Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Call the meeting to order. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. With liberty and justice for all. All right. Good evening. Welcome to the August 12th Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. Start off with roll call, please. Harry here. Walton here. Stephenson here. How here

all right. Any ceremonies, announcements, appointments, presentations tonight? I just wanted to point out, you guys may have seen an email about November 11th. It's a bit out in the future, but that's kind of what us planners do here. We look out there when it's a little bit cooler than it is now. But yeah, so November 11th, the Tuesday, that meeting is Veterans Day. So, uh, we're just seeing who's available on potentially at the 12th to do a special meeting. So, just look for that email. Okay, sounds good. Any amendments to the agenda? There's none. Okay. any declaration of conflict, expporte contacts, site visits.

I have some that one guy stopped at my house again uh that I talked about last time. Mhm. And um I explained to him if he talked about anything, I couldn't be involved in any of this. And he had a picture of North Dakota, a big billboard with Willilhelm on it. That's back where my family is from. I don't know what relevance that had. He was nice enough. But anyway, I scooted him down the road. So, you're popular. All right. All right. Uh can you uh present the con consent calendar, please?

Yeah. We have the action item A is the meeting minutes from July 8th, 2025 meeting. Act action item B is the meeting minutes from the July 29th, 2025 meeting. Action item C is the reason decision for Soaring Learners file number SUP 254. And action item D is the reason decision for the hope and Zoros and the Early Dawn and Zoros special use permit file numbers SUP 247 and SUP 252. Okay. So, I know I saw that when the email was sent out, but that's not the copy I'm looking at here. So, but I know No, I know. Yeah, I saw that one in the email. But what we're looking at here, probably everybody, we just have it,

right? It mine has A, B, and C. ABC. We should have a D. It's not on the our pads. But if you reviewed what was sent out prior to the meeting, we shouldn't have any issues. That's just the reason decision. Any questions? Sounds good. Makes sense to me. Yeah. And that and that reason decision got submitted later on Friday, so it could be there was two versions that went out. Yeah. Unpublished and published. Yeah. No, I I saw the second email you sent. I'm just saying what we're looking at is not right there, but I saw it. So, I have no concerns. So, if there are no other no concern, we can uh entertain a motion.

I move to approve the consent calendar as presented. I have a motion. Second and a second. Roll call, please. Oh, I'm sorry. Walton, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All right. Motion carries. Next item is citizen issues. This section of the agenda is reserved for citizens wishing to address the commission on an issue that is not on the agenda tonight. Anybody wishing to speak? We have five minutes. Have anybody? Seeing none, next item is unfinished or old business.

And there is none.

Okay. Go into the meat of the meeting, the public hearings. Here we just have one tonight. It's Painted Rock subdivision file number SUBD 25-3. And we'll open the hearing. I guess before we get started, if you want to public testimony, fill out the paperwork in the back and bring that up front over here. Good evening, planning commission. My name is Justin Solder, and as you said, the item we have before you this evening is the Painted Rock subdivision, file number SUBD 253. The property owner is Rhino Land LLC and the applicant is Whipple Consulting Engineers. They are seeking approval to subdivide approximately 4.67 acres into 21 single family detached lots within the medium density residential zone or the R2 zone. Here is the project site on the northwest corner of Midway Avenue and Meguire Road. The site is mainly surrounded by residences to the north, southeast, and west. There is, however, a church directly to the east across Meguire Road. The Blue Spruce Estates and the Wildflower Estates subdivisions are to the south, and the Montro subdivision is to the east. Here is a zoning for the subject property in the surrounding area. As you can see, the subject site does not yet have a zone designation. The planning and zoning commission forwarded a zoning recommendation of R2 to the city council along with the annexation that will be heard by the city council next week. So that's just uh why you're not seeing it represented on the map tonight. The area to the south is also R2 while the area to the east is R1. The parcels to the north and the west are within the county.

Here is a closer view of the subject site. There is an existing single family home on the property that is actually proposed to remain and we'll see that in the subdivision on the next slide. From here you can see the right-of-way improvements that are along the east side of Meguire Maguire Road and the south side of Midway Avenue. And as this project is proposed as is approved and built out, you will also get those rightaway improvements along the frontage on Midway Avenue and Wire Road um for this project. Here is the subdivision as it is proposed and laid out. And you can see lot number 16 is where the existing single family residence is and that's where it is proposed to remain. The subdivision is conditioned so that no lots can gain access from Midway or Maguire. So the existing residents uh will have to provide a new drive approach into the subdivision on Lehey Avenue. staff talked with the applicant and we will also be proposing a new condition this evening that the existing single family residence will need to be addressed from Lehey Avenue and that the frontage on Lehey to be considered the front yard. This is for safety purposes so emergency services can quickly and easily access the property in case of an emergency off of Lehey. Now we'll get into the subdivision criteria. Number one, definite provision has been made for a water supply system that is adequate in terms of quantity and quality for the type of subdivision proposed. The East Green Acres Irrigation District has provided a will serve letter indicating that there is sufficient capacity and that the intent is to serve the proposed subdivision. Number two, adequate provisions have been made for a public sewage system and that the existing municipal system can accommodate the proposed sewer flows. The city has adequate capacity to provide service to the subdivision as

proposed and the conceptual layout of the sewer system shows ability to be served. Existing sanitary sewer main is located within Midway Avenue and discharges within the Montrost lift station service area. The existing single family home on site will be required to connect a sewer with the approval of the project and pay the appropriate capacity fees. Number three, proposed streets are consistent with the transportation element of the comprehensive plan. The proposed layout of the subdivision is consistent with the transportation master plan. Midway Avenue shall be designed and constructed as a 44 foot wide minor collector roadway. Meuire Road shall be designed and constructed as a minor arterial matching the roadway configuration existing to the south of Midway. and an HOA must be formed and responsible for maintenance of landscaping and irrigation including snow removal from the public rights of way on Meguire and Midway. Number four, all areas of the proposed subdivision which may involve soil or topographical conditions presenting hazards have been identified and the proposed use of these areas are compatible with such conditions. The project site is located over the Wrath Drum Prairie aquifer and there are no known soil or topographical conditions which may have been identified as presenting hazards and then any on-site septic systems will be removed upon development. Furthermore, the site is not located within a thousand ft of any interstate gas pipeline. Number five, the area proposed for the subdivision is zoned for the proposed use and the use conforms to other requirements found within the code. The subdivision and proposed lots conform to the requirements of both title 17 and 18 and single family detached homes are in allowed use as you can see in the land use table in the municipal code within the R2 zone. Number six, the developer has made adequate plans to ensure that the community will bear no more than its

fair share of costs and impact fees will be assessed and collected on individual building permits to assist in mitigating the off-site impacts to parks, public safety, streets, multimodal, emergency services, and fire. Here is a list of the agencies that were notified. And here are the comments that we received back. The Postf Falls School District will remain neutral. Cutney County Fire and Rescue will review during the permitting process for each of the single family homes. And then both the Department of Environmental Quality and Idaho Transportation Department had no comments. Here's the subdivision for you to see just one more time. And then we also have the subdivision criteria. And there is actually one more condition that needs to be added this evening to the approval as the annexation has not been approved by council yet. This subdivision approval is contingent upon the approval of the Painted Rock annexation and that file number is a NNX253. That concludes my presentation. I'm available for any questions should you have any. Also the applicant Austin Fuller from Whipple Consulting is here as well.

Any questions? So, it would be subject to approval of the annexation and approval of the recommended R2 zoning. That is correct. Okay. How how uh I know we're not necessarily approving this specific plan for the property, but how does the city handle uh deadend streets like what's conceptually drawn on this plat with U Willilhelm and Lake? This is the plat, is it not? I'm going to defer to it's the preliminary plat. This is Yeah. So, what happens is it goes through a preliminary plat process. So, then they go and they go through a construction improvement agreement after this

and then they go through some phase it and then they later process a final plat and those final plats go before city council. Yeah. But it wouldn't be substantially different more than likely. Um, no. It'd be more or less very consistent to this. Otherwise, it'd be a difference. I mean, they can move a line like a, you know, here and there a foot or two just for whatever reasons, but generally speaking, they couldn't exceed any additional lots. Um, the general configuration would have to be very similar to this without some minor tweaks.

And then Rob could talk about how we usually handle the deadend streets like it would be on Lee. Yeah, just a quick question and and maybe it's even a fire department question. Do we do we do anything even on a temporary basis in terms of like a dead head or something like that or is that not even necessary?

Members of the commission, Robert Paulus, city engineer. So the way we handle deadend streets is that there's first a requirement that if you exceed 150 feet in length, you are required to provide a turnaround that meets fire code requirements. That can either be a hammerhead uh or a bulb at the very end. What you see on Wilhelm Way, the length up to the north end is less than 150 ft. So, a turnaround would not be required on Lehey Avenue on the far west end. They are showing the uh hammerhead that would meet fire code or approximately looks like it would meet fire code. That would be verified during the plan review process. Okay. But that is very similar in concept to what we've used in a number of other subdivisions. The big concern that we have in placing those is making sure that we provide enough room that snow removal does not block the turnaround and that we do not create an area that conflicts with how the driveways and the homes would work as well.

Okay. Just a quick question. Thank you. Any other questions for staff? All right. did want to add one thing to lot 16 on the addressing and front yard comment that Justin brought up is when I talked with the applicant was they were fine with um coordinating with staff in that condition to get um some appropriate egress from to and from that along with the address and coordinate that with fire prior to platting. So that house would have access from Midway like as an exception or

No, they're going to have to take the driveway like they show and come off Lehi Avenue. But what we've seen in some instances, they'll go in and they'll put a sixoot fence around that and then there the address though if it's on the back where currently the front faces Midway. Correct. Right. So now if it's a sixoot fence, it could make it awkward for emergency services to provide access into that structure. And so prior to platting, we would like to mitigate that and get the addressing, identify the front yard, as well as get the appropriate egress for emergency services to get in and out of that um home in case of a an emergency. Are you saying they change their address or they don't?

They will change their address off of uh Lehi Avenue and and a driveway is going to come in off of Right. Yeah. but it may not have the current the residential access into the structure may not meet what fire requirements are for. Oh, I see what you mean.

So, we'd like to get that prior to platting. Um, get that fixed. Anything else? Invite the applicant up. Good evening. My name is Austin Fuller, Whipple Consulting Engineers, 21 South Pines Road, Spokane Valley, Washington. Today I'm here to talk about the Painter Rock subdivision. As uh staff discussed earlier, this site uh is outside of the city currently, but we're trying to annex into the R2 zone. To the north and to the west of the site is large lot single family. To the east is the LDS church and a subdivision. And then to the south is a duplex subdivision. And then further uh to the east again is a Meguire Road and then to the south is Midway Avenue. The future land use of this property is medium density residential as is property directly to the north and south. To the west is the and further to the north is the transitional land use and to the east is low density residential. Our existing zoning as proposed to be annexed would be R2. As you can see, uh to the north and to the west in the gray is county uh zoning. To the east is the R1 and to the south is R2.

This is our subdivision plan. We have 21 lots proposed on approximately 4.68 68 acres with a density of 4.5 units per acre. Water will be uh provided by East Greenacres Irrigation District and sewer will be the city of Post Falls. So the criteria are have provisions been made to supply adequate water and we have a serve letter from East Greenacres Irrigation District. Have provisions been made to supply adequate sewer? So yes, uh this is within the boundaries of the postfalls master sewer service area and the city has adequate capacity. Are the proposed streets consistent with the transportation master plan? Rightway will be dedicated for Midway Avenue and Meuire Road to city standards and provisions have been made to adequately provide connectivity to adjacent properties. Are there any soil or topographical conditions that present hazards that are not compatible with the proposed use? And there are no known hazards or topographical conditions that are incompatible with the proposed use. And finally, does the proposed use meet the requirements of the zoning code? Yes, we meet all the requirements of the R2 zoning.

Thank you for your time and I'm here for any questions you may have. Any questions? I don't think so. All righty. Thanks. Thank you. Public testimony. This the one.

So, this one came in, just so everybody on the commission knows, this one came in through the portal online um on time, but just didn't make it into the packet. So that's why it looked like it was fun. So I'm just going to read it in. This is from Debbie Voka in opposition. This area of Post Falls is very unique uh due to the ability of its to own and raise animals uh grow large crops and gardens. Chang changing this area will make Post Falls less desirable place to live. Uh and that option because that option would be gone. Small roads and no lighting in this area are not desirable for traffic. Creating small lots with cheap homes on them does not attract people to stay very long and usually become rentals with properties not being kept up. Our neighborhood is safe, quiet, peaceful and I believe it should stay that way. Post Falls has grown too quickly and lost some of its qualities it had along with the future land use is not current due to all the changes that have happened in the past year past years. That is it. The applicant like to rebut?

No, thank you. All right. No need for a rebuttal. Close the hearing. We'll look at the review criteria.

All right. Thank you, commissioners. Good evening. Um before we use the painted rock subdivision, subdivision 25-3, uh we'll go through the subdivision review criteria adopted by the uh postfall city code. So we have 4.67 acres uh proposed to be divided into 21 detached single family lots in a potential R2 zone. Uh number one, whether definite provision has been made for water supply adequate in terms of quantity and quality for the type of subdivision proposed. We have Wilser from East uh East Greenacres Irrigation that they are ready and willing to supply water. So that's not an issue.

Yes, sir. Thank you. Uh number two, same question for the public sewage system. Uh in this case, the city's going to provide the sewer and there's been no issue raised or concerns raised about that. Yeah. Yeah. And it sounds like the existing structures would be abandoned for the septic uh for connection for the city um at the time of the development. Um number three, uh the proposed streets are consistent with the transportation element of the comprehensive plan.

Yeah, there's going to be improvements made to Midway and Meguire to bring them up to city standards and also as this builds out u keep in mind the connectivity to possible future development over there. And some of this was discussed when we talked about the annexation and the recommended R2 zoning. Correct. We were talking about Meguire in particular being a a collector. Um, and that's why that R2 was recommended for that site. So, I think this complies with that. The geome the geometry looks good, but the North South Street naming's tacky. It's questionable. Questionable for sure.

What is it? I I didn't catch it. It was brought in from North Dakota. Okay. North Dakota. I like Wilhelm Way. My way or No Way. It's got a certain flavor to it. I see that. Number four. All areas of the proposed subdivision involving soil or topographical conditions presenting hazards have been identified and that the uses are compatible with such conditions. It's been none identified. Thank you, commissioners. Uh the area for proposed subdivision is zoned for the use and the use conforms to other requirements found in our code.

Yes, single family homes are liable in R2 zoning. Yeah. and and upon annexation and assuming the R2 zone gets gets approved. I think we have a density estimate at 4.5 units per acre which is in conformance with our code unless there's any other testimony on that one. Yeah, I believe that's less than the maximum allowable in that zone anyways. Very good. Uh and finally, number six, uh adequate plans to ensure the community doesn't bear more than its fair share of the costs to provide services.

By the time they make, uh dedications for the public streets and improve sidewalks, curbs, gutters, landscaping, etc. Um they've contributed quite a bit to the the community just on that basis. But then in addition to that, they're going to be assessed those impact fees on all these individual building permits. So, they're going to be paying a substantial amount. Thank you. Any other discussion or would somebody like to make a motion? Just one one comment um on the conditions.

Uh there was one condition I had a question on or wanted to make a suggestion on. Uh uh condition number 11 which is the homeowners association will be formed and responsible for landscaping irrigation maintenance of common rights of way frontages along midway meuire uh maintenance includes snow rem removal of snow from sidewalks paths and trails. Um, I I would love to add in there in in that condition the same wording that we used uh at our last meeting that the homeowners association shall have a how do we phrase that? She'll have a um or she'll create a

reserve a means of capital reserves for maintenance, repairs, replacement of common area features or something like that.

Commissioners, on that sinking fund discussion that we had at the last public hearing, I think that was mostly related to the private streets. it was. But in this case, since we're specifically spelling out landscaping, irrigation, and common rights of way frontages, just in case there's anything additional that's common area, I'd rather just say common area, common area, common feature, something along those lines. I see where you're going, but I kind of to Chris's point that was the the private roads. I'd be comfortable leaving it where it is. In the past, we've been kind of it's not the city's responsibility. Obviously, they want to do a home HOA, but it's not our responsibility to tell them how to build the HOA and how to run it also. I don't know if Chris

totally enforce it. Yeah, exactly. And that and that's the that's the and I think 99% of all problems and funding issues with an HOA are the private roads. So

yeah, and the only comment I would have to that I I I don't mind the suggestion or or the insinuation. It's got to be proportionate to the actual impacts it's going to have. So you're going to see the impacts more when you have parkways um that fall into disrepair um or large areas of private streets. So in those cases, what usually happens is 20 years later, everyone moves away, somebody else moves in, the HOA goes defunct, then the city is left being petitioned to take on those improvements or parks or, you know, private parkways. That's usually where the most of those expenses come from. Um, I think from a policy perspective, it's a good idea to maybe look at that and see if we can do that. Um, but I don't know if I'd recommend it on this basis just because I'm not sure the nexus is there to have them create a sinking fund for uh 21 detached single family lots with fairly minimal landscaping obligations.

So, so this association isn't going to be responsible for like let's say replacing the sidewalk. Well, sidewalks are a different issue. Um, everybody's responsible um from our code for their own sidewalks to be uh frank and not many people know that the city is not responsible for sidewalks. Uh that and and that's one of the reasons why I asked because we're putting in this condition of maintenance includes removal of snow. Well, we're already responsible as individuals for cleaning the snow off our sidewalks.

So, if if we're spelling out one, why aren't we I don't know. It's just a question. No, it's it's it's a fair point. Rob, you want to comment on that? Seems to me the maint

concrete's too dang expensive. That's why I'm asking. Members of the commission, Robert Paul, city engineer. The origins of that comment related towards the maintenance of those common areas. A lot of times the houses since they have fences up against the public rights of way of the collectors and arterials. They don't have gates being put in. So it's inconvenient for them to get out there, clear the snow, mow the grass, take care of the trees, run the irrigation. So, the thought process of staff had been to put those maintenance items on the homeowners associations, but the replacement of sidewalk panels, if something happens like that, that would go back to the individual homeowners. Um, because that's not a a very it's not maintenance item, it's a replacement item.

Okay. So, that's how that's how we were looking at it. Like, if the sidewalk was specifically on their in their frontage, I could totally see that. What about the sidewalk behind them? Uh like if my property backed up to Midway, I don't use that sidewalk,

right? Who Well, this the city would contact them if there was a problem, tell them that per code, you need to get that sidewalk repaired and back into standard for people to be able to adequately utilize that, meet ADA requirements, etc. And then you know the the subdivision could have the option if they wanted they could put that in as a homeowners association responsibility but if the homeowners association fails it falls back on the adjoining property owner anyway. So we were looking at the basic everyday weekly maintenance that goes on making sure that the HOAs were taking care of it. One of the biggest things we had been seeing over the past 10 years in particular was we weren't we did not see snow removal happening in those areas. More important and the closer you got to schools or areas where elderly were living and having to walk a little bit more. Sure.

But regardless of where you're at, we need to make sure we're providing equitable access on all those public uh sidewalks and multi-use paths. Okay. Does that help? Yes, it does. Okay, that makes good sense. Yeah, I'm fine with the wording as it is. All right, there's no further discussion. So, I'd like to make a motion and please add uh number 13 that it's contingent on the annexation and zoning approval of city council next week. and the address change does that to the other

uh there there was a second uh recommended condition for the property to take access and its frontage off of Lehi Avenue I think would be staff recommendation

and to rename Wilhelm Avenue to Bobby Wilhelm second all right anybody want to give a Nobody's going to say anything.

Uh, I can I can take make an attempt here. So, I move to approve the painted rock subdivision, which is file SUBD-25-3, finding that it meets the approval criteria in Post Falls Municipal Code 17.12.060. And as outlined in our deliberation, subject to the conditions listed on the staff report uh including items 1 through 12 plus item 13 which is readressing uh so that the properties are addressed from the interior streets and access is only from the interior streets. And condition I guess it would be condition 14 being that the property is annexed into the city and zoned uh as has been recommended recommended as R2.

Is that long enough? That's good. I'll second. Pretty good. Have a motion and a second. Roll call, please. Yes. Yes. Yep. Yes. Yes. Okay, motion carries. Contingent on city council's decisions next week. Next item, administrative staff reports. I think uh Rob has something to present real quick. Sounds good.

Good evening, members of the commission. Want to make you aware that on Thursday, August the 28th, that's two weeks and two days from tonight, there'll be an open house on the transportation master plan. It will be here at city hall in the rotunda from 400 pm till 7 p.m. And at this meeting, we will be showing what the anticipated uh functionality of the roadways are looking like today and what the anticipated operations will be in the future buildout year to 2045 and what projects are being proposed to mitigate those traffic impacts from growth if it happens the way we are projecting. This is a great opportunity for you as commission members as well as the general public to come uh give us your opinions on those projects. Are they adequate? Do we need something else? Missing something? All of that public comment will be utilized to help the technical advisory committee which will be meeting in a month to go over that and make final recommendations to finish up the plan and then uh get our transportation master plan to city council. So again, on Thursday, August the 28th from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. here at city hall in the Rotunda, our open house on the transportation master plan. I hope to see you there. Thank you.

Thank you. Hey Rob. Hey Rob. Quick question. Do you ever get any feedback from ITD on their open house and they had a couple of options for future I90 through Post Falls?

So the city of Post Falls and this was now a year and a half ago. We provided a letter to ITD based upon the they had three different options that we were looking at. Uh the city had a preference towards one of the options which had a collector distributor roadway on that. ITD took that information and then they stopped their progress because they did not have additional funding to proceed forward with the portion of postfalls for the expansion of I90. Um their first priority was to widen I90 from Highway 41 into Cordel Lane. The second priority they have is the I90 US 95 interchange. Um we do know that they are anticipating from their modeling that widening and postfalls needs to happen somewhere prior to the year 2035. That's what their modeling showed. and they were going to proceed forward with additional study through the process once they get approval of funding from the state to do further study and move into the design process.

So, they haven't picked one of those three? No. And they cannot until they have money to go through the full process that's required by the Federal Highway Administration. That answer your question? Yeah. [Laughter] All right. Any anything else from staff? Nope. Commissioner comments. I know I say this every year, but can John, can you make a reminder? School starts in like three weeks. Can we get the the letter updated in the packet so we can get accurate um enrollments for the schools just for We can reach out.

Yep. And then um kind of in line with what came up again tonight, these HOAs and and John or Bob correct me if I'm wrong here. Uh question came up in city council meeting last week. So there that workshop that I think everybody got an email about in um October. It's going to talk about HOAs and development and just dive deeper into those questions that we seem to be getting more and more frequently. Is that kind of sums that up? Everybody's shaking their head. So, so kind of these questions that we seem to be getting more and more, we're going to dive a little deeper now. So, if you can come into that, I think that'll

answer some of those questions as we go forward. Anybody else have anything? All right, next item is adjournment. All in favor? I All right, ajourned.