Planning Commission Minutes 1995 04 25

Home Browse Search

Roll Ca11 Vote: Betty Solek - Yes; Barton Puryear - Yes; Tom McAvinew - Yes; Rex Renfrew - Yes; Russ VanNostrand - Yes; Bill Boulet - Yes. Motion passed by a vote of 6 - 0. V. Staff Presentation - Old Town Zoning Review: Note: Commissioner Lipton returned for this portion of the meeting. Peter Kernkamp - We have contacted the City of Denver with regard to their bulk plane ordinance. Jeff Hofman, Planning Technician, has prepared some graphics demonstrating how the Denver ordinance would affect some recent permits that have come in for the Old Town Area. Jeff Hofman - Denver's bulk plane starts at the property line, goes up 10 feet, then angle towards the center of the lot at a 45% angle, or a 12/12 pitch. On the north side of the lots they change the angle a little. 13 feet inside the property it is changed to a 6 up 12 over or 26 degrees, 24 minutes, angle up to the 30 foot height limit. Height limits change according to the lot. For lots 50 feet or less it is the 30 foot limit. For lots larger it is one additional foot for each five feet of lot width. As an example the maximum height for a 75 foot lot would be 35 feet. The maximum height for any. lot would 40 feet. Their ordinance also does something that I did not do a graphic on. They require 25% open area adjacent to side setbacks and limit accessory structures to heights no greater than 15 feet. This was to address the issue of having a bulk plane which creates long, thin houses that would appear as walls to the neighboring properties. The change of angle on the north elevation is for solar access considerations. In talking to Denver the say that it will give from a month to six weeks of additional sunlight on the adjacent lot. According to Denver the new ordinance did require some training for staff in order to review plans using the bulk ordinance. They require the plans to show the relationship of the structure to the bulk plane. They did indicate that they have had some problems with homeowners and some small builders not understanding the bulk plane concept. In talking to the Planner he did not see this as being over restrictive and limiting the diversity of the homes in the area. This ordinance still allows two story homes on most lot. There is also a provision for limited administrative relief with regard to variance of the ordinance. Additional variances are allowed through the Board of Adjustment. Q. When you were discussing this with Denver did they indicate where they got their ordinance from? A. No. We did not discuss that. I was under the impression that the Planner I was talking to put together the ordinance. Q. What does the change in pitch have to do with the angle of the sun? A. I do not have any technical information to back up that pitch. Q. On the example at the bottom, does the heavy lined example exceed the F.A.R. component of what we have come up with? A. Peter Kernkamp - We have not run those specific numbers. I think it will depend somewhat on the size of the lot. I suspect that, especially on the larger lots, that 7