Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

The time being 4.30. According to our digital clock, I'll call this meeting of Laramie Planning Commission to order. Would the clerk call the roll with the feedback?

Is that mine?

Yeah. Good. Let's see if I touch it again. Yep.

But you know. Heiser white here Moody here. Schneider is absent. And Matt Moore here. 6 present one absent.

We have a quorum. To staff there's next up is changes in approval of the minutes and agenda will do both staff have any changes to the agenda.

No, Mr. Chair, no changes.

Commission, have any changes to the minutes of the agenda? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion.

Motion to approve the agenda in minutes as presented.

All right. Is there a second? Second. Sharon, all those in favor? Aye. Aye. No opposed. okay citizen comments seeing none have you got anybody online doesn't look like it okay uh planning commission and staff reports and comments announcements announcements at this point in time okay i sent out an email last week

regarding the FORGE comprehensive plan, the feedback form. So if you haven't had a look yet, it's a series of questions that kind of guides your feedback as you read the pretty dense document. What I like about it is it does ask for specific feedback on each implementation item. which really is where the rubber hits the road on a comprehensive plan. So I would really encourage commissioners to jump in there. We have until August 31st to provide feedback. It is, I would guess, probably about a 20- to 30-minute investment of time. If you're a speed reader, much less.

Well, I was there for a lot of it, but I have not sat down yet and gone through it as a complete document because the last week has been insane. But I would highly recommend everybody on staff take the time to do that, on the commission to do that. I've been recommending it to people, but most people's eyes glaze over when I talk to them about it. Yeah.

So yeah, just to add on a little bit, Mr. Chair, is that the August 31st is the deadline to submit comments via the survey. Then we're going to revise the plan, present the final draft to this body on October 12th. So that's kind of, so please plan to be there if you can at that meeting, because that's where we'll ask for recommendation to city council with any changes, but I think really the survey is going to be the most important at this phase. That meeting will have the final draft. Definitely can add conditions and things like that at that point. But please take a look and do the survey. Put it on the calendar, so to speak.

Have you had any responses to the survey yet?

Yeah, we've had a lot, but it's been from city staff mainly. But it only went up on, I think, Thursday or Friday of last week. So we're getting the word out. We're going to have some yard signs, sidewalk stickers, lots of social media coming out from it. But it is certainly a more intensive feedback process than what folks have been doing up to this point because the plan's available now.

All right. Good. Anything else?

That was the one announcement.

Thank you, Philip. Okay. Good. Planning projects. Next order of business. New business would be PLAT 26-00024 Sears Sky Technology Park East Phase Final PLAT. Take it away, Philip.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will say, previous to the meeting, we discussed whether the applicant would be here. I don't see them here. I don't see them online. So typically, we do like to have the applicant here in some form or fashion. So I will leave it up to this body to, if we should continue on, I can present. Or do we want to postpone until the applicant can be present, which would be when's the next meeting? August. Sorry, I should have looked that up. August 10th. Because typically we do postpone if no one shows up from the applicant side.

Yeah, I'm kind of disappointed somebody goes to all the trouble to do this and bring us here and then doesn't show up. So I don't know. What's the feeling of the commission on this?

I will add through you, Chair, that the applicant did ask if it was still on the agenda earlier, in which I said yes. So I'm not sure if something happened or what. We work with this applicant from Inberg Miller all the time. So... Just to Commissioner Heisler-White's point, they have come and they're familiar with the process. So I'm guessing something happened.

Why not see with Phil's presentation? Well, I'll tell you what. That's a good idea. What Philip has to say. There aren't any real substantive questions or issues.

What do you think? Does that sound like a good idea? Let him present and... We can either vote on it or postpone the vote till we hear from the applicant. How does that sound? I mean, we're here. We might as well listen to it. That's my feeling.

Yes. Okay. We will proceed that.

And if you send him an email, maybe he'll get his butt in here.

Maybe.

Okay.

So the item before you is the Plat 26-24, the Cirrus Sky Technology Park East Phase Final Plat. The owner of these properties is the Laramie Chamber Business Alliance. The applicant is Inberg Miller Engineers, a previously coffee engineering firm. The property or the future lots, proposed lots, are generally located north of Cumulus Drive and east of 22nd Street. And the request for this final plat is to create four lots, all of which to be zoned technology and office lots, within approximately 10.5 acres. And you can see in your packet the title of the lots, which I won't go over because that's mostly a legal description thing. The proposed lots are consistent with the future land use designation in that area, which is suburban commercial. Surrounding properties are also zoned, that T&O zoning district, and it's a mixture of still undeveloped land, but there are two spec buildings that have been built that were both housed under writer laboratories up there. So the preliminary plot for this entire area was approved in 2018 to give a little background, which established the overall framework for the lots, streets, utilities, drainage, and trail connections. And I can say that these four lots being proposed don't deviate too far from those original lot configurations, streets, utilities, drainage, et cetera. So they do follow that. This final platting, of course, does not go into vertical construction. So it's really just the development of the lots themselves. But they do have uses associated with them in the TO zoning district, which are pretty in line with what's up there already. The development of each lot will come at the site plan process. However, the infrastructure will be put in as part of final cloud approval. So. The bonding. The bonding has not been established yet for this in that the 1150 feet of sanitary sewer, the 540 feet of street. of collector street 450 feet of local street and the 800 or so feet of water line all that has to be bonded for when council gets this and approves it if that makes sense and that's just to make sure that it gets built in case the applicant becomes defunct or something like that so we're still working i will say on the quantities and and and such but that is done at the council level so rest assured this that that will be done if if it's recommended for approval from this body You can see in your packet a couple of things from the engineering design report. There is adequate water pressure in that area. It's located in water zone three. So there's the drainage. They have sub basins up there that already collect stormwater on a regional scale. Those are already in place. So there's no more digging. That's all already in place for that whole area up there. Traffic requirements. This is kind of an interesting one. So in the preliminary plat, it says that the applicant's required to build or bond for a percentage of the traffic signal at 30th Street and Reynolds. which of course it's not there yet. However, What council has decided to do with development in this area previously, as far as like the West Slope subdivision, is to push that requirement to the site plan process. So these lots can be final platted, but we don't know what the use is gonna be. There's such a wide array of uses that could go in on these four lots that could determine a completely different level of traffic associated with them. So whether or not that condition of the preliminary plat is triggered really depends on the use, which we don't know yet. We just know the zoning district, um, But other than that, that's the only condition that city council will need to relieve the applicant of is that bonding for that additional, well, the traffic signal at 30th and Reynolds. So that's an important point. As mentioned, street construction and utilities are all going to be bonded for. the point of City Council approval there's no additional trails because that has all been built the serious sky trail of course no parkland or dedication or in lieu fee is required this vital plat as it would be for residential final plat because it is commercial in nature so there's no additional fee there on the applicant But yeah, nothing too out of the ordinary on this one. I mean, there have been, there's a couple of lots that have already been platted up there, of course, with buildings on them. This is kind of following in line with that. A lot of this is being done just to keep the preliminary plat active as well. You have to file a final plat every five years. So that's another, there's, I would let the applicant speak to the You know, the likelihood of these lots selling and what the future use could possibly be. But it's my understanding that there's nothing in the pipeline at this point for immediate development or site plan application. It's really to keep this final plat or this preliminary plat active. So. We noticed this, as we usually do, we put the little red signs up and sent, we only had to send one letter because there's only one, the University of Wyoming is the only property owner within 300 feet of these lots. And it's caddy corner to, it's the northwest corner of the roundabout, which the university owns. But we did that, it was noticed in the paper. We didn't receive any inquiries on this. And as mentioned, proposed infrastructure, there will be a security, subdivision security agreement signed for that by council. And in summary, we find that the final plat is consistent with the preliminary plat, the T&O zoning district comprehensive plan, and the Cirrus Sky planning documents. And I'm glad to take any questions. You got anything?

Yeah, I got one. Is there a time limit on the final plan for these four lots? Is it set on council for approval? Is there a time limit for actual development of those four lots?

Chair, through you. I mean, as long as it... So what's the... council approves the final plat. We'll have subdivision security agreement in place. So that usually has a timeline for when the street's going to be built, the additional street, the additional water line, additional sewer, etc. But as far as the development of the lots, no, it'll be a platted lot that is essentially shovel-ready now. But there's no timeline on a site plan that needs to be it could never revert back to being unplatted yeah my my only question well does anyone else have a question sure well i was just curious about the west side of that was that already was there a final point for that is that just sitting there with the preliminary would you mind bringing the preliminary plot should be in the packet as well so we can take a look But as I mentioned, the University of Wyoming owns most of that land up there. But let me just... Yeah. So... No, so it is... It is, everything is east of 22nd Street. So LCBA, I believe, does still own property on the southwest corner or the southwest area of the roundabout, but none of that has been preliminarily platted yet.

If you can go back to the flat there.

There you go.

All right. My only concern is the street between Block 1 and Block 2. Is that planned to go all the way to Asphalt Lane? I mean, or is that going to be part of a completely another subdivision or more blocks in this subdivision? I mean, it's...

Mr. Chair, are you referring to Cumulus Drive?

No. Well, I assume that that right there is a street.

Yeah, that's dedicated. Yeah, that's going to be dedicated right there.

Is that dedicated to Asphalt Lane?

Well, yeah. I mean, that's part of the preliminary plat that will punch through to Asphalt. The old preliminary plat. Yeah. Well, this is... Yeah, so that road, whatever it's called, I don't know that it's named yet.

I don't know if there's a name on it yet.

But yeah, no, that will punch through. Okay, all the way down. That's part of the preliminary plan, yeah.

The piece of dirt immediately north of Block 1 is basically useless. It's all a drainage pond.

Right.

So that's all going to be set aside.

That is part of the regional detention, yeah.

Yeah, okay. All right.

And that's where that couch is as well, right?

Yeah. Get the damn couch out. I don't have any other questions right now. I guess that's lot one and two of where the existing buildings are in block one on the south side of Cirrus.

That's where the existing buildings are.

That's right. I don't have any other questions.

Good. What does the zoning allow here? It looks like it's mostly offices. Does it allow light manufacturing? Does it allow something completely non-controversial like a data center?

I do believe that data centers are a conditional use in this zoning district, but I could pull that up. But yeah, let me.

I guess one aspect of that question would be whether the original data center digital use matches what data centers are now considered to be two different animals.

Well, yeah, the whole concept of data centers, the technology changes so fast, these guys couldn't write code fast enough to keep up with the technology.

So, Mr. Chair, to answer Commissioner O'Toole's question, yeah, I mean, there's some community uses that are permitted like colleges universities community services i mean that so kind of lighter uses less intensive uses um golf course a lot of parks and open spaces i mean across the board that's allowed in most zoning districts major energy facilities conditional use Public utility substation, which there is one up there already, is a conditional use. Public utilities, small wind energy systems, those are permitted uses. Solar access systems, permitted use. Wireless communications towers, a conditional use. Animal research facility, which could be more intensive, is a conditional use. Restaurants, coffee shops, those are conditional uses as well because of the mixed use nature up there. So most of the uses are under office and technology, which I'm getting into right now. So most administrative professional offices, conditional use, business incubation, data center is actually a permitted use. Government services, conditional use, medical research company, permitted use. So let me jump down to manufacturing. I don't think that it's meant for that intensive of a use. If it is, it would be conditional, but... There's light industrial, which is the only manufacturing use allowed, and that's a conditional use. High tech manufacturing is a permitted use. So yeah, the technology office district is mostly for like, administrative office uses, as well as confined laboratory space, high-tech manufacturing, stuff like that.

Was a data center on the list as a conditional use?

No, data center is a permitted use. Yeah. But I... You have a follow-up.

It was only a question about missile silos, but that may not be relevant.

We... We don't have that in the use table. You have to give me some time to classify that one. I bet Cheyenne has one.

Used to.

Well, we got any other real questions? Not hearing anything. I have no particular objection to this. I think it's fine. It's about I would like to see something get done there after 20 years. When I first moved to Laramie, they were talking about Sirius Sky Technology Park, and they've got two buildings, and that hasn't moved anywhere. It's a dog park for most of the last 30 years. So if they can get something there, all well and good. Next time, tell the applicant to show up, and I'll be happy. Is there anything Further questions? Thank you. Oh, get rid of the couch. What's the will of the commission?

I don't have a problem with this. I don't see why we should. It'd be nice to see it moving forward. Nice to see something happening here after all these years.

I'll entertain a motion.

So I move to recommend that the City Council approve the Sierra Sky East Phase final plot based on findings of fact and conclusions of law. Second.

Motion and a second. Do you want to roll call vote on that? Okay. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Motion carries unanimously. Good. Chair will entertain a motion.

Motion to adjourn.

All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Ayes have it. Thank you, guys.