Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

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e e e [Music] call our February 10th G Planning Commission meeting to order for our roll call good evening Commissioners I'll call the rooll Mariah Bishop here Ralph Carson here Philip Jefferson here Jan Hodes here Ben Mills

here Sherry Phillips here Michael vand here that's seven members present okay thank you so much uh this com times for our invocation Mr Bo yeah I'd like to reflect a bit on what is perhaps the most politically charged acronym in America at this moment in time and I'd like very much to do so without getting mired in politics in the last three where were weeks three letters Dei strung together as one but standing separately for diversity equity and inclusion have raised our national blood pressure I guess that most people are wondering exactly why that should be the case because those three words taking in Taken individually refer to very positive and reaffirming ideals in the case of Garner we are a diverse Community the Black and Hispanic segments of the town's demographic are sub substantive with one in four of its populace being categorized as non-white secondly gonner is a community that seeks Equitable treatment and the staff it hires and employs the town's people it serves and the allocation of its resources everything I've seen read heard and experience about this town as a resident as a member of this commission and as a member of the Garner Police Department's core of volunte tears tells me this is true finally there's inclusiveness here this town strives to include all its Town folk in all its program and events regardless of color economic class language gender ethnicity religion or

place of origin so beyond what the quick to say Dei acronym May mean to some my understanding and I trust yours is that the concepts of diversity equity and inclusion should always guide our deliberations and decisions here and always be guidelines for how this town conducts its business thank you Mr ven such powerful and important words for a Time such as this thank you for Garner adoption of our agenda do we have a motion I'll make the motion to adopt the agenda are all are all the microphones on that's why we're getting all this feedback they're a little hot tonight yeah we can we'll have to we can see if our it um our Communications team can adjust that a little bit Yeah apologies that's okay we have a motion we have a motion from Mr Carson do we have a second oh second Mr ban thank you we have a motion in a second there's a motion on the floor to adopt the agenda I'll call the vote Mariah Bishop hi Ralph Carson hi Philip Jefferson hi Jan Hodes hi Ben Mills hi Sherry Phillips hi Michael vand hi the agenda is adopted thank you we've adopted our agenda for this evening thank you so much um it is time to review our meeting minutes has everybody had a chance to review our meeting minutes are there any items in our meeting minutes that need to be updated or adjusted amended seeing n do we have a motion to approve our meting meeting minutes I'll motion to approve the meeting minutes thank you Miss Hodes we have a second I'll second Mr thank you so much Mr Carson we have a motion in a second there's a motion on the floor to approve the minutes and I will call the vote

Mariah Bishop I Ralph Carson hi Philip Jefferson hi Jen Hodes hi Ben Mills hi Sher Phillips hi Michael vand I the minutes are approved thank you so much we have approved our meeting minutes from January 13th uh so we will move into our old and new business uh new business um tonight um um CZ 24003 exchange at 401 commercial this was a um on our agenda for January meeting and has been postponed to today all right good evening Mr Phillips and um commissioners okay um so of the this case was continued from our January uh 13th meeting CZ 24003 also known as 401 exchange commercial I'll briefly go through just an update um of of the case and the changes that have occurred um since it was before you in January so this rezoning uh is a tier one conditional um rezoning uh requesting to rezone approximately 8.32 Acres from residential 4 R4 C11 PRD conditional to Comm uh commercial mix use um the site is located at 7509 fville Road it's on the eastbound side of um us 401 also 4 fville Road um the applicant has proper use conditions and additional zoning conditions um this request is uh tier one so it does not have a site specific master

plan and the applicant is requesting commercial mixed use um since the Planning Commission in January uh the applicant has reduced the number of uh potential uses or possible uses to 32 out of uh 62 um and their proper conditions outside of the permitted uses um has remained the same so unless you would like me to go through each of the written conditions I'll move forward and I'll just note that coming from the um Planning Commission meeting in January at the request of uh the commission um the applicant will was asked to go back and consider um specific uses that included uh fuel sales uh convenience store with fuel sales and um self storage facility excuse me okay thank you um and so where you see that reduction from 33 to 32 um they have removed the um convenience store with fuel sales so with the consistency review with staff um they have an overall strong level of consistency with the plan's growth framework um so staff does support um an overall finding of consistency thank you we have the uh draft consistency statement for your consideration this evening highlighted option indicates the results of staff's analysis which includes consistent and recommend

approval also have um within the staff report a draft motion to recommend approval and the next steps this evening would be to um determine findings of plan consistency and recommendation to Town Council to either approve or deny the case um then it would move forward with town council's uh review of reasonableness and a decision to approve or deny um we'll be here to answer any questions the applicant is here as well to answer any questions you all may have thank you thank you so much um does commission have any questions for staff thank I have one question um is there another example in Garner of a convenience store of without fuel sales a convenient store without fuel sales yes um I'm not very familiar off the top of my head of um of a particular convenience the only one I can think of is the existing webs um because it doesn't the one on pool Drive doesn't have fuel currently so I guess that probably existing as one without fuel sales but I don't think we have like the 7-Elevens in the Northeast that only you know I I don't have fuel um I don't think we have an example of that of a conveni so yeah I can't think of any I'm not you very familiar with the the commercial Enterprises in Garner but one comes to mind as I think about our major corridors they generally convenient stores with fuel sales I'm very sure we have a few that don't have any that aren't the the the kind of branded spaces not necessar in downtown

there I think they're maybe one on Garner Road it looks it it um seems that there maybe there was a uh fuel sales there maybe previously and maybe it was removed but I can think of one right there at um 50 and Garner Road there that has that doesn't have um fuel sales but it but it appears appears to be a convenience store there's fuel there you 50 and going a road oh they have fuel is in a family fair or something there I think but I think they're kind of more privately owned yeah smaller stations there a few kind of like spread out right thank you any other any other questions for sta do we okay so um this is our time for our applicant if we have questions for our applicant would our applicant like to present anything to commission at this time y please state your name and your address and your affiliation for our record please sure thing thank you uh good evening chair Jefferson uh Vice chair Carson members of the Planning Commission I'm nil G I'm an attorney with the Morning Star Law Group we're at 700 West Main Street in Durham um and I believe you met our team last time Beth Blackman with tons and also Mr Danny Copeland representative of the owner applicant group um so just cut the chase last time we were here we got some feedback from you all in particular on the types of uses and our team has had some time to consider that feedback and has um has we've adjusted our list of permitted uses specifically we've removed convenience store with fuel sales as a permitted use which is you know what I think most people think of as a gas station um and ultimately you know our team agrees with with the overall sentiment that we heard here that this site will and should become a

neighborhood scale commercial node um and therefore we agree that gas station probably is not a good fit and after much thought we did leave in the Self Storage as an option I want to bring up Mr Danny Copeland to share some of our deliberations on that you specifically and hopefully this will give you some insight onto our into our thinking on that um so Danny oh sure you thank you good evening I'm Danny Copeland with rst development um as nil pointed out we were here give us your address location sorry 6116 Executive Boulevard Rockville Maryland thank you so much sure thing um I really appreciate the opportunity to address the Planning Commission this evening and we heard your feedback loud and clear from last month's meeting and I wanted the opportunity to elaborate on cutting to the chase why we decided to take out Fuel and convenience but leave in Self Storage um regarding the fuel and convenience we we agree that especially given the access configuration to both Parcels attracting that type of end user would likely be difficult um however the Self Storage we believe there is demand for overall future demand the same way we believe there will be future demand for retail and I just wanted to share our logic and our reasoning and address any questions to to kind of give you a sense of where we're coming from so the first part I'm going to talk about is market and the second part I'm going to talk about is Pipeline and growth and I'm actually G to have Russell Stewart address more specifics with lean Associates who's working with us on the marketing side just to give a little bit more color of what we're experiencing to date but I'll touch on it briefly so we've been actively marketing both of these Parcels for a little bit over a year now to date we have generated very little interest other than a day Care Group that later informed us the

location was not strong enough for their business model we are optimistic that once a resoning is finalized it will become easier to attract retailers and discuss site planning that is actually consistent with our zoning conditions and have something real to Market and real to talk about um with that said however the lack of any substantial interest to date is a reflection of the current market demand based on our market analysis and with the help of our local market experts we anticipate that we will in the future be able to generate retail demand for approximately 50 15 to 20,000 square feet of neighborhood service oriented retail that will be a great amenity and convenience to the growing population within the area we are committed to pursuing that and are even discussing the possibility of developing spec retail space without an end user Intel with that said we do have legitimate concern in our ability to attract retail beyond that level beyond that 15 to 20,000 square feet that again it's our opinion it doesn't mean we're right or we're wrong that's just what we are seeing in the marketplace um and given the size of these Parcels we are requesting the flexibility to attract the widest range of permitted uses so ultimately we can feel confident in our ability to actually make this development successful and purposeful so that's our experience on the marketing side very little interest to date we think with the resoning in place will be much more efficient in our marketing efforts the second piece is the pipeline and I'll just kind of address even what rst is working on within the call it 2 mile radius um we're currently under construction with Taran at 401 Apartments it's a 251 unit market rate deal just up the road from

the subject site hold M homes is well underway with the exchange at 401 which calls for north of 700 single family and townhouse homes for sale additionally across the street we're currently working on the benett assemblage where we are finalizing our subdivision construction drawings and our site permitting that calls for 270 apartment units 83 single family lots and 94 townhouse Lots the plan as of today is for those 177 comb combined townhouse and single family lots to be sold to a home builder to develop a for sale product and then rst is intending there two separate site plans for the multi 170 units on one 9 acre parcel and 100 units on a 6 acre parcel um we're moving forward with our CDs and our financing for the first phase of the apartments 170 units and then we're figuring out our plans for the additional 100 units um I just want to share that because it's over a thousand rooftops coming online in the near future many of which have been delivered more to come over the next couple of years as we progress here um we feel very confident in our progress there and we think that they're going to be a great contribution to the community provide really quality housing both for rent and for sale um and that is what we believe will be that future driver of both the retail and the additional Self Storage on top of what's already being worked on at caddy road so there's our opinions there's our perspectives that's really what is driving our logic and our thought process behind here and I felt that it was important to share that with you all because we heard your feedback we took it very seriously it stirred a lot of really constructive conversation amongst the four of us as well as my colleagues

at rst and I didn't want you all to feel like we heard your feedback and ignored it and are just persisting this is this is deliberate and logical and what we think to be thoughtful I hope I hope it is um so with all that given these reasons I respectfully requesting that you consider these variables in your decision-making process and ultimately help to support our efforts to execute on a non-residential development that will serve a meaningful and functional purpose for existing and future residents um I'm happy to address any questions if it's okay I would like Russell Stewart with Le Associates he's our marketing expert to just come up and speak a little bit more specifically to the demand that we've seen to date let me ask the commission if they need that information now oh we can have have uh Russell come up and speak I think sure okay thank you appreciate good evening everyone Russell Stewart Le and Associates um 100 Walnut Street carry um as Danny mentioned uh we are a full service commercial real estate firm we have been representing RSC on this project um on all of this project with the exchange at 401 and Bennett um have been intimately involved over the last four or five years with this we did put this on the market and have exclusively marketed uh across the Crossway County the state uh the southeast for um these two two Parcels um for retail commmercial use um over a year as Danny has has mentioned it has uh not garnered the attention and demand that we were hopeful for um it has been

few and far between a lot of the feedback has been um due to the access off of 401 a lot of the users or prospective t um really prefer to be closer to 1010 where there's full signalized signalization um a lot of the users or or most of the users that we've talked to um the the daycare being the the hottest you know in line wanting to show the most interest they did determine that there was a better location for them um we do feel like in this market as as Danny mentioned 15 to 20,000 feet a lot of these neighborhood uh retail users that can service all the rooftops around here they're going to be between a th000 to 2,000 square ft um so when he mentions a SPEC Building 15 to 20,000 ft we we do feel like the market can support that um over 20,000 square feet uh my concern is that it sits vacant and a vacant building doesn't do the town of Garner any good it doesn't do the developer any good and it doesn't do the the residents any good um so in my opinion um some retail that can service uh the community and all the rooftop surrounding it is is certainly needed and welcome um but I do think that some other uses could be beneficial on this on this parcel as well thank you thank you very much uh do we have any questions for our applicant from the commission time I just have a comment I guess and I'll address it to Mr copelan um I appreciate you guys taking the time uh since the last meeting and and looking at the two items that we asked to review um I appreciate you guys taking the convenience store with gas sales out that was probably the one that bothered me more than the Self Storage

um I appreciate what you guys are doing and what work you're doing down there so I just wanted to say thank you for coming back to revisit that making that that one adjustment I think that's a good compromise that uh I'm suppored that so thank you thank you Mr Carson are there any other uh questions for the applicant from commission I one question um this this for staff or applicant team are these Parcels already uh subdivided they're two separate Parcels is that correct if um is there a chance for recombination if the self storage unit was big enough I guess and wanted to use both Parcels so the there the road that's cutting through the middle of that's also existing so I'm not trying to answer your question I think that's kind of a fixed point so the idea that that Northern parcel would somehow be recombined with the southern parcel I don't think that's realistic because the road is also part of that okay yeah all right thank you any other questions for our applicant com following up on a comment from January and I know we had talked about maybe a midpoint crosswalk or something and I guess with Miss Blackman and everybody just keep that in mind if that's possible um that's up to your final design of course but that was a concern that we had last month as well um I'll also just kind of mention uh inine with Mr Carson um the the thinking about the Self Storage it's probably most concerned about the fuel um uh convenience space as well being so close to another and then in and out

such a um but to um to find a way I totally understand the market I understand the need for finding more of a flexible use um and I totally understand that so I appreciate you giv us that information and feedback that does help us to think about how the town is being um U thoughtful about what what we bring in um but um so so character-wise I would just say um that we find the way in the design process to um incorporate the character of that neighborhood so that the Min storage space does not feel like it is just this metal building in the middle of a site I think that's my major concerned about that and I think that there are many ways of kind of softening that to fit the character of the site and to really think about the site plan when you start looking at the layout and hopefully to really be very intentional um about that about that footprint all the footprint really thinking about the space that people gather if they are gathering and going back to their unit so um so I would just add that as a as as your thought process to think about that Mr chair um Jeff would like to speak Mr treberg good evening everyone um hopefully you can hear me okay um I did just want to go ahead and and do remind you that this will be in the 70 um 41 overlay what used to be known as a 741 overlay which is now our commercial Highway overlay um so there will be some heightened uh design and aesthetic standards within the ud um but there again I do appreciate Mr Jefferson your your comments um for site design uh we will certainly pay

attention to some of those finer details as well that are more implied by the comp plan but I did just want to remind everyone that we do have the commercial Highway overlay which does add some fairly significant architectural standards thank you for that that helps us to keep that on our plates so thank you for verifying that um so if there are no other questions or for staff or for our applicant is there a motion for us to be able to make some further decisions or have further discussion this commission um on this case uh yeah I'd like to make a motion but my cat got that piece of paper I I'm sure we can put it up on the I'm blaming it on my cat that before okay making a motion we the Planning Commission find that in the absence of any non-supporting criteria with the plan's growth framework and a strong level of consistency with the plan's land use and Community character consistency this request of 8.32 plus or minus Acres from residential 4 R4 C11 RPD conditional to commercial mixed use cmx c317 conditional is consistent with the town's adopted land use plans I'll second that okay thank you Mr Carson and Mr V we

have a motion and we have a second there's a motion on the floor to find um uh the motion U consistent and recommend approval and I will call the vote uh Mariah Bishop hi Ralph Carson hi Philip Jefferson hi G hen Hodes hi Ben Mills n Sher Phillips hi Michael vand hi that's six eyes the motion passes um just like to make one comment uh kind of in closing on this um like to thank the planning department and the developer for working together to make this happen I know it's taken some time uh Mr triesenberg and his staff um and your staff as well coming together and Beth and just appreciate everybody working together on this so thank you okay thank you so much thank you for being here you're welcome to stay for the rest of our session or you're welcome to leave join your next things um reports now from from uh from the plan director and from the planing commission Mr treberg you have anything for us I do not have anything for you this even okay well um plan commission do we have any items that you would like to share or review Mr Carson just wanted to give an update on the affordable housing task force uh after seven or so months of a lot of work um we made our final recommendations to Town Council on January 28th so that is now being debated and reviewed by Council I would like to thank uh Miss Terry Jones Who's online and Aaron for

all of their help they were part of that task force as well and many others um it was a lot of work getting into a topic that has many tentacles and and there's a lot of things there to digest and try to figure out how you're going to tackle it all so that's that's in council's hands now uh if the commission would like I could email out the final draft of that report so you you guys would have a copy of that just to review but again uh thank you Miss Jones and Aon for all of your help and Aon helped me as well we're pulling some data and getting some background information so thank you very much and uh I think that concludes the task force there might be a follow-up meeting in a month or two perhaps but um that's up to the chair uh Council Vance okay wonderful thank you so much for serving on that task force for us and giving us our regular update and we look look forward to um that draft proposals I would love to see that thank you so much um is anyone else at Mr vland anything you'd like to just a question uh maybe for Jeff um the town has issued a request for responses to an image survey will we see the results of that sooner than later I'm not intimately amiliar with that is that for the branding campaign yes it is yes um I do not know if Mr Hodges is there or in attendance he might be able to chime in otherwise I'll be happy to find out yeah that's that's fine there's no rush it's just uh I'm kind of curious whether my answers kind of align with the answers that others

have I see I hope everyone did fill it out right wonderful okay you got any questions on the VA no no no VA questions and no Bojangles question none of those uh any other um I did want to make you all aware I will not be in attendance uh next month so thank you for letting us know we'll make sure we have that on our calendar okay well um show if anything you need to share with us well I have done the round they're seeing none we can call our meeting a journ I think we just set a record [Music]