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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning and Zoning Commission-Minutes-8/13/2001 Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - August 13, 2001 Page 1 of 8- Approved on 08/27/01 Chairman Hart called the regular meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission to order at 7:00 P.M. on August 13, 2001. Roll Call: Present: Tom Hart, Jo Ann Gasper, Luann Edwards, Earl Swift, Jeff Wall, Bryan Hill Mark Hollis Barry LeBaron, Clayton Husband, Mike Soab, and Jan Levy Absent: Staff: Invocation: Commissioner Edwards Approval of Minutes: July 23, 2001 Commissioner Gasper moved to approve the minutes as corrected. Commissioner Hill seconded the motion. The vote being: Ayes: Gasper, Edwards, Swift, Hill, Hart Noes: None Abstained: Wall 1. PUBLIC HEARING - A Special Use Permit for vehicle sales with outside display requested by Allen Roberts, Big Tex Trailers, located at 4201 Colleyville Blvd. Case Z-01-020 Clayton Husband presented the case to the Commission and reviewed the staff briefing using a power point presentation: Case Summary; Economic Development; Impact Issues; and pictures of the property and surrounding properties. He said that the applicant provided a large array of types of trailers they will sell and staff culled a usable amount for the packet. He advised the Commission that the entire package of the information is available in the Community Development. Clayton told the Commissioners that they and the City Council members have the option to install whatever conditions to the special use permit to mitigate whatever circumstances they see necessary, such as time limits; landscaping; building; parking, or whatever they find necessary. He advised the Commission that staff received a letter today from an adjacent neighbor supporting the request if a screening fence was included in the special use permit. He pointed out the location of the neighbor. Commissioner Swift said that the packet talks about the Colleyville Boulevard Corridor Committee and the standards that they are proposing, and he wondered how close they are to making their recommendation. Clayton said that they are working on a planning document that is a statement of goals, objectives, and specific things the Council should consider regarding future changes to the ordinance and it will probably be October or November before the Council will consider the item. He said that the changes decided upon by Council will need to be changed into ordinance format to be codified and he would anticipate it would be around Christmas or after the first of the year before the amendments will take place. Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - August 13, 2001 Page 2 of 8- Approved on 08/27/01 Commissioner Edwards asked if they still have the first Highway 26 recommendations around anyplace. Clayton responded that there is still a book with that report on file. Chairman Hart said along that entire side of the street, in that location, there is a car sales lot to the south, a Jiffy Lube type business, a car wash, and auto repair. He said that this creates a theme of automobile type uses in the area that falls under the CC3 zoning district. Mr. Husband responded that he believed when the community commercial district was split into several categories the CC3 area was placed on that area because of those kind of uses that were already in place and the CC3 district would accommodate those businesses. Chairman Hart opened the public hearing. Those present were Allen Roberts, applicant. He said that when they were looking for a location, this lot was attractive because of the surrounding uses and in most areas they currently have businesses, they are in similar locations. He said that they look for locations that are not in a restaurant row. He said that he is willing to do whatever they can to work it out so they can use the site for their business. Chairman Hart asked Mr. Roberts if the business will be a retail or a wholesale operation. He responded that it will be retail. The chairman asked the applicant if the trailers that they sell are top of the line or ones they make themselves. Mr. Roberts said that the company he works for, Big Tex, manufactures the trailers in Odessa, Texas and they also have a manufacturing facility in Mount Pleasant, Texas. He said that he has been in the business for twenty years and changed companies to get with a company, Big Tex, that makes changes each year to make the product better. He said that the owner of Big Tex Trailers received an award of Entrepreneur of the Year and is a member of the National Trailer Manufacturers Association and is involved in everything to try to make the product better and follow the laws and make sure everyone is informed. Chairman Hart asked Mr. Roberts if there were different scales of trailers and he responded that Big Tex is the highest in the industry. Chairman Hart said that would indicate that Big Tex Trailers is upscale retail. He said that this is a retail business and has an upscale product. He said that nobody has been able to define to him what upscale retail is. Commissioner Hill asked the applicant if there are other franchise locations. Mr. Roberts said that they have eight company owned stores and approximately 250 dealers nationwide. Commissioner Hill asked if the storage area would be located in the long area at the back or would there be some out front as well. Mr. Roberts said that they will store the product behind the fence in rows according to size. He said that at their Fort Worth location they do pull some trailers out during the day for display and they make sure that the trailers are no in the right-of-way. He said that they do not leave the display out overnight for security reasons. Commissioner Edwards asked Mr. Roberts if he would be operating both the Fort Worth location and the Colleyville location. He responded that he is the area manager for the Metroplex and they have a store in Dallas and one in Fort Worth and are trying to open two more stores. Commissioner Edwards mentioned the letter they received from the neighbor and asked Mr. Roberts if he had a problem with increasing the fence from six feet to eight feet. He said that he didn't know exactly which fence it was they were referring to. [editorial note: The Barrettes, 120 Acuff Lane live on lots 1 B & 2B] The Commissioners discussed the location of the fence and thought that it was behind the location for Big Tex Trailers and Chairman Hart read the letter from the Barrettes. Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - August 13, 2001 Page 3 of 8- Approved on 08127101 Commissioner Wall asked Mr. Roberts if they would be buying or leasing the property. He said that they would be leasing the property. Commissioner Wall said that Big Tex Trailers would have nothing to say about privacy fencing and the owner would have to address the issue. Other Commissioners said that they could still make it a condition of the special use permit. Commissioner Swift said that the applicant could make a lease hold improvement on the property. Chairman Hart said that the sign on the property says it is for sale and that is why he thought they were purchasing it. Commissioner Edwards asked staff about the status of the landscaping along Highway 26 ordinance and if the applicant has to comply with it. Clayton Husband responded that the ordinance has not been approved by Council yet, but if they wanted to add as a condition, it could be proposed. He said that the proposal in the ordinance was a twenty foot landscaped buffer along Highway 26 and it did not have any requirements for planting. He said that the landscaping requirements come about when someone applies for a permit for a new building or expand an existing building beyond a certain point, they are required to comply with certain ordinances. Clayton said that the Commission could place conditions within the ordinance to regulate the hours and number of vehicles for display. Commissioner Edwards said that the property was so narrow, that it would limit the number of trailers that could be displayed. Clayton Husband responded that there was approximately 200' of frontage. There being no one else present wishing to speak, the public hearing was closed. Chairman Hart asked Mike Soab, economic development coordinator, what he would envision going on this property if this request was not passed since everything around it is zoned CC3 and would not likely change. Mr. Soab said that he looked at Luckman Silk with a gorgeous building and they are located next to a car wash. He said that he would like to see more high quality buildings and uses like that. Chairman Hart asked Mike Soab if he could see them locating between a Jiffy Lube and a car wash? He responded that Luckman Silk is already in that position and his opinion, as far as economic development, is to try and develop all of Highway 26 and get away from automotive uses. Commissioner Edwards asked if it was realistic to expect that at this point in time. She said that there are a lot of open spaces and there will be plenty of time for this to redevelop in the future because at least there are some buildings on it and could be used and not left vacant. She said that she can't really see anyone coming in and spending a whole lot of money on it. Mr. Soab said that the buildings on the property are obsolete and he looks at the vacant land as an opportunity for someone to come along and build something nicer. Commissioner Gasper asked Mike Soab what is going on with the Payless Cashways. She said that she understands that it has been sold to a developer. Mike Soab said that he has a phone mail message from the broker/developer who has a contract on the site and he is considering his options. Mr. Soab said that the broker is contacting retailers for the site and has two options: 1) to use the building in its entirety, with renovations; and 2) to redevelop it as a small strip like Colleyville Plaza where Ruby's is located. Commissioner Gasper said that there is the vacant service station across from Payless. She said that if one starts at the city limits at that end of town, there is the vacant property that Wal Mart was interested in, the empty Payless Cashways building, and the empty service station and there are a lot of opportunities for improved development. Mr. Soab said that he would agree and there are Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - August 13, 2001 Page 4 of 8- Approved on 08127101 a lot of opportunities to upgrade and it's a question to the Commission as to where do they start and do they want to upgrade this property or continue on with the uses that are currently there. Commissioner Gasper asked Mike Soab how long the vacant businesses had been in business. He said that Payless had been in business for twenty years, the car wash has changed hands a number of times, this location has been a boat dealer then became another used car place and this would be a third automotive use. Commissioner Edwards said that her bottom line would be that they could hang onto the property and let it wait until somebody came along to build a really nice building on it, but she is trying to be more realistic as to what they will actually get on the property. She said that Big Tex will be a sure thing and when the owner can sell it for more money, he will end the lease and move on to do something better on it. She said that for the time being, she thinks that this is a pretty good deal. Commissioner Swift asked the applicant how long of a lease is he planning to sign. Mr. Roberts told the Commission that it is a three year lease with a three year additional option. Commissioner Hill commented that once they do a SUP it locks in the particular use into perpetuity if that is the desire for the Commission. Commissioner Gasper said that the sup stays with the land. Commissioner Edwards said that the land could become worth enough for someone to come in a do something retail related. Clayton Husband said that if they granted a SUP it would be specifically for this use, but the property itself would be zoned CC- 3 so it would not preclude anything that is allowed in that district from locating there in the future. Barry LeBaron told the Commission that staff tried to weigh the advantages and disadvantages for this use. He said that it is not the high end use they would like to see on Colleyville Blvd., but one of the advantages is they get a vacant lot taken care of. He said that there are automotive uses on both sides and it is the only place in the city zoned CC3 and it looked like the strip is intended to be used for automobile related uses. He said that they looked at what could be done to give some sort of screening so that they don't just have a large storage lot. He said that the applicant has submitted a picture that shows the fence location and the building location. He said the Commission could consider requiring a landscape screening along the fence and maybe 30 inches in height of evergreen shrubs would accomplish screening the flatbed trailers and the visual effect. He said that allowing the applicant to display one or two trailers could be added as a condition to the sup. They discussed the screening for the adjacent neighbors. Commissioner Edwards asked the applicant what a reasonable number of trailers are for display out front in the daytime. The applicant said that it changes on a daily basis because he doesn't want the display to become boring. He said that in his Fort Worth location he would display four or five at a time, one day he may have one twenty foot bright yellow trailer on display and then the next day just a couple of small single axle trailers. She asked if there was room for four or five and he said there is easily room for four to six. Chairman Hart told the applicant that they have a dilemma with Colleyville needing the tax revenue, but the same time they have a theme of trying to bring in upscale retail. Commissioner Edwards said that they have established that this area is automobile row. Chairman Hart said that it is difficult to define what upscale retail is and he told the applicant Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - August 13,2001 Page 5 of 8- Approved on 08127101 he thinks he did it for him. He asked the applicant if he could see some photinias planted along the fence and would the landlord have a problem putting in an eight foot privacy fence for the neighbors. Commissioner Gasper said that she has a problem and has to determine what is the highest and best use and do they take what they can get today rather than what they might get tomorrow. She said that she is kind of torn because she can see the area developing into much more than what is there now. Commissioner Edwards said that there are so many other places for someone who is looking to establish an upscale retail business and this is not the only one by any means. Commissioner Gasper said that she is not saying it is the only one, but the more higher and best use development they can have the better. She said that she is thinking that when they see Highway 26 finished, the more activity they will see at this end of town. Commissioner Swift said that perhaps it is a question of the practicality and the timing of this thing. He said that given all the property that is vacant in the area the most onerous is probably the . vacant gas station that is closed at Cheek Sparger. He said that he believes that it will stay vacant for some time. Commissioner Swift asked the applicant what the selling price of the property is. He responded that he did not know that as the negotiations were done by the owner of the company. Commissioner Wall moved to recommend approval of the special use permit with the following conditions: 1) meet with the requirements for the privacy fence along the back of the property specified in the letter as item #1 from Raymond Barrett; 2) there be an allowance for display of four to six trailers during daytime normal business hours with the agreement that the trailers will be pulled in at night; and 3) the fence along the front of the property has a shrubbery line of not less than three feet in height along the front of the fence line to in part hide the trailers behind the fence and soften the line of vision. Commissioner Wall told the Commissioners if they look at the zoning exhibit in the package, it would be the "x'd" line that goes from the one story building 200' across the front of the property. Commissioner Edwards seconded the motion. Commissioner Gasper said that they have not talked about having a twenty foot landscape buffer as they discussed earlier in the Highway 26 discussions. She said that they have been pushing for that along the corridor and she noticed in the motion that Commissioner Wall did not mention having it in compliance. He asked staff what the current requirement for landscaping buffers are in the CC3 zoning district. Clayton Husband said that it does not specify a landscape buffer specifically, but there are trees and shrubs required to be planted along the front if the regulations are triggered by issuance of building permits, but not a specified minimum width. Commissioner Gasper said that she was under the impression that the Highway 26 Committee was recommending that the city has a twenty foot landscaped buffer. Clayton Husband said that the City Council is considering their recommendations. Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - August 13, 2001 Page 6 of 8- Approved on 08127101 Commissioner Wall said that he is open to friendly amendments. Commissioner Edwards said that she is also. Mr. Husband said that there is more than twenty feet between the property line and the street. Chairman Hart asked if that would do anything to his parking of the trailers out front. It was decided that it probably would not have an impact on it. Commissioner Edwards said that if this item goes before City Council they should have the twenty foot buffering that they are assuming they will get approved with the Highway 26 recommendation so that they end up in the long term with a consistent look. Commissioner Swift said they should make a fourth condition to the motion to go back and retrofit the 20' in case the City Council approves the Highway 26 recommendations. Chairman Hart said that the twenty foot area does not need to be landscaped, just be an open grassed area. He said they could landscape it if they want, but he is not really sure what the Committee is going to bring to the Council. Commissioner Hill said that they don't have the benefit of knowing what the recommendations will be, but they don't want this property to be inconsistent with the recommendations. He said that Commissioner Swift made a good point that it could be retrofitted to agree with any future recommendations of the Highway 26 Committee. Commissioner Gasper said that they would need to have this special use permit require a 20' landscape buffer. She said that when she thinks of landscaping she thinks of trees and shrubs or something other than a green open belt. Commissioner Edwards said that they are requiring trees or shrubs in front of the fence and he does want to display his product, so it can't be any other landscaping with height or it will hide the product. Commissioner Gasper said that if she could have her way, she would want to see a fully landscaped open space and fully hide the product because it is not going to be an attractive addition to Highway 26. Commissioner Edwards said if they hide the product, they can't sell it. Barry LeBaron told the Commission that currently the recommendation of the Highway 26 Committee is a 20' landscape setback and they haven't specified what improvements would be within it. He said just to start with, you can't have gravel or dirt and you would have to have at the least grass. Commissioner Edwards asked Mr. LeBaron if somebody else comes on this property and wants to sell something else other than trailers or use it for some other use, do the specifications on the SUP still have to be met? Mr. LeBaron said that this special use permit would only be for this particular use and if any other use that is allowed by right, they would only have to comply with whatever landscape regulations are in the zoning ordinance. Commissioner Edwards said that if someone were to make changes to the property and require building permits, they would have to comply with site plan regulations. Chairman Hart said that the only other thing that he would like to see in the recommendation is to make a distinction between a trailer home and a trailer that would be pulled behind a car. The Commission said that the term utility trailer would be better. Clayton Husband said that there is a definition in the Land Development Code for travel trailers which would be anything that generally falls under "place of a temporary dwelling" that would be towed behind a vehicle. He said that there is not a definition for "utility trailer", but there is one for "travel trailer" and if they would prohibit travel trailers from being stored on site, that would cover their intent. Chairman Hart said that he would want to see the restriction of mobile home trailers, travel trailers, and dwelling type trailers are not allowed. Commissioner Wall said that the motion is now to approve with five (5) specifications: Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - August 13, 2001 Page 7 of 8- Approved on 08127101 1) meet with the requirements for the privacy fence along the back of the property specified in the letter as item #1 from Raymond Barrett; 2) the fence along the front of the property has an evergreen shrubbery line of not less than three feet in height along the front of the fence line to in part hide the trailers behind the fence and soften the line of vision. 3) there will be a twenty foot (20') landscape buffer along the front of the property; 4) there be an allowance for display of four to six trailers during daytime normal business hours with the agreement that the trailers will be pulled in at night; and 5) there will be a prohibition against travel trailers/mobile homes sales and or storage on the site. Commissioner Edwards seconded the changes to the original motion. The vote being: Ayes: Edwards, Swift, Wall, Hart Noes: Gasper, Hill 2. PUBLIC HEARING - Consideration of amendments to Chapter 9 of the Land Development Code relating to Perimeter Street Improvement Requirements. Case Z-01-022 Barry LeBaron presented the case to the Commission. He said that staff is asking for the Commissioners to discuss the amendments tonight and table the case. He said this would allow them an opportunity to make recommendations at the next meeting. Chairman Hart opened the public hearing. There being no one present wishing to speak, the public hearing was closed. The Commission and staff discussed the merits of establishing some changes to the current requirements; the current policy; and the current use of escrowed funds. After discussion, Commissioner Gasper moved to table the item. Commissioner Wall seconded the motion. The vote being: Ayes: Gasper, Edwards, Swift, Wall, Hill, Hart Noes: None 3. Citizens' comments regarding items not on the agenda: There were none. 4. Staff comments, reports and discussion items: There were none. 5. Commissioners' comments and reports: The Commissioners requested that staff give the commendation letter for the Community Development department to City Council now that they signed it. Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - August 13, 2001 Page 8 of 8- Approved on 08127101 ADJOURNMENT: The Commission moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:45 p. m. The motion was seconded and passed by acclamation. Levy Planning & Zoni Approved on: August 27,2001 NOTE: As a matter of public record, an audio recording of the above Planning and Zoning Commission meeting is available upon request.