HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-09-12 MinutesMINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE
PLANNING COMMISSION
A regular meeting of the Fayetteville Planning Commission was held on September 12,
2005 at 5:30 p.m. in Room 219 of the City Administration Building, 113 W. Mountain,
Fayetteville, Arkansas.
ITEMS DISCUSSED ACTION TAKEN
VAC 05-1632: East Square Development Forwarded to City Council
Consent
LSP 05-1675: Langham Approved
Consent
PPL 05-1608: Water Brook Phase I, pp 571 Approved
Page 3
C-PZD 05-1610 for the East Square Development Tabled
Page
ADM 05-1712: Williams Ford Tractor, pp 363 Approved
Page
LSD 05-1615: Bassett Furniture Direct, pp 212 Tabled
Page
PPL 05-1633: Albright's Oak Hill Addition, pp 60 Approved
Page
LSD 05-1672: Township Heights, pp 290 Approved
Page
R-PZD 05-1543: Vantage Center, pp 136 Forwarded to City Council
Page
RZN 05-1687: Hopmann, pp 446 Forwarded to City Council
Page
LSD 05-1688: Dixie Development, pp 173 Approved
Page
RZN 05-1688: JDM Investments, LLC, pp 294 Forwarded to City Council
Page
VAC 05-1689: JDM Investments, LLC, pp 294 Forwarded to City Council
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 2
Page
CPL 05-1690: JDM Investments, LLC, pp 294
Page
VAC 05-1686: Schultz, pp 599
Page
CUP 05-1684: Friday, pp 446
Page
CUP 05-1691: Campbell, pp 564
Page
RZN 05-1711: Mathias, pp 557
Page
No Action Necessary
Forwarded to City Council
Approved
Approved
Forwarded to City Council
MEMBERS PRESENT MEMBERS ABSENT
Jill Anthes
Sean Trumbo
James Graves
Christian Vaught
Audi Lack
Christine Myres
Alan Ostner
Candy Clark
Nancy Allen
STAFF PRESENT STAFF ABSENT
Jeremy Pate Renee Thomas
Suzanne Morgan
Brent O'Neal
Andrew Garner
Jesse Fulcher
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 3
Ostner: Welcome to the September 12, 2005 meeting of the Fayetteville Planning
Commission. If we could have the roll call please.
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call Anthes, Myres, Graves, Lack, Clark,
Trumbo Ostner were present.
Ostner: The first item on the agenda is the approval of the consent agenda. I will
read those items. VAC 05-1632 for East Square Development submitted
by Bob Kohler for property located at the east/west alley on the Mountain
Inn site. Second, LSP 05-1675 submitted by Frances Langham for
property located at the northeast corner of Rom Orchard Road and Skillern
Road. If anyone in the audience or a Planning Commissioner would like
to have these items pulled please speak now. Otherwise, I will entertain a
motion to approve the consent agenda.
Anthes: So moved.
Clark: Second.
Ostner: Is there discussion? Will you call the roll please?
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to approve the consent agenda
was approved by a vote of 7-0-0.
Morgan: The motion carries.
Ostner: Before we proceed, several items have been tabled, I would like to
announce those. Item number three, for Ridge Hill Apartments has been
tabled by request of the applicant. Item number five, C-PZD for East
Square Development has been tabled as requested by the applicant. Items
8, 9, and 10 for House property located at lots 25 and 28 in the
Huntingdon PUD subdivision have been tabled. If you are here for those
items we might possibly call for comment but we will not formally hear
those items tonight. The next item is LSD 05-1462 for Ridge Hill
Apartments, do I have a motion to table this item?
Clark: So moved.
Anthes: Second.
Ostner: Is there discussion? I am going to call for public comment. If there is any
public comment for LSD 05-1462 we can take your comments now.
There is a motion and a second, would you call the roll please?
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to table LSD 05-1462 was
approved by a vote of 7-0-0.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 4
PPL 05-1608: Preliminary Plat (Water Brook Phase I, pp 571): Submitted by Mel
Milholland for property located north of Huntsville, west of Deerfield. The property is
zoned RSF-4, Residential Single Family, four units per acre and contains approximately
35.17 acres. The request is to approve a residential subdivision with 97 single family lots
proposed.
Ostner: Item number four is PPL 05-1608 for Waterbrook Phase I, if we could
have the staff report please.
Garner: This item was tabled at the last meeting. It is a proposal for 96 single
family lots on Huntsville Road. The property is zoned RSF-4 and the main
issue was lining up the subdivision entrance with Ed Edwards Road across
the road immediately across Huntsville Road. The applicant has revised
the plans and has lined up the driveways and staff is in support of the
driveway as it is now. The conditions of approval are the same as those
that were before you at the last Planning Commission meeting. Condition
number two, the street right of ways, Street 2, the entrance into the
subdivision, will be a 50' right of way and the applicant is requesting that
the 50' right of way extend from Huntsville Road up to Country Ridge
Way and then it would go into a 40' right of way at that point. Other than
that, condition number two is as written. The right of way street table just
needs to be updated.
Ostner: Is the applicant present? If you could introduce yourself and give us your
presentation.
Milholland: I'm Melvin Milholland with Milholland Engineering. As stated by the
Planning staff, our issue the last time was putting the entrance in the center
and we have done that, and also this street in Phase II will go out the north
end. We concur with all of the conditions of approval as stated by
Planning.
Ostner: At this point I will call for public comment. If anyone would like to speak
to this Preliminary Plat please step forward. Seeing none, I will close the
public comment session and bring it back to the Commission for
discussion.
Anthes: Staff, do we need to modify the condition that says that the access does
not line up because it does now?
Pate: Yes, that should be removed from the staff report.
Anthes: On condition of approval number four, what is the length of that
temporary cul-de-sac?
Pate: I believe from our last discussion, it is right at 500'.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 5
Anthes: What assurance do we have that that will connect in Phase II?
Pate:
Condition number four states that an east/west street from Phase I shall be
constructed prior to Final Plat of Phase I. Therefore, if Phase II never
happens before this Phase those streets would then have to be connected.
Ostner: On condition number 2A, are you saying that the 50' right of way should
extend from the highway to Country Ridge and then at that point it would
change to a 40' right of way?
Pate:
That is correct. Country Ridge would remain a 50' right of way and then
the proposed through street would become Street 1 which will then
connect to Phase II and potentially Mally Wagnon Road at some point in
the future if that does develop in such a manner That would become a
through street.
Clark: On condition number nine, the parkland dedication, is there a time table of
when this area will be annexed?
Pate: It would be prior to Final Plat of the subdivision so this could not be
approved until such time as that was annexed. Staff has received a Lot
Split to create the tract for the parkland and we anticipate that the
annexation will be occurring sometime within the next year or so.
Milholland: We have worked it out with the Parks Department, we bought additional
land on the northeast side of Phase I and Phase II that should be shown on
your plat. I think the question is about bringing the property into the city,
it is already in the process of being annexed. It will be done prior to Final
Plat of Phase I.
MOTION:
Clark: I will make a motion that we approve PPL 05-1608 with the conditions of
approval as stated, including the specification on 2A that streets will have
a 50' right of way from Huntsville to Country Way Ridge and other
specifications stated by staff.
Pate:
Street 1 would be 40' south of Country Ridge Way and then north of that
would become 50'. It is shown on the plat correctly. The table is
incorrect.
Clark: My motion will include modifications to the street table.
Trumbo: I will second.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 6
Ostner: Does the motioner accept the determinations in conditions one and three?
Clark: Yes.
Ostner: Is there further discussion? Will you call the roll please?
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to approve PPL 05-1608 was
approved by a vote of 7-0-0.
Morgan: The motion carries.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 7
Ostner: C-PZD 05-1610 for the East Square Development is requested to be tabled
by the applicant.
Anthes: I will move that we table this item indefinitely.
Clark: Second.
Ostner: At this point I am going to call for public comment if anyone is here to
speak to the C-PZD for East Square Development. Seeing none, I am
going to close that public comment period. Will you call the roll please?
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to table C-PZD 05-1610 was
approved by a vote of 7-0-0.
Morgan: The motion carries.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 8
ADM 05-1712: Administrative Item (Williams Ford Tractor, pp 363): Submitted by
Jorgensen & Associates on behalf of Donald Williams requesting modification to the
conditions of approval regarding the screening of outdoor storage area on Moore Lane for
approved Large Scale Development.
Ostner: The next item on our agenda is ADM 05-1712 for Williams Ford Tractor.
Morgan: This property is located at 2501 N. Shiloh Drive. It is located within the
Design Overlay District and is zoned C-2. This property is currently a
developed site. In 2002 the applicant received approval for an expansion
to increase the area of that structure. Per the approval, one condition was
made that the project, that the outdoor storage display be screened from
the right of way. This property is located on Shiloh and Moore Lane.
Specifically, along Moore Lane the Planning Commission required a 3'
berm to screen the display area as well as any vegetation or fencing that
may be needed. A berm was required in this area. The applicant has been
working for the last year or so to finalize this project and to receive a
Certificate of Occupancy. However, in order for staff to issue that C of 0
all of the conditions of that original approval needed to be met. Upon the
applicant reviewing the condition and the site, his representative requests
that a modification of the original approval stating specifically that they
did not feel that a 3' berm and vegetation would adequately screen that
area. They are requesting an 8' privacy fence to screen that outdoor
storage, which is located not only on the property in which the Large Scale
Development was approved, but also on adjacent property owned by the
same applicant. Staff has looked at the applicant's request and the original
approval from the Planning Commission and we have seven
recommendations for screening this property. First, we propose that an 8'
wood board fence be installed south of the required greenspace that is 25'
from the right of way within the Design Overlay District and 15' outside
of that. In those areas not currently screened by existing vegetation within
the LSD property. This is along Moore Lane. Second, that the chainlink
fence be removed or relocated south of the wood board fence in those
areas where a fence is installed. The applicant would need to plant a
continuous row of shrubs which are evergreen within the required
greenspace as well as plant a combination of evergreen and deciduous
trees within that greenspace at one per 30'. If some of the existing
vegetative screening is removed where the wood board fence is not
required we would need to look at appropriate measures in order to screen
that property. As it is now, there is an existing chainlink fence and along
much of that vegetation has grown up and it does create a buffer and
screen. Condition number six, all conditions of approval from the April,
2002 Planning Commission as well as the major modification from
Subdivision Committee, will need to be completed within three years of a
building permit, which was issued September 27, 2002. Seventh, that no
display or storage shall be located within the required greenspace area.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 9
Brackett: My name is Chris Brackett with Jorgensen & Associates representing the
owners of this project. We would like one change as far as the condition
of approval. The owner has met with us and discussed the wood fence.
We are going to be removing the chainlink all together but they would like
to put a steel bar about waste high, they have had problems in the past
where people have cut the wire in that section and gone on that property
and they are trying to prevent anyone from possibly taking the wood fence
down to get to the property. They would like to put that along the front to
deter anyone that might like to go in there. There is very expensive
equipment back there that they would like to secure. Also, we would like
to ask for an extension of the approval on item number six so that we
don't have to come back before this board. It is going to take at least two
or three months for us to be able to install these improvements.
Ostner: At this point I will take public comment. If anyone would like to speak to
this administrative item please step forward. Seeing none, I will close the
public comment session and bring it back to the Commission for
discussion. Staff, have you considered this request for a security waist
high steel bar?
Pate:
Very briefly, we were just made aware of it this afternoon. I entirely
understand the reason for that. Not too long ago there were several four
wheelers stolen from the property so it is something that they do have to
keep secure year around. I don't believe that a metal tube at some
determined diameter would be a problem.
Anthes: Is it not possible to put the steel inside on the property owner's portion of
the wood fence so it wouldn't be another layer of clutter on the outside.
Brackett: I have spoken with the owner about that also. His concern is that people
would still break through the fence because they wouldn't see it, they
wouldn't be able to get anything but he would still have a broken fence.
On the front it is a deterrent to keep that activity from happening. You
kind of want them to see it so they know not to try.
Anthes: I thought Mr. Pate said that they stole four wheelers that they have to get
out of the property.
Brackett: They cut the fence and went through there and took the four wheelers out.
We are trying to keep them from getting in there.
Anthes: I understand that but I don't want to design our community based on the
bad actions of a few people.
Brackett: It is a sizeable investment by this owner.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 10
Anthes: I understand, but I am trying to figure our a way to get this so it doesn't
look like we have a double security fence outside.
Pate:
Anthes:
Brackett:
Whether this addresses it or not, supporting the wood board fence, we are
trying to screen that with the shrubs and trees that are required along the
frontage. This is not pertaining to a parking area and we have a fence,
screening materials, 50% evergreen trees would potentially screen that as
well so it would be the potential that you would never see the majority of
that fence. It would probably be waist high would be the top of the
shrubs.
Would that be a problem for the applicant because they want it to be seen?
Once you walk up to it you are going to see it before you go through the
fence. That's the idea. There is going to be landscaping between the road
and both fences, it is going to be right in front of the other fence.
Clark: Did you bring any pictures as to what this might look like with the double
screening and the landscaping presented? I'm having a hard time
visualizing this. I understand Commissioner Anthes' concern that it looks
like a prison rather than a business but I understand the security issue as
well.
Brackett: It will be a 3" steel tube and it will have posts in between it. It will be
right up against the wood fence. This just came up yesterday evening, it
was brought to our attention by the owner so we haven't prepared any
renditions, it will be the road, the landscaping, shrubs and trees and then
both of these fences.
Vaught: I don't have a problem with the tube, if you are worried about being able
to see it you can paint it the same color as the fence and then it will just
blend in. I understand the need for security. They are still willing to do
the wood board fence, they are going to have landscaping in front of it. I
don't think that it is going to be intrusive. A wood board fence that is
used for screening is far more intrusive than this tube. If you paint it a
brown or a dark gray you are probably not going to see it.
Lack:
I think the other thing that I caught in Mr. Brackett's conversation is that
the pipe would be right against the fence. If the pipe is against the fence
and not set out from the fence then that helps to incorporate it into the
overall structure and not look like a double barrier and achieve the
owner's goals.
Bracket: Painting it is not a problem.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 11
Lack: With that, I would be comfortable with this.
Trumbo: The applicant is asking for an extension, do we need to set a deadline on
this extension?
Pate:
I would recommend that. You can extend it up to two years. I don't
believe they need two additional years, I would give them somewhere
between 4-6 months to get everything installed to get a C of O.
Brackett: We request six months if possible.
Anthes: I will move for approval of ADM 05-1712 based on the following
conditions of approval. Accepting staff's recommendation with the
addition of a 3" diameter steel tube against the wood fence painted in a
neutral color that will blend with the fence and extending the application
for the deadline for compliance to December 31, 2005.
Clark: I will second.
Ostner: Is there further discussion? Will you call the roll please?
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to approve ADM 05-1712 was
approved by a vote of 7-0-0.
Morgan: The motion carries.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 12
LSD 05-1615: Large Scale Development (Bassett Furniture Direct, pp 212):
Submitted by McClelland Consulting Engineers for property located at Lot 6 of CMN II
Phase I, northwest of Steele Blvd. and Shiloh Drive. The property is zoned C-1,
Neighborhood Commercial and contains approximately 1.93 acres. The request is to
approve a 22,500 sq.ft. commercial retail development with 72 parking spaces proposed.
Ostner: The next item is LSD 05-1615 for Bassett Furniture Direct, if we could
have the staff report please.
Garner: The property contains an overall about 11 'h acre parcel identified as Lot 6
in CMN Business Park. At the August 11`" Subdivision Committee
meeting a Lot Split was approved to divide this tract and create the tract
for the proposed Bassett Furniture property. The newly created lot is
approximately 1.9 acres. The applicant requests to construct an
approximately 23,000 sq.ft. Bassett Furniture store with 51 parking
spaces. The surrounding area to the north is undeveloped. To the south is
I-540 and the site is in the Design Overlay District to the east is Target and
to the west is the Center Brook Subdivision. As mentioned, this property
is within the Design Overlay District and I have included findings for that
in your staff report. I wanted to call your attention to curb cut
requirements. The applicant is requesting a waiver of the curb cut
requirements in the Design Overlay District standards and that is the main
reason why we are here tonight. The applicant requests a curb cut that is
approximately 190' between the northern and southern curb cuts on this
lot. The proposed curb cut would line up with the Target Shopping Center
immediately to the east. Staff is recommending approval of this project
with several conditions. Condition number one, Planning Commission
determination of Commercial Design Standards. Staff finds that the
revised elevations largely meet the Commercial Design Standards and I
believe the applicant will bring forward a revised elevation board and we
will go over some of the elements that have changed. We have gone back
and forth with the applicant several times over design standards and we
feel that they largely meet the requirements. They do have a couple of
items that we feel like should be incorporated. 1A, incorporate a similar
brick material into the columns on the north and south as used on the east
elevation. 1B, utilize the brick material or other detail around the foe
windows on the north and south elevations similar to those used on the
east elevation. 1 C, the elevations list the type of materials used but do not
show the location of materials on the structure. That is an administrative
item so we can understand exactly what materials are being proposed
where. 1D, The Subdivision Committee found that the west elevation
needed additional articulation to meet design standards and recommended
additional vertical elements to break up the west facade. I wanted to call
your attention to condition number four. As part of the Lot Split approval
access was limited to the shared access easement along the northern
property line and it remains applicable for this development as well.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 13
Condition number seven, Planning Commission determination of an
appropriate location for a trash enclosure. This condition is in here
because the applicant is proposing to put the dumpster pad in the utility
easement and we have several items here to make sure that the utility
companies are ok with it. As long as all easement providers are ok with it,
we feel like it is ok to put it there. Condition number eleven, provide a
detailed drawing on the masonry wall. As additional background, the
Final Plat for CMN Business Park requires that a screening wall be
provided between this lot and the subdivision to the west and so we
wanted some detail of when this development comes forward we can
make sure that it is compatible. The development with the other lot to the
north we will also be requiring to have a wall constructed. I would be
happy to answer any questions that you may have.
Ostner: Is the applicant present?
Morgan: My name is Mike Morgan from McClelland Consulting Engineering. I
represent Nanchar Properties and Bassett Furniture Direct. We are here to
review the curb cut waiver, approximately 10' lower than the 200'
minimum required. We have approximately 189.7'. Also, we would like
to review material samples and have provided a materials elevation board.
Ostner: At this point I will ask for public comment on LSD 05-1615. If anyone
would like to speak to this issue please step forward. Seeing no public
comment, I will close the public comment session and bring it back to the
Commission.
Trumbo: Why are you requesting the waiver?
Morgan: We would like to have our northern drive entrance and exit align with the
existing Target entrance and exit just to facilitate movement and then keep
our southern drive as far away from the intersection of Shiloh and Steele
as possible.
Clark:
At Subdivision we did talk about this waiver and we supported it because
it was a safety issue. That was a good move. However, I'm still concerned
about that western elevation and I thought we were going to see something
different.
Morgan: On that western elevation we have added vertical columns as well as
lighting. Also required in this location by the plat of CMN Business Park
is a solid fence or a masonry wall no less than 6' tall between the
neighborhood to our west and our building. We have a 20' natural buffer
that also separates this solid wall between the existing neighborhood.
With the varied articulation of this vertical element between this
neighborhood and our building and with that natural buffer we will put in
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 14
some evergreen vegetation to keep the visibility of that area to a
minimum. We have the vertical elements on that rear elevation.
Vaught: The sconce lighting, I know there is some sort of security lighting on the
rear, is that what that is taking the place of instead of having other security
lights? The light is what you really want to block out between the
neighborhood and the commercial building.
Morgan: We can certainly add it so we don't have light diffusing across, even over
the 6' masonry wall so we won't traverse the 20' natural buffer into that
neighborhood.
Anthes: I would like the applicant to go over where the materials are on the
building and point those out.
??:
The main part of the fa9ade is an E.I.F.S. finish and have accent brick
located on the front. There is E.I.F.S. material that is textured around the
windows as accent. I do not have details of the lighting. There is brick
that goes from top to bottom for vertical lines.
Anthes: Staff, it seems to me that we have asked for a higher percentage of
masonry in this park. I seem to recall that Steak and Shake went with a
stone base, which was outside of their standards but they did in this
particular area for compatibility with surrounding buildings. We have
very little masonry material around the front. It looks like they are
looking to get most of their articulation (I use that word lightly) through a
color scheme in E.I.F.S.
Pate:
I think it is a challenge on this side of the street on the west side of Steele.
This is a different phase of CMN so it is not under the same architectural
standards as CMN Business Park II, Phase II or Spring Creek Subdivision
that Steak and Shake was in. They all have different architectural
standards a lot of times established by the buildings that go in and we try
to build on that. We did look at the red brick as something to try to pull
over from across the street where Target is located. We are
recommending that the columns on the north and south be incorporated
with brick. That is one of the recommendations to bring that into not only
the front elevation, but the north and south elevation as well, as around
those foe windows to at least provide an accent band to incorporate more
of the structure. The western elevation staff was not as concerned about
because we feel very strongly that you will not be able to see that from the
right of way based on the placement of this building on the lot and the
wall that is required along the back of that. The wall will be required
along all of those lots so it will be continuous in the future.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 15
Anthes: It looks to me that you have the bottom part of this building in green
E.I.F.S. and have truck docks on either side of that. That is a material that
is very easily damaged. Are you not worried about having a Styrofoam
material as your base material and then the truck dock?
Morgan: I have talked to the applicant about placing some bars in that location to
prevent the trucks from hurting the building. We have also presented this
elevation, as well as the previous elevation, to the CMN architectural
review committee and they are in agreement with what we are now
presenting.
Anthes: I am not sure that I am. Am I right in looking at the site plan that the
entire site is concrete except for this little buffer in the front?
Morgan: The majority of the site is heavy duty pavement and the heavy duty
concrete is for the truck docks as well as the rear of the building.
Anthes: We have basically all hard surface except for the very front and the
setbacks and they cut the tree wells in the parking lot right?
Morgan: We have the required amount of open space on this lot. It is a very tight
lot size wise. We do have the natural buffer in the rear and we do have
the 25' natural landscape buffer as required by ordinance in the front.
Pate: They are meeting the 25% greenspace requirement.
Trumbo: Condition of approval number one has A, B, C and D, are you in
agreement with those conditions?
Morgan: My client and the architect on this job would like to entertain any of those
conditions that we could specifically spell out. What additions or
subtractions would likely be seen on the elevation? The architects for this
development have worked in the Boulder area and have high
requirements. We can call out the items that we would like to add to this
store and can certainly call those out. We feel as though we are guessing
what Planning Commission is wanting as far as architectural requirements.
Trumbo: Jeremy, if we approve this will you all have the latitude to call out specific
requirements as far as what you are looking for?
Pate:
This was the same set of conditions for approval that was presented to the
Subdivision Committee. The incorporating the brick materials on the
vertical columns on the north and south. Those would be the columns that
are shown there with brick instead of E.I.F.S. Utilize a brick material or
other detail around the foe windows on the north or south elevation similar
to the brick materials used on the east elevation. Again, that would be
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 16
pulling the brick materials to the foe window to have more than one
articulation. We discussed the materials and number four, we talked about
the west elevation.
Morgan: I can certainly recommend that. The only thing structurally promising the
brick material, I don't want to do anything that is going to drive the budge
t out. I can certainly recommend that if we could go with perhaps a lighter
weight foe material that would give the same effect as brick I could do
that.
Clark:
These are the conditions that we spelled out in Subdivision. Staff is
saying that these elevations that we have now reflect the changes that we
requested to be made in Subdivision.
Pate: Not those three.
MOTION:
Clark: I am going to move that we table LSD 05-1615 until it does.
Anthes: I will second.
Morgan: It is very different from staff's recommendations and staff's requirements.
We did have a long conversation during Subdivision Committee about
recommendations verses requirements. One thing that I would like to
speak about is the access limitation for the lot south of this on Lot 6A. It
was going to be a requirement that this access not be allowed prior to Lot
6A but after further discussion we decided we could possibly have access
there if we did a study and came up with the correct special requirements
for this entrance as well as a traffic study that would allow certain traffic
movements in this location.
Ostner: To answer your first question, staff recommendations are in situations like
Commercial Design Standards, the Planning Commission determines
whether those standards have been satisfied. Staff makes a
recommendation to us. We often agree with their recommendation.
Sometimes we change their recommendation. What happens tonight is the
contract that we agree to. That is how it is. When staff makes
recommendations, those are toward the contract of tonight.
Morgan: Yes Sir, staff recommended approval. I think we are very close to having
an agreeable elevation here. We are down to access easements and I
certainly think we can have conditions of approval that can be met.
Ostner: Some Commissioners are saying that it has been 2, 3 or 4 weeks since we
requested those of you and even though we are hearing it, we don't see it.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 17
Morgan:
Anthes:
As far as what we need to complete our part of the deal is to actually see
these things that we are talking about.
Staff has agreed that we have pulled that in and we are at the point of
asking for full approval with conditions.
The thing that really put me off there is when we asked you about if you
were amenable to those changes you said "we don't know." Therefore, I
don't think you are that close. We don't know what we are going to see
and if you can't do it, you're back here. I just think that we are smart to
go ahead and wait until you have assurances to do what we are asking
before we approve it.
Graves: I think the disconnect here is that the Subdivision forwarded it to the full
Planning Commission with the understanding that the Subdivision
Committee forwarded it with those things to be incorporated in the
drawings. One elevation has been addressed but the other elevations were
not addressed in accordance with what Subdivision Committee forwarded
it on. They wouldn't have forwarded if there wasn't an understanding that
the drawings were going to be altered in order to address the concerns
about Commercial Design Standards. I usually do not like to table things
because it means that we are going to have to have it on our agenda again
and we have to take it up again and go through the report again and
everything else but as Commissioner Anthes said, the one time we
mentioned putting this into a condition the response we heard from you
was "we don't know because of the budget and things like that." Our
hands seem to be tied in a way because we have had three weeks since that
Subdivision Committee in order to see those drawings with the items that
Subdivision asked to be addressed and they are not here except for one
elevation and for us to incorporate those things ourselves we might be
putting on you a budget that you are not able to live with.
Morgan: Can we not get a building permit if we do not work those items out?
Graves: We can put it in a condition and vote on it tonight but what we are hearing
from you is that you may not have a budget to do it with.
Morgan: I am not an architect nor a structural engineer, my client would have to
work that out if there are things in that design that I'm not seeing.
Graves: That is what we are saying that you have had three weeks to work it out.
Vaught: I don't know if I agree with the motion to table. I think that we are at a
point where we have made motions more specific than this requiring more
than this in the past. Say we table it for two weeks and he can't afford it,
we are in the same place and are going to have the same discussion again.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 18
Obviously, I think we need to approve it the way we see it needs to be. I
imagine the big issue is the brick around the windows and foe windows
because that is where the additional support would come in. The columns
I wouldn't think would be a big issue. I don't like the idea of a foe brick.
I think it is something that we can definitely work our way through tonight
and pass it on. I feel like there are some compromises here. Obviously,
we would like to see some changed elevations and they would like it
without those changes made so they came to ask us as the people who
determine that.
Ostner: There are a few discrepancies that I see. I don't believe that we should be
seeing this tonight, it is not satisfying what the Subdivision Committee
asked and what the applicant agreed to. We are not an appeals court for
Subdivision, that is where committee work happens. That is where the
applicant says you are asking things that I can't do. The Subdivision says
go back and get everything you need and then go to Planning Commission
to review it and not redo committee work.
Vaught: We hear appeals all the time at this level. We have it incorporated the way
Subdivision wanted and forwarded it in that manner. It puts it on the
developer to get it done. I don't think it needs to be tabled at this level.
Clark:
We tabled it once at Subdivision Committee to get these conditions
addressed and we forwarded it on with the thought that it would sail
through Planning Commission with the changes requested. We spend a lot
of hours at Subdivision and get a lot of pledges from developers and later
tonight we are going to see some of those pledges that we have talked
about. I would like to see it tabled and see what you can do to address this
accurately and if you can't afford it you are going to have to do something
else anyway and if you can afford it we can sail right through it.
Morgan: I would request that we have approval with conditions. I think this is a
technical request. However, saying that, if there are any other items that
we can discuss now rather than two weeks from now we can do that.
Vaught: I would like to ask those from Subdivision Committee that all we are
saying is brick, are there other options to articulate those sides if brick
would not work around those windows? We are getting pretty specific
with brick. Do we want to be that specific or do we want to say find a
way to better articulate that?
Morgan: I certainly can speak for the structural engineer that a light brick material
would work, I just cannot say that we can afford an actual real brick.
Clark: I don't believe we are being too specific here. I would like more
articulation.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 19
Myres: I do remember we said utilize a brick material similar to the brick material
utilized on the east elevation or other detail around foe windows and south
elevations similar to that. What we were after was the color and the
texture and if you can duplicate the look of the brick without actually
using the brick I personally don't have any problem with that. It is a
contract in color and a difference in texture that I'm seeking.
Vaught: Staff, do you have enough detail on that to work through that internally or
would you feel more comfortable seeing it?
Pate: We feel comfortable with it as a condition. We are recommending
approval right now. We do see instances where there are differences
between the Subdivision Committee and the Planning Commission or the
Planning Commission and the developer, these are things that have to be
worked out at the Planning Commission level. I think there will be
circumstances when there is anything subjective at all or a decision has to
be made based on ordinances and those decisions have to be made and
voted on at that time. We feel comfortable that we have enough
information in front of us with the conditions of approval as outlined. We
have the minutes of the Subdivision Committee and of this meeting, as
long as it is comfortable in your minds as a Commission, we will permit
the building according to those conditions of approval.
Anthes: I don't know that I believe this will meet the Commercial Design
Standards even after those changes are made. One of the reasons I don't
know that is because I don't see it on here. I am not in the business of
wanting to design your building for you or to tell you how to do it. I just
know that we need articulation on these surfaces and I don't know that
you have met that. Therefore, I am going to support tabling it and if you
do go forward without tabling I am going to vote to turn this down. I also
call the question.
Ostner: Will you call the roll to call the question?
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to call the question was
approved by a vote of 8-0-0.
Ostner: The motion is to table and there has been a second, will you call the roll
please?
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to table LSD 05-1615 was
approved by a vote of 5-3 with Commissioners Lack, Trumbo and Vaught
voting no.
Morgan: The motion carries.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 20
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 21
Ostner: The next item is CUP 05-1599 that has been requested to be tabled by the
applicant.
MOTION:
Myres: Motion to table.
Clark: Second.
Ostner: At this point I will call for public comment for CUP 05-1599 if anyone
would like to speak to this issue please step forward. Seeing none, I will
close the public comment session and bring it back to the Commission. Is
there any further discussion? Could you call the roll please?
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to table CUP 05-1599 was
approved by a vote of 8-0-0.
Morgan: The motion carries.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 22
Ostner: Item number nine is also requested to be tabled by the applicant, it is LSP
05-1551 and LSP 05-1552, do I have a motion to table?
Clark: So moved.
Lack: Second.
Ostner: At this point I will open it up to public comment if anyone would like to
speak to this issue of LSP 05-1551 & 05-1552 please step forward. Seeing
none, I will close the public comment session and bring it back to the
Commission. Will you call the roll please?
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to table LSP 05-1551 and
1552 was approved by a vote of 8-0-0.
Morgan: The motion carries.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 23
Ostner: The third item that has been requested to be tabled by the applicant is LSP
05-1553 and 1554, is there a motion to table?
Myres: So moved.
Trumbo: Second.
Ostner: Is there any public comment on these items? Seeing none, I will close the
public comment session. Is there further discussion? Will you call the
roll?
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to table LSP 05-1553 and
1554 was approved by a vote of 8-0-0.
Morgan: The motion carries.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 24
PPL 05-1633: Preliminary Plat (Albright's Oak Hill Subdivision, pp 60): Submitted
by Critical Path Construction for property located at 4984 N. Crossover Road, south of
Albright Road. The property is zoned RSF-4, four units per acre and contains
approximately 2.97 acres. The request is to approve a Preliminary Plat of a residential
subdivision containing three single family lots.
Ostner: The next item on our agenda is PPL 05-1633 for Albright Oak Hill. If we
could have the staff report please.
Fulcher: This property is located just north of Zion Road and east of Crossover on
Albright. The property is zoned RSF-4 and contains approximately 2.97
acres. The request is to approve a Preliminary Plat for a residential
subdivision with three single family lots. This item was reviewed by the
Subdivision Committee on May 19` as a Concurrent Plat. At that time the
applicants did request that the improvements be made to Albright Road in
lieu of an assessment for those improvements. As a result, the item has
been changed to a Preliminary Plat. The improvements to Albright will
consist of paving 14' from centerline, curb, gutter and sidewalks and
storm sewer to be determined by the City Engineer. These properties will
be serviced by Springdale Water which is located directly across the street
on Albright and each of the lots will have septic systems which have been
approved by the Arkansas Department of Health. Staff is recommending
approval of this Preliminary Plat with five conditions of approval.
Condition number one, we are requesting that the applicant coordinate
with the Urban Forester and Sidewalk Coordinator to determine the most
appropriate location and grade of the sidewalk to best save the existing
trees along Albright Road. If you have any questions I can clarify for you
please ask.
Ostner: Is the applicant present? If you could introduce yourself and give us your
presentation.
Teague: I am Brian Teague with Clear Path Construction Management and I have a
little project history that I would like to read over with you. We purchased
this property in April, 2005. It contains 2.97 acres which is zoned RSF-4.
We originally split the property into three lots in hopes of building some
large custom homes that we could use as showcase homes for our
company. We proposing three .90 acre lots to be split each having 185' of
frontage on Albright Road. The property will be served by a 6" water line
on the north side of Albright Road and will utilize septic systems. We felt
that this type of development matches what is currently being utilized on
Albright Road. In May we submitted a Lot Split and after Planning Staff
review we found that we could only split the property twice. Splitting it
three ways would qualify the property as a subdivision. We then met with
Engineering staff to discuss improvements that would have to be made if
submitted as a subdivision. At that time Engineering staff recommended
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 25
no improvements to the property if we assessed street improvements for a
percentage of the design traffic on Albright Road. This assessment would
require approximately $2,000 from us. We presented a Concurrent Plat to
Planning on July 14`h. The Planning Staff required us to go to Parks Board
and assessed our improvements along Albright Road. Planning
recommended that the assessment include widening the southern half of
Albright Road from 11 1/2' to 14' wide, installing curb, gutter and sidewalk
along the frontage. On August 1st we submitted this to the Parks
Department and requested to pay money in lieu of parkland and they
approved this. After that we submitted a second time on August 4th. After
the city's in-house review on August 15th we were officially required an
assessment for widening curb, gutter and sidewalk along our frontage on
Albright. We felt that requiring us to widen, curb and gutter along with a
sidewalk along Albright was excessive for a three lot development on
Albright Road. Albright is essentially built out and currently has no curb
or gutter or sidewalk. However, in order to keep the project moving we
did request to make these improvements ourselves at the Tech Plat
meeting on August 17`h. We are willing to go ahead and make the
improvements ourselves. However, at Subdivision Committee two of the
neighbors brought up the issue of tree canopy and if we installed the
improvements we would probably end up having to take out some of the
trees along Albright. Since that we have been working with Sara
Patterson, the city's Urban Forester who has come up with ways to
minimize the removal of tree canopy along Albright. We think that we
can get the curb, gutter and sidewalk in without doing too much damage to
the tree canopy. However, like I said earlier, we probably will have to
take out some of the trees. We just feel like it would be better for
everybody involved to not have to do those improvements since we are
only proposing three lots on this property.
Ostner: Is there anyone in the public who would like to speak?
Roman: My name is Jeanette Roman. I was here primarily to make sure that some
errors were corrected. The letter that we received on August 25th said that
they were going to split up 4984 Crossover, that is my residence. I don't
want that split up. I did call. I am familiar with the workings of city and
know that sometimes things don't get done on time. I am confused about
the gentleman's remarks about they are building Albright. I do know that
we have one access off of our property to this property. When we
purchased this property we were told that there could only be two houses
there. We purchased our property believing that. I don't think I would be
very happy with three houses having access off of our driveway which we
own, it is not a right of way. That would be a lot of traffic. In addition to
that, I know that you know that Mark Foster is building 12 houses and the
entrance is right next to ours. That is going to be a lot of traffic in a very
small area. You've got Albright and our driveway and you are going to
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 26
have the traffic from 12 additional houses. We are the last house in
Fayetteville before you get to Springdale. We live in Ben Jack's old
residence. I don't have any problem with three houses instead of two, that
doesn't both me but I was assured by these people that they would have
their entrances off of Albright. I have nothing but their word. I do think it
is a real issue because you are going to have a lot of traffic in a very small
area. Trying to get out on Crossover at 8:00 in the morning, you better be
patient.
Vaught: Your access drive goes along the western boundary, is that correct?
Roman. It goes out to Crossover.
Goodwin: My name is H.L. Goodwin, I live at 1650 Albright. How many of you
have driven up Albright and know where it is? To me it is arguably one of
the most unique entry ways to housing that exists in Fayetteville. It has
beautiful arbor covered road, much like the road in The Sound of Music
movie. The trees bridge over the street. Many people bought homes in
that neighborhood for that aspect of it. I am coming to speak to three
items. I was not able to stay for the other hearing. One is to speak to the
aesthetics of the neighborhood. I live in Springdale but Fayetteville is
directly west of me and so I'm aware of the great concern that Fayetteville
has in preserving the natural beauty and aesthetics of our communities.
The street character is unique and defined in large part by the existence of
these large, mature trees. I'm also concerned somewhat and am kind of
conflicted. There is a drainage problem on Albright. In fact, Mr.
Willoughby who is not here, during times of heavy rain water comes into
his yard off of Albright because drainage is inadequate along that street. '/2
of that street is Fayetteville and ''4 is Springdale so predominantly that
means that it belongs to nobody. That is a source of heartburn for several
houses along there. Egress and ingress to that property will be difficult. I
haven't seen any sketches of whether there will be three driveways
coming down Albright but you are coming down a hill in which people
drive 45 to 70 miles per hour. It is a hazard. The more driveways you
have the more likeliness that there is a hazard because there is a traffic
problem there. We have an established neighborhood with elderly people
that walk up and down that street, kids playing along there, the more
driveways you add underneath a hill the more danger you have. I agree
with the presenter for the developer that the street is totally developed and
would request that there be some kind of compromise not to require
sidewalks and curbs and gutter on a few hundred feet of the street that is
fully developed otherwise because it is going to damage the trees and
affect the character of the neighborhood. I understand rules but I also
understand compromise and variance and urge your consideration. I am
speaking on behalf of several of the neighbors there and urge you to take
this into consideration. I am very happy that we are looking at three
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 27
houses instead of 12 on that property and am presuming that Mr. Johnson
and the Health Department took adequate care in granting the variance for
the septic systems. With that, I've said my peace in case anyone has
questions.
Ostner: Is there further public comment? I am going to close the public comment
session and bring it back to the Commission for discussion.
Vaught: Septic systems, why are we not requiring sewer?
O'Neal: This is served by Springdale Water Utilities so there would have to be an
agreement between the two municipalities for us to serve them with sewer.
I believe it was the developer's option to not extend the sewer to the
property and go with a septic system.
Vaught: On the improvements, curb, gutter and sidewalk, I don't know if the
developer has had a chance to get a cost estimate on what it would cost to
install curb and gutter and widen the street and sidewalks per linear foot.
??: On sidewalks, curb, gutter and widening not going all the way to
centerline, it was about $15,000 or $16,000.
Vaught: So about $5,000 per lot for off site improvements. How does that
compare?
Pate: Every single development is entirely different. We just have to take a look
on a case by case basis and see what kind of frontage they have. There are
a number of variables that we look at when we are looking at off site
improvements. I do want to correct something. The majority of Albright
Road is being improved. There are two major developments from George
Anderson Road west almost to the city limits line on your map, that has all
been annexed. The Harper/Brandon Development which is southwest of
George Anderson and the Pembridge subdivision to the west of that so
over '/2 of the south side of Albright Road will be improved to 14' from
centerline in the near future.
Vaught: Does that include the property directly east?
Pate: It is one lot east of where they are showing the city limits line on here.
Vaught: Where is the gap that is not in Fayetteville?
Pate: South of Albright is.
Ostner: Mr. Williams, this is pretty rare that we have a Preliminary Plat that is
going to allow septic tanks within our city limits. Can you elaborate on
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 28
any of that? I thought our rules did not allow septic tanks within city
limits.
Williams: You can allow septic tanks within the city limits. A lot of it depends on
how far you are from the existing sewer main. If you are far enough away
from the existing sewer main then you are allowed to utilize septic. At
this point we have the other difficulty where we are sharing water with
Springdale and would it be their main or our main and who's water is it
going to be. I think it is the distance from the sewer main. If you were
close to the sewer main I think we can require you to extend the main. If
you are too far away then in fact, the city will not require that because that
would be too much of a burden on a person just building three houses
because you go from the comer of the property to see how far away you
are on it.
O'Neal:
I also believe there is a grade differential. The nearest sewer main would
be above this development so we would have to have another lift station
for three houses which would be prohibitive in cost.
Williams: That is why you really have to look at it on a case by case basis instead of
just having one blanket rule.
Ostner: The nearby houses on Albright, how are they being served?
O'Neal: The existing houses on Albright have septic systems.
Pate: The newer homes that are being built along George Anderson, west of
George Anderson, they have collaborated them to several lift stations, at
least one lift station there because of the development. They do have more
lots to share the burden of the cost.
Trumbo: I think I'm a little confused on the access to these lots. Are we talking
about a shared access with the drive or are we talking about three different
accesses onto Albright?
77•
We haven't set anything in stone but there is a possibility of three different
accesses onto Albright. There is a possibility that the lot to the west could
access that access drive but it could go onto Albright as well.
Vaught: As far as the improvements, I would really like to see them done if there is
a way we could do them without causing too much damage. Does the city
feel comfortable, I know sometimes there is a way to slide the right of way
a little bit. Since we are dealing with Springdale on the other half is there
a way to do that without losing too much canopy?
Planning Commission
September 12,
Page 29
Pate:
Teague:
Vaught:
Pate:
Vaught:
Trumbo:
Teague:
Trumbo:
Graves:
Myres:
2005
The sidewalk is something that we can work with. We do that in cases
where there are trees that we are trying to work around. I think that is
something we can work out. I would have to rely on Mr. Teague here to
understand how much room there is for curb and gutter and 14' from
centerline.
There is a ditch about 5' wide off the edge of pavement. At the back side
of that ditch is really where the tree line is. Most of it, very large trees are
not in that tree line, they are back a little bit further. I can say there are 20
nice size trees in that tree line. It is hard to say if you could get all of that
in there without killing those trees or not. You are probably going to have
to put a tree behind your back of curb to put a curb in. It's hard to say.
When we do a sidewalk that meanders or winds, that costs more, is that
put on the developer or does the city help with that?
It is typically on the developer. I guess it would cost more for forming,
we don't anticipate varying it that much. We try to keep to the right of
way as much as possible.
I guess my reason for wanting improvements to Albright because this
connects with the subdivisions to the south and east that are going to be
coming into Albright. There are not many roads that cut through from
George Anderson and Zion over to Crossover. That is one reason I feel
that at minimum the widening with curb and gutter are necessary. If we
require sidewalks along this right of way we should be specific with this.
I think the cost of $5,000 per lot is starting to bump the edge of rough
proportionality. That is my main concern that I wrestle with the most.
I will move that we approve PPL 05-1633 with the findings in agreement
with all recommendations of approval including improvements to Albright
Road.
The way that condition reads is 14' from centerline on our side of the
road, we are not talking about going from centerline and redoing the
whole drive right?
No, just the additional.
I will second.
Just for the record, I am not happy about disturbing any of those trees
along that road. It is one of the prettiest roads in the whole county and if
there was some way to satisfy both maintaining the aesthetics and doing
the improvements I would love to see that happen. I am not sure that they
are mutually exclusive. I'm tom on how I am going to vote on this
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 30
because the disturbance is likely to happen and the character of that road
will not be the same. How much of Albright Road is within the city? We
have rules and regulations but I would love to make an exception in this
case but there are rules.
Graves: I am in favor of the motion because I think some of the comments that
have been made regarding some of the flooding issues, curb and gutter
will help improve some of that situation. The idea of a meandering
sidewalk to try to preserve as many trees as possible is good. If there
really are traffic concerns and many cars traveling at some of the speeds
described, that is more reasons for pedestrians to need sidewalks out there.
Ostner: We are going to a pretty good length to preserve those trees, are you going
to put in a deed restriction on those trees after you sell those lots to
independent homeowners?
Teague: I don't know, we didn't plan on it.
Ostner: My follow up question for staff is, I'm not trying to be negative, but after
the property changes hands what precautions are in place for these trees
after there has been so much effort to go around them?
Pate:
Our current regulations don't allow for those type of restrictions to be
enforced by the city. The applicant can volunteer but we would not be
able to enforce those because tree preservation requirements do not apply
to single family lot owners.
Ostner: Will you call the roll please?
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to approve PPL 05-1633 was
approved by a vote of 7-1-0 with Commissioner Myres voting no.
Morgan: The motion carries.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 31
Break
LSD 05-1672: Large Scale Development (Township Heights, pp 290): Submitted by
Dave Jorgensen for property located at Township Street, west of north College Avenue.
The property is zoned C-2, Thoroughfare Commercial, and contains approximately 1.54
acres. The request is to approve an 11,806 sq.ft. office building with 67 parking spaces
proposed.
Ostner: The next item is LSD 05-1672 for Township Heights.
Clark: I will recuse from this.
Morgan: This property is located on Township between College Avenue and Gregg
Avenue and is zoned C-2, one of the last tracts along this stretch of
Township requesting development. On November 8, 2004 the Planning
Commission approved development of this tract for a professional office
building. Since that, the applicant has made some modifications to the
requested site development and therefore, you are seeing this as a new
Large Scale Development. The applicant requests approval of a new
Large Scale Development consisting of 11,806 sq.ft. of sales office with
66 parking spaces. The plan, in relationship to the previously approved
Large Scale Development, has the same access points to Township and a
similar configuration for trash container location and detention location.
At the Subdivision Committee one of the main points of discussion was
with regard to Commercial Design Standards. Here we have an elevation
board showing all four sides of the elevations of the building reviewed and
approved at Subdivision Committee. The north, east and west sides of
those buildings are proposed for consideration of approval. They have
modified the southern elevation and you can see that on the materials
display board. Staff is recommending approval of this LSD with a total of
12 conditions and we do find that the revised elevations are compliant
with Commercial Design Standards.
Ostner: Is the applicant present?
Brackett: My name is Chris Brackett, I'm with Jorgensen & Associates. It was our
understanding that the main contention that required this to go before the
full Planning Commission was the southern building elevation, the large,
blank, unarticulated wall. We have revised that. That is the only elevation
that has changed. I can answer any questions that you have.
Ostner: I will call for public comment on LSD 05-1672 for Township Heights.
Seeing none, I will close the public comment session and bring it back to
the Commission. I am going to call for a quick Subdivision Committee
report.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 32
Graves: As the applicant stated, our main concern was with the south elevation that
is visible from the street. As you can see on the original south elevation
there was a large wall face without any articulation and a large sign and
we asked for modifications to it based on Commercial Design Standards.
We were not as concerned with the rear elevation because that is not going
to be visible. It is a slope and unoccupied area that is not going to be
developed to what would be a visible surface. Otherwise, the layout and
design of the proposal is an improvement over what the original approved
LSD was.
Anthes: I did not get a site plan in my packet so I don't know how to evaluate the
LSD without a site plan.
Pate: It should've been in your Subdivision Committee packet.
Vaught: It is my understanding that the original building had a big courtyard in the
middle, are we taking that off?
Brackett: The change is the original building, the access points are the same with the
access off of Township being moved about 5'. The original building was
quite a bit larger so the parking lot that you see on the east side was not
there. That is the main difference is that is going to be parking now and
the building configuration has changed.
Ostner: Staff, there is no proposed cross access to the east, is that intentional?
Pate: That property has been developed as a car dealership. Therefore, that cross
access would not be utilized because they have already developed curb
cuts and everything else in that property.
Brackett: There is a wall right there. There is a large grade difference at that point.
Pate: The retaining wall runs on the east and north of this development. Most of
it has been cut as part of the last LSD.
Ostner: Thank you. That retaining wall makes a difference. There are several
determinations, street improvements in condition number one, we need to
make a determination for that and Commercial Design Standards are the
only two determinations we need to make. We currently have an outdoor
lighting ordinance and this project is complying.
Pate: That is correct. When we permit this project all of the lighting details will
need to comply with the outdoor lighting ordinance.
Ostner: That is a new one for me.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 33
Lack: On the sections of wall that are stucco it is calling for a cold expansion
joint pattern, can you explain that terminology to me?
Fitzgerald: My name is Don Fitzgerald, I'm the in-house architect for Key
Enterprises.
Lack: I just have a concern with the pattern to show a break up in that wall and I
would like to understand a little better about how that pattern will be
maintained to make sure that it is a visible pattern.
Fitzgerald: Using a dryvit wall you have a break to allow the cold joints to function to
keep the panel from cracking, if you didn't have that joint it would crack
and show cracks throughout the system. What that does, it stops that
cracking by providing metal edges all the way around it and then you have
another metal edge on the other side. Therefore, you have a co -joint and it
is caulked with expansive caulking so when it breathes it expands in the
cracks.
Lack:
My concern is that the normal inclination is to caulk it with a color
matched material to the stucco but that might actually deter from the
patterning that you called out on the drawings.
Fitzgerald: There are several ways that we can handle that. It is just that one of the
technical aspects of the construction drawing. These are preliminaries and
we will do everything in our power to comply with the city's request. We
want to be partners with the City of Fayetteville. We have done several
buildings here. We will take your concern to heart and make it more
articulate.
Lack: Just to elaborate on that concern, a darker material would help to show
that as a shadow line.
Fitzgerald: There are several ways you can do that. You can make the groove in the
stucco for the dryvit to the point that it is right at the top and there at the
bottom. You see that articulation. We just finished that on the VA
building on Sunbridge. I think you can see the articulation on that
building from the road very easily. It is the same type of situation.
Lack: I just mentioned that because it is a natural inclination to use a different
color.
Fitzgerald: You can see any time in a building, the openings, the windows, the arches,
you will see a building in rhythm.
Planning Commission
September 12,
Page 34
Myres:
Fitzgerald:
Myres:
Fitzgerald:
Ostner:
Fitzgerald:
Trumbo:
Brackett:
MOTION:
Trumbo:
Lack:
Graves:
Trumbo:
Ostner:
Roll Call:
Morgan:
2005
That raises a question for me. The materials that you have shown on your
most current drawing the E.LF.S. on the top does appear to be grooved, is
that the texture or is that the color?
No, that is the color but also possibly the texture. This is the same texture
we used on the VA building. It does articulate from the street.
I think as long as the drawings are that apparent that I wouldn't have a
problem with it.
You will recognize the texture.
I am seeing a white wainscot with this but I am not translating that on the
drawing I am looking at.
There was a miscommunication and it was too late to change it. The
option to change it is very similar. I prefer a darker color because it gives a
status to the different material. The drawing is what I intend to work with.
The sample is material that will be used.
Are you in agreement with the 12 conditions of approval?
Yes.
With that, I will make a motion that we approve LSD 05-1672 with the
findings in agreement with staff's recommendation on assessment and the
finding that this building does meet our Commercial Design Standards.
I will second.
Just to be clear, that the motioner and seconder also intended all other
conditions of approval.
Definitely, all conditions of approval.
Is there further discussion? Will you call the roll?
Upon the completion of roll call the motion to approve LSD 05-1672 was
approved by a vote of 8-0-1 with Commissioner Clark abstaining.
The motion carries.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 35
R-PZD 05-1543: Planned Zoning District (Vantage Center, pp 136): Submitted by
Jerry Kelso of Crafton, Tull & Associates for property located at the east end of Shepherd
Lane. The property is zoned C-1, neighborhood Commercial and contains approximately
4.68 acres. The request is to approve a Residential Planned Zoning District with 26,932
sq.ft. retail space, 124 bedrooms and 196 parking spaces.
Ostner: The next item on our agenda is R-PZD for Vantage Center. If we could
have the staff report please.
Garner: This site is located at the end of Shepherd Lane between Frontage Road
and Stearns Street. The site is zoned C-1 and R -A and is largely
undeveloped with the communications residential office building and a
gravel drive located on the western portion of the site and mature trees
turning south on the eastern portion of the site. On page 13.1 the site is
surrounded by a mixture of commercial and residential uses. Immediately
to the west of this site is the commercial corridor and Appleby's restaurant
and to the east is Stearns Street apartments. The applicant requests
rezoning and Preliminary Plat for a residential subdivision within a unique
R-PZD zoning district. The proposed use of this site is for a mixed use
development consisting of four buildings. Each of the buildings will
contain approximately 6,700 sq.ft. of retail commercial space, 12 two
bedroom units and 7 one bedroom units. The building in general with
regard to access concerns would have two means of access with Shepherd
Lane running east/west through the development and a main streetscape
linking Frontage Road to the west and Stearns Street to the east. Shepherd
Lane would incorporate parallel parking, a widened sidewalk with the
majority of the parking located to the rear of the structures. Additionally,
two greenspace areas in the center of the structures would be utilized as
gathering area and storm water detention. The intent of the development
is to be a mixed use development with commercial and residential
structures together and using the same infrastructure and streets. Table 3
on page 13.3 of your packet describes the zoning criteria proposed with
this development. You can see the use units allowed would provide a mix
of office, shopping, eating places and residences. Setback regulations
would be a 25' setback along Frontage Road, a 0' setback along Shepherd,
8' setbacks along the sides and a 25' setback along the rear property lines.
The building area should read 20%. The height regulation would be a
maximum of 42'. We are recommending approval of this R-PZD with
several conditions. Planning Commission determination of commercial
design standards. As you can see from the elevations, there are some
material samples of the bricks that will be used and the types of buildings.
Staff finds that they meet Commercial Design Standards with a variety of
structures and materials and articulation. Condition two, Planning
Commission determination of a waiver request. There is a waiver request
for the intersection of Shepherd Street into the curb cut coming into this
development and staff is in support of the request for the proposed curb
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 36
cut and we find that with the pedestrian access and the way that the
development is laid out it would be an appropriate and safe means of
access. Condition five specifies all zoning criteria in this report as depicted
in table 3 are binding with the approval of this R-PZD. The conditions are
relatively straight forward other than that.
Ostner: Is the applicant present?
Kelso:
I am Jerry Kelso with Crafton, Tull & Associates representing the owner
on this one. As staff had said, this is a true mixed use development where
we have got commercial on the bottom and residential apartments on top.
We have four buildings. The elevations that you see there are both the
front and the back so it would be the same on both sides. We are in
agreement with the conditions of approval.
Ostner: At this point I am going to call for public comment. Seeing none, I will
close the public comment session and bring it back to the Commission.
Anthes: How long has the current property owner owned this piece of property?
Kelso: Mr. Lindsey has owned it for at least a couple of years.
Anthes: Do you know when this lot was cleared of trees?
Kelso: I do not know. I do know that there have been no trees taken down since
he has had ownership of it.
Anthes: Mr. Pate, do you know when this was cleared? I believe this was a
wooded parcel and this lot was cleared without a development plan. Do
you know the time frame on that and what is the statute of limitations on
that?
Pate: Five years. If the property was cleared within five years by the owner or
developer they would be penalized at the time of development.
Anthes: Has anybody researched that?
Pate: Not that I'm aware. The urban forester reviewed that and can answer that
question.
Anthes: What do you do in a case like that Mr. Williams?
Williams: The ordinance would require replacing the canopy plus the 10% increase
in the normal requirement if it was done within five years without an
agricultural purpose or with intent to get around the tree ordinance.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 37
Anthes: Is that something that we can determine after we pass the project?
Williams- No, because this project is dependent upon not having as much land
devoted to tree preservation area I think.
Kelso: We have done a tree preservation based upon what is out there.
Williams: How long has the owner owned this property?
Kelso: I don't know for sure. We started the apartments next to it about three
years ago and I think that is about the time he purchased it.
Williams: I can't tell you how long it has been cleared at this point.
Anthes: What do we do if we have a question about that?
Williams: We do have some aerial maps, but they might not be from five years ago.
That would be some evidence at some point in time that there were trees
on it when the aerial was done. That doesn't mean that the next day
someone didn't clear the land. I don't know what our evidence would be
on this.
Anthes: I just remember it happened and I don't know whether it is within that five
year period or not and when I saw this development come through I just
had a question about it. Since it wasn't in the staff report I thought I
needed to ask.
Pate:
We did not pick up on that at all in our investigation. We do typically look
at aerials, we don't always look at every site five years prior and
obviously, that did not occur on this site.
Kelso: I will say that since Mr. Lindsey purchased it he has not cut anything.
Anthes: What happens if a land owner clears a parcel and sells it the next day and a
development comes through immediately on that?
Williams: I don't think you can have someone else clear it and sell it and nothing
happens, I think that would be against the spirit of that particular part of
the ordinance. On the other hand, we have to have some definite evidence
to be able to say that you have to do this and at this point I don't think
staff has any evidence that this was cleared within the last five years.
Anthes: My question was more for future to find out if we check that as a matter of
course and what the ramifications would be.
Pate: I honestly cannot say whether or not we have checked that.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 38
Anthes: How do these buildings differ, if at all, from the corner of 6th Street and I-
540?
Kelso: These are the same buildings.
Pate:
One of the conditions of approval from the Planning Commission was to
alter those side elevations, those have been altered pretty dramatically, I
don't think this Commission ever saw that.
Clark: Are you in agreement with the conditions of approval?
Kelso: Yes.
Clark: I will move that we forward R-PZD 05-1543 with the stated conditions
and findings of fact as indicated in the staff report.
Myres: I will second.
Ostner: Is there further discussion? Will you call the roll?
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to forward R-PZD 05-1543 to
the City Council was approved by a vote of 8-0-0.
Morgan: The motion carries.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 39
RZN 05-1687: Rezoning (Hopmann, pp 446): Submitted by Jeremy Kennedy for
property located at 935 N. College Avenue. The property is zoned R -O, Residential
Office and contains approximately 0.18 acres. The request is to rezone the subject
property to C-1, Neighborhood Commercial.
Ostner: The next item is RZN 05-1687 for Hopmann. If we could have the staff
report please.
Fulcher: This property is located at 935 N. College Avenue. The property is
currently zoned R -O and contains approximately 0.18 acres. The request
is to rezone the property to C-1, Neighborhood Commercial. This
property is located just south of North Street and north of Cleburn Street
and fronts College Avenue and Pollard Avenue. Surrounding properties to
the west are RSF-4, to the south R -O and to the north R -O and to the east
it is zoned C-2 across College Avenue. The applicant has submitted a Bill
of Assurance that would limit the use of the property if the rezoning was
approved. If you are looking at page 14.2 we have included a table
showing the current allowable uses within the R -O district as well as the
Conditional Uses. Underneath that you can see the C-1 with the Bill of
Assurance as provided limiting the uses of the property. With that Bill of
Assurance the only permitted use that would be allowed if it is rezoned
would allow for Neighborhood Shopping, Use Unit 15. Other than that,
Use Unit 13 and 18 per the Bill of Assurance have been removed. Within
the Conditional Use section the Bill of Assurance would eliminate the
Conditional Use request for liquor stores and outdoor music
establishments. The Future Land Use Plan designates this site for
community commercial. This entire portion of College is designated
community commercial. Rezoning to C-1 is consistent with the Land Use
Plan. Furthermore, with the provided Bill of Assurance the use of the
property would be limited and the property would be compatible with the
residential area as well as provide limited commercial services for those
residents in the RSF-4 zoning district. The Police Department stated that
the requested rezoning would have a negligible impact on the population
density and traffic congestion for that area. The Fire Depailment stated
that there would be no negligible impacts or increase in emergency
response time. This would be serviced from Fire Station #1 with a
response time of 4.2 minutes. With the Bill of Assurance, staff is
recommending forwarding this requested rezoning to the City Council.
Ostner: Is the applicant present?
Kennedy: My name is Jeremy Kennedy, I represent Bob Hopmann, we work
together. We want to rezone this to C-1 for added signage in front of the
building from the required 16 sq.ft. Our sign that we want to put on the
building is a little larger than that. We would like to have the 75 sq.ft. that
is allowed under C-1 zoning. The front of the building is rather small.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 40
Ostner: At this point I am going to call for public comment on this item, RZN 05-
1687. Seeing none, I will close the public comment session and bring it
back to the Commission.
Clark: Jeremy, have you heard from the Wilson Park Neighborhood Association
on this?
Pate: No.
MOTION:
Clark: I will make a motion that we approve RZN 05-1687 as stated in the staff
report with the exclusions and inclusions listed in the Bill of Assurance.
Ostner: Is there a second?
Myres: I will second.
Ostner: I was hoping for a little more discussion. There is a single family
residential district above this. Seeing that the neighborhood has not
communicated with us, I am ready to vote. Is there any further comment?
Vaught: The Future Land Use has this commercial. All of these uses fit into that
category?
Pate: This would fall under community commercial. That is something that the
Bill of Assurance enabled staff to recommend approval of this simply
because it did limit the uses.
Ostner: Is there any further discussion? Will you call the roll please?
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to recommend approval of
RZN 05-1687 was approved by a vote of 7-1 with Commissioner Ostner
voting no.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 41
LSD 05-1668: Large Scale Development (Dixie Development, pp 173): Submitted by
Roger Trotter/Shelden Engineering, for property located at Lot 12 CMN Business Park.
The property is zoned R -O, Residential Office and contains approximately 8.83 acres.
The request is to approve a mixed use development with 12,000 sq.ft. office space, 9,900
sq.ft. restaurant space and 145 parking spaces proposed.
Ostner: Our next item is LSD 05-1668 for Dixie Development.
Garner: This property is approximately a 8.83 acre parcel identified as Lot 12 in
CMN Business Park located north of Van Asche and west of Mall
Avenue. On August 8, 2005 the Planning Commission recommended
approval to the City Council for rezoning this property from R -O to C-2
and at the September 6th City Council meeting it was approved for the
rezoning. The surrounding properties are a mix of commercial uses to the
north with a Goody's retail store adjacent to the northern border. Mud
Creek flows east to west adjacent to the southern border of this site and
Mud Creek trail corridor is located on the southern side of this site. The
applicant is proposing a mixed use development with approximately
12,000 sq.ft. of office space, a 9900 sq.ft. restaurant and 145 parking
spaces. Staff is recommending approval of this Large Scale Development.
Condition number one, Planning Commission determination of
commercial design standards and compatibility with surrounding
development in CMN Business Park and meet commercial design
standards. The Subdivision Committee also agreed with staff's findings
and recommended additional articulation on some of the southern
elevations and I will let the applicant speak to how they would like to
address some of those issues. Condition number three, the Rezoning was
approved from R -O to C-2 and just have a couple of plat revisions to make
sure that the zoning is reflected accurately. Condition number four is also
related to appropriate building setbacks being documented on the plat.
Condition number seven, Planning Commission determination of adequate
access onto Mall Avenue. The Subdivision Committee recommended
moving the southern curb cut to line up with the adjacent curb cut with
Noodles Restaurant across the street. Also that condition references the
applicant shall coordinate emergency access with the fire department at
the time of construction. The plans before you do not show that curb cut
lining up with the Noodles restaurant. Other than that, the conditions of
approval are pretty straight forward.
Ostner: Is the applicant present?
Sheldon: My name is Randy Sheldon, I'm the engineer on the project. The only
concern I have on this project is condition number seven which calls for
moving the southern curb cut line north to match with Noodles. If you
look at the plat I think you will see that is going to make our north and
south entry about 50' apart. I think the intent of the comment was if we
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 42
eliminate one of the entrances in then we would have one and we would
match up with Noodles. I'm confused on the intent of that comment as
opposed to what we talked about at the Subdivision Committee meeting
and would like a clarification on that.
Ostner: Is there anyone from the public who would like to comment on LSD 05-
1668? Seeing none, I will close the public comment session and bring it
back to the Commission.
Pate:
The recommendation is intended to go with the recommendation of
Subdivision Committee in looking at removing of those curb cuts and
having just one curb cut aligned across from Noodles. The applicant
mentioned that one of the constraints on the south curb cut was a drainage
structure. I think it would be much better circulation in and out of
Noodles and out of this development if those curb cuts were aligned. We
worked with Logan's Roadhouse to align with Olive Garden in a very
similar situation that would provide cross access and allow for ease of
movement. I will mention the reason we have the condition of approval in
there that the applicant shall coordinate the emergency access with the
Fire Department at the time of construction, it is exactly what Noodles did.
They will typically want a second means of ingress and egress depending
on the loading rate/occupancy load of those types of structures. What
Noodles did is have a private access with a ballard that is not allowed for
general access to the north of the site along the drainage easement there.
This is probably a similar situation for access onto this site if one of those
curb cuts were removed.
Vaught: I would just like the applicant to go over the change in the southern
elevation and are these the final elevations that we are seeing? That
southern facade is very prominent, it is right on the trail.
McNeal: Hannah McNeal with Key Architecture presented the elevations. Not at
the microphone
Vaught: Jeremy, on the side facing the trail, does that satisfy staff as to commercial
design standards?
Pate: I believe so. We look at the potential for a restaurant there with patio
space that you can kind of see between those two buildings. In the
elevations it looks like it is one very large building but it is actually broken
up and has a covered walk through.
Vaught: I'm just talking about the long face that is along the trail that looks like
rear entry doors.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 43
Pate: Yes, that is something that we discussed as well. Some awnings over
those doors as well as landscaping that would help break that up and
would go along that area as well. There is an extensive landscape plan
that normally we wouldn't see along the trail edge.
Anthes: Staff, the elevation that is the back of the retail spaces, I seem to
remember that we required quite a bit more with the addition to Wal-Mart
that was in this area because of the fact that there was a trail going by and
the visibility to the rear of that building increased quite a bit.
Pate:
I think the reason we required more articulation there was because the
original proposal was one color, we wanted it to match the colors on the
existing Wal-Mart. That was our reason for recommending changes to
some of those colors. They did connect the trail through, just as this
project would, connect the trail interior to the development.
Anthes: I remember a discussion at Planning Commission about the fact that that
facade is usually a rear or a back. When you have something as prominent
as the city's trail system and the number of people that use that trail and
go by it, maybe it is not a city street but it does create another frontage and
I am actually a little concerned about the lack of articulation on that side
knowing that we have a prominent pedestrian and alternative
transportation route going right by it.
McNeal: The developer of the property wants to phase the trail in. There is a lot of
landscaping along back. When we open the buildings and separate them
there is an outdoor patio and we have a main walk way that runs from the
front and goes back to the trail. There are easements along the back but
we have broken the facade up and added the awnings as well. There are
multiple materials.
Anthes: Landscaping does not qualify as mitigation for commercial design
standards in our ordinances so we have to look at the building itself
without any trees or landscaping on it and it seems to me that the very
bottom drawing is still reading as a back. I'm concerned that with it being
directly on the trail that we might not have quite enough there.
Vaught: I was thinking the same thing. With Signature Plaza there on Joyce I
don't know if they have actual windows or foe windows around the back
where Joyce wraps around so it could halfway appear as a front. I don't
know the cost of things like that but I know there are other options out
there. I know it is the back of retail so you are probably going to have
storage rooms back there but you don't have a drive going back there so
they aren't going to be used as loading and unloading in those locations.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 44
McNeal: Service people will come in along the back of the sidewalk along the back
of that property to service these facilities.
Vaught: Real windows are a security concern. I don't know if there are some other
things that you can do just to break that up just because it is very
prominent and visible as you drive Mall Avenue there.
McNeal: We would be glad to add additional detailing and whether we take some of
the brick and take it all the way up into columns if that is what you are
looking for. There are a lot more trees than are shown on there from the
trail that a lot of this back part is not even going to be visible just because
of all of the landscaping that is going to be required. We would be happy
to add more articulation to that and open it up if that is what the
Commission desires.
Vaught:
Lack:
I don't know what the Commission desires. Mr. Lack, you are more
technical than most of us on this type of thing.
I am trying to go back to the letter of the law thinking of the concerns for
large, unarticulated blank walls. I think that I would have to concur that
the wall would need more detail. While I would hesitate to suggest
specifics, pylastering or even patterns of downspouts would serve as
articulation. I think that that wall would be fairly simple to add some
more detail to and get to a point. You mentioned that the south elevation,
the larger, more square like building was the concern of Subdivision
Committee. Could you please let me know what you changed in that or
how you responded to those concerns of Subdivision Committee?
McNeal: Not at microphone
Clark: I think that looks a lot like what we saw at Subdivision. I know you've
got more trees there but the articulation of the south side is still lacking.
Trees are a great touch but it doesn't count, as Commissioner Anthes
pointed out.
McNeal: I think we can take the lower masonry band and bring those up and
vertically divide that wall. There are going to be downspouts that are
going to hit across and we can accent those instead of the width of the
downspouts we can make them work out and go all the way up.
Anthes: Staff, are you fine with this design? The dumpster and screening are way
in the back and then the northern side of this property backs up to
Goody's. Because that location faces Mall Avenue but it is far enough
back you are not concerned with the dumpster screening?
Planning Commission
September 12,
Page 45
Pate:
McNeal:
Vaught:
Clark:
Ostner:
Pate:
Ostner:
Anthes:
Vaught:
McNeal:
Lack:
Trumbo:
Lack:
Ostner:
2005
Correct. Directly behind it is a large telephone sub station that is also on
the property that is quite large and unattractive. Unfortunately we can't do
a whole lot about that. Directly north of this property is a very large
drainage area with a lot of utilities and of course faces the back of the
commercial structures there. There is an access drive that goes back to the
bank and back to the Wal-Mart again across the drainage area so I think
the distance, proximity along with the landscaping there will screen it
appropriately.
not at microphone
I would love to see it where they use the trail system as an asset to draw
people in. I love to see tenants have the availability to use that back as
almost an entrance for their retail if they wanted to. That would be a neat
thing to offer along such a trail corridor. We can't require that. I love this
project, but it would be neat to see that option.
They do have a connecter sidewalk going to the trail.
Ok, we have redesigned this.
The one remaining thing is the access point that I'm aware of.
That would be condition number seven that you are referring to. Is
everyone ok with this condition?
I believe that the work that was done to align the drive between Logan's
and Olive Garden was a good precedent. It worked well in that area. If
we could do that on this project as the Subdivision Committee
recommended I think that would be beneficial.
Are you in agreement with aligning the drives and going to one entrance?
Yes Sir.
With that, I will make a motion that we approve LSD 05-1668, Dixie
Development with all 17 conditions of approval and findings on number
seven to be affirmative to relocate and limit to one drive. Findings on
number one to be affirmative.
I will second.
With the stated changes to the commercial design standards.
For the record, I am going to describe six pilasters on the southern
elevation and four added to the other southern elevation since the designer
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 46
has redesigned for us right here. We have a motion and a second. Is there
further discussion? Will you call the roll?
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to approve LSD 05-1668 was
approved by a vote of 7-0-0.
RZN 05-1688: Rezoning (JDM Investments, LLC, pp 294): Submitted by Roger
Trotter for property located at 2806 Crossover at the north boundary of Candlewood
subdivision. The property is zoned R -A, Residential Agricultural and contains
approximately 6.34 acres. The request is to rezone the subject property to RSF-4,
Residential Single Family, four units per acre.
Ostner: Our next item is RZN 05-1688 for JDM Investments.
Garner: Items 16-18 are all related. The applicant is proposing to rezone some
property and is also proposing a conceptual plat and is also proposing to
vacate some right of way that would connect the proposed conceptual plat
to an adjacent subdivision. The property is zoned R -A and contains
approximately 6.3 acres located immediately east of Crossover Road and
north of Candlewood Drive and the Candlewood Subdivision. Access is
only currently available from Crossover Road. There is an existing 50'
right of way stub out from Candlewood Drive that extends to the north
approximately 180' to the proposed property. The property is
undeveloped with a dense tree canopy over the majority of the eastern
portion of the site and the creek is just east of the site. The site is
surrounded by single family residential uses to the south and west with the
Lake Hills Baptist Church to the north. The zoning surrounding this
property is RSF-4 with the church being zoned R -A. The applicant
intends to develop the property for residential use. Therefore, the
applicant is requesting that the property be rezoned from R -A to RSF-4.
Staff finds that rezoning the property to RSF-4 for single family
residential use is compatible with adjacent and nearby single family
residential uses. The General Plan designates this area for residential uses
which is compatible with the proposed zoning. The various departments
in the city have looked at this for demand on public services and the Police
Department found that the rezoning will not substantially alter the
population and thereby undesirably increase the load on police services.
The Fire Department found that the rezoning is in close proximity to Fire
Station #5 and has an adequate response time of 3 '/ minutes. The
Engineering Division found that water and sewer are adjacent to the site
on Crossover Road. Street access, it has direct access onto Crossover Road
in addition to a stub out going south to Candlewood Subdivision. With
that, staff does recommend approval of this rezoning finding that it is
compatible and meets all of the required findings for a rezoning.
Ostner: If we could hear from the applicant please.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 47
McClelland: My name is Jay McClelland, I represent JDM Investments. We are in the
process of having the property located at 2806 Crossover converted to
RSF-4 zoning. We are proposing an 11 lot subdivision in that location.
Ostner: At this point we will take public comment. Please introduce yourself and
share your comment with us.
Madison: My name is Eva Madison, I live at 2600 Candlewood Drive. I am here
tonight speaking on behalf of the Candlewood Property Owner's
Association. We are here in support of the rezoning request of JDM
Investments. I would like to state one thing that the staff member said
from City Planning. There is access to Crossover. He mentioned a stub
out south into Candlewood. There is not a stub out there, that is just a
right of way so I just wanted to correct that. We support the rezoning
request.
Ostner: Is there further public comment on this rezoning request? I am going to
close the public comment session and bring it back to the Commission for
discussion. I would like to share with the applicant that it is customary
when we have an absence to share our rule that five positive votes are
required for Preliminary Plats, Conditional Uses and Vacations. Five
votes are required for this item and the next in order to move forward.
MOTION:
Clark: I will move we approve RZN 05-1688.
Myres: I will second.
Ostner: Is there further discussion? Will you call the roll please?
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to recommend approval of
RZN 05-1688 to the City Council was approved by a vote of 7-0-0.
Morgan: The motion carries.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 48
VAC 05-1686: Vacation (JDM Investments, LLC, pp 294): Submitted by Roger
Trotter for property located between 2716 and 2728 N. Candlewood Drive. The property
is zoned RSF-4, Single Family -4 units/acre. The request is to vacate a right of way on
the subject property.
Ostner: The next item on our agenda is VAC 05-1689 for JDM Investments. If we
could have the staff report please.
Garner: This item is related to the vacation of the right of way that is connected to
the property that we just discussed. The applicant is also proposing a
conceptual plat for this property. I will summarize both of these together
and it can be voted on separately. The property is located east of
Crossover Road. The actual area that would be vacated is in the
Candlewood subdivision and is a 50' right of way and utility easement
located between 2716 and 2728 N. Candlewood Drive. The property for
the conceptual plat is approximately 6.3 acres located north of
Candlewood subdivision with direct access onto Crossover Road. The
applicant is proposing 11 single family lots with the conceptual plat. The
purpose of the conceptual plat per our UDC is to allow all interested
parties an opportunity to provide the developer with input and
requirements before the developer invests a great deal of time or money
into preparation of a detailed plat. That is the purpose of the conceptual
plat that we have here. Street connectivity between the proposed
conceptual plat, as mentioned, there is a 50' right of way stub out that
would connect the proposed subdivision to Candlewood subdivision to the
south and Candlewood Drive. Based on the city's policy for connectivity
and a lot of discussion and analysis that went forward when the
Candlewood Subdivision was approved, staff is recommending that the
vacation of this right of way not occur and that the right of way remain as
approved and intended. The purpose of this stub out, I included the
minutes from the Subdivision Committee meeting and the Planning
Commission meeting. There was substantial discussion about why this
stub out was needed. Staff finds that this stub out would provide a third
connection, as intended, for the Candlewood subdivision and provides
another option for drivers to safely negotiate in and out of the subdivision
(proposed conceptual plat) and the Candlewood subdivision. Other public
service items for the conceptual plat, water and sewer are available to this
site and would be extended to serve the development. The applicant would
need to work with the City Engineer to determine if any upgrades are
necessary. A tree preservation plan would need to be submitted as part of
the conceptual plat to determine priority trees and groupings of trees for
preservation. They would need to also work with Parks and Recreation
staff to review the land and proposed development in terms of the ability
for a neighborhood park. Other identified issues include that this area is
identified as residential on the General Plan 2020. We also recommend a
high emphasis on limiting disturbed area and tree removal. There is a
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 49
higher percentage of tree canopy along the eastern area of this site and
there is a riparian area to the east of the site as well. At this point, staff is
recommending connectivity for this conceptual plat to Candlewood Drive
via the 50' right of way stub out for reasons mentioned above.
Ostner: Is the applicant present? If you could reintroduce yourself and give us
your presentation.
McClelland: My name is Jay McClelland, I'm with JDM Investments. We are
proposing an 11 lot subdivision. Our entrance that we are trying to do on
this is coming off Crossover Road with a fairly short cul-de-sac at the end,
eight smaller lots in the front of the subdivision starting at approximately
'A acre and going up to almost ''A acre. In the very back of the property
where the cul-de-sac ends there would be three larger lots at 1 acre each.
That is where a majority of the tree coverage is that would be undisturbed
except for people that are going to be building houses there. Most of that
would stay there. We feel that when the road comes in, there is already an
existing driveway to the back of the property so as far as removing the
trees, there will be very few trees that are removed putting in the new
street. If the stub out was enforced and put in there is at least one huge oak
tree that is at least 4' wide that would have to be removed for the street to
follow on through. Also, the traffic that would increase on that short street
for people cutting through going into the Candlewood subdivision we
think would be a safety issue for people living on that street also. Another
one of our concerns is who would pay for the new stub out on
Candlewood side? I am assuming the developer would and the bids we
have received so far are in excess of $60,000 to put that street in and also
repair the driveways of existing residences there and replace their fences
and move things over. We believe the plat that we have is a good plat, it is
a workable plat and for safety reasons we think it is the best possible plan
for that area.
Ostner: At this point I will call for public comment
Madison: I am Eva Madison at 2600 Candlewood Drive. I am here on behalf of the
Candlewood Property Owner's Association to support the developer's
request for vacation of the right of way. The property owner's association
has coordinated it's efforts tonight such that you only hear from me with
the exception of the two adjacent property owners so I would ask for the
commission's indulgence to allow me to let the other residents introduce
themselves. If everybody here from Candlewood would stand for me.
Since they are here, I am going to ask each one of them to introduce
themselves. My husband, Dave Peeper, can start.
Peeper: I'm Dave Peeper, I oppose the right of way vacation.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 50
Ostner: Ms. Madison, this is nice but it doesn't help us if they are not on the
microphone. I think that it is sufficient that we know everybody is here
and it looks to me that there are at least 35, 40 or maybe even 50. You are
all on record and you all count.
Madison: The first reason that we support the vacation request is a safety issue.
Traffic is already a huge problem in Candlewood and we do not need the
traffic from 11 additional homes dumping into our neighborhood. Based
on Planning information, it is estimated that a single family home
generates between 9 and 10 vehicle trips per day. There are presently 54
homes in Candlewood already generating some 540 vehicle trips per day
just from the residents. With 11 additional homes this will add 100 trips
per day or a 20% increase over current home owner traffic. In addition,
Candlewood has a serious cut through traffic problem because our
neighborhood connects Crossover Road to Township. Drivers cut through
from Covington Park from out Mission as far as way as Goshen and while
coming and going from Vandergriff Elementary and McNair Middle
School to avoid the Township Crossover intersection. These drivers speed
through our neighborhood at all times of day. The problem is most
notable in the afternoon when school lets out. Candlewood Drive near the
Township intersection becomes a parking lot of non-resident parents
waiting for their children to walk from Vandergriff. The problem is so
significant that last week the residents of Candlewood submitted a traffic
calming request. Meaning that 75% of the residents in Candlewood
already think that we have a traffic problem, this is without the addition of
these 11 homes depositing onto Candlewood. As you can see, there are
pictures of the traffic problem, the parking problem that occurs in the
afternoon when school lets out. You can see that children are walking in
that area, not only the children that are coming to the cars that are waiting
for them but also the children that live in our neighborhood. There are
approximately 73 children that live in Candlewood. They walk home
from school, from Vandergriff, they ride their bikes, they play in our
neighborhood. In fact, Scott Smith's son Walker was almost involved in a
very bad car accident while crossing the street last spring. He was
crossing the street to the ice-cream truck and there was a 16 year old kid
who was cutting through Candlewood and it was a near miss. We think
there is already a safety issue existing in Candlewood and we don't want
to worsen the problem by connecting 11 new homes. Second, we have
heard mention of the city's policy of connectivity that they would like the
new development to connect to Candlewood. While connectivity is
certainly a noble goal Candlewood should not be the only subdivision on
which this policy is imposed. We already suffer because we do go
somewhere and are not able to adequately the issues that have resulted
from that. There are neighborhoods being developed all around
Candlewood that are dead end developments with only a single point of
access and no plans for future connectivity. For example, Jackson Place,
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 51
which you will see in the picture right here, was platted for approximately
13 or 14 homes with a single point of entry onto Skillern/Old Wire. We
all know that the intersection right there is bad already but the dead end
development went through city planning in 2003. Another example is the
Hickory Park subdivision, which you will see is not quite as developed
and as far along as Jackson Place, but it is platted for 14 homes and a
single point of entry onto Crossover. The Lutheran church at the corner of
Township and Crossover actually owned this property and it was the
Lutheran church that was before the Planning Commission requesting that
this development be approved. At the Planning Commission meeting one
of the adjacent residents raised the issue why didn't the church give access
so that the neighborhood could alternatively access Township as opposed
to just Crossover. The issue was never even considered and 14 homes now
travel onto Crossover with now access onto Township. That is similar to
the issues that we are facing tonight. These are not issues like Highland
Park or Lovers Lane that occurred 20 and 30 years ago. This was just last
year and the year before. Clearly connectivity is not a firm policy in the
city. Exceptions are obviously made for developments that are larger than
Mr. McClelland's development and so we would ask that an exception be
made here as well. Thirdly, most importantly, there is a fairness issue at
play here. The Candlewood home owners were completely unaware of the
potential for a street between these two homes because of the lack of
notice from the city. The city did not require the developer to stub out the
street, there was no sign posted. There was no other notice to the
residence of Candlewood that a street might come through. This
connection to the north from Candlewood was a major issue before the
Planning Commission in 1999. In fact, at a meeting that took place on
February 11, 1999 before the Subdivision Committee Commissioner Little
warned that the city needs to adequately warn residents of these potential
streets coming through. She sited several incidents where residents were
not appropriately warned of potential streets coming through and that
problems develop later on. She noted that signs needed to be posted so
"there are no mistakes about that." Yet the Commission proceeded to
require only a right of way and no stub out, no sign, no notice whatsoever
to the home owners. Why? According to the minutes in 1999 to save the
developer the cost of stubbing out the street. Even then, this connection to
the north, according to the minutes, was not that significant. They looked
at connecting to the east and to the south, the north was sort of a
compromise. It wasn't that big of a deal at the time. It wasn't a big
enough deal to stub it out. The developer didn't even ask, according to the
minutes, about the expense. It was the Commission that decided it was
too costly to require the developer to stub out the street. Now we are here
dealing with the precise issue that Commissioner Little warned about,
inadequate notice to the neighbors. We think city planners clearly knew
better as evidenced by the comments before the Commission. In addition,
if you will look at the two adjacent homes from the picture on top, there is
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 52
absolutely no indication from driving by and looking at those two homes
that a city street would ever go through. The driveways extend well into
the right of way. You can see the tape that is marked into the driveways,
that is the right of way. There is fencing, landscaping and so on.
Interestingly enough, it was Terminella, Inc. that developed Candlewood.
It was Terminella, Inc. that was before the Planning Commission when
this right of way was required and it was Terminella, Inc. that built these
homes and constructed the driveways well into the right of way. If the
developer who should have known about the right of ways built the
driveways as he did, how can you expect the residents to ever anticipate a
street there? We drive by it everyday. Maybe you expect a utility
easement because of the culvert and the power lines but a street, never. A
street will eat up the two driveways almost completely. Quite simply, city
planners failed to provide any notice of this right of way to Candlewood
residents despite numerous opportunities to do so. There was no stub out,
no signs, and the city did not catch the problems at any point in the
building permit process for the driveways. These lots were essentially
corner lots and it was concealed from the residents until very recently
when this development issue came up. Accordingly, the Candlewood
Property Owner's Association urges the Commission to grant Mr.
McClelland's request to vacate the right of way and to give us back the
land that we have been led to believe was ours all along. Thank you.
Brooks: I'm Evelyn Brooks, I live at 2728 Candlewood which is the house to the
left that has half of the driveway marked off. I live there with my
husband, Jay Tolley and my four children. We purchased that property in
May, 2004 and only found out about the right of way in April, 2005. The
prior owners certainly never mentioned anything to us about this and
while we did realize there was a utility easement to the back we never
knew of any right of way. As pointed out already, you can see that one
wouldn't assume that there was going to be any kind of street placed in
that area. In fact, when we moved into the house we made improvements
to the backyard that we certainly never would have made had we thought
there would be any kind of street coming through there. We spent
thousands of dollars to separate the backyard from the pool area and if this
goes through we will lose a significant portion of our backyard and also
most of our driveway. We have a 17 year old who routinely pulls out of
the garage and she would be pulling out onto a street, in effect, as opposed
to a driveway. We also have three younger children who routinely play in
our driveway with skateboards, bicycles and you have already heard about
the traffic problems we have had. This would be devastating to us because
we would move out onto the street instead of having some space there for
our children. You have been told earlier about the close calls with the
traffic and how much cut through traffic there is and how this essentially
would be a corner lot. We were certainly never informed and had no idea
that that was what we would be purchasing. This would be very damaging
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 53
to our family personally but also to the neighborhood and I ask that you
consider favorably the motion to vacate. Thank you.
Brown: My name is Pat Brown, I live at 2716 Candlewood Drive. My house is the
one on the right hand side of the picture. To reiterate what Eva Madison
just shared, the 50' right of way is between those two pieces of tape that
would take out ' of my driveway and '/z of Evelyn Brooks and Jay
Tolley's driveway. I was not aware of this right of way. Had I been, I
would not have invested the thousands of dollars that I did on wood
fencing, iron fencing, extensive landscaping, which turns out now to be in
this right of way. The issue of stub out is another thing that I would like to
address. As Eva mentioned, one of the reasons that a stub out was not
required here was to save the developers money when they developed
Candlewood. Gary Combs and Tom Terminella developed Candlewood
together. We are now having to pay the price for the money that they
saved. You can see from the picture here on the left that this lane had a
stub out. The developer comes through and is required to cut that street
out. Both of the people on either side of that stub out when they bought
their homes they knew full well that one day that there could be a street, or
most likely would be a street going through there and that they indeed,
were buying corner lot houses. Another example is the Boardwalk
subdivision, which is a little bit older than Covington, Arthur's Court has a
stub out that goes absolutely nowhere right now. Again, those two people
who bought their homes and all subsequent owners, knew when they
bought those houses that they were buying corner lots and that someday
there was a street that could and most likely would, go through that area. I
would ask that for these reasons and a matter of fairness and lack of notice
on the part of the city that a right of way existed there by A) Requiring
the stub out or B) Requiring signs that the Commission approve this
request for Vacation of right of way. Thank you.
Ostner: I would like to express my appreciation for the organization that you all
have done. It is easier on everyone and we appreciate it greatly. I am
going to close the public comment session if there is no other comment
We have a lot of information you sent us in our packets, I assure you. I
will bring it back to the Commission.
Vaught: Staff or the City Attorney, the right of way dedication without a stub out
would not be done anymore precisely for these reasons and if you look at
newer subdivisions there are signs at the end of the stub outs saying this
road will extend some day. The city has learned through trial and error the
importance of that. When this developer went in and built these houses
and put the driveways where they are, was there any kind of permitting
process? Their property lines really don't go to the middle of that
easement. They are cut off at the edge so I was curious to know when
subsequent owners purchased the homes, I would assume the plats would
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 54
Pate:
reflect that. I'm confused on a number of reasons why that wasn't done if
they are saying they weren't notified of this and why was the developer
allowed to put the driveways as he did?
You are entirely right. They were not notified. When you go to buy a lot
unless you take a trip to the City Planning office to look at your lot or get
a survey it will likely not show up. On the Final Plat on record at the
County and at the City, however, the property lines do not extend within
that 50' right of way. The city owns the property in that 50'. We pay
taxes on the property currently. The building permits that we have in front
of you show both of those homes that were constructed, they both had to
meet front setback requirements, if that were a side setback that would be
8'. That is something that when we issued building permits for these
homes the Building Safety Division and Planning Staff did require those
setbacks. Obviously, the next property owner without due diligence in
researching that property would not likely know that. In answer to your
question about the signs, that is definitely something that we recommend.
I would like to address one of the comments from Ms. Madison, she
referenced Ms. Little, that was actually Planning Staff, Alette Little as
Planning Director, that recommended very strongly three connections to
the north/east and south. That Planning Commission voted not to require
those stub outs. Planning staff was recommending those just as we are
today. We actually occasionally see stub outs not constructed now.
Typically we take an assessment for that and it is something that we do not
like to see and staff will consistently recommend that they build that street
to the property line for this very reason. For the very reason in 1999 that
Ms. Little mentioned as well. The pavement of the street, it was also
addressed in the minutes, the developer would be required to connect to
that street and pay for the development of the street as part of the new
development. There is another connection in Candlewood. I'm not sure
the owners are aware, there is a south stub out of right of way that is
between two lots currently. There were two right of way stub outs in this
neighborhood, one to the north and one to the south. The one to the east
was not required because of the creek and the associated bridge that would
have been required to develop property to the east. There are two existing
rights of way currently, one currently to the south and one to the north.
That is the primary condition. I need to correct one thing in the staff
report, under water and sewer responses it says no objections. The Water
and Sewer Division did recommend approval of the vacated right of way
but they would like to retain that in a utility easement. I would like to
mention as well that fencing, driveways, anything of that nature that are
constructed within utility easements are always subject to removal if a
utility company needs to come through and remove those fences,
driveways, anything that is constructed within a utility easement and that
is usually at the cost of the homeowner. We do not permit fences or
driveways, we simply permit the actual structures.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 55
Vaught: I guess it would be the neighboring developer's expense to replace the
fences or extend the fences down the property line?
Pate: It is usually at the homeowner's fence. Obviously, they put the money
into a fence which they are losing now if it is not vacated. That is a risk at
anytime, whether it is a right of way or not, if you are developing anything
within a utility easement, a fence, a deck, anything in a utility easement,
that is the risk that someone takes regardless of this situation.
Vaught: The original developer of this neighborhood has no recourse against him
on this? There is no way of having him help share the cost of any of this?
Pate: I couldn't answer that.
Williams: The developer did what he was required to do and therefore, the developer
didn't do anything wrong. The Planning Commission did not require him
to do anything but dedicate the easement, not to build the stub outs so the
developer did not do anything wrong in this case.
Vaught: Is there any precedent that we have seen in situations similar to this?
Williams: No, this is a case by case basis. I know when I was on the City Council
we actually vacated an un -built right of way between Boardwalk and Park
Place. That POA asked us to vacate it. I don't know why we did it,
except we thought it would develop at one time and it didn't connect
between the two developments, which they do not have now. I think it is
mainly a decision by the City Council to decide whether or not they
believe it is in the best interest of the city and the citizens.
Graves: I understand the goals and policies of the city and I appreciate staff's
recommendation on this point. I know that is certainly what we always
endeavor to do which is connect neighborhoods that are close together but
with all due respect, we can't abandon common sense on something like
this. There is hardly anyone that I can think of that would go down and
check County and City plats before they went and bought a house and if
they did, I suspect planning staff would be overwhelmed if that was the
typical situation rather than the A -typical situation. I don't think that the
city would have the staff to man all of those requests to see plats for a
piece of property. I have a real problem with requiring that type of thing,
with requiring a street connection there. The lack of notice, I think
everyone agrees that in view of the situation there really wasn't any notice
here. The other issue I take with it is just the fact that I understand that the
driveways could be ripped up, the likelihood of that happening is not very
likely. Those driveways are there and it seems like if anybody fumbled
the ball it wasn't the homeowners. It was whoever was in charge of
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 56
making sure that driveways weren't constructed in the city right of way. It
sounds like the city is paying property taxes on something that is being
used by someone other than the city as a driveway. The other problem
that I have with it just looking at the concept plan for the situation is that if
the street were built there I don't see any way that it could be a safe street.
Not even necessarily addressing whatever traffic there may be on
Candlewood but that street comes in at a pretty harsh angle to the curve of
the street that is already there in Candlewood. If you built a street
connection right through there it is a short street between the proposed
subdivision and the existing subdivision and it would hit that Candlewood
Drive at a pretty strange angle and it would be a hard curve coming
through there. I don't see how you could make the line of sight right
especially with houses on both sides. I would almost rather see if we want
connectivity, see that the proposed subdivision connect up some how to
the parking for the Baptist church. If we are looking for another way in
and out of the proposed subdivision go north rather than south. Not
because we don't encourage connectivity between neighborhoods, not
because it wouldn't be ideal if it hadn't worked out this way. We are
taking the situation as we found it, it is this way and it seems to me that we
ought to vacate this and forget about the idea of building a street through
there. It just doesn't work the way it is right now in my opinion. I would
support the vacation.
Clark: If this is built the way that it is currently proposed, what is the distance
between Candlewood and this subdivision onto Crossover?
Pate: I do not know for sure, it is probably around 450'.
Clark: If the stub out is built, how close will those garages and those houses be to
a street?
Pate: They would meet the setback requirements for the 25' at least minimum.
The building permits that were issued for those houses, they were actually
setback further than 25'. The one on the east is the closest based on the
building permits. I would guess from the curb a 24' wide street within a
50' right of way so 36' from house to curb.
Clark: Is connectivity a guiding principal?
Pate: It is a policy.
Clark: It is an absolute policy?
Williams: No, it is just part of the master plan. Policies are not written in stone, it is
just for common sense on each particular application.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 57
Clark: If you are mandated to stub out will you lose lots?
McClelland: Yes, we will lose one lot.
Clark:
I am going to agree with Commissioner Graves that I think this is common
sense and common sense says these folks did not know about this when
they bought those houses. They did it in good faith, they did it with the
assumption that they would not have corner lots. You can play the blame
game but the only people who are going to suffer are property owners. I,
in good conscious, can't fathom that and I don't care what neighborhood it
is, whether it is in the north, west, east, or south, this smacks not being
very bright. I am going to support the Vacation and hope that the city will
let the conceptual plat go as proposed currently.
Vaught: I would agree. If anyone is at fault I think that the Planning Commission
was for not requiring the stub out. I think that is why we have that policy
now. I hate to see this happen, is there any way as a city we can take steps
to ensure that property owners are informed? I would assume a survey or
your title would reflect this right of way. Not that anybody reads that.
Graves: You can't tell how many acres you have unless you go look it up on some
kind of scale or something.
Vaught: It is something that I would assume would be the developer's
responsibility to communicate down. Is there a way for the city to try to
rectify these situations?
Pate:
There are literally stub outs all over the city and right of way that is on a
plat that has never been developed. We saw Aspen Ridge PZD utilize a
street right of way that was platted in 1912 and was never built. Our
policies in place which we require before we sign the Final Plat, is that
there is a sign placed. In 1999 is when that started.
Ostner: I think it is like a lot of things, it is the responsibility of the buyer. Mr.
Graves, you are right, no one is going to go downtown and look at the plat
before they buy a home. Who actually buys it? It is not someone else, it
is them. Ownership is a great deal of the law. These building permits are
dated for 2728 N. Candlewood in April, 2003. It is pretty clear on there
and on the other permit of August, 2002 for 2716 Candlewood it's there.
The building setback and the right of way are drawn in there. Some of the
comments that want to blame this invisible city or invisible book of rules,
I sort of take exception to, we think twice. We wonder whether we are
getting the full picture. We take it on ourselves to think through these
things without trusting or making it someone else's responsibility. Home
ownership is no different. This development to the north, this cul-de-sac
with 11 lots, I would hate for them to come to us in two years or five years
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 58
and say we only have one way in and out and it is so dangerous. Why
didn't you do something about it? We hear that in this room from
developments that don't have other ways in and out. It is dangerous. I
want to go east on Hwy. 45 and don't have a way to get over there but I'm
right next to the other street, why didn't you make it in there? That could
go both ways. How many times do we pass the buck? I don't think that
the other Planning Commission acted properly in weighing stuff out. I
think that was unfair to you all. It should be there at the very least but
there should be a sign. This vacation is important, this provides an
important connection to the next development. I believe it is a very
important connection to your development. It is part of the policy. When
traffic calming was written part of it says the more connections a
development has the more calming there will be. I am against the
vacation. I think there is good city purpose for this land to benefit
everyone and I have great empathy for the property owners involved. It is
unfortunate and it is not fair. This is not the defining body for this issue.
We are hearing it and will make a recommendation and the City Council
will answer your requests whether the Vacation will be allowed or denied.
Anthes: I just wanted to say that going down and checking the plat is not the only
way to know what is happening on your property. Every time you go for a
loan at the bank they ask if you want to get a survey and most people do.
These kinds of things are things that will appear on any survey of land that
you invest in. Now with the GIS system up, we have plats and aerial
photography available online and a lot of that stuff is easily accessible by
land owners so it is not just an owner's responsibility to go down and look
at plat books. Second, I'm really glad to see that you guys have applied
for traffic calming in your neighborhood. Candlewood Avenue is a very
long street and though it isn't a straight shot like a lot that we see come
through here, it is very easy to drive and because the subdivision is not
built with a large lot/block configuration, that encourages speed. There
are some basic ways that you can slow traffic throughout your
neighborhood with the way that the intersections, or the lack thereof, are
built into your street. I don't know if you allow parking on your street, but
if you do, if you would allow on -street parking in your neighborhood, that
is a traffic calming measure. A lot of neighborhood associations
specifically forbid on -street parking, and that is something that increases
speed on your neighborhood streets. That would be something that you
could look at. Aside from what is already built, we have to look at what is
coming and what is the next round of development. I'm looking at the
concept plan for the next development and I'm thinking about how the
children in those homes are going to get to school and we have already
heard from property owners tonight who said, "just try to get out on Hwy.
265 and be prepared to wait and wait and wait." When I see that and hear
that, I am looking for other ways to relieve new developments from the
same pressures of having to wait at an over trafficked street and if I lived
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 59
on Lot 7 and needed to get a child to the elementary school I'd want
another way rather than just out on Hwy. 265. It is troubling in that if I
was living in that house and had not got a survey I would be as mad as you
are and yet, as a planning instrument and looking to the future and looking
at how we are impacting what is to come, I have to agree with city staff's
report that the right of way is available for use.
Trumbo: I've spoken a couple of times on connectivity and have learned a great
deal about it by being on this Commission. Sometimes in practical reality,
it doesn't work. I think Candlewood Street is a perfect example of a cut
through. It is not really connectivity, it is a cut through from one major
highway to another highway. I understand that we need to look at
connectivity in the future but allowing this road to bring in more traffic is
not the right answer. I think once roads develop out to Hwy. 45 it may
alleviate it but now is not the time to connect this. In a fairness issue, it
says someone messed up and it wasn't the property owners. Rarely do
property owners get surveys on residential lots. Common sense says I am
supposed to look after my neighbors as well as developers and the city.
The balance here is unfairness is brought on to these home owners. With
that, I am going to make a motion to approve VAC05-1689.
Clark: I will second.
O'Neal: The water department has requested that the entire width be maintained as
a utility easement.
Trumbo: To allow it to maintain as a utility easement, yes but not as a road.
Pate: I would like to mention that a Vacation does not require five votes, just a
simple majority.
Vaught: I just want to make sure that the property owners are clear that with a
utility easement they can still have their improvements ripped out. You
can still be in the same situation. It is a hardship placed on these owners
whether they knew it or not. It should've been something that they were
notified of. We are in a situation that no one wants to be in. This is a
unique situation where I feel the hardship would exceed the benefit of the
road.
Ostner: I would like to talk about that too. The people who don't live here yet
can't talk. There are 11 lots proposed north of here and I believe if this is
vacated those people would be here just as loud. If we can imagine that
northern piece of property already built up, all of the homes there and we
are here tonight talking about whether or not we should do that to their
subdivision, I believe the tenure of these discussions would be completely
different. I think there is a greater good for this connection. I believe the
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 60
people in those 11 lots of the proposed subdivision would benefit from this
road. The Fire Marshal routinely turns down developments without more
than one way in and out. This fits the very minimum. It is only 450'. If it
was 500' or 1000' the Fire Marshal would say no. There has to be a way
in and a way out. That is for safety. There was mention that if the street
were put here it would be unsafe, that doesn't make any sense to me. It
would be a 90° straight angle with a stop sign. That is the way
connectivity is accomplished with simple, good intersections. Part of the
reason Candlewood is a race way is it has no intersections. There aren't
opportunities for traffic calming. I believe we are passing the buck by
vacating this and saying there have been so many problems we are going
to follow bad decisions with other ones. I don't believe the safety issue is
a counter. If they were a regular subdivision with a regular street in there I
would like to add that Director Little asked for this continually. The city
and the rules did not take this likely. The Commission disagreed with her.
We often do that and disagree with our staffs approvals. The notion that
the city made a mistake is something I disagree with and I'm not saying
anyone here said it but it has been referred to. This body is allowed and
the Council is allowed to waive those rules at times. I believe mistakes
were made and tonight is the time to correct them. I will vote against this
Vacation.
McClelland: I could sell this and the owners may come in and do something opposite of
what you are saying tonight. Our concept plat has not changed since day
one. We brought the concept plat to the Engineering Division and said I
can't imagine that street being there. Whenever I showed someone, a
potential buyer for one of these lots our cul-de-sac concept and said we
might have to put a street in here and they said no, they would rather have
a cul-de-sac street.
Ostner: Cul-de-sac streets are very popular and there is a reason they are very
popular for a few people and make a lot of problems for a lot. Nationwide
cul-de-sacs are being limited. They benefit one and make many suffer,
including the people who enjoy that cul-de-sac. They pull out on these
choked bigger roads that they pull out on because they have no choices
and the reason they have no choices is all of the cul-de-sacs.
Vaught: The city was fighting for this connection. Referring to the Fire
Department, the second connection is required with anything over 30
units. We are dealing with well below that. It is just a situation on its'
premise. I'm a big proponent of the connectivity issue. I just think it is a
situation right now where we have gotten ourselves into as a Planning
Commission, despite the city's encouraging not to do it that way. That is
why I support the vacation.
Clark: I will call the question.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 61
Ostner: Call the roll on calling the question.
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to call the question was
approved by 7-0-0.
Ostner: We have a motion and a second to approve the Vacation of the right of
way and a second, will you call the roll?
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to recommend approval of the
Vacation was approved by a vote of 5-2 with Commissioner Anthes and
Ostner voting no.
Break
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 62
CPL 05-1690: Concept Plat (JDM Investments, LLC, pp 294): Submitted by Roger
Trotter for property located at 2806 N. Crossover Road. The property is zoned R -A,
Residential Agricultural and contains approximately 6.34 acres. The request is to review
a concept plat for a residential subdivision.
Ostner: We will now talk about the Concept Plat, CCP05-1960 for JDM
Investments. We have heard the staff report.
Pate: The Planning Commission doesn't vote on this item. It is simply
informational only.
Ostner: If anyone has any comments that they would like to add. If anyone from
the public would like to speak to this Concept Plat please step forward. I
believe they have all left. Seeing none, I will close the public comment
session. Are there any comments from the Commission? Would you like
to see this come back as a Preliminary Plat?
Anthes: I would like to see another way out of this development other than just the
one exit on Hwy. 265. There was some comment made that talked about
the possibility of being able to connect to the church property to the north.
Is that a possibility or not?
Pate: It is potentially a possibility but it is a parking lot and 1 am not as familiar
with that property either.
Anthes: Imagine there is an accident on Hwy. 265 that happens somewhere near
here and a fire truck is trying to get through. If we could figure out a way
to get through -if indeed, the Council votes the same way we did tonight, -
if we could look at that church parking lot for possibilities, I would like to
see it.
Pate:
This property could accommodate 25 lots because that is the zoning
recommended to Council tonight. I don't anticipate that because we saw a
Concept Plat tonight but there is a potential for more lots and if the lot
number does increase we would investigate another means of access.
Anthes: The other question I have is looking at the utility easement. If the City
Council follows the recommendation of this body tonight, the utility
easement that would remain between these properties, I would like to look
at a walking connection so that if we had children that live in this new
development, they could ride their bike to school without getting out on a
major highway.
Pate: 1 can mention that to the City Council for their consideration.
Planning Commission
September 12,
Page 63
Graves:
Ostner:
Clark:
2005
I made the comment about possibly connecting to the north. Specifically I
was talking about an apartment complex on Leverett recently where we
were looking at the applicant stubbing out to another parking lot and
getting an agreement from their neighbor that the parking lot could be
used for emergency access. I understand that there would have to be an
agreement to that affect. It seems like with a church there might be an
opportunity there. If that is a parking area there typically they wouldn't be
using that parking except for certain times during the week and there
might be an opportunity to stub out to the north so I would like the
possibility to look into that type of access.
I would agree. I think that is important. I suppose if I requested a stub out
to the south it wouldn't be very appropriate. Is there further discussion?
Mr. McCollough, have you thought about asking the church for a shared
parking agreement or access to the north?
McCollough: I took a copy of the plat to them to look at but I did not ask them for a stub
out. There is a school there also. I am not sure that they would entertain
the idea of more cars coming through their parking lot with the preschool
that they have right there. They have seen the concept plat and agreed
with that. I did not ask them about the stub out.
Clark:
Osmer:
Myres:
Ostner:
I think Ms. Anthes made a good point on that.
Is there further discussion on this item?
That just reminded me that Commissioner Anthes mentioned the idea of
access by foot traffic even if vehicular traffic wouldn't be a possibility but
if there is a preschool at that church to the north it might be appropriate to
provide some right of way for a sidewalk between this subdivision and the
church parking lot so that parents could walk their children to preschool
and connect all the way through Candlewood.
I would really like to see the cross connection if there could be some sort
of agreement or dialogue with the church to the north or at the very least, a
pedestrian access through what is possibly going to be a utility easement
to the south. I think that would be terrific. It could be a narrow path that
connects subdivisions.
McCollough: I was told that there was already a walking trail behind the back of the
property that connects to Candlewood that accesses the church and
Candlewood.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 64
Pate: I know there is park property back there. I don't think the city has
developed anything in that area but there may very well be some sort of
access there.
Ostner: Seeing it and developing it would be something important instead of
saying "we are adjacent to park land" that is not the same thing as saying
that we are going to develop the trail and put the connection in. One way
or the other, I think those connections need to be made. If there is no
further discussion, we can move on to the next item.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 65
VAC 05-1686: Vacation (Schultz, pp 599) Submitted by N. Arthur Scott for property
located at 1921 S. Vale Avenue. The property is zoned RMF -24, Multi family, 24 units
per acre and contains approximately 0.29 acres. The request is to vacate a portion of the
right of way at the subject property.
Ostner: Item nineteen is VAC 05-1686 for Schultz.
Garner: The subject property is undeveloped right of way in South Fayetteville
located east of Razorback Road west of Veil Avenue and south of ????
Street. The records at the Washington County Assessor's office depicts
this right of way as Junction Street that was platted as part of the
Meadowvale Subdivision. Currently, no public utilities or public uses
occupy the easement. As you can see on page 13, Junction Street varies in
width from 40' at the western most portion to 20' on the easternmost
portion. The applicant's request is to vacate the Junction Street right of
way and their rational is that it is no longer necessary to facilitate the
construction of a public street through the area and in order to
development of the lots north and south of the right of way it would be
required. They can't meet required building setbacks with the right of way
as platted requiring a 25' front setback. Staff has not received objection
from the city and utilities to vacate this. We have not received any public
comment on this item. Staff is in support of vacating this right of way. We
find that it would not adversely affect the city's Master Street Plan or
traffic flow to the property or other properties and we recommend this
with the condition of approval that the applicant would construct a
minimum 24' width private street to city standards through the vacated
right of way vicinity that would provide a connection from Veil Avenue
and Razorback Road and the paved street would be opened for public
access and maintained by the applicant. We have a diagram in your
packet that shows the applicant's proposed new private street and we are
in support of that.
Ostner: Is the applicant present? If you could introduce yourself and give your
presentation.
77•
My name is George ??? representing PDC and the developer for this
project. We would like to vacate the right of way due to the interesting
position of where it is and put in a private drive in it's place. Per staff's
recommendations, we will make it a through street. We are about 350'
south of Sligo so it is a good distance. We are here to field any questions
that you may have.
Ostner: At this point I will take public comment. If anyone would like to speak to
VAC 05-1686 please step forward. Seeing none, I will close the public
comment session.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 66
MOTION:
Anthes: I move to approve VAC 05-1686 with the conditions as stated.
O'Neal: On the water and sewer memo dated May 16th, the vacated right of way
should be maintained as a utility easement.
Anthes: As he said.
Pate: I think potentially between now and the time that we get to Council, if we
could maybe coordinate that. With the diagrams here, the utility
easements go right through the buildings.
Anthes: That is true, it needs to move adjacent to the roadway within a safe
proximity.
Pate:
Also, on condition number one I would like to add Applicant shall
construct a minimum 24' width private street including sidewalks on both
sides to allow for pedestrian connections from Veil to Razorback. I
believe that was planned for but I would like to add that as a condition of
approval.
Anthes: I move to approve VAC 05-1686, forwarding to City Council with the
conditions as stated but adding to condition number one to provide a 4'
sidewalk on either side per city street standards and adding a second
condition that we would provide for a utility easement adjacent to the
street and that can be worked out with city staff prior to City Council.
Clark: I will second.
Ostner: Is there further discussion? Would you call the roll?
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to recommend approval of
VAC 05-1686 was approved by a vote of 7-0-0.
Morgan: The motion carries.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 67
CUP 05-1684: Conditional use Permit (Friday, pp 446): Submitted by Sam Friday
for property located at 520 E. Maple and 545 Gunter Street. The property is zoned RSF-
4, Single Family -four units per acre and contains approximately 0.80 acres. The request
is to approve an existing single family home on the subject property as a detached second
dwelling unit.
Ostner:
Morgan:
The next item is CUP 05-1684 for Friday.
This applicant owns two properties at 520 E. Maple and 525 Gunter Street.
The property is zoned RSF-4. The southern lot is a county lot with
approximately 60' of frontage. The northern lot is very comparable in size
and a conforming lot in the RSF-4 zoning district and fronts Gunter Street.
The existing home on the southern lot is a historic home and it is currently
located in such a way that it encroaches within setbacks and is a non-
conforming structure. Access to this home is by way of Gunter Street
through the property to the north. The property to the north currently has
an existing single family home which is a converted garage and has an
area approximately 828 sq.ft. The applicant, several months ago,
requested a building permit to add onto the existing historic home in such
a way that it would increase the non -conformity of this home. In
discussion with the applicant, staff tried to find a solution to the problems
without requiring as many variances. One of which is that the staff
consider a property line adjustment such that the existing homes will be on
the same lot and the setbacks from the new property line will not encroach
within either structure so that the applicant can modify and reconstruct the
existing structures without having to get variances. In order for staff to
approve such a Property Line Adjustment we would be creating a lot
which has two single family homes on it and therefore, the applicant is
requesting that the Conditional Use be approved for a detached dwelling
unit on the lot in which the historic structure exists. In any residential
zoning district detached dwelling units can be approved. There are certain
requirements for those with regard to architecture that they match the
existing structure. Also, in regard to size, there is a limit of 1,200 sq.ft. for
detached dwelling units. Obviously, this proposed detached dwelling unit
is existing and meets those requirements. Staff finds that the architecture
of the detached dwelling unit is compatible with the existing structure.
Additionally, by adjusting this line we will be alleviating not only a non-
conformity on the existing historic structure but there is also a shed that is
located right on the property line and that would alleviate that issue also.
Staff is recommending approval of this Conditional Use with a total of six
conditions. Condition one addresses compatibility and requests that the
Planning Commission make a determination on whether you find this
detached dwelling unit is compatible with the principal structure.
Condition two, prior to issuance of a building permit for the second
detached dwelling unit, a deed restriction to run with the land shall be filed
for record which will require one of the units on the site to be occupied by
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 68
the property owner. Condition three, all appropriate permitting shall be
submitted and approved by the City of Fayetteville prior to
commencement of any construction to the principle dwelling. Four, that
no more than one detached second dwelling unit should be permitted on
the subject property. Five, addresses the area of the detached dwelling
unit as it is currently less than 1,200 sq.ft. if the property owner ever
wished to enlarge that structure they would need approval from the
Planning Commission to do so. Condition number six, that the requested
Property Line Adjustment shall be filed in order for this Conditional Use
to be in affect.
Ostner: Is the applicant present?
Friday: I am Sam Friday, the property owner. I am willing to comply with all of
the conditions and believe that this will improve the community and the
city that I live in and plan to live in for a long time.
Ostner: At this point I will open it up for public comment. If anyone would like to
speak to this Conditional Use please give your comment. Seeing none, I
will close the public comment session and bring it back to the
Commission.
Anthes: Do we have a drawing that shows what the results of this, after the Lot
Line Adjustment, will look like?
Morgan: As you can see, the property to the east will have frontage along Gunter as
well as Maple.
Anthes: Will we see a Lot Split processed on this?
Morgan: No, they are requesting a Property Line Adjustment, which is
administrative because there are currently two parcels and they are
proposing to create one big tract with the two homes on it.
Anthes: And this brings all of the structures into compliance?
Morgan: That is correct.
MOTION:
Clark: I will move that we approve CUP 05-1684 with the stated
recommendations.
Myres: I will second.
Ostner: This new western lot, it conforms to all lot minimums and frontages?
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 69
Morgan:
Ostner:
Morgan:
O'Neal:
Friday:
O'Neal:
Ostner:
O'Neal:
Ostner:
Pate:
Yes, the requirements in the RSF-4 zoning district require a minimum of
70' lot width and 8,000 sq.ft. and this has 84' lot width along Gunter and
is .27 acres.
The sanitary sewer on the western edge, is that a service or is that a city
line? City sewer requires easement, I'm just wondering what is going to
be left over to build in.
I would like to add that staff has requested an access easement from either
the alley way or Gunter through the Tract A where the access to the home
and existing guest house are. We will be looking for that in revisions
where the gravel drives are.
This is a city main along the west property line. There just needs to be a
minor adjustment to the easement there just north of that previous lot line
to make sure that we have 10' from the center of that main. I believe the
existing services come all the way down to Maple Street. It is one of the
non -conforming things that we run into with the existing service for the
guest house connecting to the service on the main house.
There is a manhole cover on the west side of the property that might
service the existing guest house. I know that the main house is serviced
from Maple Street.
If the service from the guest house does go to this line along the west
boundary it would need to be relocated. The State Law is clear that no
services can cross property lines. When you create this separate parcel if
the service does cross through here then the service would have to be
relocated to a different location.
I am hoping that there is sanitary sewer along Gunter.
I don't believe there is.
It seems to me like these are important issues. I am in favor of what you
are doing, it all makes good sense but without the proper information to
understand whether we are creating a lot that puts you into non-
compliance of a service line crossing someone else's property, I'm not
ready to vote for this yet.
To clarify that, you are not creating a lot. We would review the Property
Line Adjustment administratively and would not allow it to be filed if a
main extension was required. You can vote on the Conditional Use
entirely separately, these are issues that we deal with every day with
Property Line Adjustments and administrative Lot Split requests that if
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 70
something needs to meet state law or our ordinances, we do not allow a
plat to be filed until such time as they do. We would see this whether it
required a Conditional Use or not. If you choose not to file this Property
Line Adjustment the Conditional Use goes away and we are back to
square one.
Ostner: It just concerns me because sometimes when things are approved they get
missed. He goes and does his stuff and suddenly these two lots are owned
by different people and then someone says wait a minute, my sewer line
came first and then the property line and usually nothing happens. The
non-compliance just goes on until who knows when. I just want to make
sure it is all going to be sorted out that somehow services won't be
crossing other people's property. Does staff feel they can work this out
after this is approved?
O'Neal: I believe so. There may be enough fall that the sewer service can be
relocated along the east property line.
Ostner: Ok. Is the applicant aware of that possibility?
Friday: Yes, I'm aware. It can be tied into the main house since they are all going
to be under common ownership.
O'Neal: It would be separate seryice.
Ostner: Is there further discussion? Would you please call the roll?
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to approve CUP 05-1684 was
approved by a vote of 7-0-0.
Morgan: The motion carries.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 71
CUP 05-1691: Conditional Use Permit (CAMPBELL, 564): Submitted by Denele
Campbell for property located at 1397 Huntsville Road. T he property is zoned R -O,
Residential Office and RSF-4, Residential Single Family, four units per acre. The request
is to approve a parking lot in a RSF-4 zoning district.
Ostner: Item twenty is CUP 05-1691 for Campbell. If we could have the staff
report please.
Morgan: The subject property is located at the southwest corner of the intersection
of Curtis Road and Huntsville Road. The property is currently under
contract and consists of two parcels. The northern parcel is zoned R -O
and was developed in the 1960's. The property to the south is currently
vacant and zoned RSF-4. The applicant is requesting a Conditional Use in
order to build a parking lot on the RSF-4 zoned property to serve a
proposed use for the R -O structure to the north as well as proposed
additions to that structure. The current structure to the north went before
the Board of Adjustment to bring that structure into conformity with
building setbacks. That was approved. This is the applicant's second
request in order to make the proposed artist studios functional. The
property to the south, as it is residential in nature, any development of the
parking lot for use requires a Conditional Use. Staff finds that granting
this Conditional Use will not adversely affect the public. The surrounding
properties are developed for duplex developments and are zoned RMF -24.
This property on which the parking lot is requested is very grown on the
boundary lines that are adjacent to those duplexes. There is vegetative
screening. The applicant intends to keep that screening to provide a buffer
between this property and the parking area. There are two existing curb
cuts on Curtis to the vacant property. The applicant intends to utilize
those access points. The Sidewalk Coordinator has reviewed this proposal
and recommends construction of a 6' wide sidewalk along Curtis Avenue
and money in lieu of construction of a 6' sidewalk on Huntsville Road in
anticipation of future development and widening by the city. With regard
to the number of spaces constructed, a maximum of 20 spaces is
allowable. The site plan on page 21.13 shows the proposal of 19 spaces.
Staff finds that the development of a parking lot in this area would be able
to be compatible with the surrounding developments with all requirements
in place for screening and additional tree plantings. Therefore, we are
recommending approval with 10 conditions of approval. Most of which
reflect requirements for lighting, sidewalk, as well as screening and we
have also addressed signage.
Ostner: Is the applicant present?
Campbell: I'm Denele Campbell and I am asking for approval of my Conditional Use
request. In the past year this vacant lot has been used for parking. The
current occupant of this building calls this place the Orpium and has had
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 72
musical events in there with people parking on grass. In fact, the existing
buildings can't be used affectively unless this vacant lot is used for
parking. I do have one request regarding condition number three. I ask
the Commission to grant an exception to the landscaping requirement of
one tree ever 30' or additional buffering vegetation requirement. This
property is surrounded by trees and other growth except for two driveways
and an area that is currently concrete, so the parking is well screened, as
well as both sides of the building. At some future time I would expect to
add trees and other vegetation to the area now under concrete where I will
be tearing up concrete and adding greenspace and sidewalk. I am having
to consider every financial demand in assessing whether I can afford to
purchase this property and upgrade these buildings to suit my project
needs and hanging by a thread financially on this project. It has gone way
above what I thought it would cost when I first made this real estate
commitment so I am asking for relief on specifically condition number
three, the one tree per every 30' and the additional buffering vegetation
requirement.
Ostner: At this point I will call for public comment on CUP 05-1691. Seeing
none, I will close the public comment session.
Anthes: On condition of approval number three, won't that only go into effect if
there is a building addition, or is this for the parking lot as well?
Pate:
This is for both. There is proposed to be a building addition to the
structure as well. Any parking lot with more than five spaces is required
to meet our landscaping ordinance.
Trumbo: Would existing trees not satisfy that requirement?
Pate:
MOTION:
Existing trees would and we would have to take a look at what type and
quality they are to ascertain if they could be a street tree. I know some of
them are grown up. Our urban forester has been on the site with Ms.
Campbell as well and looked at those trees. I think that is something that
staff has the ability to allow those to count. By my count eight trees
would be required on the frontage of the property if there were no trees at
all so I think it is only going to go down from there. I think it is important
to require large canopy street trees along our streets as much as possible
though. I would like to make a change to condition number five, the
applicant shall construct a 6' sidewalk, adding a sidewalk to be determined
by the Sidewalk Coordinator. The sidewalks all south of here are 4'
because they are residential properties. A likely transition would be at
Huntsville to a 6' sidewalk instead of mid -block so I would like to have
more time to discuss that with him.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 73
Anthes: I would like to move for approval of CUP 05-1691 with an addition to
condition number three that we would encourage staff to review trees on
site if applicable and on condition five to construct a 4' or 6' sidewalk to
be decided by the Sidewalk Administrator.
Clark: I will second.
Ostner: Is there further discussion?
Clark: In a parking lot there is some vegetation shown on the east side but there
is a 15' space, what is that space?
Morgan: That is the required greenspace.
Clark:
I think improvements to this corner would be well appreciated in that area.
This has been a very neglected piece of property for a while.
Ostner: Is there further discussion? Will you call the roll?
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to approve CUP 05-1691 was
approved by a vote of 8-0-0.
Morgan: The motion carries.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 74
RZN 05-1711: Mathias, PP 557 Submitted by H2 Engineering for property located at
Hwy. 62 West. The property is zoned R -A, Residential Agricultural and contains
approximately 1.20 acres. The request is to rezone the subject property to C-1,
Neighborhood Commercial.
Ostner: The last item is RZN 05-1711 for Mathias.
Trumbo: I am going to recuse from this item and leave.
Morgan: This property is located between 6th Street and Old Farmington Road. The
site is zoned C-1, R -A and RSF-4. The rezoning request involves only a
portion of that property which is zoned R -A and there are no existing
structures on the subject property. There is a lot of background to this. I
will just briefly state that in 1992 the applicant requested rezoning for
multi -family development to the north and commercial south of this
property to access Huntsville Road. That was withdrawn I believe and
several other requests have come forward. Most recently a C-PZD was
submitted by the applicant for that type of development. Currently the
applicant is requesting to square up the C-1 property in such a manner that
it is a better shape to develop. Staff has evaluated this request and finds
that this rezoning request will maintain the integrity of the zoning and the
welfare of the neighborhood to the north and commercial to the south. We
therefore, recommend approval of this rezoning request with the findings
as noted.
Ostner: Is the applicant present?
Hearne: My name is Kip Hearne with H2 Engineering representing Mathias
Shopping Center. This is a modification to the existing zoning line that
we think is more conducive for development of this particular property.
We are focused on the commercial part of the property at this point and I
would be happy to answer any questions.
Ostner: I will open it up to public comment.
??: I live at 3047 W. Sandra. Sandra is an east/west street and the west end of
it runs into this property. We would like to see a picture of what they are
talking about. Where the rezoning sign is posted, everybody in our
neighborhood was under the impression they were asking for that whole
back half to be rezoned.
Ostner: You can have my drawing.
??: My objection I had I really don't have now. I can't speak for the rest of
my neighbors. I just wish I would've known what they are asking for
sooner so I would ask in the future that you let us know. I didn't speak to
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 75
one property owner in the area that got a letter explaining what was being
asked.
Ostner: That is a problem that we have. It is not a requirement or a rule to send
people the letters. That is why we put up the sign and give notice in the
newspaper.
??.
The sign didn't explain what they were asking for. The sign was in the
middle of that agricultural area and so I took for granted what they were
asking for.
Pate: Just to comment on that, my name and number is on all of those signs.
Ostner: I'm glad you are satisfied. If anyone else would like to speak.
??: My name is Mark ??, I live at 3110 Old Farmington Road, the northeast
part of this across the road from this. The only concern I have is that I'm
worried about a road that might connect to Old Farmington Road because
this is a narrow street with pretty much a one lane bridge. If you had
trucks or anything going out that way that could cause a lot of problems.
There are no sidewalks. That is a single family residential area down
there. I would hate to see a lot of traffic on there. The road is really too
small for that kind of thing. That road is over used and under maintained.
I am concerned that there will be big trucks coming in there loading and
unloading and too much traffic. Obviously, I want to keep it single family
so the back side of this property could be rezoned later and become
something. We are not addressing that part right now. That road is very
small and hard to use it for anything other than residential.
Ostner: Is there anymore comments Seeing none, I will close the public comment
session and bring it back to the Commission.
Lack: I just need some clarification that on 22.10 and 22.11 I see two small
triangles.
Pate: It is the small triangle to the west, that's the only one. The legal
description that was submitted, the 1.2 acres is simply the triangle to the
west.
Clark:
I share the concern about anything accessing Old Farmington but because
this is commercial I would assume it would access 6th Street. When this
develops that is also an opportunity for neighbors to talk about if they are
going to connect and they are going to have to make off site improvements
and so your input to this process certainly does not stop tonight.
Planning Commission
September 12, 2005
Page 76
Ostner: On this drawing that we are looking at, does the current property owner
own both and this is the only rezoning request?
Pate:
No, the current property owner only owns the property on the west. The
one to the east is only single family home owners. That just happened to
be the traverse.
Ostner: I work less than one mile from this and I use Old Farmington, slowly.
People try to run you down, I know, because I'm scared. 6th Street is
horrible, it's not news. Improving Old Farmington is important and it is on
the books to bring that street up to par to make it safer, possibly curb and
gutter as development fills in We will try to make Old Farmington safer
I have to tell you though, that 6th Street is such a problem that Old
Farmington will be part of the solution for 6th Street. It is designated as a
collector. Stay together and keep coming down here because it needs to
be calmed.
MOTION:
Clark: I will move that we forward RZN 05-1711 based on the findings.
Myres: I will second.
Ostner: Is there further discussion? Will you call the roll please?
Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to recommend approval of
RZN 05-1711 was approved by a vote of 7-0-1 with Commissioner
Trumbo abstaining.
Morgan: The motion carries.
Announcements
MEETING ADJOURNED: 9:50 P.M.