SALT LAKE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION
451 South State Street, Room 126
Present from the Planning Commission were Chairperson Kimball Young, Jim McRea, Ralph Becker, Judi Short, Gilbert Iker, Aria Funk, Max Smith, Fred Fife and Carlton Christensen. Diana Kirk was excused.
Present from the Planning Staff were Planning Director William T. Wright, Brent Wilde and Ray McCandless.
A roll is being kept of all who attended the Planning Commission meeting. The meeting was called to order at 5:00 p.m. by Mr. Young. Minutes are presented in agenda order, not necessarily as cases were heard by the Planning Commission. Tapes of the meeting will be retained in the Planning Office for a period of one year, after which, they will be erased.
Mr. Young explained that since Mr. Ralph Becker had been elected to the State Legislature, this would be his final meeting as a Planning Commission member. The Planning Commission and the Planning Staff wished Mr. Becker success in his endeavors.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Mr. Smith moved to approve the minutes of Thursday, November 21, 1996 as presented. Mr. Christensen seconded the motion. Mr. Christensen, Mr. Fife, Ms. Funk, Ms. Short, Mr. Becker, Mr. Smith and Mr. Iker voted "Aye." Ms. Kirk and Mr. McRea were not present. Mr. Young, as Chair, did not vote. The motion passed.
PETITIONS
PUBLIC HEARING - Petition No. 410-252 by VoiceStream (Western PCS Corp.) requesting a conditional use for wall mounted cellular telecommunication antennas to be located on the commercial building located at 1701 South 1100 East in a Residential Business "RB" zoning district.
Mr. Ray McCandless presented the staff report outlining the major issues of the case, the findings of fact and the staff recommendation, a copy of which is filed with the minutes.
Mr. Jon Allred, representing VoiceStream, was present for this portion of the Planning Commission meeting and stated that they were in agreement with the staff report.
Mr. Young opened the hearing to the public and asked if anyone wished to address the Planning Commission. Upon receiving no response, he closed the hearing to the public and opened it for Planning Commission discussion.
Mr. Becker moved to approve Petition No. 41 0-252, based on the findings of fact and subject to the conditions listed in the staff report. Mr. Smith seconded the motion. Mr. Christensen, Mr. Fife, Ms. Funk, Ms. Short, Mr. Becker, Mr. Smith and Mr. Iker voted "Aye." Ms. Kirk and Mr. McRea were not present. Mr. Young, as Chair, did not vote. The motion passed.
PUBLIC HEARING - Petition No. 410-254 by US West requesting a conditional use for cellular telecommunication antennas to be located on the roof of the office/retail building located at 675 East 2100 South in a Community Business "CB" zoning district
Mr. Ray McCandless presented the staff report outlining the major issues of the case, the findings of fact and the staff recommendation, a copy of which is filed with the minutes.
Mr. Gary Jones, representing AirTouch Cellular, was present for this portion of the Planning Commission meeting and stated that they were in agreement with the staff report.
Mr. Becker asked if the light blue telecommunication tower, owned by AirTouch Cellular, located in the vicinity of 900 South and Redwood Road, could be painted a less noticeable color. Mr. Jones assured the Planning Commission they could repaint that tower a more neutral color.
Mr. Young opened the hearing to the public and asked if anyone wished to address the Planning Commission. Upon receiving no response, he closed the hearing to the public and opened it for Planning Commission discussion.
Mr. Smith moved to approve Petition No. 410-252, based on the findings of fact and subject to the conditions listed in the staff report. Mr. McRea seconded the motion. Mr. Christensen, Mr. Fife, Ms. Funk, Ms. Short, Mr. Becker, Mr. Smith, Mr. McRea and Mr. Iker voted "Aye." Ms. Kirk was not present. Mr. Young, as Chair, did not vote. The motion passed.
OTHER BUSINESS
Briefing on status of Light Rail.
Mr. Wright gave a brief update on the status of the light rail project and stated that it was possible that a request for a referendum might be filed to decide the location of the light rail through the Downtown area. He promised the letter to the UTA Board, from the Planning Commission, requesting the UTA Board support the City's position on the Downtown alignment on Main Street. Mr. Wright said the City wanted to have light rail available to the Downtown area by October 1999.
Briefing on status of Capitol Hill Master Plan.
Mr. Brent Wilde gave a brief update on the status of the Capitol Hill Master Plan and stated that this update process had been started in July 1995 by an advisory committee comprised of community members and the Planning Staff. Mr. Wilde said a first draft of the update was now ready to be distributed to the advisory committee in order to start the adoption process. He said they hoped to have the plan presented to the Planning Commission sometime during spring of 1997 for their review and consideration. Sugar House Business District Subcommittee Report.
Ms. Short updated the Planning Commission on the latest subcommittee meeting for the Sugar House Business District and stated that they believed the hotel project should not proceed ahead of the other projects at this point since everything needed to be studied together.
Mr. Wright stated that in the future, the hotel project might be advanced but agreed at this point, the whole picture needed to be studied.
Ms. Short stated that the next subcommittee meeting would be held on January 7, 1997 at 7:00 a.m. at the Sprague Library.
Mr. Wright stated that this site contained many difficult design issues and was probably one of the more complex sites in the City relative to development. Mr. Wright stated that developments like this were often tenant driven with tenant-specific design criteria which needed to be incorporated into the larger picture. Mr. Wright added that the subcommittee needed to look at the alternatives the developers had already studied in order to arrive at their current proposal during their review process in order to fully understand how the current proposals had been developed.
Update on the Homeless Shelter
Mr. Wright informed the Planning Commission that an agreement had been reached
between the City, Traveler's Aid and the appellant involved in this matter to allow operation of the overflow winter emergency homeless shelter until May, 1997. Mr. Wright added that at that time, Traveler's Aid would have to seek another location for the following year. Mr. Wright explained that the City Council had filed a petition requesting the Planning Staff to study the possibility of amending the Zoning Ordinance to not allow homeless shelters within the City limits, making the existing shelters nonconforming uses. Mr. Wright added that the Planning Staff would be studying this matter in order present it to the Planning Commission for a public hearing sometime in March or April 1997 since the City Council wanted this matter resolved by April 4, 1997. Mr. Wright said the City Council also wanted to see the homeless shelter issue addressed as a regional issue, not just as a City issue.
Update on the Almond Street Proposal by Watts Corporation
Mr. Wright stated that Mr. Bruce Baird had been hired by the Watts Corporation to study the vesting issue and the legal ramifications of rezoning this portion of the Capitol Hill area to "SR-1". Mr. Wright stated that on December 3, 1996, a motion had been made by the City Council to place a moratorium on development of this property in order to give the City time to study the issues involved. He stated that the motion had failed at that meeting, but added however, Councilmember Deeda Seed had requested the motion for a moratorium be revisited at their next meeting, wherein the motion had passed. Mr. Wright said the moratorium would be in place for six months while the City studied the appropriate zoning for this area. Planning Commission initiation of Petition
It was suggested the Planning Commission initiate a petition to rezone the two business properties located between 1100 East and McClelland on the south side of 900 South as soon as possible, rather than wait for the next "fine tuning" of the Zoning Ordinance Rewrite Project.
Mr. Wilde explained that the master plan for this area recommended it be zoned residential but it had been zoned residential-business in the rewrite process and needed to be corrected.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 6:45 p.m.