The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My Public Portal AboutMinutes_CCSpecialMeeting_03212011CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING MARCH 21, 2011 6:00 P.M. IONA COMMUNITY CENTER PRESENT: Mayor Brad Andersen, Council President Jane Shaw, Council member Bruce Case, Council member Dennis McArthur, Council member Dan Gubler, Public Works Supervisor Zech Prouse, City Clerk Robyn Keyes, Police Chief Shannon Basaraba. VISITORS: Greg Hansen, Gerry Kirkpatrick, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Connie Roberts, Mark Glenn, Greg Rockwood, Mike Klingler, Brenda Klingler. Mayor Andersen welcomed everyone. Continuation of tabled R-T hearing to allow patio homes. Mayor Andersen welcomed everyone and explained the public portion of the hearing was closed and asked the Council if they wanted to open it back up for more comment. Council President Shaw made a motion to open the public hearing back up for comment from the audience. Council member McArthur seconded the motion. All were in favor, motion carried. Mayor Andersen asked if any one who was against the request would like to speak. Mark Glenn said he lived in the R-T zone and he was concerned that he would lose value in his town home if patio homes were built in the R-T zone. Mr. Glenn said patio homes were not designed for basements and wanted to hear more about the proposal. Gerald Kirkpatrick said he was opposed to changing the R-T zone to allow patio homes because he did not want to have three different types of dwellings allowed in the zone, which may devalue the neighborhood. Connie Roberts said she was concerned with the front setbacks of the patio homes being closer to the street than the town homes, and she was against the six foot side set backs. Mike Klinger said he was not against the patio homes, he just thought single family homes were already allowed in the zone. Mayor Andersen said the Council had approved R-1 homes in the zone, but had not adopted the ordinance yet. The Mayor said the patio homes had different requirements than R-1 homes. 1 Greg Rockwood asked if there were any people in favor of the patio homes. Clerk Keyes said Carol Curry lived in the R-T zone called the City office saying she was in favor of the patio homes. Mr. Rockwood asked what Rockwell's connection to the community was and why Rockwell wanted to change the zone. Mr Klingler asked if there was a way for the patio homes to be built and maintain the current side set backs for single family homes. Mayor Andersen said the Council could set varying requirements for the developers. Mr. Klinger said if the same set backs were maintained as currently allowed, the density of the area would look the same. Brenda Klingler asked when the green space was going to be developed on Quaky Aspen and suggested in the zones that had more housing density, then to perhaps plan for more public green space. Mr. Rockwood said the purpose of any change to the zone should be for improvements to the neighborhood and not to degrade it. Mr. Rockwood also asked which type of housing would be better in the long term. Mayor Andersen thanked everyone for their comments and turned the time over to Mr. Hansen form Rockwell. Mr. Hansen answered Mr. Rockwood's question about Rockwell's involvement with the community by saying that Rockwell's involvement was to build a quality product and maintain in good standing for future business. Mr. Hansen said he had spoken with Jim Windmiller, who was a successful realtor in the area, and asked him his opinion of patio homes and the situation in Mountain Ridge Estates. Mr. Windmiller said he had a similar situation in one of his subdivisions in Idaho Falls, and the patio homes were selling well and were popular. Furthermore, the value of the town homes in the same subdivision went up once the patio homes were built. Mr. Hansen restated the specific details about his proposed project to the members of the audience who were not in attendance of the public hearing with the Council on March 15, 2011. See minutes from March 15, 2011 council meeting. Council member McArthur asked if Rockwell could put basements in the patio homes. Mr. Hansen said they could, and recommended they did. Mr. Glenn asked if the patio home owners would be required to install a lawn. Mr. Hansen the patio home owners would have the same requirements as the town home owners. 2 Mr. Hansen said the sales for town homes dropped dramatically and there was no longer a demand for them, so Rockwell was looking into the current trend of patio homes, which appealed to more people. Mr. Hansen said it would be foolish for Rockwell to invest in town homes right now and would rather invest in a home that would sell and help get momentum going in the market again. Mr. Hansen addressed Mr. Kirkpatrick's concerns with trisecting the zone with different types of houses by saying people liked having various home choices within a certain area. Mayor Andersen thanked everyone for their input, closed public comment, and opened the discussion up to the Council for deliberation. Council President Shaw said she was in favor of patio homes, but would like to see some requirements such as 1,100 square foot minimum of the homes, basements, front set backs same as existing homes in zone, and side set backs contiguous to a town home must be ten feet, zone would not allow R-1 homes. The President said she thought the patio homes would improve the neighborhood therefore helping with the property value of the existing homes. Council member Case said he had many concerns with the proposal, and there were 50 patio home lots in Country Haven subdivision that had been sitting empty for six years. Case was concerned with the front set backs of the patio homes and said that town homes made the area look less dense. Case read some of the zoning requirements for the patio homes and thought they would not work well in the R-T zone. Case was also concerned with the area eventually becoming a large rental community because of the smaller homes. Council member Gubler agreed with Council member Case's concerns. Gubler was concerned with the continuity of the neighborhood: he thought patio homes in the cul-de- sac on Sagebrush would be acceptable, but not on Denning. Gubler said if patio homes were to be built, he wanted 10 foot side set backs maintained instead of six. Council member McArthur was in favor of the patio homes but he said the Council needed to protect the existing homeowners in the area. McArthur said patio homes would not make the area more dense than town homes, the homes would just be spaced differently. McArthur agreed with adding basements to the patio homes and asked if all the other requirements for the homes would stay the same. Mr. Hansen said they would. Mayor Andersen asked who enforced the covenants of the neighborhood. Mr. Hansen said Rockwell did until the last home was sold, then the duty went to the homeowners association. Mayor Andersen said he could see the benefits of the patio homes, but could also understand the town home owners concerns. The Mayor said the comprehensive plan for the City called for various housing types, and sameness in one area could cause 3 unintentional segregation and conflict in a community. The Mayor agreed that the developer's interest in the community was continued business, which also showed the developer would research a product before investing in it. Supervisor Prouse's concerns were side set backs, and he believed the homes on Denning should remain town homes. Council member Case said he still had a lot of concerns with the addition of patio homes. Case asked if anyone in the audience had changed their opinion after hearing the details of the proposal. Council President Shaw said the decision was very difficult because there were many factors involved, but the main factor was town homes were not currently selling. Shaw said if the developer did not change the product (town homes) then the current home owners ran the risk of having the remaining lots sit empty for possibly many years, which was not good for the home owners or the City. Council member Case said there were three other subdivisions in Iona where building had also slowed down. Mr. Hansen said people were looking for more affordable housing choices. Council President Shaw asked if the side set backs could be six feet between homes on a platted lot, and 10 feet between the next lot. Mr. Hansen said Rockwell could do that but probably wouldn't. Mr. Hansen said the main problem with town homes was the common wall, so if patio homes were not approved, Rockwell would build the town homes three feet apart (instead of a common wall running through the two dwellings) then connecting in the back somehow for the common wall. Council President Shaw asked the audience if they would rather have patio homes or town homes built the way Mr. Hansen described. Mr. Glenn asked the Council if they (the people in the audience) could have more time to research the issue. Council President Shaw said it would be difficult to find research data that was relevant to this situation since patio homes were new to the area, and every community was different. Mr. Glenn said he would be willing to talk to every patio home owner in the area to collect information. Council member Gubler made a motion to deny the request to add patio homes to the R- T zone. 4 Council member Case seconded the motion. Roll call as follows: AYE: Council President Shaw, Council member McArthur, Council member Case, Council member Gubler. NAY: None. Motion carried. Request denied. Mayor Andersen encouraged the members of the audience to gather more information, and told Mr. Hansen that he had a right to appeal the decision. Adoption of building code updates. The Council tabled the adoption of the building code updates due to the length of the hearing on the agenda. Approval of R T ordinance to allow single family dwellings. The Council also tabled the approval of this agenda item due to the length of time for the hearing, which was also on the agenda. Council President Shaw made a motion to adjourn. Council member Case seconded the motion. All were in favor. Adjourned 8:20 p.m. 5