July 25, 2006
The Board of Commissioners of the City of
RECOGNITION/PROCLAMATION/PRESENTATION:
With
Commission approval Mayor Amyx proclaimed Wednesday, July 26th as
“The City of Lawrence, Kansas Celebration of the 16th Anniversary of
the Americans with Disabilities Act; and proclaimed the week of August 1st-7th
as “Breastfeeding Awareness Week.”
CONSENT AGENDA
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to approve the City Commission meeting minutes of July 11, 2006. Motion carried unanimously.As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to receive the Traffic Safety Commission meeting minutes of June 5, 2006, and the Uniform Building Code Board of Appeals meeting minutes of May 25, 2006. Motion carried unanimously. As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to approve claims to 518 vendors in the amount of $2,792,083.27 and payroll from July 9, 2006 to July 22, 2006, in the amount of $1,670,441.39. Motion carried unanimously. As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to approve the Drinking Establishment License to Henry T’s Bar & Grill, 3520 West 6th and Royal Crest Lanes, 933 Iowa; Retail Liquor License to Cork & Barrel, 2000 West 23rd Street; and Cereal Malt Beverage License to Wal-Mart Supercenter No. 484, 3300 Iowa Street
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by
Schauner, seconded by Hack, to concur with the recommendation of
the Mayor and appoint Mike Monroe to the un-expired position held by Ed Brunt
on the Community Commission on Homelessness which expires on December 31, 2007;
reappoint Derek Felch, David Longhurst, David Johnston, Doug Holiday, and Bob
Schumm to the Convention & Visitors Bureau Advisory Board to terms that
will expire on July 1, 2010 and appoint Perrty Martin to fill an unexpired term
that ends July 1, 2007; and appoint Jae Change to the
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to approve payment of $17,983.30 to P.H.I. Investigative Consultants, Inc., for fees and expenses incurred for leading the Practical Homicide Investigation Seminar. Motion carried unanimously
(1)
As part of the
consent agenda, it was moved by
Schauner, seconded by Hack, to place on first reading Ordinance No. 8023,
designating as a landmark on the Lawrence Register of Historic Places the
structure located at
As part of the
consent agenda, it was moved by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to place on
first reading Ordinance No. 8027, adopting the 2003 Uniform Plumbing Code with
amendments, as recommended by the plumbing board. Motion carried unanimously.
(3)
As part of the
consent agenda, it was moved by
Schauner, seconded by Hack, to adopt Resolution No. 6666, declaring 1401
Monterey Way environmentally blighted, ordering the property owner to remove
violations within 20 days. Motion carried unanimously. (4)
As part of the
consent agenda, it was moved by
Schauner, seconded by Hack, to adopt Resolution No. 6667, declaring 1024
New York Street environmentally blighted, ordering the property owner to remove
violations within 20 days. Motion
carried unanimously. (5)
As part of the
consent agenda, it was moved by
Schauner, seconded by Hack, to adopt Resolution No. 6668, declaring 1321
Massachusetts Street environmentally blighted, ordering the property owner to
removed violations in 20 days. Motion carried unanimously. (6)
As
part of the consent agenda, it was moved
by Schauner, seconded by Hack, approve and authorize drafting of an ordinance/resolution
for text amendment TA-05-03A-06:
Consider revisions to Chapter 20, Development Code concerning planned
development conditions and related items to 20-701(f). Motion carried unanimously. (7)
As
part of the consent agenda, it was moved
by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to approve the submittal of KLINK, Geometric
Improvement, and Economic Development applications to KDOT. Motion carried unanimously. (8)
As
part of the consent agenda, it was moved
by Schauner, seconded by Hack,
to concur with the Traffic Safety Commission’s recommendation to accept the
recommendations from KDOT for establishing speed limits on
As
part of the consent agenda, it was moved
by Schauner, seconded by Hack,
to concur with the Traffic Safety Commission’s recommendation to place on first
reading, Ordinance No. 8022, establishing speed limits on
As
part of the consent agenda, it was moved
by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to concur with the Traffic Safety
Commission’s recommendation to approve the request to provide an adult crossing
guard at the intersection of
As part of the
consent agenda, it was moved by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to authorize
the Mayor to sign a Release of Mortgage for Lenny and Kimberly DeFazio, 1602
Irving Court; and Michael and Ginger McHugh, 1029 Home. Motion carried unanimously. (12)
As part of the
consent agenda, it was moved by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to authorize
the Mayor to sign a Subordination Agreement for Alex and Waldina Sabilion, 1005
Parkview. Motion carried unanimously. (13)
As part of the consent agenda it was moved by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to receive request from
Kansas River Expression of Soul Project for a naturalistic sculpture trail
along the
CITY MANAGER’S REPORT:
During
the City Manager’s Report,
On
the expenditure side in the general fund was at about 49% of the budget for
2006 which represented a 12% increase over the same period last year. That increase could be explained by
encumbrances that had been made for large items including the Development Process
Review Project that was underway and the Mill and Overlay Project and Curb and
Gutter. There were 6 divisions that had
expended more than 50% of their budget, but if the encumbrances were taken out,
overall the City was approximately 44% of the 2006 budget being expended at the
end of the first half of the year.
The
recreation fund on the revenue side, the City had experienced increases in
outdoor and indoor pool revenues, which had helped. Overall the expenditures in the recreation
fund were about 43% of the 2006 budget.
Transportation
fund had experienced increase in fair box revenues. The expenditures in that fund were at about
34% of the budget.
In
the enterprise funds, revenues were over 50% of what the City budgeted in all
of those funds and the expenditures were below that level.
Commissioner
Schauner said concerning the Risk Management account, he asked if 69% of budget
with encumbrances was a typical first half experience.
Liebst
said yes, it was a good example how encumbrances had came into play. All of those different types of paid insurance
premiums, the City encumber those funds and pay all those funds at one time,
during the year.
Commissioner
Schauner asked if the 69% represented an increased expenditure of what had been
budgeted, or was that just encumbrances coming in early during the year.
Liebst
said she did not believe so, but she would find the answer for Commissioner
Schauner.
Mayor
Amyx asked what percentage of the budget had been spent as of June 30th
in the General Fund.
Liebst
said the City had spent 49%, but if taking out those encumbrances, the City had
spent approximately 44%.
Corliss
said the City was on target for its expenditures. The City would not spend 100%, but it would be
in the 97-98% range. The City was still
aggressively looking at expenditures, but they were not going to freeze
positions and the City needed to go ahead with the positions that were budgeted
and get those people working.
Mayor
Amyx asked if there were any project Corliss could identify that would not be
completed or started in 2006.
Corliss
said there might be some projects, but he did not know if they would have any
budget impact. They were still going to need
to proceed on with those projects and were moving forward on a number of those
projects.
Also
during the City Manager’s Report, David Corliss, Interim City Manager/Legal
Services Director, said staff was moving forward with an interactive voice
response system in Neighborhood Resources and look forward to the efficiencies
that would provide and the higher level of service that could be provided in
the Neighborhood Resources Department.
He
said staff had met with a representative from Westar concerning a major tree
clearing project on an easement that Westar owned in the western part of
Also,
the Stormwater Division of Public Works installed a new pump at 2nd
and Locust.
Corliss
said other items in the City Manager’s Report included the building permit
information from Neighborhood Resources and whether the community was growing
or not. He said those numbers in the
report indicated that the City was issuing a number of building permits.
Finally,
during the City Manager’s report,
He
said
Commissioner
Highberger said many people had asked why the City did not have curbside
recycling and he replied by stating the City already had the highest recycling
rate of the state. He said staff
indicated that if they wanted curbside recycling, the City would have to raise
everyone’s utility bills by $8-$11 per month.
He asked if Yoos looked at those numbers recently.
Yoos
said yes. He said those numbers might be
higher because while the City’s disposal cost remained the same over the years,
the price of fuel and personnel costs had increased since the data used in that
report.
He
said he had a two part answer when he was asked about curbside recycling. First, the City had 5 curbside recycling
providers in
Mayor
Amyx said the savings for landfill in 2005 was $284,000 which was
impressive. The revenue from the sale of
recycled materials was $182,000 and the private sector recycling efforts,
diverted 12,000 tons, and saved the City an additional $241,000, which was
$700,000 in total savings. He thought
those were incredible numbers that everyone, including staff, was involved with
in working to save money from the cost of filling the landfill. He said everyone involved with that effort needed
a pat on the back because they worked hard.
Commissioner
Rundle said he knew this issue was a topic on the
Mangerich
said the
Commissioner
Rundle said he understood there was a Supreme Court ruling some time ago that when
trash was put out, it was no longer owned by that person and the City’s
ordinance that restricted dumpster diving might be out of date and he would
like staff to look into updating that ordinance. He thought some people in the community relied
on food they get out of dumpsters, as unpleasant as that might sound. He knew organizations that took diverted
materials from the waste stream and resell them to keep their organizations
running all year. He thought the City needed
to foster that idea more than restrict it.
Corliss
said staff would draft a report.
Commissioner
Schauner said he continued to be impressed with the quality and consistency of
the entire Solid Waste Division. He said
staff did a fabulous job and he asked Yoos to extend the entire City
Commission’s thanks on behalf of the community for staff’s good work. (15)
REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS:
Consider request from Diversified Concepts,
LLC, to amend the City of
Jes
Santaularia, Bella Sera Development, presented the request for Diversified
Concepts, LLC. Currently, they were developing
a mid-rise condominium on
He said the
banner would be a 20 foot repeating pattern that would extend about 800 feet
along the length of
Mayor Amyx asked Corliss what type of language was needed to allow this type of screening in the sign ordinance.
David Corliss, Interim City Manager/Legal Services Director, said they would need to draft a code amendment to the existing sign code that would allow this type of screening and signage pursuant to any type of parameters the City Commission might want to establish. In the City Commission’s agenda packet, he provided an update on the sign code project. He said he would like to assemble a group of stakeholders because he knew there were people interested in sign code issues. He said a new staff attorney would have the sign code project as one of his key projects to start with in August and the staff attorney had familiarity with the sign code. He said there were pros and cons in using a banner for screening and he needed some direction from the City Commission as to what they thought about this idea as a possible amendment to the City’s sign code. It was a policy issue once they would get past writing the code language.
Commissioner Schauner asked if the project currently had the ability to erect a large billboard that would identify the project and essentially put this kind of graphic on that billboard under the current code.
Corliss said they had the ability to erect one development sign. A billboard was too generous and it would not be of that size. He said this plan was different in that they were proposing to combine the need for screening with advertising.
Commissioner Schauner asked when the sign code amendment update would be underway or completed.
Corliss said staff had been talking about updating the sign code for a long time and he did not want to be overly optimistic about a process, but he thought the new staff attorney could be largely devoted to this issue in working with Neighborhood Resources. He said the Sign Code Board of Appeals was very familiar with some of the inadequacies of the current code, and he thought it would be a multi-month process, but he would like the City Commission to see a draft of the amended sign code later this year
Commissioner Schauner asked if this applicant would be able to place screening without advertisements on the screening under the City’s current code.
Corliss said correct. As long as it was not a sign, there would be no problem in putting up screening on a fence.
Mayor Amyx called for public comment.
Marilyn
Roy,
Commissioner
Rundle asked if
Mayor Amyx said if that project was allowed to have a 6 foot screening with a white background, he asked if she would be opposed to it.
Commissioner Schauner said if that type of signage was approved, he asked if Santaularia anticipated that signage would stay until the project was fully completed.
Santaularia said yes, and they expected completion in the fall of 2007.
Commissioner Rundle asked if the small, orange mesh fence was for erosion control.
Santaularia said the black fence was erosion control and the orange fence was for screening. He said there was a 32 square foot sign with a picture of the building on it, which was all that was allowed by the sign code at the present time.
Mayor Amyx asked if the only option they had was to allow language to be placed into the current ordinance to allow something like this type of screening.
Corliss said it was the request. In order to put up that type of screening, the City would need an amendment to the sign code that would allow something like this to be built. The City Commission could establish any number of different parameters such as length, certain size, location, whether it would be around the entire proximity of the property or just along the right-of-way or they could also do it by zoning categories such as multi-family projects and larger. He said staff could come back with a recommendation based on this discussion, but staff had not worked out any parameters because they were awaiting direction from the City Commission on whether or not to proceed with the plans.
Mayor Amyx said he did not have a problem with screening around construction sites, although he did have a problem with the advertising, but he understood that was part of the request. He did not understand all the parameters needed for screening a site. He asked what needed to be done and what would be the consequences of having that type of screening throughout the community.
Corliss said some of the variables would be the issue of duration, whether the screening would be around the entire site or just along the site that was visible on the public right-of-way, and the size. He said he assumed it would be for the on-site commercial premises. It could be just for a description of the project and any type of appropriate contact information. He thought that was allowable for something like this. One of the things they knew about sign regulations was that once they started reading into content within certain parameters, they would run into some constitutional problems. He said one of the issues would be that would they want it on a project this size, as far as acreage, or would they want it on something smaller.
Commissioner Schauner said the question was not so much about this project, but did they want to create a philosophical text change in the City’s sign code ordinance. He said he did not know if he had enough information about what that would look like and how it would work to grant this particular application. He thought it was one of those subjects that if they had 50 people in the room, they would have at least 37 different opinions on whether it was a good idea or not. He did not have an opinion about whether it was a good idea or not, but suspected the sign with an attractive young woman on it and brightly colored might be more of an attraction, which he suspected was the point, than a chain link fence with construction equipment behind it. He suspected that they did not want to put the sign up so people would not look at it. He would rather not build the City’s sign ordinance around a particular project and write language that would fit this project, but not necessarily fit any other. He thought they should thank the applicant and move as quickly as possible to update the sign ordinance that might or might not include the ability to have this kind of signage on a construction project.
Commissioner Rundle said he wanted to hear the report from Steven Chinn before he decided what action to take. He said the screening might promote safety because people were often drawn to watch what was happening. He would be interested to know if there was any data from Chuck Soules, Public Works Director, that would enhance or detract from safety. He also knew that erosion control was a problem and they had to watch it in terms of their discharge to streams, keeping it off of the roads, and keeping property from being damaged during construction by a lot of erosion. The material might be more durable if they were putting more effort for signage use than the typical plastic seen on a lot of sites. He thought there might be a more hidden advantage and be more effective in controlling erosion.
Commissioner Highberger said with all due respect to the applicant this was the type of thing the City’s current sign code was designed to prevent. He thought the site could be screened without advertising and at this point he would not support a change.
Vice Mayor Hack said this was an intersection she had some familiarity with and was one that she went through multiple times a day. She thought there were two things to keep in mind. First, Lawrence was not the only community that has had this kind of request and second they were talking about temporary and not a permanent sign that would be placed in that location. She suggested staff investigate what other communities have done so the City was not asking the Sign Code Board of Appeals to reinvent the wheel. She said she wanted to look at the opportunity for this type of screening along arterials and perhaps there could be a restriction on the number of repeats of the picture.
Mayor Amyx said Vice Mayor Hack’s request to look at screening was fine with him. He said he thought there was benefit to screening with this particular project, but he would entertain the idea of staff investigating language change and what was needed without creating a change into any of the sign codes.
Commissioner
Schauner said he happened to attend a session in
Vice Mayor Hack said Corliss had a comprehensive list concerning parameters for screening and she asked that staff investigate those types of parameters.
Corliss said he wanted to make sure Santaularia knew about the timeframe which would be 2 or 3 months out before staff had something where they could report back to the City Commission.
Moved by Hack, seconded by Schauner, to direct staff to investigate sign code language changes as suggested in the report from Steve Chinn. Motion carried unanimously.
(16)
Receive request from Pedestrian Advisory committee
to be established as an Advisory Board to the City Commission.
Dietrich
Earnhart, member of the Pedestrian Advisory Committee, presented the report. Since May 2005, they felt their committee had
begun to address pedestrian issues that were important to
Mayor Amyx asked about what items their advisory board would address.
Earnhart said one of the primary items they were addressing was pedestrian safety, which would be promoting and educating to both pedestrians and people who might be in conflict with pedestrians about the rules, rights and responsibilities they would actually have within the City of Lawrence. They were trying to promote that mostly through their website which they had received funding through the State of Kansas Department of Transportation. They were also trying to identify intersections they felt were more hazardous than others and had provided that information to the City so that they could prioritize their allocation of resources to make those hazardous intersections less hazardous.
They also
had been working with Chuck Soules, Public Works Director, on connectivity
within the City of
Commissioner Schauner asked if Earnhart believed there was some on-going connection between the Traffic Safety Commission and the pedestrian work that Earnhart describing.
Earnhart said the committee was born out of two people who were serving on the Traffic Safety Commission and up until a month ago, they had people serving on both entities, so there was good communication between those people. Because of changes in personnel, they no longer had that person-to-person connection, which also spurred them to make that request.
Vice Mayor Hack asked if there were concerns from the pedestrian standpoint that could not be addressed with the Traffic Safety Commission.
Earnhart said in many ways, it could be that all committees flow their information to one advisory board member who then spoke with the City Commission. They felt the pedestrian issues would actually be elevated in their status so they might be better able to impress upon the City Commission, the importance of those issues that might be in conflict with issues the Traffic Safety Commission felt was important. For example, an intersection would allow the traffic to flow better if there were no pedestrians allowed to cross the intersection. He had come to many intersections in other cities where you simply could not cross because all four ways were blocked to pedestrians. He said it was an excellent way to move traffic, but a poor way to allow pedestrians to utilize that space. He anticipated cases where the pedestrian issues would be better served if they were in a stand alone advisory board.
Alan Black, member of the Pedestrian Advisory Committee, said another issue of the Committee was the issue of walkability which was to create an urban environment where it was more attractive for people to walk than to drive their cars. He said that had to do with the design of the subdivisions. They would like the Planning Commission to take walkability into account when planning the subdivisions. Many people think the cul-de-sacs were discouraging to pedestrians because they make people walk a long way out to an arterial street and then back into another cul-de-sac to get to a house that might actually be only 100 feet away.
He said besides being a member of that group, he was a member of the Public Transit Advisory Committee and they were concerned about having sidewalks coordinated with the bus routes. They were now having designated bus stops which in the first few years, the buses stopped when people waved at them. Now, they had designated stops with either signs or shelters, and they would like to make it possible for people to walk to the bus stops on sidewalks rather than in the street.
Mayor Amyx asked Harris if she would see this committee being an arm of the Planning Commission to review the connectivity and walkability of developments as they would come forward.
Harris said she would not say as an arm, but could certainly help them with that effort. She thought it would be best under the City Commission itself.
Marilyn
Roy,
Commissioner Rundle said this is a good idea. He said he initially questioned whether or not it might be possible for the Bicycle Advisory Committee to expand its scope and he thought he was convinced there was merit to having a separate board. He said in his first terms as a City Commissioner, there was someone on the Traffic Safety Commission who was a cyclist so that pedestrian and cycling interest might be more likely to be represented. He thought federal funding had changed over the last few decades to recognize there were important needs for pedestrians and cyclists that needed to be recognized. He thought they had expressed interest as a Commission in considering design and walkability and thought this would enable them to help more fully integrate those into the City’s policy process. He knew the Planning Commission tried to encompass all of those things and it was an enormous amount of work. He thought this would help focus some energy outside the Planning Commission on that particular aspect of the policy.
He applauded this effort and it seemed like the primacy of automobiles remained today and became more and more hazardous as driver attitudes seemed to deteriorate for people to be a pedestrian. He thought that was another important aspect this committee could take on as public education to counter that prevailing attitude and make drivers more aware of pedestrians and cyclists when they were out in the road. He said he would support this commission.
Commissioner Highberger said walkability was one of his high priorities on the City Commission and making this body a permanent, separate body could help them achieve those goals. He supported the request.
Vice Mayor Hack said what she was struggling with was how this would differentiate itself from pedestrian issues that came before the Traffic Safety Commission. It was her only concern and in studying new urbanism, the pedestrian was number one, the bicyclist was number two, and the automobile driver was number three. She thought as they worked toward those parallel codes and discussing designing walkable neighborhoods and how they could create that grid in the design of neighborhood streets that was where they were headed. While she looked at the value of concentrated pedestrian issues, she did not put pedestrian issues below anything else, but struggled with how issues come up and what issues they might have in terms of pedestrian that were different from those that would come in front of the Traffic Safety Commission, which was concerned with pedestrian safety. She did not see the Traffic Safety Commission as concerned with how fast cars could go and how few stop lights. The issues they had from Traffic Safety Commission included slowing down and making it a safer place so traffic was not running into pedestrians.
She absolutely applauded the public education and if they could have the magic bullet to educate drivers to be nice to each other that might be a good step. She would like to hear further Commission discussion because she had concerns.
Commissioner Schauner said he had a different take than what he heard so far from other Commissioners. He said clearly, there were automobile, pedestrian, and bicycle issues, but he suggested looking at having a fundamental change on the way they handled transportation issues. He said he wanted to discuss about having a Transportation Commission with three sub-committees, standing committees that operated on their individual issues; walk ability, traffic, and bicycle. One of the things he thought might be missing was talking to one another on those three issues because they hopefully correlate with one another and work together. If there were some way more regularly have them speaking with one another about combinations or issues, one that might affect the other, he would like to have more conversation about how that might work. He said he was not opposed to make this a standing commission with greater standing, he just wondered if this would be a good opportunity to try and look at this issue outside the box and give equal weight to bicycling, cars, and foot traffic. He thought they were all important and suspected they were going to see walking become a more important ingredient of those who work in town who wanted to get some place and not spend $3.00 a gallon for gasoline. He wanted to throw that information out for some discussion or thought.
Mayor Amyx said he did not have an opinion either way on Commissioner Schauner’s idea. He thought there was a lot of need for the walkability issues under the parallel code. He said if it was spelled out as to what the advisory committee would actually be responsible for, he would feel better rather than starting a new committee and not spilling over to Traffic Safety or Planning Commission responsibilities.
Commissioner Highberger said his understanding of the request was if they direct staff to proceed, then staff would come back with a suggested draft of duties and hopefully would not fit with other existing committees.
Vice Mayor Hack said she was intrigued with Commissioner Schauner’s idea about looking at those things in a group because they were all issues the new urbanism parallel code addressed. She said she agreed they should investigate the possibilities for the pedestrian, but with the possibility out there as well of having an umbrella under which they work together. She said one did not exist without the other. Perhaps, staff could look at what other communities did with the Transportation Commission. She said she supported taking this issue to the next step and having staff investigate possibilities and come back with recommendations.
Commissioner Rundle said it sounded like an excellent idea and regardless of what the outcome of this issue was, it seemed like a good idea for the Transit Advisory Committee, Bicycle Advisory Committee, Traffic Safety Committee to have an initial meeting and talk about areas of common interest, coordination, and effectiveness in working together.
When he was
on his first term for the City Commission, he remembered one of the conferences
where he ran into someone from
Commissioner Schauner suggested the City Commission look at whether there was a way to create a Transportation Commission that would be an umbrella for the three of four advisory groups that provided advice and input on Transit, Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Traffic. He said a coordinated approach was impressive in getting a synergy that might provide a better product than what they had currently and he did not mean that as a criticism of any of the work of the advice that had been given.
Commissioner Rundle said that could be a charge for a committee of all of those different boards to come together with staff.
Corliss said staff could send out a matrix of responsibilities. He said all those committees and interested parties could get together and work out rules and responsibilities and staff could come back with a draft report.
Alan Black said they already had a transportation committee and that was the Planning Commission.
Commissioner Schauner said the plan that fell into the transportation body that Black was speaking of had some regulatory authority that he was not proposing this body should have, but he was proposing they take current advisory groups and, arrange them in a way they could work more effectively together to make recommendations to the City Commission.
Moved by Schauner, seconded by Hack, to
direct staff to report back on possible changes to current Committees related
to general transportation issues (Bicycle, Pedestrian, Traffic, etc.) to
consider whether there were opportunities for a more coordinated approach to
transportation issues. Motion carried unanimously. (17)
Consider adopting the
Commercial Design Standards and Guidelines.
The Planning Commission approved the document on March 16, 2005 and the City Commission received the recommendation and document on April 5, 2005. That document has been in a holding pattern since that time. The Standards and Guidelines addressed two general areas of concerns, site planning/site design and aesthetic character. In building design, when talking about site planning, they discussed issues such as landscaping, layout of the parking lot, pedestrian circulation, storm water issues, integrating, and the natural features of the site in the development, which were in the Standards and Guidelines.
The aesthetic character and building design was the structure, facades, exterior walls, entry ways and rooflines, architectural details and the types of material used on the building.
He said a memo in the City Commission’s packet discussed changes that were made and the bulk of those changes came as a result of Steve Chinn’s review. The main issue was to remove the signage issues. The signage standards and guidelines were best amended into the sign code.
David Corliss, Interim City Manager/Legal Services Director, said that document was one of the first reports that he presented to the City Commission on the status of a number of different items, and the City Commission made those guidelines a priority. It dovetailed with the new development code which referred to the City Commission’s authority to adopt those guidelines. The sign issues needed to be in the regulatory body of the sign code. He said staff would take the sign elements from the design guidelines as one of their steps in looking at amendments to the sign code.
Mayor Amyx asked if he had a project with a site plan how much more detail would staff be requesting on a development.
Warner said any new commercial development that required a site plan would require review for those guidelines. The one new thing staff would be asking for, on a regular basis, was building elevations and details about materials. The idea was to catch those issues well before staff received submittals for site plans and staff wanted to catch those issues at pre-application levels so they had time to take those into consideration before the project was designed.
Mayor Amyx asked how Planning staff was going to be involved in making recommendations and changes to those elevations and materials that were going to be used.
Warner said staff would use a review process and comment on site plans as they did now, without that level of review. If staff recommended changes, staff would shoot comments back to the applicant as they typically did with site plans today. There was a checklist that was not part of this document, but staff would be using a checklist that would help both staff and the applicant to make sure the standards and guidelines were being addressed in their proposals.
Mayor Amyx called for public comment.
Hubbard Collingsworth, Lawrence, asked if it would increase, decrease or simplify the time of the construction project. He said according to some articles that he read from the “Lawrence Journal-World” and “Topeka Capitol-Journal” they were already losing businesses and projects to Topeka. He asked if it was going to make them a more unfriendly city.
Corliss said he did not think that was the case. He said it would make it a more attractive community in a community that had consistent guidelines that would be applied for projects that had to be reviewed. There would be some additional steps for the review, but staff thought the guidelines were good articulations of what staff’s expectations were for commercial buildings. The checklist would need to be modified to reflect some of the changes that Steve Chinn added to the document. He said there would be some additional review, but it was not something they were already requiring on some projects. He thought there was a good ability to apply that process in a very consistent way.
Commissioner Rundle said this process was not unique and major developers were familiar with this kind of process in other communities.
Don Zimmer,
Lawrence, retail developer in the Midwest, said
One of the problems with those guidelines was the parking. Parking would be moved from the front of the buildings and would cause seen and unforeseen problems. He said they should ask the downtown merchants how much their business had suffered since they removed one lane of traffic in front of their buildings and reduced the parking and traffic in half. He said if they take a business like The Mercantile, what person would want to park in the back of that building, especially someone elderly or handicapped and walk all the way around that building to go into the front door. In today’s heat, no one would want to carry any perishables around that building. If the City was going to dictate the side to the street looked like the front, where would a service road go? The reason a business would want a service road was because that business did not want their inventory coming in through the front door for safety reasons and shrinkage reasons and they would need to reinvent how they did business.
He said
He said the
main problem was that he wanted to keep
Mayor Amyx said he might not disagree with some of the things that Zimmer stated, but he had to say something about this City’s reputation. He said he would never apologize for having standards and expectations that might be a little bit higher than others. He said he would do everything he could to attract doing business in Lawrence, but everyone on the City Commission had requirements. He said they were not business unfriendly and he could not think of the last time the City Commission turned something down.
Vice Mayor Hack asked if the Planning Commission already asked, as a condition, that some of the design would adhere to the guidelines.
Vice Mayor
Hack said the City Commission did not want to do anything that made projects
cost prohibitive and did not want to do things that extended the amount of time
it took to get projects completed. She
thought Warner was indicating that a lot of this conversation would happen at
the pre-submittal stage where it was a discussion of a project prior to the
time that an enormous amount of money had been spent presenting a site plan or
presenting what the building was going to look like. She said she hoped they always recognized
creativity in this community and thought it was what made
Concerning the parking, 6th and Wakarusa and the Bauer Farm Project had the bulk of their parking behind their buildings so the first thing you did not see was a mass of asphalt which was much more pleasing. She thought there was still some confusion about parking and how it would be applied, but there were already examples of that type of parking. She supported the Standards and Guidelines and appreciated Warner’s work on this.
Commissioner Schauner said he agreed with Zimmer in that all buildings should not look the same. He said the guidelines provided an incentive to be creative and to build different things to be laid out differently. He said in the 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s, and 1980’s, they saw the strip mall of various lengths and sizes. He thought they had seen an increasing interest in a different way of laying buildings out that provided diversity of entrances and a different focus rather than just parking lots. He said the report really encouraged creativity in a different way of looking at developing commercial property. He was very encouraged by the work of the group that put those guidelines together. He thought it was a strong step forward and they would ultimately be pleased with those guidelines even though he suspected they would need to make some changes as they go along like most major changes. He was sure it was not a perfect product, but he looked forward to see how it did work and if they needed to make changes, he was confident this Commission or others would give it that interest of strong hearing. He said he very much supported it and thought it was exciting to see that they were moving forward in design criteria.
Commissioner Rundle said he certainly did not want to sacrifice uniqueness or make it difficult for creativity expressed through architecture. He was excited about those guidelines because they would be avoiding cookie cutter buildings being built by big box stores and they would having something that would be more appealing and aesthetically desirable. He said those guidelines should enhance the character and the quality of commercial construction.
Commissioner
Highberger said anytime there were design guidelines they ran that risk of
turning things into
Commissioner Rundle asked Corliss if it was a conscious decision that this would be a resolution instead of an ordinance.
Corliss said that was correct.
Mayor Amyx said he appreciated the amount of work that Warner, members of Planning Staff, and the Commission had spent on bringing forward these commercial design guidelines. He said in looking at those guidelines in order for the Commission to understand, they would probably be requesting changes from this day forward such as the adaptive reuse of existing buildings. If there was conflict, he was sure this Commission was going to have to consider appeals to the Standards and Guidelines. He thought the Commission should prepare for that because there was going to be some properties that would not be adaptive to any kind of Standards and Guidelines. He thought it was a place to start and did not think they were going to look at commercial buildings over the next several years as being the same.
It was moved by Highberger, seconded by Hack, to adopt Resolution No. 6669, adopting the Commercial Design Manual – Commercial Development, July 2006 Edition. Motion carried unanimously. (18)
Receive draft letter concerning the
City’s position on the proposed relocation of the Post Office distribution
facility at 7th and
Bob Schulte said they had reviewed the draft letter prepared by the Interim City Manager, approved of the wording, and asked the City Commission to direct the Mayor to sign the letter.
Commissioner Schauner said he was generally fine with the letter, but the only change he asked the City Commission to consider would be in the second paragraph where it talked about continued operation of full service retail postal facility. Somewhere in that letter he thought they needed to say it was a “seamless operation” because he thought the word “continued” permits the opportunity for there to be one, not be one, and have some period of time in which there was no such facility downtown. He said he would like to see impressed upon the postal service the need to continuously and seamlessly have that sort of service.
Corliss said if that was the goal of the City Commission he would make that change. He said they would find a grammatical way to insert without interruption in that sentence.
Commissioner Rundle suggested that where it said “City Commission” to say “majority of the City Commission” directed or supported.
Rick
Marquez, Director, Downtown Lawrence, said they submitted a letter a little bit
late to get onto the agenda. The letter
stated, “Downtown Lawrence Inc., would like to state its support for the letter
to be sent to the United States Postal Service by the City of Lawrence
regarding the possible relocation of the distribution portion of the post
office located at 7th Street and Vermont. It was vital to maintain a full service
retail post office, both for the uses of the downtown businesses and residents,
and as a draw for the rest of the City’s population. We also appreciated the USPS employees that
patronize the downtown businesses. With
that said, they were excited to offer potential for added parking, residential
development, and tax generating retail.
The gradual redevelopment of current industrial and warehouse speaks for
this purpose and would be of value to all.
We trust that any developer interested in pursuing this would work
closely with the City and with the downtown community to ensure a project that
was not incongruent with what our wonderful, historic downtown, the envy of many
communities, has to offer. We thank you
for this opportunity to voice our support and are appreciative of the continued
efforts to help maintain diplomacy and viability of downtown
Marilyn Roy,
Mayor Amyx said there was a request that asked the City Commission to not oppose a move of the distribution portion of the post office, but it was very important to the Commission and neighbors that the post office remain, in the retail sense, downtown.
As far as the big trucks and the distribution coming in and out, if it fit the need of the Post Office to move to another location, basically what the letter said was the City Commission did not have a problem with the post office moving to another location as long as the retail portion of that facility remained downtown.
Mayor Amyx said he did not believe so. He thought there were people who were talking with the Postal Service about that possibility.