[1:17] All right, I'll call the meeting to order at 701. Can we have a roll call please?

[1:26] Roll red. Here.

[1:28] All right, for Andrewson. Mr. Fell. Here.

[1:34] Here. Here. Here.

[1:36] Your mat lock. Mr. Robs. Here.

[1:42] All right, so it looks like we have a quorum.

[1:44] Changes to the agenda. Are there any changes to the agenda?

[1:47] There are none. All right.

[1:49] Approval of the minutes.

[1:52] Approval of the minutes from the June 18th,

[1:56] 206 regular meeting of the Planck Mission.

[1:59] Are there any comments on the minutes from that meeting

[2:03] or ready to make a motion?

[2:05] How moved to approve the minutes?

[2:07] So we have a motion by Mr. Fell and we have a second.

[2:12] Second by Mr. Rose, any discussion on the motion?

[2:19] All right, we'll do a voice vote.

[2:20] All those in favor, say aye.

[2:22] Any opposed?

[2:25] All right.

[2:25] That passes.

[2:27] Communications.

[2:28] Do we have any communications?

[2:31] We do not.

[2:32] All right.

[2:33] No continued public hearings and no old business that brings us to our new public hearings

[2:40] for the evening.

[2:43] We'll start with plan case number two five three zero

[2:47] issue 26 a request by Silver Creek Silver Street capital for a special use permit to renovate

[2:56] multi-family apartment buildings at 1302 and 1304 Silver Street in the R5 medium high density

[3:04] multiple family residential district. Whilst that's getting set up I'll briefly go over the

[3:13] procedures for how the hearing will proceed.

[3:16] First, we have a presentation from staff explaining

[3:19] the background of the case, the standards that apply

[3:22] and staff's assessment of how the applicable standards

[3:25] have been met or not by the applicant and finally

[3:29] staff's recommendation to plan commission.

[3:31] Then we'll have a chance for the commission to ask staff

[3:34] any questions they have about the case,

[3:36] followed by an opportunity for the petitioner to address

[3:39] the commission if they want.

[3:40] After that, we'll open and up to the public input portion of the hearing, where members of the public will be able to address the commission about the case.

[3:50] And then we'll have a chance for the petitioner and staff to address the commission if they need to respond to any of those comments from the public.

[3:57] Then we'll close public input and move into discussion amongst the commission members and possibly vote.

[4:04] So I'll turn over to staff.

[4:08] Sorry to interrupt, but we are conducting both plan cases together, correct?

[4:14] That wasn't, I don't think that was, it wasn't read that way, I don't believe it was it.

[4:19] Correct.

[4:20] So, do you want to make sure that's what we're doing?

[4:22] Yes, the recording secretaries confirmed we can do both public hearing simultaneously.

[4:28] They are listed as two different cases because even though it's in the way,

[4:33] So, okay, even if it's in the same area with the same applicant,

[4:40] because they're a block away from each other,

[4:42] we did feel it was best to separate those,

[4:45] but it is one presentation.

[4:48] Okay, great.

[4:49] Yeah, I wasn't clear about that.

[4:50] So let me just read the second case into the record.

[4:53] That's playing case number 2531-SU26.

[4:57] I request by Silver Street Capital for a special use permit

[5:00] to renovate multi-family apartment building at 1401 silver street in the R5 medium high

[5:06] density multiple family residential district and so we'll be treating those as one public

[5:12] hearing or we'll be going through those in one public hearing. Okay, great. Staff.

[5:19] Thank you. This is a special permit request of the applicant. All

[5:27] right, thank you. I trust

[5:29] this one more. This is a special use permit request by the applicant John Armstrong from

[5:35] Silver Street Capital LLC to allow the renovation of three multi-family apartment buildings

[5:41] and the Southeast Urbana overlay district.

[5:45] It's in the R5 medium high density multiple family residential, so all three of these

[5:51] buildings would be permitted by right in general, in this case it's just the specific requirements

[5:56] of the overlay district that we'll talk about a little bit more.

[6:01] It was added to the zoning ordinance as section 13-8 on July 10, 2017, section 13 are kind of all of our kind of special development regulations.

[6:14] According to the staff report from when it was added as a tax amendment, it was in response to a 2015 study called silver and water area safety planning solutions, which

[6:26] Introduced criteria to evaluate multi-family residential

[6:31] developments through CPTED principles, which is crime prevention through

[6:36] environmental design. Those will primarily focus on things like lighting,

[6:42] visibility, eyes on the street, and just kind of maintaining kind of openness

[6:47] in the streetscape. For through CPTED, or through the Southeastern

[6:52] and overly district, they special use permits required for any construction of a new principle

[6:57] use multiple family residential structure, increasing the building footprint or the

[7:03] floor area ratio of an existing multiple family residential structure by more than 15 percent,

[7:09] or in this case, renovations of a multiple family residential structure that would result in an

[7:14] estimated construction cost of more than 50 percent of the current estimated market value of the

[7:20] improvements on the property as calculated by the county assessor. There are other

[7:26] properties that are being renovated as part of like the larger.

[7:30] For project, these were the only three that met that 50% threshold requiring a special use permit.

[7:37] Additionally, the Southeast Urbana overlay district goes into specific guidelines for construction, kind of looking at those design principles across different categories that will be unpacked a little bit later.

[7:53] This is a map of the site.

[7:55] We have 1302, 1304 on the north side of the street on silver

[7:59] between Fletcher and Vauder, with 1401,

[8:03] a few lots of way on the south side of the street.

[8:08] So it's along the Filo Road corridor,

[8:11] just kind of north of Harding is Colorado,

[8:14] where it's just kind of the L-shaped

[8:16] that the southeast or Bano overlay district forms,

[8:22] as shown here. So here's Harding, which is the north extent of the previous map.

[8:30] The area is predominantly residential, especially within this out these Serbano Overlaid District.

[8:34] There's a lot of multifamily development, because that was the kind of intention of the Overlaid District,

[8:40] which is characteristic. Over along Phylo, we do have more of a commercial district.

[8:46] So, this larger red block is the U.H. self-storage.

[8:51] The both purples are also storage as this is Quest Church.

[8:57] So, the Filo Accord or has a lot more kind of diverse range of activity,

[9:01] but this neighborhood is primarily residential.

[9:06] These lots are five because they form like of that L-shaped kind of the southern edge of it.

[9:15] So we do have our three zone properties to the west and to the south of the subject, parcels.

[9:24] Most of those are going to be single family homes, doplexes, and there's a couple that are

[9:29] classified as condominiums,

[9:33] so definitely kind of a liminal space between the more multi-family

[9:37] and single family in this neighborhood area.

[9:39] And then the along the phyllo corridor, most of the businesses are zoned B3, with some

[9:47] R4, I'm usually 4, there's a few churches along the corridor that are zoned R4.

[9:55] According to Imagineer Bana, the Southeast Urbana overlay district has a place type of neighborhood

[10:01] 2, which is designed for a mix of housing, including single family homes, doplexes, and apartment buildings.

[10:07] So we do feel that the development is appropriate for that place type, though on all three

[10:16] of these buildings were built between 1968 and 1970, and of primarily served as multi-family

[10:22] apartments since that time.

[10:26] This is an aerial photo from Eagle View showing kind of the neighborhood

[10:32] from above to kind of speak to the earlier point about the single family and apartment composition

[10:40] of this area. I would just kind of point out the parking lots in general if you see parking

[10:45] lots that is more likely to be an apartment building where we get down into the driveways

[10:49] first and will family and doplexes kind of surrounding it. But you can see the apartment buildings

[10:56] along these blocks here.

[11:02] This is a photo of 1302 from the southeast. You can see the

[11:08] apartment building has 12 units, six on the first floor, six on the upper floor. Each

[11:13] unit has a door in a window facing in this case south towards the street.

[11:21] 1304 is effectively identical,

[11:26] so you can see the same six units, the same six windows,

[11:29] steps kind of coming from the north side here. And then this is the parking lot serving

[11:35] both of the buildings, you can see 1304 on the left, 1302 on the right, and this parking

[11:41] lots on the north side that they share. There's access points kind of on the far side of

[11:49] 1302 and between 1302 and 1304 and then on this side of 1304. Just because things like

[11:57] windows and visibility are going to become more talking points during the guidelines for

[12:01] construction, I'll also point out each unit has a window facing the parking lot.

[12:07] This is 1301 silver

[12:09] street, which is just somewhat of a block away on the south side of the street. The key difference

[12:17] here, you see the same doors, the same windows. 14 on one does have 11 units instead of 12.

[12:27] And you can also see just an interest of transparency. We like work has started on the

[12:34] buildings, just due to the timeline for development and the staffing of the planning department

[12:40] at the time that these conversations were happening, the requirement for the special use

[12:44] permit was something that was realized of it later in the process, just for full disclosure.

[12:54] This is the parking lot for 1401 Silver Street, so this is south of the building.

[13:06] This is

[13:07] construction given under the Southeast Urbana overlay district requirements.

[13:13] One is pedestrian access networks and points that just saying that development patterns

[13:18] are appropriate and of human scale for pedestrians, access provisions that are connected

[13:24] in continuous without the need to cross barriers to and from sidewalks, carports, parking

[13:29] lots, bus stops, entrances and exits of buildings.

[13:32] I would point out that on the second floor there are like safety rails, but on the first floor,

[13:37] any of the units are accessible, kind of along any point, there's no bottlenecks being formed there.

[13:42] And the paths certainly to and from the parking, between the buildings and the parking lot and the buildings in the street are all

[13:49] appropriately human-scaled, there's no kind of super auto oriented infrastructure to have to traverse.

[13:58] Landscaping and screening, each special use permit shall include a landscape plan indicating the type number, size and location of trees, shrubs,

[14:05] in any other landscaping features to be retained or provided.

[14:09] The use of low maintenance landscaping is encouraged,

[14:12] placement of landscape materials should be such

[14:14] that it does not interfere with the sight lines.

[14:16] For example, shrubs should be no higher than three feet tall,

[14:19] and tree canopy shall be no lower than eight feet,

[14:21] especially around entryways and windows.

[14:24] Kind of as shown in those pictures, all three properties have

[14:27] some trees out front, but otherwise no really excessive shrubs

[14:31] are landscaping.

[14:33] The applicants can speak a bit more to what work has been done,

[14:35] at the site but I believe that a good amount

[14:39] of that was cleaned up earlier in the process.

[14:42] It is listed as yellow in large part

[14:44] because, and I apologize, I got more information

[14:47] about the future plans for the site's landscaping.

[14:51] Just a little after the presentation I've been made.

[14:55] But in general, the applicant can speak to

[14:58] what those plans will look like.

[14:59] You

[15:00] Mostly involves kind of small, appropriately sized shrubs along rock beds. So I find it to be compliant with those requirements and would list it as green head. I had that information a little sooner.

[15:16] Blank facage should be avoided to encourage natural surveillance of the area.

[15:21] As a general guideline, no more than one-third of the facage should be blank.

[15:25] In addition, windows that look out on out streets and alleys should not be blocked by landscaping.

[15:30] I would find that to be the case here.

[15:32] There were windows facing the street facing the parking lot, kind of reinforcing that eyes on the street design sensibility.

[15:41] Lighting shall be appropriately placed in oriented and should not result in excessive, shadow or glare, for example pedestrian access network should not have unnecessarily tall upwards facing lighting.

[15:52] Lighting fixtures should be well spaced and kept in good working order.

[15:56] Ali's walkways and parking lot should be well lit. Lighting should be placed in outdoor common spaces and apartment lobbies and should reflect the intended hours of operation.

[16:05] Motion sensing lightings are optimal for these common areas.

[16:08] There is lighting outside of each of the units and lighting in the parking lots, also lighting improvements where a major part of the scope for the renovations.

[16:21] Enterprises and exits should be clearly visible and well lit both internally and externally without excessive shadow or glare.

[16:28] Entrance as an exit should be located such that they can be clearly legible from the street signage should be clearly

[16:34] legible from the street with lobbies that are visible from the outside, RSS store where it should be avoided.

[16:39] There's a few other buildings in the district that do have like secured entrances with a more traditional lobby.

[16:45] I do believe that this requirement is speaking more towards that layout of building instead of unis that open directly onto the street.

[16:55] However, still like signage was visible, there isn't those types of, I felt those guidelines

[17:02] were still being that, particularly considering the renovation of an existing structure.

[17:09] A thoughtful separation between public and private properties should be created, taking

[17:13] into consideration, fencing, landscaping, screening, and sight lines.

[17:17] These distinctions may be made using features, such as low walls, fencing, seating,

[17:22] landscape features and changes of material and texture, unnecessarily high fences and

[17:27] keep out signs should be avoided. The design of the sites is open, it's accessible.

[17:33] There is plans to introduce fencing between the two buildings at 1302 and 1304, but that's

[17:40] going to be a kind of see-through fence. And it's primarily just there so that if anyone wanted

[17:45] to play with a ball that might roll, there's a thing that would stop it from rolling into the street.

[17:49] But I don't feel it's introducing any accessibility barriers or safety concerns.

[17:57] The use of context appropriate durable and low maintenance building materials are encouraged,

[18:02] materials should also be graffiti and vandalism resistant.

[18:06] In the case of the renovation of an existing building, the materials are a bit fixed.

[18:12] I'm sure the applicant can also answer any follow-up questions there.

[18:16] And then natural imperatives, additional items not listed here in, shall be considered to promote healthy behaviors and reduce mental fatigue.

[18:24] These can include such measures as providing adequate natural lighting, ventilation for fresh air, additional landscaping and access to water features and addition proximity to bus stop locations, provision of tentative amenities and access to exercise equipment can improve health outcomes.

[18:42] The design I do feel is generally open, it is accessible from the street.

[18:47] There is a regular transit service along this route, so we felt that that was met.

[18:53] And the final one is security.

[18:54] The installation of appropriately placed security cameras is encouraged, such as in stairwells

[18:59] and elevators and other locations where sight lines may be blocked or which may feel isolated.

[19:04] Elements should be employed which help to clearly define private property from the public domain

[19:09] and when considering fencing, medium to low heights and use of transparent durable material

[19:13] should be considered.

[19:15] The planned fence is, I would say, of medium height, and it's kind of, it's see-through,

[19:23] not like a brick fence, you know, just kind of the rod iron look.

[19:30] We don't have photos because it's not been installed yet, but it certainly maintains that

[19:35] and also improvements to security cameras are in the scope of the renovations for the

[19:39] building.

[19:42] But in addition to those guidelines for criteria, it is guidelines for a construction,

[19:47] it is still a special use permit. So the same three guidelines for special use permits would

[19:53] hold. The first is that the proposed uses conducive to the public good at that location. I would

[19:59] say certainly in light of the fact that this area has primarily been multifamily apartment buildings

[20:04] for over 50 years that that criteria is met.

[20:08] Similarly, the proposed uses design located and proposed to be operated so that it will not be

[20:13] unreasonably injurious or detrimental to the district in which it shall be located, or otherwise

[20:18] injurious to the public.

[20:20] Largely the same reasoning holds, so I think also the fact that it's taking existing buildings

[20:26] and renovating them to improve those buildings in the area around them.

[20:31] And the proposed use conforms to the applicable regulations and standards of and preserves the essential character of the district in which it shall be located.

[20:41] The building like the buildings as they exist meet all relevant zoning requirements.

[20:48] Yes.

[20:50] And the context of Imagineer Banna, big move one is to address her Banna's diverse housing needs with the sub-little move 1.8 of allowing a variety of housing types and every neighborhood scales appropriate to each neighborhood.

[21:05] This would contribute to the housing stock of the neighborhood, kind of addressing both of those moves.

[21:12] Big move seven is to promote incremental development, and little move seven point one is to identify and resolve barriers to incremental and infill development.

[21:21] Because this is rehabbing structures in a developed neighborhood, it's kind of taking those areas and maintaining housing stock.

[21:32] And then little move 8.3 is to prioritize development and areas already served by services and infrastructure, which is of course the case here.

[21:44] So as a summary of findings, the proposed use would be conducive to the public location.

[21:48] public convenience as the location in surrounding district and currently form a buffer of medium

[21:53] and high-density apartments along Colorado and Filo kind of filling out that southeast or

[21:58] ban a district before it transitions to the single family, how does housing further south and west.

[22:05] The proposed project would not be injurious or detrimental to the R5 zoning district as

[22:09] a use that would be permitted by right. The proposed project would conform to the regulations and

[22:15] of the R5-Zoning District and would preserve its essential character.

[22:20] The clinic doesn't alter the built form of the apartment buildings,

[22:22] which have been kind of staples in the community for a long time.

[22:26] The proposed project implements the requirements of the construction guidelines.

[22:30] And so the south-east urban overlay district, acknowledging that those guidelines are written for both

[22:36] development of new buildings and renovations. So there's clearly those guidelines would

[22:44] be applied differently in those two circumstances. But the proposed project is generally consistent

[22:50] with the Imagineer Vanna Comprehensive Plan in the place types designation of neighborhood

[22:54] to which is designed for residential and including apartment buildings.

[23:02] Because there are two plan cases for each one, the plan commission has the ability to

[23:08] recommend approval of the special use permit without any conditions to recommend approval

[23:13] of the special use permit with any conditions deemed appropriate or necessary for the public health

[23:18] safety and welfare and carry out the purposes of the city's municipal code or to recommend

[23:23] a Nile of the Special Use Permit. If the Plan Commission elects to do so, it will

[23:27] must articulate the findings supporting its denial.

[23:33] Staff recommends that the Plan

[23:34] Commission recommend approval of the Special Use Permit for Plan Case 2530-SU-26 and recommends

[23:42] that the Plan Commission recommended approval of the proposed Special Use Permit and Plan

[23:46] Case number 2531-SU-26. We do have kind of the standard language of recommending

[23:53] approval given that the final project looked like the proposed guidelines and meets the scope

[23:59] of what was presented in the application,

[24:04] which is always worth including, but we don't

[24:06] propose any additional conditions on top of that at this time.

[24:12] All right, thank you, Mr. Alvarez. Any questions for staff,

[24:20] Mr. Fell. It was a building permit

[24:22] issue here?

[24:24] The building permit, I believe, the building permit was issued in advance of the special

[24:33] use permit because we were at the time weren't aware of this requirement.

[24:41] Yeah, the question is for staff, Mr. Rez.

[24:45] For clarification,

[24:53] the staff has recommended gone through the elements of the overlay district if I understand correctly and the green and yellow squares indicate that in view of the staff, these conditions have been met.

[25:16] We have not been presented with plans for the property for us to make a determination of

[25:29] whether the conditions have been met, help me understand where we are, please.

[25:37] Correct, so because it's not new construction and the layout of the building is

[25:44] remaining effectively unchanged. It's largely interior updates. A traditional site plan wasn't

[25:52] like part of the normal process that we would have here. The applicant can speak more to

[25:59] the scope of the upgrades or the renovations that they primarily focus on things like lighting

[26:04] and security, which was in line with what the guidelines for construction and the larger CPTED criteria

[26:12] Yeah, we're informing.

[26:16] Thank you.

[26:19] Any other questions for staff?

[26:23] Miss Ha?

[26:25] Yeah, can you provide a little bit more context of,

[26:28] I think the thing that triggered this process

[26:31] was investment of 50% more than the assessed value

[26:36] requires the special use permit.

[26:38] Is there something special about 50% or investing a large sum

[26:44] money that would meet the criteria of prime prevention like what what is that trying to address?

[26:53] That is an excellent question.

[26:57] If I had to hazard a guess, because the part of the ordinance

[27:03] was kind of stemming from a 2015 intern project.

[27:09] By in general there's enough sections of the zoning

[27:15] ordinance that apply to either new construction or like to make allowances for if a large

[27:24] enough change happens. For example, if a new principal structure is a bill, the parking lot

[27:29] then has to become compliant. You know, just different changes can trigger moving into compliance.

[27:37] And I believe it was an attempt to mirror that same sensibility in this part of the zoning

[27:42] or more.

[27:47] Any other questions for staff?

[27:50] Okay, I'll ask a couple.

[27:52] So just going back to the guidelines, they're termed guidelines, I guess they're kind

[27:56] of criteria in the section of the zoning ordinance for the overlay district.

[28:02] It doesn't explicitly say that all have to be met, but is that staffs sort of take on

[28:10] how to read the ordinance that all have to be met or is it that they generally need to

[28:15] and compliance?

[28:18] Given the renovation of the existing structure, there's a lot of things that absolutely can

[28:24] be improved on and brought into compliance for things like lighting or things like landscaping.

[28:30] Things like the facades are largely, those are largely fixed.

[28:36] They can be changed, but typically at great expense, it's the opinion of staff and the community

[28:43] development director that in this case, we used the guidelines for construction to determine

[28:50] whether the sites were being meaningfully improved, and that was the real goalpost that

[28:57] was being used for approval. I, in general, looking at the guidelines, certainly don't see anything

[29:04] that is like that would weren't being read. Something where, hey, the natural design of this building

[29:10] where the scope of the renovations is clearly against one of the guidelines.

[29:15] I would say they're brought into, they are met in different ways based on what was appropriate

[29:20] for the scale of renovations. So I think to answer the question clearly, a lot of them aren't terribly

[29:29] concrete and a lot of them aren't terribly flexible when renovating and existing building.

[29:37] We certainly did consider all of them, but a lot of them are somewhat subjective.

[29:43] I would view them more as considerations of the larger criteria of crime prevention

[29:50] through environmental design and that, as a larger lens, is what should be considered in

[29:58] the spirit of this section of the zone.

[30:01] Okay, thanks. And then one other just kind of procedural question. So we should, when we get to the point of making a motion, we should take a motion for, we should treat each of these cases separately. So a motion for the first case for 1302 or 1304 and then a motion for the second one. Correct. They can both happen in like the same section at the end of the joint public hearing, but they would need to be to separate both.

[30:28] Okay, I just wanted to confirm that.

[30:30] Okay, great.

[30:31] Thank you.

[30:36] So do we have a petitioner that wants to address the commission?

[30:50] Sorry, I didn't catch a name at any point.

[30:54] Is it here, okay? Would you like me to?

[31:01] Okay.

[31:01] I'm going to if you can just press the button and make sure the green lights on.

[31:06] Good evening and thank you for your time.

[31:07] My name is John Armstrong.

[31:09] I'm the President of Silver Street Capital.

[31:11] and my company is the one that is renovating the

[31:15] phyllo and silver street properties.

[31:20] Great.

[31:21] Did you have anything that you wanted to tell us or did you just want to open it up to questions from the commission?

[31:28] First, I just want to thank Mr. Alvarez. I was a great presentation.

[31:31] He's been very helpful in making sure we're in compliance with local city ordinances.

[31:36] And so we're thankful for his guidance there.

[31:39] In terms of what our goals are,

[31:41] Our company specifically focuses on affordable housing developments that have fallen on hard times.

[31:48] The reason this falls into the renovation is beyond 50% of the purchase price,

[31:54] because we bought a larger portfolio of buildings in the area of 96 total units.

[32:00] And the way the land pin numbers kind of got divided,

[32:06] And these three properties ended up getting a smaller percentage of the overall portion due

[32:11] to them being only 12 or 11 unit buildings versus the 24 unit buildings across the street.

[32:20] The goals of our company are pretty straightforward.

[32:22] We believe in finding equity and for people of all different socioeconomic cases and our

[32:29] companies have been successful at coming into large metropolitan areas and smaller ones.

[32:35] and finding local partners that we can find,

[32:39] whether they're contractors,

[32:41] whether they're long-term staff of ours,

[32:44] and finding what we would call

[32:46] neat but sturdy renovations that allow people to

[32:50] experience dignity and being able to live in affordable housing.

[32:55] So with that, I'm happy to go over any questions

[32:58] on anything that's relevant.

[33:00] I also do have some visual aids if you do want to see

[33:03] our demonstration unit that has been completed.

[33:06] I could pass those out, but totally up to you guys.

[33:09] Okay, great, thank you.

[33:11] Any questions for Mr. Armstrong?

[33:19] Could you sign in also just the sheet in front of you?

[33:22] Okay, thank you.

[33:34] No questions?

[33:36] Okay, I'll ask a question.

[33:38] So as Mr. Rose kind of alluded to,

[33:41] we didn't get much information.

[33:44] We just got the information in the staff report

[33:47] and then what was in the special use permit.

[33:51] So we're kind of having to rely on the assessment of staff.

[33:58] But it would be nice if you could maybe walk us through,

[34:01] at least the three of the guidelines that I would be interested in.

[34:04] It sounds like there's improvements being made relate to the landscaping,

[34:10] the lighting, and the maybe the materials.

[34:11] So, if you could, um, walk us through those three, a little, of course. Yeah. And, uh, feel free

[34:20] if I miss anything to just, uh, reiterate please. Uh, so beginning with the landscaping, uh, so we

[34:27] have been primarily focused on the interior portion of the repairs since those were, beyond

[34:32] livable conditions, uh, so we have, um, a pretty simple plan. Uh, we're in the process of planning

[34:40] because, unfortunately, the area in front of the buildings had lots of waste including, you

[34:47] know, syringes and other sorts of dangers material. So we had to make sure that was properly

[34:53] excavated and then we put in, I think, over several hundred yards of fresh dirt and just plain

[35:01] to grass seed. So pretty straightforward stuff, but just think that's required to make sure we

[35:06] just continue to work on the exterior experience of the property. We have not purchased these

[35:14] yet, but we're in the process of finding the right vendor to put in pretty standard landscaping

[35:21] bushes that are probably going to be approximately three feet tall, probably two and a half

[35:25] to three feet wide. They'll be placed in ways that are aesthetically pleasing in front of the sidewalk

[35:33] on the exterior since it's the sidewalk litter the goes right in in front of each unit

[35:38] doesn't have a common hallways space. We're then planning on putting river rock around

[35:45] those any landscaping including likely the trees that are on our own side of the property

[35:51] versus the city side of the sidewalk to just continue to make it something where you know

[35:57] sometimes it's hard to get grass in that space so we want to have it be something people can

[36:01] look at and look clean and neat from the viewpoint.

[36:04] And then as we talked about, we're in the early stages

[36:06] of submitting a permit for offencing.

[36:09] We believe that our hope is that we can make people feel comfortable

[36:13] to bring their families there.

[36:15] And so we're anticipating having children.

[36:18] And we want to be able to, since the rear parking lot has

[36:20] already been paved, we're planning on making the front area.

[36:24] That's will have grass in it once the grass grows.

[36:27] Something that is safe enough that if they are playing,

[36:30] there will be appropriate fencing that will allow transparency and visibility, but also prevent

[36:35] if a ball or a toy or a younger child is not under extreme supervision, they just can't

[36:43] wander carelessly into the road. In terms of materials, everything will be designated through

[36:51] a vendor relationships to be in compliance with anything that you would expect, brought

[36:57] and steel for the fencing. The river rocks pretty straightforward. The grass we already described

[37:04] in the bushes as well. In terms of lighting, I think is probably appropriate to go to next

[37:11] if you feel like of describing landscaping sufficiently. Lighting was when we got the project started,

[37:19] there was no exterior lighting at all except for what was provided by the city on the street.

[37:23] So, what we've already done is we have refurbished the lighting deck.

[37:30] It goes, I believe there's in-between each unit, there's six units per floor. So in-between each one, there used to be lights that were there. Unfortunately due to non-payment of bills and other issues, those were not functional. So in the last several weeks, we've been able to get the city or get the amaran to appropriately address their side of the issues with that.

[37:57] And our staff have been able to address the actual lights themselves.

[38:01] So now we have 12 lights per building that are sufficiently bright enough so that people

[38:08] can easily see the sidewalk and probably about 3 to 5 feet in front of the property, in

[38:14] case there was anybody at the door, something like that, be sufficiently bright but not so bright

[38:17] as to be something that would be blinding or be an ISO or anything that would be distracting

[38:24] from the streets, which are approximately, you know, 75 yards or so from the doors themselves.

[38:30] And again, this was already pre-existing, but it wasn't functional.

[38:33] So we've, in the meantime, been able to create that functionality for 1302 and 1304.

[38:39] Our electrician has told us that he anticipates by the 15th of September,

[38:43] since everything on the south side of the street has had all of the electrical services have been

[38:48] analyzed for what appears to have been a long time and all of the piping and the actual

[38:55] wire itself has been removed and vandalized.

[38:58] We had to reinstall that and so we're going as quick as we can but we're anticipating

[39:02] by the end of this week to be done with 1401 and then it will be up to Amarin to kind of connect

[39:07] things properly to the existing lighting infrastructure utility and then we'll have that same

[39:13] functionality.

[39:13] Those are set to those have sensors, so they aren't shining all day.

[39:19] They shine whenever basically dust level is what you could kind of assume.

[39:24] Right now, probably between 730 and 8 o'clock is when those lights will not receive enough light from the sun,

[39:29] and therefore be able to turn on.

[39:33] I believe I may have missed one, would you mind?

[39:35] No, that was the ones I had.

[39:37] Just the follow-up though, is they're lighting on the parking lot?

[39:39] I didn't hear of you.

[39:40] Yes. So behind the parking lot, there are on each lot breakdown. There are already, I believe,

[39:48] there's city lights, like city light poles that allow sufficient parking lot coverage.

[39:54] However, we will have security cameras installed once we have electrical service restored

[39:58] to be able to view everything back there. We are also open to considering potentially installing

[40:07] an additional motion-detective floodlight, we're still trying to understand the safety concerns

[40:14] of the neighborhood well enough to know if we need to improve upon what currently exists.

[40:18] At this point we feel comfortable with the cameras that are in process and the city lighting

[40:22] that has been restored, that there's sufficient lighting for everyone to feel comfortable,

[40:27] but we're open to future considerations as we just begin leasing the units to new tenants

[40:32] and willing them to feel safe.

[40:35] Okay, thank you. Any other questions, Mr. Rose?

[40:39] Yes, thank you. Will the rear of the buildings be substantially changed or will it be

[40:47] essentially a paved area better lit for parking only?

[40:54] Sure, so the only substantial changes that we are considering is in between the buildings.

[41:00] There was kind of a scrub grass rock situation there.

[41:06] We're planning on paving that over so that it's accessible and something where if you don't have clear lighting,

[41:13] it's just going to be brand new pavement.

[41:16] To the rear of the building, we're planning on striping the parking lot since currently it's unstriped

[41:20] and having parking spots assigned by unit number.

[41:25] outside of that, it's functional for now, and with all the work that we have to do on the

[41:33] interiors, we believe it's sufficient, but it's something for us to consider as a longer

[41:39] term improvement, because that area probably hasn't been repaved in quite some time.

[41:46] Clearly, you would be expected to follow these guidelines and I understand from staff

[41:55] these arise from crime prevention through environmental design. Have you made effort for additional information from current residents past residents neighbors to tailor these efforts for these buildings?

[42:25] Thank you for that question.

[42:26] We've tried to canvas and understand because we believe to be good neighbors.

[42:30] We have to understand the past so that we can make sure the future is different.

[42:35] From what we've learned, a lot of the problems were more related to a lack of effort, continual

[42:44] effort.

[42:45] And one of the things that's going to be different for us is we're going to have an onsite

[42:48] office across the street at 1305, which is not included in today's presentation, but as part

[42:52] of the portfolio.

[42:53] So we're going to have on-site maintenance and staff, so it seemed like, in general, the story

[43:02] goes, these used to be nice. I mean, it buttresses right up to a really nice neighborhood,

[43:10] but over time and disrepair problems amounted to where they were attracting.

[43:16] people who didn't feel like it was worth respecting what was there and that led to more dangerous

[43:22] behaviors continuing to grow. And so we come in and again, the flyer I have can kind of demonstrate

[43:30] to some degree, but we really do try to remove that element completely. And when we finish our

[43:37] renovations, we expect people and we'll hold them accountable within legal reason of the least

[43:43] They sign an additional addendum that we have called a good neighbor policy where we expect

[43:48] them to continually stay in touch with us.

[43:51] One of the reasons we don't hire just a local property management company is not because

[43:57] a competency.

[43:58] It's because of that care and effort to know that the tenants are one level removed from

[44:04] speaking to an owner who has millions of dollars invested in the long-term success and

[44:08] duration of the project.

[44:10] really helps make sure the problems are addressed immediately.

[44:14] And so, we believe at this time, that is the strategy we're planning on implementing,

[44:19] may sound simple, but we found it be quite effective in other situations that are similar to this.

[44:25] You answered my third question regarding maintenance.

[44:29] Thank you.

[44:32] All right, any other questions, Mr. Armstrong?

[44:35] Ms. Allen.

[44:37] You mentioned property management being at the 1305 property, or that's where the

[44:43] is going to be located, it's like going to be a full-time person, and then for maintenance

[44:48] is that contracted out, or that's going to be another full-time or part-time employee.

[44:53] It's a great question.

[44:54] We've had a number of applicants already, so at this point, we are trying to fix-

[45:00] You're out what that looks like because when you start with close to zero tenants and you're growing to 96 plus whatever other folks live with them that may not be on the lease, we want to make sure we're properly staffed.

[45:12] We are anticipating a full-time property manager. We call them a community developer, is our term for it because we want to try to remove any stigmas of them versus us. We're all in the same team trying to grow the community and make it a better place.

[45:24] And we want our tenants to feel as though they have a home.

[45:29] That will hold them accountable to continue to respect and keep up and be able to pay the rent so we can continue to provide those services long-term.

[45:35] But we also expect people to be able to hold us accountable.

[45:38] And again, part of the won't say benefit, but part of the good thing that just comes from this is when these properties are just kind of at the level of in which we kind of begin this process.

[45:53] There's no point in trying to save what's there.

[45:55] So that's why we do complete renovations.

[45:57] So we aren't trying to just paint the walls

[46:00] and hope people will rent it.

[46:01] We're doing brand new appliances.

[46:03] We're changing any existing issues

[46:06] that prevented plumbing from working properly

[46:08] or electrical from not being sufficient.

[46:12] At 1401, we realized that the previous

[46:15] electrical service, which was already

[46:16] vandalized and unusable.

[46:18] If we restored that, it could work,

[46:20] but it would probably lead in situations like this

[46:22] where we put the appropriate P tax and other sort of heating elements in place that it could

[46:28] lead to brown outages or other things that could cause people to lose power temporarily.

[46:33] So we went ahead and we got in our permit with the city to upgrade the service to 600 amps.

[46:40] So in situations like that we're doing our best to try to think above and beyond and the same

[46:44] we'll happen with our onsite staff.

[46:48] So just to clarify, it sounds like maybe some part-time staff to start and then scaling up

[46:54] as units become vacated?

[46:56] That in an ideal world, that would be the case just

[46:58] from a cost standpoint.

[47:00] But the reality is when we find the right folks,

[47:02] if they need full time employment,

[47:03] and they're willing to kind of think outside there

[47:07] just sitting in the desk answering calls for tenants

[47:10] that don't exist yet, then we'll absolutely

[47:13] consider full time employment right away.

[47:19] All right, any other questions from a strong strong?

[47:23] All right, thank you.

[47:24] Thank you.

[47:27] OK, so at this point, we'll open it up to the public.

[47:30] If anyone wants to address the commission, you can come forward state your name and sign in at the table and tell us what you have to say.

[47:38] I'll remind everyone to please keep your comments relevant to the case under consideration, the case is under consideration.

[47:46] If you want to talk about something else, we'll have an opportunity later in the meeting for audience participation.

[47:52] We'll start with anyone that is in favor of the cases that wants to address the commission.

[48:14] In that case, we'll open up to anyone that's opposed to the cases that wants to address the commission.

[48:24] No takers,

[48:33] last chance.

[48:35] There's no one that wants to address the commission, then we'll declare the public input portion close.

[48:43] Does there anything that staff wants to add based on comments from the petitioner?

[48:49] No, I don't believe so.

[48:51] All right, so now we'll go into discussion amongst the commission and possibly entertain motion or motions to vote in this case.

[49:03] Any discussion on the cases?

[49:10] as well.

[49:13] Pretty much just two points for me. The reason I asked if a building permit was pulled

[49:20] was that answered a bunch of the other questions for me because a lot of the information in

[49:26] the building permit is a quantifiable information that is in this special use permit. So I understand

[49:33] the commissions wanting to see some of that information, but it's tangibly quantifiable in the

[49:43] building permit that's been submitted, so I'm comfortable that staff has reviewed those items,

[49:48] like the lighting and fencing and things like that. They're all requirements to pull a building

[49:53] permit here. And even to the point of, I don't know this, but I'm guessing the upgraded electrical

[49:58] service came from a building permit situation where the units didn't meet code and there's

[50:03] nothing vested here that more requirements kick in because more is invested in the building.

[50:12] So in terms of those aspects of meeting especially use permit being met and I'm comfortable

[50:21] in the position that staff has reviewed these items and they'll be met.

[50:28] The only other point I want to make is that I'm pretty sure we all understand why these special

[50:35] use permit is in place in this particular area of the Savor Banner.

[50:41] I'm very much in favor of removing every single obstacle we have to renovating anything in

[50:48] this neighborhood, including requiring a special use permit to do it.

[50:54] We're introducing a step to make this process harder when we need to introduce every step we can to make this process easier.

[51:03] So I'm ready to move the cases for approval.

[51:06] Unless there's more discussion.

[51:10] Any other discussion?

[51:15] Ready to make a motion?

[51:19] I will make a motion.

[51:21] Separately?

[51:22] Yes.

[51:25] I make a motion to move plan case number 2530-usu-26 to the City Council with a recommendation

[51:33] of approval with no condition.

[51:36] All right, so we have a motion by Mr. Fell, do we have a second, second by Mr. Rose,

[51:42] any discussion on that motion?

[51:48] No, I'll just add, I second, well, I agree with Mr. Fell's comments about, I don't

[51:56] And as nearly the need to remove the overlay district,

[51:59] that's a discussion for another time, but just the idea

[52:03] that, well, this is an exciting prospect

[52:05] to have someone making an investment in this area,

[52:09] and it aligns with many things in the conference

[52:12] at plan, but also with the mayor's initiative

[52:14] around revitalizing file overode.

[52:18] So I think we should be trying to make that process

[52:20] as easy as possible.

[52:22] Okay, so looks like we're ready to vote.

[52:24] Can we have a roll call, please?

[52:28] Mr. Bell.

[52:29] Yes.

[52:31] Mr. Brez. Yes.

[52:35] Mr. All-Ren.

[52:41] Yes.

[52:42] Yes. Yes.

[52:46] Okay, that motion passes.

[52:50] I'll wait to ask for a date for council on these until we go through the second one.

[52:56] Okay, so do we have a motion for the second case?

[53:01] I move that plan case number 2531-SU-26 to be approved

[53:17] of B-14 to the city council with our approval.

[53:25] Okay, so we have a motion by Mr. Brothers.

[53:27] We have a second and no conditions.

[53:30] I'll second by Mr. Fell. Any discussion on that motion?

[53:41] Will vote. Can we have a roll call please?

[53:44] Mr. Bros.

[53:47] Yes.

[53:48] Yes.

[53:54] Mr. All-Red.

[53:55] Yes. Mr. Fell.

[53:58] Okay. That motion also passes. Do we have a date for council for those cases?

[54:04] Yes. There currently scheduled to go to the September 21st committee of the whole.

[54:09] for final action at the September 28th city council meeting.

[54:15] Okay, so the 21st and then the 28th for city council.

[54:20] All right, that brings us to new business and new business.

[54:24] No, audience participation.

[54:26] Is there anyone in the audience who wishes to address the client commission for five minutes uninterrupted on any topic of your choice?

[54:35] If so, please come forward and sign in.

[54:43] Moving on, staff report, do we have a staff report?

[54:48] We do, just briefly, kind of to continue the previous,

[54:57] like, precedent of giving updates on previous cases.

[55:00] The three cases that have, like most recently, come to the Plan Commission,

[55:05] where the special use permit for the medical clinic at 909 North Cunningham,

[55:10] The planned unit development on Main Street from 413 to 419, and there were two text amendments

[55:18] one for the people over parking amendment, removing parking minimums within set distances

[55:23] of transit resources, and the introduction of a commercial workshop parking category.

[55:31] All four of those did pass at City Council.

[55:35] The case at 909 North Cunningham, there was a condition added that the special use permit

[55:42] applies specifically to the suite where the medical clinic currently exists, just so

[55:48] that if another medical clinic were to be built within that space, like the same special

[55:54] use permit would need to be gone through again, largely out of concern for how a plasma

[56:01] the Donations Center would counter the zoning ordinance

[56:04] and whether it would be a medical center.

[56:07] Just they would, the City Council wanted the opportunity

[56:09] to review that.

[56:12] But that is currently moving forward

[56:14] with our building safety division.

[56:17] The amendments both passed on edited,

[56:22] and then the Main Street Plain Unit Development also did pass.

[56:26] There were a few conditions that were added to that.

[56:30] in terms of retaining the existing trees, et cetera.

[56:34] But yes, that's what we have currently on those.

[56:36] And I'm doing a bit more digging on to anything

[56:39] that was passed just before me to have updates on those.

[56:45] Otherwise, unless there's any questions about those.

[56:48] The medical clinic, if they expand, do they need a special use

[56:52] permit?

[56:54] As the condition was added, yes, if it went to another suite.

[57:00] The only other update that we have is that as of yesterday, there is a posting for a new planner for the department.

[57:08] That's a part-time position that would be 20 hours a week, but we want to make sure people know about it.

[57:14] We're really excited to expand the team further.

[57:17] Great.

[57:19] And did you want to introduce our new plank mission member?

[57:22] Yes, thank you.

[57:23] I'm speaking of expanding the team further.

[57:25] We have a new plan commissioner and a how we're extremely excited to have her just in terms of her passion and expertise for housing and housing affordability and if I'm animal likes anything else you're welcome to

[57:43] But also don't have to

[57:46] I'm just excited to be here. This was a really fun first case for me since I work in homeless services and I have worked with people

[57:55] the properties that are being renovated, so it feels pretty personal on this one.

[58:01] Great, we welcome you to the commission.

[58:05] Anything else? Any questions for staff?

[58:09] Alright, a study session, no study session, which means that we are adjourned at 7.58.

[58:17] Thanks everyone.

Plan Commission Regular Meeting - 9/3/2026 7:00:00 PM

Transcript