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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/04/20091141 City of W heat R~ijge PLANNING COMMISSION AGENDA June 4, 2009 Notice is hereby given of a Public Meeting to be held before the City of Wheat Ridge Planning Commission on June 4, 2009, at 7:00 p.m., in the City Council Chambers of the Municipal Building, 7500 West 29th Avenue, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to participate in all public meetings sponsored by the City of Wheat Ridge. Call Heather Geyer, Public Information Officer at 303-235-2826 at least one week in advance of a meeting if you are interested in participating and need inclusion assistance. 1. CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER 2. ROLL CALL OF MEMBERS 3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 4. APPROVE THE ORDER OF THE AGENDA (Items of new and old business may be recommended for placement on the agenda.) 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - May 21, 2009 6. PUBLIC FORUM (This is the time for any person to speak on any subject not appearing on the agenda. Public comments may be limited to 3 minutes.) 7. STUDY SESSION A. Residential Dumpsters 8. OTHER ITEMS 9. ADJOURNMENT 1A City of W heat idge PLANNING COMMISSION Minutes of Meeting May 21, 2009 1. CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chair REINHART at 7:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers of the Municipal Building, 7500 West 29th Avenue, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. 2. ROLL CALL OF MEMBERS Commission Members Present: Jim Chilvers Marc Dietrick John Dwyer Henry Hollender Dick Matthews Davis Reinhart Commission Members Absent: Anne Brinkman Steve Timms Staff Members Present: Ken Johnstone, Community Development Director Meredith Reckert, Senior Planner Jeff Hirt, Planner II Ann Lazzeri, Recording Secretary 3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 4. APPROVE THE ORDER OF THE AGENDA It was moved by Commissioner MATTHEWS and seconded by Commissioner DWYER to approve the order of the agenda. The motion carried 6-0. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - April 16, 2009 It was moved by Commissioner HOLLENDER and seconded by Commissioner DWYER to approve the minutes of April 16, 2009 as presented. The motion carried 4-0 with Commissioners DIETRICK and MATTHEWS abstaining. Planning Commission Minutes 1 May 21, 2009 6. PUBLIC FORUM (This is the time for any person to speak on any subject not appearing on the agenda.) There was no one to address the Commission at this time. 7. PUBLIC HEARING A. Case No. WZ-09-04: An application filed by K&C RV Centers dba Camping World for approval of an outline development plan amendment to allow additional land uses of RV sales and rental for the property zoned Planned Commercial Development and located at 4100 Youngfield Street. Prior to presenting the case, Meredith I REINHART. She entered all pertinent Commission there was jurisdiction to h and digital presentation. Staff recomm conditions, outlined in the staff report. sworn in into the r case reasons, a advised the staff report l with The staff report explained that in 20 licenses for RV sales and rental. Th Community Development DepartmE property. Based on issuance of licet on Colfax was closed and the existii relocated to the Wheat Ridge Store. RV was notified and the process for zoning was initiated. K&C RV applied to the City for business licenses were approved by the in conflict with approved zoning on the s, a Camping World sales facility located nventory and sales personnel were hen staff became aware of the error, K&C Vesting an amendment to the property's Commissioner DWYER stated that he had no problem with the application. He asked if any new procedures have been implemented to prevent a similar error from occurring in the future. Ken Johnstone explained that sales tax licenses are handled in the finance department. A procedure has been set in place for the Community Development Department to track sales tax licenses through software and refer those licenses to a planner and the building inspector. Rod Anderson, the applicant was sworn in by Chair REINHART. He stated that in moving to the present location he closed an existing business upon approval of the licensing. It would create a hardship to the business if it could not operate in this location. Chair REINHART asked if there were members of the public who wished to address this matter. Hearing no response, the public hearing was closed. Commissioner MATTHEWS commented that he didn't see a purpose in limiting sales to RV's only. Planning Commission Minutes 2 May 21, 2009 It was moved by Commissioner MATTHEWS and seconded by Commissioner HOLLENDER to recommend approval of Case No. WZ-09- 04, a request for approval of an amendment to the Youngfield Plaza ODP for Lot 2 to allow the additional uses of RV sales and rental on property located at 4100 Youngfield for the following reasons: 1. There is adequate parking on-site to accommodate the new uses. 2. It will legitimize the RV sales and rental occurring on the property. 3. The evaluation criteria support approval of the request. With the following conditions: 1. RV sales and rental inventory be located as specified on staffs exhibit No. 6. 2. All required fire lanes be kept clear of obstruction. In response to a question from Commissioner CHILVERS, Ms. Reckert stated that the public hearing was advertised for the sale and rental of RV's only; however, it could be modified at first reading. The property owner to the south was supportive of RV sales and rental. It would be necessary to talk with that owner to get his concurrence to allow the sale and rental of other types of vehicles. Commissioner DWYER offered a friendly amendment to add a third condition as follows: 3. es of vehicles is not allowed on the The amendment was accepted by Commissioners MATTHEWS and HOLLENDER. The amended motion carried 6-0. 8. STUDY SESSION Jeff Hirt presented the staff report and invited discussion on a Mixed Use Development District prior to moving forward with drafting an ordinance. Specific policy direction was requested on (1) number of districts; (2) mix of land uses; (3) density; (4) site plan approval; (5) nonconformities; and other standards and policies that should be considered for the district. Comments included: Planning Commission Minutes 3 May 21, 2009 • A third district could be added that would be similar to mixed use commercial but more aggressive with mandatory uses. This could address transit oriented development. • Transit oriented development is unique in itself and would not necessarily require a third district. It may not be beneficial to draft a district for only one location in the city (one light rail station). • Overlay districts can also be brought into play. • Uses have to be market driven. Mandates must be looked at very carefully. Providing incentives would be a good idea. • Maybe number of districts could be determined after Wadsworth summit. • Density calculations should be consistent. • Transition from higher density to single ft • More intensive mixed use may be more st less intensive uses for east-west corridors. • A third district may have more incentives of the incentives could be for administrati more "aggressive" district, while PC appr two more modest districts. • There should be a size threshold that woul plan approval. Larger projects should aut, Staff will do some research to arrive at a c • Nonconformities should not be square footage maximum is spec nonconformity), there cannot be to s important. for north-south corridors and )re retail, for example, one in approval in the third, be required with the other a public hearing for site ly require a public hearing. ze threshold. more than one time. If a (maximum allowed expansion of a mental expansions to circumvent the • A Wadsworth summit meeting with property owners along Wadsworth and other interested citizens will be scheduled to look at the possibility of city- initiated rezoning along that corridor. Feedback from that meeting along with Planning Commission comments will be considered in drafting the ordinance. 9. OTHER ITEMS There were no other items to come before the Commission. 10. ADJOURNMENT It was moved by Commissioner CHILVERS and seconded by Commissioner HOLLENDER to adjourn the meeting at 8:31 p.m. The motion carried 6-0. Davis Reinhart, Chair Ann Lazzeri, Secretary Planning Commission Minutes 4 May 21, 2009 City of Wheat Midge PLANNING COMMISSION coMMUNin DEVELOPMENT LEGISLATIVE ITEM STAFF REPORT MEETING DATE: June 4, 2009 TITLE: A STUDY SESSION TO DISCUSS AMENDING SECTION 614 OF CHAPTER 26 CONCERNING RESIDENTIAL DUMPSTER REGULATIONS CASE NO. ZOA-09-04/Residential Dumpster Regulations ® STUDY SESSION ITEM ® CODE CHANGE ORDINANCE Case Manager: Adam Tietz Date of Preparation: May 29, 2009 SUMMARY: In January, staff was directed by City Council to study the current regulation in the Code of Laws regulating the size of trash receptacles on single and two-family properties (Sec. 26-614). The current regulation does not allow properties with single and two-family dwelling units to have any trash receptacle over 1 cubic yard in size. This regulation has led to code enforcement action on several properties throughout the City. On April 20, 2009, the following report was presented to City Council at a study session. The staff recommendations were the options that staff considered with discussion of the potential pros and cons of each of the recommendations. Below the staff recommendations is the direction given by City Council at the study session regarding the residential dumpster regulations. Their recommendations specifically address amendments to the requirement to size, screening and access to public right-of-way of trash receptacles as they relate to single family and two-family dwelling units. BACKGROUND: Statement of the Issues As previously stated, Section 26-614.C does not allow single and two-family dwelling units to have any receptacle over 1 cubic yard in order to maintain the residential character of these areas. Single family homes on agriculturally zoned property are allowed to have dumpsters larger than 1 cubic yard in order to accommodate the agricultural uses that are permitted in these zone districts. These requirements have been in place since 1996 and have relatively been a non-issue since that time. The current property inspector recently began closing out old cases files. fn closing out the files, the inspector came across several files where property owners had been cited for having dumpsters over 1 cubic yard on their property. Further investigation has revealed there are other properties in the City in violation of this code sections. One property owner in particular has maintained that her property produces too much waste to have anything less then a two (2) cubic yard dumpster. The issue seems isolated to this property only but the owner maintains that dumpsters larger than 1 cubic yard are needed for the following reasons: • The size of a lot should determine the size of trash receptacle that is allowed as large lots produce larger amounts of waste. • Two-family dwelling units and multiple single family units on a single lot produce more trash then can be placed in a 1 cubic yard dumpster. • Trash companies do not offer any dumpster that is smaller then 2 cubic yards for home trash service. • Larger families produce more trash • One (1) larger receptacle is easier to maintain than several standard trash cans. Industry Standards Wheat Ridge residents are served by multiple trash providers. In recent years, refuse companies have provided trash receptacles rather then having customers provide their own trash cans. The trash receptacles provided by the refuse companies have been designed to be emptied by mechanical devices attached to trucks. They also have been designed to make it easier for manual emptying of trash into trucks than typical cylindrical trash cans. Refuse companies that provide trash cans for home trash pick-up service, typically provide them in 3 sizes, 32, 64 and 96 gallons. A one (1) cubic yard dumpster holds the equivalent of 202 gallons. 32 64 96 Figures I and 2. Typical size and design of trash receptacles provided by refuse companies. A 32 gallon trash receptacle is the typical size of a cylindrical trash receptacle found at most home improvement and discount stores. Dumpster service for residential properties is provided by most refuse companies at special rates. r 32 64 96 The range of dumpsters sizes available to residential home owners is wider as refuse companies provide small dumpsters as well as large roll-off dumpsters often seen at construction sites. There is no industry standard as to the minimum size of dumpster provided for home service. Of the refuse companies serving greater Denver, the most common minimum size of dumpster provided for home service is two (2) cubic yards. Several offer one and one-half (1/z) cubic yard dumpsters but in staff's research there were no refuse companies that offered dumpsters of less than one and one-half (1 1/2) cubic yards. The dimensions of a one (1) cubic yard dumpster often deter refuse companies from providing dumpsters of that size. The mechanical arms on refuse trucks used to lift the dumpsters are set at a standard width. Dumpsters of one (1) cubic yard are not typically constructed to the standard width that dumpsters one and one half (1 '/z) cubic yards or larger are constructed to. In order for the trucks to be able to lift one (1) cubic yard dumpsters, the arms on the truck would have to be retrofitted with additional equipment. Please see the table below for further information. 1 Size Capacity Dimensions 1 cubic yard 201.9 gallons r 70' II! l'+~aa 72',(1- I L I _ W 30 . .r- 1 1/2 cubic yards 302.9 gallons r,,.,,r.- 91• i 751/1• LL _ ,j ` 72', r 7aVr 2 cubic yards 403.9 gallons 75,,2-`.-. B,- r I 1 45- 74 ,/1• L L t _ y. 77-12• 3 cubic yards 605.9 gallons a,- --81 ~ Sol M-Ilr g_ - 7r 41-L4" " 4 cubic yards 807.8 gallons - -a' I f~ f 72' 51-1 R' Table 1. The standard width of dumpsters 1 1/z cubic yards and larger typically stays the same in order to fit the arms of the dumpster lifting mechanism into the side slots, while a 1 cubic yard dumpster has a smaller width. The standard width for dumpsters 1 1/z cubic yards and larger may vary from one company to another based on the lifting mechanism on their trucks. Municipal Regulations The codes of fourteen (14) Metro Denver communities were examined to determine if other communities restricted the size of trash receptacles on residentially zoned properties. Of the fourteen (14) communities, six (6) of the communities did not have any regulations pertaining to the size of a trash receptacle placed on a residential property. The six included: • Aurora • Denver • Englewood • Golden • Broomfield • Greenwood Village The remaining eight (8) communities have regulations regarding the size of trash receptacles placed on residentially zoned property. However, unlike the City of Wheat Ridge, the communities that regulated the size of the receptacle typically did not include the regulations in their zoning code. The majority of the communities addressed the issue in the section of their codes that pertained to sanitation, pubic health, or public utilities. Below is a table that indicates what the other Metro Denver communities require in comparison to the City of Wheat Ridge. and Commerce City Garbage container Chapter 8 - Garbage, Trash, and Garbage container must be larger than Weeds and contents cannot 32 gallons exceed 80 lbs. Thorton 110 gallons max. Chapter 16 - Public Property, Garbage container Utilities, and Services and contents cannot exceed 350 lbs. Lakewood 90 gallons max. Chapter 8 - Health and Safety Westminster 1 cubic yard max. Title 8 - Health and Sanitation Littleton 32 gallons max. Title 7 - Health and Sanitation Garbage container and contents cannot exceed 100 lbs. Edgewater 35 gallons max. Chapter 7 - Health, Sanitation, Garbage container and Animals and contents cannot exceed 75 lbs. Boulder Of sufficient size Title 6- Health, Safety, and to accommodate Sanitation the regular accumulation of trash for that use Staff Recommendations Based on the information above and in order to address some of the issues that have been raised, Staff have has provided a list of options for Planning Commission to consider regarding the regulation of residential dumpster regulations. No change to the current regulations o The incident necessitating the study of the residential dumpster is isolated to one property. ■ Several other properties will require code enforcement to comply with current regulations. o Current code does not restrict property owners from having a maximum number of trash cans meaning a property owner may have multiple smaller receptacles. o In order to allow containers larger than one (1) cubic yard an administrative variance or variance from the Board of Adjustments may be requested by the property owner. ■ The existing criteria to evaluate variances may not be suitable for a variance request to dumpster size. Remove all residential trash receptacle size restrictions o All properties in the City would be eligible to use dumpsters. o Dumpsters are not easily movable and could likely result in dumpsters being stored in front setback areas or near the street. ■ Could develop regulations to restrict storage location. o Dumpsters are required to be screened from public right-of-way by a six foot fence, wall, or landscaping on commercial and industrial zoned properties. ■ There may be a need to apply this to residential properties with a dumpster. ■ May result in the increase of variance requests to allow a 6 foot fence in the front setback. o Trucks may cause damage to curb, gutter, sidewalks, or driveways if they must drive onto these surfaces to access a dumpster. Restrict the dumpster size regulation to single family residences only. o Keep single family homes restricted to one (1) cubic yard or less. o Increase the dumpster size allowed on properties with more than one (1) single family residence and two-family dwelling units respectively. ■ May cause issues with enforcement o A large number of properties in the City would be eligible with many of the same outcomes as listed in the previous option. • Develop dumpster size restrictions that are proportionate to lot size. o Larger residential parcels would be allowed larger trash receptacles. o Could restrict a small parcel with two and multi-family dwellings on them from having a trash receptacle of a necessary size to meet their needs. City Council Recommended Changes Based on the presentation of the information above and further ensuing discussion with City Council, they suggested moving forward with an amendment to Chapter 26 Section 614 of the Code of Laws. The proposed amendment would: • Remove all size restrictions for trash receptacles on single and two family dwelling units. • Require screening of any trash receptacle over 96 gallons (including multiple 96 gallon trash receptacles). • Require any dumpster 1.5 cubic yards or larger to have direct access to the public right-of- way so not to cause trash trucks to drive across other public improvements (curb/gutter/sidewalk) in order to empty the dumpsters.