Hayden planning commission recommends approval of Hayden Sky PUD with conditions

The Hayden Planning and Zoning Commission voted 6-0 on Feb. 24 to recommend that the City Council approve the Hayden Sky final planned unit development (PUD), a proposed mixed residential and light-industrial project on about 127 acres north of Hayden Avenue.

The commission's recommendation sends the project to City Council with staff-recommended conditions and three applicant requests the commission approved: a waiver of the PUD buffer on the property's north edge adjacent to the airport, a deferral of certain frontage/landscaping improvements along Hutter Road until phase 4 (with performance surety), and an extension of the PUD approval period from the city standard five years to 10 years.

Donna (staff member), the city planner presenting the application, told commissioners the property was annexed into the city in 2013 (by ordinance) with an annexation agreement that requires a roughly 25-foot strip adjacent to Hutter Road reserved for a future Hutter Bypass, limits gross residential density to 4 dwelling units per acre, and requires 15 acres set aside for a park. The final PUD presented to the commission proposes about 411 residential lots (3.22 dwelling units per acre), a mix of single-family lots, townhomes and a light-industrial tract, and four construction phases. Dale Rainey of Rainey Design Group described the proposed parks: a southern active park (about eight acres) and a quieter northern park; the applicant said the parks total roughly 15 acres and meet or exceed the PUD's 10% open-space requirement.

Engineer Eric Olsen (Olsen Engineering) and other applicants described infrastructure and utilities. The Hayden Lake Irrigation District provided a…