Minutes – 7.11.2018

COUNTY OF SEVIER
CITY OF RICHFIELD

 

At the Planning Commission
In and For Said City
July 11, 2018

Minutes of the Richfield City Planning Commission meeting held on Wednesday, July 11, 2018, at 6:00 p.m., Chairman Brion Terry, presiding.

1. Roll Call.
2. Discussion Items:
    A. Whitmore 4-plex: Stacy Whitmore to discuss parking requirements

1. Roll Call. Roll call was answered by Brion Terry, Monte Turner, David Mower, and Blaine Breinholt. Greg Bean, Lisa White, and Susan Jensen were excused.

 

City Staff Present: Deputy City Recorder Michelle Curtis.

 

Others present: Stacy Whitmore, Judy Whitmore, Todd Morrill, Dustin Acord, and Cayden Acord.

 

2. Discussion Items:
    A. Whitmore 4-plex: Stacy Whitmore to discuss parking requirements for a proposed 4-plex to be located on a vacant piece of property situated north of 94 West 100 North. Stacy and Judy Whitmore were present to discuss a proposal for the construction of a 4-plex. Before they proceed further, they would like clarification as to requirements for parking and setbacks, and guidance as to whether this is a feasible project to pursue . They are proposing the construction of a 4-plex on a small piece of property on 100 West that is 78’ x 56.5’ for a total of 4407 square feet in size. The proposed building has a footprint of 28’x55’ for a total of 1540 square feet, each apartment being 750 square feet. The building will be 1500 square feet on each floor. The building will sit on the south side of the property with a setback of 15 feet from 100 West. He plans for the building to sit on the south property line which will place the building 4 feet from the garage on the adjoining property on the south. He was told they would have to have a firewall.

It is the consensus of the Commission that the number of parking spaces is adequate as shown on the plan, but the setback is a concern.

 

Mr. Whitmore stated his overall quest is to build some nice places for renting because the City is short on rentals. He plans to pave or cement the entire parking area with painted lines and assigned spaces for each apartment. There will be three parking spaces for Big Daddy’s employees. He says he would like a 2-foot area along 100 West for flowers.

 

The Commission feels like parking is adequate as drawn. Mr. Whitmore was told to go ahead and go through the application process.

 

     B. Valley Builders: Determine the zone of the previous Valley Builders site: RM-11 or D (multi-family residential or downtown). The matter was tabled as there was no one present to represent Valley Builders.

 

    C. Todd Morrill: Discuss self storage unit facility to be located at 1300 South 100 East (CG zone, C2 use). Items to be discussed: setbacks, landscaping, street requirements, payback agreement, etc. Todd Morrill wanted to discuss the possibility of placing self storage units at 1300 South 100East. He wanted to get a feel for the requirements he will have to comply with. This project will be a climate-controlled, self storage facility. He explained that he has placed the property under contract and is going through due diligence. He can’t formally go through the City’s approval process until he owns the property.

 

Today he met with public works, City staff, City engineers, etc. He has a question concerning the required setback of 10 feet on the west and the north sides. Tractor Supply has a detention pond that sits to the west and Larsen’s Ace Hardware has a yard to the north of this property. He had hoped he might purchase some property from Ace, but they are not interested in selling. If he is required to comply with the 10-foot setback on the west and north, then that area will likely become a space to collect garbage. It won’t be a space for green landscaping, and it won’t be lighted.

Mr. Morrill’s proposal would be to maintain the setbacks and the public utility easements on the frontage along the north and east sides. He is asking that the setback is allowed to be minimized on the west and north sides. He doesn’t feel like minimizing those setbacks will create any different look.

 

On the north side there is a 15’ public utility easement. On the west side there is a 7.5’ public utility easement. He points out that utility easements are automatically drawn on plans to provide for future growth; however, there will be no future growth here with the Tractor Supply and Ace Hardware properties being fully developed. Water and sewer is in the street. Phone and probably natural gas is in the frontage. Electrical is at the northeast corner of the property.

The water table in this area is close to the surface. Mr. Morrill has reviewed Tractor Supply’s geotechnical report and it shows water at 3 feet below the surface. He was told that the frost depth is 18 inches. Dustin Accord and Blaine Breinholt advised that frost depth is 30 inches. Mr. Morrill anticipates that they will need to put in structural fill. He is aware of the under drains. With Tractor Supply’s detention pond, the under drains were at 5 or 6 feet. This project won’t be going that deep.

 

When Tractor Supply developed their property, street improvements were waived in connection with this lot. Mr. Morrill said there will have to be about 30 feet of asphalt and the sidewalk along 1300 South. The curb and gutter is already in. There is a sewer manhole at the entrance to Tractor Supply. They will probably put a fire hydrant at the entrance and one at the northeast corner of the property.

 

As far as developing 100 East, Mr. Morrill said it would be difficult to do that right now. There is no completed street on either end of this property on 100 East. They might be able to do 100 East after they are opened up and cash flowing. He knows he needs to finish off 100 East in some way, whether the street is there or not; perhaps a sidewalk or curb and gutter.

 

The Zoning Code requires that in the CG zone, street-facing walls are finished with brick, stone, block, stucco, glass, or a combination thereof. The storage unit business is a metal building world. He is not completely opposed to having masonry for the columns between the doors, but he doesn’t want masonry for the headers. If he is required to do masonry headers, then he will probably walk away from the project.

 

The Code allows a chain link fence around the property. However, he thinks he would like to use wrought iron or aluminum for the fence. It would be see through, not a privacy fence.

 

The property slopes from the back to the front, north to south, and so he would do a detention pond on 1300 south and incorporate that into the landscaping. He plans to do some really nice landscaping. The Code requires 10% landscaping. Mr. Morrill stated he can make the property look a lot better with half of that amount. He would like to propose something and have a landscape architect go over it. For the detention area, he might propose having crushed rock in the bottom with perhaps some grass and contour for interest, trees and plantings, real landscaping that has to be maintained. If the 10% requirement can be relaxed, he is willing to take it up a notch in the area where landscaping is done.

 

With the setbacks, if he can’t have the 0 lot lines and a reduction in the landscape requirement, then the 10-foot setback areas will serve as landscaped areas (xeriscape) to the side and the back. He thinks it would be better to have the landscaping in the front creating curb appeal.

 

Chairman Terry said reducing the landscaping would have to be approved by the City Council, but he thinks the right type of proposal would have a chance of being approved by them.

 

The Commission agrees that the 10-foot setback is dead space that is not attractive and would rather see the landscaped area along the street. Mr. Morrill believes he would possibly hit about 5% of landscaping.

Chairman Terry said he feels comfortable giving a recommendation to the City Council that the Planning Commission likes this concept and thinks it makes sense to reduce the setbacks, landscaping requirements, and having metal with masonry columns is satisfactory.

 

The Commission is in agreement with the ideas presented. Mr. Morrill said once he gets far enough to go to the City Council, if they won’t go along with it, then he will do the project but it will be reduced and become much, much less.

 

     D. Shepherd’s Carpet: Discuss requirements for Shepherd’s Carpets to be located on 300 North between 600 and 700 East. Discuss the possibility of using metal containers for a period of time. Dustin Acord and Cayden Acord represented Shepherd’s Carpets. This is a business that sells and installs flooring.

 

Dustin Acord said that Shepherd’s Carpet would like to buy the vacant property located on 300 North between 600 and 700 East. They plan to buy the two parcels on the east side. They originally thought to do a large metal building with stonework and glass; however, they have decided it would be better to start with a smaller building and then a warehouse for phase 2. The building in phase 1 would be a 50’x35’ square, stick frame building with a flat roof to be used for a showroom so they can get their business up and going.

 

They would like to have their entrance off of 300 North which is a UDOT street. That will have to be approved by UDOT. If UDOT is difficult about coming off of 300 north, they will use 700 East for the entrance.

He realizes the Code does not allow the use of storage containers. He is wondering if they could have a storage container for six to eight months in order to store their product while they are building. He would make the containers look attractive and there could be a limitation as to how long the storage containers can be there.

 

They will comply with the landscaping requirements and plan on xeriscaping. The building will be stone, glass, stucco.

The Commission expressed some concern with the use of storage containers. Mr. Acord said they would have two of them and could leave a space between them and truss across them so they look like a building. They can make them look like they aren’t storage containers. He believes by the first of next year, they would be ready to move them. He made the point that if the Commission doesn’t want to allow them to be used for storage, he could call them construction containers and they could be there during construction of the building anyway.

 

Mr. Acord said they will go forward with their plans, and bring in a plan showing the phases, and give a completion date and a drop-dead date for removal of the storage containers.

 

3. Other Business:
The Commission looked at some photographs of proposed carport/solar panels for Days Inn. It doesn’t appear that they need to be approved or reviewd by the Commission so long as they don’t interfere with the clear view area and run-off stays on their property. These will be regulated by the building permit process.

 

4. Adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m.

 

PASSED AND APPROVED on the 5th day of September, 2018.

 

/s/  Michelle Curtis
Deputy City Recorder