This is a special review to allow the location of a beer & wine license with gaming at a proposed new Town Pump Casino (with gas station & convenience store) in a Highway Commercial (HC) zone on Lots 1, 2, 3A, 4A, 4B and the North 65 feet of Lot 5, Thomas Subdivision, a 2.11 acre parcel of land generally located at 450 Main Street. The Zoning Commission conducted a public hearing on January 5, 2016, and is forwarding a recommendation of conditional approval on a 3-1 vote.

Special Review applications are reviewed using criteria referenced in the Alternatives Analyzed section of this memo. Special Reviews do not change the zoning of a property. They are tied to specific uses that are permitted in a given zoning district but are subject to a review by the City prior to the use being allowed. Special Review requests, unlike Zone Changes, may be conditioned to mitigate potential impacts from the use on the subject property or surrounding properties.

 

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 and the 3 criteria for special review and recommended conditional approval. The Zoning Commission reviewed the application and concurred with the staff recommendation. 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 and the 2008 Growth Policy, 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, and conforms to all parts of the Unified Zoning Regulations. The location is in one of the zoning districts that allows a wine and beer license with gaming by special review approval. The application conforms to the purposes of the regulations and the 2008 Growth Policy. The location of an additional liquor license in this area should have minimal impact on the surrounding uses or neighbors. However, the traffic impacts from this use will be significantly greater than the current traffic generated by the Reiter's Marina business.
 
The application also conforms to the second and third criteria. There will be demolition of the existing structures on site and then there will be all new construction with new circulation and access points and landscaping of the site. The Zoning Commission is recommending conditions for this special review based on the approval criteria for special review uses.
 
The Zoning Commission is recommending the following conditions.
 
PROPOSED CONDITIONS
1. The special review is limited to Lots 1, 2, 3A, 4A, 4B and the North 65 feet of Lot 5, Thomas Subdivision generally located at 430 / 450 Main Street.
 
2. The special review approval is for the location of beer and wine license with gaming and no other use is intended or implied.
 
3. Any expansion of the interior space of the casino of more than 10% will require an additional special review approval.
 
4. All exterior lighting, including security lighting and fuel canopy lighting shall have full cut- off shields so no part of the fixture or lens projects below the cut-off shield.  The maximum height of any light pole in the outdoor areas shall be 20 feet above grade.
 
5. There shall be no outdoor public address system or outside announcement system, whether permanent or temporary, of any kind.
 
6. No construction or demolition activity will occur before 7 am or after 8 pm daily.
 
7. New parking lot construction will meet the Highway Commercial zoning requirements for landscaping. In addition, there will be one street tree planted every 40 feet in the proposed landscape area along both frontages, Lake Elmo and Main Street. Street trees are trees that can have their lowest branches at 8 feet, without disfiguring the tree, within 4 years. New trees shall not be any tree with the genus scientific name of Populus or any of its subspecies including any variety of aspens. Also no Salix (willows), Acer negundo (Box Elder) or Ulmus (Elms). Small ornamental trees do not quality as street trees. All installed landscape will be continuously maintained and replaced as necessary by the owner as outlined in Section 27-1110 BMCC, Installation and Maintenance.
 
8. 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 new building 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.
 
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 lot will be re-developed and additional taxable value may be added to the City's tax base. If the special review is not approved, the lot may or may not re-develop at this time.
 

This is a special review to locate a new Town Pump Casino with gas station & convenience store where the existing Reiter’s Marina is located. The property is accessible from Main Street and Lake Elmo Drive. The city has approved 7 locations for alcoholic beverage sales with gaming in this neighborhood. The applicant states in a cover letter that this redevelopment project will be a welcome addition to the area because it will involve a new store and fuel canopy, and the project will include landscaping where there currently is none on site. They also state that they will be providing different kinds of jobs for with the new store and casino. Town Pump believes the new convenience store and casino will be a benefit to the area with the two nearby hotels and shopping on one of the busiest streets in Montana.
 
The subject property has a great deal of traffic going past it on both the east, Main Street, and west, Lake Elmo. Access points will be reviewed by City Engineering staff at the time of permits for the proposed project. This will give travelers, and locals, another option for a gas station & convenience store with casino along Main Street. There is currently new construction going on to the south of this property for a new Starbucks Coffee business that also will add to the new development in this part of Billings. 
 
There are no known churches in the area, no parks with playing fields or playgrounds, and no schools within 600 feet of this proposed location.

 

The Zoning Commission conducted a public hearing on January 5, 2016, and received the staff recommendation and testimony from the applicant's agent and an owner of nearby property also provided comment to the Zoning Commission.

A couple of questions were asked of staff by Zoning Commission members.  One question was considering the nature of the existing business and the years it has been at this location would it be a 'brown site' and require mitigation and clean up.  Staff responded that they didn't know the answer to that particular question but that during demolition of the site possible contaminates may be found at that time. The developer would need to meet any local, state, or federal requirements for remediation on the site.  Another question was concerning traffic and access to the lot.  Staff responded that there are existing access points that may continue in use but that the applicant will have to coordinate access with MDOT on Main Street and City Engineering on the Lake Elmo side of the subject property.

The public hearing was opened and the applicants agent spoke stating that they have an engineering firm working with the MDOT on the accesses to the site.

A surrounding property owner stood and spoke in opposition to the application stating that this is a very dangerous intersection and that the proposed business as well as the new Starbucks are only going to add to the traffic problems.  He felt that at the very least they should be required to install a deceleration lane on Main Street similar to the one that Albertsons has farther north on Main Street. 

Commission Member James Mariska, referring to the letter from the Applicants agent in the staff report, pointed out that the applicant in that letter has stated that one option they are discussing is a deceleration lane on Main Street.  He asked the property owner if that is what he was referring to and if that would help to alleviate some of his concerns.

There were a few more comments made by Zoning Commission members about the traffic on Main Street and Lake Elmo and that this intersection is dangerous but there were no other comments from the public.    

Commission Member Mike Larson made a motion to recommend conditional approval and adoption of the findings of the 3 criteria. The motion was seconded by Commission Member James Mariska. The motion was approved on a 3-1 vote with Commission member Ulvestad voting against the motion.

Consistency with adopted plans and policies is discussed in the Alternatives Analyzed above.