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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes CC - 03/12/2012 - MIN 03 12 12 WS (Migrated from Optiview)Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 1 of 24 This summary is provided as a convenience and service to the public, media, and staff. It is not the intent to transcribe proceedings verbatim. Any reproduction of this summary must include this notice. Public comments are noted and heard by Council, but not quoted. This document includes limited presentation by Council and invited speakers in summary form. This is an official record of the Milton City Council Meeting proceedings. Official Meetings are audio and video recorded. The Work Session of the Mayor and Council of the City of Milton was held on March 12, 2012 at 6:00 PM, Mayor Lockwood presiding. Council Members Present: Councilmember Karen Thurman, Councilmember Matt Kunz, Councilmember Bill Lusk, Councilmember Burt Hewitt, Councilmember Joe Longoria and Councilmember Lance Large. Mayor Lockwood: • Work Sessions are an informal setting to update Council on business items. • : No votes will be taken during these sessions. • There are three (3) items on our Agenda tonight. • Public comment is allowed that is germane to an Agenda Item. • If you wish to speak you are required to fill out a comment card and turn it into the City Clerk staff. • Public comment will be allowed for a total of 10 minutes per agenda item and no more than 2 minutes per person. • Public comment will be heard at the beginning of each Item. • Once the item is called, no other comment cards will be accepted. City Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #1. 1. Discussion of Draft LCI Plan — Hwy. 9/GA 400 Livable Centers Initiative (presented by Michele McIntosh -Ross, City Planner & Eric Bosman, Urban Collage Consultant) Michele McIntosh -Ross, City Planner: • This is a presentation of the draft of the Milton GA 400 LCI. • After tonight, we will have the draft for you to look at the next presentation of the Planning Commission on March 27`h, and then hopefully we will get an approval, or some sort of recommendation, from the Planning Commission to move forward to the City Council for a request for approval on April 23rd • Today, Eric Bosman is here to talk about the LCI. Eric Bosman, Urban Collage Consultant: • We have a lot of slides to present this evening. • Our goal is to go through them fairly quickly. • We have about six months of work that we need to discuss in less than sixty minutes. • For those of you who were at the meeting last week, there should not be any surprises here for you. • For everyone else, we are going to do our best to bring you up -to -speed as quickly as we can. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 2 of 24 • As Michele mentioned, most of the recommendations and the highlights are in this presentation. • Our goal is to get this into document form for you within the next week or two so it can go through the formal approval process. • We will go through our key objectives: what we have been up to and why we are doing this. • We will go through some of the existing conditions; however, we will go through that very quickly. • If you have any questions, we will come back and answer those as part of the Q & A at the end of the presentation. • We would like to spend some time talking about the public involvement process. • This process has included four core team meetings with our core team of community leaders, as well as, four open public workshops and a community survey that was online and had over 500 hits. • We will go through the beginning of the recommendations, the land use framework plan, and the priority transportation improvements which are the meat of this piece. • Just so you know, when other people get up to help me answer questions, here tonight are Cabe and Dennis with Urban Collage, Lisa with RCL Co. our market analyst, and Christina with Kimley-Horne who has been helping us with the transportation aspects. • We have the full multi -disciplinary team here tonight. • The LCI plan was really designed to do four key things: • This is an implementation effort of your comprehensive plans and of your comprehensive transportation plan. • It's taking those ideas that have already been adopted by the city and taking them to the next level of study, detail, and recommendations. • Our goals through this process have been to: o Clarify the vision informed by future market potential by the Georgia 400 and Hwy. 9 area. o Provide additional detail to your comprehensive plan as well as the City of Alpharetta Comprehensive Plan. You will see that a little over a quarter of the study area is in the City of Alpharetta. o Offer recommendations to approve local zoning and to provide incentives for the appropriate types of future development and re -development over the next ten to twenty years. o Prioritize your public improvement projects already in vision for this area through your Comprehensive Transportation Plan, your Trails Plan and your Parks and Recreation work in order to move key projects to implementation more quickly. • We have gone through a three-phase process: o Our first two months were focused on an inventory assessment of existing conditions. o The next three months were a series of public workshops in order to get public input into the future character and development and re -development opportunities for the area. o We are now in the last phase, the action plan, where we are putting together the five-year action plan, the market summary, the highlights of the plan and mostly outlining the key priority projects and zoning recommendations to help you move forward. • The public involvement in this process has been significant. • We started last August and September with a series of stakeholder interviews. • We have a core team of community leaders who have met on four occasions. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 3 of 24 • We have had four open public workshops that have also been assessable through your website thanks to your work and technology, the online survey. • Based on feedback we get this evening, our last two steps are a transportation coordination meeting with the Atlanta Regional Commission. • That meeting will help us figure out which projects are most applicable and most likely to get LCI funding from the Atlanta Regional Commission. • Upon adoption of this plan, you and your partner city and organizations will have an opportunity to get up to four million dollars for two projects to be selected by you, as local officials, and then funded by the Atlanta Regional Commission. • That is four million dollars per project up to eight million over the next three to five years to go toward implementation and construction of key projects and, of course, we are about to begin the Planning Commission and City Council review work sessions and adoption process which will also be public hearings. • Very quickly, to touch on some of the existing conditions. • This process has been, for this study area, Windward Parkway from GA 400 over to where it becomes Cogburn and Hwy. 9 from Mayfield just north of downtown Alpharetta up to where Bethany Bend intersects with Hwy. 9. • This includes the McGinnis -Ferry intersection with GA 400 which one day could be an interchange with GA 400. • All of our recommendations are for this particular area. • There is little doubt in our minds that some of the recommendations for the north end of Hwy. 9, you as a city might choose to continue some of those further north, but we have not looked at that in detail as part of this effort. • About thirty percent of the project area is within the City of Alpharetta, a little over seventy percent within the City of Milton. • We have tried throughout this process not to over -emphasize one city over the other but it is more significant within the City of Milton boundaries. • We know where the money has come from to help pay for this effort as well. • To give you an idea about what is out there today, part of the area is single-family homes, there is some degree of multi -family, townhouse, multi -family development within the study area, a lot of retail along Windward, but most significantly all the way up and down Hwy. 9, a significant amount of office and hospitality, some institutional development and a small amount of park. • You will notice that some of that graphic is left white; those are areas that are undeveloped or vacant as of today, not a significant portion of the study area. • Most challenging is that you have environmental features with steep slopes, retention ponds, and wetlands. • A number of those areas on that previous map are vacant because some of them have environmental issues and are less suitable for building. • We know moving forward, that this really isn't about revamping an entire area; it's about being much more selective about the development opportunities that you have left in Milton and Alpharetta to play a positive role in your future. • This area has developed very quickly over the last twenty years. • In 1990, there was very little of this property that was actually developed, but within the next two decades between 1990 to 1999 and then from 2000 to 2005 to the present day, a lot of the area has really developed which leaves those areas in white that are undeveloped. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 4 of 24 • We know that moving forward based on what is happening in the economy, those areas may be likely to change but these are also some areas that are already developed that maybe aren't doing so well financially but may be susceptible to change in the future. • We have areas that are actively being developed today such as Cambridge High School and a gas station at Bethany Bend and Hwy. 9. • The areas that are highly susceptible to change are those areas that are undeveloped today. • We have some areas that we would categorize as low susceptibility. • There is a lot of retail development within this area today that is not doing very well. • Also, most traditional retail development has a plus or minus fifteen year life cycle. • Once we start to see big box development and retail development that gets to about ten years of age, we need to start thinking about the next life cycle for those properties. • They will require either reinvestment or redevelopment so we have included our ideas of what those might become knowing that this plan has a ten, fifteen and twenty year horizon. • There are a few transportation issues in the area most notably traffic congestion. • There has been a lot of support from the community in terms of trails, green space and open space. • We won't go deep into the transportation questions and some of the challenges but we want you to know some of the analysis that has been done. • We have worked off of your Comprehensive Transporation Plan which has been one of the great advantages of having Christina as part of the team since she worked with the city through the CTP process. • We looked at your roadway network where some of those challenges are, we have gone back and looked at the sidewalk inventory for those opportunities for pedestrians for bicycles and trails, and we have looked at the existing transit facility you have today. • Are these working for you or are there opportunities to do some things better? • We have tried to coordinate with the trail process that has been ongoing and make sure that the recommendations of this plan link up with those. • We are not only looking at roadways but transit possibilities, biking pedestrian improvements, as well as some of your intersection improvements that have been discovered through your previous planning resources. • It became apparent that it was very important to look at the market analysis. • For most communities, when you do your comprehensive plan, there is not a big market component. • But when we start looking at a specific district, then we rely fairly heavily on what the market will bring if we don't intercede or if we do intercede, what some of those possibilities are. • Lisa, with RCL Co. is going to walk you through a few of the things we found in terms of trends and what some of the market opportunities are moving forward. Lisa Dilts, Vice President, RCL Co. • It is really important to think about where we have been and where we are going. • When we think about where we are in the cycle, we certainly see a lot of positive trends for 2012 such as start up businesses and employment will increase. • In our study, in order to find out where Milton is, we used comparisons. • How does it stack up to Alpharetta, Roswell, and the metropolitan area overall? • The heaviest concentration in Milton is from 35-54 year olds for 2010 current households. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 5 of 24 • What will that look like in 2015? • You can see that much of the projected growth is for 55+ age households. • That information translates into thinking about what type of housing to provide to accommodate those households. • When we looked at where Milton residents are actually working and living, the majority of people in Milton work outside the City of Milton. • Only about 4% of people, who live in Milton, work in Milton. • The largest portion of employees in Milton live in Alpharetta and other cities. • When we look at the types of employment, Milton is heaviest on service and retail trade. • When we look at higher wage jobs, which are really focused in finance, insurance, and real estate, it is lower than the comparative areas of Alpharetta and Roswell. • When we look at what type of areas could have additional employment, what type of areas could have additional housing and when we think nationally about trends of areas with a variety of uses versus those with single traditional development; this chart shows you the value and time line of these areas. • The red line indicates single traditional development areas which essentially has that useful life declining down after about twelve years and really doesn't hold the value as well. • Something that is in an area with a variety of uses which you see over time has a much more sustainable track and trend of a greater value. • When we process what the opportunities are, we see a greater opportunity for more commercial office space which could be a variety of uses and many different office types. • It can range all the way from a large institutional Class A office space to Class 4 which is a small professional neighborhood type space. • Here is an example from Orlando, FL which is in a master plan community and serves as a menu or spectrum as to what can be done as far as offices that can accommodate that array of uses. • The bottom line from the analysis that we have done in terms of opportunities and challenges, we do see there is a base of households that are aging in place and an opportunity to provide supportive housing that can accommodate those households. • It is also important to recognize the young professionals as well and thinking about and providing additional commercial spaces. • We saw that there is definitely a significant portion of people who work in the area who do not live in Milton so, if there is an opportunity and if land is available, we would want to work to try to accommodate these households as well. • There is significant retail in the area and some are performing well, however, we know that the unanchored strip centers are the ones that are the most challenged. • Going forward, we think that the retail that is in a format of a variety of uses is really poised for the best to succeed. • In terms of challenges, when we look at this area it is not really a market constraint it is more of a land availability. • The limited land remaining to actually accommodate additional development is the greater challenge. • It is not really a shortage of market demand as much as it is where to put that opportunity. • The tracks that present the greatest opportunity are those that would require redevelopment, which is obviously challenging, and house some of the newest development. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 6 of 24 • The last challenge is the limited remaining land supply and being very selective about where development can occur. Eric Bosman: • There are two significant reasons that the market assessment plays a really important role. • As we have worked with the community over the last several months, we want to make sure that what comes out of this plan is realistic and viable from a market standpoint. • We don't want to plan things that we can't build and we don't want to plan things that the market could never bring to us. • At the same time, we need to be very up front in understanding that if we do nothing what is the market prepared to bring us today? • How do we influence that market to get the things that are the most appropriate for Milton? • As Lisa mentioned, it is not really a question of what the market demand is, it's that you are running out of undeveloped land and opportunities to do new things. • How can we make sure we do the best most appropriate thing for the City of Milton that maintains the character, the high quality of development, and the high quality of life that people come here for, but at the same time build that value over time? • We began that process working with your community with a survey. • We had a survey at the first workshop and then we had that same survey online from October 27 - November 27 with significant input. • Twenty-five people went through the full survey in person. • There were almost 650 hits online, of which, almost 500 of those people completed the full survey. • There is no way I can say that is a statistically valid sample of your community, but when we are hitting over 500 people in your community we are getting a pretty broad spectrum of people who are participating and want to have an input in the process. • About two-thirds of the participants of the survey said they lived or worked in Milton and about one-third in Alpharetta and that is fairly consistent with the geographical break-up of our area. • Eighty-one percent of our respondents were between the ages of 36-55. • That age group is a significant part of your population so we feel like they are well represented. • About forty percent of the people who took the survey have lived in the area for 10-20 years so there are a lot of people who have lived here awhile, are invested in the area, like the area and want to see it stay that way. • The survey was broken into two parts. • There were images and questions. • All of the images we put in the survey were reality based images. • We didn't put a really ugly gas station and then a real pretty one-story retail boutique. • It was a much more nuance selection of images from which people where able to choose was most appropriate for the future of this area. • When appropriate, we really encouraged people to think 10-20 years down the road. • This was really a preference survey for those who participated in the process. • To quickly give you the high level results of that survey, we first asked people about the area closest to GA 400. • What were their visions for the future of the areas along Windward Parkway and Deerfield Parkway? Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 7 of 24 • You will see that a lot of this is two-story, three-story, getting up to four-story brick and walkable. • You start to see a collection of uses of things that point toward a master plan community, things that start to feel more on a pedestrian scale, a little more walkable versus those areas on Highway 9 where people are looking for lower scale things that are more segregated by use but a finer sense of architecture and landscape that keeps up the high quality look of the area. • In terms of open space, it is not uncommon when we do this type of survey that all of the green space and open space rank very high. • What was different about this survey was that there was a very clear delineation of passive before active. • You do not see any active recreation slots here. • It is not because they weren't in the survey, but they all ranked much lower than all the passive spaces which then clearly went into a second group which was community gathering spaces and then active recreation as a distant third. • So, really what people were looking for were more passive green spaces for these particular areas. • For the short answer question regarding the look and feel of Windward Parkway, most people said it could use a little landscaping and general aesthetic improvement but doesn't look bad the way it is today. • When asked about Highway 9, however, most people said that it could really use some significant improvement in terms of the look, feel, and character. • People really understood that the GA 400, Deerfield Parkway, Windward Parkway area is where a lot of your regional uses go while Highway 9 is where a lot of your local uses should be. • How do we capture some of that traffic in the regional center before it gets over to Highway 9 and creates local transportation problems? • There were a lot of preferences for walking and biking trails, passive green spaces, then gathering spaces and recreation as a third priority. • A lot of times with the market assessment, we have to take it with a grain of salt. • This is what the market will bring you, whether we are prepared for it or not, we can select what we want. • Part of understanding the market is knowing what to encourage and what to discourage moving forward to the betterment of your community. • I thought it was encouraging that a lot of your community said we have opportunities for housing for young professionals, empty nesters, early retirees, and people who already live in our community that might want a different type of unit moving forward. • When we asked people for their overall priorities for the area, they indicated that they would like high quality development, open spaces, more walkable areas, identity recognition, and transportation improvements but not necessarily being overly concerned about transit except in very select areas. • We also got the pubic involved with identifying where some of the key problem areas and key opportunity areas are located by looking at a variety of pictures. • From the survey where we had eighty different images, we narrowed it down to the top twenty or thirty and then asked people based on where you see those opportunities, where would you like to see things happen in the future and what type of character that would entail. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 8 of 24 • In the third public workshop, we took that one more step and pulled out the building blocks and the aerials and started to build what is on the ground today with the Verizon office buildings, Hampton Inn, and Windward Marriott. • We showed them some of the properties that are available and are apt to change over the next 10- 20 years and asked them how they would like to see those areas look in the future. • We did the same type of exercise for your roadways, Highway 9, Deerfield Parkway, Morris Road, what type of character and quality should that take on in the future? • That has led us to land use and transportation recommendations. • The land use recommendations are taking your comprehensive plan and going to a finer grain of detail. • So we have taken the Deerfield, Windward character area and the Highway 9 character area and created more detailed districts. • Included is a regional activity center at Deerfield, Windward, and along GA 400. • A McGinnis Ferry transitional area that, if this interchange at McGinnis Ferry and GA 400 comes to reality, we would expect to see some development pressure so we need to have some rules for moving forward to build off of the regional activity center but also protect single-family neighborhoods that are nearby. • The local activity center is where most of your local commercial and retail goods are positioned today. • Transitional areas help buffer your single-family and multi -family neighborhoods from the local activity center. • From the City of Alpharetta there is North Main Street which is a little different piece building off the city's center project in downtown Alpharetta that they are getting ready to invest in. • The regional activity center is your largest commercial opportunity area. • It is where you have the largest tracts of available land and it is an area that is already, heavily commercial and office today, so the opportunity for Milton to have any type of scale or intensity this would be the place for it to go. • You have the infrastructure to support it, it is adjacent to GA 400, and it is away from single- family neighborhoods where there is very little chance for nuisance. • The opportunity moving forward is to think of this regional activity center, not as a series of disparate parcels, but as one larger master planned area. • It's highest and best use and best potential for building value over time is to integrate a number of different uses, office with a little retail, some residential for those young professionals and seniors, but more importantly for the development to be more compact and walkable. • Compact does not mean that it has to be ultra -dense or that is doesn't have any green space. • We are looking at regulations and opportunities where these can be connected but also require and maintain significant levels of open space with landscaping that can be an amenity to the community. • It can touch on some of the ideals that the community has put forward. • Some opportunities and properties that are already zoned for office/commercial development are the 25 acres between Deerfield and Fry's Electronics and 30-40 acres between Morris Road and GA 400 adjacent to the Hampton Inn. • If we think about how this whole area can act as one integrated master planned area it would be able to support a greater variety of uses. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 9 of 24 • It could also help build off of some under-utilized parking spaces that you have today to build a little more character along the roadways to support walking by preserving green space and integrating a trail system so it then becomes a community amenity and maintains the character that people in Milton are supportive of and have become accustomed to. • It would be a series of development pods that are integrated and connected and reinforce the type of character of Milton with open spaces and trails. • If we look at the section between Morris and GA 400, a lot of that opportunity is for office space. • This is by far your best office space because of the proximity to GA 400, the sewer and water that is already there, your access off of Windward Parkway, and the ability to capture some of the traffic before it gets to Highway 9 and gets closer to your neighborhoods. • This level of intensity still allows you an opportunity to maintain significant green space but your zoning doesn't quite allow for this level of development today. • So that is where opportunities for looking at some of your codes, opportunities for transfer of development rights to preserve green space in other parts of the community, and by putting more investment in this area where it is appropriate and can be accommodated. • We are able to accomplish some of the vision and character that people were supportive of by concentrating development in these areas. • However, it does not have to be all office space development. • We will probably be more successful in the future if we integrate a number of different uses that build value off of each other rather than a single development type. • If you look at the intersection of Deerfield Parkway and Morris Road, that future vision may be a more walkable, high character, high quality community. • It is really important to emphasize that there are ways to integrate green space into the pattern that is shown. • This is not about over -building or densification, this is about building value where you have the opportunity to do so but having the regulations in place so that you continue to maintain and enhance the quality of the area particularly within the regional activity center. • If the regional activity center is where a lot of the emphasis goes in the future, then it is a little more carefully constructed in the areas around it. • The McGinnis Ferry transitional area is everything north of Webb Road along McGinnis Ferry and Deerfield so it is an area that starts to border upon some of your single family neighborhoods. • So it could be medium -scaled near GA 400 and near that regional activity center but then needs to transition down in intensity and height as it gets closer to single family residential. • It is probably a mix of residential but in this area your land values are going to be high enough that it is going to be a senior oriented attached product. • Probably not single-family detached because the land values are not likely to support that. • It can still be very high quality that is walkable and maintains appropriate buffers to residential neighborhoods and still incorporates open space and landscape requirements so that the character and green that is so important to this area is still maintained. • If we look at this transitional area today, it is a variety of uses. • It's commercial along Highway 9, medium -scale office south of Webb, medium -scale multi- family on either end and up into Forsyth county, and the low -scale single-family. • The important regulations moving forward are to have low -scale adjacent to those neighborhoods so we are not threatening quality of life in that area. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 10 of 24 • However, we also want to take advantage of those areas up along Webb and that back-up to Highway 9 to get more medium -scale development to build value in the long term by maintaining some of those environmentally sensitive areas that can bring green space and trails. • The local activity center consists of everything on Highway 9 from just north of Cogburn up to just north of Deerfield. • That is where a lot of your commercial development is today and, frankly, a lot of that is new investment and is not going to change in the short term. • As we mentioned earlier, most of that development has a 12-15 year lifespan so we need to be thinking toward the future of this area. • We want to do things to encourage a more walkable development pattern and to spruce up the appearance along Highway 9 with landscape and architectural treatments. • We need to look at our regulations for parking lots and integrating the landscaping more into the parking lots so we enhance the character of those areas. • We need to encourage inter -parcel connectivity so that not every development has to have so many curb cuts out onto Highway 9 which contributes to our traffic congestion and some of the vehicle and pedestrian conflicts. • You have already done a lot of work for this particular district. • You have your Highway 9 design guidelines which already incorporate many of the strategies that need to be applied. • In terms of reducing some of the setbacks where you do have larger setbacks having much more significant landscaping within the parking lots and trying to bring those buildings up closer to the roadway. • You are not going to put them as an urban edge right on Highway 9 due to the type of traffic that is there and expansion that is likely to happen on Highway 9 in the future. • So we are not talking about an urban edge, but we are talking about bringing the buildings up closer to the proximity of Highway 9 where they start to enhance the character rather than having big parking lots with buildings way in the back. • Your Highway 9 design guidelines already address this. • You want to have opportunities to get trees and lights and create the buffer and the appearance that you want if the speed limit is lowered or, if the speed limit is not lowered, how you can do that same treatment at the back side of the sidewalk. • If we go back to our susceptibility of change graphic, a lot of properties on the south end of Highway 9 are 'in the City of Alpharetta. • Very few of our properties that were susceptible to change, other than the high school that is under construction, are in this northern area. • So you won't see a lot of imagery for that northern area but the principles for the transition areas are the same being lower in scale and primarily residential. • There are a lot of multi -family and senior housing residential today. • Part of our recommendations would be to hem the commercial development into those other character areas and districts a little so this area doesn't allow the commercial to sprawl all the way up and down the corridor but instead you have an area of commercial development at Highway 9 and Windward Parkway and another local area at Bethany Bend but not a continuous strip of commercial all the way up and down Highway 9. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 11 of 24 • So you need to maintain lower -scale development in these buffer areas, primarily residential, work on the greening, the linear paths for recreation, walking, and biking, limiting setbacks, and enhancing the character. • If we look at the south end of Highway 9 where more of the property is susceptible to change then there are a couple of different strategies. • We are not saying this is the recommended pattern for each of these properties that we are illustrating. • We are taking some planner's license and saying these are a couple of the opportunities that are out there. • One is to fill in the rest of the outparcels but in a little more aggressive manner than what was originally planned. • Several of these have four outparcels that could be built in the future. • But from a character standpoint, you are in a much stronger position if you start to build an edge along the outside of the roadway, bring in the landscape buffer that has already been planned through your Highway 9 design guidelines, reduce some of the parking requirements, then bring in additional landscaping in a way that really starts to create a stronger sense of place and character along Highway 9. • Another opportunity is taking retail centers that are not doing very well and may not do very well in the future and if those properties owners want to come in and look for a different type of development, then there could potentially be residential opportunities for young professionals or seniors in that area along Highway 9. • There are already two or three assisted living/senior facilities so the next step would be to look for opportunities where you have multi -step housing where it could be independent living on one part of the site and assisted living on the other. • Again, building this in a manner that keeps building sites as opposed to parking lots along the street and continuing to maintain a green buffer. • So, if we put all three of those strategies together; some of them outparcels, some of them re- developments, and some of them infill then we start to create a high quality and character corridor which is more walkable and has multi -use trails, then we can start to bring in some of these different development types. • One that is already planned on the northeast corner of Cogburn and Highway 9, some of the out - parcel fill development, redevelopment for some future housing potential, bringing in additional parcels that are undeveloped and really changing the character of this roadway in a way that enhances and builds value moving forward. • That is the end of the discussion about the Development Vision. • The other piece of the equation is the Priority Transportation Projects. • The end of the LCI Plan is the construction funding. • How do we encourage public improvements that help incent appropriate investment for development and redevelopment in the future? • Some of these are congestion and safety issues. • Intersection improvements for Bethany Bend and Highway 9, Bethany Bend at Morris, and what will soon be the totally opened Westside Parkway up to Windward Parkway and as it transitions into Deerfield. • Also included are some multi -modal corridor improvements which are operational and safety improvements from a transportation vehicle standpoint but also enhance sidewalks, trails, and bicycle facilities for the core of Highway 9. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 12 of 24 • Ultimately, you want that to be all of Highway 9 but from a cost standpoint we have to break it down into workable phases. • Our first phase would be from Cogburn to Deerfield, improvements to Cogburn from Webb all the way up to Cambridge High School and improvements to Bethany Bend. • In addition, the more we can break down the super block that is bounded by Highway 9, Windward Parkway, and Deerfield Parkway and start to create some alternative connections and a smaller street grid, it will help not only the quality of that area but also the safety, connectivity and transportation moving through that area. • While we cannot mandate this to happen, as redevelopment occurs in this area we encourage you to seek opportunities to bring some more transportation and pedestrian/bicycle connections through that area. • There is one major roadway improvement project. • The North Fulton CID is working on a project to expand and lengthen the off -ramp from GA 400 to Windward and then add a third westbound lane on Windward from GA 400 over to Deerfield Parkway. • That is primarily a congestion relief problem for the peak afternoon traffic. • The two trail projects that we would recommend prioritizing are a greenway trail across Webb Road from Cogburn over to McGinnis Ferry and then up McGinnis Ferry and over to the Big Creek Greenway. • We have looked at all the trails pieces moving forward, but from an integration standpoint that is the highest priority. • In addition, the high speed bicycle route that Alpharetta is bringing up is probably not on the top of the list but we should reserve the west side buffer of GA 400 to create an opportunity for those bicycle connections in the future. • There are two transit projects. • We had a meeting with MARTA two weeks ago and part of the short-term strategy is that the bus routes in this area need to be redone. • They don't serve your public well where they go today. • A portion of your public lives between Deerfield and Bethany Bend on Highway 9 that the bus routes don't quite reach. • We are working with the city staff and MARTA to see if we can modify some of those bus routes in the short term to enhance the use of transit as it is today. • In the future, whatever the MARTA alternative analysis comes up with, there has always been the notion that any type of future regional transit would have a dock and a station near Windward Parkway. 11 • If we can increase pedestrian and bicycle connectivity for the regional activity center that is proposed, then the more opportunity we have to gain value that supports transit. • The public that was at the meeting last week ranked the following four projects as the most important: the intersection improvement for Windward/Westside/Deerfield, the bike and pedestrian connection along Webb Bridge to McGinnis Ferry to the Big Creek Greenway, the intersection improvement for Highway 9 and Bethany, the intersection improvement for Bethany at Morris and McGinnis Ferry, and the multi -modal corridor with the new connections from Highway 9 to Deerfield. • We will be coordinating the priority of each of these projects with ARC at our stakeholders meeting in the next few weeks. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 13 of 24 • We will find out which projects they are the most interested in so we can put you in the best position possible to garner some of the funding that will be needed. • In addition, there will be a series of design standards that will mostly relate to the local activity center and regional activity center and will be based heavily on your Highway 9 design guidelines. • Community members have already done a lot of work on the character studies and we need to integrate that as part of these recommendations. • There will be a series of zoning improvements that will be recommended including site designs, setback changes, landscape, open space, and how we will get those amenities and design characteristics as part of future development. • We will also talk about the transfer of development rights potential for the regional activity center and possibly the local activity center. • There will be verbiage regarding jobs and housing and about how we can integrate the residential uses for young professionals and seniors. • In addition, it will also include strategies for providing more open space and trails. • Does anyone have any questions? Lance Large, Councilmember: • Are you planning to make any suggestions to make amendments to the Highway 9 design standards to possibly weave more appropriately into what you are trying to accomplish? Eric Bosman: • Yes, we will make some recommendations to add on to those designs. • A lot of the big things that you need to tackle are already in there in terms of maximum setbacks; getting a tree, landscape, and lighting buffer along Highway 9; and your fencing and urban design standards. • Your committee did a very good job of defining the major elements, however, we need to go into finer detail and make some recommendations. • It will not be substantial changes but we will add some detail. Councilmember Large: • Will they pinpoint more about the materials that will be used? Eric Bosman: • Yes, we will get into more detail about materials. Bill Lusk, Councilmember: • I would imagine that Alpharetta's architectural design standards are compatible with what we have in mind. Have you studied Alpharetta's design standards? Eric Bosman: • Yes, there will need to be some clarification from Alpharetta's standpoint. • Their standards are not written into their zoning. • Their process is that a person will go to their Community Development Department and have a series of consultations that then result in a series of development conditions. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 14 of 24 • Part of what we would like to see through this study is to standardize some of those conditions in terms of site design, architectural character and landscape character so that those are not conditions but things that are written into the code. • We will be making some of those recommendations so that Highway 9 has one corridor. • Our recommendation is that the landscape standards should be the same. • Some of the urban design standards and fencing standards would be a little different. Councilmember Large: • Please define how parking lot landscaping will be addressed in regard to irrigation, maintenance, etc.? Eric Bosman: • We will not get into maintenance standards but we will address parking lot landscaping "best practices" such as suitable palates. • Your city staff will have to continue to monitor what works well and what doesn't work. Councilmember Lusk: • What is your proposal for zoning in the regional center areas? Eric Bosman: • We have more work to do in that area. • We have spent the majority of our time on the design vision. • We know that you have good standards in place; however, we need to make sure the development community knows how to interpret and implement those standards. Karen Thurman, Councilmember: • If the McGinnis Ferry interchange actually happens, it will have a tremendous impact on traffic patterns. Does your plan assume that this change will take place? Eric Bosman: • Yes, we are assuming that the McGinnis Ferry interchange will occur. • Part of the use of an LCI plan that is really important is that for any of those projects that you think you are going to do or provide any funding to; it is good to get them incorporated into the LCI plan and into the five year action plan. • For every project that you, as a city, are able to take on yourself, it helps your ranking and ability to garner more matching funds from ARC. • When ARC is awarding their transportation funds, it is a very competitive process, so they are looking to partner with cities that are actively implementing their plan. • So, if there are other things that are either directly in the study area or adjacent to the study area; the more we can incorporate into this plan, the more you will get credit for. • We are often asked exactly what we are approving when these plans go through the approval process. • It is important to note that this is a more detailed amendment to your comprehensive plan so it becomes a policy document that strengthens your planning commission rulings and city council decisions as they apply to these areas. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 15 of 24 Councilmember Lusk: • How can we influence what Forsyth County does regarding Strickland Road? It is a natural extension of Westside Parkway corridor and would tie in perfectly with the interchange. Eric Bosman: • We have coordinated with Forsyth County and their team has been good about attending the meetings. • We will go back and check the specific information regarding their plans for Strickland Road and let you know. City Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #2. 2. Discussion of Approval of the ARC Community Choices Application for Technical Assistance. (Presented by Michele McIntosh -Ross, City Planner) Kathleen Field, Community Development Director: • This is a request from ARC. • ARC has had a call for applications through its Community Choices Program for Technical Assistance Services. • We have identified a project that we think would be really very helpful to us, however, the application has to be in by Friday. • This relates to the LCI study that we have just looked at which you will not receive for approval until the middle or end of April. • Please keep in mind this will not cost us anything. • If you decide not to approve the LCI study or defer it then we would be able to work out an agreement with ARC. • Essentially, this is an application to look at the regional activity center as a form -based code with an ordinance dealing with transfer development rights. Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager: • I can't imagine that there would be any objection to this but we just wanted to bring it publicly before we started to submit applications on the city's behalf. • We are just asking for direction from the Mayor and City Council to move forward in submitting this application. City Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #3. 3. Introduction and Overview of : Form -Based Code Zoning and Transfer of Development Rights. (Presented by Kathleen Field, Community Development Director & Caleb Racicot, Tunnell, Spangler & Walsh) Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 16 of 24 Kathleen Field: • Some of you have heard about Form -Based Code Zoning; others of you have not. • As many of you know, we have been working on this for several months. • There is a draft in place that Caleb Racicot has put together for us. • This week we will be receiving a Transfer of Development Rights draft for Crabapple. • Caleb will walk us through what is currently in the Form -Based Code for Crabapple and then we will touch on a little about Transfer Development Rights. • Allison Duncan with ARC is in the audience and she will assist with any questions. • Caleb Racicot will now give you a short overview and status report. Caleb Racicot, Tunnell, Spangler & Walsh: • I would like to start by showing you a picture that helps explain the difference between Form - Based Coding and Conventional Coding. • On the left is a picture of a conventional CVS pharmacy, 14,000 square feet, and probably four to five parking spaces per acre. • On the right is another 14,000 square foot CVS pharmacy, also with four to five thousand square feet per acre. • From a zoning use perspective, these things are exactly the same thing. • However, when you look at them through the eyes of a member of the community, you see that they are very different. • These pictures really explain the difference between Form -Based Coding and Conventional Coding. • The differences are the things that do not necessarily have to do with the use of the building but really with its form. • The building on the left is a corporate prototype that could be located in "Anywhere, USA", while the building on the right was specifically designed to fit in more with the community where it is located. • There are three primary differences: o In conventional code, use comes first. What is in the building is the most important factor. o In form -based code, what the building looks like is the most important. Use is a secondary factor. o So, in conventional coding the use of the building is the primary concern and in form - based coding the look of the building is the greatest priority. o Form -based coding is really about focusing on a specific type of environment; the type of community where the building will be located. • However, this type of focus cannot be confused with regulations such as design guidelines and other advisory standards. • It is really about creating zoning that is very specific and the standard of your community. • In addition, form -based coding buildings usually have pictures associated with them but they do not have to. 7 • Drawings are never the legal basis for form -based coding. • Form -based codes are very different from conventional coding in the fact that they are normally tied to a Regulating Plan. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 17 of 24 • Communities that focus on a specific design vision for an area, often have the challenge of figuring out how to go from that vision to a zoning code that supports it. • One of the ways to achieve this goal is through form -based coding and a Regulating Plan. • A Regulating Plan is a micro -zoning map that shows the vision of the community that has been put into zoning featuring streets, trails, the relationship of buildings to streets, the relationship of buildings to each other, and very importantly the definition and character of the public space. • For example, there are several things in the Crabapple plan that really lend themselves to form - based coding: o The vision and planning committee incorporated a very extensive street network. o It incorporated a series of publicly built streets and privately built streets. o It also focused very heavily on public space such as parks and plazas. o It also had a lot to do with open space and trails, connections to nearby neighborhoods, different intensities of development and various other features that are not able to be accommodated in their initial zoning code but could very easily be included in a form - based code. o The form -based coding effort for Crabapple entails taking the vision and character of a community and incorporating zoning that codifies it and makes it mandatory. o It focuses on achieving all of the intangible physical elements of the vision plan. • It also focuses on things that the community has said is very important such as: o Simplifying the zoning process. For example, Crabapple has four different documents that control development. Some are contradictory and some are just difficult to understand. We want to make our process easier. o The Crabapple community told us that they wanted to make sure that the form -based code protects their neighborhoods. When we talk about neighborhoods such as Six Hills, Waterside, etc. we have made a very deliberate effort to create this code so it protects the character of these areas. o The code is intended to create certainty which is very important. When you have a vision process, you want to make sure that it is a vision that everyone agrees upon and will actually occur. • Form -based coding is flexible. It will allow a lot more flexibility than your current code. • Finally, we have had two other specific considerations as part of this effort which are above and beyond conventional form -based coding but are very important to Crabapple and Milton because: o We want to make sure we avoid down -zoning properties. o We want to make sure we incorporate transfer of development rights. • When we began the process and looked at the Crabapple visioning study, there was a reference to coding that is based on the urban to rural transect. • The transect states that the environment goes from completely rural to completely urban. • These are divided into six transect zones which are variable in use, building setback, size, scale and intensity but they generally reflect a wide array of development patterns. • When we look at trying to apply the vision for a transect -based code into Crabapple based on current zoning, it is initially somewhat problematic. • Crabapple has about nine or ten different zoning codes. • Most of the neighborhoods are zoned AG -1 which is agricultural, CUP which is a conditional use plan, or R2 which is a residential single-family district. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 18 of 24 • The core of Crabapple is zoned AG -1, agricultural mixed-use and then various areas of commercial, industrial, and residential. • The challenge was how to take these nine or ten zoning districts and apply them to a form -based code. • After looking very carefully at the current zoning, reading the visioning study, and talking to the stakeholders, we determined that there are essentially four transect zones in Crabapple and a special district. • The transect zones that are relevant are rural, zoned AG -1 today; T3, T4, and T5 which are various developed transect zones; and a special district which refers to all of those existing neighborhoods that are near Crabapple but don't really fit into any of the other zone categories. • A week ago, we presented to the stakeholder committee a plan that shows how we would take those zoning categories and apply them to Milton. • We have proposed keeping all of the zoning in the existing neighborhoods exactly as it is so Six Hills, Kensington Farms, Waterside, etc. will all retain their current zoning permission. • The areas that are likely to develop around Arnold Mill Road, the core of Crabapple, and portions of Mid -Broadwell Road will be re -zoned to the four transect zones as outlined below: o The T2 reflects areas that were shown as remaining rural in the visioning plan. o The T3 reflects areas that were shown as suburban or lower -density residential in the visioning plan. o The T4 and T5 reflect the more intense development patterns. • In addition, this plan incorporates a lot of streets, greenways, and trails that are not in the zoning plan. • So we have taken those from the visioning study, simplified them, and produced a draft regulating plan that will become the zoning mandate for the area. • From that vision, we presented a draft code that incorporated seven different articles. • These range from the higher level neighborhood type standards to very fine grained standards of development patterns. • As you read through the ordinance, you need to know what is the process at the higher level and then it becomes more refined as you continue through the code. • So, for example, if you are doing a building plan only you can go to Article four. • If you are doing a neighborhood plan, you can go to Article two. • Or, if you are doing all of the plans you can go to the relevant articles. • This particular form -based code is very different from your current zoning in several key ways: o It mandates the regulating plan. Buildings, streets, trails, land use intensity zones must all be compatible with the regulating plan. o It incorporates a very important provision which states that if a developer comes in and cannot build to the regulating plan, they have the opportunity to create an infill regulating plan through the rezoning process. o It also incorporates administrative variations. Your current zoning has a provision that allows the Community Development Director to waive certain things provided that they are consistent with the vision of the district they are in. We have taken full use of this provision and taken a series of things such as setbacks, architectural design details, tree i placement, etc. that can be addressed administratively. • These are called warrants. They are made at the beginning of the code. They are very specific as to what they can be. They are also referenced in other parts of the code so that when a Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 19 of 24 developer comes in and cannot build a certain way due to uncontrollable factors, such as a specimen tree that cannot be removed; there is an easy way to work around that issue. • In addition, we realize that not everything should be granted that administrative process, so, we have also incorporated a series of standards that are called variances that state that these changes or variations to this must go to the Board of Zoning Appeals. • The code talks about a lot of different things such as the layout of neighborhoods, street standards, and the design of public space. • The design of public space is very important in achieving the Crabapple vision, so the code is very specific about what exactly is a park, plaza, conservation area, playground, etc. • The idea behind this is that within Crabapple, setting aside green space that no one will ever use in a development is not in keeping with the planned vision. • We must define very specifically what those open spaces should be. • In addition, buildings are referred to such as the placement of buildings on lots, putting buildings near the street, putting parking to the side and rear, creating greater architectural detail, building height, lot coverage, etc. • Another reason this zoning district is very different from everything you have is that it is primarily farm -based, so we created a new metric for measuring density. • Currently, you use height, setback, and the number of dwelling units per acre in your traditional zoning code to control what a development can contain and look like. • We have created a new definition of what we call a building unit. r • A building unit is an amount of development per acre that depending on transect zone can be all commercial, converted to residential, converted to civic space, or converted to a variation of all of these. • There is a chart in the code that outlines the conversion rates. • One building unit equals one residential unit, however, one building unit does not equal one commercial unit, rather, it equals 2,250 square feet of commercial which can include office, retail, or other. • The ability to convert is essential to the form -based code. • The following are some of the proposed transect zones in Crabapple: o T2 is probably the most similar to your current zoning. T2 is very similar to AG -1. It is one unit per acre residential lots with very gracious setbacks, such as farm homes, homes on big lots, etc. but not a lot of walkable urbanism. These are the areas presented in the vision plan that have been preserved as agricultural. o T3 is very similar to what is in the Braeburn development today. It is homes that are on bigger lots, tend to be front -loaded meaning they have driveways in the front with garages on the side or rear, but it is not the very intense walkable mixed-use development that you would have in the core of Crabapple. The proposed density base is three units per acre with a potential to increase it up to six by TDR. Buildings are generally set back from the street more in keeping with what you have today. o T4 is very different from current regulations. These are general, more urban neighborhoods within Crabapple where the homes are fairly close together where they have a very pleasant streetscape of stoops, porches, etc. and have a density of five building units per acre with the ability to increase to nine through the TDR program. This is very similar to the Crabapple Crossing development you have today. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 20 of 24 o The Crabapple district is different from other form -based codes in that we heard from stakeholders that certain parts of Crabapple should preserve the residential character but actually be commercial districts. o So, for Crabapple, we created T4O (0 means open) district. o T4O are those areas today that are zoned commercial but where a residential character is desired. o This district would allow some of the older homes in the area to preserve the way they look or have commercial uses inside of them. An example of this would be Milton's restaurant. o T5 is the last transect zone designed for Crabapple and is actually the smallest in area. This area is essentially the urban center of the community. It is focused on Crabapple Road and Birmingham Highway and is a district where buildings are pulled very close to the street. The base number of building units per acre is proposed at about nine which equals the number of building units per acre on the property where The Old Blind Dog restaurant is located. • The current zoning allows approximately 1,200 building units. • The visioning study has about 1,800 units. • However, the visioning study carrying capacity, which is really how much development can be fit in an area and still be consistent with the vision, is about 2,400 units. • When we look at the code today, we are at a base of about 1,400 units. • So, you will notice that there is a very significant disconnect between 1,800 shown in the visioning study, 2,400 in the carrying capacity, and 1,400 under the proposed form -based code. • How do we handle this? • We have incorporated Transfer Development Rights and a series of bonuses within this area to pick up that gap. • The reason for this is that no one wants to give away building units today without getting something in return. • So, from a zoning perspective we can get in return additional parking. • We have heard from the stakeholders that parking is going to be a very important issue as the area continues to grow. • So, we have created a parking bonus which states that developers that build structured parking can get additional building units per each structured parking space they build. • In addition, we have proposed that developers who build additional parking for off-site uses, such as some of the older homes, can also get additional parking. • We can also make up the difference in these numbers by the use of Transfer Development Rights (TDR). • TDR is a concept that states that you can take development from sending areas and then transfer that development permission to receiving areas. • TDR is part of the zoning code and will be a part of the form -based code and is a mechanism where property owners can voluntarily redirect growth from certain parts of the community to other parts of the community. • Sending areas are the areas where you want to preserve and protect open space or agricultural land. • Receiving areas are the areas where you want to direct development growth. • TDR gives property owners the opportunity to transfer that density by recording an easement with the city and county. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 21 of 24 • This can be done in a way that gives incentives for certain uses. • Currently, the plan allows the use of TDR for three types of open spaces; private ownership, public ownership, and conservation easement ownership. • Rick Pruitt who was on our team looking specifically at the TDR issue has recommended in the draft code that we incorporate a tiered transfer or density bonus for the conservation units. • Within the conservation easements, he has proposed variable density bonuses starting at one for unconstrained land, an additional point for constrained land, and an additional TDR credit if you take large areas of more than ten acres. • In addition, a draft provision has been incorporated that if you have a property that you make available for public acquisition, meaning the City of Milton can buy it perhaps at a lower cost, you can get an additional 1.25 of whatever your TDR development permissions would be. • This is an attempt to create an incentive for property owners to transfer property, not only from a conservation easement perspective, but also to a public access perspective. • Last week, we presented these ideas to the stakeholder committees and have already received a lot of feedback and are in the process of incorporating those suggestions into the form -based code. • We are looking forward to receiving additional feedback in the coming weeks and will then submit a draft of the form -based code to the City of Milton for the usual approval process. • We hope to have all of this done by June. • Does anyone have any questions? Councilmember Large: • Variances normally have to have a hardship. Will the variance you have proposed require a hardship? Caleb Racicot: • Yes, we have proposed that the hardship language be incorporated into the code. Matt Kunz, Councilmember: • Please explain how "use" is actually determined in the code. Caleb Racicot: • One of the big misconceptions about form -based coding is that it is only concerned with what something looks like. • There are a series of "use" standards tied to each of the transect codes. For example, in T3, retail is not allowed. You can only do single family housing and a small amount of commercial limited to home occupation. Whereas, T5 is extremely open as to what is allowed. • This code incorporates provisions for not only where those uses can physically go on a lot in each of the different transect zones, but it also states if they are allowed as well as size and use restrictions. Councilmember Kunz: • How does the TDR process work? I'm sure developers are not going door-to-door to ask residents if they want to transfer their TDR. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 22 of 24 Kathleen Field: • There are a couple of ways to transfer TDR's. • For example, Chattahoochee Hills has a non-profit that acts as a bank so they buy the credit from "Farmer A" and hold on to them then sell them to "Developer B". • In most models, TDR's are just on the marketplace. For example, "Farmer A" has development credits and "Developer B" wants those credits so they make a deal together. They come to the city and record the credit transaction and it becomes a part of the plan that is approved. • Those are a couple of examples of how TDR transactions work. We are still working with our consultant as to how the City of Milton will handle TDR transactions. Councilmember Kunz: • When and how is it determined how many credits/rights a property owner has for their property? Allison Duncan, ARC: • Rick is working with an agricultural consultant at the University of Georgia to create a zoning ordinance that merges with the form -based code that determines the exact number of units per acre of land. • Georgia law requires regulating plans to identify sending and receiving areas on all zoning areas and the exact units/credits per acre in each zone will be identified in the plan. • For example: one unit per ten acres; one unit per twenty-five acres, etc. Whatever is determined based on the marketplace. Councilmember Kunz: • It sounds like we are creating a currency since these values/credits do not exist today. Who determines what these currencies are worth? Kathleen Field: • There is another alternative that we are going to be putting into the ordinance and it won't be used until the City Council decides to use it. • It is called Density Transfer Charges (DTC). • DTC's are that if there are not enough credits on the market or they are too expensive, the city council can determine a charge that they can establish for a building unit. • So, a developer has an option of either going to the property owner to buy his credits or go to the city and pay the DTC that is pre -determined based on the market. • This will allow the property owner to always have a source of credits available to him that can be used for the TDR. Councilmember Large: • What does the city do with this revenue? Kathleen Field: • The city has to determine up front that the money has to be set aside for open spaces. Joe Longoria, Councilmember: • What links form -based codes with TDR's? Why do we have to have those things connected? Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 23 of 24 Kathleen Field: • It allows for additional density. • The form -base code puts in a baseline zone. • Then the form -base code allows an overlay to create additional density. • They do not have to be connected. Councilmember Longoria: • For example, we are 1,200 units behind the current zoning versus the maximum vision study capacity. • There are 2,400 units that you have estimated could be built if we went to the vision study and did as much as we could. • The current zoning only supports 1,200. • So, the TDR's seem to be some type of catalyst to get us from 1,200 to 2,400. • I have heard two versions of what could be used in terms of TDR's, one is the TDR itself, and the other is a surcharge from the city to allow a developer to build above and beyond what the current zoning is. • It sounds like a TDR is a band-aid on something and it is going to be temporary. • If it is a good idea to build out an area to the level of capacity that you have in the vision study of 2,400 units, why wouldn't we want to allow that to happen? • What we are doing is taking another area of the city, which is going to temporarily profit from the fact that they have a lot of open land, and we are going to postpone another decision and that decision is going to be fifteen years down the road and that landowner is going to say, "I know I sold my land fifteen years ago but I want to put multi -family housing units on this property," and they would have lost the opportunity to do that or it is going to end up being a big case in terms of how this landowner can get that availability back. • If it is a good idea in the first place, why get the process confused with TDR's. • Why not just let the city decide that people can do the development that needs to be done? Kathleen Field: • The TDR program has been used all over the country which has effectively allowed more open space and green space in certain areas. • TDR documents are legally binding documents that are upheld in the court of law. Councilmember Thurman: • Are we referring to just the Crabapple area or can TDR's be used in other areas as well? Kathleen Field: • Clearly, the Crabapple area but it could be other areas as well. Councilmember Thurman: • Are we going to look at the desirability of the area when we are categorizing areas as sending areas? Kathleen Field: 0 Yes, we can add that to the ordinance regarding what type of areas will be sending areas. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 24 of 24 Councilmember Thurman: • How did you come up with the 2,250 building unit measurement? Caleb Racicot: • When we started the process and envisioned smaller townhomes and senior living units, we asked ourselves what would be an average sized unit and we came up with 1,500. • We put that figure out to the property owners and very quickly got a negative reaction. • In Milton, homes are much bigger so we decided in order to balance the desire to do TDR and there still be a market for those transfers and to recognize the fact that homes are bigger, we thought that 2,250 would be a good compromise. Allison Duncan: • For more information on TDR's you can go to Rick's presentation on the website as well as a couple of books he has written that detail case studies of areas where TDR's have been successful. After no further discussion, the Work Session adjourned at 8:17 p.m. Date Approved: April 23, 2012. Sudie AM Gordon, City Clerk Joe Lock w , M r