Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

It's 3:00. Um, we'll call this planning commission meeting for February 3rd to order. Um, I need a approval of the agenda. There's been no change. Can I get a motion for the agenda? So, move. It's been moved. Is there a second? Second. It's moved and seconded. All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Okay. Um, the minutes. Uh, has everybody had a chance to read the minutes? I I don't have any changes to the minutes. Can I get a motion for approval of the minutes? So move. Second. Moved and seconded. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed.

I. Motion carries. We'll move on to public hearings. Uh the first item on the agenda [snorts] is MEL first edition. It's a zoning change from MR3 to LC with a conditional overlay. Chelsea.

Good afternoon, commissioners. Chelsea Leverson with the planning department. Agenda item one is a request for a zone change on a portion of lot 1, block 2, Mel first edition. The subject property is located at 256 35th Avenue South. It is on the corner of 35th Avenue South and 25th Street South. Here are a couple photos of the site.

The top picture was taken from 35th Avenue. It is facing southeast. The bottom picture was taken from 25th Street facing northwest. There is an existing structure on the property. It is currently vacant but was previously used as a school and prior to that it was an office building. The property is currently zoned MR3 multi-dwelling residential. Adjacent zoning includes limited commercial to the south, multi-dwelling residential to the west, and a church zoned public and institutional to the north. The applicant is requesting a zone change from MR3 multi-dwelling residential to LC limited commercial with a conditional overlay. The applicant plans to use the property as a daycare center which would be permitted by right in limited commercial zoning. So on your screen is the draft conditional overlay. It is similar to other overlays you've seen in South Fargo requiring higher design standards and prohibiting some land uses. Um we wanted to avoid creating any potent potential zoning violations on the existing structure. So some of the overlay requirements only apply to new development. Uh we did receive one inquiry about the zone change, but the caller had no concerns. Staff's recommendation is for approval as stated in the staff report and shown on your screen. The applicants representatives and the daycare owners, uh Brook Salisbury and Bobby Horoger are here today if you do have questions for them. That concludes staff's presentation. Thank you.

Any questions for Chelsea? Okay. Uh, any questions for the applicant? Okay, we'll open the public hearing. Is there anyone here that wishes to speak about this agenda item? Seeing none, we'll close the public hearing. What's the wishes of the commission? I'll move approval as submitted. I'll second. It's been moved and seconded. Uh, roll call. Gl., Betlock,

I. Rosenberg, I Cecil I. Stafen. Hi, Tasa.

Tasa. Hi, Mo. Hi, Okay. Motion approved. We'll go to agenda item number two. Christensen's 32nd Avenue South, third edition. A replplot of block four of lot four, block one of Christensen, 32nd Avenue, second edition. Luke,

good afternoon, commissioners. Luke Mormon with the planning department. Item two on your agenda, as you stated, Christensen 32nd Avenue South, third edition. Uh this is located at 3102 36th Street South. If you follow my cursor on the screen, I have uh uh I29 interstate uh showing here to the west of the property. 36th Street South abuts the property. And then we also have 32nd Avenue South as well as 31st Avenue South and 34th Street uh kind of kitty corner on the northwest or northeast corner of the property. The applicant is requesting a minor subdivision entitled Christensen uh yeah third 32nd Avenue South third edition replat of lops four block one Christensen second Christensen 32nd Avenue South 2 second edition [snorts] for some site photos on the top we are uh taking from the intersection of the private drive which is a ingress egress and utilities and um 32nd street which is kind of running along the left left-hand side of the photo and we are facing north. On the bottom, we are facing east from 36th Street South. You can see the commercial development as well as the apartments behind the vacant lot. On the top, we are uh a little further north along 36th Street, again facing east. And then on the bottom, we are uh on the north side of the subject property from 31st Avenue South, uh facing west. You can see the existing storm water pond there. The zoning is GC general commercial with a CO initial overlay. Uh no zone changes proposed and the CO will carry through with the proposed subdivision. Looking at the plat, uh this is replatting one existing lot into a two lot subdivision. The overall boundaries aren't changed, but in the middle

there's a couple changes to the utilities uh or the easements. There's one uh yeah two kind of adjacent easements. One is being vacated since there's no utilities and then the other electric easement is being is intended to be rerouted. So the applicant is coordinating with the util utility provider on that one. Uh applicants also coordinating with staff to update the existing storm water eastment and min plan. So up here is kind of where the storm water pond and eastment is located on the northeast portion of the property. Staff has received no inquiries in response to this project. We find all criteria to be met and are recommending approval. The project representative Chris Mack is present to answer any questions as well. That concludes staff's presentation. Thank you. Any questions for Luke? Okay, thanks Luke. Any questions for the applicant? Okay, we'll open the public hearing. Is there anyone that would wish to speak on this agenda item? Okay, we'll close the hearing on agenda item number two. Um, any other discussion from the commission or do you have a motion?

A motion to approve staff recommendation? Second. It's been moved and seconded. Uh, roll call vote, please. Betlock. Hi. Cecil I. Mos. Hi. Gl. I. Stafen. Hi. Tossa. Hi. Rosenberg. I. Motion carries. Now we have uh item D talking about the introduction of Lost Creek first edition subdivision zone change. And we'll call on Nicole for this one. Wow, aren't we special today? [laughter] Go ahead.

I'm not sure it's that special, but yeah. Um no, uh thanks for having us today. We thought this would be a good opportunity for you all and the public to um hear from the applicants and staff as we process a fairly large uh request for proposal. This is really um the first time that we're applying our growth plan since it's been adopted in 24 to Greenfield development that's not currently within the city limits and that we're exploring annexation and extension of utilities. So, we thought it would be a good idea to um conceptually present this to you so that first you see what we're working on, open it up for planning uh commission discussion again, especially as we're processing new policies as well as listen to and hear from the applicant who can also be here for Q&A as well. So, uh, what we have in front of us is, um, uh, basically 2 miles, uh, west of the interstate and south of 52nd Avenue between 64th and 76th Avenue. Um, we have a proposal for residential and commercial development. And, um, what I'm going to do is walk through a little bit of what we've been considering as part of this review. uh this while this is new for the today's conversation I would say it's probably been over the course of uh the last several years uh between engineering's infrastructure design with the southwest pond and storm water management we've been looking at these four uh quadrants in a master plan kind of way and so I want to walk through how we apply the master plan in a direct application type of type of way So uh just a recap of the growth plan as it was adopted. We are in um what we're calling growth grid A and um subgrid 4.

And the subject property we're talking about is in this uh western south quarter of that. And the premise of the growth grid in the growth plan reference is really to help guide infrastructure development and um applications as we process these. So we can think about the timing of these infrastructure and its relationship. So as a reminder the growth uh plan recommends uh our preferred growth scenario is really only 66% of our future growth to be in greenfield area and the remaining to be in infield or redevelopment areas. Um the other element that is being uh provided here in this map and in the document is uh the place type guidance. And so while you see the colors orange and red and green and purple, you might if you're used to a traditional zoning uh map, you might see those colors as single family residential or multif family residential, but that's not what they imply. Instead, what they apply is place types. So um place type the urban neighborhood is the orange and uh the red is uh mixed commercial and then the uh green is um open space or parks and uh conservation conservation land. Uh one other thing is um the circles I forgot to mention those is really also the growth plan is guiding from a linear approach. So typically we plan our infrastructure and development along the arterials and as we build infrastructure in a linear way which makes sense that's how utilities are laid. Um but we're really looking at where are those community centers and how are we amassing capital to increase density and um um work with each other to to build that investment. So, prior to the growth plan, we had our

uh as engineering started their southwest pond master planning effort about five years ago, we started doing a southwest land use plan in relation to the infrastructure of investment. And so, the green area here is really the southwest master plan or southwest storm water management uh along with coolies or drains that would be connecting into this. And this really is one of the first times the city took such a large mass of area to develop a master plan for infrastructure. And and Nathan and engineering can talk at length about the cost benefits of doing this in a master plan approach as it as opposed to a lot by lot approach. And uh working with land owners throughout this entire four mile area. uh we are uh you know working at reducing financial impacts and looking at again amassing storm water and flood control management. Um the area subject property we're talking about today is this western half of this southern quarter. Um the land area that's surrounding this area is uh this area to the east. Some of the land uses that we were looking at back then even then was kind of a a mixeduse urban area. So this light gray and dark green that property is owned by Sanford right now. We are already planning on that for like a town center type of approach. And so we've been working with land owners in this area for for quite some time. Um as we've been developing this area uh as we look about what's feasible in the area, we're really looking at our transportation network and starting to lay over, if you will, parameters. So obviously our arterials run on the mile or section line and then um the connectivity with the open space and and water and then um the residential category. So even at that time 5 years ago we were looking at higher density of

that brown color that mixed residential density and that orange color and that light yellow would be your more standard single family. So even back then and in fact when we applied for the uh state loans for the stormwater master plan we had to kind of prove up the density need and the geography need as part of that grant application. So uh fast forward to today and the application of the growth grid we prepared this drawing in house where uh we took the storm water um management plan. So the red boundary is the geography of the of the storm water master plan and then um these four sections in the yellow that's the CVY ranch area that you looked at last month and are looking at continuing to look at and then um you know the Walmarts up here the ponds over here this tract of land you know kind of over here is being u what we call the former Hector land uh I believe it's under um title through uh Christensen and Companies. I'm not entirely sure the land ownership there, but then um Sanford area and then to the south here. So really this what you can kind of see in this light or this blue dash area, you can think of that as a swath of undeveloped land. We don't have any we have some light master plans, but we don't have an an owner coming to us and master planning those blocks. That's you're so really the question as we explore this application that we've been talking about in house with our finance and engineering team is um that access to new infrastructure and that proximity to infrastructure is it worth basically to the heart of the question is it worth extending the infrastructure from the CVY ranch area skipping that half mile to get to the western mile and at the staff level we're saying yes we want to

get those single family lots are birth bringing online and going ahead and planning because when you start to think of the design and construction of infrastructure, it takes one to two years to design it, plan for it, finance it, get the contractor on board and build it. And so the developer and the city staff are already two to three years ahead as we look to bringing quote property online for development. Um other things that we're looking at is uh that we'll be exploring as part of the annexation is the cost of services, emergency management, public works maintenance, um the percent of completeness. So we are recognizing there's, you know, kind of large chunks of land that are undeveloped, quote unquote. So this swath I just pointed to and the area just south of the pines. Um right now those developers are pretty much farming that land right now, but they're in a holding pattern. So that brings us to the actual application and uh John and his team can talk about this but really the components that are in front of the applicant and as we layer the land development code, the transportation plan and other uh standards and requirements of our municipal code. Uh the bullet points on the list are what we're asking the developer to meet. So for instance, the vehicular access control along the arterials along Veterans and 64th Avenue, those are tied and limited to certain spacing. The uh alignment of the drains and the trail system, those are tied to existing infrastructure design. The roadway network and the connectivity of collector. Uh normally we would get a collector um at the quadrant, if you will, at the quarter, but given the drains, we have constraints there. So we had to realign a bit to figure out what is that connectivity pattern going to be

as this comes through and connects to the Ky Ranch area and as this comes through and connects north south. Um lastly the uh phasing. So construction phasing and timing of infrastructure is going to be important to learn along the way. And then um one thing that's kind of new that the growth plan will be looking at more specifically is that visionkeeping of both the approval authority that would be us but uh the owner themselves. So speculation versus visionkeeping and um that's a little bit of that financial management to in order to you know you see it all the time the rep the constant replats the constant resonings of parcels in response to the market. um by having a little bit more oversight with these other parameters, it it's to be more in congruent with the market and needs but for a longer value over time. And um so real quick and I'll turn it over to John, but when we apply this is just a bunch of excerpts from the growth plan, but really we're looking at three different questions. Uh first of all, is the application correct in the place type? And so, uh, John very, uh, specifically looked at the proposal and growth grid, looked at the yellow and the suburban neighborhood and the urban neighborhood, allocated that accordingly to the map, and so that's pretty much in line. And then when we look at the red, that's also uh in line with what the growth plan is recommending for land use. It's important to remember the yellow again is not SR3 or SR4, but instead is representing a place type. So, if you jump over to here, we're looking at the transexs. Transex, uh, this grid is in T4, meaning all these different zoning districts are allowed would be allowed by right in T4. And it's really more about the composition and makeup of how those lots go together and how those

land uses go together. Um, the what the growth plan has is example prototypes. So if this were to go on into advanced master planning, what the developer would be doing is working with the planning staff and the engineering staff and other departments on what is that lot layout look like? How does that connectivity of green space? You know, some lots are for multifamily, some lots are for single family or attached housing, that exact matrix and and how that lays out would come to you as a plat proposal. And so that's right at the stage we're at now. We're starting to see some schematic plats. We don't have a plat yet, but uh we'll be looking at that in the near future. And then um lastly, uh what the growth plan has is basically a compos composition mix. And so if I go all the way back to this growth grid, this is that composition mix of land use types in growth grid 4. So you got a little bit of red, a little bit of, you know, a lot of orange and um and John can probably take it from there. Anybody have any questions for Nicole? Nicole, on the grid system on one and two, uh, how much infrastructure, water, sewer, how much is there already?

I'd say quite a bit. Um, I think maybe I would talk to Nathan a little bit to talk about if we're ready for infrastructure. Yeah. So, in terms of the infrastructure available within the subgrids one and two, uh we'd be able to serve any of those areas today. Infrastructure is along 45th Street uh and available to extend into those areas. So, we're not really jumping into a bunch of vacant land. We're we're really just extending it down to four.

Yep. with the master planning we've done and the construction that's been ongoing on the southwest metrop pond that's anticipated to be completed this summer. So then storm water will be handled for all the super grid A. Uh the sanitary sewer is uh all the way down to the intersection of 45th Street and 64th Avenue. So those grids one and two would easily be able to be served and then waters through there as well. So for subgrid 4 here, we would have to extend the sewer and water over there, but as Nicole mentioned, it's approximately about a half a mile and it seems a reasonable for this type of development. And is Cubby Ranch covered pretty much then too. And is that in three, Nicole?

Yeah, Cubby Ranch is in three and uh right now it's being designed through engineering. It hasn't been final through uh the final plat process, but uh engineering has that in their schedule. Okay. Any other questions for Nicole? Okay, John, it's your show.

Commissioners, John Unice, Eagle Ridge, uh Nicole did a a great job of explaining where we're at. Want to kind of take a step back and and maybe ask the question, why why here? Why now? Um you know, the city's made significant investments in the area between Lake Fargo, all the storm water infrastructure that's being installed, the utility extensions that have already happened. and it makes this location specifically prime for for new growth opportunities. Um Nicole briefly touched on this also. It's a it's a timing thing. Um we are we are wrapping up on the east side of the interstate with our final phase of residential and uh once that all those lots are delivered there without this development um there's very limited opportunities for new single family growth in the area. We understand that it takes time from when we start the planning process and the entitlement process till the time we actually deliver lots and we want to make sure that we're ahead of the game so that opening this area up we're not waiting on on getting these approvals last minute. We can work our way through it right now. Um you know it's it's rare that you get an opportunity to to master plan a half section. uh really appreciate the time and and effort that the city staff has taken um and effort that we put in and in and coming up with a concept that that we feel really good about. In addition to working with city staff, we've been working with the park district. We're really trying to integrate the overall trail system into the overall master plan uh that the city and park district has in the area. That's why you see on our master plan, we've got a large central park area that's connected with trail system. So, you're going to be able to go from Veterans Boulevard over to the uh the uh the Channel and and Pond system and all the way from 64th Avenue to 76 with very limited interruptions from a a street crossing. And that's one of the things we take pride in in our developments is trying to create a nice trail system for people to utilize. Um, the other thing

is, you know, we we the way we kind of if you take a step back and look at it from a 10,000 foot view, we had to look at where is the park system going, where are the trails going, how does this fit in with the with the newly adopted growth plan. And really the the growth plan did a lot of the heavy lifting for us on this one. You'll notice there's a significant amount of similarities in in our uh land use locations is what the growth plan actually had. Um, we also understand that there's a significant cost and infrastructure that goes into these and we want to make sure as we lay these as we do this master plan and lay these neighborhood out that that we're getting the best bang for the buck in terms of the infrastructure while still being able to add a little bit of character and and creating some pocketed neighborhoods in there. So, we feel like we've done a good job. Um, you know, the city's made 90 about $90 million worth of investments and growth in this part of uh in this part of Fargo. And we look at this as an opportunity to really uh uh turn those investments into into something tangible and real. [snorts] You know, when when this property is fully developed out, we understand it's going to take some time as we kind of work our way from north to south, but you're looking at over 1,600 homes that are going to be in here and over 6,000 residents in Fargo. And we don't take that lightly. Um, but again, we we feel like we've done a good job managing both the the growth plan, working with city staff, and coming up with something that that I know we're proud of and looking forward to to bringing a platin zoning in front of you guys here in the uh next month. So, with that, I'll open it up if you guys have any questions. John is now into the city.

Uh there's a portion that's already in the southern half I believe would would need to be annexed, but um a good chunk of the property already is in the city. And then what's what's your phase plan? Are you looking at just bringing in this the first section where down to whatever it is 68th Avenue? Is that

Yeah. So, our our first plat uh would would include the area that you can kind of see a little more detail in the lots. Uh the rest of it we would we would basically leave unplatted. We would we would come in and and plat the majority of that park as well. Maybe not the east west trail connection, leaving ourselves a little bit of flexibility as we work our face uh our way through these different phases, but um the I'll say that the north quarter of the property would be would be platted and zoned at this time. But you're planning on bringing in the whole parcel into the city. I'd have to look and see what what parcels are actually um currently sit outside the city, but I believe all for sure the entire platted area would be brought within the city.

Yeah. Is there any questions for John from the commission? I'm just curious, the northern portion where you show the lots in some detail, how wide are the lots? They they vary in width between 50 and 75 feet wide. So it it's not currently we're not planning on having a bunch of 35 or 40 foot wide lots in there. Okay. Thanks.

Maybe I'll bring up a couple things at the staff level. So maybe just uh real quick. Um so this is real still pretty conceptually at this stage and from here you know what continues to happen before you actually see the plat is a lot of design discussion between staff um elements related to what might if a developers agreement is needed or if uh amenities plan details are needed. Um, as we look at all of the, you know, kind of fixed points, we'll probably need to bring back to you conversations about, uh, regulations that maybe conflict with each other or prioritization of of preferences. So, for instance, a growth plan calls for um, green buffering areas, you know, kind of increased green space. How does that get maintained? How who takes care of that? How does those expectations get set forth? Um, as we work through those details, staff's working on those things like the um as uh accessory buildings, conditional overlays, uh elements related to uh quality of the development or type of development, those details will need to be worked out. The other thing we're talking about with uh not only uh Eagle Ridge but other um applications as they come forward now that the growth plan's been adopted and before the LDC is adopted is uh really to the point of the degree of speculation. So, as you see the red corners, um, one of the things we've been playing with, especially on larger tracks, is leaving those unzoned and unplatted until the time of a development application actually makes sense and so that we can work through the the levels of design detail or uh, parameters related to the future LDC. Um, that's somewhat questionable of, you know, what the right approach is for there, but it's the idea that we're all talking about the same thing. What tended to happen, we don't have maybe have this quite as much, but when you're in a fast growth area, I mean, Selkerk

is kind of an example of that. Sell Kirk one is, you know, the developer, previous developer had a vision, you go and build the infrastructure and guess what? All of that infrastructure has to be redone to some degree. And so, that's just a lot of wasted cost um based on chasing a market that maybe isn't there. And so, how do you tie that in together? We'll have a lot more opportunities as to talk about those components with CZB team as we do the LDC. But just those are the kinds of things we've been thinking about. Anybody else have any other questions for John? Thank you, John. I have a question. Oh, I'm sorry. Ask a question.

Yes, you can. Okay. Um, I'll ask my two questions. Um, John, I want to understand a little bit of what affordable housing is defined in this um, proposal as I see um, one of the bullet points is affordable housing. And then with our recent housing study, can you tell me how you've looked at, you know, documenting the needs of Fargo and kind of what type of housing we we need and are you kind of addressing any of that those housing needs? Thank you.

Yeah, great questions. Um, on the affordable housing uh component, I think that there's there's two facets when you talk about it. I I like to talk about affordable housing as as attainable and market market rate driven as opposed to um maybe more subsidized type housing which is its own own unique unique style of housing. Um on this by having a variety of lot sizes by having a variety of use types whether it's single family uh town home or multifamily we're able to provide a wide range of of housing options on this property. So, I feel like we're addressing those components. Um, and that the housing needs, I can tell you that that there is um there is absolutely a need for housing in the city of Fargo. We're seeing it with our Selkerk addition. Um, and the reality is within within two years, we're probably going to be completely sold out of residential lots in the city of Fargo. And so that's why we're wanting to come in front of you guys and and get this process rolling so that when infrastructure is ready for us, we're ready for it as well.

Any Miranda? Anything else? Uh no, I just think we got to be careful when we say affordable housing of defining what affordable housing is because many people think affordable housing is is different. And so, um, it's providing a lot of different, um, ranges for housing, but I wouldn't necessarily say it's affordable housing. It's market rate housing, correct? Yes. Yep. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions for John? Okay. Thank you, John. Thank you,

Nicole. since I have you and since I do this all the time, can we get a LDC update?

Sure. Uh yeah, we just got some schedule updates from them on Monday and uh look forward to some communications from us in the near future. uh we will probably uh start to schedule some next round of focus group meetings and uh some of these might be virtual in nature and just to kind of tune you up for that and then uh we'll be scheduling our next code connect uh in the near future we're we're coming to um the uh point where all the components are coming together in a draft if you will and and so um the next code connect will probably be an introduction to that draft um and components with that draft, if you will. Uh I think uh last I talked to Kim, we were going to send out some correspondence on the December code connect where it did highlight uh I think a few of you were on that call, but did highlight kind of the components that are in the LDC, but things are coming together. I know it's been kind of quiet because there's a lot of drafting going on, but um the exciting part is soon to come and we'll be having um probably February, March, April, May quite a bit of um interaction uh related to either virtual or in-person visits.

Okay. Thank you. All right. We're adjourned. Thank you.