Minutes – 6.5.2019

 

COUNTY OF SEVIER
CITY OF RICHFIELD

 

At the Planning Commission In and For Said City June 5, 2019

Minutes of the Richfield City Planning Commission meeting held on Wednesday, June 5, 2019, at 6:00 p.m., Chairman Monte Turner, presiding.

1. Roll Call.
2. Minutes Approval: Consider approving minutes of April 3, 2019, and May 1,
2019.
3. Public Hearing (6:00 p.m.):

1. Roll Call. Roll call was answered by Brion Terry, Monte Turner, Kendrick Thomas, Lisa White, Susan Jensen, and Blaine Breinholt.

 

City Staff Present: Deputy City Recorder Michelle Curtis.

 

Others present: Travis Jensen, Chet Thompson, Lenita Thompson, Tammy Hansen, Freida Keisel, Logan Jensen.

 

Chairman Turner introduced Kendrick Thomas as a new member of the Planning Commission.

 

2. Minutes Approval. The minutes of April 3, 2019, and May 1, 2019, were reviewed. Lisa White motioned to approve the minutes of April 3, 2019, and May 1, 2019. Susan Jensen seconded the motion. Those voting aye: Brion Terry, Monte Turner, Kendrick Thomas, Lisa White, Susan Jensen, and Blaine Breinholt. Those voting nay: None. The motion carried unanimously.

 

3. Public Hearing (6:05 p.m.): Receive comments concerning a preliminary subdivision application filed by KLM Family for Phase 1 Amended and Phase 2 of the Links Subdivision. Phase 2 adds four more lots to The Links Subdivision. There were no public comments. The public hearing closed at 6:06 p.m.

 

4. Conditional Use/Home Occupation:
    A. Consider approving a Conditional Use Permit allowing Travis Jensen to operate a business called LTTR Inc., dba Richfield Welding and Fabrication, to be located at 525 South 100 East (CS zone, C1 use). Travis Jensen was present. He has a fabrication business called LTTR, Inc., dba Richfield Welding and Fabrication. He would like to conduct his fabrication business at 525 South 100 East which is the old Construction Supply building owned by Don Munk. He does general fabrication welding, repair welding, start-from-scratch things, whatever comes through the door. There are no fire sprinklers in the building, but he does have fire extinguishers. The floors and walls are concrete. He is leasing the building from Don Munk. He will need to provide a letter from Don Munk stating that he is aware of the business and approves the location at his building.

There is a covered shed on the west side of the building where materials will be stored.

Blaine Breinholt motioned to approve a Conditional Use Permit allowing Travis Jensen to operate a business called LTTR Inc., dba Richfield Welding and Fabrication, to be located at 525 South 100 East (CS zone, C1 use) with the condition that Mr. Jensen provides a letter of approval from the owner of the building. Lisa White seconded the motion. Those voting aye: Brion Terry, Monte Turner, Kendrick Thomas, Lisa White, Susan Jensen, and Blaine Breinholt. Those voting nay: None. The motion carried unanimously.

 

    B. Consider approving a Home Occupation Permit allowing Jim Hare to operate a business called Heritage Ammunition to be located at his property at 502 East Flying J Drive (R1-10 zone, C1 use). Jim and Connie Hare were present. Mr. Hare has been conducting this business from the Red Hills Auto building. He has sold the Red Hills Auto business and building. He would like to conduct his ammunition business in a shed (Quonset hut) located on his rental property at 502 East Flying J Drive. The shipments will still be off-loaded at the Red Hills Auto location. Most of his sales are on-line by wholesale accounts. He sells a lot to law enforcement. Very few customers come to his location to buy a box of ammunition.

Mr. Hare said he is regulated by State agencies. He has an FFL for ammunition but not guns.

Lisa White motioned to approve a Home Occupation Permit allowing Jim Hare to operate a business called Heritage Ammunition to be located at his property at 502 East Flying J Drive. Blaine Breinholt seconded the motion. Those voting aye: Brion Terry, Monte Turner, Kendrick Thomas, Lisa White, Susan Jensen, and Blaine Breinholt. Those voting nay: None. The motion carried unanimously.

 

Planning Commissioner Greg Bean arrived.

 

    C. Consider approving a Conditional Use Permit allowing Jaden Greenhalgh to conduct an automotive detailing business called Greeny’s Auto at his home at 596 Ogden Drive (R1-10 zone, C1 use). Jaden Greenhalgh was not present. The matter was tabled.

 

5. Subdivision: Review preliminary plat for Phase 1 Amended and Phase 2 of the Links Subdivision. Consider recommending that the City Council approve the final plat. Kay McIff was not present. The following are recommendations from the DRC:

       1. Street Lights: A street light is shown at the corner of Lot 17. This is adequate until the next phase of the subdivision is created.

       2. Temporary cul-de-sac: A temporary cul-de-sac is shown at the south end of Augusta Drive.

       3. Fencing: A block wall was required along the canal in Phase 1 of the subdivision. The block wall needs to be continued all the way to the west end of Lot 19 for protection from the canal.

       4. Street Improvements: Street plans are drawn to City standards with curb, gutter, sidewalk, and planter strip.

       5. Sewer and Water: Sewer and water both need to be stubbed to the south side of lot 20. It is

       6. Street Signs: Applicant to provide and install street address signs. Also, a sign saying “Not a Through Street” shall be installed somewhere near lot 9 or lot 18.

       7. Engineer Inspections: All compaction studies, water, sewer inspections, etc., to be conducted by Jones & DeMille and paid for by the Applicant.
       8. One-year Correction Period: As stated in the City’s Construction Standards, improvements must remain in good condition during the one-year correction period. At the end of the correction period, a final review of the project will be made. If any of the improvements have failed during that period, the defective work must be replaced at no cost to Richfield City.  Since Mr. McIff is not present, the Commission feels like it could recommend approval of the second phase of the subdivision based on the recommendations of the DRC. If Mr. McIff has any concerns with those requirements, he will have to address those issues with the Council.

 

Kendrick Thomas declared a conflict of interest.

 

Blaine Breinholt motioned that a recommendation be given to the City Council that it approve the final Plat for Phase 1 Amended and Phase 2 of the Links Subdivision in accordance with the above DRC recommendations. Greg Bean seconded the motion. Those voting aye: Brion Terry, Monte Turner, Kendrick Thomas, Lisa White, Susan Jensen, Blaine Breinholt, and Greg Bean. Those voting nay: None. The motion carried unanimously.

 

6. Multi-Family Housing:
    A. Consider approving Tammy Hansen’s application requesting that she be allowed to create two apartments on the main floor of her business building (Salon 56) located at 56 East Center Street (D zone, C-1 use). Tammy Hansen and Freida Keisel were present. Mrs. Hansen said there one apartment in the upstairs of the building. She has a beauty salon that takes up about one-quarter of the bottom of the building. The rest of the building is unused and so she would like to add two apartments in the downstairs of the building. This building was previously used as an office for Garkane Power and so there are already rooms that are divided and it would be easy to create apartments.

 

Blaine Breinholt asked about the plumbing. He does have a concern regarding the plumbing for the apartments and advised she might want to get with an engineer to make sure it is alright.

The parking she has is the City public parking lot and there is also parking at the south end of the parking lot by the motel. She plans that there would be a total of four or five bedrooms, three kitchens, and 3-1/2 baths. There is very little space for parking on her property. She parks on the east side of the building where there is a shared driveway area with JRS Auto Repair. Her rental contract will state that they can only move in or move out after hours so that it doesn’t affect the JRS business hours.

 

Six parking spaces would be required which is two parking spaces per apartment. As far her salon business, there is only her and one other person who works there. Brion Terry pointed out that someone previously proposed putting in 12 apartment units in the old bank building at 100 North Main and one issue was the parking spaces that would require. It was felt in that instance that the parking area was intended for commercial use and businesses. However, another issue with that proposal is that the Downtown Zone only allows dwellings no larger than a four-family unit. Mr. Terry would like to see some kind of a parking plan.

 

Mrs. Hansen said nobody parks at the very south end of the parking lot. Chet Thompson was in the audience and he said he owns that parking. He has no problem with her using that. There are apartments in the top of the businesses on the west side of the parking lot. They use the center lane of parking.

 

There was discussion that the Commission wants to see an overall plan for parking and the building. It was determined that anything done with the building will fall under the building permit. The parking can be seen on the aerial photograph. She doesn’t own any of the area where the parking will be. The City has not wanted to allow specific parking spaces to be assigned to specific businesses.

 

Greg Bean would like to see a policy developed regarding the City parking lots and how they should be used. He would like to see future discussion with the City Council to determine what is appropriate for the City-owned parking lots.

 

After some discussion, it was determined that she actually only needs four spaces for the two apartments she is adding because she lives in the apartment in the top of the building and she parks in a garage that is behind her building.

 

Brion Terry motioned to approve Tammy Hansen’s application requesting that she be allowed to create two apartments on the main floor of her business building (Salon 56) located at 56 East Center Street with the condition that parking does not become an issue. Lisa White seconded the motion. Those voting aye: Brion Terry, Monte Turner, Kendrick Thomas, Lisa White, Susan Jensen, Blaine Breinholt, and Greg Bean. Those voting nay: None. The motion carried unanimously.

The Commission would like to have a discussion with the City Council at some time in the future to discuss parking issues in public parking areas.

 

Kendrick Thomas told her that with regard to changing the use of the building from the commercial use to a residential use, any issues will have to be worked through with the building inspector.

 

     B. Discuss with Chet Thompson possibilities for use of building located at 197 North Main (D zone). Discuss using the property for office space and apartments or Airb&b. Chet and Lenita Thompson were present. They are considering purchasing the building at 197 North Main Street. The building is 6000 square feet. They have a few ideas as to what it could be used for and want to find out what is allowed before they move forward.

 

Some options would be to convert it into four 1500-square-foot apartments, or possibly a business and apartments, or two businesses. A restaurant might be an option. They wonder about regulations for these businesses. It would require some parking. They have been watching this parking lot and most of the time there are plenty of empty parking spots.

 

Having listened to the above discussion with Tammy Hansen concerning parking, it is Mr. Thompson’s opinion that these cases should be considered on a case-by-case basis.

If they purchase the building, it will need to have a new roof which will be quite an expense, but they don’t want to buy it if turns out that it will be difficult to develop because of City regulations. It is felt that the City wants to do whatever it can to revitalize Main Street and keep it viable. Mr. Thompson points out that with regard to the above item for Mrs. Hansen, there was some discussion as to whether we want downtown to become residential. He said maybe not, but then maybe it is better than downtown becoming a ghost town.

 

Mr. Thompson hopes with regard to this property, that the City would take into consideration that the building has turned into an eyesore and that the City would be willing to consider any proposal that would restore and improve the building.

 

Mrs. Thompson believes there could be some beautiful uses in the downtown, but she would be hesitant to do some type of commercial use because commercial has moved so much to Amazon, Wal-mart, etc. If we want to revitalize and keep our main streets beautiful, then we need to think of other uses. She hopes the City whould consider whatever it can get on Main Street that would beautify it.

 

Mr. Thompson asked if they were to do apartments, would tenants be able to enter the building from the west side of the building which is next to a City-owned parking lot. He was told yes he could. Also, where the building is recessed back from Main Street has been used historically for parking. It would be best for that not to be used for parking because it backs out onto Main Street. Mrs. Thompson said she might consider doing a restaurant with a patio for outdoor seating in that recessed area. Or, even if it isn’t a restaurant, she can envision that being used as a patio area.

Lisa White said she thinks this would have the same parking issue as the Hansen issue discussed in the item above. Parking could be a conditional use based on parking not becoming a problem. Mr. Thompson said he doesn’t believe that is something he would be comfortable with. He can’t put a lot of money into the building and then find out later that he can’t use the parking. He thinks the Commission needs to make a decision on both the Hansen issue discussed above and on this one based on what is currently there. If a parking lot has space, then let them use it. If five years goes by and there is not adequate parking and someone else proposes another 10 units, then you look at that one based on what is currently there. He could not make a decision for a business commitment without knowing that he has parking available.

 

The movie theater uses a lot of parking at sporadic times, but if people want to see a movie, they’ll park wherever they can find it. Lisa White still believes that the Commission cannot make a decision until the City comes up with a policy on the public parking lots. Mr. Thompson points out that a lot of us have lived here for a long time and historically, it doesn’t seem there has really been a parking problem anywhere. We might hope there is growth so that parking is an issue, but it is likely to be the opposite and we will have more and more parking that is less used. The City created the public parking spaces which was very proactive, but it would be best to be used rather than to sit there as empty asphalt. He did say that he would be agreeable with a statement saying that a certain amount of parking spaces are required.

 

It was pointed out that Main Street is a UDOT road and if they are changing the use and occupancy, then UDOT might have some input as far as parking on Main Street.

Lisa White was excused from the meeting.

 

7. Other Business:
    A. Zone discussion (Valley Builders). Logan Jensen was present on behalf of Valley Builders. Valley Builders was located at 160 East Center as a construction supply store, but has been closed for a few years. They are in the process of selling the property. The zoning map shows the property being situated in the RM-11 zone, but it is next to the Downtown zone. Anyone who looks at buying it, wants to know what it is zoned. They would prefer the commercial zone because 9 out of 10 people who have shown interest in buying it want it as a commercial property.

 

Valley Builders did business at this location for several decades. It seems possible that when the zoning map was drawn, the intent would have been to jog around the property so that it was be located in a commercial (Downtown) zone. The Zoning Code indicates that when there is a question as to a zone boundary, the Zoning Administrator can make that decision. However, the City does not have a Zoning Administrator at the present time.

 

Mr. Jensen was advised that even if the zone is determined to be a commercial zone (D zone), any proposed businesses will want to check and make sure that particular business is a permitted use in the D zone. Mr. Jensen said one potential buyer would like to do storage units. Mr. Jensen was told that wouldn’t be allowed. Another buyer is looking at it to store his cars that he renovates. He has about 30 cars. This would be ideal for storing them while he renovates them and then he sells them. The third buyer is Richfield Block. They are running out of space and feel like this would be an ideal place for them to store pallets of stone and rocks. Mr. Jensen was advised that there have been several inquiries of City staff as to whether or not storage units would be allowed at this location. He was advised that even though the property may be designated to be in the D zone, storage units are not allowed in the D zone and it is highly unlikely that the Zoning Code would be changed to allow them in the D zone.

 

There was some discussion as to whether or not Richfield Block could be allowed to use the property for storage. Contractor storage yards are not allowed in the D zone. Outdoor storage is also not allowed. Although Valley Builders had this type of storage, it would have been a legal non-conforming use and that use would have expired when they closed the store for a period longer than 365 days. They closed in August of 2016. They let their business license lapse that year. They re-did their business license a year ago so that they could have a yard-sale type of sale in order to sell inventory that remained in the building

 

Mr. Jensen was again advised that whoever buys the property will want to come into the City to make sure the use is allowed in the D zone.

 

The Commission would like this to go through the public hearing process in order to clarify which zone this property is in.

 

   B. General Plan Review. The Planning Commission will meet on Wednesday, June 19th at 7:00 p.m. to continue reviewing the General Plan.

 

8. Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 p.m.

 

PASSED AND APPROVED on the 7th day of August, 2019.

 

/s/  Michelle Curtis
        Deputy City Recorder