Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Oh, that's slide. And welcome to the December 4th meeting of the De Mo City Planning and Zoning Commission. I will start by reading our rules and procedures. The Planning and Zoning Commission is generally an advisory body to the city council. Council will hold a public hearing and make the final decision on all matters before the commission other than site plans and subdivision plats 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 5 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. Um first could we have a motion to approve the minutes from our previous meeting?

So moved. Thank you. All in favor please raise your right hand. Any abstensions? Thank you. And then item number one. Um the applicant has requested to continue this item to the December 18th meeting. Could we do I need to read it into the record? I just need to make sure that our one audience member, you're not here for item one. Just want to make sure. Okay. Okay. Then probably don't need to. Fair enough. Could we get a motion to continue item number 1 to 1218? So moved.

Thank you. All in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion passes and we'll move on to number two. Item two is a request from MF Landf fund, Inc. for review and approval of a public hearing site plan for property located at 1202 Frasier Avenue and for a type 2 design alternative um in accordance with city code to allow a house size of 720 square ft where a singlestory house without a full basement shall be a minimum of 1,200 square ft per city code and Jasmine is going to present this this evening. I apologize if we didn't notice that before.

I'm at level. So that's the only reason why I

Good thing we don't have much of an audience to be I don't I'm nervous to move it now. Okay, there we go. Good evening, commissioners. Jen Kamani, planning staff. Tonight we have a request for a type 2 design alternative to allow a 720 ft singlestory house without a full basement where a minimum house size required is 1,200 ft². This property is located in the Wattress South Neighborhood Association south of Yer Creek north of Kenyan Avenue between Southwest 9th Street and Southwest 14th Street. Staff has analyzed the existing homes on Frasier Avenue with the majority of the homes being split level or singlestory ranch homes. Of the homes being um averaging of the home sizes along this street um on this block is approximately 898 square ft. Currently proposed is that 720t singlestory two bed one bath on slab. If staff is to approve a design alternative um for a home lesser than the required square footage, the proposed home should at least be set up for each home future homeowner success through some sort of expansion or addition or the opportunity to expand. Um, for example, an addition of a garage, whether attached or detached, would likely be in the southeast corner, um, opposite of the proposed entrances to the patio and the front door. Any additions to the current floor plan or the proposed floor plan would require

interior reconfiguration um, in order to expand that. um since the footprint would not easily be expandable with the current proposed. Again, staff believes in setting up the home for the future homeowner. Um therefore recommending denial of the proposed type 2 design alternative. Staff does support a continuation if applicant would like to propose a modified house design. I do want to share some comments that we did receive um via email. Uh we had a couple come in. One of them being um against it if the this lowered the value of the property, her property um the adjacent owner homeowner um at uh 1204. It's the one just west of this property. Um they had some concerns uh about the neglected state and the safety of the property but generally was supportive of the development. Um and it looks like I got a last minute one that's not shared here with us but um the other side of it east side neighbor had requested a fence. Um they also had some concerns about some spotting on the property. So both both property owners to the sides of them had concerns about some of the existing conditions of the site. Jasmine, could you go back to the slide with the the floor plan and just just zoom in so the commission can see it because I think that helps um convey what it what what you were discussing about just setting up a future owner for success on you know the ability to expand this in the future whether that's an addition or with a garage to the rear.

Yeah. So, this side this side would be the driveway here. Um, they have their front front door and then they have a porch to the side. And then going in to the home, you have the two bedrooms on the side with the laundry kind of in that middle section here. So, in order to do any alterations or expansions, they would have to reconfigure essentially bedroom. or if they were to do like an attached garage, they would have to figure a way um into that garage from the side, just essentially not setting up an easy easily available for the future homeowner, right? Or relocate the wander room too.

Any questions? So, if you did not want the garage attached, you could still walk outside to the garage like normal like most houses on this side of town,

you could you could walk around to your to your garage. I would say most people prefer to be a little bit more convenient, but preference. So I think what we're trying to say is if you go go to the site plan, so the patio door, which you know might you might think of as your shortcut to the backyard is on the opposite side of the driveway. So I we were just trying to point out that u the challenges of adding on whether that's a garage or just you know just the layout of the prop you know the house the layout of it is not conducive to thinking about like the future whether that's garage is being constructed in the backyard and you want easy access to it whether that's a future owner adding on um living space. And again, our thought process is really about setting up that future owner for success. It's less about the square footage. Our concern is more about just how it's laid out.

Could you could you just mirror the house so that the like would that satisfy? I think that would be I think that would be a the minimum thing to do would be to slide the house over a little bit. Doesn't look to me like there's room. widthwise for a garage edition with setback. You don't think you get a garage in the rear yard? Oh, in the I don't I I'm guessing most likely it's going to be in a detached garage. It's least expensive. And then the patio if the if the slider was on the right side. Yeah. I mean, I think at a minimum I

then you could at least walk in on that side, right? you would need to slide the house over so the you have some space between the driveway and the house I guess sequence wise though so the because we have open discussion later right but I mean isn't the so right now the clarification though is that we're we're opposed to this because we don't like the look of it but it's on the grounds that it's too small for minimum sizing with no basement is that the logic staff was able to approve of a 10 of a 1,000 square foot home.

Yeah. I mean, I I think Jasmine, you're just that giving perspective as to like what's eligible for administrative relief versus coming here, but this is before the commission for relief to be, you know, less than the standard. Uh it gives us an opportunity to look at it closely. And I think that we should be making sure that we're setting up a future owner up for success. the success of, you know, I think it's highly likely a garage gets constructed someday. Um, it's quite possible that somebody will want to build an addition someday. And so part of the idea of having a set amount of square footage in your in in these houses as a starting point is to make sure that they're you're setting that owner up for success, that property up for long-term success. So, we're just trying to carry that forward thinking through to here. provide flexibility in the square footage, but let's just think about the design layout a little.

Got it. Any other questions for staff right now? Just to clarify, we're are looking at the type two design alternative for the square footage. Right. So, if we were to approve the square footage, the design is still change from now until

Yeah. Yeah. And that I mean that's why we had um there's a couple ways we had actually recommended denial and had encouraged the applicant which um we still haven't heard from the applicant but we had said we would support continuing it and they could come back with a new floor plan or new design. Um, you know, the alternative would be that the commission, if you wanted, if there's things that you knew you wanted, you could make that as part of your motion. You could do a conditional approval that's, you know, subject to it being mirrored or having a door on the side or have, you know, some sort of adjustment. Um, so there's some different ways around it to to avoid what you're getting up.

I had one clarification. You mentioned the average house size in this area, but I missed what the number was. Could you repeat that? 898. And that was an analysis done of the 33 homes that are facing Frasier Avenue. Um, and they do range, I will say, um, significantly. There's only a handful that are under a certain number. I think the smallest being around 400, but it does have a a basement about 120 ft² um, all the way up to,500 ft². the about five that are a little less than um it all kind of starts at 840 ft and then up.

Thank you. Applicant, are you is that you? Okay, please come forward. State your name and address for a record. You have up to 10 minutes and then sign in on that white sheet when you're done.

Okay. I'm uh Mike Faustst. I'm with MFF Land Fund, Inc. Uh, address is 2600 72nd Street, Sweet A, Urbanale, Iowa 50322. Um, I'm just going to start off. Um, good evening to everybody here, uh, city staff, the members of the board. My name is Michael FA, owner of MF Land Fund, Inc. For the past 28 years, I've been in building and remodeling homes in central Iowa. Tonight, I'm asking for your approval and consider consideration for a type 2 design alternative from the minimum dwelling size requirement so we can construct a new quality built 720 ft single family home on the vacant lot at 1202 Frasier. If this was from a var variance standpoint, we believe the hardship is real and we could meet every legal test with regards to 122 Frasier. Number one, given the unique physical conditions of the property, this is a narrow 49 foot wide infill lot surrounded by homes built similar and on similarly narrow or non-conforming parcels. Po poor soil conditions in the immediate area may require expansive expensive over excavation along with engineered foundations combined with the required setbacks lot coverage limits and a onecar garage and code compliant 1100 square ft house becomes physically and financially impractical on this site given current market conditions and immediate comparable properties in the general vicinity. Number two, we believe the hardship is not self-created as the lot was platted decades before the 2019 zoning change and when the dramatic with the dramatic 46% rise in construction costs since August of 2019. These increased construction costs have in essence made the 2019 zoning size

standards incompatible with today's market realities and market valuations. Number three, we also believe the variance will not alter the essential character of the neighborhood. The propo the proposed home is a modest, well-crafted bungalow with a covered front porch, party or LP sighting, no vinyl sighting, appropriate roof pitch, architectural asphalt shingles along with other architectural details that match the surrounding early 20th century homes in the immediate vicinity. This 720t home in essence will replace a constrained vacant lot into a new home investment that is affordable in high demand with architecture that will blend in harmoniously with the surrounding homes in the neighborhood. Number four, we believe this is the minimum variance necessary at 720 ft. The home provides sufficient modern two-bedroom living space while remaining affordable. The design already includes future expansion options for growing families and there are many many homes within the general vicinity that are currently at or below that square footage requirement. regardless of the above. And because staff has correctly classified this request as a type 2 design alternative under section 134.344E, the only question before you is whether our proposal meets the intent of the zoning ordinance and provides an equal or better outcome than strict compliance with the 1100 foot minimum standard. We believe it clearly does and here's why. Given the current lot and grading and soil constraints, the 720 ft home is a better is better suited to this narrow 49 foot wide infill lot in lie of a house with a larger footprint as required by zoning ordinance, allowing a smaller type home will increase green space

between the neighbors and create a affordability of the likes that the city has not seen in years. All while allowing for future expansion of the home by the future owner. This home delivers superior architecture at Craftsman South Bungalow again with a 15 by5 covered front porch, RDLP siding, good nice roof pitch and details that match that the surrounding neighborhood. It includes built-in future expansion options which have been shown which were those were emailed yesterday to city and I have copies for everybody if they want to see three options of how this floor plan could be expanded with an attached garage with a detached garage with a threebedroom with a four bedroomedroom or just expandable living space on its own. Um, most importantly, it creates the exact kind of attainable entry level ownership or future ownership the city says that it's missing. It's something that is becoming nearly impossible under the strict square foot rule in today's construction cost environment. This qu the qu this quality home 720 foot home turns a vacant weed covered problem lot into a brand new energyefficient home with a new taxpayer and an increased property revenue for the city. This is precisely the type of flexible common sense solution the type 2 design alternative process was created to allow. To conclude, since 2019 zoning update went into effect, the city of De Moine has demolished approximately 350 older, naturally affordable homes, homes that can never be replaced at their original price point. We are not asking for a subdivision or a blanket ruled change. All we are asking for is one thoughtfully designed home on one

uniquely constrained lot. Approving this type 2 design alternative will allow a first-time home buyer or a downsizing household to own lease a brand new energyefficient home in a great neighborhood. Something that is becoming almost impossible under the current rules. It will add property tax value to tax revenue, eliminate a vacant lot, and prove that the that De Moines can still say yes to attainable, truly affordable home ownership. I respectfully ask for your approval of this type 2 design alternative for 122 Fraser. I have site plans. I have elevations. I have I have rough drafts available and I'm happy to answer any questions you all may have.

Any questions for the applicant, please? Can I pass these out? You guys Yeah. Actually, why don't you uh show it on the on the document camera and then then you can walk the commission through it. I think it'd be more effective. I guess I don't even know how this thing works.

Well, we're going to we're going to help you. Hold on a second. So, what we have here is option one. I know we have a lot of people on staff here. I'm a carpenter by trade. I've been in the home building business for 28 years. What we have here is not something that makes or breaks any homeowner from being able to expand or achieve an expansion or an addition on this home. This is just one quick option. and I threw out there. The reason we have a hallway right there, well, the the first thing to say is the reason we want to do this is, you know, we're not looking for government subsidies. We're not looking for, you know, any help from city or, you know, taxpayers to build this thing. This is self-funded. That's our plan. That's our goal behind these things. There's a true opportunity here for the city of De Mo to, you know, not look through a narrow lens on just square footage. Like it's and it's easy to do because of the 2019 zoning changes. It's 720 ft. A lot of people look at that and go, "Oh, we don't want to do that. That's a it's not going to create enough tax revenue. B, they're just too small." But these are really popular homes. People need these. I mean, it's not something where people don't want these kind of homes. It allows them to grow into them over time, which allows them to add additions, which creates more revenue for the city, allows them to add garages, which creates more revenue for the city. And I think I think it's a good option given the considerations of this specific lot. Um, for example, so I

mean, you can't really see here, but all you have to do to change this setup, you got an addition right on the back here. Remove that washer and dryer, and that adds two more bedrooms. If if a client really wanted to, they could have they could take this right here and move the laundry here, you know, easy. What would that add to square footage? Oh, I don't know, 3 400 square f feet maybe in the future. Option two. Option two, the same thing. Very simple. Remove the laundry. We make this into a master bedroom right here. This becomes a covered deck area here. All with the same roof line profile. And then what happens here is this turns into the second closet over here. This turns into a laundry area over here. This becomes a hallway with a side door for your garage over here if you need to come off the side. And um you know master bathroom right there. That's an option. Option three. You could put an attached garage on it. You could actually move this according to city building code. If it's not attached to the house, we can move within the building setback line for that patio on this side. If it's concrete, we can do that. We can move this house over to the right. This would give you you have an 8ft and a 7 foot sideyard setback that's required, but you know, for this specific lot right now, we have five extra feet here. It

could allow you to put a single car garage if you wanted to attach it, which would then attach to a hallway, which would attach to your hallway here to get you into the main part of the house and would also get you into your master bedroom, a covered deck in the future. Again, And if you didn't like that option, you could do any of these three options and still have a twocar detached garage behind. So, I think there's a lot of options you can do with this plant. I mean, is it it's not what you normally see. I know I know everybody wants to go in here and see these brand new houses that are,200 square ft. I've been building these houses since since 2014.

Yeah. Jason, did you Yeah, I had just a quick question. Um, and I don't think any of our comments were about the square footage. I mean, one question I have for you is have you, as you've looked at different floor plans, have you seen any I think the biggest thing here is the laundry room, you know, like is there, you know, if you could avoid have to move the laundry room, is there floor plans out there that are similar square footage that are laid out where you wouldn't have to anything that's more plumbing related?

Uh, not for something that small. I mean, we're talking one pipe and can we for reference the cost of moving that's like 500 bucks. I mean, this isn't a lot, is it? I mean, we're moving a laundry thing. I've done that in my house, right? It's simple. It's super simple. It's not the end of the world. And and the thing is, I mean,

some people don't want to most a lot of people in this city can't afford a 12,200 foot house. I mean, just for example, not to keep you going, I just want to say one thing, but real quick is in in 2019, we were building houses before pre-COVID. I could build a 1,700 ft² threecar garage home, sell it to a client for $349,000. That same home today is probably 550. 46% increase in construction costs have happened since 2019. here in the city of De Moine in state of Iowa. So the square footage requirement now as a builder I can't build a 1700T home for a client for $340,000. Now I have to build a client50T home with a twocar garage for $340,000. That's a 35% decrease in square footage. And we're basing your your stuff that's in 2025. You guys are asking for 12, 11, 1200 square f feets when square footage has decreased.

Yeah, I I think tonight I think tonight what we were asking for was just to see if you'd looked for any other floor plans where it was simpler to uh expand that we're still in the same square foot range. I don't think anybody anybody here is arguing with you. No. No. And I know that. But I personally like this plan. And I think it has a I mean for you're really for 720 ft it's tough. You know there's only so many ways you can skin a cat for say per se on a on a house that size.

What do you think about pushing it over to the property line on the side opposite of the driveway and then sticking that patio like basically flipping the house so that the patio door is on the driveway side? I mean tech. Yeah, I mean technically you could Yeah, you could flip it either way. I think the one thing I'm looking at is the way that lot I don't know if any of you guys ever drove by that lot. That lot kind of goes uphill and it kind of veers off on the side. So, you could probably flip it. I don't think it would matter either way.

It sounded like if you were to do that, then you get the patio door facing the driveway. that was going to satisfy some of the desire for that accessibility to that side and you might be able to sort of skate by doing that. Yeah. Why Why do you want your kids to go out the patio door and go into the driveway?

I I don't really want my kids to do that, but if you slid the house over to the property line on that side, then you've got enough room for the patio and then like some grassy space between the house and the driveway. So that's a concern, but it might be avoidable by shifting the house one side or the other all the way to the build two.

Yeah. I mean, we have it roughly I mean I need at least a minimum of and you know staff here, you guys might have a better recommendation, but I mean just from my experience, the minimum like driveway you'd ever want to do on a house is 8 ft. And I think that's tight. I mean you wouldn't want it any less. I wonder if we can flip back to the document or the computer and then go to the site plan. That might help. Oh, there we go. Does that help, sir? Yeah. So, I guess Yeah. So, you have roughly the way the the way, let's see, he has it drawn on here specifically this house plan because he's showing a 5x5 patio. So, the engineer didn't know if that was going to be an attached deck or a detached structure. So if it's an attached structure, then we have to be within the building setback line. That's those dash lines that go all the way around. But if it's concrete and we need to put a set of stairs, a stair and the stairs are detached, which we wouldn't have stairs cuz it's probably slab on grade. We may uh then we we probably wouldn't have to be within a setback line. You'd be able to shift that house either direction.

Yeah. As far as like a set I mean I think you could get down to five feet, right? for the sideyard setback for the house. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the sideyard setback currently for this lot is like 8 foot and 7 foot, I believe. And then, like you said, we're about 5T. The house right now sits about 5T. Yeah. But on a a narrow existing lot like this, we have a lot of flexibility to adjust the setback. So I I think in situations like this, it's pretty common for this setback to get reduced down to 5T, which would still allow you to have windows and stuff from a building code perspective, right? Any other questions for the applicant, Todd?

So it sounds like if we grant the type two, you will work with city staff to resolve some of the issues. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I I would love to work with you guys to figure it out. My biggest thing is I want to keep it here's what'll happen if it gets too out of hand as far as the square footage. I mean home building wise everything's based off square footage, right? Everybody charges me by the square. I'm just trying to keep this from becoming a design session. Oh, we we grant the type to you work with staff so that you meet in the middle. Any design things that staff really wants to, you know, do make this thing happen? I mean, I'm all for it. I mean, all right.

If we can keep the square footage, you know, relatively in line. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. Thank you. Thanks, guys. All right. Since there isn't anyone in the audience, I'll go ahead and close the public hearing. It was the consensus motion to allow for this contingent upon the design to be approved by staff. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. Is that a motion? Is uh the staff have power to do that?

Yeah. I mean I I think what we would assume is that the square footage is set. You know, obviously he could go above, but he minimum, but he certainly would have the right to do and that we would work with him just to kind of fine-tune how that's laid out whether Um, okay. It sounds like he's not aware of like setbacks could be adjusted and I think there's some opportunities to have a win a win-win.

No, I think it's great. I mean, uh, to create an opportunity for a family to be able to afford a home uh, at a good price level. I think it's a it's great that there's developers doing this, not just looking for the the big bucks. So, uh, I appreciate that. So, um, I'd like to hear from the rest of you guys, but I'm, uh, definitely for working with them. I'm in agreement, too. So, why don't you make the motion, Rick? Todd, can you state the motion in a

You want me I'll make a motion. I'll I'll move to um allow the type two design alternative with the condition that the developer works with staff um to resolve some of the minor issues we see. Can I add a friendly amendment that the minimum square footage be 720? You certainly can. Okay. Any discussion on that motion? All in favor, please raise your right hand. Okay. Motion passes. Thank you. Um before we close, I think Jason might have an announcement or

I I Yeah, I have I have a couple a couple things to share on under the director's report. Um, we so we'll be sending out additional meeting invites. I think you've got one recently that's just for the next couple meetings. We were pretty confident that we'll be at the new building and have our first meeting there with this this group, but the second meeting in February, but until that gets a little more firm, we didn't want to like fill up your inboxes with a whole year's worth of scheduling. So, look for more information on that in January. Uh and then the other is I think the last meeting we talked about elections and um had a subcommittee put together. I did double check the bylaws and then what we did last year. Um we we will we need to hold the elections in uh January that the group that's our officers now were elected this January. So um and that matches the bylaws. So we'll get that on your agenda and just remember there's only one meeting in January because of the holiday. So that's all we got. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you.