Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Will you call roll first? Yes. All right. Roll call. Alexander here. Porter here. Reese here. Barrett. Johnson. Sick. Ace here. Earl here. All right. We have a quum. Okay. First item on the agenda is consideration of approval of the minutes from February 4th, 2026 regular meeting. Make a motion to approve. I have a motion to approve. Is there a second to that motion? Second. I give a few minutes for few seconds for discussion. Is there any discussion or amendments that need to be made? Looks good to me. All right. We have a motion and a second. Seeing none.

Yeah. All those in favor say I. Oh, you got to call the role, don't you? Alexander I. Porter. I. Reese. I. Hayes. I. Burl. I motion passes. Our second item on the agenda is a public hearing in consideration of a request to reszone the property addressed as 4411 North Idelot Street from R1 Lowdensity Residential to C1 Local Commercial. Case number RZ0126. Applicant is DAO and Cynthia W of Landes Engineering.

All right. Thank you. Um, as stated, this is a request to reszone the property located at 4411 North Idolot Street from R1 Low Density Residential to C1, which is local commercial. Um, on page eight of your packet, there's a zoning map. Um this property is um right next to the intersection of 45th and Kikapoo Street um right behind um that commercial shopping center um on the southwest corner um which is referred to as Lifestyle Plaza. Um so with the with the planning and land acquisition phase of the um widening of 45th street um the city will have to take away some parking spots from Lifestyle Plaza. So, the city is in the process of purchasing this subject property um so that they can put additional parking there to compensate for what they're going to have to take away when they widen 45th Street. Um

and they're going to put in a buffer for Yes. when they when they do that construction, they'll be required to um follow the landscaping and screening standards. Um, let's see. Um, so to the west and to the south of this property is more R1 zoning. Um, that is an established residential district. Um, and of course to the east is um C2 zoning. That's that commercial corridor along Kikapoo Street. Um, are there any questions for staff?

Any questions? So, you said you're in the process of purchasing the property. Yeah, I believe the city has purchased the property, but I don't think all of the systems have been like updated with the new ownership information yet. Um, but that's kind of where it is. Okay. And do we know what the net change in parking is going to be?

I do not have those numbers. No. Okay, we ready to open a hearing? Any other questions? Have they has the owner of the shopping plaza um explored any kind of arrangements with neighboring commercial uh uh property owners for like a parking agreement?

Not to my knowledge. Um, from what I understand, the existing shops in Lifestyle Plaza, um, they essentially share parking in the rest of that area, um, in that southwest corner. Um, and this was the solution that um that staff came up with when they were trying to kind of finalize those plans on um on this stage of the widening of 45th street planning. pretty much when they widened the street uh they came into agreement with the city that they'll surrender certain piece of land and the city will compensate them with a parking spot that they lost.

So they've come up with with an agreement before a resoning has gone through to to trade land. They no they agreed to surrender the land and we still need to go to the process. Uh but that's why we're doing what we're doing. They understand that anyway the street needs to be widened.

I understand why they're wanting to do what they're wanting to do. Um I just feel like um first of all neighbors in that in that subdivision are already um being crushed a little bit by the by the uh widening of 45th Street. Um I I I'm open to being persuaded uh but only by data and facts. I really would like to know that we've exhausted other um opportunities before asking neighbors to um shrink their pool of of R1 or or higher density uh residential in the in the future plan to uh to going commercial.

Yeah, I think it's a slippery slope. Not a question, but there we are. And to my knowledge, um, the lot is already empty. There is no structure in the lot. I understand. Yeah. Any further questions or comments for staff? Okay. Um, we will now open a public hearing, take uh comments from any anybody in the audience who would like to do so. If you wish to speak, uh, you'll have is it two or three minutes? Three.

Three minutes. uh to speak, please sign in at the paper uh to the right of the dis there on the ledge before you begin. Thank you.

M if you don't mind after you sign it, if you could please tell us who you are. My name is Sharon Floyd. Okay. Thank you. Okay, go ahead. Thank you.

Thank you.

My mother and father purchased their home in 1964 on a lot down the street from this property and she still has that home. Um I think we're in a agreement that the property is located in Bison edition. Uh I believe that land is block one, lot one and it's verified uh in court documents um in the transfer of that property that I got from the court records. Um my concern is that there's a covenant for bison edition. And the covenant was done many years ago, but it's still in effect. And in that covenant, it says all lots within the subdivision shall be mined and designated as residential building lots. It also says no fence or wall shall be installed on the front portion of any lot in this subdivision between the front lot line and the front setpack building line. In section 11, it says they're to run with the land and shall be binding on all parties and all persons claiming under them so forth. So I don't understand how if it runs with the land that we can now say the covenant doesn't apply anymore. Yes, it's new owners. Yes, you're changing the zoning or deciding whether or not to change the zoning, but changing the zoning doesn't do away with the covenants. whichever is more restrictive applies. In this case, the covenant's more restrictive that it must be personal residence. So, um, what I'm requesting is if that doesn't apply, if the covenant doesn't apply anymore, show me provide the authority so I can understand how we can just do away with for one piece of land, one block, one lot, and say it doesn't

apply anymore. were going to put a parking lot there. Those are people's homes that they had purchased most of them. Some, but most have purchased and they've already lost Pikapoo used to be houses and now they've got businesses there. 45th, they're now going to add businesses. So, it doesn't seem like that if they have a covenant, they should be giving up now to a parking lot on the corner. So, I'm asking for basically verification, clarification of how you can even do it with a covenant and why you would do it. Um, if you do it once on this corner, what's to say the next house is not bought and changed to a parking lot.

Okay. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. any

the way it was explained to me um by our head of engineering and who got it from the city attorney was that when um they've purchased this lot and when it's through the process of resoning provided that it's approved um they're planning on combining this lot with the lifestyle plaza to make them on one deed so to make them one parcel And legally when it is combined with the lifestyle plaza parcel, it is no longer considered part of bison edition is how it was explained to me.

Okay. All right. Any others wishing to speak for or against that is Steve Land. Oh, if you if you want to go ahead and sign in, please do like comment. Yeah, go ahead. Uh Steve Landies, Landy's engineer. Yeah, go ahead and sign in for us, please.

No problem. Uh that was she brought that up. We've already done the lot consolidation on that lot right there. Another thing that happened on that lot was when the city was talking about widing 45th street. Sorry I was a little late on that. The city took a good majority of that lot out. Two or three of the items that we are doing on that right there. Well of course we're doing we're trying to align the driveways. I don't know if you all might have remembered in the past there was a big rack crowd or two right there and because that driveway coming out of Lifestyles Plaza is awfully close to that intersection. So we're pulling that driveway back and aligning it with the driveway that comes across as well with uh oh the CVS across the way and then as well when the city took that they took about 25 ft of that lot on the corner lot in the first place. So therefore it's only about half the lot that it was in the first place. Really part of it is also comes in to add that additional parking. One of the items that is being done no matter what is the fences on that perimeter especially that adjacent property owner. We are putting a higher optic fence. All lighting is basically going to be low profile pushed again so it does not that's the primary goal that of ours was to make sure it pushes away from you know the the adjacent residence so we actually could try to you know redirect everything so it has the least amount of impact on any kind of a residential property. uh talked to the neighbor to the south and with the fence that we're talking about. I think he was pretty happy from the discussions I had with him about what we were wanting to do because that was the primary one that would be affecting. Um other than that, we've got the plans here. Somebody would like to see them, but uh hopefully, you know, we we look favorably upon that. And we're going to re The other thing is the city's putting in a third lane right through there to have access into Kikapoo and that's

where the most majority of that lot goes. But we are doing like she said a lot consolidation with the other one. Uh because it's not the whole lot's not even whole anymore. It's not a buildable property at that point because of the the land the city's taking. Thank you. I have a question Mr. Landings. Yes, sir. U what is the the net increase in parking spaces that's going to actually zero.

Okay. Uh what happened was you know when they take they took a bunch of lifestyle plaza. So they took all that outer lane and around really they kind of carved out a niche around the sign that is existing. So and then the outer lane on Kikapoo basically had to hit a dead end. So we had to pull some parking places out of that to bring it in. We also had some drains for some detention and that trash dumpster location was taken out. So we tried to move that to where it's out of the way of everybody and having the least amount of impact. But when the city took all of that to widen that road that all that parking on the east side other than up against the directly against the buildings is gone. So I think we lost 12 and I think we're replacing it with just about 12 parking places. Okay.

Thank you. Ma'am, did you want to speak? No. No. The lady behind you. I noticed you'd raised your hand before. You don't have to, but I noticed you'd raised your hand. Oh, yeah. Um, can you please sign in for us? Yeah. Thank you.

My concern was tell us who you are, please. City Carlo and the house that's right next to the parking lot that's going to be there. My only concern is that fence because making sure it's strong enough in case somebody um hits the gas pedals or the brake. That's my concern is making sure the security of a a good water fence. Okay. So, thank you. Thank you. Is that your only concern? Yes. Okay. Because we do have our uh security cameras,

so we we have that covered. Okay. Anybody else like to speak for or against? Ask a question.

Okay. I heard it. Finish up there really quickly and then I'll have you sign in and come after her. Thank you. Oh my god. Hi.

Um, I think you were explaining how they uh Ma'am, if you go and tell us who you are, please. Oh, I'm sorry. My name's Karen Heftlin. My mother owns a house down that street that she purchased when I was five. So, our families live there a long, long time.

Thank you, Miss Heftlin. Um, you talked about a lot being added to the one behind it on Kikapoo. Would there be anything stopping that from happening further down that street? Um, say my mother's is close to Schwzky still backs up to Schlotzky's. If somebody bought the lot next to hers, could they just consolidate it and have the house of my 98y old mother and a RV or a whatever there and then a 60-year-old widow on the other side of that? If they owned both lots, it's within their rights to combine them. But if they wanted to put something there that wasn't a residence, they would have to come back and get that reszoned.

Okay. But it's cons you, one of you used the term slippery slope. That's what concerns me. But um

when I mentioned slippery slope, I was thinking along 45th, but I mean the the whole in my view, the whole subdivision is is bearing the impact of the of the um widening of 45th. Exactly. That's already I I live in Shaune still and I use 45th frequently. I'm already concerned about the effect it's going to have and I'm concerned about the mainly elderly people who live down that street. If is it possible that every other lot could become commercial over the next few years? If you're using that criteria that you can just make it commercial if somebody buys it, that's conceivable, right? Everybody can purchase a piece of land and if they choose to resone, they need to come before this commission. They need to follow the process. We cannot stop. People view that. Doesn't mean it's automatically approved. But this is every part is right and this is how the city code is written

and they've already started working on it down on that corner. So basically it's a workar around the covenant. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you ma'am. I did want to remind everybody um in attendance and I think this is something important for our citizens to know is that this is just a stopping point. Uh we make a recommendation to the city council. will also be heard there in um March 16th.

March 16th and um correct me if I'm wrong, but part of part of reasonzoning uh one of the principles that we stand with is is it is it is it beneficial to reszone in a particular area? This is part of where our conversations come in. And so it's a uh just because one thing happens doesn't mean another thing would happen. And so it's a there there's not a there's not a consequence off one or the other. So um anybody else like to speak for or against?

Um I just want to add to what you say multi and that's why it isn't the staff report. This is the guiding principle. Uh the proposed zoning district is it going to benefit public health safety and community welfare? This is what we're considering and everybody has the right to apply for resoning and again this commission is the recommending body. The decision making body is the city commission. Anybody else? Thank you. Anybody else wish to speak for or against? Thank you to those who who did speak. Um we'll now close the hearing and seeing that we've already had some discussion on this before I take a motion. I would like to have some limited discussion about um if anybody still has anything they would like to say before we entertain a motion

before a motion. I I think that's proper.

Okay. Um of course I have more to say. Um I I'm concerned that this really does meet the um definition of reszoning when um the the city is already uh committed to re um expanding the street. That this is a real public necessity. um where a private entity is losing parking spaces that the city would go to such efforts to um reimburse them at the cost um to to uh residential neighbors. Um so I I'm not in favor of it. I would I wouldn't be opposed to um being in favor of a deferment for better information maybe um going beyond what um the city requires for notification uh to neighbors so that they have um real opportunity to to weigh in. Uh the the sign hasn't stayed up. Um, a newspaper classified ad isn't read by anyone. Um, it's just going through the motions.

Anybody else want to comment before? Well, no, I just I think there's times whenever we we could go through several different motions before we get to something. And I would rather we work some of that out before we Sure. before we do that. Okay. Now, will this happen even if it's not reszone, they'll widen 45th anyway, right? Yes. Yes. So, so then the business owners lose out, right? They'll just lose 12 parking places and then this lot will become maintenance of the city. Yes. Actually, the property owned at a junction against the city on building 45th Street without them buying the entire shopping.

So, we don't want to get into suppositions here. We need to talk about what's what's in the currently we know at at planning. Uh, sorry, Mr. Landies. Yeah. Um, so are we at the point where we want to entertain a motion at this point?

I want to say too, I think I think there that is a good idea to align those drives because I get the point of that being so close to the intersection of 45th and Kikaboo. I obviously that would cause traffic problems and accidents there. So I think pushing that back does make sense to me. Um, I know going into that neighborhood is, you know, a little dicey, but you know, like Steve said too, everything along 45th there, all of those houses are being affected by the widening and most of them are going away. So, I mean, what's what's going to happen on down the line with 45th on that side anyway? You know, I don't know what the plan there will be, but

Right. Well, an alternative could be that they instead of taking everything from the south side of 45th, they chop into the vacant space on the north side of 45th. Yeah. I just think we're way beyond that point. Oh, well, I do too. But but yeah, but we are. Yeah, we could have definitely gone that route, but it that would have seemed like it would make more sense considering there's a lot more space over there and less customers um that direction, but yeah, we didn't go that route. I'm just not in favor of the city taking private property like that and um calling it it necessity of the public use. I agree.

Anybody else? Okay, I'll go and entertain a motion.

Make a motion. As a quick reminder, um your options for making a motion. Obviously, you can um move to recommend approval, recommend denial, um recommend approval with condition, or you can defer it for additional discussion. Um I if it's if we pass a motion to defer it, does it still heard at the city commission meeting on the 16th? Um or does it not exist until it has to be moved from city commission date? Yeah, we would we would hear in the next planning commission meeting. Yeah, it will be before the next one.

I would make a motion that we defer it for more information and um discussion. Okay, there's a motion on the floor uh to defer um consideration of of the u um the the the request to reszone the property. Um with additional request for more information to be provided uh the mayor second to that. I'll second it. Okay, have a motion and a second. Could you please call the RO? All right, Alexander. Hi, Porter.

I Reese. I Hayes. I Burl. I All right. Motion passes. Item is deferred to the next regular meeting. Okay. And can before we move past this, can I ask for one thing? Um um what types of information, just give a few minutes to this. What types of information are we asking for? That's what I was wondering. Can we clarify? Um I would start with I mean I I feel like engineers are pretty smart, resourceful people that we find um alternatives. Can we can we request that at this point to see if there's an option to go north?

No, I don't think that's going to I I think you're too far from that. Yeah, the road just already Yeah, the design for that is already the alignment is it would affect alignment all the way down 45th Street if they had to move that. Yeah, I I would I just said that because I'm kind of critical. Do Can we Okay, sorry. No. Can we recommend alternatives or are we just wanting to know? I don't know what the alternatives are. I mean, I'm I'm here as a citizen volunteer. I'm not a subject matter expert. So request it from the engineer is what you're saying like see I like that reasonable explanation why it's decided that way is what you mean. Yeah I think

a reasonable explanation explanation beyond just moving that entrance. Um I don't think that's in itself palatable to to the neighbors and I think they deserve um better reason or a better solution. And I'm assuming too that part of the redesign is to make up for the parking spaces that are lost on that outer that northern edge of the lot there. Is that correct?

That is less of my concern just because I don't think that taking parking spaces away from a private owner is enough to to make such drastic changes for the public good. Right. So, um, so our and our we're not interested in whether or not other parking was considered other places to move parking to Wisconsin in this process. Right. Right. I didn't have enough going into this to know what to ask.

Know what to ask. So, what we really need is some of the information about uh the considerations that the city made when they were coming into agreement with property owners about what the alternatives would be without moving 45th what the what the what the what the alternatives would have been to meet the needs for the public good

and and re because I'm assum can I ask a question on this? I'm assuming there's an imminent domain that occurred here and that's the reason the frontage was taken, right? Pre pretty much eminent domain is the last step if no other negotiation works. If it's for the public use, uh the governmental entity has has the legal right to apply eminent domain. But eminent domain doesn't mean they take it away and there's no compensation. Right. Yeah. But that's the process here though that this is the last step if nothing else works,

right? So I guess part of the part of what the clarification that would be needed by the commission would be um what were the considerations made in that in in providing alternative uh alternative needs back to the property that was being taken. I'm I'm assuming that's part of this plus the realignment for the public good of the the drive because of a of a turn lane being put in is what my understanding is. Is that what your understanding is? Now I am, but I didn't have that before. And I and I feel like neighbors and we and the city commission would benefit from seeing uh

3D renderings of of what their neighborhood's going to look like at that point. Yeah. And I have a plan proposal right there. Completed. Yeah. The plan. In fact, it's supposed to be going out to bid like next week. Well, that would be even before their meeting. So, yeah. Well, I mean, the contacted contractors. Sir, may I ask a question? Do I need to have another turn?

Well, right now public hearing is closed. So, and we've already made a vote. So, what we're doing right now is just trying to clarify as a commission what we what we need because we we have postponed this. The hearing is closed. If you have questions after the meeting, right answer.

Yeah, more. Yeah, you can always talk to the to the city planners, the commission that this particular hearing is closed though on this, so we we can't hear any more on it. Um, so I think another clarification though would be what what was the process and and and what this compensation would be? What what were other considerations u you know in terms of creating more parking or creating public safety or is that the only thing that was considered? Um yeah, also I think public safety play a big roles here because I think this is one of the reasons the street is wide and big is to avoid congestion. You know the city is growing and more cars on the streets. 4050 is a major uh city corridor. Um so and I'm just speaking general

right limiting the parking spots on the plaza. Of course, people cannot park on the street, but they'll start parking in the neighborhood streets, and we try to avoid that. So, beta, can you do us a favor after this? Would it be possible for us to engage with you all uh to provide what information we think we would like to see? Yeah. Um and then you guys can put that together before the next meeting for us to reconsider. And that would give us time to do that outside of this venue. Yes, absolutely. Okay. Does that work for you, Steve? Thank you. Yes.

Yeah. Okay. And are you guys satisfied with that? Okay. Okay. Let's move on then to the next if I can find my my way here. Okay. Our next item on the agenda is a public hearing and consideration of a request to reszone the property addressed as 541 West Popular Street and and 1120 North Kickoo Street from R1 low density residential to MU mixed juice. Case number RZ02-25. Agenda item number three applicants are Pokes Property LLC care Joseph Marshall.

All right. Thank you for that introduction. Um I apologize. There was a typo on that. Case number should be RZ02-26 not 25. But um as stated um this is a request to reszone um the subject property from R1 lowdensity residential to MU which stands for mixed use. Um this property is located on the corner of Poplar Street and North Kick Street. Um, if you're not familiar, it's just south of Kikapoo spur. Um, so it's is um it's along again that Kapoo commercial corridor. It's just a few blocks north of I believe it's Jefferson Elementary School. Um, that's kind of the area there. Um, so the the property has two addresses as a remnant from when it was two separate properties. Um it was combined in I believe 2022 um when it was purchased by bought through purchased by a singular person. Um MU as a zoning district um is not currently on the city's map. Um it's a a zoning district that's exists in the city code. Um but MU is not a zoning that is currently applied to any properties in the city. Um but the intent of the mixeduse zoning district is to allow for as the name implies mixed uses. Um which um mixed uses meaning um multiple stories um of say commercial on the bottom and residences on the top. Um it's intended for that um that gray area between highdensity residential areas and um commercial areas. Um

the the property has been used for mixed uses previously. Um so this resoning is in part um an effort to bring the property into compliance with current code by applying a proper zoning district to it. Um let's see. The comprehensive plan encourages a medium density residential uh use in this area. Um however, if you see on page 12 of your packet, um there is R1 zoning directly to the west um with C2 to the east. Um so having a mixeduse type zoning district um or a higher intensity residential zoning district would create a buffer between that lowdensity residential area and that commercial corridor. Um let's see. Are there any questions for staff?

Any questions? Yes. I'm sorry. Um There's a residence on the back portion of of this property right to the west. Would this zoning allow them to change or them or future owner to change that use to more commercial or

pretty much the mixed use allows partially commercial, partially residential. That's why uh this use was included in the updated code because it's a nice transition between the commercial side of uh Kikapoo and residential areas in the back. Yeah, I understand

commercial is there's a lot there's a very broad amount of uses allowed for commercial districts. Um so mixed use is meant to accommodate the highest intensity residential and kind of the lowest intensity commercial. um to kind of bridge that gap between the two types of uses, residential and commercial. Um so it's not it's not outright prohibited for them to have some sort of business in that building, but it would have to comply with whatever commercial uses are allowed in that zoning district, right? But at that point, it wouldn't really be mixed use anymore. It would just be one use,

right? Mixed use as similar to any other zoning district. There's basically a laundry list of uses that are allowed there. Okay. Um and mixed use has a smaller list of uses than some of the other districts. Um but it allows for more than just mixed use even though it's called mixed use. Does that make sense? Yeah. I and I understand it in more urban areas, but this is a little different and that um that it has the residential behind it or to the west of it. Any other questions for staff?

My understanding too that they're trying to change the code to be in compliance because currently it being residential, that's obviously not residential property. I know I believe there's an apartment in that building maybe living quarters. Yeah, from what I understand um part of the building is a residence and part of it is a So in order to keep that you would have to do the mixed use to do the apartment and then the open space below for a commercial. Exactly. Okay. I think I mean you've seen you probably seen it too. So

I assume that's what they're doing. But originally the the owner didn't own both of those, right? It's because they own both of these now. Yeah. So they the person who owns it now um I believe I'm not sure if it's the same person who owned it in 2022, but whoever owned it in 2022 combined those two lots together. Okay. Um and that's why it has two addresses. Um but they're one property. They're one parcel now. Okay. Thank you. Let's go ahead and move on and open our hearing. We'll now open a public hearing on this case. Um, you said it was 25, right? Or 26.6.

26. Okay. On 26, let me actually say what case it is. Case RZ226. Is that right? Yeah, it's on the front there. Uh, if you'd like to speak for guests, please come forward and sign in and then tell us who you are and introduce yourself and you'll My name is Joseph Marshall. Okay. I am the uh new property owner of this parcel. Okay. I'm out of sign. You want me just put my info information on the back? Okay. You can you can sign.

Okay. Okay, thank you. So, the previous owner had bought both parcels from someone and then combined it. What this building basically is is when you look at it, it's right there by the Domino gas station there. Um, when you look at it, it's commercial building. It's traditional block construction. It has a two-bedroom apartment above one of the sections. So, think of it as you got about a 5,000q ft² bottom level that's divided into two units that are both commercial use, have been previously used as commercial use. You then have an upstairs apartment that's approximately 900 ft² that's been used as a two-bedroom residential use in the past. Then you also have directly behind this property on the two lots that were also combined a property that had been used both as a residence rental and also as a commercial rental. So, it has commercial style doors on it, etc. Um, so my intent was to keep keep in the same kind of standard of what it's been used in the past, but with it being zoned R1, I can't do that. So, I'm just trying to update the use to how it's been used previously so I can move forward with renovations to just stay in continents with that use. And then directly behind it, so there's

C2 in every direction from me on the other sides. It backs up to residential property back to the west like they did mention, but on that same corridor, everything else is C2 right there. Everything else also backs up to residence on that back side. So, I'm not really changing anything there. I'm just trying to go with the original intent of the building and use it. It just wasn't it was never zoned or hasn't been zoned recently in the way it was. So, I'm just trying to make sure that my use matches my zoning because I'm just trying to keep it up to snuff with what you guys would prefer. So, that's that's all I got. Do you have any questions for me? I just would explain the questions that we ask sometimes aren't necessarily what your use is, but

Okay. But the future owner Sure. would they turn it into something that the neighbors would Right. And and I think essentially like you're still the zoning is even correct me if I'm wrong for mixed use is even more restrictive than C2. Is that correct? Yes. Yes.

Okay. So if that's the case with mine being mixed use because if if I don't get that approval for mixed use, then I'm have to be right back here requesting C2 zoning then at that point, right? Because now my hands forced. It's obviously not a residence, it's not a home. So I have to go C2 zoning. Mixed use is kind of a downstep that gives me highest and best use of that property, provides that buffer, and still gives me the flexibility to have the apartment up top be mixed use, the apartment at the back be mixed use. The bottom two 2500t units would be commercial. And so that's my my intent. And then future use, if anyone came in there, they would have that same flexibility. or if they wanted to change zoning, I don't think anyone's going to zone at R1 because it doesn't make any sense, but they very well could zone at C2 and they would still be in the same sloth of everything else that's up and down Kikapoo on that same street as all C2 zoning. So, I'm actually a step down from that. I just need a bit of flexibility for the building.

Are you going to bring back Theo's Automotive? Wasn't necessarily planned on it, but I'm just trying nostalgia. just try to get it set up and and renew that building and and turn it into something usable. Good. Thank you. Any others like to speak for or against? Okay. Seeing none, I'll go ahead and close the hearing. Um unless I hear somebody say, "I would like to discuss this," I'll entertain a motion. But if somebody wants to discuss it, we can do that before we take a motion. I'll make a motion to approve. Motion to approve. Do I hear a second? Second. Motion to approve and second. Second. Um, Alexander, hi Porter. Hi, Reese. Hi, Hayes. Hi, Burl.

Hi. All right, motion passes.

Thank you. Uh, next on a community development updates. Your chair and commissioners, uh, there's just short update that is included in your packet. This is the schedule for the Shauny Rock initiative that community development department committed to. Uh again uh this is a full year. Each month we can uh conduct this walking audits and the data that we collect will be used um to future benefit the community because um we want to encourage everybody to participate not just city staff. I encourage planning commissions to come at their convenience. Um, we want to encourage residents to participate because this is their chance to share their concerns or give an idea. So, do you have any questions for me?

Do you have this posted somewhere like easy accessible? It is when you open the shy web page, it is right there up front. Okay. And because now we're in March, it will pop up March and April. When we're in April, it will pop April and and May. So it's the current month and one after the city calendar. But if you click the city calendar, what is in your agenda is in the city calendar. Okay. Yeah. Perfect. Does your communications department create any kind of social media sharable? It is. Yes. Um our communication director Jamie Sako, she put it on a social media um city web page. Yes.

Cool. Cool. Yeah. to remind everybody that this is coming. So, I had one question about these. Um, have we ever considered having one of these that goes from say the Sonic at 45th and Harrison back down to the Homeland or on either side of that. I think that's where some of the true walkability really declines in our city is and I see people taking those roads that have to commute back and forth across our city on foot. Uh have we considered something like that?

We can take definitely that suggestion but the um main criteria that we start to use at first is walkability around school zones. Oh okay. big this is highly critical especially when kids are involved and we've seen a lot of kids are walking to their schools. We've seen a lot of kids are crossing very unsafeely busy streets and the second uh level of um importance is around parks pretty much we try to tackle areas where kids may be involved first and after we collect the information absolutely we'll continue down the road.

Thank you. I I actually didn't realize that that was part of one of the one of the the values in this was for for kids specifically. I would then ask that we we do have a a considerable uh population in our community that that doesn't have access to reliable transportation. Absolutely.

And more and more of the businesses start to the north. If if as we go through this and get through this year, begin looking at some of those other populations that we need to serve. And because this is the first year, we're just trying what is beneficial and what doesn't work. Uh this doesn't mean when the year is over, we'll stop. No, we'll continue developing the schedule for the next year and we'll move. As I mentioned, we'll take into consideration your suggestion and any other suggestion. Just shoot me an email and we'll include it in the schedule. We had requests from some of the neighborhoods. Uh can we include them in the walking audits? Absolutely. Once we exhaust all the schools and uh popular parks because we have some parks that nobody goes probably uh they're not super high priority at this point but um if somebody made a request to us we'll include them in the schedule definitely.

Thank you for that clarification. Yes. So for the visual learner help me understand what it looks like. It is everybody just like collect and like like a little bunch of quail. What what how it looks like we are having uh the address that is we all gather together and we have these clipboards with questions. Okay. And we it depends on the size of the group. We may separate into subgroups. The subgroups look lighting. The subgroup looks what is the driver's behavior. The other subgroup look the aesthetic. uh and we have different criterias based on the questions and we walk walk stop and we collect information. Okay.

And we continue walking we collect information and uh at the end uh a report for this walk audit is compiled that will join to the rest of the report. So it's very comprehensive. Amen. And the more eyes participate, the more details will be observed because I can give you an example. I've been walking to the street and I never noticed that there is a school zone, but when you approach the school, the sign is flipped. So you see it when you leave the school. So what is the point of that? But I didn't notice that somebody else. So I said, "Oh, yeah. The more eyes the better." Yeah. Absolutely.

Crowdsource it. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. See you on the 11th.

Okay. And spread the word. Of course. Spread the word. Uh we want more people to come and participate. There is no limit. And I heard some concerns. People said I cannot walk 1 hour. It depends on the route. Some walking audits are between 15 and 20 minutes. Some of them are a little bit longer. If it's cold, probably we're not going to walk 1 hour. If it's super hot again. So, we put just 1 hour, but it's not necessarily that this is written in stone. And if somebody can participate only 10 minutes, that's still okay. People come and leave as they as it convenient to them. Thank you. Thanks. Any commissioner's comments?

Um, I've just been really moved by um losing our friend Carl Pacquid this week and he was such an example of just loving his community. um speaking up, trying to correct some of the jack wagons on social media who who say wrong things or negative things. And I'm just kind of inspired to to be a better Shauny evangelist because of Carl Pacwood. Anybody else? Guess I've done um a couple of the uh the community walks. So, they are they are fun to do. I think it's good to have the community involved. Um,

define fun. They are. I mean, it's it's interesting to see what it's like cuz when you're driving, you're really not noticing your surroundings, what's around, the trash on the road, the you know, we did one on Wallace and between Kikapoo and Harrison and there's a lot of sections where there's not sidewalk.

Oh, yeah. I mean, people fly down that road and I mean, we had people that were coming right next to us while we were walking. So the concern for children having to walk home from school or to to school on that street is is very high because it is a dangerous road and it's eye opening and and I think the more people that are involved in that and um you know present for those it it'll be easier potentially to get grant money and things to help with sidewalks and safer streets even just signage you know crosswalks those things. the more awareness around things like that, you get automatic buyin from people who have experienced it. For sure. Yeah. Both of my kids went to Jefferson.

Yeah. And I didn't allow them to go down Wallace. They had we lived off Wallace on Park. They had to come back around. Yeah. And it was Yeah. But it was because of that. Yeah. For sure. When they walked home. For sure. Yeah. Any other comments? If you get a chance, go by the school, the high school, and there is there's a lot of improvements being made. And we gave we gave the new press box. It's it's it's made and run last night at soccer. Oh, I saw your picture.

Yeah. So, it's it's looking up. They're getting ready to rebuild the uh I think they've cleared out the area for the wrestling room again. and and but it's a I think the amount what the community's invested back in our schools um and with the benefit not the benefit of a tornado but the benefit of having the insurance money that comes from a tornado I think it's been wise use so yeah I asked Dax Leone twice because they had redone the baseball press box too where's the salad bar now that they now that they look that nice you know I'm expecting a taco bar or salad bar that's what you meant by Uh yeah. Yeah. But big pride in our in our in our city with what's going on in our schools.

Definitely. Any other things go on? All right. Well, we are adjourned. All right. All right. Thank you. We stand.