Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

City Planning and Zoning Commission. I will start by reading the rules and procedures. The Plan and Zoning Commission is generally an advisory body to the city council. The city council will hold a public hearing and make the final decision on all matters before the commission other than site plans and subdivision flats unless denials or conditional approvals thereof are appealed. The applicant will be given 10 minutes to present the request. proponents and then opponents from the public are then allowed to speak in that order with each speaker allowed a maximum of five minutes. The applicant is then allowed five minutes for a rebuttal. The hearing will then be closed and the commission will discuss and vote on the issue. All comments are to be gerine to the item under consideration and speakers are to maintain a courteous manner. Items listed on the consent portion of the agenda will not be individually discussed and will be considered for approval in accordance with the recommendation in the staff report unless an individual present or a member of the commission requests that the item be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately under the public hearing agenda. Uh first up, could we have a motion to approve the minutes of our last meeting?

Thank you. All in favor, please raise your right hand. Okay, motion passes and we will move to the [clears throat] first public hearing item. This is a request from Sherman Lodge number 576, Independent Order of Oddfellows for the following regarding property located at 2340 East 9th Street. Determination as to whether the requested reszone is in conformance with plan DSM. Amending plan DSM to revise the future land use classification of the property from low density residential to neighborhood mixeduse and reszoning the property from N5 neighborhood district to RX2 mixeduse district to allow the reuse of an existing building as a small event venue and Srioshi will present for staff. Thank you, Madam Chair. Srioshi Chakraborti, planning staff. Uh, this item before you for your consideration today is a request for the property at 2340 East 19th uh, East 9th Street. Um, and the request is to reszone the property from N5 neighborhood district to RX2 Mixeduse District. The applicant is requesting to allow reuse of the existing building on the property as a small event space. This is the subject property. It's um along East 9inth Street. This is located in the Union Park neighborhood. This area is primarily residential. I'm sorry. Uh this area is primarily residential in nature. There is some higher density residential um just to the immediate north and west including a children's home um a nursing home, hospital clinic type facility and then a church a little further north but

outside of that it's primarily uh lowdensity residential. The Union uh park recreational uh amenity is further south of the property. And so um the area in general is zoned N5. The existing use on this property is a fraternal um organization that that has been utilizing this building as a small uh event/activity space for uh for their organization. It's a legal non-conforming use within the N5 district. All right. Um so this is just some background information that the applicant submitted with their reasonzoning request just gives some information on what they are intending to do. Here you can see the project description, some information about the site and uh what they are planning to use it for in the future. This is also a concept sketch that was submitted by the applicant. Please note that this is just a very um very high level concept sketch, not a site plan, but kind of shows the intent of um of the um of the future use of the property, which is to retain the existing building, not to make any changes, but and and then utilize the existing um paved parking area off of East 9 Street. Here are some site photos of the subject property. This is the driveway off of East 19 uh 9th uh street. This is looking north. Another view of the existing building and a closeup of the entrance to the building. Another view of the um driveway that uh kind of wraps around the building.

And this is the uh parking area that is mostly to the rear and side of the of the building. As you can see, currently the uh parking area is completely paved. There is no landscaping. The parking also um immediately abuts the residential uses to the south. You can see there is uh practically very little separation and and and no buffer at all between the the residential use to the south and the and the parking lot to the north of the subject property. And this is just a view of East N Street and shows the um character of the neighborhood and the houses along along the the street as well. The um uh proposed reasonzoning request does um require a land use plan amendment from the lowdensity residential use to neighborhood mixed use. Staff believes that um the requested resoning fits the the intent and character of the neighborhood in general. Uh this is a very smallcale commercial use and it is essentially an um an extension of the existing use non-conforming use of the property but because the proposed use is again a non-conforming use within the N5 uh district. It does require resoning and requires to be brought into conformance with the correct zoning district. However, staff does think that because of the location of this particular uh building, because it's surrounded by the uh residential uses, staff does recommend that um that the property be reszoned to a limited RX2 district, which uh provides some uh restrictions on the permitted use of the property and

also um and also requires that the site be brought to compliance with some of the requirements ments in chapter uh 135 including improvements to the parking lot and providing some buffer uh from the residential uses to the south. I did want to note that the subject property is located within the Union Park special um investment district which does identify goals to activate small-cale commercial uses within the neighborhood which this u proposed use would fit the intent of that particular goal and therefore any reasonzoning opportunities to um to support these kind of small-cale commercial use is encouraged and staff is supportive of it. Should the applicant uh decide to sell alcohol for on premise consumption on the property, they would be required to seek a conditional use approval from the zoning board of adjustment. Currently, the applicant does not have any plans to sell alcohol um for on on premise consumption. With that, staff is recommending approval of the requested um reasonzoning of the property to a limited RX2 district subject to the condition that any use as permitted and limited in the NX1 district or an assembly and entertainment small use. And the second condition is any use on the property shall be in accordance with an approved site plan pursuant to chapter 135 and to the satisfaction of the planning and urban design administrator. The applicants conducted a neighborhood meeting as required for any reasonzoning. They uh received one uh neighbor in attendance and and had a separate phone conversation. Here is a brief summary of some of the um concerns that were that that was discussed with

the applicant and I'll just let you read through this. We did receive a um email from the Union Park Neighborhood Association. The neighborhood association does not have any objections to the proposed resoning. We received a few comment cards as well. This is in support of the request. Another card. And then another card in support as well. This is the consent map. And with that, I'll answer any questions that you might have.

I've got one. Could you elaborate on what we would require for the buffering? Does it have to be a fence or could it just be landscaping the buffering between the parking lot? Do you want me to answer that? Sure. Great. Um, the code would require a fence and landscaping. you know, certainly we can work with them to the code allows us to make substitutions if we feel like there's a reason to. Um, yeah, I I think we'd also have to look at, you know, should some of that pavement be removed, you know, so

yeah, so I I I think we'll balance the um assuming it's all, you know, everything moves forward and staff is looking at site plan, we're going to balance the the needs of both the applicant and the property owner and there's going to be some expectation that buffering is provided at an appropriate level. One more is that that sketch that site that sketch which I realize is not a site plan showed two curb cuts and I only saw one. Is that are they adding another one? We all know how contentious that gets. Yeah. Um we haven't sorted that out with them. I mean that's what they're showing adding a second one. I mean we'll have that conversation with them. There's only one right now,

right? Um, you know, that's the layout of their parking. Actually, I'm trying to quickly visualize. Yeah, this is th this is not exactly scale. Yeah.

Yeah. Um, and based on the just based on the approximate measurements, they they don't meet the spacing requirements for for two driveways. So, that's something that will be reviewed during the site plan. And if they don't meet the spacing, they cannot do it. Uh I I have a question about the small um zoning. Does small quote unquote have a maximum number of people that can be you know participate at one time for an event in the building? And what if there is what is the maximum number? It's up to uh 2,000 people. 2,000. Okay.

Yes. subject to building code. But I I I think you have to you remember the the occupancy is regulated both by what's a very broad number in the zoning code, but also then the um building and fire code regulations. So, um I I suspect this building's not large enough to hold that many, but I could be it's it's about 4,900 square ft² and according to the applicant, you can fit about 40 on-site parking spaces.

Any other questions? Thank you. Is the applicant present? Yes. Uh if you'd like, you can come forward. You have 10 minutes. Please state your name and address for our records and sign in on that white sheet when you're done.

All right. Well, thank you, Madam Chair. My name is Elijah Macharia, and with me here today is Sonia Gains. She is my realtor. Um I do invest in properties uh in De Moines and looking to uh to invest in this particular property for an event space. Uh the reason I was interested in event space and it was set up perfectly for this cuz it was kind of built for something similar. Uh it's because I realized that whenever folks want to do baby showers, they want to do small weddings. Um the spaces that are in town are pretty expensive and sometimes it's hard to get into their schedule. So I figured we could we could come in and fill that that space a little bit. The biggest concern that folks had was uh will this will this be a nuisance? Will we have concerts and and cause a ruckus in the neighborhood? And uh we guarantee them that's not what we're going to do. So, uh we will not be getting an alcohol license. We will keep hours of operation that are not going to go late into the night. If we have small weddings, we'll be required to have um an offduty police officer there. Uh so, a lot of these things uh made folks pretty comfortable cuz we had a a meeting, a neighborhood meeting cuz I had to send letters out to the neighbors and uh I I got phone calls afterwards. those who couldn't come to the to the uh meeting at the coffee shop uh called and we discussed and the biggest thing was was they wanted to make sure that it's not going to become a nuisance. Um and yeah so the so yeah we looking at uh small corporate events uh baby showers graduations uh small weddings uh stuff like that.

Yeah. So any questions? Any questions for the applicant? Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak in favor of this item, neutral or opposed? Please come forward. Also, state your name and address for our records and sign in when you're done. You have up to five minutes.

Uh, good evening. My name is Ryan McDonald. Um, I [clears throat] live at 2323 East 9inth Street, which as you can see on the map is just to the southeast of the property across the street. Um, and I guess I'm going to speak in opposition of it. Um, I can't comment on the intent of the folks who have presented this plan, but what I can give you is a little bit of history of the property. Um, I've lived in my home for about 10 years. Um, the International Order of Oddfellows in the past has rented this space out to other groups who have had different kinds of parties. And so, probably for a 2-year period, um, there were parties frequently on Friday nights and Saturday nights. Police were called, there was alcohol there. I don't know if they were in violation of zoning restrictions previously in enabling events like that to happen there, but it was becoming a nuisance. Um, I think another group they rented it out to during the day, there were issues with cars parked that were encroaching on neighboring properties like 2320. Um, and then at least in the nighttime events, the noise and base thumping was so extreme that like my kids couldn't sleep. And so I doubt that folks in the nursing home. I doubt that youth in the transitional home to the west of the property were able to get much rest either. And so I don't know even honestly who owns the property now. I don't know if if they're buying it or or what the situation is. Um but it was a nuisance for a long period of time. Um I would suggest that parking I don't know all the codes and things. I would suggest that part parking is drastically inadequate for the space and East 9th is

a fairly big or busy street and so when events were had there the parking lot would quickly fill up. There's no way there's like there's no way you can get 40 cars in that parking lot. Like that is a dream. Um and so the street gets clogged up. cars on both sides. Visibility is trashed and there, you know, almost some accidents and fender benders as a result of that. Um, the property is not really in good shape. There's like a rotting shed type thing on the back of the building. Um, so I don't even know if it meets the code, but that's probably beyond the scope of this discussion. So, um, all I want to say is historically, um, events, um, held there have been poorly administered and have been a nuisance, but it's largely sat empty for probably 2 or 3 years now. I don't even know if the fraternal organization is still functioning, but it would be my opinion that you should not change anything. I mean, in a perfect world, I would prefer it be bulldozed and invest DSM build three houses because you could easily get three plots on that land. So, um, that's what I would like to see. But, um, yeah, that's really all all I have to say. I guess questions for me or is that I don't know if that's how this works. So,

thank you. Um applicant, you do have up to five minutes if you'd like to respond to any of those concerns.

All right. Um yeah, so same um concerns were raised uh by others which was nuisance. Um and we I I wish we had met uh earlier uh when I sent out the uh because the same the same issues were raised. Um we will not be having parties. Uh there will be no alcohol sales. Uh the place will shut down by 10:00 at night. Um we will focus on only allowing familyfriendly events and corporate events. So we will not be doing, you know, concerts or or any of that stuff. With regards to parking, um I noticed that we don't have uh very well marked parking lot. It was kind of just, you know, so if it's not organized, you can't get enough cars parked in there. But if you once we have a site plan and we have somebody come in and be able to to mark that out, I think there'll be a better way to park cars on the parking lot. So we uh we will take very seriously um making sure that that space doesn't become a nuisance to the neighborhood. Um and I believe we have everything that we need to make sure that that's the case. Um including the security um with offduty police officers as well. So um then there's the buffer that I think when we were talking initially uh there was a suggestion that we should have a fence as well and some trees uh spread out so many feet um and that would add an extra buffer between um especially I do believe it's between the the building and and his house. So we we will have a buffer fence as part of the requirement uh of the landscaping uh that we're going to do going forward. So yeah.

Oh, there is one question for you, I think. Go ahead. Y So, uh I'm Matt. Nice to meet you. I um so I might have missed it, but you have the property under contract right now. Yes, it's under contract. Uh contingent upon the approval of this council. Um Okay. If it's approved RX2, they will go ahead and close on the property. If it's not, there's no need to uh own the property. Yeah. So for ownership, we're not just renting the place. Uh we are buying the place. So with with ownership, we will make sure that our property is very So you're buying it from the people that Exactly. that had the Yeah. From the order of history. Odd fellows. Yes. Yeah. You're not affiliated with them? No, not at all. Got it.

Never heard of them until I went to buy it. I was like, "Oh, Odd Fellows. Interesting." Got it. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, I'll close the uh public comment period and open it up to the commission for discussion and votes motions.

I uh I'll just comment that uh I do understand the neighbors concerns and appreciate him voicing those, but it does seem like a good project and it's in a neighborhood that needs something like this. So, um I am in support of it. So, if any of my uh fellow members would like to comment or make a motion such as certain people who may be their last meeting, that would be wonderful.

Um I frequently run by here with our chair, our chair, Leia. Um and I do think it would improve the neighborhood as well to have that fixed up. So, I am also in support and I would move staff Any discussion on that motion? All in favor, please raise your right hand. Opposed. Thank you. Motion passes.

Just to clarify for that, I heard it mentioned um I want to make sure you understand this is they're making a recommendation to city council. They'll ultimately make the decision. Yep. Okay. Just want to make sure. That's the 25th, right? Okay. We have three orders of business. The first is that it seems like our next meeting may not happen because we don't have any items on the agenda. So, keep an eye out for further instruction about that. Uh without with this item not getting if the only reason it was going to happen is if this item got continued. So, um the meeting is cancelled. We'll be sending out notice. We had no items.

Okay. Uh number two, we will be in our new venue at the new city building downtown for our next meeting and I think we'll get further instructions on that topic as well. Hopefully by uh early next week at the latest.

Great. Um and then last but not least is that this evening is our last meeting with Emily Webb. Emily has served on this commission for seven years. She's on many other boards throughout our community. So, I want to personally thank you for your service here and in other capacities around our community. And I believe there is a certificate for you and for John. Is this your last meeting too, John? Yes, it is. It is. I know I'm a bit of a shorttime. I think I've only been about nine months, so I don't expect anything at all, but it's been a pleasure to serve with all of you. Certificate.

Oh, well, I appreciate it. Really do.

And if you would like, if both of you would like to say anything to this crew, the floor is yours. Well, I brought cupcakes. So, if you're v if you're voting, um uh I did bring cupcakes and there's it's a three-fold reason, which is it was my birthday on Tuesday and it's my last meeting and it's our last meeting here. So, there's a lot to celebrate and I felt like it was a good time to cut ties um given that I've only been in this room and I don't really want to be in a different one. But um I've been serving for almost exactly 7 years. I started in 2019 and we went through COVID and that was interesting. But um I feel like I've grown up here with the city. I this was one of my first public service opportunities and I incredibly grateful um to have been a part of all the good work that happened here. But good work is only done because of really good people. And so I'm so thankful to have met the staff and all the commissioners here. Um thank you for your relationships and for um for attending for um putting your hearts and souls into this work. So I really appreciate it. I know it seems like it doesn't matter sometimes, but we know this stuff really matters and makes an impact. So um don't be stranger. Uh I'll always get coffee with any of you. So I'll miss you. But I do think I can find um some things to do on Thursday nights. So, and don't forget a cupcake.

I cannot top that. Um but I would love to be on this commission for many years if I could. I'm actually I'm moving to Ankeny. Um don't hate me for that, but I'm excited to to to move. But thank you. It's been a pleasure just serving with all of you and and I'm a little bit of a dork. I'll probably be watching on YouTube still. So, thank you. Okay. Anyone else have any other items? Great. Meeting is a journ.