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2:21
Good evening everybody we will start around December 16 2020 planning and zoning meeting. First item on our agenda is Roll Call
2:31
Mr. chernykh. Here,
2:33
Mr. hight is present Mr.
2:36
teta
2:37
here, Mr. Polin,
2:38
here,
2:40
Mr. Goldberg,
2:40
you listener flag. listener flag. Oops,
2:54
Miss neuron are on
2:55
here.
2:56
Councilmember Rodriguez.
2:58
You’re here,
2:59
man, you have a quorum.
3:01
All right, thank you very much. I’m next on our agenda. I need to let anybody who wishes to speak know that during anybody wishing to speak during the public invited to be heard items, which are items four and seven, or during any public hearing items, which is agenda item six, you’ll need to watch the livestream of the meeting for instructions about how to call in to provide public comment at the appropriate times. instructions will be given during the meeting and displayed on the screen like you see right now, when it is time to call in to provide comments. Comments are limited to five minutes per person, and each speaker will be asked to state their name and address for the record prior to proceeding with their comments. Please remember to mute the live stream when you’re called upon to speak. I’m going to add that public invited to be heard items are those comments you want to make that are not about an agenda item on the meter. Um, please keep your comments about agenda items to the public hearing part of that agenda item. Third on our agenda tonight is communications. We have assistant city manager, Joanie Marsh, and our new planning director of Glen van new Morgan on. Johnny, would you like to introduce Glenn to the group? And then maybe a few comments from Glenn? Sure. Good
4:23
evening, commissioners, Chairman chernykh. It’s nice to be here with all of you. I think it was a year ago when I informed you that I wasn’t going to be here any more with you. And much like most things in 2020, that didn’t exactly turn out the way I had planned. The planning department has had four frozen positions since the pandemic began. I’m fortunate enough to say that as of this last week, we do you have a new planning director Glenn and I am happy to welcome him and start the new year with a planning director at the helm and I’ll turn it over to Glen.
4:59
Oh, thank you, Johnny. Believe me, I’m, I’m thrilled to be here. It’s nice to meet all the commissioners, I wish we could be in person. And I guess that’s my hope for the new year is maybe at some point, we can all be in the same physical space. But I do come into the position with quite a bit of experience. I like to say I’m 30 years old with 30 years experience. A good portion of that in the Phoenix area, worked for about four different municipalities in the Phoenix metro area, and then the recession hit and that was our chance to escape and move to Colorado. So in Colorado, I’ve worked for the cities a little tin, I took a bit of a chance and worked for mountain village. If any of you have skied in Telluride, you might be familiar with mountain village. And then most recently, my adopted hometown of the city of Salida. But I was introduced to Longmont back when I was in Littleton and believe me it stuck in my head is that’s a place where I’d like to be so Believe me, I am thrilled to be here. And hope to get to know you all a little bit better.
6:24
Great, thank you, Glen. Thank you, Jenny. Welcome to Longmont. Glen, Glen thank you for I’m next on our agenda item is item number four public invited to be heard for any anything that is not on tonight’s agenda. I’m will display the Column Information. So you can see that Eric is getting that there we go. The information is being displayed on the screen. For you from home, please dial 1888780099. That’s toll free in the United States. When prompted, enter the meeting id 83153809801. And when asked for your participant ID press the pound sign. When we are ready to hear public comment we’ll call you or call on you to speak based on the last three digits of your phone number. Each speaker must state their name and address for the record and we’ll be allowed five minutes to speak. Please remember to mute the live stream when you’re called upon to speak. To get everybody who wants to speak into the meeting. We need five minutes to do this. So we will now take a five minute break.
12:29
All right, Chairman it doesn’t look like we have any numbers for public invited to be heard.
12:35
Okay, thank
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you Erica. Um, so we can. Okay. Thank you for taking down the screen. On next on our agenda is approval of the minutes from the October 21 2020 meeting. Um, anybody have any discussion? Any motion to approve the minutes? Commissioner height?
12:59
I’d move to approve the for these October 21 2020 minutes.
13:06
So we have a motion to approve. We have a second on that motion. commissure. otter on second. Okay. All those in favor of approval say Aye. And raise your hand. Okay. Um, those opposed? Those who need to abstain because they weren’t at the meeting. Okay, so Jane, two abstentions? Nope, no opposition, and the rest is approved. So it’s teta flag on our own height and Poland have approved.
13:38
Thank you. Okay,
13:39
thank you very much. Um, next is a public hearing item and it’s item six on our agenda, the modern West concept plan amendment PCR 2020 dash eight, with principal planner brand Schumacher leading the presentation. Thank you. Erica. Jane, can you please start the staff presentation slides?
14:02
Yes, give me just a sec here.
14:05
Thank you.
14:15
There it is. wasn’t showing up on my
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little thing here. All right. Thanks.
14:22
Thanks, Eric. Appreciate it. Good evening, commissioners. It’s good to see you again. I’m Brian Schumacher, with planning involvement services. And tonight is the public hearing for the modern West concept plan amendment. So this slide, next slide, please. Sorry, sorry, Erica. This slide notes staff that are available for questions this evening. Myself, Carolina’s available respond to traffic related questions and David is available to respond to any airport related questions that commission might have, after the presentations and public hearing comments, the applicant representatives and staff are available to respond to questions. Next slide please. So this slide just provides a quick overview of the parcel location in southwest long lat. Northern Nelson road South Rogers road east of Airport Road west of Anderson Street and it’s adjacent neatly adjacent to the Anderson RV storage facility. Next slide please. As I just showed the property’s proximity to the Vance brand, airport and the alignment of the runway. Next slide, please. Just a few notes on this slide regarding zoning and the applicant provide more details regarding some of the surroundings as part of their presentation. So on this slide, I don’t know if it’s easy to see, but modern West is shown with the red star airport is the parcel in blue to the northwest and the west side of Airport Road. The airport influence overlay is an area that’s encompassed by the oval on the zoning map if you can see that on the display. And then modern West property is on mixed use employment. And then as noted on here for the properties that are annexed. This modern West property is surrounded by other parcels and properties with mixed use and climate Sony. And then there’s also a couple of other parcels on the south end that are not yet annexed but they have mixed use employment land use designation on the Envision Lamont land use plan. Next slide please. So this is provides a brief summary of prior planning and actions by the city. And the property has been part of the llama area comprehensive plan and has been planned for urban development since the some of the original neighborhood planning in the in the 1980s. Some of you on the commission may have reviewed the annexation that went through the review process, I believe you went to the commission in 2018, and it was recorded for annexation of the city in 2019. And then the concept plan that was approved at the time of annexation included only light industrial uses at the time. Next slide please. So this just provides a brief outline of the primary components of this request for the concept plan amendment. Again, the applicant is going to provide more details regarding their proposal as part of their presentation. But just to note a few things. As I noted on the previous slide, the original concept plan was for just light industrial. This proposal is for a mix of light industrial, commercial and mixed residential uses. There’s also a plan collector street on the north side of the property, which is mountain Brook drive, then I’ll extend from Henderson street on the east over to Rogers road to the west. There’s also a future local street connection along the west side of this property that will eventually connect down to Nelson road. There also likely be emergency access along the narrow parcel that’s along the south side of this property. And then there are also plans for pedestrian connections internal and external pass as part of future development of the property. Next slide please. So just a few notes about proposed development phasing of the property.
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The phasing plan shows light industrial and commercial uses on the west side and northern side to be developed first, with mountain Brook drive that collects your street on the north side, making a connection to Anderson Street to the east and Rogers road to the west with the initial phases of development. And then the mixed residential which is kind of on the western side of the parcel will be included during later phases of development of the property. And as I mentioned the local street along the west side that’ll connect to Nelson road with a future phase of development and then also the emergency access as I mentioned before, also along that North or narrow corridor to that’ll provide a connection down Nelson road. Next slide please. So these next few slides, outline some of the topics that were discussed during the DRC review prior to the hearing being scheduled. So I got to touch upon a few of these topics that were outlined in more detail in the staff communication. So the first one is related to airport impacts and land use mix. And as part of the review process and actually prior to the application submittal as part of the pre application discussions staff and discuss with the applicant potential impacts of proximity to the area. port, particularly as a related to residential development. And through the conversations that we’ve had with the applicant, the applicant intends to work with the city so that the airport operations are not compromised by future development on this property. Given its proximity to the airport and the airport runway, a couple of things in notes, the future development on the property be subject to the airport influence overlay zone and the FAA regulations and compliance with the airport influence Overlay and the FAA regulations address a few things such as electrical interference, impairing visibility, you know, an example might be if this projects very interested in having net zero energy impact. And so one thing that they’d be looking at is potential solar panels and so just need to take a look at reflectivity of those solar panels and make sure they’re not having an adverse impact on on aircraft flights approaching the the airport. few other things would be just otherwise other factors that might create a hazard or endanger aircraft, as well as some of the height restrictions related to the airport airspace. And as noted in the email and the and the letter that was provided by the FAA, regarding the airspace analysis that the applicant had submitted to the FAA for preliminary review. And then the applicant has also also grant a navigation easement to the city as part of future development and subdivision planning. And the granting of navigation. He’s no all knowledge, a few things, one, obviously the activities and noise associated with airport operations, the rite of passage over the property by aircraft as well as restrictions regarding the height of structures or other objects on the property, so that it doesn’t impede into that airspace that’s restricted by FAA regulations. Next slide, please. So in terms of environmental protections, and that’s typically one of the criteria associated with any application and concept plants, a habitat and species conservation plan was submitted with the application. And it did not identify any threatened or endangered species or habitat or wetlands or waters of the US subject to federal regulation, or local regulations. Natural Resource staff did review the habitat and species conservation plan and they generally agreed with the findings and recommendations from the plan. And they did note some recommendations regarding birdnest mitigation procedures that will be followed prior to construction with future phases of development such as going through the subdivision process, as well as site planning for future development. Next slide, please. There is also an environmental site assessment that was submitted, it’s the same assessment that was provided through the annexation process, and staff was okay with the 2017 assessment since nothing really has changed on the property since it was annexed. An environmental site assessment indicated that there was no evidence of environmental environmental conditions on the property that would require additional investigation. Next slide please.
23:32
So in terms of traffic and roadway improvements, the development of the property is not expected to have an adverse impact on level of service and the transportation benchmark and this will be reviewed again with the future luminary subdivision plat as the plan is more refined, and roadway improvements will include as I mentioned before connections to the collector street on the north side to Anderson Street, to the east and Rogers road to the west. And modern West will also participate in the future traffic signal improvements at the Rogers road and Airport Road intersection. And any additional improvement requirements will be addressed at the time of future subdivision and development exci place So, as we went through the review process, we talked about a few other things such as infrastructure considerations for future development, those will be required to comply with municipal code requirements at the time of subdivision planning and site planning review, things such as multimodal and pedestrian connections, utility improvements, including storm drainage and water quality design. It appears that you do until the capacity is anticipated be adequate and emergency response times will comply with the city’s benchmark. Obviously the fire station number five is nearby at the intersection of airport and Nelson road. There are more details in the communication each of these topics if the Commission has questions about this next slide, please. So this slide just outlines instances where there have been and will continue to be opportunities for public input on this project. The neighborhood meeting was held back about a year ago in December 2019. Notice of application occurred in May of this year, the notice of the public hearing was sent out in early December. Obviously, we’re here tonight for the public hearing of the planning zoning commission. This application will be forwarded on to city council and there will be a notice to surrounding property owners for the public hearing with City Council in early January, and then the city council public hearing will likely be held in late January. All right, that should be 21. Sorry about that. For the notice, and the hearing was City Council. And then once the concept plan, amendment 70 gets approved, it’s through the process. Obviously, there will be additional opportunities to the subdivision plat and site plan review process for the public to have opportunities on on future designed for this site as well. Next slide, please. So throughout the review process, we’ve only received one public comment. And that includes what it was, say through the neighborhood meeting. There were some questions and general comments regarding kind of the process and the timing of construction and things of that nature. But there weren’t really any substantive questions or concerns raised at the neighborhood meeting. So the one public comment that had some substance was expressing some concern with traffic and the timing of some of the Nelson road improvements. And a couple of emails that we received recently, emails of support of the project were also received, and those were forwarded to the commission. Next slide, please. So as part of the review process, staff sends out the proposal to outside agencies to see if they have any questions or concerns or comments on the proposal. So we did receive some feedback back from the school district, and they confirm that none of the schools at least at this time that would serve this development are near the school capacity benchmark. So future supplementary and final subdivision plats. And site plans also be reviewed by the school district again to make sure and confirm that there’s adequate school capacity when the property is closer to development. Staff also did receive a an email that was forwarded to the Commission for the Longmont Economic Development Partnership that was submitted for it that provided support for the project. And then also forwarded to the commission was an email as well as a letter from the FAA that indicated that they had reviewed the applicant’s airspace analysis and metal and made it a preliminary determination of no hazard to air navigation Bay based on the anticipated and expected future building heights for development on this property.
28:30
Next slide please. So this slide just includes a few procedural notes. So as noted, the applicant is responsible for demonstrating that the application meets the applicable review criteria and municipal code standards and they will as part of their presentation, they will address the criteria in more detail. The plans only commission is a recommending body for a concept plan amendment, and the Commission’s recommendation will be forwarded to city council Council’s decision making body on this this application. Next slide please. So based on staffs analysis, the review criteria as noted in the communication staff found the application to meet the criteria and is recommending approval, as noted in PC resolution 2028. A Next slide please. So this slide just outlines the next steps for tonight’s hearing. We’ll have the applicants presentation Next, the commission will open up a public hearing and see if there’s members of the public that would like to speak this evening after the public hearing. And the commission will have opportunities to ask questions of the applicant or staff based on the public hearing comments or questions that the Commission may have. And the commission will deliberate on the matter. And then the commission will take a motion and a vote on the item and that will conclude tonight’s hearing. So with that, Bart Bronk will be presenting for the applicant And next slide please. Just want to say thank you, commissioners and Eric and Jane for your help save me and that concludes my presentation comments. Thank you very much. Thank you, Brian. So we’ll move on to miss Bronk.
30:15
And evening Chairman sure and I can commissioners sidebar Bronk, resource conservation partners, PO Box 1522, Longmont, Colorado. I’m so excited to be here this evening to talk to you again about the modern West project. I’m really the storyteller this evening. Derek rasio has assembled a team to develop and implement his vision for a unique, sustainable, energy efficient, integrated, mixed use community in Longmont. Derek is the landowner applicant and keeper of division for the project. We also have key members of the design team here this evening to answer questions as they come up. Aaron back now from sofa smart architects, comma Carmichael from the Rocky Mountain Institute 70 plus National Renewable Energy Lab, Todd Borger with tjb Consulting engineering, Peter Batali, also with modern West. We also have Mike Morgan, an attorney that has represented airports and businesses surrounding airports for over 25 years to answer FAA and airport related questions. And Chris McGranahan from LSC, who is our transportation engineer. This talented team of design professionals is working together to implement their vision, we have a short video that tells the story of modern West and staff, now’s the time to play the video.
31:49
Just a sec, I want to make sure we have computer sound.
31:54
Yes,
31:56
you can design and build an amazingly beautiful architectural masterpiece. And if there is no human element and soul invested into that you feel an emptiness. All the different building types and experiences I’ve had for going on 30 years. It’s all being culminated into this project. Modern West is a new way to do land development brings in a mix of uses commercial, industrial, living for art play, expression, home
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intent. And the goal of modern West is to provide flexibility and opportunity to use spaces that you wouldn’t traditionally use, who are really trying to capture some of this maker entrepreneurial spirit, if you want to bring some level of industrial quality and spaces that are more natural filling, big openings, positioning trees, framing views to the mountains, getting to interact with the seasons.
32:54
This project is really interesting from the beginning, because I’ve worked with a lot of developers. And Derek is a special type of developer is a very intentional person in everything he does. He’s really, really engaged in the online community because he lives there. And he’s concerned about the future for his kids, where they’re going to grow up and live.
33:14
Our partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Rocky Mountain Institute will help us put sustainability at the forefront. There a group of the brightest minds with Building Science in the world of innovation, maybe too nerdy,
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cost effective decarbonize, it sounds like some kind of horror movie, Rocky Mountain Institute is excited, we’re playing a couple of critical roles on the modern West project, we don’t get involved in a huge range, but really focused projects that are pushing the bounds of innovation. The modern West team is composed of the biggest nerds in the energy space. And so our goal really is to put all of the right pieces in the right order so that the sustainability part is just embedded in the fabric of the development. The building sector is the single largest contributor of co2 emissions in the world right now, a big part of our role is integrating all of these technologies and concepts and ideas in conjunction with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and making them cost effective.
34:11
So I’ve been at General National Renewable Energy Lab for 20 years, I get to work on projects that are really moving the industry forward. And modern West does one of those it’s going above and beyond were most developments at this stage go and represent objective science based third party participants. What modern West is attempting to do around zero energy communities as well aligned with our research trying to deploy and demonstrate large scale net zero developments around us. The way we look at net zero energy is a set of buildings that produce more on site renewable energy than they use from the utility of the course of a year. In places like Longmont, where we have over 300 days a year of sunshine, we can take advantage of that to be our primary energy producing resource. And a lot of the research that’s happening is how to best integrate those solutions into the grid because everyone put solar They’re building in the middle of the day, the utility would not be able to absorb all that extra renewable energy. So having a small municipal utility that will work with developments like this, as an active partner, is a key opportunity for this type of
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project.
35:14
projects like this for the state are critical to prove that it can be done.
35:18
And we have to figure out how to do it affordably.
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Studies have shown that net zero energy doesn’t cost more upfront, if it’s done.
35:26
We’ve been learning lessons about live work for a while now we find that people have a space to go like a makerspace or collaborative space, and they’ll go there to work as well. And it’s more of a communal
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effort. With our live work rowhomes, we want to create a space where
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micro business can thrive. So we thought it would be a great idea to start to provide this industrial base but a little bit bigger than something you would find traditionally,
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all of this commercial and light industrial use envelops the residential portion
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of the site. From a utility perspective, the mixed use amenities that it has on site, they’re quite complimentary. And when they use energy over
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the course of the day, a live work component also helps build community. When you have artists and entrepreneurs and makers living together, it creates a spirit of vibrancy and a lightness.
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You think there’s not a place like this in the region, it’s all about what’s your privacy if you want to be part
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of we have
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multifamily buildings, they’re all
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connected by these green spaces and pathways more pedestrian friendly environment until the container collected itself. By creating a space together, we’re able to take this really narrow strip and integrate these two ideas, Tiny Homes and community garden shares common interest,
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you oftentimes don’t see
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art woven into projects. So that’s
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where modern Western, well, it’s more on a human
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level, the materials are going to be pretty raw and nature concrete still wood.
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We can actually design buildings specifically
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for certain age groups. We want to appeal to Generation
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Z all the way up to baby boomers.
37:01
The modern Westside meets a lot of the guiding principles that are laid out in the original unlock plan.
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And that’s kind of where we found our alignment with what Longmont is trying to do
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fordable housing, we’re going to create economic development, green space, the idea is to preserve what’s succeeding in Longmont right now and to provide direction for the future. Creation of smaller production facilities is a need that long months us
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how can we leverage the opportunities in this community to support long lat powers goals of clean, reliable energy, the grid in the US? There’s a lot of municipal utilities that are asking the exact same questions. How can we decarbonize our grid and our buildings in unison.
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lotterywest sits just east advanced brand airport, and we’re on a flight path, we have to be mindful of that relationship and partner with the airport. We’ve actually designed our buildings to relate to the air traffic
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with the intention being that everybody that lives and works in this community is going to celebrate the airport and not think of it as a nuisance.
38:03
Anytime you have lots of solar systems by an airport, there’s always a challenge right concerns about glare from planes being able to see the runway. That being said you can do modeling to prove when that would happen. And line that up with where the sun is where the solar is what type of film the solar panel tab,
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most of the air traffic isn’t a landing pattern. So it’s more of a quiet relationship than a takeoff. So it’s actually pretty enjoyable to be sitting there and watching a plane fly over.
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We’re working on the fringe of innovation here. This is a place that I would want to live that I want my kids to live. And this is a place that really fosters the sustainability values that I cherish.
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We’re hoping that modern West becomes a pilot project for new ways to design and develop, but I want to feel that it adds a level of human connection.
39:19
Now we’ll switch to a PowerPoint presentation and go through the criteria and components of the project. So can we have there we go. We talked about these key elements of the team. Next slide. Every time I see this film, I’m reminded how fortunate we are to have a landowner who has a vision and is willing to gather the resources and follow through to implement it. This site is located in the middle of the mixed use neighborhood and this part of the community We’re here this evening to ask for your recommendation of approval to amend the modern West concept plan. To bring it more into alignment with the mixed use employment designation on the land use plan and the mixed use employment zoning on the property. The amendment will update the framework on the site to allow for creation of a new high quality, energy efficient mixed use development that will provide a transformative space for community benefit within the city of Longmont. Next slide. This project is location is identified as an area of change and envision Longmont in areas of change are specifically noted to target future development, intense development and they’ve been noted as a place where the community can
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is Bronk. You you’re suddenly muted on us, so I need you to back up a little bit.
41:03
How far back
41:05
Oh, you were talking about
41:06
areas of chairs have changed. Okay, so we’re still on the right slide. So again, this site is identified as an area of change and invis in Longmont. And those areas are specifically designated as like locations for future development and we’re intensity of development will benefit and be desirable in our community. The proposal fits into the growth framework from Longmont and will create places for people that will promote a sense of community provide an opportunity for people to live, work, play, connect, and meet their daily needs. Next slide. This slide is also located in the context of centers and corridors as identified in the Envision Longmont plan. We are close to the Airport Road and Nelson road major corridor and the connections that will add as we develop the property will fit this site into the grid. It seems like it’s out in the middle of nowhere that they’re in the middle of farmland now. But as the transportation improvements are in installed, it’ll fit into that framework. It’s also located close to centers and transit within the community. Next slide. as Brian said the original concept plan for this property was one use and light industrial and was based on the prior zoning A B Li. adoption of the envisioned land use mixed use employment designation and the mixed use zoning will allow us to create a project that’s much more in alignment with the comprehensive plan. It’ll allow for sustainable and resilient project to provide a mix of uses and businesses allow for on site residential provide community benefits and create a supportable density within walking distance to transit and multi use bike and pedestrian networks. This will be one component to add an appropriate mix of uses within this portion of the mixed use neighborhood in this part of Longmont.
43:14
Next slide.
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This is our concept plan. And you know this project is a poster child for integrated mixed use development. We have flexible light industrial space for existing and startup businesses live work and makerspaces to support small business entrepreneurs and artists and homes for residents of all ages and incomes. The neighborhood is designed to create and foster community connections as Derek talked about in the film. And all of this takes place in the context of an energy efficient, sustainable project. The mix of uses include light industrial, commercial and residential 63% of the site will be the primary uses and 37% of the site land area will be dedicated to the secondary uses. This combination of uses supports job creation and economic development and will add diversity of the housing stock in this portion of Longmont. In addition in the lobby the uses of all be interconnected both on the site and to the community at large with pedestrian and bicycle connections into the transit system in Longmont. Next slide. This just kind of show where we are the mixed use designations there are properties that are annexed and zone mixed use and you can see where we are relative to the grid with airport to the west Nelson road to the south Rogers road to the north and hoever over on the east. Next slide. This slide demonstrates how the site will be connected to the Longmont grid with the new transportation. So there along the north edge of the property is metal Parkway and that will link Rogers Road to hoever Road eventually. And in the short term it’ll link the parkway to Nelson via Anderson road. And then there’s also a north south road along the western edge of the property that will also provide a future connection. Next slide. This is how our project kind of fits in and was designed relative to the system. So the site is designed with the non residential uses adjacent to the collector. So you see the commercial and the light industrial and then industrial wraps around the eastern edge of the property on the southern edge of the property. The residential uses are in this kind of in the center and will be accessed internally. So the main access will be into the light industrial project and those residential and commercial uses will be integrated with a trail system you can see the yellow line that will connect us down to Nelson road and then into lykins Gulch which gets us into the overall pedestrian and bicycle network within the city. Next slide. We’re so excited to be working with n rail as part of the project team on this site. Their role for NRL and Rocky Mountain Institute inform the concept design for the property. The letters in your packet from chante plus and Carr Carmichael outline their respective roles have enrolled in the design team. And will also included this project in their recently published a guide to energy master planning of high performance districts and communities. So this is part of getting us into the national spotlight from online as far as being on the cutting edge. The concept plan establishes a site layout to support passive solar site design allow for integrated integration of both active and passive solar access. So not only do we have the buildings lined up, so they work for panels, we also have the massing and layout so that we work for natural light on the property for both the businesses in the homes. shaunti plus from Nan Ral is here this evening to answer questions about enrols ongoing role in the project. Next slide.
47:17
The Rocky Mountain Institute is also part of our design team. And the gift here is that Derek brought ml and Rmi into the process at the very beginning so that we’re not trying to figure out how to do it later because we didn’t look at the front end. We’ve also had initial conversations with Longmont power and communications Rmi will continue to provide technical process and scaling support as we move forward to design and develop the property. We have a unique opportunity in Longmont because we have our own utility grid to collaborate with LPC and the Platte River Power Authority to develop a project it can serve as an example of how to integrate on site renewable energy into the power grid. Rmi will continue to help the team look toward how this project can be scaled up and create a replicable model for collaboration with local energy providers and to achieve grid interactivity. And Carr Carmichael is here again from Rmi this evening to answer any questions you have about that component of the project. Next slide. Okay, here we are at the airport influence zone. So the site is located in the middle of the mixed use neighborhood to the south and the east of the airport. And again, Brian showed you that oval that shows up on the plan. So, first and foremost, everything that happens on this property will be in compliance with the city and FAA safety regulations in place at the time the property is developed, we understand that the airport influence area is area overlay is there to protect and encourage the ongoing operation of the airport. Next slide. We took a proactive approach with the FAA and looked at both land use relative to the airport and where and what kind of land uses are compatible relative the airport and safety factors. So the analysis shows that the site meets the FAA standards regarding land use in vicinity of the airport. And the request for an evaluation, we actually sent the request for them to look at the tallest possible building on the property as close to the airport as it possibly could be on the site. And with that the FAA looked at it and determined that there would be no hazard to air navigation. Now that is a snapshot in time. So this will continue to be part of the analysis as we proceed through the process. So every time we look at this site, we’ll revisit it That FAA airspace designation and the city of Longmont airport overlay zone as we develop the property. So, again, all future development will comply with the FAA standards and long line standards regarding the airport overlay zone. Next, it’s our job to show that we meet the review criteria. So, I’m going to go through the highlights of these there. There’s a letter from the applicant in your packet from Aaron Bagnall and the staff analysis of the review criteria, which clearly demonstrate that we’ve complies but I kinda like to hit the highlights. So the proposal meets the common review criteria as outlined in 1502 55. As shown in the letter, and we further the goals as established in the mixed use employment condition Longmont land use to embrace compact and efficient Pat pattern of growth, promote sustainable mix of land uses, focus on development and corridors and other areas of change. Integrate land use and transportation planning to enhance the overall quality of life in the city, and protect and conserve Longmont Natural Resources and Environment. And this site is specific to sustainable development practices, creation of workspaces that are walkable and interconnected, and mixed use employment areas that actually promote that higher density mix of uses that we looked at when we updated the Envision Longmont plan. Again, a concept plan is the basic framework. So this will continue to bring more detail we’ll be back with a preliminary plat for you to look at this again. But things like connections to the transportation grid, connection to the utilities in the area, connections to the multimodal transportation system. All of those things are illustrated on the concept plan and will be continued to be integrated into the project as we move forward. Street streets, transportation all those things are part of the plan as we go forward. Next slide.
52:14
There’s also some specific review criteria for concept plans. As the site develops transportation utilities will be linked to the city system pedestrian bicycle links will also connect to the city’s multimodal network. Transportation and utility systems have adequate capacity to serve the proposed uses. no adverse impacts to adjacent properties have been developed. as Brian said, We provided a habitat conservation plan for submittal as part of the application process, and no significant environmental resources were identified on the property. That said the applicant will follow the recommendations regarding migratory and nesting birds as outlined in the staff recommendation as we move forward to develop the property. Next slide. There are also we review criteria for specific standards for secondary uses. So this site is not located within a residential district. However, local internal access will provided to the residence within the property so they will front onto that local street, but access will be internal to the site. The secondary residential uses are specifically contemplated and mailed and allowed and then mixed use employment zone and will meet the standards as outlined in 1502. The proposed secondary uses will not substantially diminish the availability of land within the surrounding underlying zoning district. In this proposal, land devoted to primary use is 63% of the property and land devoted to the secondary use is 37% of the property. They’ll all be interconnected through that grid of streets and green spaces, but the overall mix gives deference to the primary use as established in the cut in the zoning. Next slide. Back to the airport. So again, we understand the restrictions regarding glare and light and all those things all those things will be continued to be addressed as we move forward to develop the property. And I can’t say it enough times we are conscious of the airport and understand that everything that happens on the property has to be compatible with the airport safer pilots using the area not noisy for the people who live there and the height standards have established in the zone. As a property develops, it will comply with city and FAA standards. The applicant will provide a navigation easement and continued analysis will ensure that the proposal is compatible with the airport and will not compromise ongoing operations. Next slide. This project also has the ability to support several key elements of the city council’s current work plan. So go be one. As the site develops, it will add diversity to the housing stock in Longmont Gobi three, the partnership with NRL Rmi and LPC has the potential to put us at a nationally recognized level for a scalable approach to integrating the grid with on site renewable energy goal before as the site develops, we’ll continue to expand our collaborative efforts to include local schools and higher education to provide education opportunities to expand the skills of our workforce,
55:49
Gobi five toward our renewable energy goals, integration of renewable energy and the potential to be a model of how this type of collaborative effort can inform other land development projects in Longmont and other communities. And again, that piece that’s scalable so that we have an opportunity to change the way we do business in Longmont as we continue to develop, and truly all elements of the plan support a healthier climate for future generations, and will help inform how we can better adapt to the impacts of climate change as we move forward.
56:27
Next slide.
56:31
Again, our discussion this evening and application materials in your packet demonstrate that the application that’s presented complies with the applicant pool criteria as outlined in 15. Oh 205-515-0206 Oh, 315 Oh, 40308 115 Oh, 305085. And we respectfully request that you afford the modern West concept plan amendment to city council with a recommendation for approval. Our team is here to answer your questions. We’re excited to be able to talk to you this evening. And we thank you for your time. That includes our presentation.
57:13
Thank you, Miss Bronk. Um, I think just because it takes us so long to get callers into our system, let’s go ahead and start that process for the public hearing part of this. And then of course, after that, we will have questions from the from the commission. So I’m Erica, if we could put the slide up for the call and information that’d be great. As you can see on your screen from home, if you want to make comments about this project, please dial 1888780099. When prompted, enter the meeting id 83153809801. And when asked for your participate, participant ID press pound. When we’re ready to hear public comment, we will call on you to speak based on the last three digits of your phone number. Each speaker must state their name and address for the record and will be allowed five minutes to speak. Please remember to mute the live stream when you are called upon to speak. To do this process takes us five minutes. So we’ll take a five minute break and come back and see who we have. Thanks.
59:48
Once again folks, if you are joining us to speak on the modern West concept plan amendment item agenda six on tonight’s agenda, please dial the number on your screen. Enter the meeting ID and please remember to mute the live stream, we will call you by the last three digits of your phone number. And then you will have to state your name and address for the record and you will have five minutes to speak on item six.
1:02:43
So, Erika, I think that’s five minutes and tell us whether we had anybody call in please.
1:02:51
We do not have any callers at this time, Chairman.
1:02:55
Okay. All right. Thank you very much, Erica. And I will close the public hearing part of this. And we will go to discussion and questions from the commission. Anybody want to kick us off out of our commissioners, our commissioners leg?
1:03:15
Thank you. Chairman. I was looking at the annexation agreement. And it said that each initial purchaser signs and although you’re having the first buyers sign that disclosure agreement, and yes, there is an airport nearby. We
1:03:48
know this, will they also also covered by this disclosure statement? Shouldn’t there be a way in all of this, that your disclosure also accrues to each subsequent owner of a property so that they still have the same process? So that we’re not caught later on, say 10 1520 years down the way and airport going? And suddenly, someone says, well, the noise is just just awful, and I want to take measures and so on and so forth. And maybe this is a question for Okay, so sure. net.
1:04:33
Could I add something about that?
1:04:35
Sure. Yes, please do. So.
1:04:38
Those little plat notes are tough, and I agree with Commissioner flag, that the thing that we’re going to also have on this property is that abnegation easement, so that navigation easement will come up in the title work with every person who purchases a piece of property or comes to live here. I also think that the part about celebrating airport as part of the site design and making sure that people who come into the community to look for a place to live will understand that the airports there because there’ll be elements of the design on site that celebrate the airport will help people understand that they’re in the location of an airport it, you know, call me crazy. But when your road starts on Airport Road before you get to your front door, there’s a reason to think there might be an airport in the neighborhood.
1:05:31
commercial flight follow up.
1:05:33
So the follow up by hand is you say it’s in the
1:05:39
it’ll be in the title work, commitment.
1:05:41
So will there be then each deed that will ride with the deed?
1:05:51
title work, every time you buy something, you get a title commitment, and so that easement will run with the land. So every piece of property that is sold or purchased on that property will affect that easement. And I’m going to ask the attorney Mike Morgan, to maybe chime in about that. Barbara, I
1:06:10
think you’ve covered it beautifully. Every purchaser will get the title commitment, and each of the exception documents, and one of those documents will be a full copy of this application easement. So each each purchaser will be subject to it. And we’ll have notice of it very clearly.
1:06:34
And Mr. Morgan, just to be clear, so I understand. So as Commissioner flavor was saying, say 75 years down the road, somebody, the 10th buyer of a property in this goes to close that title company would be handing out the navigation easement for them to sign off on for the 10th time.
1:06:55
Yes,
1:06:55
those those go all the way back. They were runs with the land, which means it goes on forever, unless there’s some agreement with the city to for some reason, vacate it, for instance, if the airport goes away for some reason. Other than that, it remains a record.
1:07:13
Okay, great. Thank you. Other questions, discussion?
1:07:20
Commissioner pollen. ARB,
1:07:24
I have some questions about the size, number stories of the buildings for each of the commercial, industrial and mixed use residential, what you’re anticipating for those?
1:07:39
I would ask Aaron bag now who is our architect to talk through that conversation?
1:07:50
Yeah, hi, I’m Aaron bagnell. I there’s there’s a max of four storeys that’s allowable in this district. We are site design has a variety of heights and story levels that are associated we step down to the airport or the the northern local collector road. So the ante answer question, it varies and the maximum will be four storeys tall. Some of them use three, some of them will be two,
1:08:22
would you anticipate for the mixed use residential?
1:08:25
That right now is planned for four?
1:08:29
Okay, and that is the Go on.
1:08:32
I was just gonna say that based on analysis that we did with NRL those buildings will step to provide sunlight.
1:08:41
I guess my my one concern is that by the looks of this, then the properties on the west side are going to be the taller, taller buildings because those I believe will be taller than the light industrial. I was wondering why you wouldn’t then reverse or why didn’t he think about reversing light industrial and mixed use so that you go to taller buildings The further away from the airport then that you are? Because I’ll tell you the one concern I have is mixed use or well residential buildings by close to the airport that’s that’s my one concern with this project.
1:09:24
And and that concern it lies in the height or is there other? is there other concerns to
1:09:31
in the height and in the density? And I think that’s one of the reasons why when we first approved this a couple years ago, it was light industrial that the thought was that light industrial was not as dense of a zoning as my let’s say residential might be so I guess it’s both the height and the fact that it’s a what I would consider a denser zoning
1:10:01
Okay, um, I think I think what our response needs to be for that is that there all of all of the safety measures that are in place with the FAA, and the city regulations will be met by the by every building. So there’s already a lot of measures in place around the airport. So the concern for height shouldn’t really be an issue in this location, because we already meet all the regulatory requirements.
1:10:31
I add one more thing to that conversation. Yes, I think a couple of things. When we looked at this last time, and it was just light industrial, it’s because the city had not already contemplated adding mixed juice employment, to the mix of developments within the community. And when we started through the Envision Longmont, truly everything we did at a density to the community with the idea that we’re going to have a compact urban forum to be the most energy efficient, and the most, the best stewards of the land and the resources that we have. So I think that when envision Longmont designated this part of Longmont at this location, it anticipated density. So if it’s residential, or industrial, or mixed use, all of those uses are allowed at the density and the underlying zone on this property. So I think that the goal to make it integrated mixed use needs to add those people into the neighborhood to give it life. I mean, if you go to any light industrial place, that is a single use place and go there at six o’clock at night. It’s desert. And so the opportunity to include people at this level of density on this site get will give it life and promote those goals as established an image in my mind, I completely understand your concern. And the other piece we have is NRL looking at how we design these buildings to make sure that they are well. It’s a tight envelope. So it’s not a noise issue.
1:12:21
Does that help?
1:12:26
Not really? Yeah,
1:12:27
a little a little. But
1:12:29
I mean, really,
1:12:31
the main, the main thing that I’m trying to wrap my head around is that at area this close to the airport that we’re putting in the residential buildings, and that’s the thing that I’m trying to get my head around it. And that causes me pause with this. I’ll say that I love the project. If this was at some other place further away from the airport, I would just absolutely love this. It just because it’s so close to the airport, over the runway zone. That’s the issue that I have that I’m contemplating on. So
1:13:06
Commissioner height.
1:13:13
Thank you, Chairman Sherman. My concern is a little bit more pedestrian. First, probably for DRC staff, the Anderson self storage facility to the east. I be called in one of our approvals of the self storage area or a storage area that something may be in this facility. There were our buildings that need to be torn down because they had so many industrial activities taking place in them be rebuilt. Does anybody know for sure whether or not this Anderson storage facility which where I think our V’s are being stored next door? Is that facility? Brian, do you now
1:13:54
diminish your height? I don’t know for certain Barb might be able to respond to that because she worked on this project.
1:14:01
Commissioner height, we did come and talk to you about the Anderson RV storage. And since that conversation, we’re still in the process of finishing the P UD development plan to bring it into compliance with what was approved at the concept plan level. But there were some buildings that were removed as part of that application that’s been done. They took down the buildings that were going to be removed and built the buildings, the new storage buildings that were going to be included. And so when you go by that site, you’ll see that the plan pretty much looks like the plan as approved. It’s still in the DRC process, and it’s because it’s on my desk. I can tell you
1:14:38
that’s what factors into my concern, which is specifically that the environmental assessment for this property was done in 2017. When it was originally proposed for concept plan. It seems that possibly that environmental assessment might be a little stale bar maybe you know, in connection with the demolition. These buildings was a near the West boundary of the Anderson storage facility iE jacent to this area,
1:15:08
no, the cell store the things that came down were internal to the site. And that site also prepared and submitted an environmental assessment as it went through the process at the constant and plan amendment. There were no environmental. I don’t remember any environmental reasons that that site wasn’t okay. They were just, they just didn’t function well for the property. That’s why they were taken down. It wasn’t that they were a hazard it was that they didn’t integrate into the plan of the RV storage on the site as it was approved. There were old buildings that disappeared. They were there, but they didn’t function as part of the approval. So they were removed and replaced with those metal buildings with the shed roofs to put RVs in.
1:15:55
I do recall that there was they were going to be replaced, but my recollection is somewhat different that there was some type of mini industrial activity that I just remember is being a little funky. So it was
1:16:07
a welding shop there. Maybe that’s what you’re thinking of?
1:16:12
Possibly. So that was question number one. Question number two is the panhandle portion of this property this Southern narrow, and it’s actually I think identified as personal too. And I think the concept plan is that a separate parcel is in an easement or is it actually owned in fee by the by the owner?
1:16:37
It’s a fee simple part of the property.
1:16:39
Okay. So as
1:16:42
of our panhandle.
1:16:44
It’s the panhandle Yep. Yeah, I understand. In looking at, you know, there’s a there’s a new load coming into the North Meadowbrook drive, there’s a new collector that looks like possibly it ends but it’s just going to be on the west boundary of the property. And then your concept plan, it looks like it those two roads add up to possibly providing five different access points to your property. I note that it’s identified as possibly emergency access to the panhandle, I think was also identified as a multi modal path. My question is the neighboring properties to the south the Doll’s House properties on the south east quarter is showing up last quarter their access with the future development of those parcels might be limited in the ability for those parcels to access Nelson road, especially as Nelson becomes much more busy and access points to major thoroughfares becomes more limited. Is there any now this goes back to staff possibly to transportation, is there any understanding of the impact of this connector piece? Possibly limiting the future development and access to Nelson road of these other parcels? That the shilling parcel and the all house parcel
1:18:18
Ryan?
1:18:21
So, um, I don’t know, Caroline, do you have any comments on that before I wade into this? Um,
1:18:34
so I guess maybe to answer some general questions. So most of the access to this property is to the north on the future East West collector mountain Brook drive. So there, the applicant is proposing to build that from Rogers road to Anderson. That will also be built even further east by the mountain Brook development to dry creek drive. There was on the concept plan a local road north south on the west edge of the property that was proposed to be completed by others with development. I know in the traffic study, it was modeled as a full movement given its proximity on an arterial and proximity to Airport Road as well, given spacing, it’s possible it could be maybe movement restriction in the future as well. But um, as far as access to those other two parcels. I know that our code does prohibit creating a parcels parcels that are undeveloped bubble. And I guess Brian might have to chime in on that. But um, while our code does say you generally can’t take direct access of off an arterial, you can if it’s the only means of excellence
1:20:00
So I would just add to that, that, if you’re looking at those two parcels want the one to the west of that little panhandle, will have access off that local street Sunday, that north south local street. And those listing just gonna be
1:20:18
there’s going to be my question is there access from the showing property onto that road to this residential connector, it’s unnamed the panhandle
1:20:28
once it would annex mean, that little piece of property that goes North pan, the handle to our property is not planned to be a public street. It’s planned to be used for a combination of maybe Tiny Homes or some kind of community garden and pedestrian access of creative use of it. So it doesn’t just left aside. But that is not a full movement access onto Nelson road. So the only reason that vehicles would come off vehicles would come off of that on Nelson road would be for emergency access. So I’m not sure who owns what piece. But as if those properties were annexed, they would need to figure out how they get access at the time they get annexed. And I don’t believe anything we’re doing as part of this application changes that.
1:21:28
Brian, would you like to chime in? Sure, Commissioner height. Man, I think the parcel that’s on the west side of that panhandle. Obviously, whenever if they decided to go through the annexation process and annex and develop, they would have access to that local street connection down to Nelson road that run that’s currently shown on the concept plan running along the west side of the modern West property that would extend down to Nelson road, the two parcels that are annexed on the east side of the panhandle that are south of the modern West and the Anderson self storage or the RV storage parcels. You know, we’d had to take a look at those ideally, you know, we’d want them to perhaps take access over to Anderson Street to the east as their primary access. And so that’s one option in terms of a second means of access, we’d have to take a look at different options, maybe tying into this emergency access down the panhandle, and or a separate emergency access out to Nelson road, if there wasn’t another feasible option. And then we can potentially for this parcel at the southeast corner of the east side of the panhandle, look at some type of integration or connection into the street system in the modern West property as well. So it isn’t isolated.
1:22:57
If if someone could pull up possibly the concept plan. I know that Miss bronks presentation included it. I have it up on my screen. And I have some questions, I guess. Regarding what’s designated on that thing, is there an ability to pull that up?
1:23:19
Yeah, let me see. Sorry, I will challenge at the moment. You guys can see that? Yep.
1:23:39
Perfect. Okay, thank you. Um, so yeah, I don’t know, maybe you can blow it up. But the panhandle as I look at it, is identified as being residential connectors. Is that not a description of a road? That’s not a thought that was going to be part of the street system to this subdivision? Is that incorrect?
1:24:02
It’s not incorrect. I mean, we’ve had some conversations, and they’re not fully fleshed out in terms of what the uses might be on that panhandle. I know, as as Barb mentioned, some options that have been discussed are perhaps in addition to an emergency access vestry and trail connection. Now, we’ve talked about ideas of, for example, small, smaller scale, or residential. I’m not convinced yet that that’s going to fit on there. But other options could be community gardens, and or perhaps alternative energy systems, maybe, you know, solar panels or something along those lines. So I think we want to continue to have that conversation with the applicant about what’s the best use of that area as we go through the process for plumbers subdivision, plat and site planning.
1:25:00
Okay, then on the road, the future road unnamed road on the west side of the development appears to go along the section line isn’t anticipated that that road will actually at some point time connects to Nelson.
1:25:16
Yes, that is correct.
1:25:19
Yes, it will. Okay. Yes, I think that answers my problem is my issue with respect to the showing property, which I think Mrs. Brown was pointing out to me. And then with respect to the Doll’s House, Bobby on the south east corner, and whatever is next to it, they’re gonna find some other access points, maybe through Anderson road, further to the east, Is that your understanding? Maybe it might possibly, you know, could
1:25:51
diminish your high one option, there’s several options, one would be obviously get a connection over to Anderson street on the to the further to the east. Another option would be to if they need emergency access to tie into this emergency access in the panhandle. Another option might be to have a link into the modern West development that would provide access up to the collector street on the north side of the property and or local street on the west side of the property.
1:26:23
Okay, I shouldn’t make sure that we weren’t going to leave somebody landlocked, especially with Nelson road becoming more and more of a major road and the access points, the driveway cuts are going to be prohibited. So make sure that
1:26:42
Yes, certainly. I mean, obviously, this will get further refined and the commissioner will have another opportunity to review this with the cemetery subdivision plat. So you’ll have a chance to look at street connections in more detail, obviously, with the preliminary plat.
1:26:59
Cool. Thank you, everyone for your indulgences. I’m myself going to still be concerned about the stale environmental report but otherwise, as commissure polar identified, like the project, thank you.
1:27:17
Next Commissioner teta. Okay,
1:27:23
I’m Mike. Commissioner height. I think I have a lot of accessibility and transportation issues, but to echo some Commissioner pollens concerns, I thought given that we have the airport manager David Slater available. I wonder if we could we could bring him in?
1:27:44
Sure. Um, do you have a question for him specifically?
1:27:48
About Yes, how he feels about the compatibility of the residential specifically in the density with the airport.
1:27:58
Mr. Slater?
1:28:00
chair and commission members, David Slater. I’m the airport manager for the city of Longmont. The, there is a technical clarification, I guess. If you ask an FAA planner, if the residential portion would be compatible land use, which is an FAA grant assurance that cities acquired up old? The answer would be no. Historically, though, between the plant notices, and going forward with this allegation, he’s meant we’ve historically kind of had a pass given given a pass by the FAA. Some of the closer residential. There’s no way to tell what kind of determination or response on that that that we would have. But we have talked to them about other developments. A little bit about this one. And we did inform them that we were going to be doing a navigation easement. But technically, it’s not compatible land use with the residential but we’re, we’re anticipating a pass from the FAA on that with the application easement.
1:29:13
Um, Commissioner, Ted, do you mind if I do a follow up question at all? Okay, um, Erica, are you able to bring up our packet and go to page 130 of our packet and put that up on the screen share?
1:29:29
Hmm, I
1:29:31
don’t I mean, I have the modern West PowerPoint that has 28 pages, but I don’t have any packets necessarily. Maybe Jane can chime in.
1:29:43
Because page 130 of our packet has a very it’s actually a it’s a drawing from Sofer sparring from the architects, um, and it shows the runway and it shows the direct extended lines. The center of the runway, and then it, then it shows a trapezoidal set of lines extending beyond that center line of the runway. And so just with that kind of, in your mind, and I’m sure Mr. Slater, you’re you’re very familiar with what I’m talking about, on those lines that go beyond and an extend to the left and to the right of the center line of the runway. Um, that’s it. That’s what we want to look at. Um, you can see that the upper extended line is crossing over the soon to be developed residential area of mountain Brook. You see that the lower extended line barely clips the the corner of stone bridge townhomes, which is new, but it definitely goes over Slagle development, which has been there for decades. And then the neighborhood to the to the east of Schlegel. So my question, Mr. Slater is, is you’re saying that this is not a slam dunk with the FAA, but is, given how much other residential is already within that, that broader zone, um, is that I’m giving you the confidence that that we would get a yes,
1:31:31
the abrogation easement is kind of what I’m putting my bed on. And I feel like that they would be happy with that, since historically, they have been. I just don’t trust that. I could give any kind of guarantees. Now, as far as what you’re looking at there, that that appears to be the approach departure surfaces and has more to do with airspace than noise, or compatible land use.
1:32:01
Which,
1:32:02
as Barb mentioned, they they did take a proactive approach with the FAA and did receive a letter of no objection as far as the airspace because so that that portion of it is not as much of a concern, but within the airport influence zone, pretty much anywhere, especially with that close of a proximity to the runway. I think that’s what the FAA looks at when with compatible land use as far as residential. They don’t really like schools or churches either. But in in that compatibility issue, the industrial, commercial, light industrial things like that, is is very much compatible and use. It’s just the residential is the only thing that we had a concern with. But with with that allegation is met, I am hopeful and feel pretty confident that the FAA would give us a pass with that.
1:33:02
Okay. And one more follow up question for you, Mr. Slater. So as we’re looking at this drawing, the center line of the runway, we see goes directly over the parcel that is just north of Rogers wrote the curve, you know, so say of airport, the intersection with Rogers and that curved part of Rogers. We had a project Yes, exactly. Thank you, Erica. Um, we had a project in front of us a couple years ago, that was for like a set of storage units that would be built on that, that parcel, and we had, we had pilots who came to our meeting and said, that’s a very dangerous place to build. Because as we take off, you know, if something goes wrong, we don’t have a place to, to land safely, or to bail out is, in your opinion, um, given how much further away this project is from that. And we have no pilots here this evening, saying, Hey, I’m really nervous about this. Are we in a much safer position with the project in front of us in terms of something going wrong for an airplane that takes off
1:34:24
I think with the easements that are already in place, as well as the, the it’s not the collector road, but the one that comes off of Rogers in the curve, being in line, you know, I think they that is helpful and being further back than what the storage units were going to be is helpful. It also gives them the opportunity to to possibly deviate so that they can avoid any residential or or any building for that matter, but I think we’re certainly better off than we were with a storage unit. I’m sure that you’re still going to have a handful of people that would push back and make the same argument. But, you know, I think we are better off than we were with the storage units.
1:35:21
Okay. Thank you, Mr. Slater. Back to Commissioner teta. It’s hard to take up your time.
1:35:27
Thank you.
1:35:29
Thank you, Chair, Chairman chernykh. I think I think that’s all I have. Thanks.
1:35:39
Okay. Um,
1:35:43
I do have another question. I believe this is for Miss Bronk. Um, there was a letter in our packet from from a, I think, from the neighborhood meeting, where they were wondering what some of the light industrial uses would be. And I think it was in your presentation, I saw on the right hand side of one of your slides, about four, four uses listed one was on airport partners, or partnerships or something like that, can you give us a little bit of a vision as to what the light industrial uses might be? I
1:36:19
can speak a little bit to it. But I think Aaron could also speak to it, I mean, what the goal is to have makerspace. So that as as new businesses, as an existing businesses, you know, we have lots of little businesses around town or working out of somebody’s garage. And their next step is up to a place where there’s an office or a home, and a space big enough to build things in. And so we’re thinking that it’s that it’s going to be those kinds of things. The reason we put in airport is because we’re next to the airport. So if somebody is going to manufacture something, or provide a complimentary use of some kind of thing that the airport needs, this is a perfect location to do that. So we don’t have any idea exactly who they’re going to be. But the goal is to have a collaborative makerspace entrepreneurial place that allows flexibility in the size of those units are gonna have overhead doors, which is lacking in Longmont. And so, you know, it’s, it’s the kind of thing where there’s a front office and a rear end that has a place to build things that has a high ceiling and those kinds of things. So it would be a mix of uses. And, um, you know, they’ll each get a building permit, that’ll be a little more refined as we move forward with the architecture and the site design. But I think that, again, that goal is makerspace to have businesses and entrepreneurs. You know, I also want to make sure that if you have specific questions regarding airport and FAA standards, Mike Morgan has had 25 years of working with the standards. So if you have a question about how we comply with the land use compatibility, I think those things are based on noise standards. And there’s a letter in your packet from Mike that outlines that but he can talk specifically to those things, if anybody has those specific questions. Sorry, to sidetrack, but I just want to make sure that if you want his voice in the room, it’s available.
1:38:11
Great. Thank you Miss blanks. More questions from the commission? Actually, I Oh, go ahead. Crusher. Goldberg.
1:38:24
Yeah. Thanks, Chairman. Well, I think just to add a slightly different perspective into the discussion. While I appreciate the concerns of accessibility raised by Commissioner height, and the concerns around safety for both the pilots and for the residents raised by polen, Commissioner Pauling and Commissioner teta. Boy, I’m I am favorable this product for this project. I think in our packet it was revealed, that is, for the most part meets the review criteria and the result, staff made the recommendation for approval. Additionally, there wasn’t a any major pushback from neighbors, that’s always a, you know, a welcomed position to be in so I’ve been we’re handling far more phone calls on that public invited to be heard, that we didn’t hear today given the cautious support by the airport manager and referring to the likelihood of this meeting being approved by the FFA and that the applicant has agreed to meet all the regulations that come along with being in this area. I shudder to think that this is you know, a forward thinking project. Recognizing where it’s located in the city, and recognizing some of the challenges that come with that, of course, noise and, and other challenges of being near the airport. But I think at the same time, it’s a little bit of a silver lining. And we have a the opportunity to have a project here, and then maybe what might be considered an undesirable part of town that is innovative, forward thinking, focus on sustainability, creative in a way that we don’t see too often here. And Gosh, I think it aligns with our envision long line. So, you know, I’d like to hear from the rest of the commissioners that we haven’t heard from yet or just wanted to drop that in and see where that takes us.
1:40:40
Thank you, Commissioner Goldberg. I’m actually, I’ll second everything you’ve just said about this project? I think it’s, um, I think the applicant is is not stretching it very much to say that this would really put Longmont on a national, even international stage as to how to do something like this at a more of a district level 16 acres. I mean, this is a big project. I am curious, because we have the consultant from Israel, and also is Carmichael from Rmi, Rocky Mountain Institute. Just tonight, I got my December issue of architectural record, and I was flipping through it before the meeting. And and there was an article in it, saying that something like half of the architectural firms that have signed on to Ed Mazur is 2030. net zero challenge are currently reporting that they can’t come close to the internet, to the current goals, and the goals step up in the next year or two, etc. So I’m wondering, from Mr. PLAs and Miss Carmichael, and maybe Miss pagnol, as well, um, how, and I don’t think this is necessarily tied to approval of this project. But But since you’re here, I just want to kind of take, pick your brains and hear what you have to say, How did it How does a project like this, stay on track, and actually hit net zero by the time it finishes build out, because in this article that I saw, most of the architects were saying, the reason we couldn’t hit as our net zero goals were because of value engineering processes, and and losing all of the basically the intention that we started with. With any of you care to chime in on that?
1:42:49
Sure,
1:42:49
I’d be happy to start and Shanti Feel free to weigh in Kara Carmichael from Rocky Mountain Institute, I think it’s a fantastic question. And we’ve been fortunate to be part of many projects. Over the years, my 20 year career have worked on a number of netzero energy and really aggressive ambitious projects. And I think what makes those successful, you know, the ones that do really succeed, knock it out of the park, is having a firm commitment from the very beginning, established in kind of the nature of the project,
1:43:26
through a strong leader. And I see that in Derek and a commitment from the whole team. And the understanding of this is a core part of the project that we’re building. And so I feel like that intentionality and that motivation, and that clarity and vision
1:43:43
is there
1:43:44
and has been there from the very start. And I think often sustainability is an element that can be looked at it, oh, we’ll add it in later. And that just, you know, if you’re going to make it cost effective, and, you know, solidify your commitment so that it isn’t something that can be value engineered out, you know, delete at later stages, it needs to be there from the beginning. And I think Value Engineering, it’s such a weird term, because it’s not adding value, and it’s not engineering. It’s really just kind of a cost reduction measure. And if you do integrative design properly, where you’re actually designing in an envelope for a building that is complimentary to the mechanical systems that you’re designing, which also complements kind of the grid and the infrastructure that that you’re adding, it works together as a system so that you can’t just remove one piece, but it really is kind of orchestrated together. So the solution is optimized from that standpoint from the beginning.
1:44:51
Yeah, thanks for Thanks for having us. Um, yes, 20 plus year general. I think it’s something we work on on the research side as well in terms of how decisions are made. How the components priced out I think as those of us that have gotten Solar Codes for houses lately, right that these costs of some of the more expensive systems that historically that were too expensive for owners or developers to afford that might may have had aspirational goals. But now, when the when the, you know, the actual cost hit the budget, just don’t make it into the final project, those costs have come down significantly, something like 80% cost reduction last eight years for solar, in particular, wind and batteries as well. electric vehicle charging infrastructure, all these things are have pretty aggressive cost compressions happening last five years that really make it approachable now more for projects that are in support of these goals. And so I think, you know, as, as an integrated team can approach this and with those additional costs and compressions available now, I think we’ll see more and more able to do that. And you know, that the design industry, I think maybe Eric can jump in here and from from architecture, that he’s architectural commitment, but I think the design, the design community is ready to step up, I think it’s the when you have integrated teams, all pointed towards this goal is when you can really get through those those kind of budget issues and cost, you know, and extra cost issues that have plagued those teams
1:46:21
in the past.
1:46:23
Thank you, Mister plus, Miss Pac Man.
1:46:26
Yeah, thanks, Chairman. chernykh. Um, I would say that, of course, budgetary constraints are always a concern. But what we have here, and it’s most important here is the dedicated owner. And that’s that’s what makes me feel confident in this process and this team and the dedication that he’s showing to this goal, I feel like that’s something you don’t get very often. So it’s it’s a special thing. And I feel like it’s a good opportunity for the city of Longmont.
1:46:59
Great, thank you all for for giving us kind of a bigger picture there as to how this can play out person. You know, we’re at a concept plan level. And so, you know, there’s a lot of further stages, where more and more detail comes into play this broke
1:47:16
it just want to add that, you know, we’ve been talking about how we’re going to make this work, how we’re going to make a pencil from the beginning. So everybody gets that. And part of how we got to such an integrated mix of uses is all of the combined uses help it pencil. So it the project as a whole works financially. But if we start pulling out pieces of it, it starts to fall apart. So an integrated mixed use community is much more able to meet the financial performer than a single use. profit. So I think that needs to be part of this discussion. You know, again, Derek has said from the beginning, I got to be able to afford to build it, I know I need to do it, I got to be able to afford to do it. And I can tell you that I’ve worked with a lot of people over the years. This applicant has his heart and a commitment to this project. And it’s evident, every time you talk to him, it just you can see the twinkle in his eye when he talks about it, and his commitment to the environment and everything he says. So I think that’s the other piece about having a not fall apart at the end. So
1:48:29
thank you very much. Um, other questions from the commissioners. Um, I’m going to chime in and say that I believe that the applicant has shown in their presentation and then in our packet, which we received, they have met the review criteria. Um, and I believe that I’m given that I would like to make a motion to approve PCR 2020 dash eight A, which would move this as a recommendation to city council with no conditions. It’s an approval with no conditions. So motion on the floor to approve PCR 2020 a dash a commissioner height.
1:49:24
I will second that and add in that. I do believe that meets the criterion as a concept planned. I do have concerns which I reserved for later date about the updating of an environmental assessment. And my concerns regarding the impact to access of other properties in the future seems to have been addressed. So I’m in favor and in second. Your proposal.
1:49:47
Thank you. Okay,
1:49:48
thank you. We have a second. Commissioner around I saw you had your hand up. Oh, you’re going to second Okay. Do you want to make some comments? I okay.
1:50:00
Well, the only comment I was gonna make is that, you know, in terms of the proximity to the airport, there’s the security issue, as long as that is addressed, the second issue is inconvenience. And then you know, inconvenience for the residents. But when you balance that with several items, the benefit, this development is going to bring to the land use of Longmont by means of not doing a single use, but a really supportive mixed use. And plus all the sustainability items that is gonna save in the long term for the residences. That’s a balance. And on top of that, I’m going to add the views from that particular side. So actually, it’s a very desirable, you know, proposition. So with that, I think so many items are going to cancel out the inconvenience of the noise and other items, as long as security conditions are met. That’s why I support the project, then I was gonna second but
1:51:28
yeah. Okay. Thank you, Commissioner on on any further discussion?
1:51:34
Commissioner Bowen?
1:51:37
Yeah, I’m just going to say, I’m going to vote against this just because I don’t mind the mixed use, the thing that really still kind of gives me pause is the fact that it could be three and four storey buildings, residential buildings that close were in that area, we don’t have anything close to that height. And it’s, I don’t care about the noise. I understand the noise people going there should understand the noise. I just worry about the safety of putting that kind of building that close to the airport. two storey buildings I’d be fine with mixed use I’m fine with it’s just that they’re three and four storeys. And that’s the thing that gives me pause. So this kind of line explaining why I’ll be voting no.
1:52:21
Okay. Um, other comments, for me take a vote. Okay, let’s go ahead and vote on those in favor, raise your hand and say aye. Aye. Okay, it looks like it’s all but Commissioner polling those against raise your hand? Commissioner polen is against any abstentions? I see no abstentions. So Jane, that is a passing six to one with Commissioner polen. Opposing and let’s see I need to read our announcement here. This item will now be forwarded to the Longmont City Council for action. If you’re unfamiliar with council procedures and intend to appear before Council, please contact the planning division for further information at 303-651-8330. Okay, we have more items on our agenda. But first, I want to thank the applicant and his entire team who came tonight to help us work through this. Also thank you to Caroline Michael and Brian Schumacher and David Slater, our city staff who supported us in figuring out what’s going on with this project. So again, thank you very much. Next item on our agenda is item seven, which is our final call for the public invited to be heard. Erica, we need our slide up on the screen showing the phone number please. There we go. Um, please dial 1-888-788-0099 When prompted, enter the meeting id 83153809801. And when asked for your participant ID press pound. When we’re ready to hear public comment we’ll call you will call on you to speak based on the last three digits of your phone number. Each speaker must state their name and address for the record and will be allowed five minutes to speak please remember to mute the live stream when you are called upon to speak to get everybody who might call in Oh, and this is for items that were not on tonight’s agenda. So anything that was not in the item we just heard. Um, we’ll take a five minute break to give people a chance to call in. We’ll be back in five minutes. All right, Erica, did we get anybody calling in?
1:59:40
We did not chairman. Okay, thank
1:59:42
you very much we’ll close the public invited to be heard. Um next is items from the commission. I myself would like to thank Erica Illingworth and Jane Madrid for their help tonight and of course, special thanks to Jane for all of her help. Throughout the year, we can’t do it without you. So appreciate that. And also want to wish everybody a safe and healthy holiday season. Let’s get into 2021 in one piece. Um, anybody else from the condition? Nope. Okay. Um, he items from council representative Aaron Rodriguez.
2:00:28
Thank you chair. Sure, Nick. Of course, as always, Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah and happy holidays to all of our commissioners as well as the staff for the city of Longmont. You guys do great work in you provide so much as far as support for the decisions we have to make at City Council. So, as always, thank you so much for your service, and I will see you next year.
2:00:58
Thank you so much. Um, any items from planning director? Glen van emolga. Mr. Chair,
2:01:08
I just wanted to mention that last night the city council did reappoint a couple of alternate members. I think they’re reappointment but correct me if I’m wrong. So Selena Koehler was reappointed to December 31 2022. And then, annually, kouachi. was reappointed for the same term, and then they appointed a new regular member Jerry boon for December 31 2025 term.
2:01:45
I’m sorry, that is incorrect. Nope. Commissioner has been reappointed for his term. Commissioner Jerry Boone has been appointed as an alternate.
2:01:56
Oh, yeah. Just about to say goodbye, folks. Wow.
2:02:01
Terribly clarification.
2:02:04
It’s been fun Commissioner height.
2:02:08
All right. Well, thank you, Glenn. And congratulations to Commissioner Kohler and Commissioner lukaku. And into our new alternate, Mr. Boone, and to Commissioner height for his reappointment on. So, Glenn, anything else from your desk?
2:02:28
We had a short meeting, I think was on Monday with Chairman chernykh. And it was suggested that perhaps you generally I think have kind of a work session at the first meeting in January. And I think the idea was proposed that maybe we do a relook at the Open Meetings laws and how that affects ex parte communication and certainly the Planning Commission. I have talked to Teresa, I believe she is definitely on board with that. So we’ll start planning that January session straightaway. And also enjoy your holidays. Great. Thank
2:03:11
you so much, Glen. And anything else going? Is that? Okay, no, sir. All right. Okay, so last item on our agenda is number 11, which is a German. I’m seeing nobody opposed. We will adjourn. Thanks, everybody. Take care.
2:03:30
Happy Holidays. All
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