Item # 2 -  County Zone Change 673 – East of Cherry Creek/Danube Court Manufactured Home Park – A zone change request from Residential 9,600 (R-96) to Residential Manufactured Home (RMH) on a portion of Lot 2, Block 1 of Cherry Creek Estates, a 16.77 acre parcel of land. The owners and agents conducted a pre-application neighborhood meeting on February 18, 2016 at the Cherry Creek Community Center at 1955 N Cherry Creek Loop. Tax ID: A31450. Presented by Wyeth Friday, Planning Division Manager.
 

The Planning staff is forwarding a recommendation of Denial based on the 11 criteria for zone changes.
 

OWNER: Cherry Creek Development, Inc.
AGENT: Craig Dalton, Performance Engineering and Consulting
LEGAL DESCRIPTION: Portion of Lot 2, Block 1, Cherry Creek Estates Subdivision
ADDRESS: Non assigned (off of Cherry Creek Loop)
CURRENT ZONING: Residential 9600 (R-96)
EXISTING LAND USE: Vacant
PROPOSED USE: Residential Manufactured Home
SIZE OF PARCEL: 16.77 Acres

None

Subject Property
There have been several previous zone change applications submitted affecting all, or part, of the subject property and surrounding properties.

The first application was County Zone Change #496, which was a request to change about 200 acres of property, including the subject property, to Residential Manufactured Home and Residential-7000 (R-70) zoning. This proposal would have changed the current subject property (now Lot 2, Block 1 of Cherry Creek Estates Subdivision) to R-70 zoning. Staff recommended approval, the Zoning Commission recommended denial, and the Board of County Commissioners granted withdrawal of that application in 1998.

County Zone Change #506, which requested to change the zoning on the far east side of the current Cherry Creek Manufactured Home Park from Agricultural Open Space (A-1) to Residential-9600 (R-96), was approved by the Board of County Commissioners in 1998. This property is now made up of Aspen Gateway Subdivision, a single family residential development in the City along Wicks Lane, and Riverview Estates Subdivision, a single family development in the County accessed off of the east end of Wicks Lane.

County Zone Change #505, which requested to change the zoning along Bitterroot Drive along the west side of the subject property from R-70 to R-96, was approved by the Board of County Commissioners in 1998. This zone change involved multiple owners with existing single family homes that wanted to ensure their lots sizes and existing development matched the zoning.  

County Zone Change #541, which requested to change the zoning on the current subject property from A-1 to R-96, was approved by the Board of County Commissioners in 2001. At the time, the applicant, Cherry Creek Development, Inc., stated in its application materials that the zoning request was a result of, and in accordance with, the neighbors input requiring residential development of R-96 or larger lots adjacent to their properties (the same properties referenced in Zone Change #505). Staff believes this zone change is the one neighbors and others now reference as the agreed to "buffer" between the RMH zoning and the existing residential development in the R-96 zoning along Bitterroot Drive.

County Zone Change #543, which requested to change the zoning on property east of the subject property from A-1 to Residential Manufactured Home (RMH) zoning, was approved by the Board of County Commissioners in 2001. This property became the Cherry Creek/Danube Court Manufactured Home Park.

City Zone Change #702, which was initiated by the City Council to change the zoning from RMH zoning to R-96 zoning on the property east of the subject property, failed due to a lack of the super-majority vote needed to pass it by the Council in 2002. At the time, it appears the City Council was very concerned about providing services to the property if it developed under manufactured home zoning (what it was zoned in the County under Zone Change #543). This property later became the Cherry Creek/Danube Court Manufactured Home Park.
 

NORTH:	Zoning: R-70 and R-96 Land Use: Residential two family and single family development (City)
SOUTH:	Zoning: Public (portion of same Lot 2, Block 1 as zone change) Land Use: Vacant (City)
EAST:	Zoning: RMH Land Use: Residential Manufactured Home Park (Cherry Creek/Danube Court) (City)
WEST:	Zoning: R-96 and R-70 Land Use: Residential single family and two family development (County adjacent and City/County across Bitterroot Drive)

The subject property is located just west of the existing Cherry Creek/Danube Court Manufactured Home Park. The north access of Cherry Creek Loop splits the property north and south. The property is currently vacant and includes 16.77 acres of land. The property is bordered on the south by a portion of the same property zoned Public and in the City. The applicant would like to rezone the property from R-96 to RMH to continue development of manufactured homes in the area.

This area of the Billings Heights has a mix of  residential development and zoning, and also has properties both inside the City Limits and outside in the County. The Cherry Creek/Danube Court Manufactured Home Park just east of the subject property is in the City, while the property adjacent to the west is in the County along Bitterroot Drive. Much of the area that is now occupied by the manufactured home park is a reclaimed gravel mine. There is also additional property in the County across Bitterroot Drive and south of the intersection of Cherry Creek Loop North and Bitterroot Drive. Zoning in the area includes the RMH zoning in the existing manufactured home park, R-9600 zoning between the manufactured home park and Bitterroot Drive, some Residential-7000 (R-70) zoning at the northeast corner of the intersection of Cherry Creek Loop South and Bitterroot Drive, and at the southeast corner of the intersection of Wicks Lane and Bitterroot Drive. Aside from some Public zoning across Bitterroot Drive for park land, all of the property directly west across Bitterroot Drive is zoned R-70.

The Cherry Creek/Danube Court Manufactured Home Park currently contains about 360 spaces for manufactured homes. The development was built out over several years, with the last portion reviewed through the City Subdivision process in 2009 for the portion named Danube Court. As outlined in the Applicable Zoning History of this memo, the subject property and adjacent property to the east and west, have been through a series of rezoning processes in the City and County starting in 1998. The applicants for this current zone change also were applicants that changed the zoning from Agricultural Open Space (A-1) to R-96 zoning on this same property in 2001. At the time of that application, the applicants indicated they were going through the zone change process in part due to discussions with the property owners to the west along Bitterroot Drive. This may be why there have been claims during this new application process that there was a promise of some sort of "buffer" to be provided between the manufactured home park and the residences along Bitterroot Drive. This could not have been a condition of the zone change approval as zone changes may not be condition by law but appears to be the result of past discussions between the current applicant and property owners to the west along Bitterroot Drive. 

A neighborhood meeting was conducted by the applicant on Thursday, February 18, 2016 at the Cherry Creek Community Hall at 1955 North Cherry Creek Loop.  Twenty-three property owners attended the meeting. The meeting notes indicate questions from the attending property owners regarding the number of homes proposed and whether documentation existed that subject property was to remain a buffer between the existing manufactured home park and the properties to the west. Other issues discussed at the meeting included concerns about increases in crime in the area, safety for pedestrians, school capacities, noise from and anesthetics of the future development, and impacts from increased traffic from the property. Some of the questions were answered by the agent and applicant, according to the meeting notes. A brief summary of the meeting is attached to this memo. The Planning Division had received three letters in opposition and one letter in favor from surrounding property owners at the time this memo was drafted.
 
Planning staff has reviewed this application and is forwarding a recommendation of denial for the proposed zone change based on the 11 criteria for zone changes. While RMH zoning is a viable zoning in some areas of the community, and exists to the east of the subject property, that zoning in this area of the County has not met many of the criteria for zone changes and shows that additional RMH zoning in this area of the County would also not meet many of the criteria. Staff found that additional RMH zoning in this area of the County would not be consistent with many of the goals of the Yellowstone County and City of Billings 2008 Growth Policy for public, health, safety and quality of life (Criteria #1); would result in significant service demands on law enforcement and community services (Criteria #3); would not promote health and general welfare for the current residents and neighborhood (Criteria #4); would not be the most suitable zoning for the property considering the character of the district and the use (Criteria 8); does not appear to conserve the value of buildings in the area (Criteria #9);  and does not encourage the most appropriate use of land in this area of the County (Criteria #10). 
 

Staff recommends Denial of Zone Change #673.