Common Council - Regular Meeting

Yeah, it adds 15 pounds.

Cut the work session to order. Um, up first I believe we're going to have uh Bellis come up and make a presentation on new zoning in the city of Plat said Mr. Rogers is coming up to do the Matt Rogers coming to do the presentation would have been probably nice but

thank you. All right. All right.

I don't know how, but sometimes it just goes away on itself. But Richard Richard needed people Thank you.

All righty. Uh, good good evening. Good afternoon everybody. I'm Matt Rogers, senior planner with Associates. Uh, I've been the project manager on the city smart code zoning update since March of 2023. So, we've been at it for uh over three years, right? Those that have been involved uh since day one. Uh so, thank you for uh carving out some time today for us to give you another update. Uh we're basically one issue away from introducing the law to the common council so you can consider it for public hearing and eventually. So, uh, we wanted to, it's been since October since we, uh, last spoke. So, we wanted to give you an update of where we're at. Uh, so over the last three plus years, we've had multiple pack meetings at the project committee, well over 40 working sessions. And for those that have been with us since the get-go, uh, that's been a significant effort. We were meeting basically once a week for three to six hours uh going through the draft calling in all the different components that we wanted to address public workshops uh for common council updates multiple statement meetings etc. And since October, the draft has been circulating for the planning board and the zoning board. And we've met with multiple city departments in an effort to make sure the specific issues in the code uh aligned with departments uh issues and concerns and and it was a very successful and beneficial number of meetings. Next slide, please. I think we just click. So for those that have heard this presentation before, at least this portion of it, um there's some

duplication here, but what we wanted to explain here is that the original foundation of this project is the 2023 comprehensive plan, the 22 housing update, the bike friendly uh Platsburg plan, and we've also incorporated the recently adopted local waterfront plan all into one document. And the city's original goal was to make this what's called a unified development code, which means all of the land use related regulations are in one place as opposed to right now where they're in at least three different locations in the city chapter. And the the purpose here is that it's kind of a one-stop shop. They're better integrated now addressing any past conflicts between the different regulations. So obviously 360 the zoning, chapter 300 subdivision and chapter 176 the flood plan uh damage prevention law was included. Next slide please. So the key articles that I just wanted to kind of touch on. So the common council has a copy of this uh a PDF revised one will be available tomorrow morning online. I think there's an October version online. You know, when you put together three different sections and add a bunch of additional requirements that the city was looking for, we're over 300 pages and obviously you can't an executive summary um of that. So, my goal today is kind of highlight maybe changes. Uh those that are intrepid enough that want to dig through it, great. And planning board obviously they're going to be the ones that administer this along with the city staff. Uh so it's important that you're familiar with the different sections. So first one uh if you can go to the next slide please are the zoning districts. It's going to be a lot of clicks here. Sorry

this was set up. Um so we we're continuing these existing districts. So the R1 low density uh there's a zoning map here. Uh and uh the zoning map is also in in the document as well. So R1, R2, R2 is your primary kind of catchall district that allows for residential, commercial, various other types of uses. Your residential historic district, although we've modified that a little bit as you can see on the zoning map, and we've talked about it many times in the past, central business district and the industrial district. So those names have stayed the same. Some of the district's boundaries have changed a bit. Uh, and we can get into that if there's any questions. But when we do the public hearing in the next month or so, I'll spend a lot more time going down through all of the the major zoning district changes. So, the density adjustments that I just wanted to highlight here. So, in the R1 district right now, only this is essentially your your primary single family zoning district right now as it exists. And the way that code is written, it's it's more of a suburban style type development. It was made abundantly clear to us uh and to the city through our public meetings that we wanted to maintain a fairly low density in that district. So there was a recommendation just to add two families or accessory dwelling units. So you can have both, but you have to have maintain the minimum lot size requirements. So, uh, the lot size is still 7,500 ft². That hasn't changed. Uh, but you need 15,000 ft² to have two units. And the compromise that we identified is that if somebody wanted to put an accessory dwelling unit in, which is a living unit that's no larger than 800 square ft, you couldn't also have an additional two

family. Uh, so either you get a single family and an accessory dwelling unit in it

or a two family dwelling. It's two family. There's no maximum square footage requirement, but you do have to have, like I said, 15,000 square feet for the two dwelling. So, it's what we kind of call like gentle density, just adding that in. We don't anticipate everybody's all of a sudden just going to add an excessive dwelling unit or create another unit in their in their uh home. It's not cheap, but the idea here is that we're following the guidance from the housing study, looking for ways to add a little bit of density in the various city districts. Uh the residential historic district. So, this is your main kind of first ring neighborhood right off of downtown. Higher density than all of the other districts, zoning districts outside of downtown. And again, right now it's just single family only, but we did an analysis and identified the fact that throughout this district, there are multiple two, three and and multifamily dwellings already. Uh we know that it been a primary location for student housing and we took that into consideration and through the design guidelines and standards that are in the code, it will uh ensure that the uh new development is done in a way that maintains the character of the area. And then of course you have the separate historic district regulations uh that come over the top of that. But we're introducing uh two family, three family, and four family and accessory dwelling units and with a uh reduced lot area and dwelling unit to 3,750 square ft. Um whereas the lot size uh maintains that 7,500 ft. So the 3750 is just for calculating density and that allows for these larger homes that have have not

been converted uh and are very expensive to maintain and unlikely to be maintained well as just single family dwellings. So the idea here would provide opportunities to add density, but again we have to maintain certain design requirements that are included in the code. And and this being kind of that first ring neighborhood directly adjacent to downtown, that's where higher density uh was rep recommended because it's walkable. Uh it already has kind of a a denser residential feel. But again, we're looking to protect the neighborhood character through the this standards that are baked into the code. And then the central business district which was the other one that we spent a lot of time on looking at the density. Um we went through the current process in order to calculate potential density and what we determined that pretty much every building downtown that has apartments in it. Uh you would not be able to achieve the amount of residential censity that you have right now under your current code because obviously a lot of those were built prior to the current zoning. Uh and the current zoning apparently took a a direction of trying to keep the density down in downtown and that is opposite of what the comprehensive plan had recommended the housing study and uh the direction that we heard from uh stakeholders and the public and and the committee uh to look at a way to try to increase the density. So, we're proposing to allow it at one dwelling unit per 600 square feet, uh, which is actually not as high as some of the residential structures, uh, units that are above, uh, some of the buildings downtown. So, uh, we kind of had to take a middle of the road approach recognizing that we we don't want to go too far, but we want to be able to provide an opportunity to

redevelop some of the upstairs ones. Um, once buildings eventually reach the end of their useful life or there is a a fire fortunately or whatever the case may be, you want to be able to allow that building to be replaced and allow for density that matches the urban core environment. And then allowing up to five stories, uh, which is higher than you have right now, 60 ft, but the the fifth story would have to be stepped back as you see on the diagram here. And the point of stepping this back is that the building wall isn't as imposing uh as it would be if it was five stories straight up. So you push that back, you don't really see that fifth floor from the street. Uh it maintains the character that you have right now. Uh but it also provides some opportunity for rooftop gardens and uh decks and and patios etc. provides a a unique urban design element. Uh and again, we spent a lot of time trying to make sure that the new regulations are consistent with the current built environment but provides opportunities for uh more creative types of development. Next slide, please. So, a couple of the newer name districts. So some of what we did here is instead of having these kind of random B1 B2 which doesn't really tell you anything about like what's the actual district, what are we looking for? Uh so B1 the general um business district is now going to be called Urban Gateway. So that's essentially Cornelius Street within the city uh adjacent to the town. So somewhat of a larger footprint type development for St. Skyway Plaza and that whole corridor that's urban gateway. What we wanted to

do is maintain areas that allow for larger scale commercial uses, but we're also adding the the ability to put residential development in the in those districts, but only associated with um existing development. So, mixed use and first floor residential uh is has some specific uh restrictions because we don't want the first floor of uh these areas to be residential, but you ought to be able to buy that excuse.

I just wanted to ask a quick question. You brought up college housing. Was college housing factored into any of these areas? Well, and and it was only factored in in terms of the concerns about dividing up existing residential structures in a manner where it it becomes clearly visibly no longer part of the res fabric where they just put one little door in, there's no no porch and they divide up the unit. Um, no long-term thinking in terms of parking, etc. Uh but in terms of regulating the use student housing, you know, that's not that's not something the community could regulate separately, right? Um so we we did take that into consideration. We've had the multiple public workshops, spoke with a few people that did have some concerns.

At one time the college housing was in one year, right? It's really spread. Yeah. I mean, and it's, you know, it's really needs to stop. It's just one and that's I didn't know if you had addressed any of that at all, but that'll separate

other things. Yeah. So, like I said, you legally the the city can't put a use in there. It's a street house. You can't regulate the living building. You can regulate the design of the building, the density of the building. Right. So what we focus in on that any additional redevelopment whether it's new construction of apartments or conversion of existing dwellings that have kind of added a protect the character of the neighborhood. One of the other things too is that you'll see a lot of these big signs up on the top floor or top deck of student housing under the proposed regulations. those will have to come down. No longer allowing large um or rent uh signs on upper floors in that if whether it's student housing or just any other type of an apartment complex. If they want to have a sign that identifies the name of of that of the residential structure and whether or not it's for lease, you can put a permit sign. And my daughter goes to school in Syracuse and throughout the neighborhood there, they have that. They don't allow those big signs. They have these nice little um all like a real estate sign, right? But they're permanent and they and if it's released, they can have the name on there. And in today's day and age, students are going off their phone. Really? I mean, they're not driving around looking for apartments necessarily.

No. Especially in the historical district, sometimes it's so expensive to rehab historical home. you end up with a frat house. Pardon me. You end up with a frat house there instead of somebody redoing the home, right? That's the only thing I mean I you know some of the things I know we can regulate how many people and you know there are some things you can do without saying sure and and basically we're only allowing up to four units in in the residential historic district. Uh and that's a a a reasonable amount. will necessarily be like your typical student housing. Yes. Hi.

Just a quick question. You mentioned that the the height of the buildings in the business district would be raised. What is it? What's the limit now? Right now there's a a very unique uh formula to calculate the the height of the building. Okay.

Um and it it's and the formula really doesn't work. So essentially what you you would get is probably about four stories. um right now and you'll see some of the buildings here are four floor stories but they're taller. They're just larger the measurement of each floor is taller. So you do have some varying here and um again that was something we looked at for for quite a bit and the kind of compromise would be that that step backward to kind of provide an opportunity for development reduce the impact from a visual perspective and it provides an opportunity for more residential too. Yep. We can go on the next and then the urban connector. So again, that was formerly B2. Uh so that's um right up the lower Margaret Street. Um and a few other areas that we we recommended calling it kind of urban connector because it's it's a corridor that provides again for a a fantastic mix of residential, retail, office, including single family right up to multifamily. And it's a corridor that connects all of the other neighborhoods really down into downtown. And that's kind of what we came up with it. You know, we'd like to have districts that actually have a a kind of understand what the purpose of that district is. And in each for each of these zoning districts in the code, right in the beginning of the code, it provides a purpose statement and goals and objectives for each of the zoning districts. So if there's any question down the road is that you know is this particular use something that we want to have in here uh you can kind of the starting points an objective that that's what I was going to ask you

and that lays out kind of the guidance in case there's any question about um approving a particular use. It's not it's not the only thing obviously uh but it's it's an important thing that we like to have in codes that gives everybody an understanding of what's the long-term preference of this district and for all the districts we created what's what are we're calling these vignettes on the right hand side uh that provides a kind of a snapshot of the development pattern and they're really a lot of them are based on the existing development pattern but in districts where we're allowing mixed use residential or other uses that weren't previously allowed. We integrated that to kind of provide that guidance to the planning board and to the applicant and how to blend in these types of uses. Next slide. Uh and then the three other districts here that we um didn't really necessarily change the boundaries, but we did change the the name. So RC1, which is kind of your outer Margaret heading towards the uh the beach, that's now Lake View. Uh we did modify a little bit of the uses and density in there, but the lake view is predominantly especially um well on both sides now. You got a lot of condos and apartments and hotels and other kind of larger footprint retail. And then Lakeshore Heritage and Oval and Shoreline Recreation District, that's really the the old base. So the oval is technically the actual oval. Uh and then the city property along the river want the lake rather and the uh the trail and the lake heritage is is all of the property that surrounds the oval uh the the mix of the historic structures and and the other structures that are built within there. So again wanted to kind of re rename

these districts to better assign their location and their intended uses. Uh next slide. Absolutely. Did you include is there anything about like repairing buffers and for those like new properties and making sure that the shoreline is maintained? Yes. So that was actually done as part of the LWRP. Okay.

So and when that was and that was that's actually already in your code right now. We just pulled that one in. So all um and there is a some have it on this overlay district but in the code there's a separate overlay map that shows that district that the city has approved. Uh so there's the reasoning district and this is the one area that we're still working with everybody on uh to make sure it aligns with uh the city's vision. So longterm, you know, thum by the by the city and that yellow line actually supposed to go up to the to the uh main road. This must be an older image.

Should go all the way to River Street. Yeah, this district go right up to River. So, it's this whole area owned by the city. Uh so it was annexed a few years ago, a large primarily undeveloped utilized for a variety of purposes by the city. Uh and it's uh within the flight path obviously of the airport. Next slide.

So right now it's governed by two separate local laws. Uh was reszoned uh central business district with an overlay zone. Uh, and the purpose of that is it's trying to provide the city as as much flexibility as the the uses that are proposed in there. And that was a little bit different than what we originally were were moving forward with under the Reeves Lane Flex Industrial District. So now we're taking the city's two local laws and trying to work that into the code that preserves uh the common council's jurisdiction, allowing industrial buildings up to 100 ft. uh and common council retains the uh authority to issue uh special use permits and site plans and grant uh waiverss of variance sort of dimensional requirements. So and throughout the city we're also through this law specifically prohibiting data centers and cryptocurrency. Uh, next slide. So, for for Reeves Lane, again, that's the kind of the last point that we're working on um with with the city. Uh, and then we'll be back presumably next month for the introduction of this local law. Uh, next slide. So, the overlay districts, uh, there's a map here that shows most of them. So, overlay districts essentially what they are is that the base zoning remains. So, in a in an area where there's R1 and there's an overlay district, the R1 still is regulating development, but development allowed for the overlay zone is permitted, but through a special review process. uh and spent a lot of time identifying different properties and dealing with unique zoning issues because it's not always black and white where um you can allow development to occur under the base zoning but because of certain existing

developments uh existing uses lot dimensions etc sometimes we have to provide some additional flexibility so that's what we're looking to achieve through these overlay districts. Next slide. So the industrial flex uh weave street extension overlay district. That's a lot. I know if that's uh up here in this location um north of Boon. So that whole area is actually zoned industrial. Um but the area in which we've shaded or are commercial uses like dollar store pharmacy um I'm not sure if the car dealership is still there but we had conversations like maybe we just pull that out of industrial and and zone it commercial but there was because this there's only a finite amount of industrial land uh in the city and not a lot of cities still have actual industrial land zone uh we didn't want to get rid of it. So, but what the purpose of the overlay district is provides more flexibility for those commercial views. Right now, they consider pre-existing on those types of uses aren't generally allowed in commercial or an industrial district. But by providing this overlay district, uh it gives them more flexibility and they can go through the typical review process uh without having to go against a variety of variances because they're not performing uses. the hospitality adaptive overlay. I'll just point a few of these. So, this is the old Elps Club on Cumberland A. Uh, of course, we know that it's a very large structure. Uh, it's changed hands a few times. Uh, very expensive to upkeep. So, the idea here is that through an overlay district and a and a significant review authority by the planning authority, you could allow for

like a boutique hotel, something along those lines. And there's a lot of of protective requirements baked into this this law to address potential concerns for neighbors, noise, hours of operation, etc. Again, just another item that we spent a lot of time trying to get that right, but provides an opportunity to develop that use. Whereas with the current zoning, which is just pretty much residential, uh not a lot's going to happen uh to that uh without a significant investment by by residential property owner. A couple other ones. So the French Quarter overlay. This is an area where if you're familiar with it, the homes are really tight on each other, small lots, narrow setbacks, and the underlying zoning uh for that. uh the R he's getting these confused. R2 the the dimensional requirements just don't work. So a lot of variance have to be issued for that stuff. So the overlay reduces some of those dimensional requirements providing relief automatically to homeowners so they can make improvements uh invest in their property without having to go through uh multiple meetings and public hearings. Um let's see. southern Wall Street um residential operate. So this is another one where it's the all the property is own industrial but the area which we've highlighted they're all residential properties. So anytime somebody wants to uh put an extension on their house or put a deck on uh it's very very difficult because they're non-conforming uses and you're not supposed to expand a non-conforming use. So again, we talked about maybe we just reszone it to residential and again, well, we don't want to get rid of that industrial land. So this overlay allows the property

owners to invest um put a garage up, put a put a for whatever the case may be without having to get additional variances or actually in certain cases just allows them to do it. where under the current regulations, uh, a lot of potential expansions and redevelopment would be prohibited, but any new residential in this district would not be allowed. But again, similar to the industrial overlay on Buenav, uh, it provides an opportunity for the land owners to invest in your property. Let me ask you, um, somebody takes a house down, do can they put a house back up or is that automatically become dusted?

So if it, so if say if it burns down, you you still will be permitted to redevelop it back. But if it was just tore down, well, if they tore it down and it stays vacant for a year, then it reverts to the industrial district and they can't put a house up. Right. Right. That's no different than right now. And um and does I mean you say Wall Street residential overlay. Does that include main? So is Main Mill cross from so that is walls. You come to Wall Street at the end of Wall Street and Main Mills is right there. There are some properties out there.

There's but not the entirety of it's a run that one runs east west. Yeah. So right here. Right there. Yeah. So there's that. Um there's some trailers in there. So that that's included. Well, there you have Collins trailer park, but there is industrial obviously. You have Olam, which encompasses Wall Street and Main Mill. I mean, it's just there. And then at the end of Main Mill, you have the what used to be the old um Imperial Mill, which is now several um things in there. You have a Bitcoin in there and so Oh yeah. So that's already Yeah. So we're not touching the industrial. So the the underlying industrial district in that area has not changed.

So and that includes all of main mel well the so let me just show you here. So this is the whole industrial district. Mhm. So the um the wall street is just my glasses but it just covers the residential along Wall Street and then these two areas here that you see. So just side right just the just the residential properties that are in that overlay.

All the rest of the industrial has not changed and the industrial land underneath this overlay stays the same too. So if somebody just wants to say, "Hey, I'm going to sell my property to the adjoining industrial property owner, they can do that." And then because again, at some point the city made a determination that you know what, we got a lot of houses around this industrial area. The these juices don't really play well together. You're going to get noise complaints for obvious reasons. And the reason why communities will maybe reach on this uh is that they know it's going to take 10, 15, 20 years for this to eventually become all industrial. Um or maybe not. But again, that's why we added this because we didn't want to continue this this issue here where there's going to be a lack of investment because their homes are non-conforming and they can't do much with it and there's always, you know, need for housing. So, we didn't want to exacerbate that by ignoring this. So, we're giving them a little bit of kind of a bonus here um through this process, but the underlying industrial remains until such time when the city decides that maybe we just resort to residential but at this point that was a decision not to make um but that can always change

but like you said there reduce the need for variances so when somebody wants to do something to their house it's not going to be so much of a hassle to to get the proper permits and correct I mean you still need to get a building permit yeah um if they u there are still some dimensional requirements they have to comply with. So if they and but they're still eligible to see the bar.

But right now if we wanted to put a a deck on this legally under the current law says you cannot expand it not people are stuck unless they go to the ZBA and they give them almost a use which is very difficult to obtain if done properly. So all right moving on. uh the last few ones. So we talked about the waterfront revitalization area overlay that was identified in the LWBRP and that area has been significantly expanded to include river and then the historic sites uh and districts overlay. So, these are all, it's kind of hard to see those, but there those are all properties that are individual properties that are on the national register along with the numerous historicities that are uh within the city. Next slide. Uh permitted use table. Uh you can go on the next slide. So, this is in the code as well. So, we've transferred from kind of a a district by district table, uh, which is, you know, it's hard. It's easier when you put it in in this format when you're updating the code and then ultimately it's easier at the end of the day because everything is is alphabetical and then you have the districts across the top so you can identify what districts are allowed and or what uses are allowed in each district. So, kind of cleaned it up. Um, but again, this was another area we probably spent, you know, a full week in terms of hours on just going through the sheet table is the the code is so old and antiquated that there's a lot of uses that just really don't exist anymore and new uses that we had to accommodate for and drill down in. And then these abbreviations determine the review process which we'll talk about in a minute whether it's site plan best use or permitted by right

which means they just need a bullet building permit. So for every district we have this use table that identifies all the uses that are permitted uh baked right into the code. Next slide please. Okay. Uh then we'll talk about site plan and special use. Next slide. So, we decided to in in an effort to to streamline some of the approvals and lighten the load on the review boards, certain uses are would go for what what's called minor site plan approval uh through the city planners office. So, it doesn't need to go to the planning board. Uh and the way that the law is set up is that it's uh not so much a discretionary view, but if you uh comply with XYZ, they can issue that approval. Uh it's intended for small scale projects, but if there is something unique about it, uh it's a unique property or adjacent uses uh providing a concern to the city planner, they're able to kick it up to the planning board at any time for any reason for full review. But the idea is that we can review some of the easier like city single family, two family uses, etc., not have things to go through um the planning board and then major site plan larger more complex projects again planning board review. The other big change is that right now the zoning board of appeals who use all special use permits uh and that's that's not unheard of. That's kind of an older way of doing things because special uses kind of came out of variances over the years where it was originally called a special exception use. But instead of getting the variance, it's just a higher level of review. And the the committee and the city decided, you know, let's bring that authority with the planning board because any special use project also needs a site

plan approval. So having this DBA doing special use and the planning board doing site plan doesn't really make sense to anyone. So uh recommend we bring that over. Next slide. We're almost done. Uh historic preservation. Next slide. So the city has an existing uh historic preservation section. Uh it it's pretty brief. Uh there's not a lot of guidance in there for the planning board. Uh there's not a separate historic commission. Uh so unlike say city of Saratoga Springs where they do have a historic district that uh downtown and some other districts and it's uh regulated slightly differently and they have a separate historic commission that reviews projects. The city decided that you're not quite there yet. You don't want to have a third board. So the review re review process still would would stay in the hands of the planning board but we significantly improved the process and predictability and we also um reviewed or or renewed the the the levels of review. So again, it's a minor historic resource permit in kind replacements, ADA improvements, HVAC, um rehabilitation involving some exterior disturbance that stays with the city planner, but again, if there's something complex or they need more guidance, they can kick it up to the planning board for review, but the major projects would still be reviewed by the planning board. Uh and we also added in more clear requirements for appeals, hardship appeals, etc. Uh which the current code lacks. And ultimately, it still relies on the um national requirements, um secretary interior, historic resource requirements. At the end of the day, the

planning board still goes to that to look at, you know, does this comply with the requirements for for uh windows, new roofs, etc. Uh so that hasn't changed because we're not changing federal law. Next slide. Uh parking and loading. Go to the next slide. So we're introducing what are called so you have right now minimum. So most communities have minimum parking requirements. You know every 400 square feet of retail you need four spaces. What we're doing is we're providing the maximum two to ensure that uh developers, property owners don't build more parking than they really need, but provides an opportunity for the planning board to make adjustments if the applicant can demonstrate that yes, I actually do need a little bit more parking. Whether that's for snow storage uh or phased parking improvements, uh we provided a lot of guidance on that, specific guidance on shared parking. So, if you have two uses next to each other that operate at different hours, you might be able to utilize shared parking instead of having to build more. Uh, we're still maintaining the upstream parking requirements um in every district except for the downtown overlay district. So, you do and and the oval. There's there's these two parking overlay districts that uh they're pay a fee through their their taxes to to um that goes towards theoretically, you know, maintaining parking um because obviously you can't provide off street parking uh in most of the lots downtown. Uh some regulations on electric vehicle charging stations just to make sure that they're not popping up where they're not appropriate. uh but also providing some incentives for for adding those into developments. And then bicycle parking guidelines. So so for like say a new commercial or mixed use development, there's guidelines in the code now that

that uh identify the recommended number of of bicycle parking locations uh on the property and different techniques whether that's inside or outside. Um but the idea is here is trying to uh enact the complete streets kind of purpose that that we were given uh which there is here which we'll talk about but not forgetting the fact that a lot of people like to ride their bikes as opposed to driving their car. So we wanted to be able to provide other resources. Next slide. Questions. Yes. Absolutely.

Can you say more about limitations and incentives on the charging stations? So um the the limitations only get into uh like setbacks from property lines. Um and they they don't get involved in like private or residential properties. So you know that's that's regulated pretty much with parking but the uh locations for commercial use. So it gets into the the issue of u I think for every charging station uh that you put in that that the number of parking spaces so you so you get to reduce the number of parking spaces you put them in if I'm recalling it there's a lot in here so uh I don't get detail exactly right um and that you know they have to be put in certain locations they can't they can't replace um handicap spots. Uh and then I think there are other incentives throughout the code uh for providing those. But the idea here is that post codes are silent on these. So we wanted to bring them in and provide opportunities and incentives to those in addition to whatever tax um benefits there might still be. Uh complete streets. So this was so the city had adopted completely straight resolution some time ago uh but we're codifying this in the code now. So essentially every development or significant improvement of roads the city needs to and the applicants need to take into consideration the regulations and the guidance that are provided. So the idea here is that where feasible redevelopment of certain streetscapes would take into consideration not only

the vehicles but pedestrians, bicycles. Uh and it would also it points to the the bike friendly plan as well that that lays out the various proposed improvements over a probably five 10 year time frame. But what primarily what this does is it is it ensures that through the review process that the planning board and the applicants are thinking about not just the building and the parking lot but how the fronts of the building and the roads are are constructed and who they're constructed for. Next slide. And the last thing are the citywide design guidelines. So, the city has some fairly old design standards on the books, but they're not really associated with code. And I think we stumbled across them somehow over the last three years. Uh, and it's kind of one of those things like, oh yeah, I remember that, but never really used and they kind of quickly get out of date. So, uh, we brought on uh, Michael Allen from regrowth planning to assist us in putting these design standards together. So, they they cover all the districts. Some are standards meaning shall that you shall do this uh and some are guidelines uh which are should so primarily in the residential area a lot of other should do this uh there are some shells but typically you don't have strict designers for straight residential district really focusing on your commercial area downtown. So the idea here is that applicants and the planning board and the public understand when a new building goes in certain things need to be addressed. You have to have um and it's almost like you know you you may feel like why are we getting into that nitty-gritty detail um because over the years we've prepared various design guidelines and stuff for communities and and it leaves too much open for for debate. So that's why we

get like center picture here where it has all these fallouts here and it's it's keyed into the uh code itself or identifies it. You know we want to have so much windows transparency downtown uh for every linear feet. Again that may be like regulating but what you don't want to do is have a building just has a door and no windows for 50 feet. And that that is one way to kill a block. So, and it gets into um as I mentioned before, like strongly encouraging uh developments in and the residential districts uh not just taking an old house and then slapping a door and a bunch of apartments on it. We want to have a porch, you know, you know, integrate that into the fabric of your urban environment. Uh and it really improves the character of those districts. So again, this is a big section goes through all the districts with the goal of of being as predictable as process for as possible for the developers uh and the planning board. Just got one slide. Yeah, one slide left. So next steps, uh as I mentioned before, we just need to align the code uh specifically the reefs lane with the city's local laws that were passed uh last year. Uh and then once We should be able to do that probably within the next two weeks I imagine. Uh and then at the May meeting uh the common council uh can decide if they want to formally introduce the law. So it's a local law just like all the other local laws that you pass. So it's passed as a local law but it's it's much bigger. So uh but that's the first step. So you guys will have an opportunity between now and and May to start digging into this. I'm available if you want to give me a call, Andrew and Emily, if you want to set up some calls with the town council members for a lot of time. Happy to do that to

answer any questions that you have. Um, if you do accept it to begin the process, you'll schedule a public hearing. It gets even though we've referred it to the planning board, the common council is required to formally refer it to the planning board. So, they'll have another opportunity to take a look at it. It needs to go to Clinton County planning board. That's the state typical process. And then we need to comply with the state environment review act to do an environmental impact analysis of this. And we don't expect this to be an environmental impact statement. Um but we will be digging into any potential issues and then adoption. And you know, a code of this size and with the amount of work that was put into this, it's going to take a couple of months, two, three months, uh, for this to work through the process. If we get through this, uh, and it turns out there's certain things that the public like, you know, maybe we should retweet this. Common council has some issues. Uh, then we start back again at the introduction. We'll make those changes and then we'll go through that process again. If there's any substantive changes to the law between submitting it to you and then after the public hearing, we got to go back through um the review process.

And that's it. Any questions? Is there another public information session scheduled for um the things that you just told us now? like um you did it before just it's been very helpful for the public to be able to

well it's not a a separate workshop but when the common council schedu 45 minute presentation or so in digging that in and that's a public hearing where the public is allowed to ask questions um we'll have all of the maps up and I'll probably have board of the news table so people can look at that and then typically I always encourage community 30-day public comment period five 60 days to give everybody an opportunity to review the document um I suggest dropping it into an AI and summarize it for you seriously that that that does help to try to pull out the big issues um and they can provide written comments after the public hearing and if the common counsel feels like, you know, maybe we want to do another presentation. I'd be happy to come back up and do that as well. So, uh,

a little bit more time, I think. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I know you can, right? Maybe this Well, this we we come to an agreement everything else between now and May, which I don't think that's going to be an issue. That's when the formal process starts. And again, that'll be so that's another month plus probably at least three months to get through the review process. So obviously you we've been at it three years. The last thing we want to do is try to you know cram it in over a couple of months. That that's not a way to doing that. I never never recommend that. 12 foot wide driveways. Is that something standard? 12 foot wide driveways.

That drives me nuts. I had to get a permit to put a 24 foot wide driveway in front of my 24 foot wide garage. And I know it's written the same way in this. Yeah. I I mean essentially it's 12 feet if you don't have a 100 feet. Right. Right. I I that that's too granular at the moment. Sorry. All right. I just the 12 foot thing I mean it just makes it so I mean then you got to go in front of the pling board to get to put a 24 foot wide driveway in front of your 24 foot wide garage. Yeah, that I don't know if we really got into that. So, but we will that's what we're and the other pet peeve I have the election sign. We didn't have a date on it essentially. I hate election signs.

Yeah. So, I mean, you know, I get the seven days after, but it says a temporary amount of time. I I mean a a short amount of time. Yeah. Go back and look. I mean, the election signs are kind of touchy from a, you know, constitutional and and because there's different elections, right? School board, city, etc. They don't always happen at the same time of the year. That's why the best approach is really to say they gota gota come out seven days after 30 days before seven days after. Is that what that says? That's what I think it should have said. Yeah, I have to look I I don't know if we put in that's a small compared to some of the other stuff.

Right. So, and the reason why that's kind of touchy is we you can't you can't regulate a sign based on its content. So you can't go election signs are only allowed, you know, between this day and this day and then other signs. So that's why we had to lump it into temporary, right? Um because can't regulate the content. That's a the uh Supreme Court decision. Hi. Um I see you have in here regulations for historic structures like maintenance regulations. Yes. Is there anything in here um for non-historic structures? specifically for maintenance.

Um, just like standards for appearance. Yes. So, as I mentioned before, we be introducing design guidelines and standards. I'm talking more like um cosmetic. Okay. Well, there is some of that in there. Um, and then the other law that that addresses that is the building code. Um, and and that's not included. No, that's that's separate. Even though that's primarily gets into health and safety.

Um, but if the city wants to go like one step further, then it's a private maintenance law where it gets into very particular requirements of like paint is peeling, you need to take care of that. Um, your siding is falling off, etc. You also have to be careful with that because you don't want to be disrespectful of someone who is unable to do those type of and that's why you need to be respectful of those people.

It's why the design guidelines for residential is kind of a light touch recognizing that not everybody can can do that. Um, and that, you know, between the guidelines in here, the building code, uh, there should, you know, enough to at least avoid public health and safety issues. Um, and then there's other opportunities, you know, getting some grants or neighborhood cleanups or assistance, but that that's kind of a a touchy, you know, difficult thing to to overregulate. You want to try to avoid that.

Along those lines, you had mentioned where Mr. to revisit the historic piece. Um I've gotten a lot of comments about people that are trying to make renovations to their homes that are in historic districts and it's really um not cost effective. It's very expensive to try to do things like replace windows and I'm wondering if there's and by the way and part of their motivation is to make it uh more climate friendly, right? To you can make things a little bit more energy efficient

and it's just really expensive to do wood. And I'm wondering if there are um exceptions made in here for hardship that can, you know, kind of speak to that or give them a little bit more flexibility with approving those pieces. You mentioned that it was against federal law and I'm confused by that, but just maybe I'll just start with the federal thing. The federal there, the interior secretary's guidelines for historic structures. So that's that's the document that is kind of tied to any building that's on the national buildings in the in national registered district uh in terms of you know the types of windows and etc. um to provide guidance to the planning board and the we did as I mentioned before add in a um a hardship

okay you know step by step so if if there are issues with the cost of it um there's a process that they can go through to try to get some relief. And then it's been a while and I'll just have to refresh my memory, but we did recognize the fact that technology and materials now have have come a long way where vinyl doesn't look like vinyl anymore,

uh, etc. And, uh, putting in a wood double hung window is very expensive as opposed to one that's that's vinyl. And um I believe there are some some guidance in there to to help with that. You know, if it looks like it needs to from the street, doesn't matter what the what the material is. Um so that's in there if it that that's in there. There's some guidance in there. Okay. But it's still it it you know it's a case by case. Um there's a couple other agencies involved too. You've been good. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, it just depends on, you know, so if somebody just wants to replace a roof, right,

you know, they do have to come, you know, to the planning board and that typically, but we did provide in there, too, you know, we completely restructured it. So, if it's like an emergency type thing, you know, they got to patch it, they patch it, right? The goal of this, the time we spent on that was to make it easier for the property owners so that they can make these investments as opposed to letting decay and have demolition by neglect. So, right. Um, but we're, you know, this is why we're at this process now. And if there's different ways that we can make that process even better, we'll go back to the drawing board and look at

the that guidance is Department of Interiors, not ours. Well, the the Department of Interior gets into the very specific requirements of the different types of architecture in terms of of uh the types of windows, the types of roofs, the design, etc. Um that's and again that's not you know you don't have to follow that necessarily to a te

um because there is some flexibility in there. So but the interior guidelines is all that I mean unless a community then takes that and go you know we want to do it you know make it as strict not stricter um but that's where most communities just rely on that for guidance and we have not made it stricter no no and the big change here now that review will be done just by the planning office not by the planning board which

well it's it's two so if it's a minor replacement or they need to flip a bin some minor exterior um modifications, it goes through the city planning planning office, right? Um if it's in in in the code, it specifically outlines, you know, what triggers the full planning board. So, because again, if you're just replacing any kind, I'm going to place my slate roof, they provide it and it's like, yep, this this meets what you have right now. By now, go for it. Don't need to go through But if somebody says I want to replace my slate or my wood vine then it come back

then uh yes it's not replace

um do the design guidelines include anything about like storm water management options because that's something that we've had a few times with the planning board of we want them to have some major based storm water management but then we're all like trying to come up with ideas on this. So there is some in the design guidelines and standards and then there is the storm water section um which is one of the things that we we still need to to address in terms of designing for certain types of storms because we know you know storms more often and most community storm water regulations are designated one acre disturbance that they don't want to do Yeah. So, um,

that's a BEC requirement though. That's what I'm saying. Like below the BEC requirement totally. Yeah. I will have to look to see if we gave the T the city the ability to require. I mean, the planning board generally has a lot of flexibility. Yeah.

But it's better to have it. So, a lot of communities now are saying you don't want to rely on requirement. So, they have to prepare somewhere. If it's below an acre and it's a difficult site where we know there's historic flooding there, uh the planning board can require either a full swift full storm water plan or detail erosion and sanitation control requirements which they're still required to do but not necessarily the planning board. So, so the planning board now would have more involvement in in dealing with that and you know these storms now. So we know that that different um and there's different opportunities for uh integrated green space rain etc developments that provide some incentives.

Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Y isn't there draft improvements for minor subdivision that streamlines the process a little bit?

Right. So the same thing with the site planners miners minor major subdivisions the simple ones stay at the stat level and again if there's a reason why they feel like no I want to hear board they can do that so that was another one too didn't highlight that today but yeah we did bring the subdivision rules uh made some tweaks not a significant amount of them um added lot line adjustments up a lot of those so that's So yeah, we may see through that as well as we're coming.

I have one more question. Absolutely. Um, in the ex, uh, accessory dwelling units, am I right that there is a requirement for parking like one spot for every new dwelling that's on your property? Do I understand that right? And if so, is that are people going to want to pave over their grass and yards to to do that or am I not Well, the accessory Yes. So, the accessory unit um is allowed, but you do have to provide space that the city also has a requirement system that prohibits paving your front lawn. Okay.

So, just like everything else, if you have a super tight driveway, they just one or maybe two cars in it um and you want to put an ADU in, you get to figure that out. You might be able to expand your driveway a little bit. you know, it's going to be case by case, but it was loud and clear that that we didn't want to reduce the parking requirements to put more people to park the road. Uh, so an ADU is essentially a density bonus. Um, you don't have, you know, I'll simplify it, but generally you don't have to have the acreage you need to have a two family home for an ADU. And that's why it's capped at 800 square feet. And there's a bunch of other supplemental requirements in there that it has to go similar to the design of your existing home. It can't be any larger than the existing home, no larger than 800 square ft, certain setbacks and protections put in there to uh res to paper issues.

Okay. So, so just because of use and allowed in the use table or elsewhere in the code, they still need to meet all the other requirements setbacks lot coverage just feel this is too granular for the moment and if so, please tell me. But I'm trying to reconcile the idea that we're promoting a walkable city and yet we're requiring these parking restrictions and how does that tie to density? I'm I'm not sure that it's all connecting in my mind. um because I'm not in this

right. Yeah. So, we did go through if we updated the parking requirements where we could have reduced the requirements primarily for like commercial uh mixed use because a lot of what's in in the code right now is just parking copies from other communities and and it's way too much parking that they need. So, you put a check in there that say, "Hey, you can't go any any more than this unless you can demonstrate to the board that you really need it." Um but until such time that for various neighborhoods in which there are walkable public lots. Um we were not going to venture into the um to the possibility of no parking requirements. A lot of urban areas are going that way, but they can only they're only successful if there's public parking lots that are within reasonable walking distance of homes. So um and again that the parking requirement is kind of a check. So by adding by saying that we're going to allow for increased density in say the outreach district if that lot is so small that it can't accommodate the parking you can't get the density and that's an important part of maintaining protecting the community care.

Okay. So it it you got to balance those issues. Um, so, uh, solar panels on roofs. Yes. Um, that's that's something that's copacetic with the MLDD and they're capable of handling all that. And we did talk about it. You know, the unique structure that the city has for the the electric, right? Um, you know, but we're we're we're the the decision was to allow it through zoning if at some point the the city decides it wants, you know, not fully understand the the, you know, the private. Yeah. Right. Um, but

we felt that putting it in there um is is the first step and then we can have work to future conversations. Um and then the uh you know the solar requirements you know they're basically pulling a building permit in other communities but that is something I flagged um with the planning teams that we probably need to to circle back on particularly when it comes to utility scale solar right

which um again we spent a lot of time kind of going back and forth on that and uh um if the city feels like, you know what, it's just too soon and doesn't work with the current power structure to be pulled off. But we want to hesitate in there for review purposes. Back to accessory dwelling. It's my question is kind of keep going up to myself here. Um the are they for short-term or are there restrictions like you can't have an Airbnb or it's correct. It's the residential. Yes. So any accessory dwelling units that are built after this fact that they cannot be short-term rented only be rented for more than

how many days 30 days more than 30 days or 30 days and more. So there's a short-term rental is basically less than 30 days and that aligns well it aligns with the state's definition when the state passed law amendment last year uh for the ADU registry. Um, actually, no, I'm sorry. I'm using the short-term rentals, but the short-term rental registry. So, that's less than 30 days. And we decided that u if we're going to be giving property owner a density bonus, another unit for free essentially without having to have the acreage. We didn't want them to turn turn right around any.

How is that enforceable? Um the So there will be a a short-term rental registry. We have one right now. We have one. Yeah. Yeah. So what I'm saying is that would be ti the ADU and the short-term rental registry would be tied together. Okay. Um so if somebody comes and says, "Hey, I want to operate a short-term rental." And they say, "I want to do it at the ADU." Can't do it. um you know and I don't know where the city is in terms of of monitoring the u platforms but that that's an issue that it's a normal

um regulatory issue they need to be aware of and some people will pop up and and shortand use um any you know their home or an apartment without getting registered and that's a different different issue but they already allow some but not if they're already on It's just not a separate It's not a separate dwelling or something like that. If you're already doing short-term rentals like an Airbnb, it's it's allowed under it's allowed right now. Right now, but it isn't attached. It's in your home or it's in it can't be an accessory dwelling. It can't be an accessory dwelling.

Can't be an accessory dwelling, which is an accessory dwelling unit could be built separate structure in your backyard. Build it over your garage, build one in your basement, you have an addition on your home. um you know as an ADU and then that's laid out in the code all the different types of ADUs that you have and and that also depends on the district that you're in but someone could live there like after like if they were there for like three months or something. Oh sure. Yeah. So a situation like that. Yeah. College student or traveling nurse something like that. Okay.

Right. Yeah. The idea is just didn't want constant turnover not have that be available for long term or even you know for traveling nurse and that came up a lot too that um people too we look for 36 million right through other we spent a lot of time in the edus to make sure you know all the concerns were sort of uh addressed there's a whole section of that thank Okay. Appreciate it.

So, we'll coordinate with Andrew and Emily and the team and uh um we'll and then I think we'll probably have a conversation um with the mayor and Justin to hammer out the RFI and then we'll update uh the full board. But again, if you want to have a conversation with us um once you start to dig into this, we'll we'll make time and jump and see. Yeah, you could have made it to 400. Um, we're working on that. All right. Thank you.

Thank you. I don't know.

I think like I would just need to read more and get a list of questions and whatnot. Oh yeah. Thank you. Anyone have any questions about tonight's agenda while we're uh we got a few minutes. One question about this thermal association thing. Is this something went out to RFP?

No supposed package. Nobody local does this single source question has any question for it's a small agenda. Um why is it question why did my

you got to talk to plastic housing they're trying to set their budget for next year and they want to get the electric rates oh we've got it no I just talked I just sell them so I told them touch base.

Yeah. What about the work session? said different things to everybody. Huge fan. You're going to end the work session or are you good enough? Um, yeah. We Nobody's got questions about tonight. I do not.