County Zone Change #685 - 1730 48^th Street West – Canyon Creek Nursery Planned Development – A zone change request from Agriculture-Open Space (A-1) to Planned Development with underlying zoning of Neighborhood Commercial (NC) with allowances for nurseries, lawn and garden supply stores, professional offices, a microbrewery, and rental event space. The legal descriptions is the eastern 8.78 acres of S1/2 NE1/4NE1/4, Section 21, Township 1S, Range 25E. A pre-application meeting was conducted on September 21, 2107, at 1670 S 48^th Street West. A Preliminary Review meeting was held on October 27, 2017, at the Planning Office, 2825 3^rd Ave North, 1^st Floor Conference Room at 11:00 am. Presented by: Nicole Cromwell, Zoning Coordinator

Planning staff is recommending approval of the zone change request and adoption of the findings of the 11 criteria for Zone Change 685.

OWNER: CCN, LLC
AGENT: Stacey Robinson, Land Design, Inc.
LEGAL DESCRIPTION:  Eastern 8.78 acres of S1/2 NE1/4NE1/4, Section 21, Township 1S, Range 25E
ADDRESS: 1730 S. 48th St West
CURRENT ZONING: A-1
EXISTING LAND USE: Canyon Creek Nursery, Land Design offices, parking lots, storage areas, greenhouses, and nursery production areas
PROPOSED USE: Same with added uses including 1 microbrewery, an event rental space and uses commonly allowed in NC zones
SIZE OF PARCEL: 8.78 acres

None.

Subject Property - None.

Surrounding Property - The County has processed several zone changes in the surrounding area over the past 30 years. Some have been approved and others denied. Most zone changes approved were to change the A-1 zone to the Agriculture-Suburban (A-S) zone for low density residential development. These small rural neighborhoods of 1 to 3 acre parcels are located throughout the area and include Rebecca, Close and Bridle Creek Subdivisions to the north. Whispering Meadows, McCall, Saunders Point, and Spring Meadows Subdivisions are located to the south and Greensleeves Estates is to the west. In 1997, the County denied a zone change from A-1 to Community Commercial (CC) for the property on the northeast corner of Hesper Road and S 48th St West. An identical request submitted in 2013 was approved by the BOCC. The property has since developed for personal storage warehousing but still maintains a residence on the parcel. The County has approved similar requests from A-1 to CC on King Ave West (5200 & 5300 blocks) to accommodate personal storage warehousing.
 

NORTH:	Zoning: A-1 and A-S Land Use: Low density single family homes (Rebecca Subdivision)
SOUTH:	Zoning: A-S Land Use: Low density single family homes (Whispering Meadows & McCall Subdivision)
EAST:	Zoning: A-1 Land Use: Agricultural - Pasture and Feed Lot
WEST:	Zoning: A-1 Land Use: Agricultural - Canyon Creek Nursery

This is a zone change request to allow a change from A-1 zoning to a Planned Development zone with underlying zoning of Neighborhood Commercial (PD-NC). The applicant, Canyon Creek Nursery (CCN, LLC) is represented by Stacey Robinson, one of the principle owners. CCN purchased the former A-1 Nursery and Landscaping property approximately 2.5 years ago when the previous owners, Dale and Janine Hudiburgh, retired from the business. Mr. Robinson and his partners own Land Design, Inc. a landscape design firm. Land Design was incorporated in 2002. After purchasing the property from Mr. Hudiburgh, Canyon Creek Nursery and Land Design began to re-develop the property to include greenhouses, storage and staging areas for plant materials scheduled for major installations, clean up some of the debris storage areas and to design and build new offices for Land Design, Inc. The new office building at 1670 S 48th St West is connected to the recently constructed greenhouses. All of these changes and uses are allowed uses in the A-1 zoning district. The uses are agriculturally connected and oriented to the long-term preservation of this productive agricultural land.

The application for the zone change is intended to allow one microbrewery and additional ancillary use of the new buildings and greenhouse space along S 48th Street West. A microbrewery is not an allowed use in the A-1 zone. Microbreweries (manufacturing less than 1,500, 31-gallon barrels per year) are only allowed by right in the Community Commercial (CC), Highway Commercial (HC), Central Business District (CBD), Controlled Industrial (CI), Heavy Industrial (HI) and South 27th Street Corridor zones. Microbreweries manufacturing more than 1,500, 31-gallon barrels per day require special review approval in the CC, HC, CBD and S 27th Street Corridor zones. Microbreweries and other alcoholic beverage makers are regulated by the Montana Department of Revenue Liquor Licensing Division. State law allows microbreweries to have a "tap room" or sample room where patrons may consume up to 48 ounces of the brewer's product during limited serving hours (MCA Title 16, Chapter 3). There are 8 listed craft brewers in Billings and 3 distilleries. Montana is listed 3rd in the nation for number of craft brewers per capita according to the Brewers Association, a U.S. trade group.

The applicant determined a standard zone change to a CC zoning would not be acceptable at this location due to the wide range of intense commercial uses also allowed in the CC zoning district. The applicant developed a proposal for a Planned Development (PD) zone to allow the single microbrewery and a few other ancillary uses. The PD was presented to the surrounding property owners at a pre-application meeting on September 21, 2017. The application was received by the Planning Division in October and a preliminary review meeting with the applicant, the surrounding property owners, and other County staff was held on October 25, 2017. Meeting notes from the pre-application meeting and the attendance sheet from the preliminary review meeting are included as attachments.

Several surrounding property owners, as well as property owners in the general vicinity, have expressed concerns with the proposed PD. The primary concern appears to focus on the potential to generate peak hour and after hours traffic. Some concern has also been noted about impaired drivers, noisy tap room patrons, trash & litter from tap room patrons, noise from any outdoor music or events, and concerns about the effect of having a commercial-type land use adjacent to high value homes in low density suburban neighborhoods. The letters of comment from surrounding owners are included as an attachment. Letters of support for the proposed zone change are also included as attachments.

In response to the concerns expressed at the preliminary review meeting and through emails, the applicant revised the draft PD document to include limitations on other NC uses, limiting the number of microbreweries to one only, inserting language concerning a visual barrier and landscaped berm along the north property line, setting hours for any special event hosted on the property, and similar protective regulations. The final draft PD is included as an attachment.

South 48th Street West is a principal arterial street. About 800 feet north of the subject property is the intersection of Hesper Road and S 48th Street West. Hesper Road is also a principal arterial street. Arterial street intersections have been identified in the County's growth policies, including the West Billings Neighborhood Plan (2001), as nodes where commercial uses and neighborhood services may be located. The plans and policies also point out the need to limit the "stripping" of commercial zones out along arterial corridors as this creates traffic congestion and conflicts. The West Billings Neighborhood Plan stated any new commercial areas should be within 1,500 feet of an arterial street intersection. The subject property is within 800 feet of the arterial intersection. The intersection is currently controlled by a stop sign for traffic on S 48th Street West. Hesper Road traffic has the right of way. Posted speed limits at this intersection for Hesper Road are 50 mph and 45 mph for S 48th Street West. Average daily traffic on Hesper Road is about 2,600 vehicle trips per day, while S 48th Street West carries about 1,000 vehicles per day. These traffic volumes are low for principal arterial streets. 

In 2016, the City and County conducted a West Billings Multi-Modal Planning study to determine where existing traffic flow and safety is deficient and where improvements may be necessary in the future. The intersection of Neibauer Road and S 48th Street West was determined to have an existing safety concern with the number and severity of vehicle crashes. This intersection is about 1 mile south of the subject property. The study also concluded most of the major streets in West Billings are not conducive to use by pedestrians or bicyclists due to narrow shoulders, no separated pedestrian or bicycle paths, and high travel speeds. The report did not find the need for intersection improvements at S 48th Street West and Hesper Road in any of its modeling for current or future traffic volumes. The 2016 study analyzed crash data in the area from 2010 through 2015. The study predicted current and future traffic patterns based on steady or aggressive growth and land use patterns. The executive summary of this plan is included as an attachment.

The subject property is not within the limits of annexation as currently adopted by the City of Billings. Property to the east is in the Long-Range Urban Planning Area or within the City Annexation Petition Area. This includes the land currently owned and operated by the Knife River Corporation for sand and gravel extraction and for an asphalt plant. Any development of the property under any zoning designation will be limited by the need to provide on-site water and waste water disposal. Many of the more recent residential subdivisions in the area have found higher than normal background nitrate levels in ground water. This is likely due to past and current agricultural practices as well as the increasing number of on-site septic system without enhanced treatment systems. New septic systems for residential subdivisions need to show "no degradation" to the ground water quality through engineering studies and implementation of enhanced treatment systems. In addition, use of the ground water for drinking water supply will require treatment to remove the nitrates to an acceptable standard. Developers have chosen a variety of solutions for these local conditions including community water or waste water disposal systems.

The Planning staff has reviewed the proposed final draft of the PD zone change and is recommending approval based on the 11 criteria for zone changes. Staff finds the proposed zone change is compatible and conforming to the County's adopted growth policy, including the 2001 West Billings Neighborhood Plan. The proposed limitations in the PD will allow the proposed and potential uses of the property to fit in with the existing and future land uses in the area. The A-1 zoning district allows a variety of "commercial" uses that are ancillary and necessary for agricultural businesses, including veterinary clinics for large animals, commercial stables, commercial kennels, blacksmiths & ferriers, as well as raising livestock, crops, forestry, nurseries and ancillary uses.

Limitations imposed in the PD-NC zone include no general retail stores, auto dealers or gas stations, hotels, rooming houses or multi-family dwellings of any kind. The PD proposes operational restrictions so the microbrewery could not suddenly become a restaurant that serves beer & wine and has a gambling area, restrictions on the use of the outdoor patio, lighting restrictions for any parking lot, and outdoor entertainment restrictions to minimize any noise from an event or from the outdoor patio. The number of potential patrons on a daily basis to the microbrewery is an unknown at this point in time, however, state law limits how much beer can be sold or given away at any microbrewery sampling room. This limitation is meant to prevent sampling rooms from becoming a "bar", and would necessarily limit the number of patrons at the sampling room on a daily basis. Brewers may only serve what is produced on site or at an affiliated brewer's facility. Traffic volume on S 48th Street West is low, so additional traffic of any amount may be more noticeable to area residents but may not have any significant negative impact. Since there is the unpredictability of traffic generation and volume, a special agreement has been added to the PD to protect the area in case traffic conditions drop below optimum levels.  

Planning staff recommends approval ad adoption of the findings of the 11 criteria for Zone Change 685.