City Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Okay. We're gonna get started in about one minute. Let's go.

All right, this is the City of Reno Planning Commission meeting. Today's date is Thursday, May 21st, 2020. Begin with the Pledge of Allegiance. Commissioner Garfantini.

To the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Mr. Clerk, roll call, please.

Becerra? Here. Delviar, absent. Jochman? Here. Gonfiantini?

Here.

Rohmeyer?

Here.

Felto? Absent. Williams? Here. Mr. Chair, you have a quorum of the Reno City Planning Commission.

Thank you, and back to you, a three public comment.

It should be noted for those in the audience that comments are to be addressed to the Planning Commission as a whole. Comments heard under this item will be limited to three minutes per person and may pertain to matters both on and off the Planning Commission agenda. Please note that the Planning Commission may not take action upon any matter not agendized for possible action on today's agenda. When you are called on for public comment, please state your name for the record and begin speaking. The timer will begin when you say your name, and you will be afforded three minutes. If you are an attendee in the Zoom meeting and would like to make public comment at this time, please raise your hand. Lastly, while in this room, please be respectful. Warnings will be issued by the presiding officer if there is disruptive behavior, and you will be asked to leave chambers if the behavior continues. Mr. Chair, I don't have anyone who's registered. to provide in-person public comment. We did receive correspondence and it has been attached to the meeting distributed to the Planning Commission.

We do have one request to speak online. Commissioner Becerra, would you please proceed?

Great Thank you. Good evening. Everyone commissioner for the record. I just wanted to briefly explain my recent absence in the last couple of meetings, particularly to the residents and stakeholders that we probably all serve just a few weeks ago in April. I donated a kidney to my mother and I'm happy to say we're both recovering. Well, and I just been catching up and. Steadily looking forward to being back at full strength pretty soon, but happy to be here this evening I'll also be making a few additional remarks during the second public comment toward the end of the meeting.

Thank you so much Great happy to have you back Commissioner Becerra. Mr. Clerk. Do we have any other requests to speak online? No chair Okay, we will close public comment and move to item a for a This is approval of the agenda for tonight's meeting. Can I get a motion to approve?

Commissioner Williams, motion to approve.

Commissioner Confettini, second.

We have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Motion carries unanimously. Item B, staff announcements. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a couple of...

couple of quick announcements this evening. As I think you all already know, Council did enact a 30-day moratorium on accepting new applications or permits related to data centers. That's going to go back to Council on June 1st to officially adopt the moratorium. At that time, they will be providing staff with direction on how they wish to proceed. So I will have a Much more in-depth update for you at our next meeting. They also, yesterday at council, approved the Fairfield Farmhouse Zoning Map Amendment that this board reviewed last month, as well as appointed Sean McCoy to fill Commissioner Rohmeyer's term. As you know, this is her last meeting, and I would personally like to thank her for her service to the board. That's it.

we uh... that concludes staff announcements we will now move on to public hearings and mister foster just stepped out of the room so please hold until he's back but this will be uh... item c one staff report for possible action this is case number ldc two six This is 455 Crampton fourplex. So please hold. He's just reentering the room as I speak. For this item, we will begin with a presentation from staff. Mr. Foster.

All right. Thank you much. Okay. Jeff Foster, associate planner for the record. Wonder of all wonders, I am not bringing you a major deviation tonight. Instead, I'm bringing you the 455 Crampton fourplex. The project site is about 0.16 acres in size, located on the north side of Crampton Street. Excuse me, about 105 feet west of Wilson Avenue and 175 feet east of South Wells Avenue, within the Wells Avenue. Wow. That's going to teach me for getting my notes. Within the Wells Avenue neighborhood planning area overlay. The site is currently developed with a vacant office building that was built in 1963. And the request before you is a conditional use permit to allow for expansion of a non-conforming structure and development of a fourplex in the general commercial zone. Let's see here. And zooming in, you can see that the surrounding land uses are primarily residential. There is a vacant parcel to the west. And the key issues that staff analyzed are compatibility with surrounding land uses and site design and access. Master plan land use, suburban mixed use, and on the screen are ten goals and policies that are in support of the proposed request. And the zoning district is general commercial. Okay, so some background. The office building has been unoccupied for approximately five years, and you can see the building in the image on the left. The building is non-conforming with respect to the 10-foot side yard setback that's required on the eastern side, and that's due to the adjacent MF14 zoning. The building is approximately five feet from the property line. Plans include adding a second story to the building. which would enable enough space for four approximately 800 square foot multi-family units in the proposed fourplex. And that's as you can see the image to the left there. So in terms of compatibility with surrounding land uses, the surrounding parcels are generally developed with similar two-story residential buildings. The parcel immediately to the west is shown on the screen here. The parcel to the east The parcel to the west is shown on the bottom picture. You can see a newer two-story duplex towards the rear of that site, and the subject building is in the image on the right. And then directly across the street are two multi-family buildings. The general commercial zone allows buildings up to 65 feet in height, and the proposed two-story building is substantially below that limit. Staff is recommending condition number five, which would cap the development at the proposed two story building. The proposal does not compromise the health, safety, or welfare of adjacent property owners. And the most directly affected property owner to the east, and again, that's the image in the upper left hand corner, has provided an email in support. Due to the surrounding residential uses, staff is recommending the standard restricted construction hours, and that's condition number six. So in terms of site design, four units in the Wells Avenue neighborhood planning area overlay would require a minimum of six parking spaces. There are four spaces proposed at the rear of the parcel adjacent to the alley with two spaces on the street. There is no development currently proposed between the building and the rear parking area. However, that area does have potential for future development. The site currently has a driveway on the western side, and the original site plan showed use of this driveway to access a parking stall. However, backing into the right-of-way is not allowed for this use, and so therefore, the final plan shall show removal of the driveway and replacing that with curb and gutter, and that's per condition number seven. And in accordance with section 415 of the Public Works Design Manual, the existing improved alleys serving a project shall be reconstructed or repaired As part of the project, if they are deteriorated, since the payment condition index of the alley is less than 65, final plan shall show reconstruction of the alley to the full width for the length of the property abutting the alley, and that's per condition number eight. Here are the recommended findings for a conditional use permit. Staff can make all recommended findings. Here are the specific additional recommended findings for a non-conforming conditional use permit. And again, staff can make these recommended findings. And here's the recommended motion. The applicant, Ryan Mix, is here, and we'll be making a brief presentation, and then we'll both be available for questions.

Thank you guys all for being here. Ryan Mix, for the record. Always forget to say that. So this is 455 Crampton. A little bit of background about the project. So this building was acquired by one of our contractors who owns an HVAC company and mechanical company about five years ago. They started looking into permits to actually change the zoning to GC to allow for more multifamily uses. In that process, I think learned a lot of the additional expense that was going to have to go into bringing that building up to current code. The walls are not very structurally sound, have to be reinforced, the driveway, the parking, a lot of these restrictions. And we're trying to save up so that they could do the project. Eventually that kind of fell by the wayside and they had to let go of it earlier last year. So we came in with a vision to bring this building up to kind of modern day standards. So the plan to make this all sort of pencil from our angle from a development standpoint is needing to go up. The challenge with that being that we're in that five foot setback. But we're excited about the opportunity to hopefully be able to build this building, build four new units into an area surrounded by other multi-family projects, and really breathe some life into a building that's been vacant for at least five years. I think much longer than that based off the trash we found in the building. You mind hitting the next slide for me? And Jeff stole my thunder with the AI picture that we made on the new building. covered most of this, but I think the goal of this whole project is really just to bring some more housing as well as bring up and clean up an area that's been vacant for a long time. Obviously adhering to the code with parking, with new appliances, and landscaping as well. But that's pretty much it. I'm excited to answer any questions here.

Perfect. We will now proceed to disclosures and then public comment, and after that, questions from the commission. For disclosures, we'll start on my right commissioner gun Fenty read and reviewed materials familiar with the neighborhood Commissioner Jochum and read and reviewed materials Commissioner Williams read and reviewed materials Commissioner Becerra Commissioner Becerra read and reviewed materials familiar with the project site and the region neighborhood Commissioner Meyer same that concludes disclosures. Mr. Clerk public comment, please. I

Chair, I haven't received anyone who'd like to give in-person public comment. If there's anyone on Zoom who'd like to give public comment, please use the raise hand button at the bottom of your Zoom window. While we are giving them a moment to raise their hand, I will say that additional correspondence was received for this item. It is attached to the item at Reno.gov slash meetings and was distributed to the planning commissioners.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Seeing as though there is no one else in chambers, there are no requests to speak in chambers. And we will now close public comment. We will now move to questions from the commission. Commissioner Williams.

Commissioner Williams, I got one. Jeff. Not only in your presentation, but in the documents you mentioned, there's an option or maybe a potential for future development. Are we talking about that in that open space between where the parking stalls are allowed and where this unit is?

Yeah, so yeah, you can see where the four stalls are adjacent to the alley, and then there's kind of a blank spot between there and the building. That area, in theory, could be developed with something down the road. And of course, it would have to comply with code and any requirements at that point in time. But I was simply pointing that out because it's kind of obvious that you've got a building up at the front and then a big open area with nothing and then parking spaces in the back. So I did ask the applicant what was proposed. And he acknowledged that something could be developed in the future. But nothing is proposed at this point in time. I imagine once we see the building permit that there will be some nice landscaping and whatnot in that area, but it could be developed in the future.

Okay. Thanks, Jeff.

Do we have any other questions from the Commission? Seeing none, we will now move to deliberations and entertain a motion should one be made.

Commissioner Williams, happy to make a motion. Please proceed. Based on the compliance with the applicable findings, I move to approve the conditional use permit subject to conditions listed in the staff report and can make all the findings.

Commissioner Gonfintini, I second.

We have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, motion carries unanimously 5-0. That concludes item C1. We will now move on to business items D. Mr. Raley.

Nothing for this evening. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

We will now move to item E, Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Liaison Report. I believe we have not had a meeting since our last one, so there is nothing new to report, but there will be Meeting next week on I believe Thursday May 28th at 6 p.m. And I believe this is also at the Washoe County in Washoe County chambers Commissioner Rohrmeyer, would you like to add something on this agenda item? I

Yes, the Cherokee Meadows Regional Planning Agency has been conducting stakeholder interviews and public outreach regarding data centers. And yeah, so they may be contacting members of the Planning Commission to participate.

Thank you. Without further item on that, we will now move to item F, future agenda items. Back to you, Mr. Raley. Nothing this evening.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Okay. We will now go to item G, public comment. Commissioner Becerra, I know you have one. Mr. Clerk, do we have anything on public comment?

No, Chair. There's no one registered in the room. If there's anyone on Zoom who would like to provide comment, please use the raise hand button at the bottom of your Zoom window.

Very well. Commissioner Becerra, please proceed.

Okay, great. Thank you. Uh, let's see if yes. Um, so commissioner for the record. Uh, I'll submit these remarks that are informed as well. I just wanted to take a moment to recognize commissioner on her final day. With this body, as Mr really mentioned earlier, uh, Carrie came to this commission a few years ago as a resident and neighbor to many, a scholar, a planning professional, a working parents. And a public servants, and she never said any of those down. She brought intellectual rigor to every staff report, genuine care to every conversation, and a curiosity that made the rest of us sharper. She asked the hard, thoughtful questions, did the work, and consistently pulled our attention toward the Longview, who we are planning for and what kind of community and region we are leaving behind. When the hardest and newest land use questions landed in front of this body, she helped us meet them with evidence and the long view rather than reflex and the collaboration rather than division. Reno and the Truckee Meadows are better for her service and her impact will be felt long after today. Carry on behalf of this entire body and staff, all the residents we serve and for me personally. Thank you for raising the standard for all of us and the quality of life for every resident in this region. Long past your tenure and 1 more full disclosure in case it wasn't clear enough on the record. You are also the best thing that's ever happened to me. Thank you.

I will just mirror some of Commissioner Becerra's comments. I thought as an urban planner, you provided a valuable perspective to this body, and I will miss your presence on this commission. Do we have any other requests to speak?

No, Chair.

Seeing none, that concludes Item G. Item H, adjournment. Can I get a motion to adjourn?

Commissioner Gonfantini, so moved.

Commissioner Williams, second.

Motion and second. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye. Meeting adjourned.