing. It is their product. Not only are they advertising for themselves but also their product to the public. They were able to increase their revenue significantly on their printed product because of the signs. Also underneath it is an ugly green building and anything to put on it would be beneficial. Public Hearing Closed 7:50 p.m. Commissioner Dickstein agrees that this is something that portrays what they sell. Because it is along the freeway what can it get in the way of. Commissioner Lilly asked the area of the south side sign. Commissioner Smith and Florence said 1000 square feet. Commissioner Smith can see the advantage of having this type of business along the highway. He thinks if someone is driving on the other side of the building they are driving over there for a reason. He agrees with Commissioner Dickstein. Commissioner Anderson has some concerns from going to 1000 square feet to 2000 square feet. -6-
Mr. Florence said this is the first application like this that has been received by the planning commission. Some businesses might want to take advantage of the same thing. He doesn t know that others can afford it. Commissioner Smith doesn t have a problem for allowing the allowance but thinks 2000 seems particularly large. Commissioner Lilly thinks they need to think of future businesses coming to them. He suggests that whoever crafts the motion specifies what makes this project unique. Commissioner Dickstein clarified the size of the sign shown on the slide. Motion: Commissioner Smith: Commissioner Dickstein Vote Moved to approve the special exception with the following conditions: 1. The existing signs on the building be removed and brought into compliance with being constructed of a permanent material and meet adopted South Salt Lake construction standards. 2. Banner signs are not used as permanent signs that will be attached to the building. 3. A sign permit is obtained before any signs are attached to the building. 4. The special exception for signage be limited to the duration of Visible Marketing s time leasing the building located at 2800 South 400 West. 5. Visible Marketing will be able to increase their allotted square footage of sign area to 1,000 square feet. 6. All items of the staff report. The reason for the allowance is that the business is right off the highway and the sign is the product of the business. Anderson Nay Commission Business Next Thursday at 5:00 p.m. is the open house for the general plan. Staff Business Minutes - Commissioner Smith Moved to approve the minutes of January 8, 2009-7-
Commissioner Anderson Vote Unanimous Staff Business Adjournment 8:00 p.m. For Planning Commission Jennifer Allred Planning Commission Secretary -8-