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060309P&ZMinutesCITY OF AMMON PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MINUTES June 3, 2009 AGENDA: CITY OF AMMON PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION June 3, 2009 2135 South Ammon Road 7:00 P.M. AGENDA CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Tom Hunsaker Pledge of Allegiance: Rick Butler MINUTES: April 1, 2009 and April 15, 2009 PUBLIC HEARINGS: 2009-004 – Title 10 Proposed Changes 2009-005 – Conditional Use Permit - District 93 – Bridgewater Elementary – Modular Classrooms ACTION ITEMS: 1.Action on public hearings 2.Recommendation on Public Hearings 3.Site Plan – Ammonside Division 2 – Skilled Nursing Center DISCUSSION ITEMS: 1.General REPORTS: 1.City Council Actions 2.City of Idaho Falls Planning and Zoning Actions – Cindy Donovan 3.Bonneville County Planning and Zoning Actions – Tom Hunsaker CALL FOR ADJOURNMENT: MINUTES Members Present: Tom Hunsaker, Chairman Cindy Donovan Greg Maeser Scott Wessel Steve Richards Russell Slack City Officials Present: Ron Folsom, Planning Director Gay Leming, Deputy Clerk Leslie Folsom, City Clerk Absent: Rick Butler Quinn Simmons The meeting was called to order by Chairman Tom Hunsaker at 7:03 p.m. in the City Building at 2135 South Ammon Road, Ammon, Idaho. Greg Maeser led the Pledge of Allegiance. MINUTES: April 1, 2009 Steve Richard motioned to accept the minutes. Russell Slack seconded. All in favor – the motion passed. April 15, 2009: Russell Slack motioned to accept the minutes with minor grammatical changes. Steve Richards seconded. All in favor – the motion passed. PUBLIC HEARINGS: Chairman Tom Hunsaker explained the process for Public Hearings. Planning & Zoning Minutes 6-3-09 Page 1 of 3 2009-004 –Title 10 Proposed Changes: Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 29, and Chapter 32 were reviewed with minor changes made. Russell Slack motioned to accept the changes to Title 10 with the minor changes. Cindy Donavan seconded the motion. All in favor – the motion passed. 2009-005 –ConditionalUse Permit - District 93 – Bridgewater Elementary – Modular Classrooms: Ron explained the location of the school. Roger Hill, 3497 N Ammon Road, stated that the reason for the need of extra classrooms is that 78 % of the students are economically disadvantaged with 40% of these students being Spanish speaking. Because of that we have a few extra programs to better help these students become well rounded students early on in their lives. This modular will be coming from Iona Elementary to Bridgewater Elementary which will make a total of 9 modular buildings in the City of Ammon. The School District has demographic studies done and uses these to project the needs for classrooms. Roger recognized that the City Council has put a restriction on the number of modulars allowed in the City of 8 and expects this will be addressed at the City Council meeting. The school district tries to be wise steward of public tax dollars, targeting to have a new school built by the time 16 classrooms will be filled. Modular classrooms are used to take up the slack until the district’s student population has grown enough to justify the expense of building another new school. Tom talked about the difference between a temporary building and a permanent building. The building code states any building that is temporary has to be removed within 180 days. All other buildings are considered permanent. Roger Hill, 3497 N. Ammon Rd. explained that these are temporary and as the district builds more schools, the boundaries will change and the modulars will be moved out. The new school, which is under construction, is larger than Bridgewater. As each new school gets built boundaries will be moved, however, the school on Princess Dr will have only a minor effect on the boundaries around Bridgewater. Cindy Donovan stated she felt that this is the type of thing that has to be done as the City is growing and she really doesn’t have any problems with it. This has to be done to make sure the kids are where they need to be. Russell Slack stated he had no problem with the addition of a modular building. Steve asked Roger the status of the existing modular’s and how the new school in Mountain Valley Estate will affect them. Roger Hills explained that the new school will draw students from Rimrock and Woodland Hills and he would expect that the modulars at those schools would be removed. He also added that the District feels it is important for students to be in the neighborhoods, closest to their homes, rather than bussing them away. Tom Hunsaker stated that the issues of attached or detached and appearance may come up but those issues would be rather expensive to handle. The Council may say they want the modular’s to be more like the appearance of the main building but they are temporary. Tom would concur that the modular is needed. Heidi Roth, 3400 Sparrow Hawk Lane stated she would like to know, if this will decrease the value of the property of their homes. The lot the school is on is very small and there is no place to tuck these modular rooms behind the building. The School District shows a lack of planning on what’s going on. She has seen the modular’s on the other properties but didn’t pay much attention to what they looked like. Heidi explained she is concerned if the District comes in and asks for more modulars. The lots in Bridgewater and in Cornerstone, across the street, are relatively empty and as they fill up the school will fill even more. She feels the District should address other options. Roger stressed that the modular is temporary and a band aid to keep the kids in their neighborhoods but will be removed once new schools are built. The boundaries should be addressed next year, which should alleviate the overcrowding at Bridgewater. Boundary changes would most likely move students that are currently attending Bridgewater to Tiebreaker or Cloverdale. Scott Wessel feels that modular’s are an indication of a growing district. The most expedient way to address the growth is to place modular’s on existing sites, until a new school is built. It is either that or increasing the size of the classes. Steve Richards said he agrees with everything that has been said by the Commissioners but would add that, unless the District started looking at year round school, he really didn’t see any way out of this except to allow modular’s. This will be a temporary fix until new schools are built. He feels the District has tried hard to stay on top of this but the birth rates and new growth is something the District has no control over. Greg Maeser stated the problem with not being flexible with the school is that they then have to go back to the patrons of the District and asked to build another new school. If the Districts ask to build schools, when the current schools aren’t full, the patrons will only support so many levies. To date, the patrons have been supportive but this is a reasonable alternative. Cindy stated that she can see the ones at Woodland Hills from her home. All she can say is that they are there and they are temporary. The district has to do something to keep the kids in a good environment and they have to come Planning & Zoning Minutes 6-3-09 Page 2 of 3 back every couple of years and ask for renewal. The growth has slowed considerably and the modulars they are working with now and the new school may suffice, then a reduction can be made. Greg Maeser motioned to approve the modular with a 2 yr Conditional Use Permit. Scott Wessel seconded the motion. All in favor – the motion passed. ACTION ITEMS: 1. Action on Public Hearings: See public hearings 2009-004 and 2009-005 above. Recommendation on Public Hearings: For public hearing 2009-004, Cindy Donovan motioned to 2. recommend not having an additional public hearing. Scott Wessel seconded the motion. All in favor – the motion passed. For public hearing 2009-005, Steve Richards motioned to recommend not having an additional public hearing. Greg Maeser seconded the motion. All in favor – the motion passed. 3. Site Plan – Ammonside Division 2 – Skilled Nursing Center: Todd Meyers, Mountain River Engineering, 1020 Lincoln Road stated the owners are changing and that’s why it’s changing again. It is about 5000 square feet smaller and now it can face Hitt Road. The landscaping is better on this site plan.This is designed so there will be no expansion. Cindy Donovan motioned to approve the site plan, subject to tech review by staff. Russell Slack seconded the motion. All in favor - the motion passed. DISCUSSION ITEMS: 1. General: It was discussed that there will be no work session in June. REPORTS: 1. City Council Actions: Ron advised the Commission of the various items the Council had worked on during the month of May. 2. City of Idaho Falls Planning and Zoning Actions: Cindy Donovan stated she had nothing to report 3. Bonneville County Planning and Zoning Actions : Tom Hunsaker stated he had nothing to report. CALL FOR ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Wessel motioned to adjourn. Commissioner Richards seconded. All in favor – the meeting adjourned. The meeting adjourned at 9:40 p.m. ___________________________________________ Tom Hunsaker, Chairman ______________________________________ Leslie Folsom, City Clerk Planning & Zoning Minutes 6-3-09 Page 3 of 3