Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

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All right, let's get started. Welcome to um City of Grand Rapids Planning Commission meeting of April 23rd, 2026. Um we're going to start with um a presentation from um the consultant for the zoning ordinance rewrite and then we'll kind of go through our normal procedure for public hearings after that. So I'll turn it over to Ila. Hello, I'm Laya Llani, the project manager from the city side for zone GR, which is the first major step in implementing our community master plan. So, we're really um excited to be at this point and I have with me um Leslie Ober Ober Holtzer from Codetrics and she is um the consultant lead for this project. So, I'll turn it over to her and she's going to go through the directions report which she'll explain more about what that is. Good afternoon, this beautiful afternoon. Um, so I'm Leslie Overberholtzer with COD Metrics. Um, tonight I'm going today so nice that you meet during the day for me at least. So, thank you for that. Um I'm going to give you a little bit of background um since this is the first time that I've met you all and presented to you all um about the project in general and then I'm going to walk you through our directions report that is um just now I think live and available. Um I'm going to actually break it into three chunks of information. Um the report is includes a section on introduc an introduction and um some basic background on the project and then existing zones and a little bit of discussion on that. So I'll present that and then the next section will be on proposed organization zones and building types. Um so this is sort of looking to the future and it's a very

early introduction to all of these pieces. Um, and then I'm going to end on uh uses, development standards, and procedures. And again, I'm going to just run through all of these, but there are breaks. So, I'll ask at the end of the breaks if you want to go back to a slide or if you want to ask any questions. Um, or we can just wait until the very end um and have some discussion um if that's okay with you all. Okay. So, a little bit of background. So we are a full team, a consultant team um all together is on our team to do uh engagement and outreach. Um they've created all of the branding that you see and setting up the website. Um and Clarion Associates um are are sort of they do all of the what I consider to be the least fun aspects of the code. So procedures um and sort of sticky uses and things like that. So, you probably won't see them until we get to the the sort of final draft of the code because we're going to draft all the other pieces up front and then they're going to come in and help us to work through clarify what your uh development procedures are and to help with some of the relief mechanisms and uh non-conformities and such. Um, but I am the project lead and so I will write um pretty much everything that you'll see in the code and illustrate it all. Um so I am your um major point of contact. We are also working really closely with staff. Staff is like you have an amazing staff um in the planning department and um we've already had two sort of sets of these just giant discussion meetings. Um so I'm hearing about all of the different projects that are going on and everything that's happening um in on their desks. Um as well as getting information from them. So they're a very important part of our our team and our

our process. Um so our project scope um is uh writing the zoning code. Um drafting the zoning code. We are asked to do a rewrite. So we will be um reorganizing the code and making it hopefully better and easier to use. Um, these are sort of our three broad goals, but we will carry forward any regulations that are currently working really well. So, we don't want to mess up something that's really functioning um for you, but there are a lot of pieces that we can um make better and reorganize and so on. Um, and so in order to figure those out um we've sort of set these broad goals. First of all, um and probably most important is we are here to um as one implementation tool for your community master plan, Bridge to Our Future. And so the idea is to take um all the goals and objectives and sort of action items that are in the community master plan and carry those forward where possible with zoning into the zoning um ordinance. We're also going to be looking at your area specific plans and um other recent policies that again staff has been uh letting me know about. Um the second big goal is to is sort of taken from um the text and language in the community master plan. this sort of idea of balancing conservation meaning not preservation but conservation which allows for conserving um the development character of your community the physical form that everybody loves and cherishes. Um but conservation means allowing it to evolve and grow and be adapted and reused. Um but also to allow growth and new redevelopment in um locations where um that's been slated to uh occur. Um but finally the idea of making the zoning ordinance um easier to use, easier to understand. So we'll be

incorporating a lot of illustrations and as I said reorganizing the structure of the code a bit. Um the timeline for the project is uh we have five sort of major tasks or steps. Our launch and setup um began um last year and we had a big meeting that I'll tell you about a session in uh December. Um since February, we've been working on the project directions report. Um so here we are with a draft in April and then we will be taking that out to the community in May. So that step um is almost complete. Um once we get through that May meeting and get some feedback from the community to help inform the project directions report, we will head into the third step which is the initial draft ordinance. Um that initial draft ordinance is going to be very much for the first several months an internal draft that we're working with staff on. Um we want to make sure that we've um sort of dotted our eyes and crossed our tees in terms of staff's understanding of where the code should go. They have the most knowledge about how your current staff how your current code is working, your current ordinance is working and what needs to change. Um so we'll be working with them. Um and then in August uh we will take our draft of module one which will be the sort of biggest chunk of information. This will be the zoning districts um the building form regulations and the use regulations. Um and we will present that to our technical advisory team. Um our technical advisory committee or our TAC um our key adviserss of which Brian sits on. Um and we're glad to have a connection there. Um, but the technical advisory committee is meant to sort of review all of the drafts for us with their lens. Um, which is, you know, really active sort of development folks

in the community, people that use the zoning ordinance right now and will continue to use it. Um, so that technical advisory committee will meet again. Um, we met with them yesterday and we to basically do the same presentation. We will meet with them again in August um with that first module. Um and then they will meet monthly until the draft is complete. Once the draft has been reviewed by staff, heavily reviewed by staff, reviewed by the technical advisory committee um and we will also have some presentations to you all at the end of this proc of this step um to get feedback. we will consolidate the three different modules and we will um present that as a public review draft. So only once it's been through several sort of paths of uh review and understanding will we um pull it out for the public to review. Um we will have some activities throughout this step three process to gain information where we need more information as we're drafting. Um but really the active public engagement will happen um once we get that public review draft um consolidated and presented and then we will have a series of ward meetings um to present general information and then to have specific exercises and to ask the community specific questions. Um we also have a community connectors process um where community connectors are being um trained next month and then they will hold a whole series of meetings um in that public review draft period. Also during that public review draft period, we will be presenting to you all and having hopefully some workshop sessions where we can kind of go through the code with you all and get some feedback and hopefully help help you all to understand what the intent was, but also

to get feedback on how you think it will work. Um, and I believe with the city commission as well during that process. So once we sort of get through that step four, we make all of the revisions from everything that we've been discussing. Um when we feel good about the code, that's when we will take it forward for adoption. So the idea is to kind of work through as many kinks as possible um during step three and four um until we get to that public hearing process. Um so just a little bit about our kickoff session in December. Um we did a presentation to the committee of the whole we had several fairly intensive um staff discussions. So if you think it's not great to sit here on a beautiful day inside the the room and listen to me talk staff met with me for like 4hour chunks. It was um quite intensive and then I was here again in March and had additional staff discussions which has informed the directions report. Um, we also had this fantastic staff-led community bus tour which you see some images up here on that Elizabeth led and and they told us they took us to a whole bunch of new developments that have been occurring and talked through some of the issues and the discussion points from um those projects being developed. Um, and then again we had a technical advisory committee meeting back in December which was our first meeting to sort of hear their first thoughts on that as well. Um and so May 12th will be our community launch. Um the uh and and just just to be sure, this is uh the publicinput.com. It's actually zone GR um and not zoning GR, but if you do the little um QR code, it will take you to the website. Um but we have this community launch scheduled for May 12th. We've already had a lot of registrations for it. Um, I think we've

got maybe 40 or maybe even 50 people at this point because I'm still getting emails when every time people st sign sign up. Um, and we will be doing a presentation and trying to explain the directions that we're going the direction that we're going with the zoning code with the directions report. Um, and then we will also have a series of stations for people to have some conversations um, with staff and with the consultants. Okay. So, that's sort of our timeline. Um, I'm going to talk a little bit about the background on the community master plan. I know several of you actually participated in that process. Um, but just to say that we are also looking at the area specific plans. Um, I know that some of those have been um, folded into overlay information and we're looking at that as well. Um but there are other plans and initiatives that we've even heard about some yesterday that we didn't know about. And so we're trying to make sure that we're um at least as aware as possible of all of the other initiatives so that we can make sure that we're making those kind of connections and those ties um you know to the extent that we can with the zoning ordinance. So as I said the community master plan really is our roadmap for development of the zoning ordinance. Um there's a lot of words on this page, but this um plan framework at the beginning of uh the CMP is really helpful for us to understand kind of the broad goals um that the community came up with. Um so there's a series of value threads that were identified and then these um five community goal areas um that all of the sort of objectives are organized around. So this idea of great neighborhoods um connected and diverse neighborhoods um the bold change within that chapter is all about allowing duplexes and triplexes and quadplexes um as well as accessory dwelling units in the areas

that are zoned lowdensity residential. Um that kind of coupled with number five um implementing a development character-based uh approach I think is really important. I think those two things really work closely together. So what we want to do is allow those duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, and ADUs um within the sort of physical form of the neighborhoods and making sure that we're being very contextsensitive. Um the second area about vital business districts and um really thinking about how can we get as much development in those locations as possible. Um still maintaining that um desirable development character within those areas. So looking at heights and promoting um denser development in those specific locations. Um looking at the community activity centers um to create more employment um for a stronger economy. Um really looking at where like manufacturing and research is occurring and where it can occur. Um and more and more these days we're allowing those kinds of things to happen pretty much anywhere um in the city with the exception of sort of the residential neighborhoods. the ideas of um doing this sort of artisan manufacturing and craftsman manufacturing you know on on commercial corridors and then finally the balanced mobility reducing or eliminating parking requirements we'll be looking at how are the different ways that we can do that there are a lot of tools um that we can use there um looking at very specific sort of areas of of the city um where infield development might um be held back because of parking requirements ments um especially as it says where there's transit. Um we also want to make sure that we're encouraging pedestrian friendliness. So everything that's in your current code about walkability will be carried forward and kind of fine-tuned and clarified. So that's a lot in uh that one slide. Uh

character-based approach I think is really important. The map, the future land use and character map. Um, I just want to say I I should have said this before, this community master plan is an excellent document. I mean, this is what I do every day of my life. And I I'm constantly going into communities that have master plans or comprehensive plans that are not as well thought out and as helpful to rewriting zoning as this particular one is. So, I just want to say that it makes for a great road map actually. Um and this map is an excellent map which will serve as kind of the basis um of moving forward and creating um a map for your city, a new map for your city. So when we're going through this process um we'll be starting with that sort of future vision of what we want to be happening um within the city, the future land use and development character map as kind of a basis. But zoning needs to work with what's on the ground right now and it needs to work in the interim as we're sort of moving towards that future. So we really want to be highly aware of what the current zoning is as well. So, when we're remapping and creating new zones and putting those zones um on parcels, we're going to be looking at what the current zoning of that parcel is and making conscious decisions about any change towards the future land use map so that we're making sure that these kinds of things are happening appropriately and at the pace that they need to be happening. Um, in addition to those two maps, um, and that background information, um, I like to do a lot of surveying of what's actually on the ground. And so, I'm currently in the process of going through and mapping what I consider to be all the building types within the city. So, we'll also have an additional layer of information um, what are the current building forms um, within the city in those particular

locations, which I think will just help inform um, those decisions. Okay. So, I'm going to dive into the directions report if anybody has anything they want me to go back to. No. Okay. Okay. Um, so the purpose of the directions report, um, in this sort of early phase is a a document where I can take everything that I've kind of heard so far, um, and fold it into black and white pages, text, and illustrations just so that we can get at least some confirmation of the direction that we're going with the draft. Um so I don't want to start drafting code until I feel confident that this is where we should be. Um so we're the idea here to today um and you know hopefully over the next couple of weeks is to confirm that the project direction that's outlined in this report is pretty accurate. That doesn't mean that things can't change. It just means this is how we're sort of stepping off and starting to draft. Um the other part of the directions report is um you know I'm sort of turning the apple card upside down at this point. Um we're keeping all the apples but we're sort of reorganizing them in a way. And I think it's really important to sort of begin digesting a different code structure as early as possible so that you all can start thinking about it and looking at you know your projects in different ways um so that we can make sure that this is going to work. Um, so again, it's to begin that process. Um, but it doesn't mean that we're not going to continue to refine all of that. Um, we have several points in the process where we'll go back and refine. Um, and then finally to hear any additional input. Um, anything that you feel like we've missed or some some little piece. We had some excellent

conversations yesterday with the TAC um about things like stepbacks and uses, very specific use conversations. maybe a little early in the process, but it's great for me to hear because again, I'm digesting. So, we want to hear any additional input that you might have that could ultimately inform the initial code drafting. And again, there will be other opportunities to provide input. Um, okay. So, within the directions report, we've outlined what we're calling these key priorities. Um, this is kind of a framework to start to hang all of those specific action items. So, if you were to open up the document, you'll see underneath each one of these items a list of I don't, you know, I don't know, 10 to 20 items that I specifically heard we need to do and and address. It's not everything that we need to do, but it's um it's a lot. Um so, what I've done is organized all of those sort of action items into this framework that we will then continue to use to present the zoning ordinance um in the future. So it helps to sort of tie back to the community master plan and make sure that you know these are the items that we are this is the reason that we're writing the code that we're writing. So the first one is um taking that sort of uh development character and um sort of tweaking the name a little bit. It's more about context sensitivity. Um and what I mean by contextsensitive is on a broader context of the neighborhood. um looking at the neighborhood era, looking at how that neighborhood filled out, what what makes that neighborhood feel like it does when you drive through or walk through that neighborhood. Um also to the immediate context of the site. So when you're developing a building, what's next door to you and behind you and across the street from you? So that's contextsensitive. Housing supportive is, you know, we're all talking about

housing. We know what housing supportive is about. It's about housing choice, um, different stages of life, increasing our supply in as many different ways as we possibly can, preserving existing affordable units. Um, and there's a whole list of of ways that have been outlined in the master plan for this as well. In terms of businessfriendly, we want to be looking at the commercial corridors that you currently have, how they're zoned, trying to kind of tighten them up and create kind of nodes of activity. so that businesses can be more successful as opposed to someone just sort of opening up a new business along a street along a corridor. We want to kind of create these nodes of businesses along the corridor but in addition to that we want to sort of uh increase the uses that can happen in those locations. So, uh, as I said before, artisan industry, supporting job growth with employers, um, supporting local entrepreneurs and maybe having smaller spaces, um, and enhancing, um, those sort of existing nodes, but also thinking about where new nodes might occur and how we might address those in the zoning moving forward, which we also had a lot of discussion um, at the technical advisory committee meeting yesterday about. Um, in terms of vibrant and walkable, I think that's pretty apparent. We want to really look at how the buildings are relating to the street. Your current code already does that. Um, you've already got a lot of um, standards for uh, storefront buildings and windows and doors and that kind of permeability between the sidewalk and the interior of the building at different levels for different uses. Um, so we want to build on that. We want to build on the current walkable street pattern and making sure that we're um maintaining those blocks and um permeability through the blocks. Um as well, um we want to increase uh

when I say increase access for all, I mean we that's walkable. We want to make sure that we're supporting transit use and other ways, other modes of transportation to arrive at the site um through your current sort of bike parking standards and things like that. Um in terms of green and healthy, this is a priority area where we can address uh your urban tree canopy and tree preservation um on your sites. Um promoting public health which is also um in uh vibrant and walkable as well. um but also looking at uh durable materials um for different buildings and making sure that we're building buildings that are going to be maintained and stay um high quality for a longer period of time. And then the last key priority is something that we heard from staff over and over about um and this is one of our broad goals as well, this idea of predictable and transparent. So, we're very consciously trying to build a code that is um explains immediately what it is that we anticipate happening on a site. So, we're including uh photographs, we're including diagrams um so that all of the sort of text and words and tables of information that are in the code are explained a little bit more easily um that somebody can pick it up and understand it a little bit more easily. Okay, so those are the six priorities in that first section. Also, one of the things that we did was look at all of your existing zones or zoning districts um and make recommendations based on what we heard from staff on how they're functioning and just how we've typically looked at um zoning designations uh in other places. One of the things that I think works really well and ties very well to the master plan uh the community master plan is the neighborhood

designations of traditional neighborhood u mid 20th century neighborhoods and modern neighborhoods. Um that is something that it seems like the community has has bought into and understands their neighborhoods. Um it's something that staff has spent a lot of time sort of explaining and training to the community. And so I think that's something that we probably want to carry forward, especially in the residential zones and in the neighborhoods. I think it also ties really well with the second bullet here, which is I believe that the best way to convey the regulations is through building types or a series of building types. And so we're proposing to create building type regulations um for all of the mixeduse zones as well as all of the neighborhood zones, which I think will also help um with your sort of middle housing and what you're missing in your current code and how we can kind of hang those regulations on a building form that people will understand. Um so this idea of using building type regulations also will tie into the mixeduse zones and um different ways that we can um zone those commercial corridors that are currently sort of allowing anything goes. I mean your some of your uh traditional business area TBA zones are really long and sort of stretch along corridors. Um, and so what we want to do is create um different types of mixeduse zones, which I'll explain in a minute, but also different scales. Um, so where the traditional neighborhood and um the MCN and the N probably were intended to address scales to some degree, um, I don't think it works as well. So I'll explain how I'm proposing to do that. Um, additionally with uh discussions with staff, we looked at multi-building site layouts and the current zoning code doesn't work as well um when you have more than one building on a site. And so we will be addressing that at at different scales

from you know a smaller one or two or three building site to um a larger you know maybe three acre site. Um so I've already talked about locating storefront zones on corridors. This is one of those kind of nodal aspects. I think we also need to do that in downtown. If you open up the um directions report, you'll find a very preliminary just an idea of how the downtown could be separated into more than one zone. It's currently one zone. Um and I think there are a lot of sub areas within the downtown. um specifically um areas where um there has been an effort to create storefront continuous storefront and so I think we can kind of conserve that with the uh the zoning code. Um and then primary and non- primary streets is a way to organize frontages especially in the downtown. Um, so that non- primary streets would be where you have your garage entrances. And if you can think about that ahead of time, um, in the the downtown or in other locations where it might be a little bit difficult to figure out what's the front of the parcel. Um, if we can map those, it just makes everything a little bit easier once developments start to come in. Makes that decision making. And then finally, I just one little word about overlays. Um I I think overlays add an in in many cases unnecessary need to um an unnecessary level of complexity to the base zones. Um so if we can create a series of base zones that work and we can take some of those overlay standards and incorporate them into those base zones um I think we can eliminate many of your overlays. um some of them will still need to exist but I think we can um try to handle that in different ways.

So that's a goal. Okay, that's a lot. So this part um of the directions report and the presentation is you know this is all preliminary. Um this is a way to again help you to start digesting this structure. Um and it is not you know meant to be a final. it's probably going to change. Um, but it's a way to sort of see the direction that we're going and and provide some input to us. Um, so your current uh zoning chapter 61 is organized there that you see with the light blue um title and then we're proposing uh organization on the right hand side and the navy blue title. Um, part of what I found about your current zoning is you have your title, purpose, and scope and then general provisions and then a discussion about the map zone districts. It's a lot of text at the very beginning when somebody sort of first dives in. Now, once we get to MUN code and it's all online, that's a little less important, but I've always found that it's important to get to what the regulations for the buildings are more quickly. Um and the other part of that is the general provisions article right now um seems to have been just a gathering place for additions. It has a lot about accessory structures or accessory uses that are also in other some other accessory uses and structures are in other places. So one of the things that we want to do is pull that out and put it in its own article. But this idea of, you know, just having this sort of miscellaneous upfront article um is less helpful when somebody's trying to find the information that they need. So what are general provisions? You know, we're not really sure. Um, so the idea here is to um try to make the uh

table of contents a a very clear indication of what's in that article. Um, and find all of the pieces that you're really immediately looking for in the table of contents. Um, so you're going to be looking at what your zone is. You're going to be eventually looking at what your building type is. Once you're clear with that, your principal use, you want to look at a use article and find all that information. Um, currently you have a transportation and mobility article, which is a great way in planning to combine all modes of transportation, but what we found in zoning is that in order to lay out your site, you need to know how much parking, if at all, um, you're required to have. And so finding that very quickly is important. So all of the other mobility elements have been move would be moved to the site design section. Um so we then would take all of the kind of administration uh nonconformities and procedures and move them all to the end because until you know what you're doing, you aren't going to want to know how to get there. Um, and so we're trying to kind of make the, in my opinion, more interesting elements at the front. Um, but also really, uh, a a better understanding of what is expected on your site at the front and then the procedures at the back. So again, that's probably going to change as we're moving, but those are the basic ideas behind it. Again, this will probably change, but on page 25 of the report, you'll find a table of proposed zones. Um, I felt like it was really important um after looking at your existing zones that we needed to create some new zones and maybe u move zones around a little bit. Um, and so there are three sections. This is in

your current code as well. A chunk of mixeduse zones, a chunk of residential or neighborhood zones, and then special districts. And I'm proposing to maintain all of that. And what I'm going to do now is kind of walk you through each one of those zones and explain to you how we're proposing to change them. I'm going to start with the neighborhood zones because I thought those would be the easiest, but according to the TAC, they are certainly not. So, um, but, uh, currently you have neighborhood classifications. Um, I'm sure you're aware of the TN, the MCN, and the M. The traditional, the mid 20th century, and the modern neighborhoods. Those neighborhood classifications kind of hover over two zoning districts, lowdensity residential LDR, and mixed density residential MDR. And when you combine those, you end up with six zones. Um it's sort of hard to look in my opinion to look at the zoning map and understand which zone you're in. Um with the kind of floating um neighborhood classifications. One of the things that I propose to do is just to create six zones. Um and we can keep all of that information. We can maintain all of the neighborhood classification information. Um but you'll just have a zone. Um and so uh you can see that the majority of the city or the neighborhoods are zoned with that low density residential. Um and much of it is traditional neighborhood even though we have found some pockets that I think with staff we've agreed that maybe those are the MCN. Um the modern neighborhoods are all kind of on the outer edges. Um but the majority of the city is that um the yellow lowdensity residential and then the orange is the mixed density residential which by and large is is overlaid on top of existing sort of apartment developments and townhouse developments and such.

Uh the uh future land use and character map defined these as compact neighborhood and suburban neighborhood. And there's quite a great explanation of what a compact neighborhood is. And then those suburban neighborhoods by and large are those n neighborhoods on the outer edges. Um and so you can see how these uh map this map overlays that sort of compact neighborhood on top of that current LDR zone district. So what we're proposing to do is to um create those six zones as I mentioned maintain the TN mcn and o n prefix to those zones which that prefix will be kind of used as a geographical prefix um in other zones as well. um and to create and to create this mixed residential and a residential that will likely be mixed to some degree um but is more tied to that original LDR. Um in conversations yesterday we may revisit this a little bit but I think it's really helpful as I'm mapping the city I am finding the clean lines between the traditional neighborhood the MCN and the N. It was very well done originally. There may be some locations where we want to kind of push and pull a little bit, but it works really well. The traditional neighborhoods are generally, and you'll find this in the building type discussions in the direction report. The traditional neighborhoods are buildings that are built without garages typically on the front. They are the kind of turn of the century um buildings that um sometimes house a single unit, sometimes house two units, sometimes house like up to six units. Um they are uh the garages may be at the back if they have garages. Um they just are fairly narrow buildings

that tend to extend into the lot for the most part um with smaller front yards. The mid 20th century neighborhoods often have garages because of the introduction of the car, but usually they're sort of a singlecar garage or very small portion of the front facade. Those buildings also tend to extend kind of parallel to the street. So longer on the lots, a little bit wider lot. Um, and so there's a clear kind of sense of where those buildings um occur and where we can draw those lines. And then the modern era neighborhoods are the sort of suburban locations and those are um, you know, they may have threecar garages on the front. that may be the most visible aspect of those houses, but sometimes they're also two or two and a half stories with those garages on them. We tend to think of those suburban neighborhoods, of which you don't have a lot of as fewer design standards associated with them, um, letting those be what they are. Um, but then addressing the design standards for the other neighborhood types, um, more specifically because they have a clearer character. And um there is a desire to kind of conserve that those areas to some degree um while still allowing for those triplexes and and quads and duplexes within them. So that's the neighborhoods zones where we're at. And as we're mapping all the different building types within the neighborhoods, um what you'll find in the directions report is a page for each one of the building types that we see in those neighborhoods. Um the special districts is also should be pretty simple and straightforward. I'm I'm not proposing a lot of changes to these except for to potentially introduce um the the SDIN which would be a special district innovation or innovation in industry.

I'm not sure that we need that. I think we can probably handle it in other ways, but it would be used in some of the locations where the TNTCC is that has been converted to an innovation center in the master plan. So, um that's a kind of holding place. I always prefer to start with more zones and pull them out as we as needed or combine them as needed. And then also potentially adding a public and institutional buildings um zone. Okay. So, the hardest part um who um is the mixeduse zones. Uh so, the mixeduse zones are um I have sort of found that the TN, the MCN and the M are not as helpful in those locations. Um and so I'm proposing that we revise those zones. Um so, first of all, I want to suggest that we split the mixeduse zones into sort of two chunks. um one that is all about storefronts so that we can very clearly map where you have existing storefronts that you want to conserve and carry forward. Um and then any locations where you definitely want storefronts to occur or be infilled. Um and so that is what the MX is where you see that kind of green shading over it. So that's the second half. This is a new zone. um GX would be a more general mix. Um whereas in the MX you would be required to do ground floor storefront on the primary street frontage, not on the on a side street. Um but on the primary street for a certain depth and uses would be limited. We had quite a discussion about those what those uses might be, but let's just say for today it's not residential. So the idea here is this is where you want that kind of activity, people kind of going in and out of those doors, a high level of

permeability and those storefronts being used for visible uses. The GX zone, the general mix is where that residential or even office uses can occur. So the idea is to take these long stretches of TBA and find those nodes of storefronts and zone those MX and then zone the rest of the corridors GX general mix which would allow for that residential and office. You can still build a storefront in those locations and we'll talk about what uses are appropriate in those locations um but you don't have to. And so this idea of creating um new developments that have groundfloor residential and how that groundf flooror residential relates to the sidewalk is important to figure out. So there might be a little more space. There might be um it it wouldn't be required to be at the elevation of the sidewalk like you would want to do for a storefront to make it as accessible as possible. But this idea of kind of splitting the mixeduse zones into two groups um and then using those to map the city. So the second part of the mixeduse zone uh designations has to do with that development character and as I said I didn't find the TN and the MCN and to be that helpful along your commercial corridors. I mean the downtown is TN but you know a downtown is traditional and we know what the character is of the downtown. Um along the corridors it also became a little bit difficult to tell what the differences were based on what was occurring. I think that based on the master plan, this idea of having a downtown, a transitional activity center, a community activity center, a

neighborhood activity center as is mapped, um those are about scale and intensity. And so I think using those to create our different scales um of those MX and GX storefront and general mix zones would be more helpful along the corridors. And so what I have proposed is um using D for downtown and I know some people are going to miss city center and I I agree but that C is really important and the C gets used a lot for commercial or for corridor for center. So, we want to really call out the downtown as something different. So, I propose D for downtown, C for quarters and centers since we have um center activity centers already called out. Um and then N for neighborhood. So, coming down in scale to what is appropriate for a neighborhood scale. And then we may not need this, but um I'm sort of holding it for an S for suburban. Um what we're thinking is that in the mo kind of commercial areas um where you've got uh lots of vehicular uses and suburban shopping centers that maybe aren't going to go anywhere um that we can use that zone which will have again fewer standards associated with it, fewer design standards associated with it. So is that like clear? So these are all new. Um, and if you look at the uh at the directions report, I've kind of tied each one of these to what their current zone is, but I've hidden it here just so there were fewer words. Okay, so that's the zones. Um, and then the next idea, as I stated, is to organize all the regulations by building types. So this is an example. This is a preliminary table that might be in the code. You'll see the zones that are

proposed across the top. Um, and then on the left hand column, those might be the uh building types that we would hang all of our regulations on. So, in the storefront MX zones, you might have the storefront building. Um, with that ground floor storefront requirement, um, there's also the potential for um, and I don't know what we'll call this. There's a bunch of things you can call the commercial house or the flex house or this is where um buildings have been converted from houses to commercial or new construction has been built that kind of mimics those house um elements um and making sure that we're sort of addressing that. Sometimes they have more landscape area around them and so on. Um a general building which would be in the GX general mix zone which would allow for an apartment building or an office building. It just doesn't have that standard for ground floor storefront. It doesn't have the standard for the first floor elevation being close to the sidewalk. Um it's just a a general generic kind of building envelope, a row building, which I'll talk about in a minute, and then a series of house types um for the neighborhoods. Um so I just jumped the gun on those. Those are the two pages, one for storefront building and one for general building. And again, if you look at the directions report, the map of the downtown, you can see where I can pretty easily map where those are in the downtown. You could do the same thing along the corridors where the CMP called for middle housing types. We've translated those into a row building, which could be a townhouse or a rowhouse or a live work building. um tends to be kind of a street wall of buildings that are connected.

Um and then the traditional house would accommodate um all of the different sort of unit mixes. As you can see, the image at the bottom there is we're not sure how many units it is, but it's anywhere from four to eight um units that still has that kind of characteristic of a traditional house, just a little bit bigger. Um, and so we can write all of those regulations that will help all of those different unit mixes to fit in. The third image that you see down shows multiple buildings on a site. And that's a separate sort of discussion that we'll have to have about how a traditional house can develop, a traditional house site can develop with multiple buildings on the site. And that's that multiple building layout that I was referring to earlier that we can address. I just wanted to call attention to the Lane House, which really is a traditional house, but it's a very specific situation that I know there have been variances about and I I I feel like staff has been great at handling them, but there's also some new examples of those being constructed and I think it should be encouraged. They're wonderful little sort of um areas um of tighter development. Um, and then the traditional house court, which I think would work um, for those multiple building layouts. Maybe not quite what was anticipated in some of those other situations, but again would build off of the traditional house and just be another layout potential for those. Um, okay. So once we create that table that I showed you earlier, this table, each one of those building types will be organized with a series of tables and illustrations all organized the same way. And the idea here is that once you find your zone on the map and you go to the building type table and you select your building type, you go to this set of pages and this will get you really far in terms of what can happen on your site. Of course, there's going to be

other regulations that you're going to need to address, but this will give you your building and parking sighting, basically your building envelope, um the height and how you cap the building. Um so whether or not you can get that extra half story under the roof or not. Um and then primary facade requirements. So how much glass, how many doors, basically all your street facads as well. we are incorporating images at the front end to convey you know this is what this building type is meant to sort of produce so it's increasing the level of predictability for what can happen on your next door neighbors site um and we'll select those images carefully um I try to select new construction images um I don't think those are not necessarily the best this is a different place so those are not necessarily the best images for you but we try to um incorporate new construction images just so that you can see more what can be built today. And then again uh including diagrams to illustrate all of those regulations. So that's the zones and building types. Last chunk uh development standards and procedures. I'm going to go through really quickly because we're so late. Um Brian asked me to say and I'm going to say I'm going to say this is an example use table from another community. Even though some of the zones look sort of the same, it's not. This is just from this is just an example to show you how we might lay out a use table. I haven't even started to look at uses yet. I'm still focused on zones and building types. But your use table will look something similar to this. It will likely be two or three, maybe four pages. We try to keep it as short as possible. Right now, your uses are in each one of the zones. There's a table

at the end of each one of the zones or at the beginning, I can't remember. Um, and we're proposing to consolidate all those together into one article. So, you'll have one use table that you will refer to. Um, and so that use table along with that building type table will tell you a lot about what's allowed on your zone. Um what we also try to do is incorporate symbology on the use table so that you can pretty quickly see with that solid circle this is allowed by right and then with an open circle this requires some approval conditional or special land use permit. And then sometimes we incorporate other symbols that might say this use is allowed only in the upper stories or the upper stories in the rear of the building like for a storefront um where you don't want to allow that residential. You can see that on this use table. Sometimes we limit uses to a certain percentage of the footprint like we want to allow a cafe in an apartment building only on the corner or something like that then we can limit it. um and lots and lots of other different ways that we can do that. So this can be a very um helpful table with lots of information on it. And then all of the uses would be uh defined and all of those use specific standards would be in that same article keyed from a link in the table. We also want to collapse more your uses into categories more so than you already have. hopefully I we may not get there um but we'll try um just to sort of make it a little bit simpler and a little bit easier but there you know there any use that requires specific standards or something else will be pulled out. Um, and then finally, as I already referred to, I'm going to take accessory uses and structures and give them their own article, their own place in the sun. Like, we're talking about ADUs, we're

talking about accessory garages, we're talking about um, you know, solar panels and wind turbines on houses that are accessory. All of those kinds of accessory uses and structures will be in one place. Um, which I think there's one staff person who will be very happy about that who does garages all day long. Um, after you get your sort of building type where all of those sort of basic building envelopes and those key elements, those key regulations are are visible in the building types. I'm proposing that all of the building design standards um, like materials and facade proportioning and roof types and balconies and all of those kinds of things, entry transitions be in one article so we don't have to repeat ourselves a lot. Um, and usually it's um, it's easier to address those kind of second tier design elements. It's like you're doing your building envelope and then you're maybe thinking about what your facade materials are going to be and those are sometimes a little flexible. So, um, incorporating all of those into one article that gets looked at sort of second to the building types um, is usually the path. Um, also we want to really create clear pathways for relief especially of these design standards. And what I will do is I told the TAC is we'll start with more design standards and then you can tell me that's too far. You've gone too far. I don't you know what are you thinking and we'll pull them out. Similarly, we'll do a site design section um where we're addressing all landscape and streetscape and you know all of those mobility connection standards for sidewalks through lots and sidewalks through sites to the river etc. Waterfront standards all of those kinds of things could be in this site design article. Um parking we already have talked a little bit about reducing or eliminated. This is all

pulled directly from the master plan and I think there are a lot of different ways that we will be talking about that. Um all of these design and development standards will be in module two. So the zones, building types and uses will be in module one that will come to the TAC in um August and then module two will follow pretty shortly afterwards. Um, and so I'm thinking less about these at this point, but we're sort of pulling what all of the things are that we've heard into, um, the directions report. And then finally, um, in terms of procedures, we will be clarifying what your processes actually are. Um, I think there's Gabby, um, Hart with Clarion has been looking at this and she produced this section of the directions report. The idea here is to streamline approvals as much as possible and improve that kind of predictability diagramming out you know what the process actually is. But um two levels that we want to be thinking about here in terms of flexibility is you've currently you currently have a set of departures um a whole series of departures or um adjustments or waivers or things like that that you can get both at a staff level different staff levels and then to you all. And so what we want to do is make sure that we're building those in appropriately and making it clear where those things can be asked for and then what are sort of some of the standards behind them and those might be broader um and we might not have standards if you don't you know if this is the way that we go but we'll talk about those at the end of the process with module three. Once the code is you know you've got a draft of modules one and two it'll be a lot easier to figure out what we need to do at this level. Um, so that's that's it. Community launch May 12th. I'm sorry I didn't leave this time, did I?

No, that's okay. No, thank you so much. Um, do folks have initial questions they want to ask now? Go ahead. Yeah, I think as I'm um this is something maybe I've I've consistently struggled with a little bit in my role as a planning commissioner and I I think I wrote down several things and they all kind of not all of them but several of them point to the idea of of being contextsensitive um building type regulations facade character and I guess I'm wondering um you know if my home in a mid-century modern neighborhood burns down tomorrow or gets it's crashed into by one of the mid-century modern trees that surround it that are dying all the time. Um, why can't I put a modern home in there? And what is the science behind um a home that may not architecturally fit into the neighborhood? Like other than right, and I I feel like that's it's like in the eye of the beholder. One of my neighbors may not appreciate that, but the other one may love it. And I could paint my house purple tomorrow. there's no regulations against that and put polka dots on it and sunshines. So, I'm really wondering, we constantly talk about context of of facades and materials and all that and I just I I struggle to understand that and where the where the sort of rational scientific thought is behind that concept in general.

Yeah, absolutely. And and you're quite right. I mean, what we're talking about in terms of context usually is about scale. Um, and making sure that nothing is being built that's terrifically out of scale. Context also means like how much lawn area there is around it. So, these are all things that would be in any conventional zoning code. You would have a height limitation and you would have setbacks. Um, so we're carrying those forward. We're just being a little bit more specific to each neighborhood and making sure that, you know, that you're not building your house, you know, way way back when the feel of the neighborhood is all of the houses are close by. So, it's all about that kind of experience of walking down the street. I will say also that as you sort of move through the neighborhoods, when you're in the traditional neighborhood, the facade of the of the buildings are much they tend to be closer to the street and closer to the sidewalk. And when you're driving or walking down those streets, the context or the development character that you're experiencing, the building form character that you're experiencing is very much about those facades. It's those porches, those windows, that entrance, the pitches of the roof, the scale of the stories. It's it's all of that. You're feeling that context as you're as you're walking down the street. When you move into I'm going to go to the other extreme. When you're going into a more suburban neighborhood, then usually the character of those neighborhoods, oftentimes the character of those neighborhoods or even older sort of estate lot, you know, neighborhoods, the character is the front yards and less about the facades of the buildings because you're experiencing those yards. And so what you want to do is make sure you you're you don't care as much about those

facades because there there's a lot more flexibility there. um you can't see them. They're not contributing as much to the experience of the public space. The mid-century neighborhoods are somewhere in between. They definitely have their own characteristics. They tend to be kind of the more sort of low slung um larger front lawns, there's driveways interrupting the sidewalks. And so we want to be aware of all that. Um, but I think in terms of like for example, I have found floor tofloor heights in mid-century neighborhoods tend to be lower. And in communities where the maximum height of the residential in that neighborhood is 35 ft or sometimes 40 feet, these huge houses with 10 and 12 foot, you know, they're just way out of scale and they're right there in the middle. and the neighbors next door are experiencing that just as much um as the person that's that's living there. There's there's, you know, windows looking out into yards and those kinds of things. So, we want to just be aware of that context. I'm not saying that the we definitely don't go into style. Um what we do try to do is stick to things that make make something human scale, pedestrian friendly and um you know really sort of reflect that level of durability that you might see. Those kinds of three things usually the first two are most important.

Yeah. And I I think I understand that. I think where I struggle is when we get into sometimes material selections. I mean, I sort of understand durability, and yet some of the some of the examples in the in the report that talk about unique buildings are buildings that we would likely never be able to approve today. And yet, we hold them up as these icons today of, oh, look at that amazing building. We should preserve that. It's It might be actually very non-durable, but we still work really hard at preserving it. um right in the in the I mean there might be a anyway I I think

that's where I struggle a little bit is when we want to say that doesn't look like the things around it and I my answer to that is I don't I I don't know why I should care about that feels like more opinion based on instead of and I understand if my neighbor's house is 22 feet tall I don't want to build a 45 foot tall house next to them because that does affect their their quality as they occupy their space um yeah that was one thing I had um I just want to the unique buildings I purposefully put them in the directions report because I do think we need to be sensitive to that and the relief mechanisms should allow for that to happen. Um we already provide a lot of flexibility for what I call civic building type um which would be for civic and institutional uses and doing something really unique. But I also want to point out that there's nothing that, you know, there are a couple of really good examples of storefront buildings that are like all glass facads or all glass with angled glass facads. That fits. There's nothing that says you can't do more glass, at least in the codes that I typically write. Some codes do, but you know, there are different ways to sort of push and pull all of the kind of elements to get at a more modern looking building. Um it's just not, you know, there there's still parameters.

Yeah. Awesome. Well, we we're um close on. We're over time a little bit. Um which I have stuff written down, but we can maybe we'll um leaz through staff and see if there are questions that we'd like answered in the meantime until before we see you again um that that you can ask. No, thank you so much for your presentation and all the work that you've done so far. And um yeah, it sounds like we're on a a positive trajectory here. So, thank you so much. Thank you.

Okay, let's take a five minute break to transition um into public hearings and we'll be right back. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. All right, welcome back. Um, thanks for your patience. We will get started on our public hearings. I'll quick run through the process that we go to and then we'll do conflict of interest. Um, but as far as our public hearings go, we'll have staff come up um present the staff report and then we'll invite the applicant up to um provide us additional

information. Um we'll then open the public hearing. If you're here from the public and want to comment on a case, we'll invite you up to the mic and you'll have up to three minutes to address comments to the planning commission. Um the applicant will then have the opportunity after the public hearing is closed to address any comments and then um the commission will deliberate and make a decision. Um, we are being streamed live on Facebook and YouTube. And, um, as a reminder, or if you're new to these meetings, so you are aware, staff does prepare, um, draft language for us to read and modify as we see fit when we're making motions. And so, you will see us reading off a piece of paper, but that doesn't mean that um, a decision has been made in advance. There are findings on both sides that we can um modify as we're going through our motion making. And with that, I will turn to um first conflict conflict of interest. Any conflicts of interest today? All right. Go ahead, Elizabeth. Thank you.

Thank you. The first item on the agenda is a request um to modify an existing drive-thru bank facility to establish a drive-through coffee shop. The ad the address of the property is 2041 Eastern Avenue Southeast. It is located in the TNTBA zone district and is in the Seymour Square Shopping Shopping Center. As you can see on this exhibit, it is a small portion of it is a small portion of an existing lot. And I'm the reason I just got stuck here because these lines look a little bit I'm I'm the shopping center uh is encroaches into the MDR. I'll have to check that out. But at any rate, it is a very uh small lot in the middle of a parking lot. It was a uh drive-through bank which ceased operation approximately 10 years ago and the pneumatic tube systems, drive up ATM, and signs were removed. Subsequently, a tax service occupied the building and so we have considered the drive-thru use to have been abandoned and that is why it is before you today. Drive-through facilities in a TBA zone district require special land use approval. I'll show you a number of slides that show the existing and the existing facility as it's today as well as as it was established in the past. This is the

south elevation. You can see there are doors and there is a little green space, a little bit of pavement and an AC condenser and our public hearing sign, which I don't know if you've ever seen, but we've been doing that for the last year or so. Uh to the right, which is along Eastern, this is where the drivethru uh I'm sorry, the yeah, the drive up ATM was located. And then and you can see a landscape area along the street. Um I have a a walk down uh over time here. Um I I the images go back to two I have them back to 2007, but they're hard to see and they haven't changed. They didn't change much, but the bank was in operation in June of 2011. You can see how it was landscaped at that time. And the landscaping that you see here um this is what was required as a condition of uh the use of the drive up ATM. There was this kind of screening that was required and this landscape bed is about 70 or 80 feet in length and 16 feet in width. You can see in 2015 um the the the trees in the landscape bed have disappeared and what looked to be ash trees seemed to be dying. By 2017, they're looking even worse. And we can see that by that time, the the bank has ceased operation.

2018, we have Jackson and Huitt tax preparers. 2019, 2025, our trees are gone. I'm I'm sure they I would assume that they were removed by the city because they had died. I I assume that they were ash trees. Um uh I don't really have a um anything that show uh a photo from the north, but um I will talk a little bit about how this is proposed to operate. The applicant pro doesn't propose to make any significant physical changes to the building or site and they propose to use the site differently than originally um the originally designed. Originally, we had the the this northbound traffic was traffic that was using the ATM. Southbound traffic w would go through the drive up uh tellers. That's what we call it, right? They were the drive-through teller stations. And um yeah, who I haven't done that in a long time and I can't remember what they're what they're called, but the the they would uh be the drive-through teller stations. So, the applicant proposes to use the one that is closest to the building for pickup. So, a vehicle would enter the site, drive north, a an order board would be located um in this landscape bed.

Vehicles would do a Uturn and then travel south to pick up their their items. In order to facilitate that U-turn, the landscape bed is proposed to be narrowed from 16 ft to 10 ft. Um, as you can see on this plan which is I distributed this at the lunch meeting. This is uh this was received yesterday. This plan shows some additional uh sidewalks um uh from the parking lot or walkways, I should say, walkways uh from the parking lot to the building. I'll let the applicant talk about some of the um signage and detail that he proposes. Um, but here is a good image that he's provided of the proposed pickup window and a striped pedestrian walkway. This last image shows proposed signage, which of course he would need to get a sign permit for, and the proposed message board. Now, um uh we hadn't uh received um this image until yesterday. So, we hadn't had a chance to talk about this in detail with the applicant or I should say we hadn't had an opportunity to talk at all with the applicant about this signage. Generally, the article nine of the zoning ordinance which addresses drive-thrus

prohibits prohibits signage from facing the street. Um, in this case, as you can see, uh, the signage is proposed facing the street. We would suggest that there are alternatives to the orientation facing the street. It could of course be oriented perpendicular to the street so that drivers could still see the signage, but it wouldn't be facing the street. It could also be moved to another location. Uh it it it could be located um uh in the landscape bed um facing this row of cars. um that those are just some options. Um let's see here. I think there was one other thing I wanted to mention about that. So along with menu boards um not facing the street, the zoning ordinance does um well, I want to say prohibit, but it it does not um it is not um it does not advocate putting the drive-thru lanes along the street facing side. Now um of course this was the design uh this is the existing design however I might um I might want to point out that we weren't not with there was only uh an ATM there and the rest of the the bank operation was on the west side of the building and the landscape bed

that was required as a condition of approval for this drive-thru was significantly um more robust. Originally, there were at least three trees in that bed and other um in other landscaping. Um but as you can see, there was you know it was at it was a drive-through lane. So, one of the elements that I would ask that the planning commission considers is the appropriateness of that drive-thru lane on that side of the building. Um, and the reduction of the landscape bed to facilitate that drive-thru. I know that the applicant has uh provided some other um exhibits that show um what he is intending to do. I think some additional landscaping is proposed along that street frontage. So that could be that could mitigate for that. Let me see if there's anything else I want to go over here. Oh. Um, uh, one of the, uh, elements of the design that the applicant is proposing is, uh, trash, which, uh, we do appreciate. Something that we would like the applicant to explain is really how these trash bins would be used given that this is mostly a drive up operation

and folks really wouldn't be driving past these or this is not an area where folks gather. I'd also like to mention that along with coffee, the applicant is proposing to serve soft serve ice cream. And I think that will be a hit in the neighborhood. Um, I could see that being really popular with families in the neighborhood who might want to walk or bike here. Because of that, I think I'd ask the planning commission to have a conversation about how that would really work. I know that today there is an air conditioner condensing unit um uh outside the door which would have to be moved. There really isn't a a good place for people to gather. I'm just I'm saying this as a conver um element of conversation. I know that that is the ice cream is not the applicant's primary focus, but on a day like today, it could be a popular amenity in the neighborhood. So, um that pedestrian circulation um and access is something that I'd ask you to discuss. Um, we might also want to explore the arrangement um the the overall arrangement and um I know the applicant will be um able to talk to this but given um what the queueing analysis has indicated, three parking spaces or three queuing spaces rather should be adequate and we might be able to

um uh arrange this site with just the um the queuing on the left side of the building or west of the building. I understand that the applicant is also planning on having online ordering. So perhaps um he could talk a little bit more about that. So, in some we're looking at reuse of a former drive-thru bank facility for a drive-thru coffee shop. And most of the elements here that I've asked you as key considerations to look at have to do with um the site circulation for both vehicular and pedestrian use um as well as other layout features. Do you have any questions for me before I turn it over to the applicant?

Any questions for Elizabeth? All right. Thank you.

Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Christian Fritz. I'm the founder of Organo in Organo USA. So, I want to show you a couple of more details of um what Elizabeth have shown you. Um first of all I think to explain Organo Organo should be a neighborhood focused coffee place a neighborhood focused um place for buying coffee by bakery items and focus also and this is our main um point focusing on organic ingredients. So we want to do that whole thing completely organic coffee pastries everything what you can buy in our shop will be will be organic. What we strive for is um using local suppliers. We are always looking to you know buy buy from local suppliers and support the local community. Um if a supplier can be close to us that will be perfect. Um sustainability is very important for us. So we want to make sure that we don't have a lot of waste on the site. Um we want to make sure that there is nearly no plastic on site rather we want to have paper packaging and and these kind of things. So we will generate naturally less um trash. I saw the picture what Elizabeth and I want to refer to it right now. Um this one I I went away already from this idea. First of all, there's the storm sewer here. So we will we will not place um trash cans here. And um secondly, there is a main trash collection on the parking lot which we will uh basically use. So we we will bring our trash to the main to the main trash cans. Then um why we're here today, we know it already. So we want to um uh achieve SLU. We want to apply for the special land use to reuse this existing building and make it as a drive-thru. As you can see in the pictures and what we what we saw before, you will enter the car wi with the car, drive through the lane, turn around and pick up your order at

the order window. Um minor modifications and renovations. Renovations obviously inside we will do. Um outside the minor modification what Elizabeth mentioned was the narrowing down of the of the landscaping. Um why we want to do that is because um we want to make it make sure that it's safe to turn with a vehicle. Right now it's a little bit narrow to turn around there. If you pull your car in today you can make it if you have a smaller car. Bigger cars cannot turn very well. So that's why we have to extend the turning radius um a little bit. If this is um you know um a big discussion, I'm proposing to add landscape basically make it longer. So I'm proposing to narrow it but I can propose to to make it longer instead. So then we have the same landscaping um square feet. What we are selling I already mentioned it's organic coffees and beverages organic soft serve ice cream pastries which we want to serve want to source locally. So we will not produce and bake them in the store. We will not have a kitchen in there. We will just basically resell it and we do some very small operations. What you can do in the store like putting a peanut butter sandwich or something that is something what we can easily do but everything what needs to be baked or or cooked that comes from from outside. The second one explains a little bit more um operationally. First of all, if customers placing a pre-order or they walk up, um we propose to put a crosswalk here in front of um of of the cars. Here you see the the window where they pick up the food. Um and create a little bit a waiting area or waiting space um in case inside it's full. So people can wait here um on this on this little pave. And we will also build up a fence. We move the air condition um backwards so it will not be

in the way. So it will be a nice little space for you know wait um till it's your turn. Then we put signs up um which means yield to pedestrians because if people walk here that's always um dangerous. So we want to make sure that there is adequate signage. I'm thinking even of a stop sign here to make sure that you know drivers are really aware that um there can be people walking along the way. Then inside, when you look inside, our operation will start from 6:00 till 4 p.m. So 6:00 a.m. to 400 pm. Uh we will have most likely three people um at the beginning in the store and um working there. And then um finally customers if they ordered online or they want to just go in and buy an ice cream, they can open the door, step in and they will be served here. Um and this one is like the employee in the morning he will come in he will it's like a lift table. So he will go in and close this behind himself. And um yes this Elizabeth mentioned it already the the signage what she mentioned should not um face to the road. Um obviously I will you know comply to whatever is asked for. um in the end if this is the drive-thru lane um it's a little bit difficult not to have it like this. So I would like to us to consider if that's a possibility. We can of course from the outside we could um have you know screenage or like tree or something to to hide it from looking at it. So and then obviously there's one more thing um these speakers here they will make noise. So um what we focus on is we will we will have modern speakers which basically will face the car and you will not have a big noise around the car. Um but also

here's eastern a so I'm sure that um the noise from this speaker will not overturn the cars passing by here. Then next one will be the traffic analyzis. So I went and um had a professional engineering company um flies and run them brink. They did the analyzis. They came back and say yes you will have um at peak you will have three cars arriving at the same time on your site. So you need to provide three spaces three uh stacking um car stacking spaces which we will have on the site. And if you can if you look at this picture, it's basically the same picture. You see three cars here. We already provide five and even a number six car where the where the yellow arrow is, a six car could could um stop here. So we actually have six stacking spaces on site which means if there's over demand and um you know uh over rush hour and we have more business this means we can still keep the traffic on site and it will not um stack back into into eastern a um couple of details here. Peak hour rate was suggested at 18 cars per hour. Right now we are we are thinking of serving the serving rate will be 45 a normal drive-thru will be between 60 to 90 seconds. So in the beginning I think we will be a little bit slower but we will we will picking that up um as we go and so therefore here also will be no problem to serve 18 cars an hour in if in peak and then the estimation from uh flies and vanre is 180 cars per day max. That's for the traffic analyzis. Finally, I went um and had neighbor out neighborhood outreach with all the neighbors um on the side. I mean with most of the neighbors. There's a hair

and big hair and beauty store. There's Family Dollar. There's a wings and um burger place uh which I went and talked to them. Um I went also to have a uh conversation with the Garfield Park neighborhood. Um was the outreach overall was very positive. Um I had no push backs on on on any of the ideas what I proposed um to have this local organic coffee store in in the area. So it was quite um like good to talk with all the neighbors and we also received this support letter which I think you have received as well. Um so in summary what I want to say is um we use an existing building we use the existing infrastructure and the existing footprint. So we don't make major changes or major you know um uh buildups on the site. We will make sure that the traffic will be contained on site and not stacking back into um into eastern a we see ourself as a locally neighborhood serving business which provides services to the neighborhood obviously taking advantage of the of the commuters who passing by and want to have their coffee on the way to work. Um we will have no seating, we will have no kitchen on site like big operations. So we will also in terms of noise or you know we we will be a a small operation there. And finally yeah the intention is to positively impact the neighborhood obviously there in this area and um that would be all from my side. Any questions you have?

Wonderful. Yeah too. Thank you. Yeah. Um, any questions for the applicant? I have one and I don't know how big of an impact it is, so maybe um our mobile GR uh rep can help us with this, but I'm just wondering if when the traffic analysis was done if the ice cream part of the operation was in consideration when that Yeah, it was all it was all part of it. Okay. All right. Um, that's Anybody else have question? Go ahead. Yeah. Uh, I'm curious about the choice to use the existing ATM drive lane as part of traffic at all. Like, are you using that because it exists?

Yeah. I mean,

or because I'm just It seems like, so I don't normally do this, but it seems like coming from the north, you could improve your traffic turning and avoid having the um the ordering signage that doesn't meet the zoning ordinance. And like you could solve for a lot of so I think there's in my mind there's a way to solve for a lot of the potential zoning issues and probably make traffic circulation better and also give you the potential to connect to the sidewalk and actually be this piece of the neighborhood that you said that you want to be. So I guess that's why I'm curious why you chose to use the ATM drive.

I think it speeds up operation. I mean that was my only point why I want to use it because if you if you drive in here and you order already here till till the guy arrives at the window you the coffee is ready. So we we will be significantly faster than if we go from that area and have only three three cars. That means the first one he order then he need we need he need to wait for his coffee. It takes one or two minutes which means the second car and the third car they already wait four minutes they wait six minutes. If you have a force car they wait 8 minutes. So nowadays, everyone want in a drive-thru, you want your coffee quick, right, when you're on the way to work. So you don't want to wait 10 minutes.

So I think there's a way to do this by turning your ordering sign 90° and having basically the same amount of queuing as you have now. Um, can you can you explain that again? Um, I think I don't know if I'm supposed to design it for you, so that's I'm struggling. The if Oops, I broke it. Sorry, I

if if traffic can come from the north and then turn 90 degrees and have a sign here instead of So instead of facing the street, it's facing the north. So you drive south, you turn 90 degrees, you can order. You're still at least four cars away from the pickup window. You've reduced this 180°ree turn. You don't have to mess with the landscaping here. you end up with a potential patio space for ice cream or for coffee. Um, so you end up with a better pedestrian experience. You end up with better traffic flow potentially and you shouldn't and it should be uh I would think it would help you because you have le less paving so there's less infrastructure that you need to install in order to make it happen. I guess is my point. and it will solve I um there's a probably some concern from someone about traveling south right there, but I think that'll solve for a lot of the issues that were raised as far as zoning ordinance requirements that we're not currently meeting.

Yeah, I think it's a it's a good point. I mean, um, I I I can think about this. Um, so what do you say? Cars coming in here, they just basically drive in here and you somewhere here install an orderboard. Yep. So you'd have two 90° turns instead of 180°ree turns. Yes. Okay. I I guess I do have a question for you about that too because I do think that that's a great idea, but I also note that the the little building itself is is on its own parcel and the parking lot is on a different parcel. Is there are there use agreements that would allow that? It's it's commonly owned. Commonly owned. Okay.

Yeah, it's commonly owned and I have it also in the contract with the landlord. So, I made this proposal to him before I signed the contract and he said, "Yeah, you can do that as long as you you get the approval for it." So, got it. Okay, great. Yeah, I I was honestly thinking the same thing. And again, we don't want to design for you or um and I don't know the business, right? I'm not the I'm not a coffee shop owner. It does feel like there's potential here for the ice cream to be a large chunk of the business in in nice weather and you have a lot of kids in within walking distance. I mean, you could have 12 10 year olds outside the door at 300 p.m. when school gets out. And and in this current configuration, there's nowhere for them to go other than in the parking area.

Um, and again, there coming in the north entrance, there's a lot of asphalt there that is really nothing. This it's just not really used. It's not even a traffic lane. It does feel like if you queued from the north entrance and and have some space between Eastern Avenue and the building, that could be potential for patio or gathering. Um, yeah, I I tend to agree that that would be an option tend to solve a lot of the the challenges or the requests for variance that we're here for today. So this would but this would also mean that you have if you if you really have a lot of people buying ice cream they will gather around here. So am I able to provide then some seating around here or Yeah.

Okay. Allowed use in the zone district

because I mean then yes that would be a good alternative then I can put a couple of seats and people can can sit there. Um yes. Uh Laura and I had had talked about um the option of eliminating that eastern uh drive lane and closing that off and that could be made into a patio. So that would absolutely be allowed. Um no special approval would be needed for that. There's no alcohol and his hours are reasonable. Mr. Fritz, was there any consideration of connecting um the store via sidewalk from um the existing sidewalk internal to the site? Seems like the connections pedestrian connections are to the parking lot.

I didn't consider this yet, but I mean as we are discussing and if that's an option, obviously I would like to do that because that's also safer for for pedestrians to otherwise have to cross the whole parking lot. So we could make the the connection directly to the door. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Any other initial questions right now? Yeah. What if you're doing ice cream? Your hours probably aren't going to stop at 4 p.m., right? That's my original purpose was to stop at 4 p.m. So, I mean, ice cream after dinner is going to extend those hours. Yeah. Realistically, if you're going to make money on ice cream,

I mean, originally that thing was saw as a coffee and bakery store and I didn't thought about, you know, that make make this as an ice cream shop, which is an attractive idea here as well. So, I need to think about how can I, you know, open longer, but you open to have it longer open then? Well, isn't the isn't the hours of operation in this in the zone district until midnight? So, we wouldn't have to do anything special to allow him to stay open longer. Sure. Yep.

Okay. Any other questions? Okay. We'll have you take a seat. Um I will open up the public hearing. Um if you are here and would like to speak on this case, please make your way to the microphone. I will close the public hearing seeing none. Okay, commissioners. Now it feels like we can get into this discussion here. Go ahead.

I see the point Commissioner Schwim's trying to make about, you know, simplifying that requirement so that it meets more standards. But, you know, if you do the math, you know, I totally understand wanting to have more cars in the queue. I just don't know how that happens if cuz right now, as it looks, there could be eight cars in that queue, you know, and your your orders are done farther in advance. I'm not sure I'm seeing how the queue can line up in that lot if you don't use that front thing. So, again, we're not designing for them, right? But there might be some opportunity there, but it's I struggle to see the volume that would support the business.

Go ahead.

I don't know if we have enough information here to know, but is a civil engineer going to be required for this should it turn into a real project with a permit? That's an excellent question. I think we would want to see something with exact, especially if it's going to change. Um, we'd want to see something with exact dimensions. our uh traffic engineers did look at the the U layout um and they felt it was you know it it was okay um uh but of course they weren't taking into account the reduction of the landscape bed and and that and all these other things that we have been talked about. I personally I'm thinking aloud here. I I think it would be a good idea to have um an engineered plan that shows exact um dimensions.

Ariana, would you mind coming up and talking to us about the existing and options? Um, so as far as kind of the queueing analysis and every everything else that is very typically standard for what the industry, we kind of use a random distribution, not just cars kind of arriving at a rate. So the three is generally that kind of 95th percentile you might expect. Um, as far as kind of the options for the turn and things like that, um, I would have to verify that Fleece and Vanderbink, they would be a company that would be qualified to kind of give, um, information on that turning radius and why they would want to see that landscape buffer reduced kind of for that bigger arc. Um, the one thing that I was kind of concerned at looking at the overall um, plan was that I wanted to know kind of what lighting would be here. Um, if it's a 6 a.m. operation, that is a very dark time in the winter. And if you are ordering your coffee ahead of time for pickup there and you are crossing that particular um, traffic lane, lighting would be very beneficial for pedestrian safety. And I can answer any specific questions you guys may have. Can you talk to us about what Commissioner Swim's idea like how that is that um the service rate that they are using which is generally from when you kind of order to when you pick up your coffee um excuse me this is a little bit weird with the queuing analysis but they use 90 um like 60 to 90 seconds. It's not necessarily that you order your coffee and you get it in that amount of time. it's that your kind of presence as you move through the queue and get your coffee. Um you can be waiting in the queue for a bit. So it's all kind of the standard things that we would expect.

It's not like an unusually short time or something to that effect. So having that kind of three uh vehicles um kind of back from it. I mean, I think there's it's something that yeah, the operations are a little bit different, but it would be something that we would say that's enough queuing space for the three kind of for where we expect them to be um moving through the queue. So, I mean, this does keep it kind of contained to the parcel. The that would be the kind of only idea of this big U as opposed to it having kind of go to the north. Maybe there's some confusion like with some of the queuing if it's not pavement marked out. Um

if you've ever been to the Starbucks on Northland by the river, it's kind of this weird free-for-all of parking with bad pavement conditions. So try to avoid that. Okay, cool. Thank you. Anybody else?

All right. Thank you so much. There is and so now I that I understand that this is a kind of a commonly shared parking lot. The the area of Asheva to the north of the existing landscape um seems underutilized. There's no no parking there. There's no drive lanes until you get almost all the way to the north. Um, I think that there probably is a way to reorient this, as Commissioner Swim said, that might make a lot more sense and then offer them the opportunity to have some outdoor seating and not reduce landscaping, but actually improve it and make it really great. I I don't know that I want to just say that we should do that and that's what we need to suggest and approve right now. Um I guess one other question I had as it relates to confusion of customers and others in this parking lot is what will the um other two drive lanes be used for under that existing canopy? Um, so there was he had at one point suggested that there might be garbage cans in one of them. That's not the case anymore, but those always make me a little nervous with people driving through and not really understanding what's going on. So, did you do you mind answering that like what what the plan is for that area?

Yes. So um I actually want to take this um this middle strip what you see here I will take that out. There will be only one lane. So cars coming in they turning around and there will be only one clear marked lane on the floor. There will be no other lanes. It will be yeah because yeah I had the same confusion because customers will pull in here and then they're waiting for for what nobody knows. So,

I think I I like the idea suggested. You know, that white line that's down there is probably from when they had the ATM and that was sort of the car path that would come in from the south and then exit out the north. And if that dead space in there was part of the queuing, that would seem to make a lot of sense that they could get the cars stacked up in there and it wouldn't be it's wasted space right now, right? So I could support that.

I also think well a couple thoughts. The first is that house that's right across the street if the if the ordering and drive lane is where it's proposed right now. I would worry about light pollution and things like that for that house. Um I think going to the north might solve that, but I also wonder if that's something we can require is can can we require the the applicant to change his drive lanes? I guess I would suggest that we uh I I would like to see uh or suggest a a table to to see that explored. Um I would like to see it. I I don't know that it's I I mean I'm with the original suggestion that it it feels uh like a better like it might be a better uh flow. it would reduce the the number of, you know, sort of variances, I suppose, if we're calling them that, with the sign facing the road, etc. Um, I am a little bit concerned with, uh, you know, if you're entering in that north exit entrance off of Eastern and then coming across it. Um, how people feel about, you know, how our our traffic teams or engineers would feel about crossing that traffic lane or it it almost feels like more queuing. I I just feel like for me in order to make a decision I would have to be comfortable I' I'd want to see that uh evaluated um and and I guess presented um because of what the ask is here uh for the for the changes. Yeah, I think my point in asking about civil engineer and like if we are reducing the if we're increasing the size of a drive lane and reducing imperous area and adding curb, you are going to have a civil engineer. So the

in the original proposal um so my point I there was that it would be really nice to see a real site plan and have some of this explored uh by a civil engineer. Um because like Commissioner Yoner said I my idea is not fully vetted. It feels like it solves some problems, but it might create some other problems. And that's what design professionals are for. And so if one's going to So, and I know that a lot of times at this point in a project, it's uncomfortable hiring people because you don't know if it's going to be allowed or not. I think in general, considering the history of this specific building and the surrounding parking lot, I think in general, um, I can support it. I would like to see a better connection to the sidewalk. Uh, I would love to see um outdoor seating that can support these the neighborhood qualities that were part of the presentation. Um, so in general, I can support this, but I do I would like to see some additional development uh in figuring out how to solve for the connection to the sidewalk in um a more neighborhood focused orientation. I agree with that. I I mean, I would struggle to, you know, not support something here because this building clearly can't really isn't designed for for much else than to be used as as a drive-thru. But I yeah, I would like to see some more some more of that detail that Commissioner Swam mentions.

Yeah, I tend to agree. I think the use in general um I'm hearing we're in support of um but we would like to see some more detail on the site plan and exploration of those different kinds of circulation options um to make that pedestrian and neighborhood experience better. Okay. May May I ask a question please? I I'm feeling that if that is the sentiment, you are all generally in support of this use. However, so is that correct?

Um so I I guess you know would you be amendable to this being tabled so we could explore some of these details. Now the only question I have is if the traffic engineer comes back and say this other option doesn't make any sense because of that that and that then I put a lot of money in there and finally the original we take the original decision. So I just want to ask if you know if everyone would be comfortable with that solution. I'm still willing to explore you know the the other thing but would we agree to that? That would be my my question. So I think and I don't want to speak for for everyone here but I think the information is what we want because then we will be able to evaluate based on what your engineer finds and um the results of that exploration. I think that I don't know that a ton of I don't know that all of this as it stands is a deal breakaker. I think we need more information to make the decision. Okay, sounds good.

I capture that. Okay. Um All right. Does someone have a motion or do you did you have something?

I'll make a motion to table this and open. I suppose um not to a date certain unless you do you have a preference staff and then I would look to the applicant I suppose I guess yeah how much time do you think I mean I'm thinking if we could get it at the top of the 28th meeting maybe that could work with what you have planned I don't know how much time do you think you would need the as of April. No, May. Oh, May. May. Yeah. The I'm sorry. You remind me what's on the

No, no, no. That's okay. Um, excuse me. Um, so the next meeting is May 14th. Um, is that that's going to be three weeks. So I we could ta you could, you know, table it to a date certain and he may or may not be ready at that time, but then that would give us he would get it would give him more time. The public is if if we needed he could um you could you're saying till until the 14th.

You could give him right um you could schedule it for the 14th. take, you know, uh, postpone it to the 14th and then if we need to, we can postpone it again. Okay. And I would like to do that as well in case you're raring to go and want to get this open. I I don't want to draw this out more than it needs to. So,

um, I think that makes sense. And then I guess with that motion just specifically looking for information on rerouting of the drive-through lane and the ordering process um with specific um uh dimensions for the drive lanes, landscaping and how the pedestrian uh experiences uh generally with the connections to the sidewalk and to the rest of the parking lot. Does that make sense? Yeah, we want to scale preliminary site plan that shows all the things that you mentioned. Was that a support?

Oh, it's not. I wasn't I should That should have waited for a discussion, huh? Yeah, that's a support. Okay. Any additional discussion? Okay. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. We'll see you soon. Thank you so much. Sorry, I got lost. No, I was We needed support, so that was good. Okay, we will move to our next case. Elizabeth will walk us through this, too. 545 and 549. Warden.

Yes. Yes. Um, okay. The next item on the agenda is a request from Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church for approval for three new duplexes on three lots to be created. The lots are currently 545 and 549 Warden. Because these are duplexes um in the TNLDR zone district, it does need planning commission approval. So that's why it is before you today. As you can see from this map, it is all TNLDR. The church is to the north and um the the church is to the north as subject properties and um the the two lot subject lots are uh south of the church and there is an alley between them. The two lots together are about 18,000 square ft. They are currently vacant and I'll be honest, I don't know the history of these lots. So perhaps you could uh let us know what might have been there before. This is a plan of what is proposed. Three new lots of approximately six square feet. Six 6,000 square ft a piece. Each one would support its own duplex. Uh the site plans would be uh substantially the same. Uh we would have

uh two sidebyside duplexes with uh porches and a sidewalk connecting to the back entry and to the three space uh parking lot at the back which is access from the alley. I I I really don't feel that I need to get into the weeds on this. It meets all zoning requirements. It meets the parking. It meets the setbacks. Um the elevations meet the requirements. It looks like there's a basic floor plan and elevation and they have a couple of uh different options for uh design details and um I really like this elevation and I want to talk to whomever created this because we'd like to see more of this. This is really illustrative. Um so thank you. Um and what's that? It was

AI. It It's great. It's great. Um and um so um it's really helpful for us to um see what's being proposed and I'll be happy to answer any questions um or turn it over to the applicant. All right. Thanks, Elizabeth. Any questions for Elizabeth? All right. Thank you so much and come on up.

Good afternoon, Commission. First of all, it's an honor being here. Thank you for just taking our opportunity today to enhance and add some more value to our community. I'm the pastor, Pastor Daryl Gaddy of uh Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church. And with me today, we have the chairman of our committee uh our building committee and and looking at this project, uh Mr. Philip Green and our administrative secretary in the back, Miss Sanica Pel. I've been at Pilgrim Rest now for almost four years and in the midst of coming to the city of Grand Rapids and recognizing the impact that this church that was planted in this city in 1927. And so next year this church will be 100 years old. uh in this 99 years. This year, we have as of last year done a renovation on our sanctuary space that we would be able to engage what we would call a new strategy and a new plan to enhance not only the community uh in a spiritual way, but really implement what we look at community development, providing a healthy place for families in our community. And so, we are grateful to look at the lots that was purchased by one of the longer serving pastors in Grand Rapids. He he served Pastor Maurice Jones 44 years at Pilgrim Rest. So in this 99 years, I've only had eight pastors. I'm the eighth. And Pastor Jones purchased this land uh some many years ago with the vision of housing. And so now we have the opportunity to uh manifest that vision in the building of the Wharton Homes. Our goal in uh coming into the city as of right now is we've already partnered with our prosecutor's office. We worked at juvenile uh justice involved youth for the last two and a half years keeping kids out of prison. We are also doing food pantry with feeding America over the last 20 years or so. And we are pressing hard into how can a church locally come out of its sanctuary and impact its community at a greater need.

And we know that housing is one of the greater needs in this city. And so with this project, it allows us to take these uh strange strangely shaped lots and create three equal lots that then provides more housing for those in uh our community that are housing insecure. And so we have because of our footprint in this city feel that it's a perfect time that we would come alongside this city and this planning commission and how we can provide uh healthy housing opportunities for those in our community with these six uh houses housing uh opportunities that we are we are putting forth in this project.

Excellent. Um I have one question. Um, did you consider um I understand why you wouldn't do a garage because that adds an expense that that isn't necessary. Um, I'm wondering about like other like an accessory like shed or out building for folks to keep yard stuff or bikes or you know I'm wondering if you considered the inclusion of that in this. Yes, we've talked through some of the inclusion of of what we would call utility or accessory. And so because those are like mobile things, those can always be added um at a at a future expense. Uh we've also considered like the ability on the pads for garages to go in at some point. And so all of that is being considered because of course we want home those who are living in the houses to be able to have access to storing bicycles or you know snow shovels and things of that nature. So all of those things are considered.

Okay. Thank you. Anyone else have questions for the applicant? Okay, you can take a seat. Um, I will open up the public hearing. If you are here and would like to speak on this case, make your way up to the mic and give us your thoughts. Yeah. Good afternoon. My name is Siny Gant Jordan. I am a third generation here in the city of Grand Rapids and I am excited for this project to see this happen. Um I know Pilgrim Rest has supplied many resources for our community and I am going to say I am going to speak for many of our black and brown community members that have taken part with this church and say that we fully support this project and would love to see this move forward. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else looking back there and seeing no one stand? All right, we'll close the public hearing. Commissioners, I'm gonna just go out on a limb and say that this probably all of the commissioners are in favor of this and I'm ready to make a motion to approve this. You know, they did their engagement. We've got letters of support. I'm ready to make a motion if I just have one question related to potential future sheds. like is that something that would have to come back and should we do something? No. Okay. Yep. I'm good.

Yeah. I before you make the motion, I do agree. I think we're all in favor of this. I think the design is great. I think integration with the neighborhood and obviously we need the housing. Um so yeah, good work. Go ahead. All right. Now, therefore, let it be resolved. Is my mic? Yeah. Oh, you need support. You need support first. I do it. No, she she makes the motion first. Um Yeah, go ahead. All right. Jeez,

everybody, let Franco make the support. He's really wants to support. Now therefore, let it be resolved that the planning commission approves a special land use and site plan review request of Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church, Daryl Glad Gaddy for three new duplex structures on three newly configured lots in the TNLDR zone district at 545 and 549 Wharton Street for the following reasons. The proposed use will be consistent with the proposed in the purpose and intent of the master plan and zoning ordinance including the zone district because the 2024 community master plan future land use map designates the property uh supports uh designation of the property supports residential development and new housing. The development will contribute to the greater variety of housing types um in lowdensity residential districts. Um, the development will support recommendations of the Southtown neighborhood ASP as explored as or by exploring partnerships to build affordable housing on underutilized properties and allowing for a variety of housing types in single family districts. The proposed use will meet the site plan review standards of section 51208 E because the site has been harmoniously and effectively organized in relation to the size and type of lot character of the neighborhood and adjoining structures. The proposed use will be compatible, harmonious, and appropriate with the character and use of the neighborhood, adjacent properties, and the natural environment because the proposed structures are consistent with in scale and orientation with what is desired in the TNT tba or the TN neighborhood classification and the proposed use will result in a density appropriate for the area. The proposed

use will not have adverse effects on the neighborhood. The propo because the proposed off- streetet parking area will meet the requirements of the zone district. Building structures and entrances are appropriately oriented on the site and building setbacks meet the minimum zone requirement zoning requirements. The proposed use will not be detrimental, hazardous or disturbing to existing or future uses in the public welfare by reason of extensive tra traffic noise or visual clutter because adequate setbacks will provide a uh be provided to abuing residential uses and vehicular access to the property will be from the alley. The proposed use will not adversely affect the walkability of the neighborhood, impair pedestrian circulation patterns, disrupt the continuity of the urban street wall, or otherwise hinder the creation of a pedestrian oriented environment because the proposed building setbacks will be consistent with the property within the block. And the covered front porches, entrance, and rear yard parking reflects a pedestrian oriented site. Uh the proposed use will not be detrimental to the financial stability and economic welfare of the city because the infill development and provisions of additional housing units will support a complete and stable neighborhood. The proposed use will comply with all other applicable city ordinances and policies and all applicable state laws because the additional dwelling units will contribute to the tax base and support the nearby business district. The proposed development will encourage additional investment in the neighborhood. Be it further resolved that the following conditions of approval shall apply to this project. The standard conditions of set A approvals. You do have to read them this time because we didn't do a motion before this. So

want that the that the application and plan submitted by the applicant and signed dated and stamped by the planning director shall constitute the approved plans except if the plan elements do not meet the ordinance requirements and/or as amended in this resolution. That the use shall operate according to the application and per testimony as recorded in the planning commission minutes. That the approval does not include any proposed signs. any further or future signs shall be subject to the requirements of article 15 of the ordinance and pro and permits received prior to installation that the land use and development services leds permit building permit and all other required permits be obtained by the city of Grand Rapids prior to the construction, demolition or operation. That any expansion of the approved special land use require an additional special land use review and approval by the planning commission. and that the proposed use will comply with all other applicable city ordinances and policies and all state laws. That the approved the approval shall take effect 16 calendar days after the date of the planning commission decision and that construction activity be limited to 7 a.m. to 700 p.m.

support.

Okay, we have a motion and support. Any additional discussion? All right, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you so much. All right, on to our last item of um potential zoning zoning text amendments. And Tyler, are you walking us through or Elizabeth, are you walking us through this, too? Okay, great. So, uh, at the last meeting, we introduced this topic. Um, what we're looking at today is implementing some of the recommendations of the accessory dwelling unit task com task force that was established in spring of 2023. No, that's not true. in in February 25. Sorry.

Um in February of 2025. So, um, we'll be, uh, talking about today some of the recommended priorities of the task force and what staff uh, came up with to implement those recommendations. I'd also like to mention at the last meeting we did introduce some text amendments for modifications to uses to the Grand River Overlay district. We have withdrawn that temporarily and or I should say we have postponed that. staff has postponed that and we will be bring it back for discussion at a later date after we conduct additional outreach with property owners along the river as well as work with DGRI. So, on to the proposed text amendments. The tier one priorities established by the the ADU task force for zoning reform included four categories. adjust ADU unit size, modify accessory structure requirements, revise site layout and placement standards, and broaden ADU ADU use requirements. So, that's what we'll be talking about today. This is a a slide, this slide is from their final report. And here are the the the task force ideas that we'll be talking about today.

The first idea is to increase the maximum ADU size as a share of a prime primary home. increase the overall maximum ADU size and eliminate the size relationship between an ADU and the primary home and default to a maximum ADU size. Today we do have that relationship. an ADU shall not exceed 40% of the gross floor area of the primary structure and um uh in no case shall the ADU exceed 850 square ft. The task force also recommended excluded excluding non-living spaces like stairways, mechanical spaces from counting toward an ADU size. And the way that gross floor area is defined in the zoning ordinance, it's exterior to exterior. So um because of that um we at at this time we thought rather than modifying how we calculate area for ADUs, we thought that it would be administratively um simpler for both staff as well as for an applicant to work within our existing regulations and not modify that. However, to implement this um we are recommending um modifying these first three. So by uh we'd be doing that by setting a maximum floor area at a,000 square ft, but we'd

also limit the size to no larger than the primary structure. So today, maximum size 850 square ft tied to the size of the main structure. We'd eliminate that uh relationship. Just go with a thousand. Now we would have a relationship. If you have um a primary structure that's 1,000 square feet or less. So, for instance, let's say you had an 850 ft house. Your ADU could be no greater than the house. Okay? The maximum size would be ADU. If you had a 1500 foot house, 200 uh, you know, 2,000 foot house, your ADU could be 1,000 square feet. Do you have any questions on that? Okay. So that this is what we are recommending and uh last time um it was spring break so we had a smaller group but uh there was general support at that time uh for this uh staff recommendation.

I'm sorry Elizabeth I did I think last time I asked the question related to um how how much of a mechanical Yes. Thank you.

Yes. And um the answer is anywhere from zero square feet to maybe six square feet. So if you um uh mechanicals, it all depends on what kind of mechanicals you use. If you use an ondemand water heater and a mini split for instance, that what doesn't take up any floor area. That would be on the walls. So zero floor area there. Um, and then, um, if you used, uh, if you used a a tra traditional furnace and a water heater, you know, that's still going to be a small closet and had a staircase, that's still less than a 100 square or 15.

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, a staircase would be would be larger, but indeed the mechanicals are are very small. Great. Can I'm sorry to interrupt. Uh, can you help me understand why that's important? I asked I asked the question because we went from 850 square foot max to a,000 and I wanted to make sure that the concern related to excluding non-living spaces from that ADU size calculation that the thousand square foot would be enough of a difference between like so

so now the proposal is that we're going to exclude non-living spaces from the calcul population.

No, it's being absorbed by that bigger floor area. I just wanted to make sure that typically the non-living spaces would be more than 150 square feet and thus not meet the needs that are expressed based on this idea. I'm sorry for not being articulate about that. Okay. So, I will move on to the next set of ideas. Modify accessory structure requirements. So um these have to do with what is an accessory structure and regulations pertaining to accessory structures. So one of the recommendations is to not consider an accessory dwelling unit as an accessory structure. Okay. Um and then the next two have to do with um exempting ADUs from accessory structure regulations. And then the the the last one is to increase the bonus for ADUs built on the second story of an accessory structure. So in order to implement this and implement the intent of this, we are recommending implementing as as um as requested um uh exempting ADUs from the floor area that pertains to accessory structures and the number of accessory structures. So what that would mean is today accessory structures are subject

to the maximum gross floor area requirements uh depending on the neighborhood classification it's in and the lot area. So if you're on, you know, a a a relatively small lot in a TN, you'll have a you know, you'll have a certain limit. If you have a a a very large property in the n, you'll be allowed more. Okay? So, it depends on the zone district and the size of the property. So we said okay to implement this I think we absolutely could exempt ADUs from that maximum floor area for accessory structures and for the total number of accessory structures per lot. So the implications there are well the or rather the controls there would be our green space requirements and the maximum floor area allowed per ADU. So um in a a TN zone district you're required 40% green space. So we will say okay the ADUs we're not looking at ADUs for that but you know all your other accessory structures and your house and your pavement all those other things will still apply. So we're we're saying okay uh I mean I'm sorry I I said that wrong. So, we're not going to um count um accessory structures toward the maximum floor. I'm sorry. We're not going to count ADUs toward the maximum floor area for accessory structures, but they're still going to be subject to the green space

requirement. So, you have to work it out as you can. Um, one of the other implications is that today you're allowed one attached accessory structure and one detached accessory structure. Meaning, you can have an attached garage and a detached garage. Most people don't. You might have an attached or detached garage plus a a freebie shed. You can have a shed or some other small accessory structure of up to 120 square feet. What this amendment would do would exempt ADUs from that number. you. So you could have an attached garage, a detached garage, you could have a separate ADU plus your freebie 120 square foot shed depend you know it that is not going to be possible on all lots right it's going to depend on the size of the lot the configur configuration of the lot as well as the neighborhood classification um But something to keep in mind that could happen. Okay. Um, so going back to number one, redefine an ADU outside of an accessory structure. I I believe that um, you know, that recommendation is being implemented by the proposed changes. Also, it would really be um outside of the uh the the scope of this exercise to really um get into the zoning ordinance and um make

any necessary changes to effectuate that. So, we felt that these two um changes would in effect um implement that idea. Um, we feel the same about this last one about increasing the square footage for ADUs built on the second story of an accessory structure. If we're not counting it, then it it doesn't to as an accessory structure, then it doesn't really matter. It would be limited to a,000 square ft, but it's unlikely that you're going to have a,000 square foot garage. There there's there are some people that do, but in most places that will be challenging. Does anyone have any questions about that? Okay. Um revised site layout and placement standards. Um this actually um is a little trickier. Um and um this included reducing the front yard setback for ADUs on corner lots, allowing zero lot line setbacks for ADUs when behind zero lot line buildings like like um attached town homes. So you'd have attached town homes plus attached ADUs. Um, we felt that that really required a lot more analysis and changes to multiple parts of the zoning ordinance and it was really outside of what we could do at this time. However, to implement this the the general idea here of giving, you know, allowing more administrative flexibility for ADU placement.

We already have an existing administrative departure that can allow accessory structures, including ADUs, to be located closer to a lot line. No closer than to one. no closer than one foot, but still it could be closer than the three feet required today. So, we do have some flexibility um but that we're you know we're raising that we have this option but at this time we are not making any um we're not proposing any changes. Do you have any questions about that? Okay. Um, lastly, broaden ADU use requirements. Um, this included increasing the maximum number of bedrooms permitted in an ADU. We said, "Okay, we'll just eliminate that maximum." Um, the next one was to allow home occupations in ADUs. I don't think we ever intentionally prohibited uh home occupations in ADUs, but as the zoning ordinance is written, we do um it it um the zoning ordinance says that um no home occupations are permitted in accessory structures. And because an ADU is an accessory structure, you can't have a home occupation. Really, that was intended so that you weren't using your garage. you know, as your, you know, for your home occupation or or a shed. So, um I did neglect to um uh include the appropriate sections of the zoning ordinance in the public

hearing notice. So, when we come back for the Grand River overlay, we'll amend this section as well. um because absolutely um that's that is absolutely reasonable. Um two more um allowing ADUs to be built in multifamily developments and allowing ADUs to be built in mixeduse and commercial developments that um turned out to be a a heavier lift than we were able to um handle at this time. And like Lesie mentioned when she was talking about the directions report, one of the things that we do want to look at is allow, you know, how how to allow multiple buildings on a site. Our zoning ordinance absolutely does not um adequately um address that. So that is something we'll be uh we'll be doing. Um, so, uh, oh, I I do want to mention going back to eliminating the number of bedrooms. Um, you know, we did do, um, some, uh, analysis with our building department and, um, using the the, um, the property maintenance code, which is what code compliance uses for the code for rental registration and certification. And um really um eliminating the number of bedrooms it it it probably will not let me back up. I I don't think it will have much of an impact at all because there's building code and housing code that needs to be met for the size of

bedrooms, size of living room, kitchen area. So other things will control here. Did anyone have any questions? Okay. So, um the the proposed amendments are all on this page here. Um so, this uh the you know what what you see in this red line would um effectuate those those changes except for the home occupation one.

Excellent. Thank you, Elizabeth. All right, I will open up the public hearing. If you would like to address commission on this issue, please make your way up. If I can find my notes. Again, my name is Siny Gant Jordan. I'm a business owner Granville Avenue, 28 years. Um, home owner forever again, third generation, and I I'm not sure if are you going to have another public comment, but okay, because it's directed more toward the zone GR master plan. I mean, we're talking about ordinances and um regulations here. I know, you know, the zoning is um with what was just shared is also going to play a role in what I'm about to say. So, I don't know if am I able to say this now or Okay. Thank you.

If you run out of time, you can do the rest in the next public hearing. Okay. Comment period. Okay.

So, I want to you know, again, historically, I'm speaking from my experience. So, um, zoning has never just been about land. It's been about power and memory. Okay. And who gets to play to stay in the roots uh of the map that have been uh redrawn. Um, if the cons so I really wanted the consultants to hear this when I thought about this. Um if the consultants move through with this work with awareness they can avoid avoid repeating the harm and disgusted uh policies that have been in place for many years. Um so we wanted I want I wanted to just kind of put point out a few things. Um so moving forward, I would love for the consultants and those that have the power to make to determine where we're going to go from here as we change and reszone in the um the city of Grand Rapids. Um zone here's one one of those is zoning um use zoning as a tool for um for inclusion which would really make a difference for us as black people. We've had this problem for many years. Um, and remember that there's been a long shadow of redlinining. How do we redirect these this this issue? Okay, I have some talking points. I think I'll run out of time, so I'm not going to go there. But um, urban renewal, that was a displacement for us. I want you all to keep this in mind as you all um, make decisions, you know, as presenters come your way. Um, you all are going to have a huge say in how this um, rolls out for us. infrastructure as a as a divider. Highways, industrial corridors, and uh the rail lines, they were frequently routed um through marginalized

communities. And so we want to make sure that it looks and feels different for us. Um industrial and zoning and environmental burdens have been placed on us for many, many years due to zoning. Okay. downzoning and upzoning impacts can really have an influence on how things um impact our future and our in generations to come. So you all can look in for more of that. I guess I can I probably go to the city commission and speak more on that. Um highest and best use versus community value. really think about what that could mean because for me I put a lot of time into working with the master plan on the steering committee and some of you um that are sitting up here also. So, and I know I've said some of these things um during some of our meetings, but we've come to a point now where uh a lot has has gone unheard. You all have an opportunity to hear and feel what community has really said and how we've been feeling and how we've been um disinvested in. This is an opportunity for you all to make a decision to do better.

Thank you. Community engagement has not always been equitable. The time is up on this one. If we've we'll get through this case. Thank you. Have you come back up? Yep. Thank you. Thank you. All right, commissioners. As far as the ADU, yeah, go ahead. this uh I mean I think we're all pretty familiar with this. We've seen uh different versions of these recommendations for a while now. I'm happy to make a motion whenever. Yeah. Does anyone else want to say anything?

Yeah. I just I I understand the administrative owner the ownerous administration of calculating the interior square footage of things and I think that the way that the staff has put it together is a good way to streamline this and get low hanging fruit taken care of without putting more burden on our staff. Great. Um I'm sorry. I'm not sure we closed the Oh, I'm so sorry. I will close the public comment period or hearing on that one. Okay. Thank you for that. Okay, go ahead.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the planning commission recommends that the city commission approve the posted uh proposed text amendments to the zoning ordinance for the following reasons. The proposed amendments are consistent with the purpose and intent of the master plan and zoning ordinance because the amendments support several objectives of the great neighborhoods chapter of the 2024 community master plan, including 1A, create complete and stable neighborhoods, and 1B, expand the variety of housing types and price points. The proposed amendments will enhance the functionality or character of the future development in the city because the amendments will encourage infill development in already developed areas of the city. The proposed amendments will facilitate property owners ability to make investments in their properties. The proposed amendments will enhance the natural features and environmental integrity of the city because the proposed amendments will encourage compact development which takes up less land and resources. The proposed amendments will protect the health, safety, and uh general welfare of the public because the amendments are consistent with the objectives of the Grand Rapid Strategic Plan, which support housing development and services that help keep people in their homes and efforts to ensure all residents have safe, stable, and permanent housing. The amendments will contribute to the efficient use of existing land and infrastructure. The proposed amendments are needed to correct an error or mission in the original text because the amendments represent the evolution of zoning policy designed to address city-wide needs. The proposed amendments will address a community need and physical or economic conditions or development practices because the proposed amendments will help relieve the current lack of housing supply within the city. Pursuant to the Grand Rapids housing needs assessment, the city will need at least 14,16 more dwelling units by 2027 to satisfy demand. The proposed amendments would not result in the creation of sign significant non-conforming nonconformities in the city.

Support Paul. Okay. I have a motion and support. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I.

I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Okay. Do we have anything for planning commission discussion? Okay. All right. Then I will open up the final public comment period. If there's anything else you want to share with us, please come up. Thank you again. I just want to encourage you all to keep an open mind and think about inclusion as you all make decisions as a planning uh committee here or the planning uh board here. So I it's just so crucial. Again, we've invested a lot of time. I've taken a lot of time away from my family and my business to be here over the last four years to make sure to to to make sure that voices are heard that wouldn't typically show up. Um, and so I this work is so important as it moves forward. So I'm going to pick up. I was at number 10. So um, cultural eraser through land use change. Reszoning can unintentionally erase culture identity, music scenes, hair salons, churches, and gathering spaces that hold community memories. So um preservation is just not architectural, it's relational as well. Um speculation follows uh reasonzoning signals. So investors can often move ahead of official changes buying low in historic buying low in historically disinvested areas such as the ones that I occupy and we have seen this happening. So please pay attention. Um this creates pressure before the protections are um even disclosed. Number 12, the importance of data and its gaps. historical data often unprecedented in formal housing and marginalized living and unregistered businesses. So decisions decision biases

slowly uh is solely based on incomplete data and can deepen inequities. So please pay attention to the equities that we are enduring right now because they can get worse during this process that we're in right now. Zoning can be reimagined as a tool for repair. Not just reorganizing land, but restoring dignity and stabilizing legacy and making space for futures that were once pushed into the margins and the holes that we have fallen into and we are struggling to get out of. This is an opportunity to do better. Thank you.

Thank you, Syian. And we appreciate all the time that you invest in this process, too. So, thank you so much. Okay, I'll close the public comment period. Seeing no other folks here, and we're adjourned. Thank you, everyone.