Staff proposes the Planning Board recommend to City Council that the preliminary plat of The Timbers Subdivision, 1st Filing be conditionally approved, the Findings of Fact adopted, and the variance approved as presented in the staff report.

On December 1, 2021, IMEG for Ali and David Mitchell, applied for preliminary major plat approval for The Timbers Subdivision, 1st Filing. The proposed subdivision creates 93 lots for residential development. The subject property is generally located south of Alkali Creek Road and west of Foothill Drive. The property will be zoned Planned Neighborhood Development, builders will follow the City of Billings Zoning Code when developing the lots.

VARIANCES REQUESTED
The applicant is requesting a variance from Section 23-406, Streets and Roads, B. Streets and Roads Design and Improvement Standards requiring paved surfacing. Specifically the applicant is asking to construct a gravel road to be in use for up to three years at which point the developer will then hard surface the road according to city standards.

See Attachment A for further discussion on the variance request.

PROPOSED CONDITIONS OF APPROVAL
Pursuant to Section 76-3-608(4), MCA, the following conditions are recommended to reasonably minimize potential adverse impacts identified within the Findings of Fact.

1. To protect public health and safety, prior to final plat approval, the applicant will submit all drawings and specifications for water systems, sewer systems and stormwater systems to the City of Billings Engineering Department for review and approval prior to installation. Any additional information required by City of Billings Engineering will be provided by the applicant and additional language in the SIA will be added as required by Engineering.
2. To protect public health and safety, prior to final plat approval, the applicant will submit all drawings and specifications for fire hydrant locations and installation the City of Billings Fire Department and City Engineering Department for review and approval prior to installation. Any additional information required by City of Billings Fire Department or Engineering Department will be provided by the applicant and additional language in the SIA will be added as required by the Fire or Engineering Departments.
3. To protect public health and safety, prior to final plat approval, the applicant will coordinate with City Parks Department and City Engineering concerning proposed discharge methods of detention ponds next to City Park land. Any proposal must be reviewed and approved by City Parks Department and City Engineering prior to installation.
4. To protect public health and safety, prior to final plat approval, the applicant will include language in the SIA under the heading III Transportation B. Sidewalks that the applicant will be responsible for the installation of accessible ramps at the intersections.
5. To protect public health and safety and provide for access to proposed lots, prior to final plat approval, the applicant will provide easement documents for the driveway to lots 18 and 19.
6. To protect public health and safety, prior to final plat approval, the applicant will provide all needed information requested by City of Billings Engineering in their TIS. All recommendations shown in the TIS will be reviewed by Engineering and the required information will be added to the SIA.
7. To protect public health and safety, prior to final plat approval, the applicant will include language in the SIA under the heading II Property Conditions and Information for Lot Purchasers, lot owners will be advised they will be subject to inclusion in a Parks Maintenance District (PMD) for the operation and maintenance of the public park within The Timbers Subdivision.
8. To protect public health and safety and to ensure parks are developed to City of Billings standards, prior to final approval, the applicant will include the following language in the SIA under the heading VII Parks/Open Space: The parks and trail within the park(s) will be constructed or bonded for by the Developer prior to final plat filing in accordance with the Parks and Recreation Department Master Plan Policy and as approved by the Department.  A park master plan for the public parkland within the Timbers Subdivision will be funded by the Subdivider in Consultation with the Parks and Recreation Department by a registered Landscape Architect.  This plan will provide for adequate public input and meet the requirements and specifications of the Parks and Recreation Department.  The plan will be presented to the Parks, Recreation and Cemetery Board for their recommendation to City Council.  The City Council will review and adopt the Master Plan by resolution prior to any construction. The timing of when the master plan is completed can be specified by the applicant. If they intend to do a master plan with a future filing, or it can be complete with the final filing.
9. To minimize the effects on local service, prior to final plat approval, the applicant will coordinate with the USPS for locating and providing the correct amount of space for safely delivering the mail to the residents.
10.  To protect public health and safety and to meet the requirements for multi-use trails within the City of Billings, prior to final plat approval, under the heading III Transportation, E., the applicant will add language about installation of a trail along Alkali Creek: The final location of the trail will be determined in consultation with Parks Department and the Active Transportation Planner. Additionally, language shall be added stating that the trail shall be built to City of Billings trail standards within the first filing. The portion of the trail that is located outside of phase 1 shall be constructed to city standard but maybe finished with gravel. The gravel will be temporary until the development of Phase 2. At this time the graveled portion of the trail will be improved with the all weather surfacing and meet all City of Billings Standards. 
11.  Minor changes may be made in the SIA and final documents, as requested by the Planning, Legal or Public Works Departments to clarify the documents and bring them into the standard acceptable format.
12.  The final plat shall comply with all requirements of the City of Billings Subdivision Regulations, rules, regulations, policies, and resolutions of the City of Billings, and the laws and Administrative Rules of the State of Montana.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

• Pre-application meeting July 8, 2021
• Preliminary plat application submitted to Planning Division on December 1, 2021
• Departmental review meeting December 16, 2021
• Preliminary plat re-submittal December 23, 2021
• Planning Board plat review January 11, 2022
• Planning Board public hearing January 25, 2022
• Preliminary plat to City Council February 28, 2022
• 60 working-day preliminary plat review period ends March 2, 2022

PLAT INFORMATION
General location:                                South of Alkali Creek Road and west of Foothill Drive

Legal Description:                              Tract A of COS 3795

Owner/Subdivider:                             Ali and David Mitchell

Engineer and Surveyor:                      IMEG

Existing Zoning:                                 PD

Existing land use:                                Open grassland

Proposed land use:                              Residential

Gross and Net area:                             56.52 acres / 40.09 acres

Proposed number of lots:                    93

Lot size:                                               Max:    1.84 acres
                                                            Min.:    4,959 square feet

Parkland requirements:                       Parkland requirement for this subdivision is 3.45 acres, the applicant will be dedicating 6.72 acres with this filing.

There are no stakeholder responses at this time. On January 25, 2022, at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Planning Board, public comment will be formally received during a public hearing.

Plat Review Discussion:
Staff gave a presentation of the proposed subdivision. After the presentation, Planning Board President Cook called for discussion and questions from the members of the Board. Ms. Plecker said this property went to City Council for annexation and Planned Development zoning which were approved.  Condition #10 may be revised as the City Council conditioned the annexation to have the multi-use path continue beyond first filing as a soft surface trail to the northwest within future parkland.  She elaborated on the language for the variance and said the intent is this variance will be a temporary variance of 2 years from the date of final plat. Staff feels there is a financial guarantee in place within the language of the creation of an SID should the applicant go beyond the 2 years of the variance.

A board member asked if the gravel surface secondary access is for emergency services and about the reasoning for the Georgia Pine gravel cul-de-sac end when the other cul-de-sacs are paved. Staff responded the secondary gravel surface road is to be built to hold a 40 ton truck in all weather conditions as required by Billings Fire Department.  Kolten Knatterud, IMEG, agent for the applicant, said the road master plan has Georgia Pine road extended in future filings, and it was to remain gravel until that time. He explained the design of the filing boundaries which were driven by Alkali Creek, it's floodplain area and wetlands. He pointed out the reason for the variance is the road, Timbers Boulevard North, may have to be shifted due to the Army Corp of Engineers review of the wetland areas. The timeline for Army Corp of Engineers is a minimum of 250 days. He addressed the stormwater system, it is complex and there will be two separate stormwater systems, one to deal with off site drainage and on to deal with on site drainage in this development.  The connection, Sugar Pine Road, to the adjacent Morledge property was agreed upon by the Morledges prior to the subdivision application.  Condition #10 concerning the multi use trail, Mr. Knatterud stated it is his understanding Engineering would like to see the trail go to Alkali Creek road to cross bridges and make a future connection to the proposed trail in Terrace Estates subdivision. This will be clarified by the time of the public hearing. The final plat is not projected to be filed until mid to late summer. Monica Plecker said part of the 2-year timeline as well as the SID is the agreement the City of Billings agencies came to so the road would not remain gravel for an extensive amount of time.  Board member Woods asked for clarification on the stormwater pond on Lot #10.  Kolten Knatterud referred to the survey and SIA, this is an example of the two different stormwater systems.  He pointed out the conveyance ditch is for the off-site flow. Next to the ditch there is a constructed detention pond to handle the on-site stormwater.  There will be infrastructure for both systems.  The HOA is responsible for the stormwater infrastructure, but City Public Works reserves the right to access the system. 

Since the plat review meeting, planning staff, engineering staff and fire staff have reviewed the variance for consistency with the Development Agreement and Annexation resolution and have determined the variance would actually be no longer than 3 years. The variance request portion of this report has been updated to reflect this as well. Additionally, condition ten has been updated to be consistent with annexation approval and development agreement approved by City Council. 
 

In accordance with state law, the Governing Body has 60 working days to act upon this major preliminary plat. The 60 working day review period for the proposed plat ends on March 2, 2022. Subdivision regulations also require that preliminary plats be reviewed using specific criteria, as stated within this report. The Governing Body may not unreasonably restrict an owner's ability to develop land if the subdivider provides evidence that any identified adverse effects can be mitigated. Within the 60 working day review period, the Governing Body is required to:
1. Approve;
2. Conditionally Approve; or
3. Deny the Preliminary Plat

This plat will have no fiscal impacts on the City/County Planning Division.

One of the purposes of the subdivision review process is to identify potential negative effects of property being subdivided. Negative effects that are identified become the subdivider’s responsibility to mitigate.  Various departments, private service/utility providers and the affected school district/s, have reviewed this application and provided input on effects and mitigation.  The Findings of Fact, which are presented as an attachment, discuss potential negative impacts of the subdivision and conditions of approval are recommended as measures to further mitigate any impacts. In this case, there were found to be minimal impacts from this proposed subdivision.