06/21/2010 Planning Commission Minutes

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� ,� . ' ? � MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday,June 21,2010 6:30 o'clock p.m. � (#10-3473 CITY OF ORONO,AMENDMENT TO 78-624,RPUD CONDITIONAL USES, CONT) Residential District,together with a variety of other care facilities. Additionally the B-4 Office and Professional Business District allows"nursing homes"as a conditional use in the following context: "78-734, Conditional Uses. Nursing homes,hospitals,rest homes or retirement homes,provided the site shall contain not less than 600 square feet of lot area for each person to be accommodated, and no building is located less than 35 feet from the side lot,line." These or nearly identical provisions have been in the Code since the 1960s. Because there are no definitions in the code for nursing home,rest home,retirement home,hospital,or sanitarium, one must make a reasonable interpretation of what they are. Sanitariums and hospitals seem to connote an institutional level of health care,whereas rest homes,nursing homes, and retirement homes are fairly synonymous and have more of a residential character with some level of living assistance. Each of the above uses suggests a living situation that in something other than the standard single-family dwelling situation. Gaffron stated it would be a stretch,however,to conclude that nursing homes are the direct equivalent of multifamily dwellings. If we were to make that leap,then we would have to assume that multifamily swellings were intended to be allowed in the RR-1B and B-4 districts,which they clearly were not. In reviewing how other neighboring cities' codes address nursing homes,assisted living and the like, Staff found that Plymouth allows as a conditional use in its RMF-2 district residential care facilities such as nursing homes, assisted living facilities and similar facilities,but excludes hospitals, sanitariums or similar institutions. Minnetonka allows as a conditional use in its R-4 district public or private nursing or convalescent homes. Golden Valley allows as a pernutted use in its R-4 multifamily district senior and physical disability housing. It appears there is a wide variety of ways in which cities have addressed the topic;it appears less common to see them allowed in a single-family district. •The RPUD District is the only district in which Orono allows multifamily attached dwellings as a permitted use, and the RPUD code section establishes specific standards for such dwellings with regards to setbacks, separate of uses,height limitations and outside storage limitations, as well as other development standards applicable to both multifamily attached and single-family dwelling developments. Because assisted living facilities are likely to be somewhat similar in character to multifamily uses in their impacts, and because the appropriate standards for regulating those impacts are generally in place within the RPUD District standards, it follows that"assisted living facilities"would be an appropriate use in the RPUD District. Establishing"assisted living facilities"as a pernutted use in the RPUD District would subject it directly to all the standards established in that district, all of which were created to be applicable to strictly residential use. The value in making"assisted living facilities"a conditional use is the ability of the City to impose additional appropriate conditions in its approvals. Staff believes it would be most appropriate to add"assisted living facilities"to the RPUD District as a conditional use. This has the additional benefit of subjecting the use to the various general conditional use standards that ensure appropriate development. Page 2 ,