Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

All right, I think we're good to get started. It's five o'clock. Welcome to the July 8th uh planning commission meeting. Um call to order and then approval minutes from the June 10th meeting. So moved. Support. All those in favor say I. I. I. All those opposed. All right. Um communications from the audience. Uh this is for items not listed on the public hearing um on the agenda. Um, so anything you if you'd like to say anything that is not for one of these items, uh, please feel forward to or feel free to step forward. All right, seeing none, uh, we'll move on to new business. Uh, agenda item for 100 West 10th Street, uh, one 14 unit, two-story apartment building. Um, I will, uh, open it up to the applicant to come up and present. Good evening. My name is Jacob her. I'm the head of real estate for Dwelling Place. We're a not for-p profofit organization based in Grand Rapids, but we've been working in the uh Holland community for about 14 years. We own and operate Midtown Apartments just just down the road here. So, uh happy to be here today. Thank you. Um, this is a reapproval of of a existing site plan that was approved quite some time ago, but we've been working on the the project financing for the last few years and we got it funded. And so now we're we're in the last stages of of designing the project and moving it forward. And so uh our previous uh site plan approval had gone stale and we had also didn't need to make a few changes to it. Um not major changes, but uh we did work with city staff to to align that uh as as needed. And so, um, we're here today to to ask for, uh, approval of both site plans. So, the first one is for the Hope Church building. Um, and I don't know if

there's any specific questions, but essentially this will be, uh, owned and operated by Dwelling Place uh, as well as Community Action House, uh, in the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians. So, we're in a partnership together uh, to to operate that. And, um, th this building is 14 apartments. It's two stories. uh it will incorporate uh a lot of accessibility features. We have uh an award of um they're called section 811 vouchers, but essentially those are vouchers that are available for folks with disabilities uh that will be able to live there and that will help pay help them pay for their rent. Um this is on a a property that's currently owned by Hope Church. There's a playground on the site. So, we actually just completed construction of a new playground uh elsewhere on Hope Church's property. And so the uh the old one will be removed and we'll we'll be starting construction. We're hoping to get started uh in in September. So happy to answer any questions. Um any uh comments from staff? I'll provide just a few if I may here. So just a couple things. You're being asked to approve the site plan. Uh as mentioned, this is very similar to what you've seen before. Couple of the differences. Uh originally this came through with a project that was um uh on the United Methodist Church property to the north. So that's been taken off. Originally the approval that we gave was for a 15 unit apartment. Now this has been reduced uh to 14 units. Um you are also being asked to weigh in on um the corner treatment. If you remember this is in the formbbased code. We require uh really basically an entrance at the corner for a building like this. You can see where they have the two um entrances, one on Pine, um one on Tent Street. Those are in the same place that uh they were originally. Um you have the

ability to u approve that um if you see fit. This is what we approved last time. I'm suggesting that you approve that again. We also um need to grant or you need to grant a waiver for the amount of glass on the fronts of the the street frontages. Um if you remember, we require 30% glazing. They're at 27%. Again, that's the same as it was with the original project. So, staff is recommending that you approve uh the new site plan um with the uh corner treatment and the the glazing as being as proposed. So Steve, those are the only changes. Are those changes? No, those really aren't changes. Those are the same. The changes are the reducing of one apartment and the United Methodist Church project is no longer a part of this phase. So the other things are are basically the same. The site plan has been refined. Um I mean some of us would be able to tell some of those things, but it's essentially the same site. And is this an entry only? Does it just enter one way, exit the other? Correct. It's just a one-way drive. Yeah, the way the drive is set up, it's for oneway transit. That's works with the angled parking and that's what it was originally as well. And the parking stayed the same. So, none of the spots have been reduced. I think we there's one spot being reduced as a result of the apartment coming down. So, yeah, makes sense. Yeah, we're at 15. I think we were at 16 previously. Okay. Any comments, questions from commission? I I just have a a couple of comments. One, I I understand the need for the Methodist church uh part of it to go down just because of the the I know there were some state funding issues with that, some complications that went along with that. Um I really I applaud your tenacity in continuing on with this

project. would have loved to have seen it with all of the units there, but um but in looking at it, great project, great location. I know that you guys have been working really hard um and in partnering with the the churches to be able to get this thing across the finish line. Um I think it's a a a great project, great for the neighborhood. I think it's going to look really good with the neighborhood and really meets a need that we have here in the city. And so I applaud you guys for the great work that you've been doing with this. Thank you very much for that. Thank you. I appreciate that. And I'd like to make a motion that with uh with the recommendations from staff uh that we approve this support. Okay. Public hearing on this first, do we? Yeah. Thanks for that. Thank you, Lyn. Appreciate that. So, I'm going to resend my motion at the M for the moment. So, we do the public hearing. On that note, resend my support. Yeah. Um, we can now open up the public hearing for anyone who would like to comment on the the site plan. All right. The public Okay, just because I can't hardly believe what I just saw, but Dave D. Young, um, I'm actually here for the next project. Um, I own a property at 271 West 12th Street, but I think it's almost you guys are so in support of this that you I don't even know why you have a public hearing on it at all because you jump to the the gun. You don't need to hear from the public. So, I don't even know why we're here to say anything. I think it's actually pretty sad because it doesn't seem to me like it's a good way to serve your citizens. Enough on that. Thank you. Thank you. Crazy. Any other comments?

All right, we'll close the public hearing. Um, so any motions, comments, questions? I I I'll make a comment in regard to the the public commenter. Do appreciate that. Thank you. Um, this is not the first time that this has come before the planning commission. um have have discussed this uh multiple times in in front of this body and um and have heard from the public in a number of different uh a number of different capacities in this regard. Um so don't have any problem again with the wholehearted support of this project. Uh and in that regard we'll renew my motion. I will just say I was at the first meeting and it was the exact same thing. I was here and planned to say something. You guys already have your minds made up. You You already know what you wanted once again that previous meeting. That's I I appreciate your comments, but the public comment is closed. Thank you. Yeah. So, renew my motion with the recommendations from staff support. All right. All those in favor say I. I. I. All those opposed? All right. Motion carries. All right, we'll move on to item B on the agenda. 345 Colin Park Drive, uh 138 unit, threestory apartment building and five town homes. Um I invite the applicant to come up and present. Uh yes. So um we also had this one approved uh in 2023. So, uh, as as a separate, uh, package that we put together with with the other building for for our financing application. And so, uh, this is again just that had went stale and and so we're here for asking for reapproval, uh, of that. So, this is the the development of of Colin Park land, which is, uh, some of it's owned

by the city of Holland. Uh, another chunk of it is owned by Community Action House, our partner in this development. And so, uh, we're going to be, uh, constructing a 38 unit building. So, it's 52 total between the two buildings. Uh, as well as, uh, five town homes. And so, uh, I don't know if you can see it on screen, but that that's just, uh, directly south of this on there's kind of a little sliver of land there on, uh, where you access off 15th Street, uh, where we would build those town homes. So, that would be a future phase. So, we we would like to get started on the apartments as soon as we can. Uh, again, similar timeline to the Hope building. So, we're looking to get started in the fall. Um, again, they they'll be uh affordable for folks that are making 80% or below very median income. Uh, and and we're um going to be operating the both buildings uh in the same manner. So, uh again, I don't know if there's any questions or Steve if there's uh items you'd like to point out, but um just would ask for your approval. Thank you. Steve, go ahead. Sure. Info. Sure. Thank you. Um so, again, you've seen this before. you've approved the site plan before. Uh really the only change to this plan is the uh larger apartment building has been reduced from 41 units to 38. Um but essentially the rest of the site plan remains the same. So again, you're being asked to uh approve the site plan. This property is in what we call the redevelopment mixeduse zoning district. So previous to that, this area was zoned industrial. So with the UDO changes, it we put it in that redevelopment mixed use which allows for u apartments. Um and so there's no form based code. So we're not talking about any of the waiverss and glazing and and that sort of thing uh with this project. So um I think we did have some this is a elevation plan of the five unit town homes

and this is the elevation plan of the apartment building. But again, um, very similar to what you have seen before. Um, you've got your, um, report from all the different staff. Again, very normal conditions. We're recommending approval of the site plan with the conditions noted in the report. Okay. Any questions from the commission at all? I just want to say I think this is great. I really like this. Um, but I do have a question wondering why the is there a reasoning between such a heavy emphasis on the one-bedroom compared to the two-bedroom? Because I think in my notes I had it as a 44 onebedrooms and eight twobedrooms do that. I think a big again this is a great first step forward but I think a missing part is the like young professional part couple that is maybe trying to start a family. I know that can be difficult to find a place with that. So, I was just wondering if there was a reason for such an emphasis on the one-bedroom versus the two-bedroom. And part of that is um we we uh obtain a market study and so we have an analyst that we pay uh a fee for. They're a third party and essentially that that's required by MISTA, but uh they go and they look at the the market and they look at what the demand has been. And so they're they're also looking at uh the income levels that that we're going to be serving. And so they they kind of look at how many onebedrooms, two bedrooms are in the market that might be uh available for for each of those demographics. And so part of that uh was a bit of a driver is we saw that there was a a lot of demand for for one-bedroom units. Um and and we do have a fairly goodsized one. So I do think that uh you know a couple would be able to live there with a child, you know, maybe temporarily probably not long term, but I think uh that could be accommodated and this is a family development. So we do encourage that. Uh but yeah, I think it's it's uh largely a reflection of the the market analysis

that we do and and coordinating with Misha on what that unit mix should be. So you talked a little bit about um those at an income level qualifying for this housing. Do they also have to be disabled in some way or how how would one go about qualifying to receive they they don't need to be disabled to qualify to live there? Uh we do have uh so 11 out of the 52 total will have uh section 811 vouchers which those are specifically for folks that have disabilities. Uh and so th those those 11 at least will be uh filled by by disabled folks and then also um 10% of the them will or 10% of the apartment so rounding up is six uh will be designed with all the accessibility features. Uh, but you don't have to be disabled to live in the development. Cool. Any other comments or questions? All right, I'm going to open up the public hearing. Um, individuals that would like to comment or um, speak on behalf of this agenda item may approach the mic. And please state your name and address for the record. Dave D. Young 271 West 12th Street. Did you guys do you guys read comments that are sent into you at all? That's not part of your plan. Yep. Did you receive any? Are you going to read those? I'm just asking. Did are you is that part of the plan to read the public com the comments that were sent in? Sorry, I I don't want to misconstrue. I think the the intent of this is for you to provide comments to us. This isn't a question and answer. So, yeah. No, I understand that. I'm just wondering if you read the comments that

were sent in by by your citizens. Do you read those at this meeting? No. You don't Does the Did the planning commission receive them? Okay. Well, I think the only thing I'm going to say is I'm very opposed to this project. I don't think it makes a lot of sense along Colin Park. I don't think it makes sense that it's five blocks over from the plan that you guys have for the western corridor for the the entry of 8th Street. I don't think it flows with that at all to have that massive approval of the development there on a street and then you have boat works and you have Colin Park and now you're going to put affordable housing in my mind on the water. Um I think it will eventually take down the values of all the properties right around that neighborhood. I don't really think that you guys are consit considering the citizens there. Um, but I know that that's already not being considered by what you guys have said at the previous meeting. So that's all I have. Thank you for listening. Not necessarily hearing, but listening. Thank you for your input. Anyone else like to come to speak? My name is Jan Dan Tatan Hov. My address is 340 West 14th Street. I live in the southeast corner of 14th and Harrison, exactly kitty corner from community action center and where you plan to put your parking lot. I agree with the former uh witness that the public public the uh opportunity for public comments was way way way inadequate very poorly publicized and I don't think that our consider our ideas were considered well at all. um specifically

issues I have. I don't think you have any idea what effect your uh building is going to have on the entire neighborhood. First of all, let's talk parking. You have 38 units and you have 41 parking places allowed. I know that that is said to be legal, but I think that's so antiquated that that's absolutely ludicrous. Anybody with a one-bedroom apartment and two people, they're each going to have a car. One apartment, you need two parking places. So, that's the first thing. There's going to be cars all over the place. They're not going to be just in the parking lot. They're going to try to park in in Thermatron parking lot. They're going to be filling up the street on 14th and Harrison and then 14th Street and then for between 14th and 15th and Harrison, there's going to be cars all over the place and that's just summertime parking. What are you going to do in the winter when there's the no parking out on the street allowed because the snow plow trucks have to get through? Then in the winter, how are you going to park plow that parking lot? You know, in the middle of the night, I have snow plows across from my house parking or plowing the disabled group home, and that tends to wake me up. I really, really resent the idea of my sleep being annoyed, interrupted by anyone, anywhere, anytime. To me, sleep is sacred. This is going to bring cars coming and going at all hours of the day and night. I have worked third shift. I have worked second shift. I have not been a wealthy woman. I have worked just

like all these lower income people you're s hoping to serve. And you have shifts where you start at 3:00 a.m. Last summer, my neighbor across the street who rents, they're trying their best. They had a muffler that did not work, and he had to be at work at 3:00 a.m. and wake me up every night. This is going to be all kinds of cars coming, going all hours of the night, and they're not going to be well-kept cars. And that's just the traffic. There's light pollution. I am not so not a fan of lights. You think that lights make people feel safer? I say baloney because the light, no matter where you put it, it's not doing any good unless there's somebody watching that light. All it does is make the thieves make their job easier. So there's the noise pollution, there's light pollution, there's going to be people coming and going and I have dealt with lived with lived in a lot of not very nice neighborhoods. And I have been awakened several times out of a nice sound sleep with two people fussing and biting and dropping fbombs on the sidewalk in front of my house. And I tell you, they have met the childless cat lady from the underworld because I get on my throw on whatever I can. I run out there with my cell phone and my clipboard and I tell them to shut up. Get away. This is my house. This is my street. This is my neighborhood. And you do not disturb my sleep. And I have called the police more than once. And I will not hesitate to do it again.

I will not have my quiet, peaceful lifestyle disturbed by a bunch of people fussing and fighting, coming and going. And you know, they're not going to be staying inside in that little community room. They're going to be outside partying and making a lot of noise. And is my neighborhood going to be safe anymore? Are my cats going to be safe in my yard? are gonna be people walking back and forth looking to swipe stuff out of my yard, which has happened. You have You have 10 seconds. It was uh 20 years ago when I bought my house and stuff would be stolen out of my yard. Not any longer. It's been much better. Much much better. But I do not want all kinds of people coming and going. Ma'am, I do not Your five minutes is up. I apologize. Your five minutes is up. Oh, sorry. I didn't understand. Is there any other feedback from the audience? All right, I'm going to close the public hearing. Any comments or emotions? Um, I I recognize and understand that the concerns of the the public and the neighbors. Um this is um has been as long as I've been mayor um one of the top priorities of council is to um try to address the affordable housing issue that we have in the city of Holland. Um and I'm I'm actually very proud of the fact that the city has been able to partner with dwelling place on partly on this project. Um, it is a neighborhood where there are a lot of people that that live and part of living in a neighborhood is is there there is noise when you're living in a neighborhood. There's traffic when you're living in a neighborhood. Um, I think that Dwelling

Place has done a a very good job in trying to design a project that fits with the neighborhood um that works well within the neighborhood that does meet the parking requirements that are there. Um, and while with any project there there can be concerns about is there going to be an increase in traffic, is there going to be an increase in noise, is there going to be an increase in light, all of those requirements under the code have been met with this particular project. As as staff has said, um, we went through with all of the staff departments as we do with with each and every site plan, have met all of those requirements. There are questions raised about notification to the public. um we have requirements that we have to meet as a public body and notifying uh the neighbors. Those notices went out. I received one at my own house uh just this week about a project that's taking place in my neighborhood. Um received that postcard so that I could as a neighbor of that particular project speak to that particular project. We have to meet those requirements with every single one that we do. Um, I don't think that there's a project that we do that we don't hear from a neighbor that says, "Well, why, you know, why don't you do a a wider swath? We have a particular requirement that we have to meet from the state in order to be able to do that." Um, we've also heard from the public today that, you know, that we're not listening to the public or that they may think that this is the only forum talking to the public in a variety of different projects. And I think with this one in particular, for a number of years, we've been talking to the public about this part this particular project. And while there have been some voices that have been negative in regard to this project, overwhelmingly the voices that I've been hearing in regard to these projects has been positive. Um, and especially in regard to the location of this project. Um, I I love the fact

that this project is right next to Colin Park. It's in a neighborhood where families live. It has close access to not only the park, but to the water. It is in a place where people want to live. We want people and families and young professionals living close to this. Alec, you mentioned why why not have more two-bedroom apartments so that young professionals and Alec, you're a young professional. I know that you were thinking personally, this might be a place where you might want to live. Um, it has been a goal to get people into these neighborhoods living close to where the amenities are so that they can walk to downtown so that they can walk to if Waterfront Holland is comes to fruition that they can walk there. They can walk to boat works. They can walk to the waterfront. They've got the ability to be able to do that so that we can reduce the number of cars that are out there. I love the look of this project. Um, it's one of the goals that we have had as council to try to change what people's idea of what affordable housing can be, what it looks like, what the type of people that are living in affordable housing is. We are talking about young professionals. We are talking about firefighters. We are talking about teachers. We are talking about the everyday people that you see on the street. Our essential workers need places to live. This is the type of place that we ought to be building for them. Um, am I enthusiastic about this project? I absolutely am. I am glad to see that it's here. Um, am I a little bit disappointed that the number of units has been reduced? I am. I understand that. That is a fact of life. But we are getting these units approved so that they can be built so that we can get people living in these units in good neighborhoods in this city close to the amenities that we have um so that they've got the ability to be good

citizens in the city of Holland. And I'm going to be voting yes on this. Steve, related to like entrance for car parking, and I know you guys do a great job of like light pollution coming in, um, car lights coming in and out. Can you kind of speak to any of the due diligence you did as a city staff for cars coming and going and whether or not they would reflect in neighbors yards? So, we certainly do have some landscaping requirements and you can kind of see on the drawing there, you know, that there'll be some landscaping in and around the outer edges of the parking lot. So, while we don't necessarily have requirements for um screening of car lights, certainly that perimeter landscaping will address some of that. Um and then any outdoor lighting um as we do in all of our lighting requirements is required to be downcast and shielded so that it's not um you know spread out. Um doesn't mean that you don't see light from your neighbors but uh um um that's the requirement so that all of that light is directed down and not out. Just just maybe as a reminder, um I think the mayor just hit on a couple of these topics, but maybe more for the public um than you guys. You know, this area was also part of the master plan update. And if you remember uh the Southshore Village sub area plan that we did, this plan is very similar to what came out of that large public forum as well. So the point was made that, you know, we've had a lot of public comment. Um I would agree with that that in regards to that master planning effort over the last couple years um you know we were talking specifically about this area and the plans really that you're seeing now were a result of uh a lot of that public input as well. So just a not so much a reminder for you but maybe for

the public that um we've been talking about this area for a long time. Is that is this an existing curb cut? So they they don't access Colin Park. So they No, I mean the coming in off of off of um Har. It may be um I don't know if it's existing. It may be moving a little bit to accommodate them because I think AC just to to I was thinking about that too, Jennifer, when you said that and it looks like there's not there isn't a house directly across the street. Um there's one on each corner, but there's an empty lot in the middle. And Steve, you said that this was zoned previously for industrial, correct? So, yeah, previously this whole area was industrial. So, um, it's loud and and there's a lot of light and noise coming from industrial areas, probably more so than residential, which I was part of the reason I think with Udo that we put it in the redevelopment mixed use, really seeing this area changing from that industrial to something quite frankly like this. Great. Um, thank I just wanted to thank you, mayor, for your comments. I think they they encapsulated certainly what I would think that the city council is concerned about and hopes to see. I also would like to say that I am I live in this neighborhood. I am two blocks from this one and four blocks from the other one. And I am happy to see this coming into my neighborhood. There's actually an an empty building at the end of my street that I would love to see created into um housing, affordable housing. I just think that when we can repurpose these areas for for um for uses in housing, it's just I I just make it's exciting and it's meeting a need in the

community. So, I am I'm thrilled to see this um to see this happening in my neighborhood. Uh I move we approve with the recommendations of staff support. All those in favor? I. All those opposed. All right. Motion carries. All right. Uh agenda item admin review updates. So it's that time of the year. Kind of give you guys the twice a year update of the projects that uh go through the uh planning process, but they just don't come to planning commission. U so these are the administrative site plan review projects that have come in for the second half of the fiscal year. Uh 721 East 48th Street industrial building. Uh this is 48th in Waverly. So sort of that northeast corner if you've been out there. This site is actually under construction right now. I think it really uh was just some spec space. Um but that is going in right now. Um 5755 143rd Street. We actually denied this site plan. So, this is on the south side of the expressway um kind of south and west of the airport. Um quite frankly, and I know you're used to seeing a sort of list of conditions of approval. That's very normal. There were simply too many items that were big ticket items here that would alter the site plan from all the different departments. Storm sewer access into the site, property line adjustments, water and sewer looping. Uh so there was just a lot of uh items that needed to be addressed first. So this one did not get approved. Dubour Bakery um expanding their parking lot. So that site plan has been approved. Um they have not started on that project just yet.

And then this just came in. So this is actually still under review, but it um slipped in right before the fiscal year. Uh this is Pizza Ranch um 2700 foot addition to that building. So that addition would go towards 16th Street. Um I think they call it a game room. So I don't know that it's more restaurant space. I don't know if they're trying to compete with Dave and Buster idea or something, but um those are the admin reviews um that came in for the last half of the year. That's all I have for you. Nice. Thanks. All right. Uh, scheduling and public hearings. It doesn't look like we have any um communications from commission members. Nothing. All right. Communications from staff. Uh, I don't have anything for you. All right. Cool. All right. We'll make a motion to adjourn. So moved. All those in favor say I. I. All right.