MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING

CITY PLANNING COMMISSION

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

A regular meeting of the City of Fremont Planning Commission was held in City Hall on Tuesday,

May 23, 2006 at 3:28 PM.

Present: Chair Dale Hansen,  Sherri Anderson-Patterson, Jack Butterick, Mike DeKuiper, Jane Drake, Chuck Whitman, and Lon Vredeveld

Absent: Keith Burd and Peg May

City Officials Present:        Richard Rought, Zoning Administrator

                                            James Rynberg, Mayor

                                            Chris Yonker, Fremont City Manager

                                            Michele Ribant, Director of Neighborhood & Economic Development

Consultant Present:           Steve Langworthy, LSL Planning, Inc.

Approval of Minutes

A motion was made, seconded, and carried to approve the May 2, 2006 minutes as submitted.

New Form-Based Zoning Code – Downtown Main District

Steve Langworthy reviewed with the Commission the proposed regulations for the Downtown Main District in Fremont’s new form-based zoning code.  He went through each section of the District regulations.  There were a few provisions that the Commission discussed at length, and these regulations were thought to be a bit controversial.  Therefore, they decided to leave the District regulations in their current form, at least for now, and they also decided to address these regulations that could be of concern to others in the community, especially downtown property/business owners, at the time the Ordinance is presented to the community.  The issues that were identified as ones that should be brought to the forefront when the Ordinance is presented to the community are as follows:

• The regulation that requires that offices in downtown Fremont only be on upper stories.
• The regulation that specifies that windows shall not be blocked by interior displays, blinds, curtains or draperies, or otherwise have views to the interior obstructed.
• The District regulations need to address rules regarding sandwich board signs.

In addition, the Commission decided on the following:

• To take out the provision in the Main Street District regulations regarding Height that reads as follows:

“Building height shall not vary from the height of adjoining building(s) by more than 2 stories”.  It was determined that this provision is no longer pertinent since the number of possible stories a building may have was reduced from 6 stories to 4 stories.  To revise the section on lot coverage to delete the requirement that at least 10% of the total building area is to be preserved as contiguous open area on every lot.  Instead this section should indicate that up to 100% of the lot can be covered.  The reason for this change is that there may be no place on a downtown lot to provide open area.

Next Meeting

The next Fremont Planning Commission meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 27, 2006 at 3:15 p.m. in the Council Chambers at the Fremont City Hall. 

Jane Drake asked that the idea of City staff disseminating planning commission agendas via e-mail be put on the agenda for the next meeting.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 5:11 PM.

                                                                          ____________________________________

                                                                          Dale Hansen, Planning Commission Chair

                                                                          ____________________________________

                                                                          Richard Rought, Zoning Administrator