PC Minutes 7/21/08  DRAFT

ITEM NO. 4         AMENDMENTS TO CHAPTER 20, DEVELOPMENT CODE (JCR)

TA-04-03-08: Consider amendments to Chapter 20 of Lawrence City Code (Land Development Code) to define and permit various homeless facilities in certain zoning districts with use standards. Initiated by City Commission April 29, 2008. 

STAFF PRESENTATION

Mr. Joe Rexwinkle presented the item.

Commissioner Harris inquired about the white areas on the map he showed.

Mr. Rexwinkle listed the four zoning districts that the white areas included.

Commissioner Finkeldei inquired about social service agency being permitted.

Mr. Rexwinkle said he did not map the zoning districts that permit social service agency. The only uses he mapped were the day center and shelter uses.

Commissioner Finkeldei said they look like the same districts.

Mr. Rexwinkle said social service agency is permitted in the same residential districts as type B homeless shelters and homeless workplaces, and that was intentional because it might be in the day center.

Commissioner Finkeldei asked if staff has tried to map out social service agencies because he would hate to be creating non-conforming special service agencies that are already established.

Mr. Rexwinkle said that staff has not mapped out social service agencies but that it can be done.

Commissioner Harris asked why planned residential development or planned development of any kind was excluded.

Mr. Rexwinkle said it was because it was not a base zoning district. It could be rezoned to allow the use but the base zoning districts are listed in the use table, and PD overlay districts are not listed because they are not base districts.

Commissioner Harris what criteria would be used for Special Use Permits in residential areas.

Mr. Rexwinkle said that they do not distinguish between whether the area is predominately residential or commercial. For Special Use Permits for type B shelters the use standards are that the operator must make a presentation to the City Commission and update them on the status of the use at least every five years, and the Special Use Permit would be up for review at that time. That would be to determine compliance with the original conditions of approval and use standards. There would also be minimum requirements for restroom facilities and staffing. An indoor waiting area must be provided for guests one hour prior to opening if it is not co-located with a basement or transportation is not provided. All uses and activities conducted outdoors shall be shown on the site plan. Mr. Rexwinkle said that those are the basic use standards and there are also management plan requirements and design standards.

Commissioner Harris asked if a four-plex could be built in a single family neighborhood because type A shelter would allow up to four families.

Mr. Rexwinkle said that the type A shelter had to be an accessory to a religious institution or non profit or charitable organization, it could not be its own principle use on the property.

Commissioner Carter inquired about the minimum staffing requirement.

Mr. Rexwinkle said that the minimum staffing requirement is recommended out of concern was that if only one staff person member was present and an emergency were to occur or if the one staff member became ill then there would be an extra staff member present to watch over the guests. He stated there would be a minimum of two staff members and a ratio of one staff member per thirty guests.

Commissioner Carter asked if the ratio allowed two staff members supervising up to sixty people.

Mr. Rexwinkle said that was correct.

Commissioner Carter said that a facility in general could be understaffed based on the needs of the residents. Whoever is running the facility may have to adjust the staffing levels based on needs.

Commissioner Rasmussen had a question regarding draft design standards section 8 regarding littering and loitering. The last one says the effort through design to minimize loitering in the vicinity of the shelter through three things; careful site design, building design, and by providing site features for amenities on the property which attract guests to the property. He inquired what the third thing meant.

Mr. Rexwinkle said it should probably be more specific and state to attract guests to a certain area on the property. The point of that is to provide some sort of amenity outside that draws guests waiting for the center to open to one location on the property rather than all along the edges of the property.

Commissioner Harris asked about type A shelter needing to be an accessory to an institution, such as a church. She asked if it would need to be on the same property.

Mr. Rexwinkle replied, yes.

Commissioner Harris asked if a church could essentially build a four-plex on their property.

Mr. Rexwinkle said yes, but only in an RM zoning district and that in RS districts it could not technically be a four-plex, they could build four bedrooms, but not four dwelling units.

PUBLIC HEARING

Mr. Price Banks, said that Gwen Klingenberg was going to request a deferral and he was opposed to that. He said that if they were going to defer the item they should do it now instead of having all the public people speak and then have them all come back again.

Mr. McCullough said that staff does not recommend deferral. There is an active group known as Family Promise, which is one type of program helping homeless families, that have begun work to make that program work and they need zoning and text changes to allow them to proceed with providing some of the homeless services in the facility. If we had to defer the item we could separate the two types of shelters out.

Ms. Gwen Klingenberg, Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods, said that the staff report said there was only one public person who was involved. She said that since this would affect the whole community she would like the public to have more of an opportunity to look at all of the issues. She requested that the item be deferred.

Mr. Banks said that there is time for the Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods, and anyone else, to study the item between tonight and when it goes to City Commission.

The Commissioners agreed they should proceed with the item and hear public comment.

Mr. Joe Reitz, Family Promise of Lawrence, felt there was a need for assisting homeless families with children. A Homeless Day Center, Type A, would serve a maximum of 14 persons and serve only families with children. A Homeless Day Center, Type B, would be any homeless day center not meeting the definition of a Type A Homeless Day Center. Such a distinction would be consistent with the proposed distinctions between Type A and Type B Homeless Shelters. The Community Commission on Homelessness has clearly recognized the distinction between homeless families with children and other homeless persons and that their status and needs are different. An example of a Homeless Day Center, Type A, would be the model being employed by Family Promise, which plans to open in Lawrence in November. Family Promise is open only to homeless families with children. Nationwide, 80 percent of Family Promise guests are single mothers and their children; the remainder are two-parent families and the occasional single father with children. To provide a safe environment for the children, Family Promise uses a thorough and stringent screening program, including drug testing, and will not accept as clients those who abuse alcohol or other substances or who have a history of violence against persons. Finally, the size of the program is limited to no more than four families or 14 people. This number has been proven to be a manageable number for overnight sheltering provided by faith congregations and staffed by trained volunteers. It also provides a case load for the director that enables that director to work with each family every day to solve their problems and get them into permanent housing. The validity of this model is reflected in their success rate: The average family stays in the program 60 days; 70 percent graduate into permanent housing, another 10 percent into temporary housing. Family Promise further request that the proposed Residential District Use Table 20-402 be amended to allow for the distinctions between Type A and Type B Day Centers, and that a Type A Shelter be permitted across all categories provided that it obtains a Special Use Permit. First, a neighborhood is the ideal place for families with children to spend their days – quiet, safe, and surrounded by other families. Homeless children are simply, children, and do not need to be stigmatized by forcing them to spend their time in an industrial environment. Because of the screening process for admission and the limits on numbers, the Day Center poses little impact on the surrounding area. In the Family Promise model, guests are accountable to the full-time professional director for their behavior and can be immediately removed from the program for violating its rules. Further, traffic impact will be minimal: a fifteen passenger van transports the families to and from the Day Center once each day. The only other vehicles will be that of the director and one volunteer. The Center will open at 7am and close at 5pm. There will be no nighttime activities. The Family Promise model opening in Lawrence has broad support from the community. It has been endorsed by the chairs of the Community Commission on Homelessness, the Interfaith Initiative on

Homelessness, and the two social workers from ECKAN and Bert Nash who work primarily with homeless families with children, Jeanette Collier and Valerie Miller-Coleman. So far fifteen faith congregations have signed on to support the program by providing shelter, food, and volunteers. Funds to operate the program have been obtained from private sources. Family Promise will not ask for nor expect financial support from the City of Lawrence. An owner has offered the use of her house for the Day Center. Family Promise has been contacting neighbors to assess their reaction to having the Center in their neighborhood and have not encountered any opposition. One of the neighbors is planning a community meeting at her home to explain the program and answer questions.

Commissioner Harris inquired about the house being separate from the church.

Mr. Reitz said the day center would not be on the same property as the church. The guests would spend the night at the church and then go to the offsite day center during the day.

Mr. Rexwinkle said the type A homeless shelter is an accessory to churches or non-profit centers. Guests would stay the night at the church and the day center is a separate location and that would require a Special Use Permit.

Commissioner Finkeldei clarified that the guests could stay overnight at the church, living in the neighborhood, but during the day they would be transported to a different location under this particular plan. This amendment would allow a four-plex to be built on a church property but that is not what Mr. Reitz is proposing.

Mr. McCullough said that was correct. Staff took the general notion of shelter and dissected it to get it at its various parts. A large shelter may need a Special Use Permit for the day center aspect, the workplace aspect, and the overnight sheltering aspect. Those are three separate uses per the Development Code as proposed. The Development Code allows overnight sheltering up to four families or fifteen people as an accessory use to a church or institution. That is not the day center, just the overnight center. The day center is a special use regardless of the zoning district or type of day center.

Commissioner Harris asked if the homeless shelter type A is a day center or night center. She also asked if it does have to be an accessory to a church.

Mr. McCullough said shelter type A is a night center and that it would be an accessory to a church. He said there can be two types of day centers and two types of night centers.

Commissioner Rasmussen asked if the type A homeless day center was not only affiliated with churches but with other institutions as well, and that those could be different entities.

Mr. McCullough said that was correct.

Commissioner Carter inquired about the proposed staffing levels.

Mr. Reitz said that they would have two staff members at the day center and two staff members at the night center.

Mr. Rexwinkle said the alternate language versus staff recommendations applies only to the type B overnight center and type B day center.

Mr. Price Banks, attorney for the Lawrence Community Shelter, Said the text amendment would help solve problems related to relocating the Lawrence Community Shelter. He said the shelter at 10^th Street and Kentucky Street has inadequate space and the Salvation Army is changing the way they conduct their operations. The Lawrence Community Shelter employed a commercial realtor and found they were faced with an impossible task because homeless shelters are hardly permitted anywhere. He was concerned that the ordinance contained provisions that were unnecessary or may encumber operations. He felt it was unprecedented for a zoning regulation to mandate employment levels.

Commissioner Carter asked if Mr. Banks wanted it reworded to say ‘adequate’ staffing.

Mr. Banks said that it should be based on the management plan. He felt that if staffing levels were mandated that it would eliminate the opportunity for volunteers. He gave the example of teachers being the only staff member in a classroom and that schools are not mandated to have a certain number of staff in the classroom.

Commissioner Finkeldei said that staff alternate language says ‘it shall be staffed in compliance with the staffing requirements in the approved management plan.’ He asked if Mr. Banks was okay with that language.

Mr. Banks replied, yes.

Commissioner Rasmussen asked if the State required certain staffing requirements.

Mr. Banks said he was not sure.

Commissioner Harris inquired about crime. She wondered if it would help to divide people up to have different types of shelters in different parts of town.

Mr. Banks said he did not know and it was not his intent to address crime issues or to assume the homeless shelter would beget criminal activities.

Mr. Chris Burger, Downtown Lawrence Inc, felt there should not be an automatic right to have shelters in industrial areas. Homeless shelter type A includes accessory uses but those are accessory to any sort of non-profit or charitable organization, not just religious organizations. He felt this was not an issue about the services that they were offering, but rather the location.

Commissioner Harris asked Mr. Burger if his group talk about the appropriateness of homeless shelters in commercial areas.

Mr. Burger said they did not think it was beneficial for downtown.

Mr. Don Huggins, Board of Directors President for Lawrence Community Shelter, felt that they need to relocate in the best interest of everyone. He said that problems continue with the Shelter because of the number of people who visit the Lawrence Shelter. He said it was physically too small to serve all of those that visit and will continue to struggle when the Salvation Army implements their plan that focuses on families. The current location is not adequate as far as space and the Board of Directors initiated an effort to relocate to best serve the homeless community and the community at large.

Commissioner Singleton asked what the best fit would be.

Mr. Huggins said there are several committees to deal with the growing needs. He said they have a Programs Committee, a Building Committee, a Capital Campaign Committee, and a Public Relation Committee. Those committees work together to find the best location. He said that they would like to have choices for a location and have input from the community in picking a location that would best fit.

Mr. Loring Henderson, Director of Lawrence Community Shelter, said the need for the shelter to move is apparent and he agreed with Mr. Huggins’ comments. He spoke about staffing levels and said staff did investigate 30+ cities, but he has been working with Bolder, CO as a model for policies and such. Bolder does not have a certain staffing requirement as long as it is adequate. He also talked about type A shelter having a maximum of four families, while type B says it will be any type that does not meet the definition of type A. He wanted to clarify that it did not mean that type B shelter would be five families.

Ms. Anne Bracher, board member of Lawrence Community Shelter, stated that a real estate agent has helped them find about twelve locations, most of which are in industrial zoned areas. She wanted qualifications such as security, egress as well as ingress. She said they have considered both existing structures and open lots and there are not a lot of spaces that would fit their needs.

Commissioner Singleton asked if the buildings she has found if they have come before Planning Commission.

Ms. Bracher said no, they have not had any specific sites come before Planning Commission. She said that they do not want to be tied down to one location if for some reason that location did not work out.

Commissioner Singleton asked if the text amendment was specifically written for Lawrence Community Shelter.

Mr. Rexwinkle said that the Community Shelter has worked with the Community Commission on Homelessness and the City Commission initiated this Text Amendment and that staff broadened the scope to include a variety of uses.

Commissioner Harris asked if Lawrence Community Shelter was interested in type B shelters.

Ms. Bracher said that was correct.

Mr. Michael Almon, spoke on behalf of Brook Creek Neighborhood Association and East Side Coalition, said there were good possibilities in the program and that staff has done a good job of researching the issue. He felt that staff did not do what City Commission asked staff to do. He felt that the text amendment went way beyond what was initially asked for. He said that it completely blindsided East Side Coalition and they were not prepared for the item. He said that there were all kinds of implementations and that there are four totally new uses. He felt that the neighbors should have been notified. He said that homeless shelter type A was totally new and does not comply with what the City Commission asked for. The community meals program does not comply with what the City Commission asked for. He said the text amendment was eight pages and if the Planning Commissioners were confused by it then the public would be too. He said this was a huge deal and he requested that the item be deferred so that all neighborhoods have a chance to look at it.

Mr. John Tahaw, said a bulk of the people served by the Shelter are Douglas County residents. He said that homelessness is a concern and he was surprised that Lawrence has not been an active player in helping to locate the ideal site for a shelter. He urged the Planning Commission to approve the text amendment so they could proceed with the process of finding a site.

Commissioner Carter asked if he was speaking about homeless shelter type B.

Mr. Tahaw said that was correct.

Ms. Debbie Nall, neighbor in favor of the homeless shelter from Family Promise. She said that they have had over 70 homeless people stay in her home. She said that the kids have to leave the shelter at 7am and wander the streets until school opens and then wander the streets after school from 3pm-9pm until the shelter opens up again. She asked that they not defer the item.

Mr. James Grouerholz, agreed there was still time for public comments before the item would be heard by City Commission. He said he was here on behalf of the east side of Lawrence and that all three east side neighborhoods are in talks of merging together. He thanked staff for broadened the scope of work that City Commission asked them to do. He discussed the concept of ‘fair share.’

Ms. Eileen Scharts, board member of Lawrence Community Shelter, said timing was really important and the shelter needs more space.

COMMISSION DISUCUSSION

Commissioner Carter asked why the public is not given more advance notice.

Mr. McCullough said the agenda item was released on July 11^th that it would be heard by Planning Commission but the staff report and information were recently formulated.

Mr. Rexwinkle said the Community Commission on Homelessness holds public meetings monthly and they discussed the issue.

Commissioner Harris inquired about the legal notice in the Journal World.

Mr. McCullough read the legal notice printed in the Journal World on June 29, 2008:

‘TA-04-03-08: Consider amendments to Chapter 20 of Lawrence City Code (Land Development Code) to define and permit various homeless facilities in certain zoning districts and permit homeless shelter uses by Special Use Permit with use standards in the IG (General Industrial) and IL (Limited Industrial) Districts. Initiated by City Commission April 29, 2008.’

Commissioner Rasmussen asked staff to compare the legal notice versus what City Commission asked.

Mr. McCullough said that City Commission did initiate a Text Amendment that was applicant driven to place the current terms ‘transient and homeless shelters’ as special uses in all industrial zoning districts.

Commissioner Finkeldei asked about being able to build, for example, a four-plex, permitted as an accessory to a principal use, subject to compliance with all other applicable local and state regulations, including the regulations of the Development Code. If there was a church in a single family residential area, a section of the Development Code would prevent a four-plex from being built in a single family residential area, correct.

Mr. Rexwinkle said, yes, it would be an accessory but the use itself would be a multi family use.

Commissioner Finkeldei said that while he was at the Planning conference recently they discussed the ‘fair share’ concept. He gave the example of Las Vegas only having one large day center and then dispersing guests throughout the city to smaller sites for the night.

Mr. McCullough said protections can be obtained through a Special Use Permit or the size of the facility. Based on its size it would have a lower impact to the neighborhood.

Commissioner Dominguez inquired about the safety of the overnight shelter type A. He gave the examples of drug use or violence.

Mr. McCullough said the type A shelter as an accessory use has no standards checked to allow guests into the facility, it is based strictly on the numbers and the fact that it is no more than four unrelated individuals but up to four families.

Commissioner Finkeldei asked if a church would have to get permission to get an accessory use.

Mr. McCullough said they would have to have the church constructed and go through any necessary building permits and any needed site plans. Planning would only get involved if the neighborhood filed a complaint, for example, saying twenty people were staying overnight. The church could then be found to be in violation of the Code.

Commissioner Singleton asked about the definition of family.

Mr. Rexwinkle said the definition of family was in article 17 of the Development Code.

Commissioner Singleton asked if the families would be families with children only. She was concerned about people over the age of 18 claiming to be family.

Mr. Rexwinkle said that families with children is the model that Family Promise is using. The City defines a family of one person living alone, two or more persons related by blood, marriage, or legal adoption, or in an RS zoning district a group of not more than three persons not related by blood or marriage living together as a single housekeeping unit, or in a zoning district other than RS a group of no more than four persons not related.

Commissioner Carter said it seemed like staff took the issue a step farther than what City Commission asked for.

Mr. McCullough said this was a tough community issue and the Lawrence Community Shelter folks were reaching out for advocates for this tough community issue. He went on to say that the Community Commission on Homelessness has been advocating for a master vision for a long time. Staff had the opportunity through the Text Amendment initiation to take a broader look and felt that a lot better job could be done with the homeless issue in Lawrence if they look at model codes, do some research, and look at the vision on homelessness and then try to let the Code support some of that. He understood this was new to the community but staff has been working on this for a while and feel that it is a good code that will help a lot of people in the community. It is not a specific Special Use Permit yet, that will come in due time, but in staffs opinion the accessory use structure for churches and institutions is not any more impactful than some of the other uses already in those residential districts. Staff would like to see this move forward because there is time between now and City Commission for others to review it and provide comments. City Commission certainly has the ability to change it, send it back to Planning Commission, or defer it.

Commissioner Dominguez said he serves on the Housing Board Authority and they are working with the homeless situation as well and have creating a database of people who volunteer their homes. He said the guests would be screened through various social services before they are actually entered into the database to get housing. He felt that if they go forward with the Text Amendment that they should take out the overnight in type A and move forward with type B.

Commissioner Harris said she could support limited approval but was not comfortable supporting type B shelters in commercial areas without more opportunity for public comment. She agreed that it was important to move forward with the issue but felt that more public comment was needed.

Commissioner Rasmussen felt that his role as a Planning Commissioner was to provide duty to City Commission and make sure they had adequate time to consider and reflect issues and provide good recommendations. He said they also have a duty to the community as a whole. He was concerned about moving forward too quickly and did not think they could separate the issues tonight and approve part of it and defer the rest. He did not feel that the community had enough time to comment on the issue and felt it was premature to move forward on the item.

Commissioner Moore agreed with Commissioner Rasmussen.

Mr. McCullough said that the City Manager and individual City Commissioners have been briefed throughout the process and he felt they are looking forward to seeing the Text Amendment that provides some framework for both types of shelters and day centers. He said the Commissioners he has talked to individually thought that the Family Promise model was a good model and serves certain needs of the community as does the Lawrence Community Shelter serves certain needs to the community. He said City Commission was aware of staff taking a comprehensive look and have not opposed that.

Commissioner Moore thanked the audience for coming up with solutions and suggestions.

Commissioner Hird felt it was commendable of staff to take charge and look at the broader issue than what City Commission requested. He felt that the neighbors should be given more notice.

Commissioner Finkeldei felt that by saying City Commission does not support going above and beyond what they ask was not true and he felt it was not a reason to delay the issue. He stated that the bylaws say that staff reports have to be out five days before the meeting. It would just delay items more to have fifteen day notice. He said he would strongly oppose that if a staff report does not come out more than five days in advance then the project should be deferred. He was sympathetic for Lawrence Community Shelter to get moving on the issue.

Commissioner Carter thought that there should be more public input on the issue for his own benefit of understanding.

Commissioner Moore agreed with Rasmussen’s comment about splitting the item and did not feel it should be split.

Commissioner Dominguez asked staff how they felt about separating type A from type B shelter.

Mr. McCullough said that both types are important. There is concern because Family Promise is trying to start up and keep their coalition of churches together and move forward, and the Lawrence Community Shelter needs to get their Capital Campaign moving along as well.

Commissioner Harris asked how soon City Commission could approve the item if they chose to defer it to the August Planning Commission meeting.

Mr. McCullough said the soonest that the Text Amendment could be heard by City Commission would be mid-September if Planning Commission did not approve it until August.

Mr. Rexwinkle said a Special Use Permit could not be approved until after City Commission approves the Text Amendment so it would be approximately December before City Commission would be able to approve a Special Use Permit.

Commissioner Harris said she was not able to move forward on this issue and did not feel it was ready for City Commission. She felt there were still questions on the accessory dwelling type A and type B not being incorporated in the text.

Motioned by Commissioner Harris to defer Text Amendment TA-04-03-08 to the August Planning Commission meeting with direction to staff to add information about type A and type B Day Centers in the Development Code and notify the neighborhoods and commercial businesses.

Commissioner Finkeldei asked if Commissioner Harris wanted staff to do some sort of notice that they do not normally do. He was concerned about notifying all commercial businesses in Lawrence.

Mr. McCullough said that they can send notice to all of the registered neighborhood groups. He said that this item has already met the statutory requirement for notice.

Commissioner Harris felt that the public notice should be worded clearer so the community has a better understanding of what is going on.

Commissioner Singleton seconded the motion to defer the item.

Commissioner Finkeldei wanted to be clear on the motion to defer and add more notice. He said that they should not require notification to commercial businesses community wide.  He recapped the motion to defer and give reasonable notification to neighbors, associations, and commercial businesses. Commissioner Finkeldei did not agree with deferring the item and felt it was ready to go forward.

Commissioner Rasmussen said he made suggestions about the design standard language about the loitering. He asked for clarification as to the definition of public institution, non-profit institution, charitable institution, and religious institution. He was concerned about any non-profit institution being able to qualify for this. He stated that not much language changes needed to be made, but that it can affect a large number of people in the community so he thought that maybe more notice should be required.

Commissioner Hird said he was ready to agree about inadequate notice to the neighborhoods but the notice did meet the statutory notice. His concern was that the legal notice may not have included the full extent of what the Text Amendment accomplishes. He said that if they require additional notice in this case because it impacts the public, then what are they saying about other issues that come before Planning Commission. Should they add on arbitrary additional notice requirements for other proposals? He felt that was a slippery slope. He said the Text Amendment was not perfect and there are things that could be fine tuned, but he was in favor of moving it forward.

Commissioner Carter said he would not vote to defer the item.

Commissioner Dominguez agreed with Commissioner Carter.

Commissioner Singleton said that if the is deferred she would like staff to look at homeless shelter type A and have the focus be on children.

Commissioner Blaser felt that the item should move forward.

Commissioner Finkeldei said that if they vote to move it forward that does not mean that certain issues cannot be looked at by City Commission.

Motion failed 3-6, with Commissioners Harris, Singleton, and Rasmussen voting in favor of deferring the item.

Motioned by Commissioner Carter, seconded by Commissioner Moore, to approve the proposed amendments [TA-04-03-08 to define and permit various homeless facilities with use standards] to Chapter 20, Development Code to the City Commission, with the alternative language as presented in the staff report, clarify 20-542(8)viii per Commissioner Rasmussen’s earlier comments, and to include the latest staff recommendation to incorporate the two distinct day centers.

Commissioner Finkeldei said his support of the alternative language on the management plan goes both ways. He thought that the approved management plan could require a staffing requirement that is much greater than what is set forth in the minimum and it could require something less than that in the right circumstance. He said there are many different types of programs and he did not like minimums because people gravitate to the minimums. He felt they should leave the staffing requirement open and that it can be considered at the right time.

Commissioner Harris said that if the item moves forward she would like staff to clarify how many people can live in an accessory structure.

Motion carried 7-2, with Commissioners Harris and Singleton voting in opposition.