Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I'd like to welcome everyone to the January 26, 2026 uh city of Gardener Planning Commission meeting. Uh could you all please stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Start with commissioner roll call beginning on my right. Commissioner Lans present. Commissioner Vander present. Commissioner Sza present. Commissioner Colmes present. Commissioner Berg present.

Commissioner Oluchi present. We have a quorum. Moving on to the consent agenda. Um, all matters listed within the consent agenda have been distributed to each member of the planning commission for study. These items are considered to be routine and will be enacted upon by one motion with no separate discussion. If separate discussion is desired on an item, that item may be removed from the consent agenda and placed on the regular agenda. Are there any items a member of the planning commission would like to remove from the consent agenda?

Okay. Um, hearing none. Um, can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Second. We have a motion by Commissioner Aluchcci with a second by Commissioner Combmes. All those in favor? Opposed? Abstensions. Motion carries seven to zero. Okay, moving to the regular agenda. Item number one, uh, security first of gardener site plan. Um, I believe this item is getting we're it says here the applicants requested this item to be tabled and brought back at a future meeting. No vote is necessary.

So, we will move on to uh regular agenda item number two, Magnolia Fields. This is a reszoning from RP2 to RP4. Um this is has a preliminary development plan preliminary plat and this is also a public hearing item. Is the applicant here for a presentation?

Ready. Good evening. Matt Sish with Engineering Solutions 50 Southeast 30th Street Lee Summit Missouri. I have the developer with me as well. He'll take on part of the de presentation tonight. We'll kind of walk through the project. Go to the next slide. So the the project Kimley Horn did the traffic analysis out on 167th. Loan tree development will come up and speak in a second. Spencer will then engineering solutions. We take care of all the the site and the civil side of it. Uh so if you will, I'll let Spencer come and talk about himself and his company and then I'll come back and talk about the project. Thank you, Matt. Good evening, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here. Uh, as Matt mentioned, my name is Spencer Jarvis. Uh, here representing Loan Tree. Um, also with me today is our CEO, Jenny Nielson. We're based in Utah and we're excited to have this opportunity to um, be a part of Progress in in Gardener. Um, can you go to the next slide? Thanks. So, um, just wanted to introduce ourselves and give you a little bit of a background on who we are and kind of what we're about. Um, as mentioned, um, the name of the company is Loan Tree. We have the capacity to, um, handle development projects starting from land acquisition and carrying through all the way to, um, construction, vertical and and horizontal, including then, um, property management at the end. Um, and as I said, we're we're based out of the Provo, Utah area. Um, next slide, please. Thanks. We've uh we our our background is that we started in the temporary housing area um and spent many years building homes for uh oil and gas companies around the country and and even some outside of the the company um or outside of the country. And then more recently, we shifted our focus to what we see as the

growing need for affordable housing throughout the the country. Um, and we decided to specialize in midsize markets where there was a clear need and where we could um um coordinate and cooperate with cities who had a desire to grow and and do something about the affordable housing issue together. Um, and so we're currently focused on markets in the Midwest and we've got several projects. If you go to the next slide, as you can see, we have several projects throughout the country, including a couple in Washington, Kentucky, um Iowa, and then of course here in Kansas. Um as I said at the beginning, it's a pleasure to be here. We've really enjoyed our experience so far working with the city staff. Um we feel a real desire in Gardener to um to improve the city. We feel uh the sense of ownership that that the community and the staff have here. and um we're excited to be a part of that. Thanks.

So, the project itself sitting generally at the northwest corner of Gardener Road 167th. Uh directly on the corner is a piece of property that is not owned by us. It's directly to the west north of uh the existing Sunset Ridge single family development. Currently, the site zoned RP2. Um some time ago, I believe in the early 2000s, there was a plan for a duplex community um similar in nature, but we've taken some uh changes to it that we believe added some more amenities and green space to that side of it. The site generally is just shy of 18 acres. We're proposing 59 lots, again, duplex community, so 118 total units with a common area of about just a little over two acres uh kind of dispersed through the site. The use we're proposing is the duplex compact within your development. And we'll talk some of that of kind of the difference between a duplex and duplex compact. The comp plan that you guys currently have is that area is a low density residential area. Um, but as we look at the zoning map in a second, you'll start to see some of the areas have started to develop. Go to the next one. It started to develop in different ways. So, more of a hard commercial corner at the northwest corner of 167, the gardener, RP3 to the south, RP2 to the southwest. Um, again, kind of northeast of us is RP3. So, it's beginning to develop in a little more of a um not high density, but high her density than the low density I think the original comp plan had shown kind of as we continue through that that corridor and that area. So, as we started to talk through, as we looking at the options of your code having duplex or duplex compact and kind of the zoning choices we made, we provided in here straight out of your code, the zoning districts you have that start to talk about the slot standards, the setbacks, and at the bottom, you'll see how we fit and comply. We kind of fit kind of in the middle ground. So, is a a duplex standard is typically 5,000 square feet per unit or 10,000 square

foot lots. Our lots are averaging about 8,200 square feet. The duplex compact then is 6,000 square foot um on that side of it. So we're kind of in that mid ground of where it sets or yeah 3,000 per unit on that side. The lot sizes then the minimum lot width we're going to sit to the standard of 70 foot which is your duplex standard versus the duplex compact. And as you go on the building coverage we're kind of in the middle. the front setbacks, the side setbacks were generally in compliance with the duplex on the side or the setbacks. And as far as the building height goes, we'd stay in that same um height standard that meets in your duplex zoning code. This would be a view from the site sitting kind of at the southwest side of it looking to the northeast. So again, Sunset Ridge is there to the right side of it. We're on the development kind of behind the power lines on the left side. Next one. So this is now in the southeast corner kind of looking back. And again, Sunset Ridge is on their left side of your site. Now, we're kind of on the southeast corner looking northwest into the site. Overall, the development will access 167th and two access point locations. One that's directly across and matches up with the development to the south. On the easterly side, you'll see some of that crosshatch that we've shown in there for a future roadway that would allow access to the commercial or whatever ends up being on that hard corner. But our access points will be directly off 167th and come into the site. We provided about an acre on the southwest quarter of our site for green space and then again about an acre in the middle of the site for green space and amenity space. Landscaping will be dispersed through the site that meets your code with an additional landscaping kind of put through that center core to kind of create an amenity space that we feel will uh be a good amenity for the area and a good use for that site. There are a number of deviations that we're going through and asking for on the side of it. We'll go through each of

these. So, there's a lot of verbiage in there and I think in the presentation or the submitt you guys have, you should have the list and the reasonings for it. If you go to the next page, it shows kind of that breakdown of deviations. So, one of the deviations, deviation one is the driveway width. The driveway width in your code doesn't allow um or it's a tighter driveway width, I guess, than what might normally be standard. So, as we started to look at what a duplex would want with a twocar garage 16 foot wide, a standard driveway that we could fit in there would be 20 feet wide. So, we could park two cars on that side of it. Deviation two then starts to talk about the hard spa hardcape out in the front of it. So, again, so again, the surface area as it relates to that driveways are a little bit larger, but as you start to see, there's still a sufficient amount of green space out in the front of each one of these spaces as well as the green space around the building. Deviation three then starts to talk about the amount of garage doors that can be visible from the frontage side of it. So you'll again seeing that we've highlighted the 16 foot garage doors. U deviation four then starts to talk about your code requires a sidewalk that would go from the building directly to the street. Our proposal is to have that sidewalk or the porch exits go onto the driveway so that we don't have an additional hardcape out in front of the buildings. Deviation five then starts to talk about that entryway and as we're starting to show here just giving an enhanced entry um feature. So as the plans continue to come forward we'll continue to develop that but as part of our request we're providing additional architectural elements and pieces in there as part of that deviation. The next one then starts about deviation six. As part of the uh zoning for an RP4 there is an allowance or requirement of green space required. It's 15% of the overall space. We're at 11%. However, because of the reduction in overall space, we've increased the amount of landscape trails in there. We've added in a sports

court in there. We've added some shade structures in there along the trails. Trying to make something that we think the amenity is more useful. So, while we are short on the area specifically, we think we've [snorts] created enough amenities on the site that it should be a good use for the over overall development. With that, we're here for any questions you have. Thank you. Are there any questions for the applicant before we move on to the staff presentation? Thank you.

Good evening, commissioners. Matt did a pretty good job with his presentation, so I apologize if you just heard all this. So, as you know, the applicant is requesting approval of a resoning preliminary development plan and preliminary plat permits for a residential duplex development located north of the intersection of 167th Street and Popler. The property is part of the old Auburn Hills development which was planned for this area but never built at that time. The property was reszoned to RP2 plan two family residential for duplexes. It was sold and divided according to the lines established by the preliminary plat. The property boundary extension to the east was meant to be a portion of street rightway. Water main lines, sewer lines, and storm water infrastructure was installed but was never accepted by the city. The developer is proposing to use the existing sanitary sewer which runs east to Gardener Road, but it first needs to be tested and accepted by the city. All previously approved plans have expired for this site. The surrounding zoning includes R1 single family zoning to the north and to the south. RP3 planned garden apartment residential and CO commercial office zoning is to the east shown in that yellow in the upper right corner and then that light blue to the west is agriculture zoning. The only developed area touching the property is Sunset Ridge to the south. The comprehensive plan future land use map labels the property as low density residential. The R4 zoning district is typically applicable in the medium or

highdensity residential land use, but the proposed density of 6.6 units per acre makes the development more typical of a medium density residential use. The preliminary development plan layout shows the subdivision will be accessed from 167th Street with two entrances. The eastern entrance will be reduced to right in right out access when 167th Street is improved sometime in the future. Along that same street, 10 ft of additional rideway will be dedicated for a total of 70 ft from the center line. This is more than the usual 60 ft of 1/ half of the rideway for our arterial roads, but it's necessary because the Sunset Ridge half portion of the rideway is only 50 ft wide. The internal street layout is the local neighborhood street type with the exception of Pabler Street on the left side, which is a collector and will continue to the north. 25 ft of rightway is proposed to be dedicated at the southeast corner to allow access to that eastern property which is currently zoned the commercial office. The site is proposed to be developed as a singlephase with 59 lots and 118 units. Um I would like to point out one correction. The staff report states the lots are a minimum of 58t wide but the actual minimum lot width proposed is 70 feet. The smallest lot size area proposed is about 7,500 square feet. So the 70 foot width is wide enough for RP2 zoning, but since the lot size is under the 10,000 square ft required by duplex, it then makes it the compact duplex type, which is only allowed under the R4 zoning. And then because they're requesting deviations, that's where we

get the planned district and the RP4 zoning. Tracks A and B in green will be owned and maintained by the homeowners association. Tract A to the west will be used for storm water detention and also contains a walking path around it. Track B in the center of the development is [snorts] open space and has two pavilions, a pickup ball court, and a walking trail. The plans are in general compliance with the code with the exception of the six requested deviations. Um, I won't go over these in detail since Matt already mentioned them. Regarding the building deviations, typically we get those with the final, but the applicant requested them at the preliminary stage and then provided justification for what they would be doing to the building permits, the features they would add. And so staff is comfortable with granting them at this stage. Staff finds that with the proposed conditions, the plan reflects generally accepted sound planning and design principles, provides access for adjacent properties, does not deter any existing or future development on adjacent lots, and achieves the code intent to minimize the number of lots and is consistent with various policies in the comprehensive plan to support future growth. Staff recommends approval of this development and there are two motions needed for this item. The first is for the resoning and preliminary [snorts] development plan. As a reminder, the planning commission makes a recommendation to the governing body for these two. Uh staff recommends approval with three conditions. First is to ensure the site meets storm water requirements. Second is to ensure the existing sewer meets city requirements. And then the third is so the building elevations comply with the deviation requests.

The second motion is for the preliminary plat which the planning commission is the decision making body for and staff recommends approval of that with one condition. I'm available for any questions.

Um any questions for staff before we open the public hearing? All right, with that, um, this item requires a public hearing. We will now open it. If anyone in the audience would like to speak regarding this item, um, if you have not already done so, please write your name and address on the sign-in sheet at the back of the room. When you come up to the podium, please state your name and address for the public record. Individuals will have uh, three minutes to speak. A speaker representing a group such as an HOA will have will be allotted seven minutes. Please address your comments and any questions to the planning commission. Any questions raised by those speaking will be addressed at the conclusion of of the public hearing. Is there anyone wishing to speak on this item?

I see him signing sir in the back. Sir. Yes. Yes. Okay. So, you can Oh, yeah. finish. Okay. Yep.

My question is Yeah. name and address.

Gary Sparks. 16530 South Gardener Road, Gardener, Kansas. It's a big two-story stone house stuff. The when when my dad sewed this part of it, he got the La Hospital bought that corner on 167th and stuff to 16 point acres. And then when this all got divided up by the developer, my dad got beat out of the second third payment. Never never transacted and went through the sheet and letter that I got shows where they come in from Gardener Road, their east entrance, and didn't show these two south entrance coming into the duplexes. It just showed the one coming in and and stuff. And that right away it's 6 and a half acres there or 6 point 310 acres is commercial ground and stuff where they had to where we allowed them to put the sewer and stuff in through the farm. And I I'm opposed to this right away coming in from gardener road because then it takes takes all my easement out of my yard. Yeah, we'll definitely ask. Um, do you have any other uh questions or comments or concerns? No, I I just I just seen that they had two entrances coming in from 167th and that wasn't presented on my paper that was mailed out to me

and that's why I have questions and stuff easements on stuff on that lotment there. That's all I have. Thank you. Does anyone else uh wish to speak on this item? Okay. Um seeing that no one else is approaching the podium, is there a motion to close the public hearing? So moved. We have a motion by Commissioner Oluchi, a second by Commissioner Berg. All those in favor of closing the public hearing.

I opposed abstensions. Motion carries seven to zero. Okay. Um let's begin um with uh commissioner discussion on my right.

So I'm I'm a little confused on the deviations one and two. The numbers and percentages match it up. Does that make sense? Does Am I the only one that goes on to add up to Yeah, the developer presented 20 foot wide driveways, but staff, you said they were going to be 18 foot wide, and then the percentages didn't don't match up with 70 versus 59 ft. So, I just wanted some clarification on that.

Yes. So, and the developer can correct me if I'm wrong. They have 16 foot wide garage doors. The intent is to have an 18 foot wide driveway. And when I talked to the applicant on the 20T they were requesting, it just gives them a little bit of wiggle room because this is right at the access point where it meets the rideway, the street rideway. And so then their proposal is to just kind of remove the 15% maximum requirement and leave the 20. Okay. And for deviation two, that's in regards to the actual hardscape amount. So that's the front yard. What percent of the area can be covered by concrete or hardcape rather than grass? Okay, that's all that's those are the questions asked. Um, I just have a question uh to staff about the square footage. I understand that for duplexes the minimum is 10,000. I guess this one it's only 8,000 something.

Yes. I I just wondering why we agreed to I know this is I I don't remember seeing is it called this one it's compact I just want some clarification why the city would you know accept such a smaller [snorts]

the residents and people complain about the square footage getting smaller and smaller and then we decided to go with duplex compact it's even smaller than require just wondering is this the trend or

so too from the code aspect there are two different sizes that the Guardian Municipal Code has. It's duplex, which is a 10,000 square foot minimum, and then duplex compact, which is 6,000 minimum. Under the 10,000 regular duplex, that's allowed in R2 and higher zoning. Duplex compact has to be the R4. And so they're proposing about seven and a half thousand square foot coat lots which then because it's under 10,000 requires a duplex duplex compact lot size. As for why they chose 7 and a half thousand versus 10,000 that's a question for the developer.

I was just curious. I mean we're squeezing things smaller and smaller. Just wondering is this something that you guys seeing nationwide or is it It's just a trend or I don't know just curious.

Yeah. [clears throat] So, so the reason and kind of discussion as we kind of walk through the code and allowances on that side of it is the tendency in in these users is that the yard specifically around the unit is not necessarily where they're going to go do any of the activities. So if you create the amenity space like the trail and the center corridor that we have, we find that we have a better community when you have the opportunity to kind of come and participate there together. So is the trade-off is the yard around the house where you have to do maintenance where typically in something you only own a half or have half of a unit on that side of it. is that that community space can be a larger space where you can actually have, you know, a soccer game or throw the baseball a little bit better than you can on some of these yards when they're just so um near each other on that side of it. So, as we looked through it and found the u code allowance of the duplex compact, it allowed the opportunity for us to push some of the lots tighter together around the lot, the building itself, but again create kind of this what we believe more of community nature with the amenity on the southwest and the trail kind of through the middle that kind of ties everyone together is the idea. So it is something that we are doing more and more on projects because we're finding people are concerning themselves less of having land or ground and more

you know amenities is the idea. Yep. Okay. Thanks for the clarification. Sure. Can I ask five? [clears throat]

Yeah. And so then that goes to the code. Your code has a requirement when you switch up and do the compact, it increases the amount of green space. And so to counteract that idea, the idea was we added additional amenities within the green space where we've added the sports court, added the trails, and then added in a couple of those shade structures on the interior side of it. So staff does the the trail and the cover shape providing court against

No, it doesn't. Um, to Matt's point, if this were the I believe the R2 zoning, they'd have a 10% requirement, but since they're the R4, it bumps it up to 15%. So, they're at 11% and so it's more than the requirement for the R2, but less than the R4. And so that's where the amenities they're proposing from staff's perspective we think is sufficient justification for the deviation request.

So could could we see the table from your presentation that showed the various zoning and requirements and then your I believe across the bottom were averages. So yeah, I tried to average as best I could. So like kind of all the areas and pieces of it. I took the tops and the bottoms. Jesse had given you I think the minimums that we have on any side of it. So we've kind of given it to you. Let's see.

So yeah. So what I did so where Jesse was commenting that like 7500 square foot that's our absolute minimum lot we have.

If you average out all of our lots 8,200 square foot. And so, like I say, we kind of fit in a middle ground between both of them and tried to find what we thought were the most um reasonable aspects of both of them that we thought made sense to kind of create the development is kind of how we made the layout. So, so yeah, what we tried to demonstrate is that minimum lot size on ours is 8,221. Our minimum lot width is 70 feet. Our minimum building coverage is 47%. The front is 25 ft. The sideyards are five foot. Corner sideyards are 10 foot. The rear is 25. And then the building height I think actually that's a misprint. We should be 35 foot which should meet your code for the duplex and duplex compact on that side.

Uh and one more request I think it's just a few slides later. It's the layout of each deviation that the applicant. though. And so this one I tried to do just a typical lot and and try to show them all as far as as where they would go. No. So first off, this level of detail is quite helpful. I would just say thank you and good work. Thanks for bringing that back up, staff. Uh I don't have any other questions. Thank you. I have two questions for you. Tract A is a storm water retention pond. Yep.

Is that going to be a dry pond or is that be wet? Dry basin. Dry basin. Yes. The second question is from your one of your first slides you showed you have from buying until maintain. Is this one that you're going to stay as the owner and maintainer of the properties? Are you selling it? This one will be sold to a builder to come in and build the duplexes. Correct. So the duplexes themselves will be owned by the occupants or owned they be rented for sale. Y okay for sale. Yes. All right. Thank you. Y

no I I do have maybe just a point of clarification. Uh so saw the two entrances very clear on that the the narrow corridor section. Could you talk a little bit about what's going to happen with that? Yeah. So, so to to the neighbor's point, the access point will be off 167th only. There is a half right away that appears it would have been a half rightway that goes east out to Gardener Road.

Yes. Our intention on the preliminary plat is we're creating a tract for that piece of ground and to whomever purchases, develops or designating to the east and south or the east and north that ground would be available to sell to them or give to them or however it would be. We have no intentions to do anything with that ground other than clean up whatever this odd shape was that got created. So just so that I'm clear eventually obviously at the point of sale uh that narrow corridor will be purchased is what you're saying and

yeah we're going to create it into a tract and so then it just becomes a um it's a pretty useless piece to us and it could like likely be useless to anybody else but it only makes sense for whomever is developing south or north of there, right? So, I don't want to give away the developers position on it, but I think that there's not much value in it for them either. I think it'd be a preference to find whomever wants to develop and take that over to do something with it more appropriate more appropriately than keep a 12oot sliver. And so, you just answered my my other question. The final one is just I know this is the third time, but is not your intent to to keep and maintain that. Obviously, it is to to sell it once,

right? The intent would be for it to go away. Okay. No, no other questions. Thanks. Questions at this time. Can we go to the uh landscaping plan or you had I know this is I know that's typically like a final development, right? Um I've heard pickle ball courts can be noisy in neighborhoods. Um I guess what kind of like fencing or uh shrubbery or I guess do we need do we need to look at adding I guess did you look at that? Um so there's some lots that are pretty close there.

Yeah. So I I think that we are keeping the description. I know we call it pickle ball court and that likely could be it or could be a sports court that could be convertible into different couple uses on that side of it. Um but yes, we we are also hearing as time goes on that we'll continue to evaluate whether that's the right court type for that location. Some type of an activity court will be there in our opinion. Um but yeah, if if the pickle ball is there, uh the things we have used is they have some low netting that can go on the fences that will help to keep some of the sound down. It won't end all of it. additional landscaping on that residential side will help to do some of it. But um but yeah, we're going to evaluate the final decision on that one of of what it'll be. But something Yeah, I agree with you. We're hearing more and more as developments keep going on. Everybody loves pickle ball, but nobody wants it in their backyard. For sure.

Yeah, that's that's what I that was going to be my comments, I guess, for the final look at maybe like some some more landscaping there. Yeah, I appreciate that. Almost wants um another question I had was um regarding the power I guess I guess two questions. First, the the hatched area kind of along the south and the southeast corner, is that the the additional 10 foot of dedicated rideway?

Yeah, correct. So, the hatch on the south side is the additional 10-footer of rideaway that we're providing to the city for the future redevelopment or development of 167. And then on the east side, that kind of kind of little shaped thing is the future access point that will go on to the property to the east whenever and however that ends up developing, giving an option there. Okay, perfect. And then um regarding the power line, was there title work done? Did I didn't see an easement plotted for that power line. I just saw there was kind of the typical, you know, platted utility easement there on the back of the lots. Um

Right. and and there will be there will right now on that south side of our site there's a force main down in there that we're still working on some pieces to make sure that we've got all the easements and portions shown but we've created easements just in case something doesn't get covered power lines on the south side are in the rightway um but should and we've talked to staff about that anything get needed to the north and we'll continue to evaluate where that might need to go on that side but currently yeah we've shown an easement on the southside just to protect it but we haven't found one specifically for it yet that needs anything but if needed we'll hope Okay. Just want to make sure it wasn't going to overlap any proposed building footprints or anything like that. Yep. No, it's outside of that for sure. Um, that was all the questions I had.

Good. Yes. I have a staff question. Uh, and I'm sorry. I know we talk about this it seems like every time. uh preliminary versus final flat. We approve both of those not recommend in terms of the motion that we approve both preliminary and final plat.

Thank you. Do you mind slides to the slides?

I'll make a motion. Okay. [clears throat] So the planning commission recommends approval of the reszoning and associated preliminary development plan to reszone 17.9 acres from RP2 plan two family residential district to RP4 plan mixed destiny residential district with the deviations as outlined in the staff report subject to the following conditions items listed one through Second. Okay, we have a motion by Commissioner Combmes and a second by Commissioner Ver. All those in favor?

I opposed. Extensions. Motion carries seven to zero. And I'll make a motion for the preliminary plat. Planning Commission approves the preliminary plat subject to the following condition. Item number one is listed in the staff report and second. Another motion by Commissioner Combmes and second by Commissioner Bird. All those in favor? I opposed abstensions. Motion carries seven to zero. This item will be considered February 16.

Thank you, Maggie. Um moving to uh regular agenda item number three, new trails north third plat um reszoning from C3 to CP3 uh preliminary development plan and final development plan. And this is also a public hearing item. Um is the applicant present tonight?

Thank you chair, members of the commission. Jeff Skidmore with Schllegel and Associates 14920 West 107th Street, Lanexa, Kansas here on behalf of the owner developers this evening and and making the application for this uh next piece of what is the new trails develop at the commercial center uh at the southeast corner of 175th and I35 essentially the exit ramps there. Um there's one piece that's already in place, the uh convenience store, the Philips 66 store that's there and functioning now. Brought that to you a couple years ago and pleased to bring this next piece. Uh this is a 128 unit hotel, co-branded hotel unit on about a 3 acre tract of land roughly centrally located within the within the development. It's not a frontage on 175th Street. It actually uh fronts on what is New Trails Circle, which is a private drive that was developed as part of the original infrastructure out there to kind of establish the grounds and get things moving. Um the proposed uh hotel has access off of that new trails circle again off of that private drive. One to the north and one somewhat to the southwest corner there. Um near the intersection of New Trails Parkway and New uh New Trail Circle. Trying to keep my street straight there. It's not not always easy. Um it is co-branded. um a three ac uh three story fourstory I'm sorry 128 unit um hotel uh four-sided architecture obviously will have a nice presence from the highway or would like to have the nice presence from the highway and also then serve internal to the development in in the area that's that's being developed there um that part of the CP CP3 zoning we're obviously going from a C3 to a CP3 the

hotel use is allowed and correct me if I'm wrong in either one of those. I think getting it to the CP3 just gives us a little more flexibility to work with staff and staff some flexibility to work with us on what we're doing and how we're proposing the site. We do have one small deviation or what we consider a small deviation that we're requesting, excuse me, as part of this approval. Um, it's the code requires eight foot of space between the the back of the curb and the building or or 8 feet of space between beyond the back of the curb. The code typically wants it to be concrete or a concrete sidewalk through there. What we're proposing is to put a five-ft sidewalk at the back of the curb and then have some landscaping between. So, we're providing the 8 foot that's required. Um there's just a we're proposing to put a five foot sidewalk there, have three foot of landscaping that'll hopefully soften the aesthetics up against the building and give us a little more presentation of our building from the parking lot itself. Um other than that, I want to appreciate I just want to extend my thanks to staff. They've been great to work with to getting us to this point. Um greatly appreciate all their work that they've done and their assistance that they've they've provided for us. Um and other than that, I'd be happy to answer any questions. We are in agreement with the staff stipulations and the staff report and be happy to answer any questions that anybody has. Good evening.

Evening. All right. Thank you.

Again, this is uh item three, resoning, preliminary and final development plan for a dual brand hotel. uh as Ariel depicts uh the application for you today again is the for those three applications and are specifically for again the new fourstory 28 room dual brand hotel. Uh let's see the property is approximately 3.2 acres and is part of the new trail north commercial development. Uh the hotel was part of the original resoning uh plan that went before you and the council uh that was adopted back in uh the 2020. Uh the to the north is vacant commercial ground and a convenience store. To the east and south is vacant commercial is adjacent to the uh the Southern Star natural gas pipeline. Uh this development will need an encroachment agreement in order to have their southern south parking lot and possible cross access with the land to the south and this will be a condition of approval. And of course to the west is I35. Uh the dual brand hotel chains that make up those applications uh are staybridge and holiday and express hotels. Uh the proposed hotel is totaling approximately 120 sorry 23,000 square ft and will consist of again 28 rooms and on the landscape uh plan uh shown to provide the minimum required landscape plant materials be uh installed on the site per the land development code. They have added additional planning materials to help break up the large amount of parking on the site. And I do apologize. It's this is a pretty good size site and it's a little

rough to see all the landscape materials, but uh they have concentrated landscaping along the perimeter of the site to screen their parking areas and mechanics, especially on the new trails uh circle side of the property. This is the the west elevation of the fourstory hotel and which is also considered the back side of the structure. Uh elevations. This is the north and south exterior elevations. uh the north elevation which will be most visible from 175th Street which uh they've also provided a lot more variations in the colors and materials along that north side because of the visibility. And then the south elevation uh which is the main entrance of the hotel as you can see from the elevations developer has broken up the long walls with offsets and different materials and colors. Uh main construction materials along all facads are color ephus stone and brick. staff findings that this property is consistent with the uh character of the area and the proposed plan is in line with other recent developments to the I35 and 175th Street subary plan. The architecture and building design along the overall final development plan are in substantial compliance with the code and as Jeff mentioned we do they do have one deviation request. I think he described that in great detail. Uh,

and staff recommendation. If you guys have any questions, I'm available. I think Oh, yes. Yeah, it was uh it was Yeah, I know. That was like two months ago. So, I remember there's a gentleman here. Yeah. Yeah. He's not present tonight.

Do you do you have any pictures? Let's say if you drive on the side, do you I'm just wondering how what you going to see. You're going to see the hotel faces this way, this way. I I don't because everybody complains about statics. You know, you're driving then you see that hotel there. I just wondering how from your perspective driving 170 feet, how you going to I don't know because you know you see this but you can't tell how. Yeah, it's uh Let me go back to the aerial real quick.

Yeah. So you'll you'll be able to see more of it from the uh from the off-ramp and the on on-ramps to I35. Uh, as you can see from soth, you're going to see the side.

175th. You'll see that north side that I was talking about earlier, but also you'll have to also realize that there will be probably four other commercial uses out in front of this that are closer to 175th Street than just the hotels. And we really worked on them quite a bit with the landscaping to kind of uh one screen the parking to screen the mechanics uh kind of give a little bit more character from the public realm. They're in front there. So be seen from

but from the ramp you're going to see the hotel. Yeah. I'll I'll reserve my comments. I'll keep them to myself about

I think I think that'd be a good question for the engineer. Maybe you can speak to that. That was one of my That was one of my questions, too. It seems backwards from what I confused how it's going to look like from Yeah, we were a little confused uh as well, but I think they're wanting that front view from New Trellis Parkway, which is a major going to be a major road through the both not only the this commercial side, which is all on the west side of New Trellis Parkway whereas the east side is the residential.

And this this may be a very silly question, but just confirmation on the landscape with the five foot sidewalk versus the eight that the the three-foot buffer that we're talking about that's in between the building and the sidewalk. Correct. That is correct. consistent.

Uh it's it's the really it's that east side. Uh they don't have any parking along the west side of the of the structure, but they still have the drive lanes. It looks like a lot of the parking will be facing out towards the new trail uh circle on the west side. Um are is staff or applicant have you had any conversations with southern sto southern star about that encroachment agreement? I mean it seems like putting in a storm sewer you know less than 10 ft away from the center easement might be a little

we have had conversations with them. We've we've got a draft agreement in place. They typically want our final construction documents uh before they make that final agreement. Um we've worked with we had to work with them with the convenience store as well. So those are in place and again the finals will be a part of our building permit package that we submit to the city as a condition of our our permit approvals. So yes, we have have initiated those conversations with them.

That makes sense. I guess question for staff. We're looking at two motions again.

Yes. in terms of preliminary development to the council recommendation. I also just want to note you may have seen between the conditions from the November meeting and or that were presented in one page report and tonight's meeting there was some slight modification related to the gas ement it wasn't adding conditions it was when do we need what based on the type of potential that is an issue

I'll make a motion The planning commission recommends approval of the reszoning and associated preliminary development plan with the deviation as requested to reszone 3.2 2 acres from C3 heavy commercial district to CP3 planned heavy commercial district for a new dual brand hotel subject to the following conditions items listed one through three in the staff report second have a motion by Commissioner Combmes and a second by Commissioner Oluchcci all those in favor

I opposed abstensions motion carries seven to zero Okay. And then the final development plan. I will make a motion. So the planning commission approves the final development plan subject to the following conditions. Items one and two listed in the staff report. Second. Motion by Commissioner Combmes, second by Commissioner Sza. All those in favor?

Opposed? Absentions. Also carries seven to zero. Okay, moving on. Or I guess um like you said, this item will go to city council on uh February 16th for the resoning.

Yes, they would also have to take this to the airport. That was one of the conditions. Uh regular agenda item number four, uh Warren Police Event Center. This is a revised final development plan. Um is the applicant here for presentation? Just please state your name and address.

Good evening. My name is D. Young, 16813 Sterns, Overland Park. I am the owner of Warren Place Venue and chair of the Gardener Downtown Committee. I appreciate the opportunity to be here. Thank you first to the commissioners for your time this evening. Thank you also to the staff for all of their assistance with this on the back end. I will very briefly walk through the proposed pavilion for the east lawn and then I'm happy to answer any questions. [snorts] So, here is an overview of our property for orientation with that east lawn highlighted the uh site overview for the pavilion as well as our landscape approach including emerald green arbor vite used to provide a soft privacy screen. This rendering illustrates the scale and character of the pavilion as proposed. Uh, I told you I would be very brief, so I'll finish up by highlighting a few context points from our leadership side. Um, landscape screening elements on the east lawn of the chapel were approved as part of our 2019 final development plan. Those approved elements inform the design approach um, proposed here. Since opening in 2020, we've seen client preference for ceremonies actually move toward the east lawn of the Warren and the pavilion is simply a way to support that existing pattern with a permanent structure. Um, this project supports our long-term stewardship of the property and reflects continued private investment in downtown Gardener. Uh, construction is planned with a gardener based contractor, Kevin Kramer Construction. I know much of this is already covered in the staff report and packet. So

before I turn it over to them, I'll pause if anybody has any questions.

Sure. Thank you. I'm going to be brief too as well. So again, this is item four, revised final development plan for Warm Place Event Center. And just like what Ray Lee showed, here's a copy of the aerial. Uh the application uh before you today is a revised final development plan and are specifically for an additional accessory building to be located on the Warplace Event Center on the east side of the property. Uh Warren [snorts] Place Event Center was grand final development plan back in 2019. The event center owner would like to add an additional outdoor structure for events, weddings, uh etc. along the east side. And this uh this slide here kind of shows the overall approved final development plan uh with the addition uh as shown in the bottom uh right hand corner of this property. Uh and again it's for an accessory building and gazebo or slash gazebo. And this slide uh shows the uh closeup of how that uh pad and sidewalk are to be constructed on along that uh lawn area. Uh they also added uh again uh the uh solid evergreen landscape. They have also added an additional planning materials help shield the gazebo from Elm Street and the adjacent parking along the street. Uh this drawing shows a the

rectangular uh yellow shaded area is a 15t by 30 foot uh pad uh for that accessory structure. And then of course a sidewalk leading to the main entrance of the eastern most building on the site. This is the overall elevations for that that structure. Staff findings. The proposed gibo gazebo complies with the standards for accessory buildings. The design and arrangement of the building is consistent with good planning and landscape design. Uh the architecture and building design use quality materials and the styles style is appropriate for context. The plan is in substantial compliance with code. I have I have a question.

So is due to the size and because this is an accessory building is that why it comes through this process. So, we had a little bit of debate on this one and yes, it it kind of is the the size of that and then also it was part of an approved development plan which is why the decision was made to go ahead and have them bring this in for a revised final development plan.

Okay. Well, thank you. I've been to uh several events at uh your place. It's really nice. I just have a question. Uh as far as parking, uh I guess we park over there. Where are you going to place the gazebo? So, what are you going to do with parking? Well, again, uh this area, this gazebo is going on the lawn area. So that should not affect any parking at all in or around the site.

My question is going to be for that and it's going to be one that's going to be raised. We might as well start it now. What kind of controls are going to be in place for an outside venue like this? because you have residents to the east, you have residents to the south. There's going to be time limits for outdoor, you know, celebrations, music, you know, that's going to come up.

Sure. So, the pavilion itself will have no material impact on the way that we structure events on current use. Um, we have had outdoor ceremonies out there since 2020. So, as far as um operations, the pavilion won't affect what we've been doing. Will you have PA system or so in use? Um we typically have DJs bring their own equipment. So, we don't have our own equipment on the outdoor space. Um any of the outdoor spaces actually um just inside. And we do have a cut off at 11 p.m.

And so may I may I ask uh it sounds like you probably do, but you've currently minus the weather that we're seeing when it's appropriate, you you do have outside events or have had them already in the past. Yes. Yes. Yep. And those were with the DJs that that you mentioned. Correct. Um I I was going to plug ceremony pictures, but for this environment, you know, hit or miss. So um yes, we have had a number of outdoor wedding ceremonies, including those with um PA systems brought by DJs. And I personally have not heard a single complaint. I'm not suggesting that there never has been, but

personally, I haven't gotten a phone call since 2020. We had two neighbors call us initially. Um, since then we have also brought up our um, cut off from midnight to 11 p.m. Um, but no, I've not received a call since 2020. Any event that involves alcohol has to have some type of security presence. Yes, if it is a cash bar or um, ticketed event, then we require gardener PD security. Other than that, licensed bartender. And this is my final question. Sure.

I pretty sure it's to to you, but in in the rendering, it shows the existing building to remain and then the proposed building addition is is listed here. Is that whole area the green space that we're talking about or or why is that wording there? There's a match line. Yeah, that proposed building addition is there. And then when you look down to the picture below, you'll see that same match line. And so got it. Okay, perfect. Thank you. The drawing was too big for the page.

Yes, that Okay, so this really narrow spot in the big picture is obviously the green space that we're talking about. Okay, thank you for that, Claire. Any more questions?

I'll make a motion.

So, planning commission recommends approval of the revised final development plan for the Warren Place Event Center Gazebo. Oh, this is Oh my gosh. So, sorry. Let's do this. The planning commission approves the revised final development plan. for the warm place event center gazebo.

Second motion by Commissioner Combmes, second by Commissioner Berg. All those in favor? I opposed extensions. Motion carries seven to zero. Okay. Uh item number five, land development code amendment. This is also a public hearing. I

Yes. Okay. [snorts] So, we came to you in November with some proposed changes to chapters 1 through three of title 17 and since then we've actually made a few more changes. Um, and I wanted to go through those. I provided the staff report from November and so I didn't want to reiterate those recommendations but to to make the point of in chapter one of title 17 we were clarifying the options for zoning after property is annexed. There's a section in the nonconformities portion of the code that addresses nonconformities based on annexation. And as you may be aware, oftentimes when property is voluntarily annexed, which is the majority of the annexations that we see, they are maintaining the existing county zoning until they're actually ready to develop. Um, there's pros and cons to that. We can get into that another time. We can make that work, but obviously when they are proposing development, they have to reszone the property. So that's the the biggest change if you will in chapter one. In chapter two we modified a few of the existing definitions. Uh parking block was modified more to explain how it how it's used, how it's enforced in terms of depending on the number of parking spaces in the block. there's different setbacks andor buffer landscaping requirements. And then on the other four which are plant related, we looked at either the

height of the tree or shrub and or we removed the reference to deciduous because you can obviously have evergreens and we didn't want to just keep creating definitions for evergreen versus deciduous blah blah. Um then the last few changes were to chapter 3 and the only application final development plan did not require a pre-application. So for consistency we added that as a requirement. However, the director can always wave that requirement. So we we don't feel like that's become making it too difficult for developers. It's just more from a consistency standpoint. Um thinking about the changes in technology and communication, we are proposing to change wording from official city newspaper to official city publication. And then lastly, the area that we actually sort of flip-flopped a little bit relates to the time frame for which plats and plans are effective or valid. We were originally proposing in November that we have one consistent time frame for all of those. Um, we actually are going backwards a little bit and being consistent with respect to preliminary plat and development plan, moving that to one year with a potential oneear extension and then in final plat we are keeping that at the two years for it to be recorded and then the final development plan maintaining that existing time frame of two years with a

one-year extension. And I would tell you I had a typo in the table in the staff report because the final development plan, both currently and proposed, are allowed a one-year extension. So, those are the changes that we are proposing in addition to the ones that we talked about and reviewed in November. We obviously have to have a public hearing for this. If you've got questions, I'm happy to answer them. If there's anything that you're not comfortable with and you'd like us to do more digging on, happy to do that as well and we can continue the item. So with that,

I will now open the public hearing. I will now accept a motion to close the public hearing. So moved. Second. All those in favor? I opposed. Abstensions. Motion carries. 70 questions commission. Why are we going from 18 months to 12 months?

Um, the concern that we've had, and this is where I'll say we've flip-flopped a little bit, is if you're not acting on that preliminary plat in a timely manner, we don't want them hanging out there. Um, I did look at the regulations for some of our surrounding communities and they run the gamut to in terms of the preliminary plat and preliminary development plan. Um, some are two years, some don't have any requirement for timing. Um, some just say that they must file it with the register of deeds, which was interesting because we don't require that on the preliminaries, but we do on a final plat. Um, and then on the preliminary plat, they ranged from one to two years. And so we were thinking, how long do we want to keep things out there that maybe the applicant actually isn't going to act on? And there's obviously the opportunity for an extension. Um, probably the biggest change you can see is we're still maintaining with the preliminary development plan a two-year total, but it's now broken up. And then the preliminary plat is slightly less by six months. with what

it was called called at 135th in Waverly Plaza. Yeah, it was one of those changed names so many times. Do we reach out to these people and say hey you reach a year

in the past we have not um it again that's something that there's differing opinions on on the one hand we can um do we reach out to the design professional the property owner or the developer um on the other hand if they wanted to develop they should know what their time frames are. So, thank you. I like I like having the defined Yeah. All right, we're start got to be ready.

Yeah. And there's always um if they don't even if they end up not complying with the time frames, the process is what we call starting it over. Um and in that case, it's the same. They could potentially be submitting the same application that they originally had. It's more of a matter have our regulations changed and therefore we would have different requirements. Um that's what we would want to avoid. um one of the communities allows your preliminary and I don't recall if it was plat or development plan for seven years and we were like whoa that's a long time to potentially have something out there. So like practically speaking like in the consent agenda there was you know request for the one year extension is that on the final development plan for flint trails

right and so their plat is still valid for couple more months. So one year from now that goes by they don't act on it then they would have to go back and redo not the resoning but the final development plan and the final plat or just if they do not record the plat and I think it's July I don't call um we'll just say that for practical purposes then they they would have to come back with their plat for sure if they uh do not move forward with building permits before the final development ment plan a year from now then they would have to come back as well.

And procedurally through each stage of these application types is it the approval date by the governing body or you know by by the commission that those now one year two-year time periods start. If it requires council approval then it's the council date. If it does not, for example, the preliminary plat, it would be when you all act on it. Okay. And usually they're a monthish, three weeks apart. So,

I was just curious, is there any fees that the applicant has to pay every time there's an extension or start over? I'm just curious. We currently do not have a application fee for the extension request. Obviously for all of these applications we do. So,

how were and we had this discussion earlier today among staff and so I was starting to look and wasn't as easy as I'd hoped, but I was starting to look at what some of those dates were in terms of which developments specifically on the residential side may have come into an issue. in terms of 18 months versus one year. Um I don't have that information to present today, but it wasn't anything that just jumped out like oh none of these would have been satisfactory. So like motions The planning commission forward a recommendation of approval to the city council for proposed amendments to chapter 17.01 and 17.02 and 17.03 of the plan development.

Second. We have a motion by Commissioner Aluchcci with a second by Commissioner Combmes. All those in favor? I I opposed extensions. Motion carries seven to zero. Thank you. All right. Number six of officers.

Yes. You may recall that we moved our election date to be in compliance with the code. Um so it's the first regular meeting of the calendar year. Um the for a variety of reasons the election last year was much later um but we explicitly stated that the term would be through the end of January of 2026. Um the gardener municipal code states that no member shall serve for more than two consecutive terms as an officer. So unfortunately that means that chairman Junaman has to take at least a one-year break from being vice chairman or chairman. Um, Matt Combmes can continue to run if he decides to in terms of for vice chairman or chairman. And congratulations. You did get reappointed last council meeting for another three-year term. So, we do have him longer. With that, we'd open the floor for volunteers or nominations for the chairman position.

All right. So, first of all, I would like to thank uh Chairman Jun for his service to the city and to the commission. And I would like to nominate Commissioner Colmes for CH. Okay.

Anyone else? No other volunteers or volunte. Okay. Well, we can then vote on the chairman position. All in favor of Matt Combmes. I Great. Congratulations. I know. I need to be uh so my current position, we're going to need to vote for that now.

So now we would open for nominations or volunteers for the vice chairman position. And these both will be one-year terms. We'll have another election in January 27. Don't all jump at once. Going to nominate Commissioner Berg. I nominate Commissioner as well. Anyone else? Then if like to take a vote on the vice chairman, Commissioner Burke. All in favor? I I opposed. I will say [laughter] [snorts]

I think what you're saying is Commissioner Combmes cannot be absent. [laughter] Yes. Thank you.

Um the last item, it's 8:20. We can talk about the comprehensive plan or we can push it to another meeting. At this point, we do not have a meeting in February because we had no applications submitted, right? [clears throat] Nothing squeaked in. So, that's up to you. Um, either way, we're going to be staff has started a review of the comprehensive plan as part of our annual review and we'll be coming to you in the future with information. a little bit about like what I would call a where are we now development and review and some proposed amendments to the comprehensive plan specifically related to our future land use designations and an update on where we are in some of the implementation goals objectives type portion of it if you will

is it the 10year plan one it it's actually longer In 10 years, it's usually about 20 and we're halfway through it. Yes. So, it's up to you. If we do it tonight, how long is it going to take? My part will be 10 minutes max.

It's up to you how long you want to talk about it. But there's there's not I'm not getting into the meat of it. It's more what is the comprehensive plan? Why do we have it? where are we? Um, how do we use it? It's more of an introduction because we have several new members and we haven't talked about it on a regular basis. So, what do you guys think? I'll put you on a timer for 10 minutes. That's fine. [laughter] Started now. Let me see if I can beat it then. So,

thank you. Um, so as part of staff's role, we are continuing to provide information related to the development of processes and topic specific presentations. And that's why we're bringing this to you this evening. Um, in the interest of time, I won't read all of these slides. If you want me to send them out to you later, that's fine. If not, I don't care. Um, but a comprehensive plan is just that. In the case of the city of Gardener, it's inclusive and wide ranging, if that's a word. Um, I like to describe it as the pieces of a puzzle coming together to create a vision or picture for the future of Gardner. And it's really supposed to be visionary, future thinking. Now, sometimes when we say those things, you can think of a plan that you can take from somewhere else. And hey, those goals look good for us. Not always the best. Um, but if you dig down deeper into those objectives and what you really want to accomplish, that's where it gets more specific to each community. Why do we have a comprehensive plan? Well, the easy answer is state law requires it. So, we have a a plan that we work on every 20 years. We do have some small area plans that we incorporate into the comprehensive plan. for example, the I35 and 175th sub area and then the I35 and Gardener Road. We consider past and present conditions. Um, it's not just a land use plan. I try to remind the other departments that it also relates to our natural resources, public facilities services, the intensity or density of building and transportation. So you'll see in most comprehensive plans a major thoroughare plan for example and we incorporate the

parks and wreck master plan and their future ideas. So as I mentioned um the comprehensive plan includes a vision statement. It has goals and objectives talks about existing conditions. What everyone look likes to look at is the future land use map and we use that with every reszoning in terms of is it consistent or is it not and if it's not that's okay but why isn't it and then we also have an implementation plan and that's where staff has been focusing in terms of hey it's been little more than 10 years um how are we doing so how is the comprehensive plan useful it provides information related to population growth. It um considers all aspects of the community like I said before in terms of housing, land use, the environment. Um we talk about maybe some areas are not good for development because they are in a flood plane for example. Um and then it also influences the zoning regulations as well as other parts of the municipal code. So, it's the guide that then we use to potentially amend our rules, which is the zoning code. And the zoning regulations are not a guide. They are something that's required. We have an internal joke. I'm sorry. It's some people's like, "Oh, yeah. That's just a recommendation." It's what they say. So, how are we doing? What we've been doing internally again is we started looking at what's changed specifically in the last five years and then are the goals still applicable. There's some comments from the public input portion of the comprehensive plan of ideas and recommendations of things that need to be improved. And so we've been going through them and saying, "Do we feel we've accomplished this or are

we still working on it or oh, we forgot about that one and we need to get on it." Um, and then also that not only just with their opinions, if you will, but also with specific projects. For example, in 2014, one of the projects was improving the police station. Well, we can check that one off the list because we now have a very nice police public safety building. What? Okay. Um tried to pull some information in terms of how we've changed since this since this was put together. And at that time they were using 2013 information. Not sure exactly where it came from, but we are looking at the American Community Survey, which is what ACS is. 2023 is the last one that's available. And then we obviously always look at the 10-year census. So you can see how our population has grown, how our median age really hasn't changed, um, education levels, median home value, household income, and really our population density per square mile in did not have that in 2013, but it really hasn't changed drastically in three years. would also tell you that we increased in 12 years now almost 3,000 acres in size. we have annexed um I did not a was did not provide the land use percentage breakdown from 2013 even though it was in the comprehensive plan because when we were looking at it we were saying okay those we're not sure how they got their descriptions so we just took what it is it today and I tell you this because when we looked at their

2013 percentages While we're not exactly sure what they included, residential percentage is almost identical from 2013 to 2025. The largest land use percentage in 2013 was also agricultural. If you combine the public, semi-public, and parks and open space, the percentage is almost identical to 2013. Um and commercial land use continues to outpace the industrial. There's no magic numbers in terms of what percentage of the city should be any of these land uses. Um each community is different. We have talked about gardener being we're not going to be a big employment center but we've got a lot of employment centers around us. So we are looking at providing some of the housing for that for example. So I provide that to you just as a point of interest. Um next month or in March I've got some information on the num the development trends that we've seen specifically in the last couple of years that we are finalizing and we'll also give you an update of how we think we've done in terms of implementation. The last couple slides, um, this is straight from our comprehensive plan. It's set in the year 2035, so 10 years, nine years from now. We want to be a thriving community, broad range of housing options, have quality housing and great schools, be a businessfriendly environment. We want people to not only live in Gardener, but visit its attractions. That sounds lovely, and it's all good. And probably most communities want something similar to that for their community. The goals break it down a little bit more in terms of how it's

would you be unique. We're talking about quality construction and design and that's where we get into some of our design standards especially on the smaller lots. um commercial character in terms of local businesses and pedestrianoriented commercial nodes in terms of people being able to walk potentially. We obviously always want to have high quality and dependable public services and facilities. And at the bottom here, I put you've got your vision that you then sort of clarify with some goals and then you break it down into objectives of how you're going to then implement it. So with that questions, comments or discussion? How'd I do?

Oh, I forgot to [laughter] [snorts] I what?

Oh, okay. Good. So, any any questions or things that you would like to know more about the updating the comprehensive plan? We're not going to be amending it or updating it every year, but yes, we will be looking at it and we will be bringing to you what we've saw in terms of trends. Um, so anyway, just random question. Do does everyone get in a room to just bounce ideas off of each other and of course looking at sort of the past activity in the city to come up with suggested changes that would then be presented? I mean just generally how are those decisions come?

Well, since we haven't brought you an amendment recently, we're sort of creating it as we go this year. And we've started with the community development staff discussion. What do we see? What are the things that we want to not only provide information to you, but where we see there might be hiccups? We've also had some conversations with the department head, the other department heads in terms of how are their long range plans going? What are they trying to accomplish? how can we work together in terms of hey we've got information about valuation for example from building permits and that's important to finance so they can look at potential property tax and what we might be collecting. Um the police chief was interested in it from the standpoint of where are we growing and at what density in order to look at their um like patrol sec what's

yes correct and and and same thing with parks and recreation. So right now it's very fluid. Um, we're not going to be doing a big public input portion [clears throat] this year. Not to say that we won't, but in the future, but we'll probably be looking at what um groups can we go out to. Um, and then obviously as part of any amendment, it's a public hearing and we would have that available for anyone that wanted to come and speak. Well,

appreciate that. Thank you. question I have is there any somebody comes in with a plan they want to develop whether it's the couple months away now we have this fields is there any anything that you look at it and you say you're proposing this type of development in this area we don't feel that's correct use of that land for that area. We would rather have you move that kind of building to this area. Is that done?

I would say we've had those conversations. Um we we tell them this is what the future land use plan calls out for that area, but here's how the area's changed. And that came up a little with Magnolia Fields tonight because our future land use map referenced it as low density residential. Um what's going on around it? Has the character changed? Uh what other And then that's just one of the criteria that you all use when resoning. So it doesn't have it doesn't have to always match, but if it doesn't, you you sort of have to ask yourself, is it valid? Should should we allow this anyway because there's positive reasons for it? Does that make is that sort of what you're thinking or

I think so. Um part of my my thought process in this is I know I don't know the name. I think it's Copper Creek that is north of police station. Um, and that is a mix, right? Because at the front of it, you have apartment buildings and then you have duplexes and then you have single family.

Um, and I know there's a lot, especially the the police officers that I know, they don't like apartment buildings next to single family homes. And that's kind of the thought process. The question is, you know, if if as a developer, if I come to the city and I say, "Hey, I want to put a I want to put an apartment building in and I want to put it in say next year to regular fields in that area. I own the land. I'm the developer. I want to put that there and I come to you and here's my plan." Then does the city the planning commission push back and say that's not an acceptable use of that land there?

You could.

Yes. And I say that because obviously in our code we have some requirements for screening or and buffering and and those types of things. But if you don't think it's an appropriate mix or adjacency, sort of like when we had the um private school adjacent proposing to go adjacent to industrial, some people thought that was acceptable and some people didn't. And that that a fair conversation. Um, that's why there's multiple criteria when reszoning and looking at development versus you got to meet five of the eight of these or um, it's not a math equation, I guess, is how I describe it.

I think David kind of touched on this before. It's like you still give the people with it. Doesn't mean those conversations aren't right. European way over here expanding out.

Yeah. Uh and one of the things we also look at is whatever these applicants do uh come in to talk with us. This is why we have our what we call our discovery meetings. And a lot of times with these discovery meetings, we may be upfront with somebody and say you may have a difficult time getting through. We're not just like what you guys mentioned, they still have their due process. They can submit an application. We're not going to deny them that ability to apply for something. But we will try to warn them upfront that uh you know instead of buying the land outright or uh spending a lot of money on consultants to draw up the plans for them uh they might want to think about maybe moving someplace else within the community.

So as an example kind of to my question and what you're saying a couple months ago we had the proposed development along I35, they wanted to put the billboards in and they wanted to have the the commercial area and I know when it was presented to us, staff said recommend disapproval. So, as part of your discussions with them prior to that, do you tell them so they know coming in that you're recommending this approval and they're still deciding to push through anything? Yeah, we recommended we we didn't recommend approval on it and we we told them we try to work with them on maybe like a little less dense, less intrusive type of development that was happening in or around that area. Uh but what what they presented was something that we as a staff could not support and it's obvious you guys didn't either. But they knew that coming in that you your recommendation was going to be to disprove it.

That is correct. And they decided to give a shot anyway.

Well, I know. I know. But I mean it isn't that they came in here high hopes and when they initially had the meetings with us and we were talking with them, we had concerns that we brought up. Our actual staff recommendation may not be decided until the packets go out. It can go either way. And that was a case where they knew our concerns definitely. But it wasn't like they initially or immediately applied and we said we are going to recommend that. That's right. it will not have that wording.

Like it won't literally be like, "By the way, when you get there, they're going to say no because that's against the law." Um, so yeah, I don't know. I doubt that you guys literally say, "By the way, but they do know of what the issues are that have been brought up by staff going in for sure." Okay. And we did work with them all along through the design process, the layout, everything that they We told them we had concerns with uh unfortunately they decided to stick with their their original plans and the results were they didn't what they were

right and that was a that was a interesting one because that was the first time that staff recommended so that was stuck in my mind always you guys always not always

well that one was like Yeah. And and again, uh you know, hopefully by the time it gets before you that we've had enough discussions with what whatever applicant that you know, hopefully both of us are comfortable with what's presented to you. At the end of the day though, you guys have the say and so and the governing body has the say on on what goes in. We just make a recommendation to what has been presented for us. We take a look at the land development code. We look at the comprehensive plan and we try to work with those applicants from the start to the finish.

Back to the comprehensive plan. If I had like a great idea dead eyed [laughter] like you guys like we talked like yeah you guys were having discussions internally about stuff you'd like to change like how like what would I do? I

I would say if there's things that you're concerned about send us an email or get get give us a call. I know in the past we've talked a little bit about some of the design architectural design and based on the number of deviations should we change the code. Now, obviously that's not something that would go through the comprehensive plan, but we need your perspective. Um, especially if you've been in the community longer than some of us who haven't been here as long.

Send an email, but do not CC everybody else on the email. [laughter] Just from you. Thank you. Thank you for the Anybody else?

Just just make a comment. Um, you know, you live in town and then you go out and you're talking and of course people know that you were part of the planning commission and there was all these comments about, oh, you guys are proving too many duplexes and you guys doing this and that. Is there a place that u I don't know if it's up to you guys to do that but just kind of in citywide publication just kind of kind of break down you know we says that 21% residential kind of hey out of the 21% is only 5% 7% are single home you know just

yeah That's a perception out there that we just appro. We're bringing too many new classes to to garden. I just wondering I see a lot. I just wanted to see what the breakdown what are we bringing here, you know. Well, I think there's two comments that you have in there. One is what's the breakdown of residential and we can try to do some of that and then the other one you mentioned was is there some way we can communicate that to the community and we'll try I mean we will work with our public information officer and maybe get some things in a future newsletter that's distributed to all the residents

maybe a piece from you know an article from planning commission this is what we did in 2025 Yep. We approve. I don't know. And I think a lot of there there's a there's a perception that the city is the one out there talking to developers saying bring this.

We or we are the ones out there with a certain restaurant and and we're more reactionary. Yes, we we have an econom economic development side, but it's not um out there with specific restaurants, for example, where when we talk to residential home builders, we're talking about a we're looking for a mix of housing units. So for new or firsttime home buyers to people that are trying to scale down um a common term these days is I think it's lock and lock and leave or something where you've got more maintenance provided or you're renting an apartment because you don't want the maintenance. So that's what we talk a lot to developers about is a variety of homes and we have been upfront with several of them about there's a concern that we're getting too many small lots and we're getting too many that are not that are slab on grade and what can you do differently and have you ever thought about doing alley loaded and so we try

so I know we're at the mercy of whomever the devel developer is that approaches the city. Uh but there have to be or maybe I should say are there proactive measures that the city is taking to entice I shouldn't say certain kinds of development but development.

I think there's two things and and jump in when you think I've gone too far or talk too much. Um the city council last year we they have a contract with a consulting firm called the retail coach and they are looking out at what types of uses and where are we in hitting some of those retail and restaurant uses because for example if Quick trick comes somewhere and I probably shouldn't have said that name but other people will go in that community because they know they've done their due diligence and there must be something growth going on. For example, um and a lot of not a lot but several developers residential and non-residential talk about incentives and that's something that administration and finance and public works and community development work together on in terms of community development, public works don't look at the numbers. We look at, okay, if you're going to get incentives, what can we get that's above and beyond?

Put me on the spot here. Well, that's your background more than mine. Yeah. One of the other things that uh developers can look at, they'll they'll take a look at that comprehensive plan.

So, they'll they'll take a good hard look at it, especially if they're like the folks today uh out of Utah. uh they obvious did some their due diligence and as with any person doing site selection, they're going to that's one of the first documents they're going to open up and take a look at. Uh they may also look at like an economic development packet that maybe the city provides a marketing packet that we're providing showing uh different areas of the city that are key areas for certain types of development. So there's a there's a lot of things that that goes into site selections site selection or developers uh before they even come in and talk to us.

Absolutely. Well, they uh what the Magnolia Fields, you're right. They they did their homework. They may have set the bar at least for for my future expectations. Anyway, I noticed that too. The presentation really easy. I mean, to take the time to take pictures. I'm very visual. So, I if I don't see, I can't. They took pictures from the road and I was like, "Oh, that's Yeah, they photograph all of their deviations." Yeah. Exactly. And that was that was really good. I saw that. Thank you.

Um I think that kind of put a bow on our discussion there. Um we get a motion to close the meeting if everyone is okay with that. I'll make that motion. Second. Uh all those in favor?