00:00:13,800	Today is April 22nd, 2026. It is 5 p.m.. I’d like to welcome everybody here this evening to this meeting of the Bismarck Planning and Zoning Commission. And with that, I’m going to call the meeting to order. And, Sandra, would you please call roll? Brian Bitner, Cole Johnson. Here. Gabe Schell here. Mike Schmitz, Sheldon civic.

00:00:41,600	Connor Swanson here. Kendra Taylor. Al Wangler here. Mike Schwartz here. Thank you. With that, we’ll move on to the first item in our agenda this evening, which is approval of the meeting minutes for the March 25th meeting. Uh, commissioners, what are your wishes? Move to approve. We have a motion from Commissioner Jensen.

00:01:06,670	Second and a second from Commissioner Swanson. Any discussion? Not seeing or hearing any. Sandra, would you please call roll? Commissioner Johnson? Yes. Wangler. Yes. Show. Yes. Swanson. Yes. Short chair. Shorts. Yes. Motion is approved. With that, we’ll move on to the public comment section of our meeting this evening. And with that, I’m going to open up public comment.

00:01:33,030	And what this is, is that we can, if you are so inclined, you can step up to the podium and discuss any item that appeared in last meeting’s last month’s meeting. That was a public hearing or any item in this agenda that is on the consent agenda.

00:01:55,270	If it has a public hearing this evening, we’ll leave it for the public hearing. So is there anyone that would care to step up to the podium for the public hearing? Yes, this would be the time to do it. And if you would, if you would please put your name on the log there and introduce yourself. That would be wonderful.

00:02:24,030	Hi, my name is Deborah Hill. I hope I am addressing the right meeting because I’m looking at the agenda and I’m one. I’m hoping I’m at the right place at the right time, but, um, my concern for Bismarck is the lack of green spaces for our children, the lack of plan development for green spaces,

00:02:43,330	for, I say, our children. I’m 69 years old. I bike at the park. I walk at the park. You know, I it’s all ages and it’s for mental health. Physical health. Um, you name it. They’re talking about the need for children for to get away from technology, to get out into green spaces.

00:03:02,670	And my concern is when we plan green spaces, um, we’re not building parks like JCPS or hillside. We’re doing John Goosey Playgrounds with some greens. We’re calling Green Space, which is actually a hill that isn’t usable for children or, you know, anything lovely to look at, but not functional. And so there are certain developments.

00:03:27,200	Um, my example is the one on La Pointe Loop, 100 houses, not one green space, walkable green space, and all of that. And I think, uh, we want Bismarck to be beautiful. We want it to be healthy. We want our children to have places to grow. And and so that’s my concern. Thank you.

00:03:47,370	Deborah. Thank you. I’m not going to tell you you’re at the wrong meeting, but actually the. And it’s good to hear your concerns, but I think the Parks and Rec are the park board meeting would probably be the best place to present these concerns.

00:04:07,130	They would start there and you just miss their meeting. So anyway, thank you so much for your comments. With that, I’ll ask, are there others that would care to step to the podium for, uh, for public comment? All right. The third and final call for anyone that would care to step up to the podium for public comment.

00:04:29,530	And I’m not seeing or hearing anyone. So we’re going to close the public comment for this evening and move right on to our consent agenda. And there are a number of items on our consent agenda this evening. The first is item number A, which is DCN first edition.

00:04:52,630	It’s a zoning map amendment and staff’s recommendation is call for public hearing and then a major subdivision preliminary plat and staff’s recommendation is to tentatively approve item B and the consent agenda is clear. Sky second edition. It’s a request for a zoning map amendment. Staff recommendation is call for a public hearing and then also a major subdivision.

00:05:19,230	Preliminary plat and staff’s recommendation is to tentatively approve. We’re on to item C in the consent agenda, which is Berg Acres Edition. It’s a request for a zoning map amendment, which staff recommendation is to call for a public hearing and a major subdivision preliminary plat and staff’s recommendation is to tentatively approve with

00:05:41,670	conditions in the final item D, which is a final item in our consent agenda, is Capital Electric second subdivision block one, part of lot two, and it’s a request for a zoning map amendment staff’s recommendation is to call for a public hearing. Commissioners, what are your wishes? I’d move to approve. The consent agenda as presented.

00:06:10,970	We have a motion from Commissioner Johnson to approve, as presented. Second, we have a second from Commissioner Swanson. Any discussion? Commissioners. And I’m not seeing or hearing any. Sandra, would you please call roll? Commissioner Johnson? Yes. Swanson. Yes. Wangler. Yes. Schell. Yes. Chair. Schwartz. Yes. The motion is approved.

00:06:34,500	We’ll move on to our regular agenda this evening. And the first item is item A, which is J. Mack Industrial, second edition. And I believe Lauren is going to provide a staff report this evening.

00:06:54,270	Uh, good evening, Chairman Schwartz and commissioners, uh, Yukon Investments LLC, with consent from the other current property owners. Um, within that plat boundary, request approval of a zoning map amendment from the Mar Industrial and Agricultural zoning districts to the Mar Industrial Zoning District and annexation and a major subdivision final plat titled GMC industrial, second edition. The project area contained 3037.

00:07:16,730	05 acres and is located in north Bismarck, east of highway 83, northeast in the southwest quadrant of the intersection of North 19th Street and 71st Avenue Northeast. The request would create 23 lots in three blocks. Most of the project area was annexed platted in zoned in 2015 and 2016. Sanitary sewer was provided in this area after that time.

00:07:39,130	On the west side of North 19th Street um. However, there is currently no water or no city water available in this area. In sanitary sewer has not been extended across North 19th Street for the eastern lots in this subdivision. Additionally, the only currently available point of access is from 71st Avenue Northeast to the north.

00:07:59,970	The annexation request for the remaining onion NXT East 43ft of the northwest quarter of section ten is incorporated within the proposed subdivision, and uh is included with the request for a final plat. If approved, the annexation would be recorded prior to the final plat. Um.

00:08:23,930	The applicant has stated an intention to begin developing lots in this area this year. In order for this to occur, all municipal services would need to be provided prior to development of the lots, including construction of North 19th Street and full city water, sewer and stormwater services.

00:08:43,730	The applicant may enter into development agreement to determine the implementation and timing of necessary improvements. For that, the property has been identified as industrial and industrial Flex. In the future land use plan.

00:09:04,500	The area is adjacent to storage buildings and agricultural land to the north across 71st Avenue Northeast, storage buildings to the east with rural residential land just beyond that undeveloped land to the south, and developing commercial land to the west. The Planning and Zoning Commission considered this request on February 25th, 2026, and called for a public hearing. The public was notified of the request via publications in the Bismarck Tribune on April 10th and 17th, and 79 postcards were mailed to the owners of nearby properties.

00:09:25,370	On April 10th, a physical sign providing information on the public hearing was placed in a publicly accessible spot. On April 7th. Staff have not, or staff have received one phone call. Um looking for additional information about the request? Um. However, staff did not receive any formal public comments regarding this request.

00:09:47,970	The request was evaluated according to standards contained in the Comprehensive Plan Code of Ordinances and State Law. Staff noted concerns regarding the availability of public facilities related to law development and street connectivity. The applicant has submitted a waiver to allow a cul de sac for North Star Circle, and a waiver to allow a greater block length than the maximum, due to site constraints for the area. Um.

00:10:10,800	These are provided as conditions of approval in the staff report. As a result of all findings contained in the staff report. City of Bismarck staff find that the proposed request would not adversely impact adversely impact the public health, safety in general welfare and is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan Code of Ordinances and relevant state law.

00:10:31,700	Therefore, staff recommends approval of the Zoning Map Amendment, annexation and major subdivision. Final plat title J Mack industrial, second edition, with the condition that a waiver for a cul de sac and a waiver permitting a greater block length beyond subdivision standards of 1320ft are approved with this request.

00:10:55,500	Do you have any questions for me, commissioners? Questions for Lauren. I’m not seeing or hearing any. Lauren. Thank you. Thank you. This is a public hearing, so I will open the public hearing. Would either the request or a representative. And I see Landon is stepping up. So thank you. Thank you.

00:11:16,170	Chair Schwartz planning and I’m with Swenson Hagan engineering uh, representing some of the applicants on this project. Uh, here’s the answer. Any questions? If you have them. Commissioners questions for Landon. High Commissioner Sean. Landon, as I’m sure you’re well aware, as Lauren just noted it. And we’ve had conversations in the past. This property does not have access to city water at this point in time.

00:11:34,670	And for our policies that we have for development, no building permits would be issued for any lots within here until a development agreement or a plan is created to discuss access and water and some of those other municipal infrastructure pieces. Just want to make sure that you and your client are aware of that and put that on the record.

00:11:50,500	Thank you, Commissioner Shell. Chairman. Yes. Yeah, they are certainly aware of that. They are aware that water needs to be connected here. Sewer is is locally available. Water is a little far away at this point.

00:12:03,470	There is a sort of a master plan in the work to bring up water from 19th Street, which is of the existing 19th Street, which is quite a bit south of here. But yes, plans are in the works for a development plan that would bring that water up to this area and then develop portions of this project. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner, shell commissioners, additional questions for Landon.

00:12:24,270	I’m not seeing or hearing anyone. And thank you. The podium is open for anyone else that would care to address this agenda item. And I’m not seeing or hearing anybody stepping up. So with that, I’m going to close the public hearing. Lauren, any additional comments? No thank you chair. All right. Thank you.

00:12:55,770	With that, commissioners, this is a request for a zoning map amendment, an annexation and a major subdivision. Final plat staff recommendation for all three is to approve with conditions. What are your wishes? Commissioner shell. Chair, can I ask what. The conditions of what the staff conditions are for the zoning and annexation? Can you walk through those. Or what? What the conditions, I guess.

00:13:23,130	Are for all of them. Uh, Lauren. Uh, Commissioner, shell chair, commissioners. So, uh, typically when projects are grouped together, the the recommendation is the same for all three of them.

00:13:45,270	Um, really, the condition is more so for the plat, but since they’re all grouped together, the condition, um, for, uh, approving those waivers for the cul de sac. And then the greater block length would be the condition. Okay. Thank you, thank you. Lauren. Good question, Commissioner Shell. Thank you. Again, commissioners, what are your wishes? Move to approve as presented. With the conditions. With the conditions. All right.

00:14:11,630	Thank you, Commissioner Johnson, do I hear a second? I’ll second. We have a second from Commissioner Wangler. Commissioners, any additional discussion? And I’m not seeing or hearing any. So with that, Sandra, would you please call roll? Commissioner Johnson? Yes. Wangler. Yes. Swanson. Yes. Shell. Yes, Commissioner. Uh, chair. Schwartz. Yes. The motion is approved.

00:14:35,530	With that, we’ll move on to item B in our regular agenda, which is the land development code. And I believe Daniel is going to provide us with staff briefing on this. Good evening, Chair Schwarz. Uh, planning commissioners.

00:15:01,670	So this is the public hearing for the Land Development Code, a repeal and replace of title 14 zoning and subdivision, and also the zoning map, which would correspond to the districts in the Land Development Code. Uh, last month, I promised to be brief. I won’t make any promises at this time, but I will be as efficient as possible.

00:15:15,700	There is a lot of content to cover, but I do want to make sure to leave plenty of time for your comments in any public hearing as well. So I will be focusing on what’s changed. And I think that’s, um, we’ll assume a little bit of familiarity with the existing title. 14 but really today we’re here to talk about the changes to to this.

00:15:31,770	Unfortunately, it’s just too much to show you in a traditional strike out in the underlying format. Uh, we did include a table in your staff report that does outline a lot of the notable changes, and I’ll cover a lot of those this evening.

00:15:48,070	Um, but, uh, those are really the only ways we, we have available to to highlight this for you, I do want to say that we do have online our consultants from Clarion Associates, uh, and of course, other staff have been integrally involved and know some parts of this much better than I do.

00:16:04,300	So when you get into the questions, uh, we may have the tag team a lot of that. So I will also say that we do have a QR code on the presentation, which will be here the whole time.

00:16:17,470	So if anyone is watching from home or in the audience and wants to follow along and read the draft, uh, yourself, uh, that is available right there. The um, okay, so where are we in the process? We’re nearing the end. We’ve been at this for about two years now. And, uh, from the initiation of the project through assessing the, uh, the lay of the land and then drafting the document in three separate installments.

00:16:36,230	Uh, this is the full final draft. And, uh, that’s been prepared through help with the steering committees and technical committees and the public.

00:16:51,130	And hopefully, if we had a lot of questions early on, we may still have some, but we’re hoping to get to some more answers and to the point where we can have a document that will work for us as a community. Uh, we’ve been saying this kind of a lot and may get a little tiring, but we are really are trying to implement the comprehensive plan.

00:17:06,730	Uh, another year is multi year long process went into that uh, which was adopted in 2022. And so really what we’re doing is we’re taking the guidance that the public gave us that the city Commission adopted in that plan and trying to make it reality through the zoning ordinance. That’s a very visionary document.

00:17:23,770	It’s a very blurry in some respects because it’s a long distance, long term plan. However, we’re really putting a fine tune. Um, uh, details on some of the plan goals. The, um, the land development code is really intended to be objective, uh, to make sure these standards are applied consistently and fairly to everybody and are predictable.

00:17:45,070	So the developer knows when they come to start the process, really what to expect. And the public knows what to expect, uh, in their own neighborhood and their own, the vicinity of any businesses they may run. So that is really our goal. Um, and so that’s you’ll see this throughout the entire process.

00:18:01,070	We also want this to be user friendly, something that’s really not just something staff and the and the consultants who really look at it will be using. We want anyone from the public to be able to open it up and, and understand what they can do on their own property, uh, what may be happening around them, uh, so that that’s our goal throughout all of this, we also

00:18:15,630	are trying to recognize existing character of neighborhoods. Um, we did a study early on to show how many parcels in our in our city don’t meet current standards in a zoning ordinance, and it’s quite probably more than you might expect.

00:18:31,600	These lots are maybe too narrow or they’re too small, or there’s too much density. Uh, or maybe the setbacks aren’t quite right. We counted about 7000 parcels currently in the city that, for whatever reason, don’t meet current zoning standards. And that happens, you know, because in mostly 1953, you know, they passed the zoning code and they applied it everywhere.

00:18:51,670	That applied 25 foot setback, 7000 square foot lots. And a lot of the traditional older neighborhoods just didn’t meet that. And the goal was maybe eventually they would catch up and be modernized over time. They never did happen.

00:19:09,130	And so the new comprehensive plan is really recognizing that having a diversity of neighborhoods, from the core areas to the suburban areas to the rural areas is not a bug, but it’s a feature. And so we’ve written this intentionally to try to capture the existing conditions of those different areas and to nurture them and enhance them. As as development continues. Uh, this was not created in a vacuum.

00:19:24,970	A lot of people were involved in the process of writing, uh, the draft that you have here, uh, steering committee was convened early on, uh, to guide this. The guide staff, and in writing it, both from the development community side and representatives from public organizations as well as staff from the county and city parks, uh, as well, uh, in drafting

00:19:46,200	this, uh, we’ve updated you as well as the city commission and other public boards along the way to kind of give, give, give you an understanding of where the where we were in the process. We’ve held a number of stakeholder events and open houses for the public.

00:20:01,800	And, uh, and hopefully through all of this, we’ve been able to gather that, that information and draft something that that meets the interests of a broad number of people. Uh, if anyone was not fully involved in that, hopefully they saw illegal ad last week, which was the longest one we’ve ever had.

00:20:15,730	So we figured if we wrote a really long legal ad, people would see how important this was. And, uh, that that announced this meeting for, for today. Uh, okay. Just a couple of other housekeeping things. Before we get into a lot of the details. There are a lot of other changes that will be needed.

00:20:33,700	Uh, throughout the entire code of ordinances for the city of Bismarck, zoning is really just referenced in lots of different places, and we need to be consistent. Uh, we don’t have this for you. Uh, your your role is overseeing title 14.

00:20:49,870	Uh, if this does proceed with the city commission, we’ll have another ordinance to to kind of clean up the other sections of the code that that need to in reference to title 14. So that’s that’s just something for your information. Okay. Organization and structure of the land development code. And in other words, where did that section go. Uh, this is the title, the table of contents in Land Development Code.

00:21:05,900	And I’ll kind of walk through the different sections. It starts with general provisions and general zoning standards. These are sort of legal formalities. Uh, things you need in any code to understand how it works. And also some of the basic standards of establishing a district, establishing a zoning map.

00:21:22,200	And in the, uh, dimensional standards, what is a setback, so forth. So that occurs really up front in the code, and it gets applied in the other sections. Uh, the next chunk of chapters really relate to the zoning districts.

00:21:39,930	This is where you get into what are the standards inside of each district and how do they vary between the districts? We’ll go into each of these in a minute. Uh, finally, the use table. What are the allowed uses and how are they defined in any specific standards that apply to those uses? And in a number of chapters relating to development standards.

00:21:58,730	So once you’ve determined what you can build where this is how it gets, it gets built. And we’ll go through those. And then finally we get into a little more of the administrative sections. How is land subdivided? How are the procedures functioning. And the nonconformity is enforcement. I don’t want to belittle the importance of these.

00:22:17,230	Sometimes they’re incredibly important when, uh, when they come up, um, we won’t dwell on them in a lot of detail, but they are there if questions do come up. So, uh, you’ll notice throughout the code that there’s just a different look, uh, from a very text heavy document to lots of tables, illustrations. We’ve been talking about that throughout.

00:22:34,430	Uh, and that’s once again, to make it more user friendly, hopefully. Uh, the core of that is our is our use table. And I think from a staff perspective and hopefully from the public, this will be one of the more helpful, uh, features. Uh, I would say this is probably the best starting point.

00:22:48,900	If you’re really wondering where to get into this document, start on page 104. Uh, and what this does is it tells you each use on the rows and in each district on the columns, and whether it’s permitted in that district, either by right, which is P, or with a special use permit, meaning coming to

00:23:06,000	you, um, for permission with a public hearing, with an S or with an asterisks. It means it’s permitted, but there may be certain standards applicable. And then you just follow the code on the on the right to get there.

00:23:20,630	If it’s if you’re using a digital version, a lot of these things are hyperlinked as you can kind of bounce back and forth. The. So we did have a use table back in 1953. We sort of lost it. I’m guessing it became difficult for staff to keep up back in the day when you had to do everything by by hand.

00:23:36,570	Uh, so it’s not a new concept, but it’s new for us today, and I think it will come in handy over time. Uh, districts and uses. So I’m going to walk through the new districts.

00:23:53,100	Uh, we’ll have to familiarize ourselves, uh, if this does get adopted with some new names, new titles, um, there’s a lot of similarity, and I’ll speak to that as well. Uh, the Rural Residential Estates district, this is a new district for large lot rural residential, eight and a half acres or greater. Uh, there aren’t many existing lots that apply for this. However, as things go forward, we may see more of these are comprehensive.

00:24:11,700	Plan does recommend using this district for urban reserve areas to allow future urbanization in those areas. Uh, we do have a number of traditional rural residential districts of about an acre and a half or so or more. Uh, we don’t have as many as we used to. Um, after changes to the extraterritorial area boundaries.

00:24:28,770	But you see them there, uh, and they will remain as is in the, in the ordinance. Very few changes to that, uh, residential, suburban. Uh, that is our name for, uh, what is currently referred to as our five, our ten, uh, and for the most part, um, they’re they’re unchanged, except for a few things, which I’ll talk about.

00:24:47,870	These are areas where the dimensional standards are applicable after 1953. So you can think of these as, as the post that code. So wider setbacks a little bit more. Uh, um, space between dwellings. Uh, so we have reduced the dimensional standards to some degree.

00:25:09,430	So from 25 to 20 foot setbacks in the front from 6 to 5 and the side, um, but it’s fairly similar to, to existing. Uh, you are you would be allowed to have more, uh, dwelling unit types. Uh, so not just single family, but also two family and three unit townhouses in these districts.

00:25:26,600	And this was one of the goals of our accomplish a plan to allow a more of a mix of different housing types, at a house scale density. So we’re still talking about low density residential, but just a little bit more variety, uh, out in these neighborhoods, uh, the residential multifamily is similar to today, uh, allowing multifamily housing as well as townhouses.

00:25:48,830	Uh, in this case, we really simplifying all the way. Density is calculated instead of having an ten, 15, 20, so forth. Seven uh, we everything is just 30. Uh, but we do recognize there are important protections that are needed for adjacent lower density residential areas.

00:26:11,130	So instead of using the density as really the primary way of getting at those, um, those, uh, basically compatibility factors, uh, there are other things in this code. So there’s a residential transition standards. So if you’re building this next to a single family, neighborhood or home, you need to step it back and height. Uh, and not overshadow these homes.

00:26:27,830	If you’re getting especially high, you might need to do a shadow study to prove that you’re not casting shadows in homes. You you still have buffers that would be applicable. Uh, and variety of tools that we do have available in the development standards to make sure we’re not negatively impacting, uh, surrounding neighborhoods. So that’s, uh, the intent is there.

00:26:49,670	The ru residential, uh, urban district is similar to ours. These are the core areas, areas developed predominantly prior to 1953. So this has more flexibility than we currently have in our ordinance. So a little more density is allowed. The dimensional standards are reduced. And and now you’re allowed. Um. I’m sorry, there’s a typo here.

00:27:11,700	Uh, single family, two family or any number of townhouses. So up to infinity. So four or above, as well as up to four. So I’m sorry about that. But that is that is in the code. So townhouses will be allowed broadly uh, in this in this district, the district is originally residential manufactured housing.

00:27:28,730	We have a district like this today and it hasn’t changed much. Uh, the we have reduced some of the standards. Uh, so density and some of the spacing distances are reduced to try to bring a few more of these into conformity. Actually, very few of these conform to today’s residential residential manufactured housing standards.

00:27:46,270	So, uh, this will bring a few more of those existing ones into, into conformity. Okay. This is a new district, residential mixed use. This is, uh, mostly confined to the core areas and along corridors in the in the core area.

00:28:08,670	Uh, this would allow a range of residential uses and densities, but also a very small scale of commercial uses, typically confined to corner lots or, uh, scale restrictions to those uses. So this is really intended at that.

00:28:31,100	Maybe small little corner cafe or something that would be low impact, uh, but potentially fit within, within these, these neighborhoods also matching some of the historic, uh, character that you may have seen here. So that is a new, a new change, um, that this ordinance would allow office mixed use. These areas are very similar to what we currently have. Is RT. Uh, you can think of office parks, um, mostly those would be the character of these areas.

00:28:48,230	However, multifamily, residential, uh, in a very similar character of the R.M. would also be allowed in these districts. So we’re kind of moving up in intensity here.

00:29:03,130	Uh, this will be similar to the Ceia district today, but a little bit more expansive in terms of what the CA is, is permitted to have the in fact, one of the reasons CA kind of catches a lot of people now is we don’t allow drive thrus in the CA, so that’s um, we’ve removed that restriction. And so that, um, opens up, uh, the to a lot more potential uses.

00:29:17,400	Uh, but you can have mixed use so you can have multifamily, uh, alone or mixed with commercial. Um, it’s probably of all the districts may be the most broad in terms of the flexibility and allowance of uses, although there are still some restrictions on scale.

00:29:34,470	So like a big box store may not be allowed in the, um, but a smaller scale would now the CG these areas are along our prior predominant commercial corridors, such as State Street, along interstate interchanges and Bismarck Expressway. These are maybe some of the regional, uh, drivers for commercial uses. These this is where the big box stores would be appropriate.

00:29:56,530	Uh, now multifamily residential on its own is not permitted in the CG district. So it really has to be mixed. Or in one of those areas, the ICS is industrial mixed use, similar to what we have is Ma today.

00:30:18,270	Uh, and this is fairly similar, although there would be limited multifamily potentially allowed through a special use permit or live work. And I’ll talk a little bit more about live work in a moment. Uh, IG these are the heavier industrial districts. We have, uh, recalibrated. I think I would put it, um, some of these districts, the mWBE is very small today.

00:30:34,370	There’s almost a few, very few embassies. You probably have never seen one. I haven’t since I’ve been here. Uh, had an application in the mWBE district. Uh, so we really have expanded that area considerably to include areas that are appropriate for heavier industrial because they’re very limited, um, exposure to residential or

00:30:52,070	other other sensitive uses. The downtown. Uh, so this this is weakest Penn the entire time on this. But I will say, uh, we have brought the downtown section to the Renaissance Zone Authority. Uh, it is in the form, out of what we call a form based code.

00:31:10,700	So it is quite detailed, uh, in the design standards in the downtown. And that is intentional. It really is intended to provide more predictability and the ability for staff or architects, in many cases, to to read this and to understand what would be expected or not. Uh, there are abilities to adjust.

00:31:29,270	And of course, any case by case design, uh, may need those escape valves. However, um, we want to have some predictability in the downtown, uh, where buildings are closer together, impact each other more, and design is is a greater function. We already have design review requirements. And so this would assist with those. Uh, we do in the downtown.

00:31:50,230	Um, divide, uh, the one downtown zoning district into five subdistricts, which are actually based on the frontage. Because really we’re focusing much more on how this will look from the public right of way and from the public realm, more so than what’s going on inside of the building.

00:32:04,600	There’s a lot of a lot of, uh, uh, allowances for different types of uses inside of the building, which can come and go and change over time. But the form is really, uh, the goal here in terms of what we’re, we’re looking for and, and these different five different areas have a five different form factors which

00:32:21,230	are included in the code. Agricultural. Uh, very few changes here. We’ve made a few minor adjustments to align with Burleigh County’s ordinance, just to just to keep in line with them. Uh, the PCI now, the current P public district will be divided into two. Uh, and this is the one for areas that are developed.

00:32:41,870	So these are public, civic, institutional, capital grounds, airports, but also very um, utility function, utility based functions. The landfill, uh, sewage treatment plant and so forth. Uh, so public ownership is not a requirement of this district. Um, so it could be sort of a quasi public use.

00:33:00,600	Uh, but that’s the intent is to, is to create a space for these types of civic uses, open space is areas that are not developed. So these are the parks, but they’re also Cooley’s stormwater detention ponds.

00:33:18,200	Uh, in certain areas that are very difficult to develop and may be in private ownership or public ownership. So once again, the district doesn’t dictate who would own it or control it. The a few overlay districts to go over here. Uh, this is the airport height overlay district. This does exist already. It’s entitled ten. Uh, and this is based on a master plan that was done in 2017.

00:33:35,870	So we’re basically moving it over to 14, uh, where it belongs, because it’s called zoning. And so, uh, this would be the place for that. And uh, but otherwise very few changes.

00:33:52,930	This tells you how tall you can build, uh, in the vicinity, the airport, before you’re creating any safety hazards and concerns with the Federal Aviation Administration, uh, airport noise overlay. This is very, very limited in impact because most of this is inside of the boundaries of the airports District anyway. However, other restrictions on noise levels in those areas or what you can build because of anticipated noise in those areas, uh, hazardous wildlife protection.

00:34:12,130	This is to protect against uh, uh, conflicts with birds and airplanes. Uh, so any water features that could attract hazardous wildlife, uh, we do need to watch that. It’s something the FAA is has does provide guidance on. And we’ve been applying this in most cases anyway. Uh, it just incorporates it into our ordinance.

00:34:34,130	Uh, finally, the last of the overlay districts, uh, plan overlay districts. So we have a number of I’ll call them customized districts, PUDs plan, um, plan unit developments or just conditional districts. Uh, they’re currently 132 on the books today in Bismarck.

00:34:53,800	Over time, uh, we’ve adopted these, uh, the map that we’re presenting to you today has removed, uh, a good portion of these. About 70% of them, uh, because we believe that the new base zoning districts, uh, meet the needs that those original PUDs or conditional districts were intending to meet. Uh, and so that they’re no longer necessary.

00:35:11,400	Uh, there are still 39 of them that we would recommend carrying forward into the new code. Uh, but this would be the new way of of organizing these. And instead of where if you if you think of a PUD as a kind of a self-contained, standalone zoning district that has everything written into it, uh, including a plan in a, in a

00:35:28,830	development site plan, uh, the plan overlay district is more like our conditional districts. It has a base zoning district, which would apply, and then it would adjust that base to some degree.

00:35:50,400	And we feel like that’s probably a more efficient way to to run these, and especially in the long term, because PUDs become outdated as you change other portions of the code and then are no longer consistent anymore. And so this would change along with the rest of the code, uh, if that should happen. So I should say those pods we’ve recommended retaining those. Uh, we don’t have all of the text for you for that.

00:36:09,100	We, we wanted to make sure this this was going to work first as an entire land development code. And in the future, we’ll come back with, with how those will need to be adjusted to align with this code. So that’s another project for another day. But I just wanted to let you know about that.

00:36:23,200	So putting everything together, we do have a new zoning map. This is available in an interactive format for you to review. Um, I’ll say it does reflect the revised extraterritorial area boundaries that came into effect on March 1st.

00:36:39,300	Uh, on the basis of a new agreement with Burleigh County and the City of Bismarck commissions. Uh, so that is, uh, it reflected in the new zoning map. Now, I just want to be clear. We’re really did not use this opportunity to make substantive changes to the map. So this is not the opportunity to, uh, entitle new development and and see, these changes occur with this map.

00:36:58,200	This is really intended to capture existing conditions. Uh, so either what’s there built on the ground or what the entitlement is, what the zoning district is today, we tried to create as large of a contiguous area as we could, but not make any significant changes to what could be built on the on these

00:37:17,700	properties, uh, through the zoning map itself. Um, I do want to highlight one change. We did make this recently, since your Consideration draft was released. So I want to, um, make note of this. And it also emphasizes some of the changes we’ve been we’ve been trying to make here.

00:37:36,830	Uh, there is a block, um, just actually very close to where we are today. Uh, on the corner of, um. Let’s see, it’s between Rosser and Avenue A and six and seventh Street. Uh, this is all owned by Sanford today. It’s split into, uh, Health Medical district and residential Multifamily 30.

00:37:59,200	However, it is all one big site, all parking, including Sanford’s College of Nursing. Uh, and so in the change we’ve just made to the map, this would all be part of downtown and the medical subdistrict. And because it is all functioning that way today already. So that is a change that’s in the map that you have, uh, before you today.

00:38:15,630	Okay. Uh, those are the districts and the map. And now we’re getting into some of the new uses. These are some new uses that have standards in this code that don’t currently in our in our audience, uh, courtyard development. This is kind of a new concept.

00:38:31,770	Our consultants have brought this to us. Well, I shouldn’t say new. It’s actually very old. Um, in fact, we have some older ones in Bismarck. It’s a style of development where you may build around a common courtyard. Uh, the homes and, uh, and have access in that way.

00:38:47,770	And so we’ve got some standards written in this code for how that could be applied in various districts, live work dwellings. So this has been in the building code for a number of years. We would allow these in the district and some other districts.

00:39:03,900	Uh, this is similar to home occupation, although it’s really a purpose built structure where you may have a portion of it dedicated to your public accommodation, your commercial use, and then a portion dedicated to your residential use. It is common in certain certain areas. Uh, we we haven’t allowed it until, uh, this code in Bismarck, uh, medical marijuana uses.

00:39:20,630	I won’t get into this in a lot of detail. Uh, we have them in Bismarck. We we currently don’t regulate them, um, any more than we would a retail use. So this does have a couple very simple requirements that are a special use permit and some spacing distances that would apply, uh, similar to some other communities in North Dakota.

00:39:38,030	So wireless communications facility is also something we don’t regulate today. Um, cell towers. And so we would have certain districts where, uh, they would be permitted or not. And then, uh, some standards that they would, they would follow, uh, if they’re towers, attached units, small cell, uh, they’re all defined a little bit differently, uh, with different levels of permission, uh,

00:39:57,130	mobile food vendors, some very simple requirements for how they would operate. Uh, we want to encourage these are our comprehensive plan does does support the use of mobile food vendors in various places. These are just some, I think, fairly basic requirements for how they would be done safely and with health.

00:40:15,730	Um, temporary dwelling units. So if you’re rebuilding a house and you want to, uh, put in a temporary home on the site during the time of construction, there’s provisions for that. Uh, finally, battery storage and a newer use that we weren’t really thinking about much in recent years. However, we have some basic standards for this.

00:40:32,270	Uh, normally you’re going to see these in rural areas. Uh, so the counties deal with this more than we do in the city. Uh, but we thought we’d have some basic standards. Uh, there’s a few uses that we’ve revised.

00:40:47,730	I just want to call out, uh, group homes, uh, based on the number of people you’d be licensed to have in the home. Uh, whether it’s six or under or up to nine or over. Uh, they’re really sorted out into the different zoning districts. Uh, group homes are it’s important to accommodate these.

00:41:07,930	It’s actually fair housing, federal law, uh, to allow a group homes to be within a, uh, basically a similar, uh, household that would we would allow in any home. We need to allow group homes. And so we’ve, we’ve written, I think, a fairly common sense, uh, requirements for where they would be allowed at the different scales they’re found, uh, a lot of things vary by scale in this new district.

00:41:24,770	So not necessarily by the different types of uses. So restaurants, retail vehicle repair services, depending on how many people they serve, they may be appropriate in in in smaller or larger scale. So for example vehicle repair if you’re oil change for a small um impact could be totally appropriate in commercial district.

00:41:44,900	However, if you’re doing a major body shop, uh, that might be something more appropriate to industrial or mixed use industrial mixed use. So we try to make those differentiations within the uses a number of things that currently require special use permits would no longer require them.

00:42:00,230	Uh, so a lot of the time you’ve spent on this would you’d be well aware of these changes, uh, drive thrus, gas stations, car washes, accessory dwelling units, oversized accessory structures. Uh, these things are fairly technical in nature. They rarely, uh, get denied. And, um, or at least certainly not on the grounds of their technical specifics that are in the code.

00:42:21,300	So, uh, these would be dealt with at the site plan level, um, by staff, according to the provisions written into the code. There are some other things that do require a special use permit. Now, um, but these are things that would be we’d be removing that requirement. Uh, data centers are we have ordinance requirements for this already.

00:42:38,800	Uh, the League of Cities has recently released a model ordinance on data centers. So we’ve really tried to incorporate some of their guidance and recommendations into our code. And really, what we’re doing here is dividing a larger scale based on the megawatts of power generated or not generated, but used on the site.

00:42:59,070	And, uh, and differentiating the requirements mainly to protect noise. I think that’s really our big concern with data centers. So, um, all the minor and major data centers were acquired, noise studies where we can look at the impacts in advance and, uh, and try to protect, uh, property owners from, from those, but they’re still mainly industrial uses.

00:43:18,800	And so that’s, that hasn’t changed, uh, as well, unless they’re very minor. Um, we call them micro data centers that utilities sometimes use, but otherwise they will only be in industrial areas. Asphalt and concrete batch plants. A few changes here.

00:43:40,200	These are important both in temporary basis or sometimes in uh, for roadway construction projects or various construction projects. There’s a little bit of inconsistency in our current ordinance. So we really tried to clean that up and, uh, and make it clear these are industrial uses in industrial areas.

00:43:58,330	And we have separation distances, uh, to homes, although in some cases we’ve reduced those separation distances from what’s currently in our ordinance, uh, event centers, um, just to point one thing out, this is and this is actually a fairly recent change that was not in your draft previously. Uh, if there’s an event center that involves animals, uh, we currently really don’t have that addressed in the code.

00:44:15,400	Uh, and so we would propose some very simple language so that if you do have an event center that involves animal, you need to follow animal boarding standards, which we do have in the codes. And so and which includes separation distances from, from residential uses around.

00:44:32,470	So uh, so they would be allowed in the draft, uh, that we would propose. However, with the same animal boarding standards, we would apply in other cases. Um, okay. So shops and storage, these are some uses we’ve we’ve actually really spent quite a bit of time working on and talking about.

00:44:48,870	They’re quite common in our community and very popular and, and don’t quite fit very well into our current ordinance. We’ve had lots of debates over the years of how to deal with these. Um, and we’ve got in the draft, uh, some solutions to propose. And there are different classifications.

00:45:05,300	One would be a personal flex use. This is a new term for us, at least in our zoning ordinance. And these would be allowed in residential districts. Uh, there would be for, uh, personal use storage, uh, personal indoor recreation. Uh, and very commonly, you know, what you might see in a private accessory building in someone’s backyard.

00:45:28,200	The only difference is you could cluster them and create them in a neighborhood. Uh, there is a demand for this. We do have people asking about this. And in fact, um, you have approved these similarly in, for example, in misty waters, in a planned unit development.

00:45:46,200	Uh, so we watched that very closely and really haven’t to this date seen concerns. And so, uh, staff have grown more comfortable with these and we don’t necessarily need to classify them as industrial, uh, which is currently how we have as long as there is some basic standards written into this.

00:46:03,800	And so that’s what the code attempts to do. So it really they’re down there written the scale is limited. Uh, really. We’re not running commercial operations out of here. Even home occupations really belong in the home and not in, in these uses.

00:46:23,600	So we feel like we have some fairly, um, common sense standards for, for how the personal flex uses can fit into residential areas. Uh, self-storage. We’ve we’ve actually issued a number of planning and developments over the years for self-storage in commercial areas. Uh, so this basically follows that trend and allows them with design standards and a special use permit.

00:46:42,970	So, uh, if you and there are a number of there have actually gotten quite a bit more, um, uh, higher design over the years and including ones being built in Bismarck.

00:46:59,870	Uh, so they do seem to fit into commercial districts, uh, if that is, um, taken care of without having any negative impact on the activity that we’re trying to generate in this commercial areas. Uh, so portable storage containers, we do see interest for these as well. So these would be allowed to be used as accessory buildings. However, if they’re in residential areas, there’s significant screening, uh, or in some cases you may need to clad them to, to look more like an outbuilding, a traditional, uh, residential outbuilding.

00:47:20,130	So those would be the allowances would be broadened for, for those both in residential and commercial areas. Okay. Now we’re getting into the development standards section. Uh, like I said, the how things would be developed and these are a number of these chapters are new.

00:47:36,270	But as we get into this, not all the concepts are new. We’re just kind of moving things around in some cases. Uh, we’ve also incorporated a lot of policies that have been written and approved by the commission over the last 10 or 20 years.

00:47:51,370	And so we’ve taken a lot of those and brought them into the code, which I think helps with the transparency and allows the public to to see what they are and know that they apply right now, they’re not always easy to find for people from the public. So first, first one, first chapter improvements.

00:48:10,400	This is what gets built after a subdivision is approved. Uh, a lot of this really deals with engineering, um, from planning. And once you approve a subdivision and it goes to the city commission and gets recorded, we kind of passed the baton in that case over, over an engineering and a deal with a lot of the roadway construction, utility

00:48:25,330	construction. Uh, so this dictates a lot of mostly the timing of that. We don’t really get into the design standards. We don’t get into the cost, um, policies. Those are still done through separate policies. However, this does give some basic standards of when things are getting done.

00:48:45,270	Um, and also if if there are changes that are needed through a development agreement, how how does that process work? How do we negotiate with developers for when and how utilities are installed and the infrastructure? There’s a chapter on site and structure design. Uh, this this is basic design guidelines for, uh, certain types of development.

00:49:06,870	Uh, we’ve we’ve really only kind of dipped our feet into the water of, of this. Some communities go further, uh, in discussion with our steering committee. We really didn’t want to become heavy handed in design in our community. So some of this is reserved for an overlay district, which is yet to be defined.

00:49:27,400	And so, uh, if if it does come a time in the future where we want to have entrance corridors or maybe a higher level of design in certain areas, uh, we’ll have this. We would just be able to apply it or not. And so other things do apply citywide.

00:49:44,100	So if somebody would be converting a single family home into a two family dwelling, which would be allowed in a lot of in pretty much every district, uh, there are certain standards you would need to meet to make sure you’re still meeting the character of neighborhood and single family character. Uh, and not just looking like you’re kind of adding things on, um, in a, in a, uh, unfinished fashion.

00:50:04,570	There are standards for multifamily housing as well as mixed use and commercial, uh, although, like I said, they I think they are very basic parking and loading. Uh, this is currently in our ordinance. It seems like every time we get into it, we, we kind of move toward the direction of a little more flexibility.

00:50:21,600	Uh, so we do have ranges of, of in the table for each use. And however a lot of those ranges have been widened in terms of the minimums. So we’ve for example, all dwelling units would just require one, uh, parking space.

00:50:40,930	Uh, we know that people usually may want more than one parking space, but that’s the minimum you’d be required to build. Of course, you can always build more than that. Uh, but aside from that range, uh, if anyone wants to build outside of that range, either below or above, there are a number of options for adjusting that. There just needs to be a rationale.

00:50:59,030	Uh, and so we would work as staff in an administrative fashion with, with making these adjustments and the code includes a number of different ways to, to justify that. It could be the type of use maybe it doesn’t generate the parking demand that others would of that same classification.

00:51:15,530	Or it could be that you’ve installed some bike parking, or you have great on street parking, or you have other, other means to to deal with it. Uh, so a of options available in this. And we do have some standards, uh, that are applied to parking lot design.

00:51:32,130	Uh, they’re fairly similar to existing a few different things, like preventing vehicle overhang from, from going into walkways. But a lot of that’s not much different. Loading uh, has been removed for the most part.

00:51:49,870	Uh, as long as you have loading, uh, spaces, really, uh, if you have loading spaces, there are certain standards that apply, but there’s no requirement to have loading. Uh, we found that that’s kind of solves itself. I mean, companies no know their loading needs and usually just take care of that. So we haven’t had a need to to regulate that necessarily. We did get a comment today on on parking. I think in particular.

00:52:05,770	Uh, well, I guess I should say in general, maybe questioning the need for, uh, parking minimums, but in particular related to child care centers. We have had quite a bit of debate about this internally and with the steering committee, uh, there are communities who are removing all parking standards.

00:52:22,270	Duluth is comes to mind as a peer. Uh, we haven’t gone that direction. We do still have standards in the code. Uh, but we have tried to to loosen them in many ways. Um, understanding that people do understand their parking needs and usually are able to meet them. Okay.

00:52:40,600	New section of mobility and connectivity. Uh, this is dealing with street design. Uh, and a lot of this is done at the subdivision level. So we’ve moved a lot of these standards out of the subdivision section into this section.

00:52:54,900	Uh, a lot of coordination with engineering on, on this, of course, the, uh, street standards are fairly similar. Some of the widths have gone down a little bit. So commercial, um, commercial streets have gone from 40. I’m sorry. Industrial gone from 48 to 40. Uh, collectors from 44 to 40. Uh, if there’s parking on both sides.

00:53:13,600	Uh, so but for the most part, very similar and fairly similar to our existing practice, actually, uh, we will be using the major street plan to determine functional classification, to determine, I’m sorry, the category from arterial to collector, rather than the functional classification.

00:53:33,000	Um, and there’s some reasons for that, but it basically allows us to plan for future arterials and collectors, um, or more easily in our, in our zoning, uh, alleys and loops are addressed. Loop Lane is kind of a new concept of consultants introduced to us, which is similar to a cul de sac, but has some green space in the inside. So we’ve got some standards for how that would be applied.

00:53:49,330	Traffic impact studies. We do these already. Um, but this gives a little more definition for when that gets triggered. So what these are for larger scale developments that that generate a lot of traffic.

00:54:06,930	Uh, at what point do you need to study that in more detail to determine if you need improvements or what needs to be done to facilitate that? Uh, and a few other things. I won’t necessarily go into all of them in great detail, but private streets, I think are important. Uh, we’ve discouraged them, and we always have. We continue to discourage them. Uh, however, there are some times in which they may be necessary.

00:54:25,070	And so we’ve spelled out a little more detail. Uh, when a private street may be appropriate, public streets are better in the long term because it just is understood by everybody to be maintained publicly and and part of the public realm. Uh, however, they don’t always, um, note are not always appropriate, uh, intersection spacing.

00:54:47,130	Uh, this is basically how far the intersections are spaced from each other, or block length would be another way to refer to this. Uh, in the most dense urban neighborhood areas. I’m sorry, residential urban districts, uh, these would tighten up a little bit to about 900ft. However, in the residential suburban, they’d stay the same at about a quarter mile spacing.

00:55:07,800	Um, maximum. So they could go lower than that. Uh, of course, for arterials, we sort of want the opposite. We sort of want more spacing. Uh, and so that’s, that’s dictated in here as well, uh, to allow more, more traffic flow on the arterial roadways. The landscaping screening section, we have a few changes here to go over.

00:55:29,670	Uh, I think maybe a good way to put this is we’re moving out of industrial areas to some degree. We’re we’re tightening up some of the restrictions in requirements in industrial areas where we frankly, find the most maybe resistance to to our landscaping.

00:55:45,900	Uh, we’ve had this in our audience for, well, probably ten, 12 years now. Uh, and in practice, that’s, that’s where we see, um, sort of the most resistance to this.

00:56:04,030	So in some industrial areas, smaller scale, uh, the perimeter landscaping will no longer be required, as well as the interior landscaping islands instead of parking lots, uh, will no longer be required. Uh, some of their buffer yards in these cases would also be reduced in size, although we still will have buffer yards, and they still will be required in terms of planting material. Uh, but there may be some more space in certain areas.

00:56:18,800	Uh, but on the flip side, the land development code will require street trees in, in residential neighborhoods, which are currently not required. Uh, so this is something that other cities do, uh, in Fargo. We’ve we’ve watched them closely.

00:56:40,200	Uh, our, our comprehensive plan did note this as a goal to have more street tree coverage within residential neighborhoods. Uh, so this would become a requirement within the land development code at the subdivision phase. So we wouldn’t be necessarily going into existing neighborhoods. And, um, there is the ability to do that through the partners and planning program, but not the requirement to do that.

00:56:58,100	However, as new subdivisions get built out, um, they will be fitted with street trees. Uh, this the code doesn’t dictate exactly how that is done. And so we still have some work to do. And and in the mechanism for this, however, it would become a requirement. Uh, we’ve made a few changes.

00:57:14,900	Uh, you are allowed to delay the installation of your landscaping. Of course, we we’re in a winter city. Uh, good. 7 to 8 months out of the year. You really can’t do much in terms of landscaping. So, uh, you can delay for seasonal reasons or other reasons. Um, maybe the contractors are hard to find and hard to line up.

00:57:32,170	So there are opportunities to delay with a with a performance bond, uh, which is different, currently require a cashier’s check. Today we allow a bond which contractors tend to use more often. Uh, there’s some standards on fences and mechanical screening.

00:57:51,130	Uh, we have we have requirements in our ordinance already, but there’s more detail on how you would measure the six foot tall fence and, uh, and where that would be applied. Same with the screening requirements for HVAC and other systems within a within a building or outside of the building, including dumpsters as well. That’s all covered, uh, parks and open space. Another chapter. Uh, we have a neighborhood parks policy. Uh, miss Lee, I’m guessing I believe. Yeah.

00:58:12,170	Oh, hell. I’m sorry. So, um, had a comment on this earlier, and so, uh, it is true that the Parks and Recreation District is they’re the ones creating the parks. They’re the ones maintaining and operating them. However, we do have a hand in this, and we’ve worked very closely with the parks district. Uh, in this process.

00:58:27,470	And this does incorporate our existing parks policy into the land development code. So as new subdivisions are coming to us, uh, and coming to you, we will work with the parks district. We’ll continue to work with the parks district to make sure there is a neighborhood park.

00:58:44,070	Uh, there’s some standards for the design of those parks that are written into this code. Uh, there’s some flexibility. We know that, you know, every case is unique. And the parks district can negotiate some of those standards. However, we do want to see, uh, typically at least a three acre minimum.

00:59:01,200	We want to see flatland, uh, for, for functional use and centralized location. Uh, so it does give a baseline for, for those negotiations. Uh, a regional park can certainly work as well. So it wouldn’t need to be a neighborhood park if that’s in proximity to those homes.

00:59:18,130	Uh, and so that that would be another, another option as well. Uh, or a private park, uh, this, this land development code does give that option as well. If the needs can be met with the. Net neighborhood, something that would be run and governed by an HOA. Uh, there are standards that for that could apply for that as well.

00:59:33,700	The, uh this chapter also deals with, um, what can and cannot be done in areas that are designated for stormwater and drainage, with easements on plats. And, uh, I think some fairly common sense requirements there, uh, where we really want to make sure water is retained.

00:59:51,930	Um, also for areas with steep slopes, these are things we, we do already, uh, when we get new subdivisions that come in, uh, along the bluffs of the Missouri River or in areas with, uh, steep slopes that are susceptible to subsidence, we do already put soil protection easements on the subdivisions.

01:00:08,330	This gives us a little bit of guidance on on how and when that would be done. And that is written into the land development code, especially if the slopes are 15% or greater in um, and so, so next section, outdoor lighting.

01:00:28,070	Uh, this is new, uh, although we, we have included outdoor lighting in certain puds in the past, uh, this is a new standard to be written into our zoning ordinance. Uh, a lot of cities do this. So there is sort of a well-worn path or consultants have provided this language based on best practices that they’ve seen in other communities.

01:00:49,070	Uh, so basically different light trespass standards are applicable in different districts. So if you’re in a residential area, really the amount of glare is, is should be minimized. And of course, an industrial area is not so much.

01:01:04,400	I think it’s a pretty good image that just kind of gets the gist of of what the section is about, which is point the light down, uh, instead of out or up, uh, up really affects your night sky. Uh, and out, uh, affects adjoining property owners. So we want a pointed down, uh, including the design of the light fixtures.

01:01:21,670	Uh, the intensity of the light, uh, and there are requirements that if there are more intense lights that would be dimmed as certain hours of the night. Uh, this does apply across the boards to new development, to new lighting. Uh, in, in subdivisions as well as in commercial areas.

01:01:41,300	Site plans for commercial uses will require a lighting plan, which will still work out exactly how that will look. It can be pretty simple, but showing us where the lights will be and how they will be oriented. Uh, and certain automations to make sure they can be controlled by by the users. Uh, so signs, uh, it has not changed much.

01:01:59,570	We, we read this a couple of years ago, so we really didn’t make changes here except for a few. I’ll mention the there is a nice table. I think that will consolidate all of the sign requirements into one major table. Uh, for usability. Uh, but the requirements really haven’t changed. Uh, we would allow wall signs and multifamily residential buildings.

01:02:19,830	We currently do not allow this. We’ve had some requests and, uh, and they would be limited in size and illumination. However, this would allow those, uh, the district I mentioned is new and would allow commercial uses, uh, in an area that’s still quite sensitive because of the residential uses there, too.

01:02:43,730	So we’ve really followed a lot of the downtown fringe standards for signage in that new district, uh, where they would be limited in size and scale. Um, and most of these areas, signs aren’t permitted at all today unless they’re with a school or a church or so forth.

01:03:00,800	So, so we’ve we’ve tried to, to make sure to, to match those standards. Uh, subdivision of land, uh, has not changed too much. Uh, this is where you find your basic standards of lots and blocks. Uh, we have added new standards for siting outdoor warning sirens. Um, this is what you hear when there’s a tornado, um, in our midst. And, uh, we need to think about how we space these.

01:03:20,730	And with new development to make sure everyone can hear these sirens. And so really, all this does is it triggers that conversation. Uh, so our emergency manager can find the best site, uh, available at a, at a location that’s high enough, uh, and appropriate for, for the sirens.

01:03:36,900	Uh, we have basic survey standards that are written into our city. Surveyor has worked with, um, others in the North Dakota Survey Association to, uh, find appropriate standards for when monuments are placed and how they’re placed, and some things that are a little over my head. But we’ve trusted that.

01:03:56,570	Yeah, those match what what standard survey practice is. And we’ve incorporated some of those into the code. We don’t have to write everything into the ordinance. Some of this can remain a technical standard. Uh, but we’ve included a few things. Okay. We’re getting to to the to the final stages here.

01:04:11,800	Uh, administration of this code. This is really the day to day work that we operate with. And you to to many, in many extent, many degrees. Um, so these are the different projects that could come across our tables and, uh, where they go, do they need a public hearing or not? Do they need a pre-application meeting or not?

01:04:30,530	Uh, and different, uh, procedures that would be applicable to all of them. So similar to the use table, this is a pretty good place to start when you’re looking at procedures for, uh, the, um, administration of the Land Development Code.

01:04:49,870	A few things are done in common, uh, that really were not in our ordinance currently, but, uh, are in practice. And, and a lot of this has been really newly written or completely rewritten, uh, but it really allows us to do things that are unclear today.

01:05:07,370	Such as, you know, if there’s a deadline for, um, all of our projects have deadlines after you approve them, for which they have to be implemented. But sometimes things need extensions, and it’s unclear who has authority to do that. So this does give grounds for giving extensions under certain cases and a lot of sort of administrative things that happen behind the scenes would be legitimized.

01:05:24,400	And and we’d feel like we have the right authority as staff to make those decisions. Uh, this would institute the signs that we’ve been doing as a pilot project for a number of years. Uh, all the public notice methods are laid out pretty clearly in this draft, including signs in advance of public hearings. Uh, we found that they’ve been pretty effective.

01:05:40,630	We’ve asked people at our public hearings how they found out about this meeting. And signs so far are the leading, uh, method. Uh, okay. So each specific project, um, will have review criteria. Uh, this is important for you because in our staff reports, we will spell out really what we should be looking for.

01:06:00,330	Uh, in an approval. And we will capture all of that, and we’ll give it to you in the staff report, and you can review that, uh, for example, annexation. Uh, we’ll have a number of things and we’ll check the boxes.

01:06:14,200	And if everything checks the checks, that’s, uh, how we know whether it can be proven or not. Uh, one thing that might you might notice. So the zoning map amendments will go directly to public hearing. So we will skip the consideration step. Um, in a lot of cases, you know, it’s an application that’s submitted to us. Staff.

01:06:31,730	We’ll continue to vet these and make sure, um, everything’s true to form. However, if it is a, uh, an application that meets the completeness check of our of our process, we will bring it to you in a public hearing directly. So this saves a little bit of time.

01:06:51,230	Um, and it’s also something that, you know, really for due process reasons, it’s important to have the hearings. So there really shouldn’t be times when we would just not allow the hearing. Uh, anyway, so the variances would be allowed for historic preservation purposes. That’s another small change.

01:07:06,470	Uh, maybe a bigger change which is less applicable to your role, but will be the Renaissance and Authority design review will be split into a major and minor. So some of the changes, you know, you’re changing a few doors out in your building or you, uh, signs or, or other small modifications to the building could be done administratively, whereas today they might go through a full public hearing

01:07:21,870	with a design review or not public hearing, but meeting with the Design review board. Okay, adjustments to standards. Uh, we’ve spent a lot of time really thinking about this.

01:07:37,400	And, you know, anytime you have something on paper and you apply it to the real world, there’s always things that are just very on a case by case basis, uh, such as, you know, especially when it comes to things like landscaping or, uh, engineering standards, site triangles, access standards, a lot of these things really rely quite a bit on, on the existing context of the area around it.

01:08:00,900	And so we’ve written in criteria, uh, and in one hand, it’s important to have a little bit of flexibility in the code so you’re not getting caught up on very small details.

01:08:15,270	On the other hand, you really don’t want to open ended discretion for staff, um, to protect us because we don’t really want the pressure to be able to make any decision, but also to cordon us in a little bit and say, uh, this is where you have staff authority to make a adjustment, and this is where you really should go to the variance process or, uh, or have the ordinance inspected in more detail.

01:08:35,100	So we’ve really written these out in different criteria throughout the code in for different sections as, as they’re applicable. Uh, but the adjustment is also intended to create a record of these changes. So we can make sure we’re being consistent with the adjustments. And so we can evaluate that record and say, well, if we’re always adjusting this, maybe that needs to be changed in the code over time.

01:08:52,630	Okay. The subdivision process is probably where the most changes will will occur. And so, um, we’ve saved this for last I suppose. So what today we have a minor plat process and a major plat process and a lot modification process.

01:09:09,670	We would move to what we’re calling a complete subdivision and a simple subdivision. So two, two steps, uh, the complete subdivision would have a preliminary and a final plat. However, the preliminary plat is where the public attention would be drawn. So if there’s a zoning change, we would hold that with the preliminary plat.

01:09:27,930	And that’s where you see all the lots, you see the topography, you see a lot of the features. Uh, and the preliminary plat is really designed to focus on those bigger picture issues.

01:09:43,830	And if that does go through and get approved by you and the city commission, uh, if there’s a zoning change with the public hearing, uh, then it goes to the final plat stage, which would be an administrative process. So that would be as long as and this is important, as long as the final plat substantially conforms to the preliminary plat, uh staff would be authorized to approve it.

01:09:59,330	And really, at that stage, we’re looking at the survey details, making sure the easements are in place and all of the eyes are dotted and t’s crossed. And, uh, but the public, um, important features should be dealt with already.

01:10:17,100	Now, if it doesn’t match the preliminary plat, then it will come back to you, uh, to make sure that it does meet the public’s interest. So that’s how the complete subdivision process would be written, that a simple subdivision would be for what we currently call lot splits, lot line adjustments, or a replant where you’re creating three or fewer lots. This would go directly to city Commission on consent agenda.

01:10:37,330	Uh, we currently really don’t involve these aren’t really called subdivisions at all. They’re they’re done outside of that process. But what this does is it gives us the survey level detail and the importance that they need. And the recorder’s office needs to make sure this is a legitimate plat, uh, without the lengthy process that is involved in the complete subdivision process.

01:10:57,530	Uh, so just a little bit of a diagram of the changes. So whereas today, um, you’ll do the pre-application and a preliminary plat and a final plat and behind the scenes, we actually go through a fairly extensive process of vetting what we call the final mylar. Um, basically the complete subdivisions.

01:11:16,430	Uh, we would jump right to the preliminary plat, and then the final plat would really take the place of that behind the scenes. Um, uh, technical. Uh, uh, corrections and aspects of the plat. And then, of course, physical improvements after that’s completed, uh, and similar with a simple subdivision as well. Uh, this would be just a staff review for technical standards.

01:11:39,230	And, and then on consent at the city commission. Now law combinations would be a little bit different. Uh, this is something we would not require a survey for.

01:11:54,670	So if a property owner wishes to combine multiple lots, uh, we would review it to make sure it meets standards, but we would just have them, uh, record a declaration saying these are combined. Uh, the importance of the recreation is. So if down the line, a new property owner doesn’t, uh, inadvertently split them again and then realize now you’re, you know, it doesn’t meet our zoning anymore, so.

01:12:16,870	Okay, finally, nonconformity and, uh, these are what we’ve done with nonconformity is we’ve split it up into different types. So there’s nonconforming uses, structures, lots of features and signs, and they’re all treated a little bit differently. Although, I mean, the basic idea is that the zoning code does not apply retroactively.

01:12:34,870	So when we’re adopting something, uh, if you’re there, you’re you can stay there and continue in operation. In some cases, you can make some changes, you can rebuild if, if there has been demolition. And so we get into a lot of those details. It’s very important for financing for, uh, for uh, just the usability of these lots over the long term.

01:12:55,030	Banks do look at this very carefully. And so we’ve tried to make this, uh, as least impactful on, uh, owners of nonconforming properties, understanding that there are cases where we do hope it does redevelop into something that does conform in the future, uh, enforcement is something that’s done in collaboration with building inspections and planning.

01:13:13,800	In some cases, public health. Uh, so this really defines sort of some of the procedures of enforcement and some of the remedies that are in place. I really already dictated by state law. However, it’s just, um, it’s spelled out in a code for, for usability purposes. I do want to say one thing.

01:13:30,800	The definition has changed for household and family. Uh, and is is relevant for enforcement. So in this code, uh, the occupancy is no longer limited to four unrelated members of a household, which it is today. Uh, we will be making changes to the building code.

01:13:55,970	And that same function and intent will be addressed through building code in terms of number of people in the bedrooms that may be allowed or per space of physical space in that structure, uh, but not in the zoning.

01:14:15,630	And this is something that more and more communities are doing, uh, partially for legal reasons, because if you’re treating households that are unrelated differently than households that are related, uh, and that that can become a legal issue for us, but also for enforceability, uh, it’s very difficult for our, um, zoning code enforcement team to, uh, really know whether it’s there are people related or not. Uh, in different, in different houses.

01:14:32,770	So this is something that would take effect with this, this code as well. Okay. Finally there is a definitions and measurement section. I won’t get into the details because they are details. Absolutely. But they are important because disputes do come up sometimes with how we measure things and where they’re measured from.

01:14:50,330	Um, and so we have more diagrams, more clarity, I hope on, on, on these things to resolve any, any disputes as well as in the definition section, we try to define all the important terms that are in the land development code. Okay. So um. Oh, in a moment we’ll have time for more discussion.

01:15:07,930	I do want to say if, um, this is a potential next steps. If you do choose to make a recommendation, uh, today or, or you could wait as well.

01:15:23,400	But if you do choose to do so today, this will go to the city commission for a hearing in May. In a in a public hearing at the end of May. And the way this is written in the in the land Development code, there would be an interim period. So the code would not take effect until October 1st in its entirety.

01:15:37,170	However, we do know there are people who are kind of waiting for this and who may apply. Uh, after it is adopted. And so the applicant would be able to choose which code they would want to follow.

01:15:53,000	Uh, so it may be a little bit of chaos for a few months, and we would just have to endure that before, uh, before there would be one pathway to follow. However, if you do choose one, you have to stick with it. So you can’t pick and pick pieces of both. But, uh, this would really maybe enable people to prepare for the eventual adoption, including enable the city to prepare.

01:16:09,470	We have a lot of applications and guidance documents and all of these things. The website that will need to change. And so it would give us time to do that before it really becomes fully effective. Okay. So if you have any questions for me, I can attempt to answer or punt it to somebody else. Commissioners questions for Daniel. Okay. Commissioner.

01:16:34,970	Please. Uh, Daniel, in the document there’s a series of footnotes. Are those to be removed when the document is accepted as final? Thank you. Commissioner. Yes, I didn’t I neglected to mention that. Yes, the footnotes will be removed. Uh, after this meeting.

01:16:53,600	So when it goes to the city commission, they’ll see the version that will be. Will be. It’s in its adopted state. And so they’re there for breadcrumbs to show you what’s changed and what’s new. Uh, and then there’s a lot of commentary text that’s in a blue box. Those will all be removed as well.

01:17:11,370	Some of the tables will be changed that include sort of comparison with existing codes to new, uh, those will be changed to just show what will be new. I may continue I got I got a list here, uh, relating to the open space concept and some of the park property. Generally speaking, the Parks and Rec district owns and operates.

01:17:32,130	There might be a building or a pro shop for a golf course or something along those lines. Do you foresee any restrictions from Park District? Um, being able to use those sort of facilities or in new areas, build those sort of facilities as it relates to calling something open space that it’s

01:17:48,700	there’s still buildings in the open space. Can you maybe speak to that a little bit? Sure. Yeah. Thank you, Commissioner Shell. So yeah, buildings will certainly be allowed in the OS Open Space District. I think it’s really intended to, uh, dictate the use.

01:18:05,070	So if it is a park or the pro shop or, uh, you know, a shelters or certain, uh, functions of that use, then that would certainly be permitted. So I it’s, it should be mentioned explicitly in there that okay.

01:18:23,470	And then maybe my last question if, if you find a really innocent typo in here, would you wait for the year later to come back, or are you looking for some sort of authority to make those sort of revisions? Or can you maybe speak to that, not saying that there’s a typo there, but there might be one somewhere in the document, maybe just saying. I’ll tell you, I found a typo today.

01:18:38,270	So so there is a typo, at least one. Um, so certainly after today, um, with the as if you were to recommend this, we would hope, you know, and if you want to make that explicit, you certainly can, uh, that we could make those typos before it gets to city commission.

01:18:57,600	Um, after that, I think maybe we would wait until we made a formal ordinance amendment. Um, if our consultants have a different opinion on that online, you can certainly jump in on that. But that’s what we intend to do. And I think I have one last one.

01:19:17,600	Um, Daniel, as it relates to some of the policies or procedures, whether it’s secondary access or easement release policy that you say are now incorporated into the Land Development Code, is it the intention to then repeal those policies or have some formal action that signifies that that’s existing or that that goes away or has been folded into the land development code, and we don’t have a secondary access policy and also a land

01:19:32,370	development code that might say the same things today, but in the future might diverge if if they weren’t repealed. Yeah, that’s a good, good question. I because the policies they were adopted by the city Commission. So I think it may be appropriate to have an action by them if they wish.

01:19:49,330	For that reason. I think that is a good idea. Okay. Thank you. That’s all I have. Thank you. Commissioner, shell commissioners, additional questions for Daniel. Commissioner Wangler. Uh. Daniel, I guess my question would be is we got this request on parking to go down to zero. Required on this.

01:20:15,870	And this is just one of, I’m guessing many little changes that are going to be looked at and said, you know, maybe it should be changed. Is that what would happen a year from now? And if so, would that require this extensive, uh, procedure again, that that this went through or those type of things easy to make changes on.

01:20:43,170	So, Commissioner Winkler, uh, not necessarily. So there. You have a few options on that. Um, you could direct us today to make that change, and we will make it so.

01:20:59,930	So if it is your wish as a planning commission to, uh, reduce the parking or eliminate the parking for childcare, just direct us to do so and we’ll do it and include that in the city commission draft. Uh, this comment came in this morning, so it’s not reflected today in today’s draft, but we can certainly respond to your desires on that. Um, the other alternative would be we could wait for that in a in a year.

01:21:17,100	This will go through an ordinance amendment process. Uh, and it could be done then or anytime in between. Um, it’s really up to you. Okay, then if it’s done in between.

01:21:39,900	Is that an extensive adjustment requirement or is that something that can be taken to the city commission and say, we’d like to change this from whatever it currently says? 6 to 0? Or if we say zero that it has to be three or something like that, or does that become a very long, drawn out, technically expensive procedure to go through? Sure. So yeah, it’s a good question.

01:22:02,400	So it is it is pretty extensive because it would go through because it’s an ordinance, you know, to make that change. It would go through this body. And in two readings for the city commission, um, certainly nothing like today, you know. But but it would, it would go through that process.

01:22:16,070	So if we were to bundle that with other changes, you know, we could do that as well. Um, or changes today. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Wayne. Commissioners, additional questions for Daniel. I’m not seeing or hearing any Daniel. Thank you. With that. This is a public hearing. I will open the public hearing. And open it to those.

01:22:44,900	Thank you. I know it’s late, and I know we’re tired. Please, please, please hear my concerns. Um, I’m concerned about the green spaces. This is why I’m here. And the land development time frame. This is why I came. So that you can hear my concerns.

01:23:04,200	We talked about problems with zoning from the 50s 20 plus years ago. The point loop was built over 100 houses, no green space. And I understand that everything wasn’t in place then, maybe ten years ago, Legacy High School was built north of Legacy High to 43rd. There was open land that could have been a beautiful park.

01:23:24,400	It is complete housing today, housing, twin homes, apartments, no green space unless they’re calling John Goosey. Their green space. It is not accessible. You have to drive around to get there. Um, so some of my concerns is for, uh, he’s Daniel said, well, the recommendation is three acres for new developments. Um, with some flexibility.

01:23:50,600	Those words scare me some flexibility. So do we get the size of a house, the size of a playground? Do we get three acres? And my other question is about, um, he said if we did a regional park, that would, you know, maybe take the place.

01:24:10,330	Do we have plans for a regional park in Bismarck, North Dakota, anywhere north with all the new housing developments, buildings? That’s a question that maybe I should ask somewhere else. I don’t know, but those are my concerns that when there’s flexibility, I feel like sometimes the public isn’t the winner. And I thank you. I know it’s late. I know you’re tired. Thank you for hearing my concerns. Thank you.

01:24:33,300	Thank you. Debbie. Daniel, just a quick question for you. And, you know, you mentioned green space with the land development plan. Would the, uh, future land development 2045 be a spot to look to? Is, uh, green space included in that? Sure. Uh, chair. Commissioner. So. So, yeah.

01:24:59,470	So in our comprehensive plan, we have a future land use plan, which has, uh, something called Parks and open space. And those are the areas we would expect to see, um, dedicated for, for some sort of open space in the future. Now, now, the neighborhood parks, you know, we don’t really know where those will be until the subdivision builds out.

01:25:18,170	Um, because that really dictates the appropriate, appropriate locations for those. So, uh, they may be in other, other areas as well. Okay. Thank you. Does that help a little bit? Okay. All right. The podium is once again open for others that would care to address this agenda item.

01:25:39,530	And I’m not seeing or hearing or seeing anybody. So with that I’m going to close the public hearing. Daniel, any additional comments? I do have one more comment just to make regarding the, uh, the park standards.

01:25:52,930	So so while it is true that there is flexibility in terms of how the design centers would be applied, I do also just want to make it clear that this is all done in public. And so it’s not as if staff and developers are negotiating the the park. You know what the park might look like. It’ll come to you at this table. It’ll go before the Parks and Recreation District.

01:26:08,970	And so so everyone will be fully aware in the area of of how that park will look and some of the amenities that will be in there. Thank you. All right, commissioners, with that, we have a request for a zoning ordinance text amendment. Staff recommends approval and a zoning map amendment. And staff once again recommends approval.

01:26:34,000	What are your wishes? I would move to approve. We have a motion from Commissioner. Shall second. We have a second from Commissioner Johnson. Any additional discussion? Commissioners. Commissioner, shell. I would just want to commend the staff and consultant team on putting this together. This is a lot of work.

01:26:59,070	I’m engineering staff, but I get to watch all these great planners do amazing things as part of my day job. And it’s really a document that they should be proud of and we as a community should be proud of. But it’s through the hard work and efforts of all those individuals that contributed.

01:27:12,400	So I just want to thank them. Thank you, Commissioner Shell commissioners. Additional comments. I can tell you from sitting on the steering committee that there was a, a very a lot that went into putting this together.

01:27:39,130	And, uh, I, I think being a layman, um, you don’t really understand the impact of a lot of these rules until you it comes to a time when you need to, uh, you need to use them, and then you understand how how well they’re put together. And, uh, what a nice job that’s been done. So again, I commend staff and consultants for doing a wonderful job. Uh, putting this code together.

01:28:01,800	Any additional comments? I’m not seeing you’re hearing any. Sandra, would you please, please call roll? Commissioner Johnson. Yes. Swanson. Yes. Wangler. Yes. Shell. Yes. Chair. Schwartz. Yes. A motion is approved. With that, we move on to other business commissioners.

01:28:31,430	Is there any other business for the benefit of the commission? And I’m not hearing or seeing any. So with that, um, our next, uh, regularly scheduled meeting is scheduled for May 27th, and I invite everybody to attend. And I thank you for your attendance tonight. And I