This is a special review to allow four, nine-plex multi-family buildings (36 dwelling units) in a Residential 6,000 (R-60) zone on Lot 4, Block 1, Chalice Acres Subdivision. The property is a 1.98 acre parcel of land generally located west of 1442 Bench Boulevard. The City Council allowed the applicant to withdraw a previous application on March 23, 2015 to re-design the site plan. The Zoning Commission conducted a public hearing on the re-designed site plan on May 5, 2015, and is forwarding a recommendation of conditional approval and adoption of the findings of the 3 criteria on a 4 to 0 vote.

The City Council may:

• Approve the request
• Conditionally approve the request
• Deny the request
• Allow the applicant to withdraw the request
• Delay action on the request for up to 30 days

The Planning Division reviewed the application with other city departments and recommended conditional approval to the Zoning Commission based on the findings of the 3 criteria. The Zoning Commission concurred with the recommendation and the findings. Before a recommendation of approval or conditional approval may be made, each special review request must demonstrate conformance with three primary criteria: 1) the application complies with all parts of the Unified Zoning Regulations, 2) the application is consistent with the objectives and purposes of the Unified Zoning Regulations, the 2008 Growth Policy including any neighborhood plans, and 3) is compatible with surrounding land uses and is otherwise screened and separated from adjacent land to minimize adverse impacts.

This application conforms to the first criteria in so far that it is in a zoning district, R-60, where multi-family dwellings are allowed by special review
approval. In fact, a previous special review for 28 dwelling units in 7 multi-family dwellings has been conditionally approved for this property (2008). The form of the application is correct and the submitted site plan is in conformance with site development and zoning regulations for the R-60 zoning district.

The previous concern about the number of off-street parking spaces has been addressed through a redesign of the building locations. This provided an
additional 30 off-street parking spaces. The site plan indicates all curb and parking lanes outside of Lot 4 will be marked and signed to prevent parking in
these areas. The applicant has also shown areas for solid waste storage and postal service on site. The new site plan shows exterior fencing on the south
and east property boundaries. A landscaping and lighting plan has been submitted and a proposed concrete sidewalk is shown on the southern leg of the private road. This will provide safe pedestrian access to Bench Boulevard.

The submitted Traffic Analysis has been accepted by the City Traffic Engineer and the recommendations will be implemented as submitted. The recommendations are to place a stop sign where each leg of the private road intersects Bench Boulevard and to provide new drive approaches off the private access easement for Lots 1 and 3 of Chalice Acres. (see Traffic Analysis Attachment).

The application does conform to the second and third criteria. The zoning regulations adopted by the City Council have the purpose of promoting health, safety and general welfare and to implement the 2008 Growth Policy and the Billings Heights Neighborhood Plan. The proposed site plan and buildings have been redesigned to address the previous concerns including additional off-street parking, landscaping, screening to adjacent properties, areas for mail service and solid waste storage. The building heights have been reduced from 28 feet to 24 feet 9 inches and outdoor spaces are shown for the use of the new residents.

Careful site design is necessary to ensure compatibility with adjacent uses. This site has been re-designed so details for landscaping, screening, storm water management, and solid waste collection are complete. The Heights Neighborhood Plan adopted in 2006 indicated the area between Bench Boulevard and Main Street should be developed with a mixture of housing choices and uses. There are few multi-family apartment housing units east of Main Street at this time. There are many choices for single family, two-family, elderly housing, manufactured homes and four-family dwellings but only a handful of apartment dwellings.

PROPOSED CONDITIONS:
1. The special review is limited to Lot 4, Block 1 Chalice Acres Subdivision generally located west of 1442 Bench Boulevard.
2. The special review approval is for the construction of four, 9-plex multi-family dwellings and no other use or development configuration is intended or implied by this approval.
3. Any expansion of the proposed building or off-street parking greater than 10 percent of what is shown on the submitted site plan will require
an additional special review approval.
4. All exterior lighting, including security lighting shall have full cut-off shields so no part of the fixture or lens projects below the cut-off shield. Exceptions to this requirement are allowed for porch or entry doorway lighting. The maximum height of any light pole in the outdoor areas shall be 15 feet above grade.
5. No construction or demolition activity will occur before 7 am or after 8 pm daily.
6.  Any centralized solid waste storage shall be enclosed by a wall on 3 sides and a closing gate or gates. The wall and gates for the solid waste storage shall be similar or complimentary in color to the adjacent buildings and shall be sight-obscuring. The wall and gates shall be tall enough that no part of the interior dumpster(s) are visible from the outside.
7. The site will be developed in substantial conformance with the revised site plans submitted April 10, 2015 including Site Plan and Section (Sheet 1 of 4), Storm Water Drainage Plan & Details (Sheet 2 of 4) and Detailed Site Plan and Landscaping (Sheet 1-A) including landscaping, parking, mail service area, solid waste storage area and building locations.
8. The applicant will install and provide, at no cost to the City or adjacent owners, the required improvements to the private access road including
but not limited to all pavement, utilities, pavement markings, private driveways, signs and other road appurtenances as required. The applicant will coordinate any such improvements with the City Engineering Division.
9. These conditions of special review approval shall run with the land described in this authorization and shall apply to all current and subsequent owners, operators, managers, lease holders, heirs and assigns.
10. The proposed development shall comply with all other limitations of Section 27-613 of the Unified Zoning Regulations concerning special review uses, and all other City of Billings regulations and ordinances that apply.

**NOTE** Approval of this Special Review does not constitute approval of a building permit, sign permit or fence permit. Compliance with all applicable
local codes will be reviewed at the building permit level. This application is for a Special Review as noted above and no other request is being considered
with this application. The Planning Division points out that the use and development of the property must be in accordance with the submitted site plan.

If the special review is approved, the property will be developed at a higher density than allowed by right. This will increase the taxable property value and will increase fees paid to the city based on the R-60 zoning district. Development of this vacant parcel within the city limits will take advantage of existing services that are adjacent to the property supporting the existing investment in city infrastructure.

This property received a previous special review conditional approval in 2008 (Special Review 856) for seven, 4-plex multi-family dwellings (28 units). The
owner has not acted on this approval since 2008, except for the filing of the Chalice Acres Subdivision to create lots for the 3 existing homes along the
Bench Boulevard frontage and this large vacant lot west of those homes. The subdivision provided 2 access easements for the large vacant lot anticipating
the construction of the seven 4-plex multi-family dwellings. The owner now contemplates an additional 8 dwelling units and a re-configuration from 4-plex
buildings to 9-plex buildings.

Prior to the special review in 2008, another special review was approved for one of the parcels subsumed by the Chalice Acres Subdivision. This special
review would have allowed two 10-plex multi-family dwellings (Special Review 767). Since this parcel was integrated into the new subdivision, the owner can no longer act on this special review approval. The City has considered several special review requests for multi-family dwellings in R-60 in Billings Heights since zoning was adopted in 1972. Fourteen applications have been made for this type of development; 3 have been denied and 3 have been withdrawn. Eight applications have been conditionally approved. Four of the 8 have been limited to 4-plex multi-family dwellings. The remaining 4 applications were approved for 5 to 10-plex multi-family dwellings. These 4 applications are located within the Eagle's Nest Subdivision west of Main Street.

This is a special review request to allow 36 dwelling units in four, nine-unit buildings on Lot 4, Block 1 of Chalice Acres Subdivision. The property is approximately 2 acres in area and is located just west of 3 single family dwellings that have frontage on Bench Boulevard. To the west is the Volunteers of America apartment complex that has access to Main Street and is zoned Highway Commercial (HC). The original site plan was lacking in several details such as postal service, solid waste storage and removal, and off-street parking. The re-submitted site plans show these details, increased the number of off-street parking spaces from 36 to 66, and reduced the number of spaces provided on the private road from 18 to 11. All of the on-street spaces will be located entirely within Lot 4 of Chalice Acres and the remaining areas along the private road will be signed and curbs painted to indicate no parking is allowed. The height of the
proposed 9-plexes has been reduced from 28 feet to 24 feet 9 inches to better match the existing dwelling heights in the area. The site plan show a 6 foot privacy fence (vinyl) along the east and south property lines. The common solid waste storage area is now located between the northern 2 buildings and will have an enclosure. A central mail facility will be located north of Building #4 along the northern leg of the private road. A paved sidewalk will be installed along the southern leg of the private road to provide safe pedestrian access to Bench Boulevard.

The applicant has also provided a landscaping and lighting plan to ensure this amenity is provided for the multi-family development. The applicant has submitted the re-designed site plans and a typical elevation of the proposed 9-unit buildings. The buildings would be 139 feet in length and 56 feet wide. The elevation plan shows 9 tuck-under garages on each front façade with a 2nd story living area above the garage. The proposed roof line is a 3:12 pitch so the roof lines will be similar in height to other dwellings in the area. There are no exterior front entrance doors for each dwelling unit. The elevation plan shows an exterior door on each end of the building to access a common interior hallway.

The applicant states the reason for the special review request is to construct 3-bedroom rental apartments based on a market analysis in Billings Heights. The applicant states the interior entrance from each garage to the living area will be more secure than a front door for each dwelling unit. The site plan shows a private road that loops around from Bench Boulevard. The proposed road is 34 feet in width with an 18-foot concrete apron in front of the garage doors that provides an additional parking space. The off-street parking regulations for the City of Billings require 1.5 parking spaces for each dwelling unit in a multi-family development where 2 or more bedrooms are provided in each unit. The re-designed site plan provides more than 2 parking spaces for each unit (2.1 spaces). Each unit will have 1 garage space and 1 driveway parking space except for Building #4 that has only 3 driveway parking spaces. This building has to meet the required zoning setback to the east property line so 6 of the units will only have a private garage space. There is usable outdoor space around each building. All the buildings have a rear landing/patio area with an adjacent usable lawn area of at least 15 feet with the exception of Building #1. The lawn area north of building #1 is reduced to accommodate the required storm water retention area to the north. There is a larger lawn area to the east and west of Building #1.

The Zoning Commission conducted a public hearing on May 5, 2015, and received the staff recommendation and testimony from the applicant, Gene Culver, and his agent, William Smith, P.E.. The Commission received no other testimony. Commission member Mike Boyett made a motion to recommend conditional approval and adoption of the findings of the 3 criteria. The motion was seconded by Commission member Barbara Hawkins. The Commission voted 4 to 0 in favor of the motion.

Please refer to the Alternatives Analyzed section above for consistency with adopted plans and policies.