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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1989-01-25 P&Z Minutes\~ KENAI PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION January 25, 1989 - 7:00 P.M. City Hall Council Chambers Chairperson Pat Nault, Presiding AGENDA 1. ROLL CALL 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA 3. PERSONS PRESENT SCHEDULED TO BE HEARD 4. PUBLIC HEARINGS a. Resolution PZ89-1 Pertaining to Recreational Vehicle Parks 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES of January 11, 1989 6. OLD BUSINESS 1 7. NEW BUSINESS A Cam 8. PLANNING a. Goals & Objectives for 1989 9. REPORTS a. City Council b. Borough Planning c. City Administration 10. PERSONS PRESENT NOT SCHEDULED TO BE HEARD 11. INFORMATION ITEMS a. City Council Agenda b. Borough Planning Agenda c. Planning Magazine for November and December 12. COMMISSION COMMENTS & QUESTIONS 13. ADJOURNMENT PLEASE BE SURE TO BRING YOUR CODE BOOKS AND COMP PLAN BOOKS. KENAI PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION January 25, 1989 - 7:00 P.M. City Hall Council Chambers Chairperson Pat Nault Presiding 1. ROLL CALL Present: Nault, Bannock, Bryson, Glick, O'Reilly, Roberts Absent: Brown - excused 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA There was one addition: Under item 7-a, three Corps of Engineers Applications. The agenda was approved unanimously with the additions. 3. PERSONS PRESENT SCHEDULED TO BE HEARD None 4. PUBLIC HEARINGS a. Resolution PZ89-1 Pertainincr to Recreational Vehicle Parks Chairman Nault called for comments from the public, there were none. The resolution returns to the Commission for comments. Commissioner Bryson stated that on section 2, paragraph d, he would like to define how the days are measured. I would propose adding the verbiage "or exceeding 30 days per calendar year". Commissioner Bannock expressed confusion. It has to be parked some place. In a one year period you couldn't have it parked in the same place for more than 30 days? Commissioner Bryson answered, being used for 30 days. Commissioner Glick: It couldn't be set up with someone living it in. Chairman Nault: Section D addresses that. Commissioner Bannock: Weren't we discussing that it should be that or consecutive 30 days. So the person couldn't spend the entire month of June and the entire month of August, that would put him out of compliance. The Commission agreed. Commissioner Bannock stated, "I don't think we should pass an ordinance that as the last paragraph says, could be for 60 days as long as it was not a problem it wouldn't be heard'. There are some people that have a problem with noncompliance with the law regardless of whether its a nuisance or not, we shouldn't write a law that could be broken and nobody would care. If it's not going to be a problem then why should it be a law." Councilman Smalley: That was my statement and what I meant was if it was worded the way in which is was, generally speaking the only KENAI PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION January 25, 1989 Page 2 > problems you're going to have with RV's are those where you have complaints where the city has to go out and investigate and do something about it. Commissioner Bannock: If we have a situation where the person is there for 60 days, even if he's not being a problem he's still breaking the law. Commissioner Bryson: Personally, I don't care if it's 30 or 60 days, but I do think how those days are determined should be clarified in the ordinance. Commissioner O'Reilly: I do think we need some time limit because we're not talking about the people in an RV park we're talking about people who buy homes in a nice neighborhood they don't want RV's camping there for a long time. Commissioner Bannock: This is a summer time RV park. The whole time. That's when the RV people are here in the summer. So we have Mr. & Mrs. Tourist in their Winnebago for the entire summer, where are they going to go without breaking the law. The Commission answered, in an RV park. Chairman Nault: Section 3 refers to private property owners. Commissioner Glick: The problem is if you live in Woodland or a small subdivision you don't want campers there because the lots are small but perhaps out on Beaver Loop somewhere no one cares. Commissioner Bannock: I still don't feel we should pass something that won't be enforced unless someone complains about it. Commissioner O'Reilly: There is no ordinance at all now. Commissioner Bannock: The speed limit is 55 mph and that doesn't mean you can do 65 mph as long as you're not bothering anybody. It's the same situation here. Councilman Smalley: We were discussing whether it should be consecutive or calendar and the way it was worded long term, my suggestion was to leave it that way which allows the city that flexibility in the law rather then being hard and fast. Commissioner Bannock: I agree with that. I would make reference to the next sentence from Mr. Brown where he speaks to that. It's ok to break the law as long as there aren't any problems. Planning Specialist Loper: Perhaps if you look at it this way, the difference between a 55 mph speed limit and a camper sitting out there on a street. The police department actually goes out and enforces the 55 mph speed limit while only two persons would enforce the RV ordinance, and then we would not be going out and seeking violators. All we're doing here is creating something in order to respond to complaints. This is the only way that we can assist the public considering the amount of staff that would be involved. The police department would not be the main enforcer of this code. The only other way it would be enforced is if Howard, on his rounds witnesses a violation such as the case in Thompson Park last year. Chairman Nault: I think we're looking at trying the balance the ~ protection of the adjacent property owners. The needs and wishes of the people that don't want a camper parked in their driveway, or street, or whatever. Commissioner Bannock: But if I want my KENAI PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION January 25, 19$9 Page 3 l relatives to be parked in their RV all summer long, I can't do that. Commissioner Bryson: If we are considering a time limit of any kind I think the legal department would like a determination of how that's measured. Councilman Smalley: It incorporates the term consecutive but you could say something like as defined as not to exceed more than 30 consecutive days nor 60 calendar days per year. Which would give you some flexibility. I don't know if putting it that way would cause more problems for enforcement because again it is a reactionary kind of thing. Commissioner Bryson: Determining whether someone is there 30 days or 40 days is virtually impossible unless you have someone across the street that's keeping a log on it. Commissioner Bannock.: If we were to do a program like Councilman Smalley just mentioned, I would like to see instead 60, 90 days because our summers are three months long. Planning Specialist Loper: You're problem person, the one that is the nuisance, you don't want them there all summer. Councilman Smalley: I think you'll be encouraging, with a day limitation, people to utilize the RV facilities that are going to be opening up and getting them out of the nuisance category. Commissioner Roberts: I'm thinking that setting a time limit is maybe not the way to go. I don't have a solution, but I think I agree. Planning Specialist Loper: There are some Alaskan communities that allow RV's in parks only and some don't address RV's other than meeting building codes for permanent structures. Our proposed ordinance seems to fall right in between. Commissioner Roberts: If Duane's mother comes up to stay the summer and only got to stay 29 then she's got to go to a park, and if Howard didn't catch her then she got to stay all summer and somebody else got caught. Maybe we shouldn't limit the number of days. Commissioner Bannock: If it ain't a problem why regulate it. Planning Specialist Loper: Because it has been requested by the public. Chairman Nault: I guess it comes back to the first point. I don't care if you have your whole extended family in your back yard if they don't cause any trouble you can pack them all in there. But when you park enough things in my driveway that I share with people I would certainly like to have some way to provide people with relief. Councilman Smalley: The reason this whole thing came to a head was a few years back there were complaints coming from Thompson Park. We didn't have anything on the books and the concern was that there was an RV there most of the year and the lines were laying on the ground. It came to the city, the city to the Council, Council to the Commission to develop an RV ordinance. j Again, the problem was primarily a time frame and then definition. One of the things the Commission was requested to do was to develop an ordinance that would resolve those kinds of problems. KENAI PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION January 25, 1989 Page 4 '~ Basically it was almost a cart before the horse because it was a situation where we didn't have any RV parks. So when the RV parks started to come on line and we were encountering more problems, obviously the need to develop this ordinance came back again. This time the Commission was asked to look at some kind of time reference to protect private property owners. And again because its only going to be caught when there is a complaint because they aren't out there looking for it. You need something on the books that allows the city the flexibility to deal with it. It says so many days, this is the complaint, now we can deal with it. I don't see that it's inconsistent if there isn't a complaint. This is the type of ordinance that is only going to come forth if there is a complaint. It's the same a dog licenses. If there's a problem with a dog then they deal with it. I would be willing to speculate that there are 2/3 of the dogs in this city that are not licensed. Commissioner Roberts: Suppose one of these guide services decides he wants an extra place to lodge their clients and we set a 30 day limit, then he would only be able to use it that long. If we set it for 90 days then he could use it all summer. Planning Specialist Loper: Presumably he's been given a conditional use permit for a certain operation. If he starts moving a lot of RV's in there he would have to come back and get an amendment to his permit. My guess is the minute you started seeing a lot of RV`s on those lots we're going to get phone calls. MOTION: Commissioner Bryson moved to amend section 1.4.20.245 (d)(3) by adding the phrase "or exceeding 30 days per calendar year, and to strike "as defined as not exceeding 30 days", seconded by Commissioner Glick To clarify, this goes at the end of section (d)(3) after the word "sewer". VOTE: Motion passes Chairman Nault - yes Commissioner O'Reilly - yes Commissioner Bannock - no Commissioner Bryson - yes Commissioner Glick - yes Commissioner Roberts - no MOTION AMENDMENT: Commissioner Bannock moved to delete both additions, "as defined as not exceeding 30 days" and "or exceeding 30 days per calendar year", seconded by Commissioner Roberts Commissioner Bannock: If a person wants to spend December at 20 degrees below in an RV without connections to external tanks, etc., he should go for it. Commissioner O'Reilly: Couldn't someone interpret this any way. I mean if someone calls in and KENAI PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION January 25, 1989 Page 5 says there's been a RV parked in my driveway for 45 days, couldn't this mean that Howard could then go out and say I've decided that 45 days is long term use and you have to leave. Councilman Smalley: I agree. It makes it very arbitrary. Commissioner Bryson: I believe where there is a specific statement made in our case not exceeding 30 days, that is interpreted very specifically. Where ever something isn't named it would be interpreted generally. VOTE: Motion fails Commissioner O'Reilly - no Commissioner Bannock - yes Commissioner Bryson - no Commissioner Glick - no Commissioner Roberts - yes Chairman Nault - no Commissioner Roberts: Does this ordinance address the trailer that is parked on private property to control becoming a nuisance, an eye sore, devaluation of the property. We want to keep Kenai beautiful. Say an RV is parked on a piece of property and kids come up and paint it with graffiti or they're using it for a chicken house. Planning Specialist Loper: By the fact that it can't be parked for more than 30 days I would think. Councilman Smalley: No, it's like Duane with an ugly car. You're getting into things that are undefendable. MOTION: Commissioner Bryson moved to approve Resolution 89-1 as amended, seconded by Commissioner Glick. VOTE: Motion passed Commissioner Bannock - no Commissioner Bryson - yes Commissioner Glick - yes Commissioner Roberts - yes Chairman Nault - yes Commissioner O'Reilly - yes Councilman Smalley announced that the Mayor and Council have sent congratulations for their work on the RV ordinance and bed & breakfast ordinance because they were two of the objectives they had passed down. They are pleased with the progress the Commission has made. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES of January 11, 1989 Commissioner Bryson asked to correct the second on election of Vice Chair and the amount on page 4 to $5,000 the word "guides" change to the word "sites" and add the word "specific" at the end of the sentence. KENAI PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION January 25, 1989 Page 6 ~~ The minutes were approved as corrected. 6. OLD BUSINESS None 7. NEW BUSINESS a. Review of Corps of Engineers Permit Application for Floating Dock in Beaver Creek - Lowe The application is for John Lowe. The Commission had a concern of the ownership of the lot since the recent hearings for businesses in that area. The permits will be passed on to the Harbor Commission, however since they were addressed specifically to the Planning Commission they come before this body first. The Commission agreed to review the application again at the next meeting which is within the expiration period. MOTION: Commissioner Bannock moved to recommend that the application for Mr. John R. Lowe be tabled pending clarification of ownership of Lot 9, Anglers Acres S/D, seconded by Commissioner O'Reilly VOTE: Motion passed unanimously Commissioner Bannock: I wouldn't want to act on an application as a representative of the City if the owner doesn't know about it. b. Review of Corps of Engineers Permit Application for Floating Dock in Beaver Creek - Fretz The applicant for this permit is a resident of Scottsdale Arizona and again, there is a concern regarding ownership. MOTION: Commissioner O'Reilly moved to table the application for Mr. Fretz until the next meeting and that staff determine ownership of the property, seconded by Commissioner Roberts VOTE: Motion passed by unanimous consent c. Review of Corps of engineers Permit Application for Mooring Buoy in the Mouth of the Kenai River - Russell The Commission agreed that this buoy is in an area where there are already several buoys and should not be a problem. MOTION: ~ Commissioner Bannock moved to recommend Mr. Russell have his buoy, seconded by Commissioner O'Reilly KENAI PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION January 25, 1989 Page 7 ~~ VOTE: Motion passed by unanimous consent 8. PLANNING a. Goals & Objectives for 1989 The Commission went through the 1988 list and eliminated those projects that have been completed. The remaining list will have three items: Update the Comprehensive Plan Update the Home Occupation and Day Care Center portion of the Zoning Code Hold on Action regarding the Landscaping/Site Plan Review Board MOTION: Commissioner O'Reilly moved to adopt the 1989 Goals & Objectives, seconded by Commissioner Bannock VOTE: Motion passed by unanimous consent b. Bed & Breakfast Ordinance There seems to be some question regarding the recently passed bed & breakfast ordinance as far as some minor revisions from the legal department are concerned. The City Clerk has inquired as to why it wasn't on the Council agenda. Perhaps the legal department needs further direction from the Commission. The Commission reviewed the last memo to the legal department regarding the revisions. MOTION: Commissioner O'Reilly moved to request sending the bed & breakfast ordinance on to the Council, seconded by Commissioner Glick. VOTE: Motion passed by unanimous consent 9. REPORTS a. City Council Councilman Smalley reported on Council activities including the project as presented by the Bicentennial Visitors and Convention Bureau. The project will be run through the Commission at some point due to the location which is in a historic district. Commissioner Roberts asked for an update on the proposed water & sewer rates for RV parks. Councilman Smalley answered that the Council adjusted the season to 5 months. I pushed for 4 but they KENAI PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION January 25, 1989 Page 8 felt that it would be in the best interest of the city to develop the fall fishery and RV parks and my comment was not at the cost of the loss of businesses because of exorbitant rates. b. Borough Planning Commission Commissioner Bryson reported on Borough activities. There was one plat, the rest was in-house. c. Administration None 10. PERSONS PRESENT NOT SCHEDULED None 11. INFORMATION ITEMS No comments 12. COMMISSION COMMENTS & QUESTIONS Councilman Smalley stated that Mr. McKechnie has filed an appeal for the trailer park near Angler's Acres. It's my understanding that he will be present at City Council when they sit as a Board of Adjustment of February 1, 1989. Chairman Nault: My question, what I was taking issue with was whether it is in writing anywhere who has the right to appeal a decision. Commissioner Bryson: I don't think it says if it has to be the prevailing or the other side. It's left open to everyone. Chairman Nault: So any decision we make if it involves property owners, any one of them can appeal a decision we make. Commissioner Bryson: They may not chose to. Councilman Smalley: Has he requested all the backup, answer no. Councilman Smalley: He is out of state. Chairman Nault: I think they set up an appeal in such a way that he has to be present if he's really interested in appealing. Commissioner Roberts asked who did the research for the RV rates. Councilman Smalley answered the Finance Director. Commissioner Roberts asked if the Councilman knew who he had contacted. Councilman Smalley answered that he had contacted similar use businesses within the city that utilize similar amounts of water and other municipalities with similar situations. Commissioner Roberts: I made a few phone calls myself yesterday after I found out it had passed the city and I'm sure all intentions were good but I would like to report what I found. I called three different places. I have stayed at the Hillside in Anchorage and called them. The owner tells me that the sewer rates are too high and he has a problem with them and he has a water well. He didn't discuss his business at all and didn't know what he was paying for sewer rates for sure, but referred me to the Highlander who are on city utilities. Upon contacting the KENAI PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION January 25, 1989 Page 9 ~~ Highlander, I was told that the rates were too high. We can't pay the rates the city is paying, we have gotten a committee together and we've been to the city to discuss this and we think we've got something better coming down. It's not that we're not busy from June 15th to September 15th but before and after those dates, nothing. I then called. the city and talked to Mrs. Hoovner who is in charge of public works. She says that have come up with a new deal and that is that all water will be metered whether or not it is on a well or city. From that if they furnish the water they charge $2.31 per 1,000 gallons. The sewer rates are based upon usage of water irregardless of whether the space is filled but how much water is used. To determine that they charge each month $4.60. For each 1,000 gallons of water for sewer it costs $1.75. Plus another $1.69 for each space. So for the whole RV park you pay $4.60, $1.75 per each 1,000 gallons of water. As an example, using 40,000 gallons or 70 gallons per day, on 20 spaces for the water at $2.31 would cost $92.40. Assuming that's low lets use 3 times that or $270 for water for 20 spaces. On sewer you have $4.60, 20 spaces x $1.69 = $33.80. At the 40,000 gallons at $1.75 = $70.00. Totalling all of that for sewer it comes to $108. Divide that by 20 spaces it is about $30 per month per space. Councilman Smalley: The current rate for water and sewer per space is $.46 per day. Totally, at $14.05 per space per month divided by a 30 day month is $.46 per day. I would encourage you visit with Mr. Brown or Mr. Brighton on these figures. The message that the Council gave Mr. Brown is that the people that come and visit the State of Alaska are gravy train. Everywhere else you go you pay even to the fire wood. Commissioner Roberts: I agree with that, that price is not bad. Here's what could get bad, is that long term that you pay the base rate for. In Anchorage they will come and get your meter when you shut down and will bring it back. This way you're not charged for any more water than what you use so if you only have one stall and you use one gallon you're charged for one gallon. It doesn't matter if you have the spaces filled, you have to pay the rates for five months. I'm not saying this is true, I'm saying that is what I've been told. Councilman Smalley: The Peninsula is going to be different than Anchorage as far as the tourist traffic in May and September. We're still heavily loaded with Anchorage people down here and once there are facilities to take care of their needs such as RV parks we're going to be utilized more. 13. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:37 P.M. Janet A. Loper Planning Specialist KENAI PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION Roll Call %, r i /, ~a~ ////~ Chairman Pat Nault Vi Ch i ce a r Margaret O'Reill Duane Bannock Dave Brown Phil Bryson_ !J _ , Carl Glick Dan Roberts ]~ ~ f ~ ~ ~ Council Rep. Hal Smalley ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~' TO DO DATE : ~,/~