Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Okay, I will call the uh city planning commission meeting to order. Daisy, can you confirm the Kansas Open Meeting Act required notice has been properly provided? Yes, I can confirm that the packet was posted and the required notice was provided. Thank you, Daisy. Roll call, please. Commissioner McFaten, here. Commissioner Rogers here. Commissioner Mikeel here. Commissioner Alt, Commissioner Vanc here. Vice Chair Farber here. And Chair Waters here. So, with six out of seven members, we have a quorum and we can proceed with business.

All right. Thank you, Daisy. Um, I would entertain an approval of the minutes of the April 21st meeting. Not unless there are some corrections. So moved. Second. Been moved a second to approve the minutes of the April 21st meeting. All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed.

Same sign. Okay. Moving on into new business. Um, application ZMA26-003. Thank you, Madame Chair and and Commission. We are we've have a presentation for ZMA 260003 that will get pulled up here in a moment to kind of go through the the case. All right. So, the the case ZMA 260003. Um the applicant for this case is Salina Regional Health Center and they're represented by Trainer Design and they're requesting a zoning map amendment for a collection of parcels located along the west side of South Four Street between Malbury and South Streets. So, next slide there. And this is kind of the the area that we're looking at. We have three lots that are part of the original town on kind of the north end of the property and then two more at the south. Next slide, please. So, the the three lots on the north side are currently zoned R3 and the two lots at the very south end are C3. and the applicant is looking to create a unified zoning district or a zoning lot that would have C4 central business district zoning so they can redevelop the site for a proposed medical clinic. Looking at the surrounding zoning, the subject property is situated in a commercialized and institutional area.

There's C4 zoning to the north and west containing hotel parking and a bank. To the east is the existing SL regional uh health center office building which is zone C3. So that's on the east side of four street there. And then the to the south is the city's water treatment plant which is currently zoned R3. Overall the immediately immediate vicinity is transitioning away from some of the historic housing and is becoming commercialized. Next slide please. This uh for some background, SL Regional Health Center has acquired an overall 2.3 acre zoning lot spanning between fourth and fifth streets. And that's the graphic on the left surrounded in red. The original homes built here and were built in the 1920s and 30s and have been demolished. And it's important to note that the three of the lots on Fourth Street were already zoned C4 back in 1981. So, the parking lot that is not part of this resoning request is already zoned C4 and that was done in 1981 when the previous um printing building was was developed that that currently exists there on the site. So because of that, the specific 30,000 square feet areas between the two zoning or the two zoning request areas which are on the right hand side there in red um are subject to today's resoning requests and uh they're split. So the again the north is R3 and the south is C3 and they are all physically separated by existing C4 zoning. Next slide please. So, the nature of the request is to resolve that checkerboard zoning pattern by reszoning the specific 30,000 square

feet areas or or reszoning areas to C4. The entire 2.3 acre lot would have matching C4 zoning. This unification allows the applicant to move forward with a proposed 32,000t surgery center medical clinic. As part of this redevelopment, the applicant is proposing to vacate the north south alley that bisects the site and convert it to utility easement while also upgrading the existing sanitary sewer and relocating the overhead electric lines that are in that that utility or that alleyway. Next slide, please. If approved, the property would be subject to the C4 business district regulations. The C4 district does not dictate minimum lot sizes, setbacks, building heights, and encourages downtown density. It also permits up to 100% lot coverage for any kind of development. Another unique feature of the C4 district is that it exempts businesses from required off- streetet parking minimums, relying instead on shared parking and downtown public parking resources. for the sustainability or the suitability of the site. When evaluating the suitability of the site under the existing zoning, staff found that the current checkerboard pattern of R3, C3, and C4 district creates significant administrative barriers for a single unified development. Furthermore, the existing R3 residential zoning is obsolete given the commercial surroundings of the property and the C3 parcels at the very south end form an isolated pocket on the west side of the street. So, resoning to C4 is the most suitable path to resolve those conflicts. Character of the neighborhood and looking at this, the the block is completely transitioning away from residential living. It is now defined by

the hospital campus, a hotel, banking, and public utilities. A modern three-story medical clinic complements the existing institutional character and operational intensity of this corridor, which sits within the downtown business improvement district number one. Regarding public infrastructure, the site is well served. It has access to major water mains on both fourth and fifth streets and a large 66-in storm san uh storm sewer system on the south. The applicant is taking the initiative to upgrade the existing 15-in sanitary sewer line that runs in the alley that bisects the property. Because this is a commercial daytime use, it will not generate residential population growth, meaning it won't impact our schools or jeopardize emergency services uh systems that we currently have in place for the area. When assessing the street and traffic impacts, the overall zoning lot benefits from street frontage on three sides. You have fourth street, fifth street on the east and west, and then you also have south street on the south. While all street parking is not required in the C4 district, the applicant is voluntarily constructing 114 parking spaces. This is a benefit to the area as it ensures that the patient and staff vehicles are accommodated on site, preventing traffic congestion and protecting nearby parking resources. The site would have three entrances that are being proposed. two are on Fifth Street while one is on Fourth Street and those are in red and highlighted on the the graphic on the screen. The request aligns with the Salena comprehensive plan which designates this area as part of the downtown um land use category. The C4 district is the primary zoning tool used to

implement the vision of of the downtown land use category. The proposed clinic directly supports several specific development criteria found in the plan. It introduces a large institutional use to the downtown core, utilizes multi-story design to maintain density, and actively invests in the redevelopment of alley in infrastructure in the downtown area for in our final analysis. Resolving the split zoning is a fundamental best practice and current planning by unifying this site under C4 uh zoning. The administrative burden of enforcing multiple districts and multiple development standards on a single property is eliminated. It retires isolated residential lots zoning and that are no longer viable for housing and functionally upgrades vacant land into professional campus that reinforces the adjacent hospital district. So the planning commission has the standard options before you today. You may recommend approval of the C4 zoning to the city commission. Recommend denial providing appropriate findings are made. Number three, you could postpone consideration if you feel additional information is needed. Um, as a reminder, your action today serves as a formal recommendation to the city commission and the city commission will make a final judicial determination on this resoning request. Based on our evaluation of the statutory criteria, staff advises you to move forward with a recommendation of approval to the city commission for the zoning map amendment from C3 and R3 to C4. The recommendation is supported by the seven suggested findings of fact detailed in your packet and primarily focusing on the resolution of the split zoning constraints in conformance with

the comprehensive plan. With that, staff would take any questions you might have. Okay. Thank you, Justin. Are there any questions of staff? Okay. Hearing none. Um, does the applicant have any comments, please state your name and address for the record.

Good afternoon. Uh, my name is Matt Murphy with Trainer Design. Uh our address is 1040 Vermont Street in Lawrence, Kansas. Um as Dustin uh went through the whole presentation, um that basically hits all the highlights. Um and we're simply here to answer any additional questions you may have on behalf of the owner. But um as as presented, I think it's pretty straightforward and it it definitely would be a better month and allow us to redevelop the lot accordingly. Are there any questions of the applicant? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Is there anyone in the audience who has a comment? Okay. Is there anyone online?

We do not have anybody from the public online. Okay. Thank you. All right. Commissioners, I open it up for discussion or a motion. Madam Chair, I'd move that we approve application ZMA26-003. Second. Moved and second to approve this application. All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. To clarify, you wanted to to recommend approval to the to the city commission. Correct. Yes. Correct. Yes.

Okay. Thank you, commissioners, and thank you to the applicant for coming in person. Appreciate it. All right. We'll move into our next item on the agenda. Okay, we'll get that presentation pulled up here and all right.

So, our second item for this evening is application CUP260001. The applicants are Devon and Amanda McKe. They are requesting a conditional use permit to establish a group daycare home in an unoccupied residential dwelling located at 315 uh Oakdale Drive, which is shown on the screen there. To summarize the request, McKe's recently purchased this property and plan to use it exclus exclusively as a daycare facility for up to 12 children. Because the applicants will not be living in the home, our zoning regulations require them to obtain a conditional use permit to operate in a residential district. Looking at the surrounding zoning and land use, you have the subject property, which is R3, which is the brown colored property in blue there. And you are surrounded by single family homes to the north, east, and south. Directly west of this property is is Oakdale Park or a segment of Oakdale Park which is zoned R1 and the area is thoroughly residential in character and is designated as urban residential on the future land use map. For some quick background, you may recall that in late 2023, the city updated its child care zoning regulations to help address local shortages of providers. While dayc carees in occupied homes were reclassified as permitted home occupations and no longer conditional, establishing a daycare for an unoccupied dwelling like this in a residential zone still requires neighborhood notification, a public hearing, and a conditional use permit to be approved by the commission. So that's that's why we're here. So, the applicants intended uh to utilize the interior of the home and the rear yard of

the property for a child's play area. The property is currently vacant. McKe's plan to invest in several cosmetic updates and upgrades, including a new roof, new windows, fresh paint, and fence staining. Uh the operation will be run by Amanda McKe who is a certified early childhood teacher alongside an additional full-time care provider that will assist her in looking at the criteria for conditional use permits. Criteria one is compliance with the zoning requirements. And this first criterion must you must evaluate under the zoning code whether the site complies with standard zoning requirements for a group daycare. in R3 district. The minimum lot area is 15,000 square feet. The applicant's property is exceptionally deep, resulting in nearly 20,000 square ft of area and a 65 ft width. Furthermore, the existing structure sits 28 ft from the property line and 220 ft from the front property line and 220 ft from the rear property line. So, it has a a very deep long um yard. It's 307 ft deep, which exceeds all the physical bulk regulations of the R3 district. For criteria number two, looking at the welfare and convenience of the of the public. The second criterion asked if the use will promote the welfare and convenience of the public as the commission has discussed extensively. Salina has a documented shortage of available child care by establishing a facility that provides child care for up to to 12 children managed by a qualified staff. This application directly responds to a critical community need and fulfilling a public welfare requirement. Next, we look at whether the use will cause substantial injury to the

surrounding property values and the structure will maintain its residential appearance because the property is currently vacant. The applicant's plan and investment into it could be viewed as an upgrade for the neighborhood. Additionally, the play area is fully contained by an existing six-ft tall wooden fence which provides visual and physical buffering for the adjacent neighbors. Criterion four requires that the use does not dominate the immediate neighborhood. Operating a daycare for 12 children is generally a low inensity use. However, because this is an occupied daycare home, it will actually generate less evening and weekend activity than a standard household as the operators will go home at the end of the workday. Combined with the spatial buffer provided by the the large yard and the existing fence, um it will blend in with the the proposed use would blend in with the neighborhood. For the next criteria for parking and access, the Salena code requires three parking spaces for the facility. One for the primary care provider, one for the secondary care provider, and then one for drop off and pick off of kids, children. The applicant meets this by utilizing two spaces in the rear uh gravel driveway and one inside the detached garage. So on the the graphic, there are three parking spaces that are proposed. These spaces are accessed entirely from the east west um detached or excuse me these these spaces are accessed entirely from the east west public alley. So to access those parking stalls you would actually come down Oakdale Drive and then go down the alley to access the the driveway. This routing is a major benefit as it

keeps drop off and pick off traffic off of Oakdale Drive, successfully minimizing street congestion and preventing traffic hazards. The final criteria is dealing with utilities and drainage. And this site is fully integrated into the city's existing infrastructure served by a 4-in water man and a 10-in sanitary sewer line. Because the applicant is only making cosmetic updates and not expanding the footprint of the structure, existing storm water, drainage patterns will remain unchanged. In our final analysis, staff finds that this is a suitable location for the proposed use. An unoccupied daycare presents a low impact use during evening and weekend hours compared to a residential home. Furthermore, the six-foot solidwood fence adequately screens the play area and you utilizing the rear alley for staff parking and drop off successfully mitigates potential traffic congestion on the primary street. The planning commission has the following option options. Number one is to approve the application as submitted. Number two is approve it with specific conditions. Number three is postpone consideration if you feel additional information is needed or you could deny the request if it does not meet the conditional use permit criteria that that we've gone through based on staff suggested findings that are found on page seven in your report. Staff recommends approval of the conditional use permit subject to two conditions. That the daycare for had runs for no more than 12 children at a time and that the off- streetet parking spaces off the alley are maintained. And we would take any questions you might have about this particular agenda item.

Thank you, Justin. Are there any questions of staff? Have we heard anything from the neighborhood? Any comments pro or con? We did not receive any comments from anyone in the in the public or any of the neighbors. Thank you. Dustin, can you refresh my memory? Did did we decide to um renew these administratively if nothing changes on the um

so what we did when a couple years ago in 2023 when we were dealing with um a daycare crisis for lack of a better term which we're still dealing with with a shortage is licensed daycare homes were permitted by right meaning if you had what the state called a licensed daycare. You could you could operate a licensed daycare out of your home for whatever number of children was allowed under that particular license. That was an administrative action that did not require public hearing or planning commission approval. Kind of the step up from that was the group daycare home which could have more children but required a second care provider. And therefore, because we were bringing a a an employee into a residential setting for for occupational work, it was a conditional use permit. And so, as part of that 23 amendment, that particular action or that that home occupation when you're operating a daycare out of your home and you're bringing in an additional care provider, that was converted and transitioned from a conditional use to a permitted use. and a new category was added which is a group daycare home in an unoccupied dwelling and that's what we're dealing with here. So in this case the applicant will have a separate residence. They will come to this site for their daycare operations and then leave and and that could run in perpetuity um with the land and would not need to be re renewed annually. So once they get approval from the board today, they will not need additional approvals as long as they adhere to what other whatever conditions that you you craft and come up with as as requirements.

Thank you. Any other questions of staff? Okay. So I'm sorry. So this would go with the land, not with the applicant. I know we've had different cases with that.

So generally that is the case with a conditional use permit because this is a land use decision. By default it goes with the land. You are welcome and you have in certain conditional uses in the past had a condition that it runs with the applicant. If the applicant sells the property or or moves from the property that that conditional use permit would not be transferred to the new owner. That is a condition that you can you can adopt as part of your approval if you wish. But by default conditional use permits because their land use decisions run with the land unless otherwise prescribed by you. Thank you. Sorry to interrupt.

That's all right. Any other questions of staff? All right. Does would the applicant like to speak? Hi, I'm Amanda McKe and I think Dustin covered everything perfectly. This house is really perfect for my vision of what I want. Um, I've been part of early childhood for the last 24 years in Salina. I've spent the last 20 with USD 305. And something I hear is we really need high quality child care. So, I'm going to kind of branch off and try that. I'm going to continue to keep my um teaching certificate and license, but I think I'm going to be able to provide something that community really needs.

All right. Are there any questions of the applicant? All right. Thank you, Amanda. I think he covered it perfectly. Okay. All right. Um, Gage, is there anyone? We do not have anybody from the public online. All right, commissioners, I open it up for discussion or a motion.

I know we've done this both ways, guys. Are you wanting to keep it with the land or are you wanting to associate this with the applicant? I I love the qualifications she brought up here. Um, I don't know who could take over that property in the future. I I just wanted to feel you out and see where you are. I think it if they if the land is sold then it should come back to us if there's a new applicant or something.

So would it be best then and I'll ask staff this to make one of the um uh conditions that this is associated with the applicant only and not with the land. How do we need to word that? Yeah, I I think in any motion you make, you would make a motion if you're wanting to approve because it sounds like that's what you're asking. If you're wanting to approve the application, you would do so under the findings that that staff has on page seven and the two conditions listed in the packet with a third condition that if the property were to be sold or if the daycare were to cease operations that it would not continue. It would not be transferred to a new owner.

The conditional use permit would not be transferred. Correct. It would not run with the land, but would run with the specific operator. That's kind of where I am. Uh that's that's

the only the only problem I have with it is and I don't we didn't ask that. I didn't know this was going to come up. How how many modifications do you have to do to this property to fit the 12 kids in there? If this is a a two-bedroom house now, are you removing walls? Are you putting up more? Are you making it one giant room? What I'm asking is, is this going to be more specifically based towards child care? And if they sell it again, is it just going to be the best purposes for child care or can somebody really live in it like a two-bedroom house after she's done modifying it?

And this is definitely something we thought of when we purchased the property, we're not knocking out any walls or any of that. Um the house is going to remain the same as it was if somebody like um so that way if we decide not to do this anymore or we outgrow it and do something different, the house is the same. Somebody could come in, purchase it, rent it, and we have it set up to where each specific room is going to be something specific for the development of early childhood kids. Perfect. Okay, good question. Thank you, Amanda. Ask a question. Okay.

Um, I'm comfortable with making a motion if if I can try to get this in correctly. Uh, I would move that we approve this conditional use permit um with the findings that are listed on page seven of our packet and the two conditions that are there. And I would also like to add a third condition that if the property is sold, this conditional use permit would not be transferred with the land. Is that good enough for that motion? Yeah. Second been moved and seconded. Um, with the motion that was presented, all those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. All right. Let me get back up here. All right. Are there any other items of discussion? No, there's not. We don't have any other any other administrative items or preliminary Okay. discussion. Um, do we have a scheduled meeting? Yes. Okay. So, um, as far as other business or, uh, we have our next scheduled meeting is May 19th and we do have one item on the agenda for that. And then, um, in addition to that, I wanted to introduce Joe Kavanagh. He's our our new planner that joined us last Monday, uh, coming from Vermont. And so, he's coming in as a planner, too.

So, we're really happy to have him and, uh, kind of fill in the the opening on our staff. All right. Welcome, Joe. Welcome aboard. so much. I'm glad to be here. Yes. All right. Um, Gage, one more time. Is there anyone? So, I can confirm we have nobody from the public on Zoom and nobody in the room. I'd entertain a motion to adjourn. Uh, before we do that, Madam Chair, I know a while back we asked for or I asked personally about some type of report about the saturation of the vape shops uh within our region. Uh, I know we approved some a while back and we haven't had any other applications come through, but I' I'd still like to see some information as to how saturated our community is with that. Uh, if we could just get that in the future sometime.

Well, yeah. Well, we'll put something together and and get it on a um on an agenda coming up. Um, I I don't know if we can do that before the next meeting, but would you be okay with in the next couple, please? That would be fine. Yes. Thank you. Sorry, madam. twice that interrupted. I think along those lines too, it's probably been a year or so. I would like to see the zone the radius expanded for when we are proposing vape shops to a larger radius. I think I I put that out. I don't know. It's probably been a year and so yeah. Okay. But

so we will kind of goes along the same lines as that. Um that would uh that would be a zoning text amendment. And so if we want to go down that road, I know at least we would need to get that as a preliminary discussion item up in front of the commission and then you all would would need to decide if you want us to initiate an application for that. Now there there's probably some other pieces to that that we need to look into. Uh as far as timing, um we do keep in mind we are planning to do a zoning code uh rewrite that's a couple years down the road, but um

but that that could potentially be something that we list for that um if you're comfortable with it. But we can I'll I'll keep that in mind as we put something together um getting to Commissioner Farber's topic and just kind of tie that all in. So maybe we just spend some time talking about that. Yeah. Uh, thinking about it, I think it was more uh you got you guys had a lot on your plate at the time, so it it wasn't it wasn't important, so it got kept getting pushed, which is was fine, but yeah, I'll put a note down and we'll we'll get something together for it. Okay. Okay. All right. Any other discussion items? All right. Entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved and a second.

Moved and second to adjurnn. All those in favor say I. I. I motion carries. Thank you.