Chair Mike Schell presided and called the meeting to order 4:00pm on Wednesday, July 14th, 2021. Committee Members present: Bobby Koepplin, Mike Bishop, Jim Wright, Dave Carlsrud and Bill Carlblom. Absent: Joe Faure.
Others: City Administrator Gwen Crawford, City Planner Joel Quanbeck, Acting Secretary/City Assessor Sandy Hansen, City Building Inspector Mike Blevins, Assistant City Building Inspector Lance Coit.
Audience members: Chad Petersen (KLJ), Tracy Eslinger (Moore Engineering), Mike Strom (KLJ), Pat Edinger and Arvid Winkler. Jennifer Feist with VCBCDC attended by zoom.
Bill Carlblom moved to approve the Minutes of the June 9th, 2021 regular meeting, seconded by Mike Bishop, followed by roll call and approval.
Building Inspector Report
Building Inspector Mike Blevins had sent the board an email outlining current building projects; year to date there’s been 34 total permits and no issues to be reported at this time.
Public Hearing for plat & variance requests of a rural parcel located east of County Road 19, north of 35th St SE and south of Elm Street (Lunde property). Recommendation to City Commission.
Chair Mike Schell opened the public hearing. Mike Strom spoke on the details of the plat and variance request; Chris Lunde is selling part of his property to the city and needed to parcel out lots of the property he owned plus add an access road to offer access to all the parcels. Schell asked how it was zoned; Strom answered that the county does not have a specific zone. City Planner Joel Quanbeck said in his research it is either B-2 or Ag, either of which would allow the request for a plat to move forward. After discussion regarding the one-mile extraterritorial map, Quanbeck said more research needs to be done on the extraterritorial zoning issues and possible annexation. City Administrator Gwen Crawford said that in regards to the contract between Lunde and the City that annexation was off the table. Bobby Koepplin asked why a variance was needed to allow for a 50’ wide road instead of the standard 68’ and was told it was to allow for the larger sizes needed for the bordering lots, and that the 50’ would be more than enough for how it was going to be used. Jim Wright moved to close the public hearing with Carlblom second and board approval. Koepplin moved to recommend approval of the application for the plat and variance as stated to the City Commission with Bishop a second and board approval.
Public Hearing for replat request of Block 4 Beyer Industrial Acres (Meyer property). Recommendation to City Commission.
Chair Schell opened the public hearing. Quanbeck explained that the Meyer’s own the east half of Block 4 and did not have direct frontage for future development required by zoning regulations so a replat was needed. It came to light that the Meyer’s were planning a land swap with the property owner to the west to cover the easement they need for the frontage access. So the replat will need an immediate boundary change to reflect that swap. Bishop moved to close the public hearing with Carlblom second and board approval. With internal discussion, it was decided to move forward so the request could be resolved, with Schell stating he would make sure the line correction was made before he signed off on the final approval of the replat. Koepplin moved to recommend approval to the City Commission with the condition the changes were made before sign-off, with Bishop a second and board approval.
Open Public Hearing for text amendments to Titles 11 and 16 of the Valley City Municipal Code. Recommendation to the City Commission
Chair Schell opened the public hearing and turned the discussion over to Quanbeck. The board was provided with breakdowns of five points of discussion: Section 11-03-11 – R-4 Multi-Family Residential District, Yard Requirements Chapter 11-04 – Measurement, Section 11-06-02 – Off-Street Parking, Payment in Lieu – Public Land Dedication in regards to Section 16-01-05 – Design standards for plats, and Sidewalk Construction in regard to section 16-01-06 – Required site improvements. Quanbeck tabled further discussion on the Payment In Lieu section as he was unexpectedly sidelined by injury over the weekend and wasn’t able to finish preparation on that subject. As for the other four points, there was long discussion over each section. When all questions had been answered, Koepplin moved to close the public hearing with Bishop a second and board approval. Quanbeck requested that approvals to the City Commission be presented at their August 3rd meeting rather than next week’s to allow him time for definition of proposed changes and the board agreed. Koepplin recommended approval to the City Commission of the off-street parking requirements as presented, with Wright seconding and board approval. Koepplin recommended approval to the City Commission of the yard requirement changes as presented with the addition of the bay window modification to include all size bay windows as discussed, with Bishop seconding and board approval. Koepplin recommended approval to the City Commission of the R-4 Multi-Family District changes as presented, with Wright seconding and board approval. And Koepplin recommended approval to the City Commission of the Sidewalk Construction requirements as presented with the addition of following ADA requirements regarding size as discussed plus further definition of impracticality, with Bishop seconding and board approval.
Open Public Hearing for text amendments to Titles 11 of the Valley City Municipal Code for official zoning map changes. Recommendation to the City Commission
Chair Schell opened the public hearing and again turned discussion over to Quanbeck who explained that the current zoning map used colors and categories – specifically NA, Other, FEMA & Public – that didn’t have related zoning districts defined in the City’s zoning text, and if lots were not defined correctly they would default to Agriculture. This needs to be addressed and corrected. He also suggested that a new district should be considered for the Valley City State University campus – a “University” district. With the number of changes to consider plus the consideration of an additional district, it was determined it was not complete enough to vote on at this time. Bishop moved to close the Public Hearing with Wright second and board approval. Wright moved to table the decision with Bishop seconding and board approval.
Adjourn
With no other items to discuss, Chair Schell called for the meeting to close at 5:48pm.