Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

[Music] at 6:30. And may we have the roll call, please. Commissioner Bangs, present here. Commissioner Mahaley here. Vice Chair Basket. Commissioner Mahaley here. Vice Chair Basket here. Um, can I have a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Second. All in favor? I. Okay. Agenda is approved. How about the minutes? We didn't have any minutes. No minutes this time. Great. Um, I think you're all the team for the item here. So, there's Do we have anybody online that might want to make uh public comment for items not on the agenda? Okay. Why don't we go ahead and do that? Michael Ree. Okay. Would you like to go ahead? You have three minutes. Do we have to unmute all my like he's talking but we can't hear him. Yeah, we we can I can hear you on this,

but I can't hear you in the room. Am I getting Am I in the DS? Yes, you are. Okay. Thank you. Uh Michael Ree, I live in Lewisville. uh later on. I think it's not on the agenda, but I would like to encourage the commission to consider um some uh doubling up on some meetings over the next couple months to uh effectuate some um well to expedite uh some projects that are in the queue, particularly an affordable housing project uh being developed by Thistle Communities. And um one of the reasons we would ask that we um try to expedite it is to um is to get ahead of the expectations of the applications and the funders at the state level. Uh we really are uh it's a domino effect. Applying for funds at the state level require us to uh have a quote unquote shovel ready project, which in essence means at least being through the entitlement process so that we can build what we're proposing to build to our affordable housing funders. and um what however the community can can whatever the community can do to expedite that process to get the projects through that process to be able to make that domino fall that we could apply for the funding um because we really we're just really can't until we get through the city process. So, if it comes up, I would encourage the I encourage the commission to double up on some meetings over the next few months uh particularly around the affordable housing um projects that might come through. So, I didn't want to take a ton of your time. I appreciate everybody's time and I know that doubling up in the summer months could be difficult, but wherever we can as a community show some support, this is certainly one way to show some support to expedite the

approval process. And that's it. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone else? Does not look like we have anyone else. Okay, great. We'll move on then. Uh we don't have any continued um issues. So, right into the new business. I will now open the public hearing on a request for a plan unit development PUD amendment resolution 9 series 2025 recommending to the city council approval of a PUD amendment for solar canopies and other exterior building changes on a commercial building in the Colorado Tech Center at 600 Tech Court. The purpose of the hearing is to receive evidence regarding the application materials and provide a public forum for all interested parties who wish to comment on this request before the planning commission. The procedure for the public hearing will be as follows. First, there will be a presentation and testimony by city staff followed by questions from the planning commission to staff. Next, we will have a presentation and testimony by the applicant followed by questions from the planning commission to the applicant. After these two presentations, members of the public who have joined the meeting in person by computer or telephone may speak regarding the application. Anyone who would like to speak in person is asked to complete a speaker card. Use the raise hand function if participating by computer or star9 if calling in by telephone. Please limit your comments to three minutes per person. Two people present at the meeting may pull their minutes to allow one person to speak up for a total of six minutes. The purpose of public comment is to receive public testimony and not a forum for debate or dialogue. Commenters are encouraged to raise pertinent issues and may ask questions for clarity. However, these questions will not be directly answered

during the public comment period. The applicant and staff will then be allowed to make a closing statement. I will then close the public hearing and no further testimony or other evidence will be received unless the commission decides to reopen the hearing. The planning commission will discuss the matter and may approve, approve with conditions, deny, table, or continue to a specific future meeting. Public hearings are recorded for the public record. All testimony must be presented after stating your full name and city of residence. Does anyone participating in this hearing object to the procedure I've described? Okay. Staff, do we have proper notification? Yes. Thank you very much. Do any planning commissioners have disclosures on this item? No. Very good. Okay, we're ready for the staff presentation. Good evening, chair commissioners. Thank you. Uh this is a request for a PUD amendment to install solar canopies and perform other exterior alterations to 600 tech court with waiverss to yard and bulk standards and to the sign code. To provide a brief background, this is a second PUB amendment request for the Lewisville corporate campus at CTC property which is in the industrial zone Colorado Tech Center. The PUD was established in 2017 and includes 600, 700, and 725 Tech Court located right

off of Dylan Road. The first amendment to the PUD was approved in 2019 and primarily included changes to lot one, which is the 725 Tech Court property. And the proposal proposal tonight is only for modifications to lot two, which is the 600 tech court property. The details of the proposal include installing solar canopy structures along the western front and side parking lot as well as the rear truck court. The request also includes installing a wall sign, which requires a waiver from maximum height requirements, expanding an existing mechanical yard, and installing two storage tanks. Along with the requested sign waiver, three additional waivers are requested for work related to the canopies and the storage tanks. And this slide just provides a visual of the proposal. Uh the blue is where the placement of the solar canopies will be located. The orange represents a large utility easement that expands throughout the eastern property lot and restricts any structures to be constructed there. and the brown represents the uh existing and the proposed expanded utility area, mechanical utility yard. Approximately 33,500 square ft of canopy structures will be installed in the western front and side parking lots and along the rear truck court. The parking lot canopies will be a maximum height of 18 and 3/4 feet and the truck canopies will be a maximum height of 28 feet. As part of the canopy installation, 19 trees will be removed from the front parking lot area and one tree will be removed from the rear mechanical yard to assist with the expansion. Uh 20 new trees of similar species will be planted on the around the property in existing landscaped areas. And this image just provides an example of some of the trees that will be removed and replanted. But the full planting schedule uh planting plan can be found in the PUB sheets. The mechanical yard is proposed to

expand approximately 30 feet deep towards the truck court and 37 feet wide. And the expansion is primarily to allow for the installation of two nitrogen and argan storage tanks. The pro proposed tanks are 45 feet tall and would be located near two existing tanks in the uh mechanical yard and an existing 10-ft tall screening material will be expanded to screen the expanded mechanical area. One wall sign is request request is included with this PUD due to the requested waiver for the height. The proposed sign will be 4t tall and located on the front of the building. So, as previously mentioned, there are four waiverss for this request, and they include allowing a front yard setback of 10 feet for extra accessory structures where a minimum of 30 feet is typically required, allowing a maximum height of 45 ft for the storage tanks where a maximum height of 25 ft for accessory structures is required. Um, again, allowing a maximum height of 28 feet for the solar canopies instead of that maximum 25 feet. and then to allow the wall sign to exceed the required three feet to be a maximum of four feet tall. Staff analyzed the request against applicable criteria and the industrial development design standards and guidelines as well as the municipal code and found the proposal to meet all criteria aside from the waiver requests. Most notably, the request does not include changes to the building site layout and the solar canopies will not impact existing vehicle parking, truck court, circulation, and pedestrian walkways. Additionally, the removed trees will prevent future issues with vegetation overgrowth and the same number of trees and similar species will be planted throughout the property. And additionally, with the landscaping, smaller bushes and grasses are proposed around the entry where a couple of trees are proposed to be removed. Staff analysis of the waiver requests find that the waivers for the canopy

height and setbacks would best facilitate the safe use of the solar panel panel structures and will both provide um not only solar powered energy but also shade to the parking spaces for the tenant. And staff found that the proposed waiver request for the size of the wall sign supports the intent of the sign to be visible from the closest public rightway which would be Dylan Road. With all of this, staff recommends approval of resolution 9 series 2025, recommending approval of a request for a PUD amendment to install solar canopies and perform other exterior alterations to 600 tech court with waiverss to the art and bulk standards and the sign code. Um, this concludes staff presentation. The applicant is present but does not have a presentation. Um, they're available for questions. Thank you. Do any commissioners have questions of staff? I do have one question. So, you said there's two existing storage tanks. Yes. And how high are they? Uh, I believe they're approximately 35 ft tall. Okay. And so, a wave is required for the 45 ft. That's correct. Okay. Thanks. No other questions by commissioners. Okay. Great. And there is no applicant um presentation, but do uh commissioners have questions of the applicant? No. Okay, great. Um so I'll open the public comment and then immediately close it, I guess, since we don't have any. We do. Oh. Oh, great. Well, let's hear from them. Do do I call on them? They raise their hand. They're there. Raise their hand. Does do any of the folks at online want

to speak to this issue? If so, please raise your hand. Okay. Thank you very much. Um, no closing statement from the applicant. So, we'll go with the information that we have. Um, I will now close the public hearing and the planning commissioners will deliberate on the evidence presented. During deliberations, no further public comment or other testimony or evidence will be received. Who would like to begin? Well, don'tbody rush to talk, but I I don't have any issues with this. It seems like it staff has determined that it's compliant and it's nice to have shade out there for parking and and um have solar energy. So, I I'm inclined to support this. Similarly, I'm I'm in favor of expanded solar. I think the shade is nice. I think the the the landscaping handles the design well. Um, I I I had some issues with the tanks, but the more I thought about it, the tanks, there are already tanks there of comparable size and and installing the tank that's desired, fits the purpose better, and is safer. So, um, I I don't I don't have any issues with the heights. So, thank you. Generally straightforward. Thank you, Mr. Dangs. Yeah. No, nothing to add in terms of Yeah, I mean, it's good application, good detail. Thanks for the prep work. Um, I thought the packet was very well put together with the information that I needed to support this um, proposal. Um, I do think the landscaping is super important. I'm in the tech center periodically and we're doing a pretty good job of of having a tree canopy there make a difference to have landscaping. Um, so that then concludes the commissioner's comments.

Um, do I have a motion on this matter? Motion to approve resolution 9 series 2025 recommending the city council approval of PUB amendment for solar canopies and other exterior building changes on a commercial building in the Colorado Tech Center at 600 Tech Court. Thank you. Do we have a second? Second. Great. Would you call the role, please? Commissioner Bangs. Yes. Approve. Commissioner Hunt. Yes. Commissioner Mahaley. Yes. Vice Champ Basket. Yes. Congratulations. That was the easiest. Good application. Yeah. I'm wondering about online. I'm gonna give you one more chance. If you want to talk, put your hand up. There's one. Do you want to do that com? Uh, okay. Well, he's put his hand up now, so let's go ahead and call in Ben. Ben Hendrickx. Hey, how's it going? Can you all hear me? Yes. I was just raising my hand to say I am unable to hear you presently but I can now. So there was a glitch there for a moment but I can hear you now. So carry on. I suppose that's all I have to say. I apologize for interruption. Thank you.

Nothing. No. Okay, great. Do we have any staff comments? I just quickly there's a there's a really brief memo in your packet regarding the comprehensive plan. Uh I just wanted to update you all. Not for discussion tonight unless you had questions or wanted to discuss anything. But um a draft is coming soon. We're planning to share a draft with planning commission here in about a month. Um so um our thought is we we'll pull you soon on a potential second to Mr. Reese's point in the beginning a potential second planning commission meeting in July um special to the conference of plan. Um so that draft um will be available like I said in about a month. Um it is currently actually council sort of called it up if you will and they requested to see the draft as it is. Um so we have kind of an impromptu discussion with council actually on Tuesday. That's right. Um they got they wanted kind of an early preview. So um if you wanted to get an early preview of the document, um it's in the council packet for the June 17th meeting. Um there's a a good chunk of it is in there. Um not the whole thing. So but the idea is here in about a month, 6 weeks, we would come to planning commission for discussion of the draft. Um and sort of concurrent with that uh draft release, um there would also be another public engagement uh window around the draft plan as well. So, um, since we last met with you all earlier this year, if you recall, you provided direction on the future land use framework, um, which is sort of the core element of the plan, um, we went through all the different opportunity areas and that whole thing. So, we've been drafting the plan for the past few months, um, and we've actually gone to, I think now, 10 boards and commissions to get input for, um, sort of things specific to their wheelhouse. So, this has all been getting drafted and developed over the last few months. Um, and you'll see a draft soon. So, don't have a lot of substantive discussion for tonight, but thought you'd appreciate at least an update on where it's at. Happy

to answer any questions. I was curious, uh, we received one, uh, email on this topic from Tamar CR and I thought the things that she raised were worth considering. I was wondering if if the methodology being used is addresses any of those comments that Tamar made. I think the I'd have to pull the the email back up, but I think the having, you know, transparent, robust community engagement was kind of the overarching theme of her comment. Um, and that certainly is our plan. Um, so I haven't happy to go through each of the elements of her email, but um, everything that she wrote um, are things I can say confidently we're planning to address. Like for example, she requested the um, the summaries from the boards and commissions meetings. Um those are going to go live soon. We just don't have them quite ready yet. Um so um but there will be like I said a community engagement window where it's getting really technical now and there's a lot of detail. Um but folks can review the the public review draft which will be the same thing that you all see. Um and then the idea is to get input from planning commission in July. um and then come back to you in August hopefully um with the adoption draft quote unquote that you know addresses the comments that you all have and that the community has. Um and then ultimately our plan is our target is to get it adopted before the elections is what we're working toward. So u mindful of the fact that three council members uh seats are up for reelection. So that's a important priority for us. So, uh, there's a lot going on. Um, kind of building toward a release of a ton of info, but you can get a preview in the council packet if you'd like. Great. Thank you. And you mentioned there will be another public engagement window. That was another one of the asks in the email. So, what do you know what the format of that will be? And Yeah. Yeah. There'll be So,

there'll be a um a public open house, so at some location um where there'll be the draft will be available for people to look through. There'll be display boards that kind of frame the like provide the framework for the document. Um and then there'll be a parallel online engagement with the same general question. So um yeah, it's coming together pretty pretty quickly. Um but we want to see what council says on Tuesday before doing any official announcements for events and things like that. So that's the idea. Yep. And what can you remind us what is the kind of target conclusion date for the whole process? So uh you know, there's a buffer around the election. So, like there's really nothing decision-wise that we would want to put in front of council, you know, even into like late October ideally. So, um September, midepptember, I forget the specific date as like our aggressive target date for council, but um yeah, so somewhere around there. Okay. Soon. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Well, if there's nothing else, um would you say again two meetings in in July? Do you have the dates for the second meeting? Not yet. I was going to poll uh just on an offline email. Um I'm not sure which dates. Um and if if a Thursday would even be the best date, would probably stick to a Thursday, but um don't quite have any dates to propose yet. Kind of depends on the schedule with the comp plan, too. So, it's kind of a moving target, but I'll get that out as soon as possible. The poll at least for the date. Yeah. I mean, do you do you agree that we've got a workload that requires that many meetings? I mean, I'm I'm fine with it, but it just I was unaware that there was this backlog, so to speak, of well, the the the comp plan, like special meeting, if you will, it it it just the draft won't be ready in time, frankly, for your July

10th meeting. And so there may need only to be one meeting in July and it'd be that second meeting. But we have at least two or three cases. Actually, one of them is Mr. Reese's case that um there are important timelines. So they may all come at once. Um and in which case we wouldn't have want to have the comp plan and those items on the same night. So we're not we're definitely not pushing for more meetings. That's not the goal. Um, so, um, the minimum possible, but also recognizing you all don't want to be here until 11 12:00 at night. So, um, if you wanted to go that route, we could always add more things to one agenda, but I don't I don't think you're there. Yeah. And is, um, is one of the items that's pending the I mean, we asked for traffic survey on the Markel Holmes, Little Italy. Is that one of the items that's still in process? I believe so. Yeah, that's one of them. And that will require a pretty lengthy discussion. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Blame for less meetings certainly, but let you know soon. Yeah. Okay. So, the way we're leaving it now is our next meeting is the regularly scheduled meeting in July, unless we change that to a later meeting in July or two meetings. Correct. Where's mud? We'll make sure all of our noticing requirements are met and everything and we'll decide on it soon, but as of now, keeping July 10th. Yeah. Okay, great. Well, I think that's all our business this evening. So, may I have a motion to adjurnn? So, moved. Second. All in favor? I All right. Thank you very much. Thanks for showing up. coal mines operations. They pulled the mine cars through the underground tunnels. The mules were often stabled

underground and rarely saw sunlight. As a result, some were permanently blind.