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LPA08-01-12Min CI'T'Y OF LONGWOOD Land Planning Agency Minutes CITY COMMISSION CHAMBERS August 1, 2012 - 7:00 P.M. 175 W. Warren Avenue Longwood, FL 32750 ATTENDANCE BOARD: STAFF: Bruce E. Noyes, Chair Sheryl L. Bower, AICP, Director Brian Fiore, Vice -Chair Chris Kintner, AICP, Planner Judy Putz, Member Sheryl Gina, Recording Secretary Robin Thorn, Member John. R. Prince, Member 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Noyes called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. ELECTIONS Member Judy Putz moves to re -elect Chair Bruce Noyes as Chairperson. Member John Prince seconded the motion. Member John Prince moves to elect Member Judy Putz as Vice- Chairperson. Chair Bruce Noyes seconded the motion. 3. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES FOR A. Regular Meeting October 12, 2011. Vice - Chair Putz moved to approve the October 12, 2011 minutes as submitted. Seconded by Chair Noyes and carried by a unanimous roll call and vole. LPA Meeting — Heritage Village Redevelopment — August 1, 2012 1 B. Regular Meeting October 25, 2011. Chair Noyes moved to approve the October 25, 2011 rninzttes as submitted. Seconded by Vice -Chair Putz and carried by a unanimous roll call and vote. C. Regular Meeting March 21, 2012. Chair -Noyes moved to approve the March 21, 2012 minutes as submitted. Seconded by Vice -Chair Putz and carried by a unanimous roll call and vote. 4. PUBLIC COMMENT None. Chair Noyes moved to close Public Comment. Vice -Chair Putz seconded the motion. 5. PUBLIC HEARING A. LDCA 01 -12 Longwood Development Code Amendment Ordinance 12 -1992 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF LONGWOOD, FLORIDA, AMENDING THE LONGWOOD DEVELOPMENT CODE ARTICLE I GENERAL PROVISIONS, ARTICLE II LAND USE AND OVERLAY DISTRICTS, ARTICLE III DEVELOPMENT DESIGN STANDARDS, ARTICLE V SUPPLEMENTAL STANDARDS, ARTICLE VI SIGNS, ARTICLE IX HARDSHIP RELIEF, ARTICLIE X ADMINISTRATION TO ADOPT A HERITAGE VILLAGE URBAN CODE BY REFERENCE, REVISE PARKING STANDARDS, REVISE FENCE STANDARDS, ESTABLISH A WAIVER PROVISION, STREAMLINE AND CLARIFY EXISTING DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES, AND PROVIDING FOR CONFLICTS, CODIFICATION, SEVERABILITY AND EFFECTIVE DATE. Chris Kintner first describes the Longwood Development Code (LDC) changes and the removal of the Transit Village Overlay. Other changes include clarifications to parking regulations, fence language, as requested by the City Commission, and special exception language in the Development Code, also requested by the City Commission. LPA Meeting — Heritage Village Redevelopment — August 1, 2012 2 Member Fiore asks how Article 1X, special exceptions, relates to the duties the Board of Adjustments would have versus the special exceptions. Chris Kintner replies that variances are based on a hardship and that is what the Board of Adjustment is tasked with evaluating. To get an exception an applicant will have to meet the five findings, which cannot be based on financial issues. Generally, they have to be related to unusual site specific things. With special exceptions the applicant has an opportunity to make an argument that by getting a waiver to a particular rule they are meeting the spirit of the code without meeting the letter of the code. Chair Nom speaks to parking in terms of drive -way access aisle width. He asks to define what a drive -way aisle is. He asks if that would be the drive that connects the road to the parking area. Sheryl Bower replies yes. If you were only going to have a one -way driveway in and a one -way out the minimum width only needs to be 14 feet, and the same with the access. Chair Noyes states that the one -way access aisle, for the 90 degree, needs to be 24 feet. Or since the parking space is 20 feet deep, then maybe go to 22 feet. Even in one -way parking you need that full width for the car to get in and out of the parking space itself. It is believed you will find, with a 14 foot drive aisle, turning into a 20 foot deep parking space is going to be physically impossible. Sheryl Bower states you would think with one -way parking you would want to do angled parking. Chair Noyes says one -way parking usually is angled parking. That 90 degree parking isn't efficient, unless you're doing it on both sides. If you have parking on both sides of an aisle you can't pull in with a 14 foot drive aisle. Sheryl Bower states the width of the drive aisle can be bumped up and that 14 feet is a minimum width. Historically that's what has been in the code. You can recommend a different size for that. Chair Noyes recommends being consistent with the code which. is 24 feet for a two -way and keep the one -way at 24 feet also. Sheryl Bowers said the concern is we are trying to reduce the amount of pavement so if we don't need the toll 24 feet then maybe we shouldn't go with the frill 24 feet as the minimum. LPA Meeting — Heritage Village Redevelopment — August 1, 2012 3 Chair Noyes stated he would do some auto -turn movements with a software prob am he has and will email them to Sheryl Bower. It will show exactly what it would look like with any given width. Chris Kintner begins a Power Point presentation describing the Heritage Village Urban Code: The Heritage Village Redevelopment looks different than the Transit Village Overlay. It is completely to the North of 434 and ranges from Oleander over to Rangeline Road and includes the SunRail Station, the Hospital and the Historic District. The reason we decided to go to a form - based code is because they are based on interactions with the street rather than site specific issues. It focuses on the physical form and the relationship between the building facades and the public realm. The other distinguishing characteristics are the standards and regulations presented in drawings and diagrams versus words. We're moving toward something that is more simplified and easier to use, for developers and staff, making review times easier. A form -based code allows you to look at an area as a group of neighborhoods. You have the opportunity to create different atmospheres and different characters as opposed to taking the one -size fits all approach towards zoning. There is a lot of time saving when you have graphical based regulations where people can see what the regulations are intended to do. You have the Historic District area and the area around the SunRail Station. To the East of the SunRail Station you have a step -down area (Neighborhood Edge) that acts as a buffer between the denser development that we're promoting for the SunRail Station and the existing Single - Family development that is on the other side of Oleander. With the SunRail Station area, the form -based code allows for buildings close to the road for that Main Street feel. That's not a dynamic that is necessarily appropriate for 434, so this code allows us to have standards that make sense to that area. Generally parking will be to the rear of the building. We want people to see the buildings not a row of cars as they are walking by. We want them to see a coffee shop or a retail boutique, something they would want to interact with at a street level. On 434 however, while you may want to maintain pedestrian access it's not to the same degree of interaction as the SunRail Station area. Wiithin the SunRail area we have a successfiil Industrial area. We have large warehouse buildings that are occupied and doing well but don't necessarily fit with the SunRail area. We don't want to make it tougher on LPA Meeting — Heritage Village Redevelopment — August 1, 2012 4 them to make improvements. So in the Neighborhood Edge we've added a Workshop Overlay that allows those kinds of uses to continue and thrive without trying to push them out of the district. That is an example of how we are able to react to a condition on the ground rather than dumping a large zoning category over the whole district. For Building "Types in the regulating zone, there are nine (9) different building types. There is a Commercial building type that is just one building type. If it works then you don't have to get into all the Article V supplemental standards because if the building functions well with the street and with the neighborhood then the use becomes less important because the building is serving the function that it is intended to serve. There are other building types; apartments, townhomes, residential. In the Historic District you may see a business that takes a residential building type because that's what fits in the district. The Urban Code also discusses streetscape standards. The code identifies primary and secondary streets throughout the district, so Church and Warren become the focuses because they are the connections between the SunRail area and the Hospital. The Urban Code sets up a unified and consistent vision for what the streetscapes are going to look like. The streetscape standards are essentially built into the landscape standards. The streetscapes are set up to include on- street parking, eliminating some of the parking deficit that we have within the district and also creates a buffer for pedestrians. Beyond that there are street trees, some places that call for rain gardens, the walking zone and areas for outdoor dining. It's an active street section where people want to be. We're trying to create something here that people really want to be a part of. Chris Kintner describes differences with the administration section; talcing the administrative waiver ability that is currently in the LDC and expands it. Concept plans are something new to this Urban Code. Part of it is because the hope and expectation is we will have larger projects and potentially projects that are under various ownership. This is an opportunity for them to cone in and work with staff and with City Commission to get a go -ahead so they can move forward with the project. This helps the developer feel more comfortable and get funding for projects, and helps their partners feel more comfortable with projects moving forward. There is language in both codes that allows a special exception for non- hardship reasons. It gives the applicant more freedom for the things that may not have been anticipated so that staff does not have to make a full LPA Meeting — Heritage Village Redevelopment — August 1, 2012 5 code change to language for one particular kind of situation that otherwise works. Sheryl Bower stated that as far as architectural documents go those are still stand alone documents. We haven't put them in here and we haven't changed them. They are still the same as they have been. Chair Noyes stated how he loves the examples, the illustrations, they are easy to read and understand. The diagrams answer a lot of the questions that people have of codes. Sheryl Bower said there's going to be a learning curve for developers and staff so once this has gone through the process we will be having a workshop to bring in developers, architects, engineers and staff to go over how this code works. We went through it first to make sure we could understand it from our point of view. Judy Putz commented that she likes it, but she has some questions too. Mrs. Putz questioned a part of the landscaping section that states we are going to preserve the existing vegetation, wondering if that's appropriate, because the environment will have completely changed. Chris Kintner stated we still may have situations where we have vegetation that we will preserve. The intent with the Heritage Village is to maintain it where it makes sense. Judy Putz said she is looking at the apartment building and some of the landscaping standards. My concern is everything is condensed so closely together with sidewalks and courtyards. Over time trees can do a lot of damage with their roots and create problems with them breaking up sidewalks, getting into foundations and buildings and getting into sewers. I love the urban concept but am wondering if more needs to be taken into consideration for the new environment. Chair Noyes said the under -story trees that are listed are species of trees that tend to grow small and won't create those kinds of issues. Judy Putz asked if the Code defines what type of tree so they don't put an oak tree. Chris Kintner stated on page 94 there are different tree types for ornamental and under -story trees. They have Sweet Bay Magnolia, Crepe Myrtle, Dogwood, American Holly, Drake Elm and Wax Myrtle. So the under -story trees defined here would fit more in an urban setting, but staff will look into it further. LPA Meeting — Heritage Village Redevelopment — August 1, 2012 6 Sheryl Bower also states the trees that would go in a space such as that would be small trees and shouldn't grow that big to cause any stress as mentioned. The pictures that show more yard space are more conducive to the under -stogy trees and we can look at doing just shrubs for the ones that don't have as much space. Staff has a lot of flexibility as far as quantitative. We can reduce the number without having to go through a variance process or going to the City Commission. Judy Put z said it reads as though it's a requirement that you have a certain number of trees. Chair Noyes stated these are requirements in several developments and with the right species of trees and care it makes a nice view. Judi also stated a concern with trees being so close to building and damage from wind storms. Cluis Kintner replied this was part of the appeal of bringing on AECOM; they have a horticulturist on staff and part of the reason these particular trees were chosen was exactly for those reasons. They don't grow so tall that they will damage buildings. There are trees that work better for an urban setting as opposed to a residential. Sheryl Bower also stated the other thing with creating this walkable streetscape is to create shade or it's not going to work. Therefore we're trying to put as much vegetation in as little space as we can to cool it off. Judi said that she noticed the orientation for residential and dining space is facing the street. Chris Kintner stated the thought on that is the importance of having eyes on the street. People would feel safe walking because they wouldn't be walking along bare walls and you've always got people watching when you're out on the street. It's not something we wanted to make a requirement, but it is something that is important to creating that active street environment that we're going 1. or. Judy Putz asks what about the person that lives there. Now he has street eyes on him and that is less privacy. Also, there's more exhaust fumes and noise that will coming into your living space. Sheryl Bower replied that the whole point is to make this an active streetscape and we want bigger windows instead of bathroom sized windows. LPA Meeting — Heritage Village Redevelopment — August 1, 2012 7 Judy Putz stated that she frankly wouldn't want to live there because it would be too noisy and dirty and lack in privacy. Mrs. Putz also asks why regulate it. Sheryl Bower replied that it is not regulated. Judi asked what here is a requirement and what is a suggestion. Chris Kintner said that at the ground level living areas shall be oriented towards the street frontage to the degree possible. If you don't have the living areas there, then you've got your bedrooms there. This is set up more for the living room, dining room; gathering areas, than for the bedroom. Judy Putz stated the garage, for instance, would provide a great buffer from noise, or dirt or exhaust and everything else. She herself would be uncomfortable having people looking into her living area. She is not going to object to it, she just thinks it may put people off. Sheryl Bower stated she is sure other developments such as Celebration and Baldwin Park also have these regulations and it hasn't stopped anyone from living there. For these kinds of codes this is typical language and not a requirement. It's more about having activity space. People like activity more to the front, which is typical now. Judy Putz stated she just wonders if it wouldn't be better to have the living areas sheltered with something else. Brian Fiore proposed, just in terms of consistency, it reads you shall be oriented toward the street frontage to the degree possible, but in the next sentence it says service areas should be oriented, should vs. shall, so why add to the degree possible and not just put should. Sheryl Bower replied service areas really need to be oriented to the rear. There will not be auto /truck access from the front. Brian Fiore said he was referring to the living room /dining room area and changing the wording from shall be oriented to should be oriented. Then it's not a requirement like the word shall is. Sheryl Bower agreed the wording is a little bit confusing and we will take a look at it. Judy Putz asked one other question; the buildings are very close to the street, but we're having wider sidewalks and buffers. Are we also going to focus on a maximum speed limit. LPA Meeting — Heritage Village Redevelopment — August 1, 2012 8 Chris Kintner replies the majority of the standards here are going to be related to Church, Myrtle, Oleander, those kinds of streets that don't have a high speed limit anyway. For those areas that do front 427 or 434; 434 will have a different design element altogether, like we talked about, and then 427; from Orange to Bay, the context sensitive solution is reducing the travel lanes, enhancing the crosswalks in that area, narrowing that walk so people don't have to walk the whole length of it and come across this fearsome intersection, all of which have impact on reducing speed. That's a project that we do have funding to do the construction drawings for so as we start moving forward with that, process then we will be able to make some projections about what that will do to the actual speed that people should feel like they are going. Sheryl Bower stated that for the City to be able to do that we need to take ownership of the road or have some kind of responsibility because it is a County road. We will have the ability to change the speed limits once we put that road on the Road Diet. Chair Noyes asked if either of the public persons would like to speak to the item in discussion. Robin Hunt asked if there's any way to get the agenda item on the website. Sheryl Bower stated it would be made available. Judy Putz asked if there will be any public hearings for the public or workshops for it to be presented. Sheryl Bower replies there will be two public hearings in front of the City Commission. At this point we haven't scheduled any additional workshops except for the one discussed previously. Chair Noyes states he will make a notion for the LPA to approve LDC Amendment Code 12 -1992. Recommend approval to City Commission. Seconded by Vice- Chair Putz and carried by a unanimous roll call and mote. Chair Noyes moved to close the public hearing section. Seconded by Member Putz and carried by a unanimous roll call and vote. LPA Meeting — Heritage Village Redevelopment — August 1, 2012 9 6. DISCUSSION AND SCHEDULE FOR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Sheryl Bower states the only thing is getting the LDC Amendment 12 -1992 underway. Next Regularly Scheduled Meeting: September 12, 2012. 7. ADJOURNMENT Chair Noyes moved to adjourn. Seconded by Vice -Chair Putz and carried by a unanimous roll call and vote. Chair Noyes adjourned the meeting at 7:59 pan. Bruce Noyes, . hair ATTEST: � ery Recording Secretary LPA Meeting – Heritage Village Redevelopment – August 1, 2012 10