020409P&ZMinuites
CITY OF AMMON
PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MINUTES
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2009
AGENDA:
CITY OF AMMON
PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION
February 4, 2009
2135 South Ammon Road 7:00 P.M.
AGENDA
I.Pledge of Allegiance:
Cindy Donovan
II.Minutes:
January 7, 2009
III.Public Hearings:
2009-001 – Annexation and Conditional Use Permit – District #93 and John Empey
IV.Action Items:
A.
Recommendation on Public Hearings.
B.
Preliminary Plat – Mountain Valley Estates – Division #2
C.
Final Plat – Mountain Valley Estates – Division #2
D.
Site Plan – District 93 – Mountain Valley Estates
E.
Preliminary Plat – Ammonside – Division #2 and #3
F.
Final Plat – Ammonside – Division #2 and #3
G.
Site Plan – Ammonside – Morgan Construction - Division #2, Block #2, Lot #1
V.Discussion Items:
A.Comp Plan Proposal
VI.Reports:
A.City Council actions
B.City of Idaho Falls Planning and Zoning actions – Cindy Donovan
C.
Bonneville County Planning and Zoning actions – Tom Hunsaker
VII.Call for Adjournment:
MINUTES
Members Present:
Tom Hunsaker, Chairman
Cindy Donovan
Rick Butler
Greg Maeser
Quinn Simmons
Scott Wessel
Steve Richards
Russell Slack
City Officials Present:
Ron Folsom, Planning Director
Lance Bates, Engineer
Gay Leming, Deputy Clerk
Absent:
David Hill
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Tom Hunsaker at 7:05 p.m. in the City Building at 2135 South
Ammon Road, Ammon, Idaho. Cindy Donavan led the Pledge of Allegiance.
MINUTES:
January 7, 2009: Steve Richards motioned to accept the minutes with minor grammatical
changes. Cindy Donovan seconded. All in favor – the motion passed.
2-4-09 Planning & Zoning Minutes Page 1 of 4
PUBLIC HEARINGS:
Chairman Tom Hunsaker explained the process for Public Hearings.
2009-001 – Annexation and Conditional Use Permit – District #93 and John Empey
Ron explained there will
need to be two separate motions – one for the annexation and another for the Conditional Use Permit. The request is for
80.63 acres to be annexed. The top portion of this property, 56.73 acres, is being requested to be zoned RP-A. The
lower portion of the property, 23.9 acres, is being requested to be zoned C-1.
Alan Cunningham, 1020 Lincoln Rd., Mountain River Engineering, stated he is asking for the entire property
to be annexed, so it won’t have to be annexed at a later date. This property is in the flood plain and Mr. Empey will
work with the City on the flood control issues. The reason for the C-1 portion of this property is because across the
street, in the City and County, the property is C-1 and this will stay in accordance with what is there.
Tom stated that there is a lot of commercial on that side of the track with 800 ft being requested by the
landowner. Tom said he is afraid this is too much commercial. Cindy wanted to know how deep the commercial is
across the street. Alan said it was probably about 600 ft.
Roger Hill, 3497 N Ammon Rd, stated 15.5 acres at the North end of this property is what the school
district is asking for a future elementary school. By building a school here we can draw from at least two of the schools
that are overcrowded. This area will not have to bus all the students with most of the students being able to walk. The
school wants to annex so they can use the City utilities. At this time, there is only a single access into the property.
District 93 is working with the staff to determine where the best place would be to put a second access. There will be a
secondary access placement on the approved site plan.
Wendell Richardson, 4200 Wanda stated all the neighbors feel a school is a good use of this property. He is
concerned about the state of the east-west running canal on the north end of the property. He is also concerned about
school traffic overwhelming Princess.
Allen Stevens, 1465 Princess stated he is concerned about how much commercial there is and asked if they
could cut down the commercial. Office buildings would be better than retail use.
Lenna Somintro, 4302 Wayne Ave. just east of property stated she is happy with the school but we have a
quiet neighborhood and would encourage the commercial to move further back, with buffering between the commercial
and the residential. We don’t want our street opened up, because of its impact on kids playing in the neighborhood.
Extending the street would also require crossing the canal.
West Wood, 4323 Mason stated he wants to know about the canal and who owns it. Alan stated that Mr.
Empey owns the canal property and the water rights. Mr. Wood requested that they make an access through the field to
Sunnyside. Alan stated the irrigation company owns some of the property but they usually own rights and not land.
Alan Cunningham stated that Mr. Empey is not a developer and is just trying to annex now and designate the
zoning. The Commission commented that they feel that 400 ft of commercial should be enough, which would make the
commercial the same depth as the adjacent church property. Russell thinks that they will lose some of this property to
the flood channel, so maybe there should be a little more than 400 ft. Quinn advised to zone all the property RP-A and
let Mr. Empey come back when he knows what he is going to do with the property. Rick stated he thinks that they may
need more than 2 accesses into the property and is also leaning toward half of the proposed C-1 being zoned RP-A.
Greg motioned to accept the annexation with RP-A on the northern portion to the back end of the church
property, with the zone boundary from there due west to the tracks, and the southern portion C-1. Scott seconded with
participation in flood plain control. Three for, five against. The motion failed.
Rick motioned to annex with a condition that all the property be zoned RP-A. Quinn seconded with
participation in the flood plain control. Five for, three against. Rick Butler stated he felt that 899 ft of commercial was
too much. Quinn Simmons said he did not like the idea that it did not line up with the church or Wayne St. and there
would be issues with traffic until there was a plat of what the property would be used for, out lining where the roads
would be, and showing the second access for the school. He thought that it would be easier to change the residential to
commercial when the time came and not let them have so much commercial. Tom Hunsaker said we cannot have a
solid commercial line with every arterial in the City for the entire length and this seemed like a good place to stop. Tom
also felt that 800 ft of commercial was too much. Russell Slack stated he also thought that 800 ft of commercial was
too much and in conjunction it did not line up to anything else in the area. Without a plan of why they needed 800 ft.,
we really had no basis to keep its length. It would be easier to make it all residential than to determine whether the
commercial should be to the back of the church or to Wayne Avenue, without a plan of what he is going to do with the
property. Steve Richards said he felt that 800 ft was to deep, without knowing what was going in there. It seemed to
make more sense to have the commercial property line up with the back of the church, so that Wayne Avenue would
continue to be residential.
Tom reopened the public hearing for the conditional use permit.
2-4-09 Planning & Zoning Minutes Page 2 of 4
Alan Cunningham stated the City wants elementary schools off of arterials. Otherwise, he had covered
everything for the conditional use permit in the last hearing. Roger Hill is trying to locate schools in residential areas.
The District never has had a basement in an elementary school. With this property being in the flood plain, it makes an
ideal place to put a school. The building will be one foot above flood stage. Its open fields, play areas, and parking
will be in the flood zone.
Guy Blistner, 3160 E. Iona Rd. said this is an ideal location for the school. Kids will not have to cross arterials
such as Sunnyside Rd and it is within walking distance for most of the children.
Allen Stevens, 2465 Princess Dr. said that access off Sunnyside needs to be considered, so the children don’t
try to get to school over the canal. He stated he would also like a 4 way stop at Wanda and Princess to be considered
because at the stop sign you cannot see left.
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Glen Pender, 1093 E 25Street stated he was concerned about the access in this area and how it will affect
property and values.
Wes Wood, 4323 Mason said he wanted to echo the same comments as Allen. He would like to make sure
there is an access for the kids. He is worried about kids walking along the canal from Wanda, and along the railroad
tracks.
Alan Cunningham stated he doesn’t feel that traffic will be that big of an issue and the school is trying to get
the second access in place.
Quinn motioned for approval of the conditional use permit for District 93, subject to technical review.Rick
Butler seconded. All in favor – the motioned passed.
ACTION ITEMS:
A. Recommendation on Public Hearing:
Cindy Donovan motioned that no additional public hearings were
needed. Steve Richards seconded. All in favor – the motion carried.
B. Preliminary Plat – Mountain Valley Estates – Division #2:
Alan Cunningham stated they were taking
Princess straight through and dead ending it.
Steve Richards motioned for approval of the preliminary plat, subject to technical review. Quinn Simmons
seconded the motion. All in favor – the motion carried.
C. Final Plat – Mountain Valley Estates – Division #2:
Quinn Simmonsmotioned to approve the final
plat, subject to technical review. Russell Slack seconded. All in favor -- the motion carried.
D. Site Plan – District 93 – Mountain Valley Estates:
Alan Cunningham explained that the layout of this
school will be similar to the layout at the Bridgewater School and there will be a second access. The natural drainage
for this land goes from Northeast to Southwest. If you deny this because of the access, it will probably cause a problem
for the school district to get started because the commission only meets one time a month.
Rick Butler motioned to approve the Site Plan, subject to technical review, provision of a second access, and
any major changes will have to be brought back to the Planning and Zoning Commission. Scott Wessel seconded. All
in favor – the motioned passed.
E. Preliminary Plat –Ammonside – Division #2 and #3:
Ron explained that this property is directly south
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of Zion’s Bank, across from senior center on 25Street.Todd Meyers, 645 Hickory Rd. stated it is all commercial.
Division 3 is three lots with an access lot of 60 ft wide. There are currently four accesses onto Hitt Rd with another
access on Judy. Lance stated that Idaho Falls controls Hitt Rd so we have no control over the access there; however,
Idaho Falls has already approved their request. Todd said they will be able to come back when the development moves
along. The accesses they are asking for are in line with what is across the street in Idaho Falls.
Greg Maeser motioned to approve the Preliminary Plat as presented, subject to technical review. Cindy
Donavan seconded. All in favor – the motion passed.
F. Final Plat – Ammonside – Division #2 and #3:
Todd Meyers stated everything will look like a street
and follows the preliminary plat in Division #2.
GregMaeser motioned to approve the Final Plat for Division #2 as presented, subject to technical review.
Steve Richards seconded. All in favor – the motion passed.
Quinn Simmonsmotioned toapprove the Final Plat for Division # 3 as presented, subject to technical review.
Scott Wessel seconded. All in favor – the motion passed.
2-4-09 Planning & Zoning Minutes Page 3 of 4
G. Site Plan – Ammonside – Morgan Construction - Division #2, Block #2, Lot #1:
Todd Meyers, 645
Hickory Lane, stated this is a rehabilitation facility when leaving the hospital and will be very low traffic. Tom said he
was concerned with the dumpster placement, that it will block the view of traffic. If they are denied an access point to
Hitt Road south of these lots, the rehabilitation facility could hinder access to the southern area, so could they flip the
rehabilitation facility to the opposite lot? Todd explained that the rehabilitation facility would then be blocked from
future expansion by Judy St.
Scott Wessel motioned approval of the Site Plan- Ammonside, Division 2, Block 2, Lot 1 as shown, subject to
technical review by staff. Greg Maeser seconded. All in favor – the motion passed.
DISCUSSION ITEMS:
A. Comp Plan Proposal:
The commission addressed a couple of typographical errors.
REPORTS:
A. City Council Actions:
Ron discussed the details from the work session and given the dates, as to when,
the wells would be on line which is hopefully by July.
B. City of Idaho Falls Planning and Zoning actions
– Cindy Donovan stated she had nothing to report.
C . Bonneville County Planning and Zoning actions
– Tom Hunsaker reported on a property in Ammon’s
impact area, immediately north of Trellis Square.
CALL FOR ADJOURNMENT:
Scott Wessel motioned for adjournment. Quinn Simmons seconded. All in favor – the meeting adjourned.
The meeting adjourned at10:00 p.m.
___________________________________________
Tom Hunsaker, Chairman
______________________________________
Leslie Folsom, City Clerk
2-4-09 Planning & Zoning Minutes Page 4 of 4