Planning Commission Minutes 2015 04 09

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Planning Commission Meeting Minutes April 9, 2015 Page 15 of 27 with it. While organically we have a nice feel to Downtown, this change doesn't threaten that organic feel, but rather it supports continued occupancy following those traditional patterns. As far as the other areas Mr. Stewart raised in his email, he doesn't have as much of an issue with it as he does. He is comfortable moving forward as it have been written and not working to limit only to our historic Downtown area. If builders and developers were to approach the PC with projects in those other areas on South Boulder Road and McCaslin, if we feel as a City it doesn't work well there, we would find ways to deal with it at the time. He is not convinced we need to exclude South Boulder Road and McCaslin from this. He is excited by it. Moline is in support. He can foresee this playing out project by project basis because we have had some projects in Downtown apply to this issue. He has trouble visualizing how it will play out across Downtown. It makes him agree with Mr. Stewart's comment and think that trying it in Downtown is a good starting place to see how it works. It is an interesting concept and excited to give it a shot. He is comfortable with parking. O'Connell is in support. She thanks Commissioner Brauneis for thinking long term. She is in favor with the way it is written and no issue with the parking. Rice wants the property tax issue resolved before he votes on it because to him, it is a significant issue. He understands the intent of the ordinance which is, conceptually, to foster a Live -Work environment for people. If someone has a commercial property and is living on -site, this is the historical context alluded to in introducing the measure. He has a real question about whether it will really play out. Instead, what will happen is this will be an opportunity for a commercial property owner to add that residential component. He is fully cognizant of the reasons of why you wouldn't want to be involved in an enforcement situation where you would have to link the two. In fact, he doesn't know if you can do that. In terms of the practical side, believing that this will foster a lot of people to own commercial real estate Downtown and then live there on -site, he has real reservations about whether that would happen in reality. That reservation is less important to him than the property tax issue. He is concerned about that and knows the ramifications of that before he votes. Russell is in support and he likes this policy. He thinks we will be refining and correcting it as it progresses. There could be some unintended consequences. He is not worried about the disconnected use of the residential. Anything that creates value for owners in a way that is compatible with community expectations is great. Anything that adds a residential population to Downtown recognizing that any number of these new residents will come to us and complain about patios that were there when they moved in, that is fine and part of life in Downtown. He thinks it is a great program. Pritchard asks the fellow Commissioners in regard to Comm. Rice's comments, do you feel comfortable enough that this matter can be voted on this evening or do you feel the issue on property taxes needs to be addressed further before you could feel comfortable. He believes Comm. Rice has a valid point for clarification. Brauneis appreciates Comm. Rice raising the point. It is good to have it as part of the conversation. He is not convinced at this point that it will make or break his vote on the proposal. He is comfortable believing that it is not hugely significant from a revenue standpoint for the City. Moline is agreement with Comm. Brauneis. He thinks it is an important consideration, but he is comfortable moving it on and letting City Council address it with any additional information they may have at their hearing.