Planning Commission Agenda and Packet 2021 05 13

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Planning Commission Meeting Minutes April 8, 2021 Page 6 of 7 Hoefner agreed and said at least once in the past they had been in the situation where someone had come in with a promise that construction was just around the corner, and at the same meeting the Commission had heard from concerned neighbors that the site was an eyesore and had been under construction for years. Those situations took the Commission hostage because if the Commission denied it the developer would say the Commission shut them down but if the Commission approved the extension then the developers could sit on the lot for another three years. Ritchie replied that staff would appreciate some codified parameters for extension reviews, such as you can’t get a PUD extension if you have any zoning violations on your property, and/or criteria around context. Brauneis summarized that the Commission would be happy to entertain a discussion. Ritchie summarized that there could be a potential code amendment that helped avoid getting in the way of progress but adding criteria for the extension. She asked if there were any other issues the commissioners wanted to consider as code amendments. Diehl brought up residential dark sky standards. Zuccaro asked for an initial reaction for requiring a retrofit over time. He gave the example of Boulder giving residents 5-6 years to retrofit outdoor lighting fixtures versus only requiring it in new developments. Diehl stated that his initial reaction was it was a little overbearing, but he wondered if there was a way to create a fund to cover 50% of the retrofit or to provide other incentives or discounts. Brauneis noted that enforcement would be a nightmare since determining model number and fixture type would be difficult. Moline agreed and he loved to think that the City could go there in the future but he had no expectation in a suburban neighborhood that it would be a dark-sky zone. He was supportive of the concept moving forward. Brauneis noted that it could begin with an education piece to let people know what to look for when buying fixtures. Williams stated that if you’re not getting Excel to retrofit you couldn’t get residential. Brauneis said he would love to see the streetlights retrofitted. Zuccaro shared that Excel owned all the streetlights in the City. He stated that the City had funding to convert all of the municipal lights to convert all to LED for energy efficient. LED lights were very bright and one of the dark sky things was having a yellow light that was better for people and wildlife. He shared that Excel had very limited offerings for lights and that a lot of cities were exploring obtaining the lights from Excel to have more control over the lights. He noted that there was funding to convert all neighborhood lights to LED with Excel that could start this year. They would improve the