Minutes – 10.7.2020

COUNTY OF SEVIER
CITY OF RICHFIELD

At the Planning Commission
In and For Said City
October 7, 2020

Minutes of the Richfield City Planning Commission meeting held on Wednesday, October 7, 2020, at 6:00 p.m., Chairman Monte Turner, presiding.

1. Roll Call.
2. Public Hearing (6:00 p.m.):
    A. Receive comments regarding the possibility of allowing campgrounds in the CG zone as a C-2 use.

1. Roll Call. Roll call was answered by Monte Turner, Kendrick Thomas, Lisa White, Landon Larsen, and Blaine Breinholt. Greg Bean and Susan Jensen were excused.

 

City Staff Present: Deputy City Recorder Michelle Curtis.

 

Others present: Eric Mainord, Greg Gagon, Mike Larsen, Harper Larsen, Daniela Jacobsen, Jorden Hafen, Anna Hafen, and Scott Hyatt.

 

2.  Public Hearing (6:01 p.m.):
    A. Receive comments regarding the possibility of allowing campgrounds in the CG zone as a C-2 use. There were no public comments. The public hearing was closed at 6:02 p.m.

3.  Zoning Code:
    A. Consider recommendation to be given to City Council regarding a proposed change to the Zoning

There was discussion that currently campgrounds are only allowed in manufacturing zones. The proposal is to change the Use Table in the Zoning Code to allow campgrounds in the CG zone as well. Kendrick Thomas gave the Planning Commission Report to the City Council last month. He said the Council seemed amenable to this change and also indicated that if a campground were proposed to be located between 300 and 400 West on 1300 South, they would consider waiving the requirement for road improvements on the east side of the property. As this was discussed at Planning Commission last month, the Commission did not really see any detriments to allowing campgrounds in the CG zone.

Lisa White motioned to recommend that the City Council change the Use Table in the Zoning Code to allow campgrounds in the CG zone as a C-2 use. Kendrick Thomas seconded the motion. Those voting aye: Monte Turner, Kendrick Thomas, Lisa White, Landon Larsen, and Blaine Breinholt. Those voting nay: None. The motion carried unanimously.

 

4. Conditional Uses:
    A. Consider approving Jorden Hafen’s application for a Conditional Use Permit allowing him to conduct a business called Memorial Monuments to be located at 145 South 400 East. This business makes burial vaults and does burial vault set-ups and headstone installs. (MD zone, C-1 use.)

Jorden Hafen was present. Chairman Monte Turner explained that a conditional use permit can be reviewed by the Commission if complaints are received. Mr. Hafen said he has two employees. Customers won’t come to this location because he delivers the burial vaults to cemeteries. This building will mostly be used for warehousing vaults. He sells the vaults to Magleby Mortuary. He anticipates there will be about two semis a week that deliver product.

 

Kendrick Thomas motioned to approve Jorden Hafen’s application for a Conditional Use Permit allowing him to conduct a business called Memorial Monuments to be located at 145 South 400 East. Blaine Breinholt seconded the motion. Those voting aye: Monte Turner, Kendrick Thomas, Lisa White, Landon Larsen, and Blaine Breinholt. Those voting nay: None. The motion carried unanimously.

B. Consider approving Daniel Jacobsen’s application for a Conditional Use/Home Occupation Permit allowing him to conduct a business called Schoolboyz Kustom Kruisers to be located at 170 East 100 South. This is a business doing automotive upholstery. (RM-11 zone, C-1 use.)

 

Mr. Jacobsen said he has always had a passion for custom cars. He has built a lot of them. Most of them are specialty cars, that are custom. This will not be a repair shop with a lot of customers. He has a shop behind his home where he will work on these cars. He has had a lot of people ask him to do this work for them, and so he decided to get a business license. He would meet with people by appointment, and they will tell him what they want so he can design it for them and make it a reality. He will only do one or two a year as he would have to work on the cars in the evenings or on his day off. 90% of the work is done on a sewing machine. The building is insulated. The neighbors can’t hear anything he does. He actually had an air compressor in there, and the neighbors say they can’t hear it.

Blaine Breinholt recommended to approve Daniel Jacobsen’s application for a Conditional Use/Home Occupation Permit allowing him to conduct a business called Schoolboyz Kustom Kruisers to be located at 170 East 100 South with the condition that there won’t be noise between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Lisa White seconded the motion. Those voting aye: Monte Turner, Kendrick Thomas, Lisa White, Landon Larsen, and Blaine Breinholt. Those voting nay: None. The motion carried unanimously.

 

5. Business Discussions:
    A. Review and consider approving pole sign for Scott’s Splash & Dash. (C-1 use, 100 square feet per sign face.)

 

The sign meets City requirements at 25 feet high and 97 square feet per sign face. The Ordinance allows signs up to 100 square feet.

 

Lisa White motioned to approve the proposed pole sign for Scott’s Splash & Dash on South Main Street. Kendrick Thomas seconded the motion. Those voting aye: Monte Turner, Kendrick Thomas, Lisa White, Landon Larsen, and Blaine Breinholt. Those voting nay: None. The motion carried unanimously.

 

      B. Review and consider approving revised site plan for a building to house Fiiz Drinks and another fast-food-type business between 1100 and 1200 South on 100 West Street.

 

Scott Hyatt was present. This business/building was approved as a single-tenant building on August 5, 2020. Since that time, Mr. Hyatt has decided to do a double-tenant building. He is here for approval of the new building plan and for Planning Commission to review the traffic flow for the two separate drive-throughs. Kendrick Thomas declared a conflict of interest because he works with the engineering firm that has been working with Mr. Hyatt. Mr. Hyatt agrees that arrows will be painted in the parking lot to direct the drive-through traffic.

 

Lisa White motioned to approve the Scott Hyatt’s revised site plan for a building that will house two fast-food-type businesses with drive-throughs. The building will be located between 1100 and 1200 South on 100 West Street. Blaine Breinholt seconded the motion. Those voting aye: Monte Turner, Kendrick Thomas, Lisa White, Landon Larsen, and Blaine Breinholt. Those voting nay: None. The motion carried unanimously.

 

      C. Eric Mainord and Lonnie Reed to discuss concept for Lonesome Dove Townhomes to be located at approximately 1145 South Technology Drive. This would require a rezone of the property from the CG to RM-11.

 

Eric Mainord and Greg Gagon were present to discuss a proposed concept for townhomes/apartments to be constructed at approximately 1145 South Technology Drive. When they first started creating a site plan, they didn’t realize that the Master Transportation Plan shows a street going along the south side of this property. They will lose a chunk of property, about one-third, in developing the road. They are trying to work around that.

 

They would like to put in some good affordable housing, townhomes, maybe in the $250ish price range. They have not yet purchased the property, but do have it under contract. The construction of multi-family housing would require a zone change as the property is currently zoned CG. They believe changing this property to multi-family housing is a good transition from the single-family area on the north to the commercial zone on the south. The site plan as drawn is short of the required density for multi-family housing.

 

The Commission believes this is a good use for this property but it is important that the master planned road lines up with the road across the street which will also leave a small piece of property between the new road the KFC/Taco Bell. There are some issues to sort out. It is likely that the City would have to purchase that remainder piece. Also, the City would likely be obligated to pay for half of the street between this property and KFC/Taco Bell.

 

There is concern that if the master planned road is not put in, the property immediately east of KFC/Taco Bell could be landlocked and left without access.

Parking is also a question. The Zoning Code requires two spaces for single family units or 1.5 spaces per bedroom. The Commission would like to check other cities to see what kind of parking requirements they have for apartments or townhouses.

 

With the townhome concept, two spaces per unit are required. These developers would provide a one-car garage and a driveway. They were advised that the two spaces cannot be such that a car has to be moved in order to access another car.

 

In order to rezone the property, a public hearing would have to be held with notice being published two weeks in advance. The same process would apply for creating a new zone with a different density.

Lisa White looked at Cedar City’s ordinance and they have a mixed use zone at 24 units per acre, medium density at 12 units per acre. They are at 30 units per acre for their maximum density. However, they are proposing to drop it to 24 units per acre maximum density.

 

Richfield’s density equates to 11 units for the first acre and would be 12.45 for each acre over the first acre .

 

The Commission believes the density requirements could be relaxed in some areas but would not like to make a drastic change. This project would almost work if the formula were changed to 8000 square feet for the first unit and 3000 square feet for every unit over one (rather than 3500 square feet).

Mr. Mainord and Mr. Gagon said what they are hearing is that the Commission likes the project and would like to review densities. The Commission confirms that is correct and feels like a change in densities would be helpful to the City. One approach might be to create other zones with different densities and leave the RM-11 the way it is rather than make a sweeping change to RM-11.

 

Mr. Mainord and Mr. Gagon realize there are no guarantees on that, but they wonder if there is a way to get a feel from the City Council to see if they would be on the same page. They were told they can get a feel, but nothing is cast in stone until a project is actually reviewed. They asked if there is anything they can do to facilitate this. Chairman Turner said they could go to the Council and tell them that the have met with the Planning Commission and there was a good discussion, and there is the need and necessity for the master planned street.

 

The Commission will check on some densities of other cities.

 

Cedar City goes up to 30 units per acre and St. George goes up to 22 units per unit with a note that the residential high density is in areas adjacent to major roads and other services which are conducive to higher density apartment or condominium developments.

 

There was discussion about going to 24 units per acre, but that seems like quite a jump to go from 11 units per acre to 24.

 

Mr. Gagon asked if there is an appetite here for an apartment complex that is two or three stories tall, two or three bedrooms. Mr. Gagon said he would suggest that the City add a section in the Zoning Code for multi-family that would be for rent and not for sale.

 

There was discussion about maybe bumping the RM-11 zone up to 16 units per acre and then maybe create some zones that go up to 17 to 30 units per acre for higher density zones. Kendrick Thomas said his thoughts are that somewhere around 20 units per acre might be the highest density that the City would want to go. Landon Larsen agrees with that saying somewhere around 20 to 24 at the highest.

Back to discussing this project, it would put a lot of more traffic at this intersection on College Avenue and more of an issue with pedestrians and sidewalks. Of course, they would be required to install sidewalk as part of their development.

 

The process requires a public hearing at both the Commission and City council level. The main thing will be determining the what density and locations for higher density.

 

The next step will be for them to go to the City Council so the Council is aware this is coming. Rather than have a public hearing next month, the Commission would like this as a separate item at the end of the agenda to discuss densities and locations for different densities.

 

Mr. Gagon said they would be willing to put together some concept buildings and layouts so that Commissioners can see what something might look like conceptually.

 

6. Other Business:
     A. Mike Larsen to discuss the possibility of revising the Zoning Code to allow for 4-H animals to be kept in residential areas for a set period of months.

 

Mike Larsen and his daughter Harper were present. They are requesting that the City consider changing the Zoning Code to allow a temporary exception for participating in youth livestock programs such as 4-H and the county fair. He provided a copy of an ordinance from another City where he has worked. They had an ordinance that allowed youth to have animals for a limited number of days so that they could participate in the county fair. It outlines that they can have animals for 180 days prior to the fair and for 7 days after the fair. There are limits on the number of animals per household. That city requires a permit with consent from neighbors, and limitations on how close the animals can be to the neighbors and to their own residence.

 

He is not saying that Richfield City should adopt this exact ordinance, but it might be helpful in coming up with a concept of what an ordinance could say. The ordinance he presented allows one animal per child for a maximum of three animals per family.

 

The Commission would like to hold a public hearing next month to consider changing the Zoning Code to allow youth to have animals for 4-H programs for the amount of time to fit whatever is required for tagging/ownership requirements for the fair and then extend it after the fact for those that end up continuing on to the State Fair, which is around the third week of September. This would allow animals for the Sevier County Fair for 120 days prior and keeping the animals for 7 days after the conclusion of the fair unless the youth is going on to the State Fair.

 

Mr. Larsen did say that those who go to the State Fair have multiple animals and they go to multiple shows. They can’t enter and sell an animal in more than one show. The Commission is leaning towards requiring a permit so that an applicant is aware of regulations, but they really don’t want to charge a fee.

 

      B. Discuss General Plan. A date was not set to discuss the General Plan.

 

7.   Minutes Approval. The minutes of September 2, 2020, were reviewed. Kendrick Thomas motioned to approve the minutes of September 2, 2020. Landon Larsen seconded the motion. Those voting aye: Monte Turner, Kendrick Thomas, Lisa White, Landon Larsen, and Blaine Breinholt. Those voting nay: None. The motion carried unanimously.

 

8. Adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m.

 

PASSED AND APPROVED on the 4th day of November, 2020.

 /s/  Michelle Curtis

Deputy City Recorder