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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - Business Council Committee - Meeting Date: 11/19/2020MINUTES BUSINESS COUNCIL COMMITTEE CITY HALL, CONFERENCE ROOM B3 5850 W. GLENDALE AVE. GLENDALE, ARIZONA 85301 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19th, 2020 2:00 PM CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at approximately 2 PM. MI GINWa1_\w1 Committee members present: Chairperson Joyce Clark, Vice Chairperson Bart Shea, Vice Mayor Ray Malnar, Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff, Dale Adams, John Crow, and Yvonne Knaack. Committee members absent: Ricardo Toris was not present. City staff present: Lisa Collins (Interim Development Services Director), Shannon Beck (Council Assistant), and Sherry Crapser (Management Assistant) were present. CITIZEN COMMENTS There were no citizens present, so Chairperson Clark did not call for citizen comments. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES A motion to approve the meeting minutes was made by Ms. Knaack, and it was seconded by Mr. Adams. All were in favor, and none opposed. ITEMS a. Presentation review by Matthew Klyszeiko and Adam Pruett from Michael Baker International regarding the draft residential parking standards and landscaping Due to Mr. Klyszeiko's absence, Mr. Pruett presented at the meeting. Mr. Pruett explained the goal was to update the code draft prior to making it available for public comment. There are four areas to these codes: landscape area requirements, materials permitted to be planted, general maintenance, and process for review. Mr. Pruett also noted landscaping does overlap to other codes, such as parking, signage, and circulation within the site. Upon drafting this code, something that was kept in mind was the idea that sometimes, less is more. Instead of focusing on percentage requirements for landscaping, the goal is to focus on the performance-based development standards. Chairperson Clark asked if the "less is more" term was used in regards to the code language or landscaping, and Mr. Pruett explained in some cases, more landscaping can be an obstruction for businesses or encroaching on neighbor's yards. Mr. Pruett noted that there is a proposal to enhance the landscape island size. Currently, a 5 -foot island in the middle of a parking lot is acceptable. Upon widening the island size, this will allow for larger trees to be planted, thus enhancing the probability of the trees to take root and flourish. This also creates greater buffer between commercial and residential development. Vice Mayor Malnar noted residences have expressed concerns about having a greater buffer, but agreed buffer extension on the commercial side would be an overall improvement. Vice Chairperson Shea asked how much of the building site would businesses forfeit with the loss of parking due to setbacks and large islands. Mr. Pruett did note that there is a carrying capacity loss, and he would be willing to draft some examples of pre vs. post -adjustments. Mr.Pruett reassured that businesses will have the flexibility they need (in regards to more mature landscaping) in order to move forward with this process. Chairperson Clark expressed concerns about this code not being business -friendly and that it might cause businesses to ultimately have to turn customers away due to the regulations no longer being accommodating. Ms. Collins explained the focus shouldn't be on a specific requirement, but the focus should be on organizing how non -building and non -parking areas need to be landscaped. Ms. Collins noted that everything is performance-based because every site is different. Chairperson Clark revisited Vice Chairperson Shea's initial question about potentially reducing building square footage. Mr. Pruett noted that even with the current code, this is a possibility. Ms Collins noted there are development standards for buildings as well; she also noted that this is all newly drafted, and thus, finding the balance of having enough space for businesses and having inviting landscaping. Chairperson Clark suggested having further material drafted for a more detailed discussion. Ms. Knaack agreed with the first two bullet points, especially the percentage in favor of the performance-based approach and provided a concrete example of a recent landscaping variance flaw. Mr. Adams noted there are some scenarios where landscaping standards could influence event -related gatherings, and he suggested it may be be better to consider portable landscaping. Ms. Collins said portable landscaping has been considered, and while it could work with some landscaping, larger trees would need to be stationary. Mr. Adams suggested once larger trees get to a certain size, they could be moved elsewhere permanently. Chairperson Clark suggested looking into this, but Ms. Collins noted this would be difficult to enforce. Chairperson Clark suggested carving out alternative landscaping and event parking for specific businesses (such as arenas). When Chairperson Clark asked for further commentary, Mr. Crow suggested coming up with a policy that allows for businesses to feel empowered and be able to creatively make adjustments to their liking based on their specific, unique space. Ms. Knaack asked if this meant we would be getting away from consistently having to ask for variances, and she noted getting away from percentages and focusing on each individual situation would be better. Ms. Collins noted having this system would be ideal, and focusing on making it easier on applicants and maintaining the spirit of the ordinance. Mr. Pruett did acknowledge that the current code doesn't offer flexibility, and more flexibility is desired even with this new draft, but his concern is the more flexibility that is provided, the more arbitrary the code becomes. Mr. Pruett suggested the committee works on ways to improve the flexibility (even if it's only a few aspects) that will help this code the most. Chairperson Clark noted that while no two projects are alike, there needs to be common ground that's broad enough to cover each unique situation. Councilmember Tolmachoff suggested that with many of the Business Council Committee members also being on the Code Review Committee, perhaps the specific, minute details of the codes is more so an issue that should be addressed by the Code Review Committee, and Councilmember Tolmachoff suggested menu -style landscape options for businesses. Ms. Collins said the performance-based, menu -style options for ordinances is a good idea. Vice 6 Chairperson Shea noted in Section 4.3.8, there is room for flexibility in the beginning. Chairperson Clark suggested adding "once all available tools have been exhausted, then will occur," so people know there is a final recourse. Ms. Collins explained part of this code is to provide instruction to business owners, but she also agreed that there should be a way to both achieve what they want and meet the code in a variety of ways. Chairperson Clark asked for further commentary or notation of anything that might be further onerous, and there were no further comments from the committee. Mr. Pruett noted there aren't many changes proposed for the screen or wall requirements in the code, but he feels the city will benefit from some clarity of what qualifies as "screening." Chairperson Clark brought up the discussion of having a 6 -foot vs. 8 -foot wall separating a commercial property from a residential property. Vice Chairperson Shea noted that residences often already have 6 -foot walls behind their homes, and the last thing they'd want is another 8 - foot wall behind their 6 -foot wall. Ms. Collins said the committee would need to draft ordinance language that provides flexibility with this. Mr. Pruett ended with noting the signage code will be discussed next meeting. OTHER BUSINESS No other business was discussed. STAFF REPORT No staff reports were discussed. COMMITTEE COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS There were no committee comments or suggestions made. NEXT MEETING The next regular meeting of the Business Council Committee will be held on December 17th, 2020, at 2 PM, located at 5850 W. Glendale Ave, Conference Room B3, Glendale, Arizona 85301. ADJOURNMENT Chairperson Clark adjourned the meeting. The meeting adjourned at approximately 3:18 PM. Sherry Crapser, Recording Secretary 3