Draft of May 2015 meeting minutes for ZALU Committee

Draft of the minutes of the Zoning and Land Use [ZALU] Committee of the Old Louisville Neighborhood Council.[OLNC]

Meeting of Wednesday, May 13, 2015  

THIS DRAFT STILL REQUIRES APPROVAL BY VOTE AT NEXT ZALU MEETING.       

Location: Historic Old Louisville Information Center, Central Park

In attendance: Chuck Anderson (Chairman), Lira Johnson, Stephen Peterson, Mary Martin,     Bob Bajandas, Leah Stewart, Christopher White

Absent: Erinn Lee, Joe Impellizzeri.                          Guests: none

Quorum: Yes.

Summary: No motions or voting procedure transacted on any ZALU business.

CALLED TO ORDER: 7:03 p.m.

Old Business

I.  Minutes: As there was no April 2015 ZALU monthly meeting, the March 11, 2015 ZALU meeting minutes were approved for publication and distribution on April 16, 2015 by email and telephone voting by committee members.

II.  Letters to inform real estate listing agents of the particular TNZD code requirements for properties in the various component sectors of the historic district.

A. Production of large TNZD Map that included street numbers for all properties to facilitate easier property identification by TNZD component, especially as it expedites the sending out of Realtor Letters from the OLIC by the Center’s administrator, David Williams. Anderson reports. Production of the map has been accomplished and it is now available.

B. Three types of letters have been composed by Mary Martin.

  1.  Question of the usefulness of other types of letters (i.e. for Corner Commercial, Institutional, Neighborhood Center Transition Edge properties) was raised. It was generally agreed that no letter is needed for the so-called "Campus Edge Transition" properties because there is only one owner for that sector, and no separate letter needed for Neighborhood Center Transition Edge because it is already included in one of the letter forms.  Two additional letters (for the other district mapped components named above) will be generated by Mary Martin at her convenience. It is recommended that any multi-page letters should have numbered pages in order to preserve the sequence of certain content.

  2.  Discussion points: We haven't sent out any such letters in over a year, so some properties have been bought and changed/developed in the meantime which are in conflict with the codes.  We can't easily figure out what properties are being developed in non-compliant/nonconforming ways unless someone knows of such violations and informs members of ZALU. Example: 1213 S. 2nd St. Owner (deceased in 2014) had completely gutted the house "a long time ago" (according to a Realtor who walked through the house), and its been on the market and padlocked for some time. It is now being bought in "a short sale", not foreclosed. It is advertised as "five units" and the  potential buyer received nonconforming rights (NCRs) for three units from Metro..  Question raised about the legal standing of the person who requested the NCRs determination by Metro, and if the person is not the owner, nor in contract to purchase, what are the implications of this for ZALU having standing to request such a determination.

3. David Williams now has the tools and the letter forms to start sending out the letters. An MS Word document derived from the D. Bilitizky copy of the TNZD will be provided to Williams for each type of letter into which he can copy the various tables from the TNZD, which tables Anderson will provide with the assistance of Lira Johnson.

New Business

I. Hookah Bar opened at 7th and Hill. Not in the TNZD. Already established as operating business. It is felt to be a moot issue.      

II.  AirBnB.

A.  Anderson reports on a letter of complaint from a resident of Old Louisville who describes the case of a single-family residential property next to his home where the  owner is operating as a business enterprise the short-term rental of his house to parties in excess of 20 people a night through the AirBnB service on an ongoing basis, not just for the KY Derby weekend. Also, the property owner, the so-called "host" is not on site to manage any problems. Question: should ZALU take a position on the acceptability or not of these new AirBnB types of largely unregulated and "below the radar" enterprises in Old Louisville.

1. Discussion point: Metro has recently sent "cease and desist" letters to a small number of these enterprises citywide and is in process now in attempting to arrive at the best regulatory answer to this particular use of properties.

2. Discussion point: Stewart reports on and reads from a position statement produced for the Bed & Breakfast Association of Louisville and Kentucky Bed & Breakfast Association which proposes to Louisville Conventions Bureau and Metro Codes & Regs a regulatory framework for dealing with the AirBnB type of short term rentals of residential properties, the framework is essentially that no new regulatory laws be created, rather enforcement of existing regulations, inspections, permits and taxes be consistently applied to these new enterprises, and that the playing field be level for all short term residential accommodation businesses.

3. Question: what about those people who just rent out their house for Derby? what are such single event insurance issues for this type of occasional rental?

4. Discussion: Should ZALU sign on in support of the position statement of the Bed & Breakfast Associations?  ZALU members asked that Leah circulate, by email, the position statement to the ZALLU members for our review. Such a letter ought to try to strike a middle ground in the current debate so ZALU doesn't appear to be merely reactionary, we must state why we think it is good for the property owners and the neighborhood at large that the necessary protections offered by current regulations be equally applied to all short term residential rental enterprises.

B. Conclusion: General agreement that Anderson will send the B&B letter, as presented by Stewart, around to the ZALU committee and he will develop a motion to the OLNC indicating ZALU support of the B&B position statement on AirBnB rentals in the neighborhood and send this out to the committee for review.

V. Other business.

A. The resolution presented by Councilman James to Metro Council directing the Planning Commission to explore changes to the TNZD. White reviews one particular paragraph of the resolution that dealt with changing the boundary of the Neighborhood Center. The origin of this particular and specific directive idea remains unknown. CM James disavowed being its author as did the Attorney to the Planning Commission, Jonathan Baker. The problem is that the motion that came from the OLNC on desired changes in permitted uses and signage in the TNZD did not include specific language about a boundary change to any mapped component of the District Form.

1. It was a matter of dispute among the ZALU committee whether expanding the Neighborhood Center was a part of the 2014-15 public discussion of changes to permitted uses in the TNZD.

Stewart stated that she has never supported the change of any component boundaries because that would slow the implementation process and denied any part in authoring the motion.

2. Under the current codes, adding properties to the Neighborhood Center is complicated by the Land Development Code requirements for the Center component. It is hard to expand the Neighborhood Center into an area that has an historic building on it that's not at the street face. The Metro Council resolution doesn't ask to change the current codes, but to expand the boundary of the Neighborhood Center.

B. Has anyone seen the exact language of the Metro ordinance controlling for Boarding and Lodging Houses?  Peterson will find the document and forward to ZALU members.

Other business, continued.

C. Will the ZALU bylaws be revised by the current bylaws review subcommittee?

Anderson and Stewart serve on the subcommittee, their answer is: no. It will be recommended that the ZALU bylaws be incorporated within the larger OLNC bylaws.

D. Property cases

1. 1213 S. 2nd revisited. More discussion of "standing" in requests for Metro determinations.White will inquire of Metro PDS if indeed such a determination was formally issued, and will procure any documents related to the such determination of NCRs, and email them to any ZALU members who would want them for review

2.    1608 S. 2nd. White reports and will follow up after an update from April Robbins.

2. 109 W. Ormsby Ave. White reports and will update when new info is available.

Adjourned at 8:10 p.m.