Planning Commission Agenda and Packet 2018 12 13

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Planning Commission Meeting Minutes October 11, 2018 Page 4 of 17 Ritchie offered to get the information for the Commission. Hoefner asked how many niches would be approved under the SRU. Ritchie replied that the initial application would be for the first 42 with the possibility to add 84 additional niches. Moline asked if the church had been in the neighborhood since the beginning of the subdivision. Ritchie replied that the original PUD was labeled under Christ the Servant Church in the original PUD but that uses may have changed over time and that it was a single -lot subdivision when it was created. Howe asked what would be involved in making the distinction between a cemetery and a columbarium. Ritchie stated that the City would have to amend the Code. Zuccaro clarified that staff determined that the columbarium was a cemetery use, not that a columbarium was not addressed in the Code. However, the Commission or the Council could create a more specific category in the Code if they wanted to. Brauneis invited the applicant to present. Stephanie Lord, 917 Arapahoe Circle, introduced herself as the church pastor and stated that the church community attended to all stages of life, including death and grief. The columbarium would serve as a space of hope and celebration to that end. Jeff Lehman, 2460 Clayton Circle in Superior, introduced himself as a member of the columbarium committee. He presented the process the Church has gone through in developing the columbarium design. In early 2017, they started a conversation with the Planning Department. Later that year they sent out 167 mailers to addresses within 500 feet of their property line. The feedback was negative but reasonable so the church changed the design. The current design was a result of the neighborhood review, which resulted in changes including moving it so the columbarium would no longer face homes and adding a screening wall. The Church held a second meeting with a mockup to -scale of the addition. After that meeting, the Church decided to move forward with the application. He noted that 14 out of the 16 emails before the Commission were in opposition to the proposal, but 11 of them were written immediately after the first neighborhood meeting. He assured the Commission that no decomposing human remains would ever be on the property. Brauneis asked for questions of the applicant. Hoefner asked about the existing landscaping comments. Lord replied that they heard the concerns about the landscaping and the congregation changed the maintenance duties from a volunteer committee to a professional service. 6