PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING

MINUTES OF MEETING NOVEMBER 5, 2007

 

CALL TO ORDER:

 

Chairman called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

 

PLANNING COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

Roger Yoder, Don Bergwall, Ken Kraus, Pat Soller, Pete Griffin, John Cunningham, Alan Seymour

 

OTHERS PRESENT:

 

Pat Harmon, Myrtle Conrad, Linda Farnlacher, Don and Nina Noblit, Tom and Jeanne Huch, Catherine Cunningham, Dave Cook, Ed Starling, John Marshall, Jim Page, Andy Clarridge, Dennis Schulze, Dan Fitzgerald, Joseph Whinnery, Melody Whinnery, Sharon Dearwester, Bill Kelley, Mr. and Mrs. W. Pitt, Prisilla Gallogly, Myron Gallogly, Gary Schmidt, Brian Palmer, Greg DeLong, and Tammy Penhorwood- Secretary

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

 

Planning Commission Special Meeting- September 17, 2007- Mr. Kraus stated on page two, third paragraph, “Mr. Bergwall stated that he stated…”, the second stated should be started. 

 

Mr. Kraus made a motion to approve the minutes as amended.  Voice vote was unanimous.  Motion Passed.

 

Planning Commission Meeting – October 1, 2007- Mr. Kraus stated on page 3, fifth sentence, concerning should be concerned.  Mr. Bergwall stated on page 2, first paragraph, second line, was should be what.  Mr. Kraus stated page 16 at the end of big paragraph, fifth line up, the word than should be added before “a vague”.  In the last sentence of the same paragraph just should be jest.  He stated on page 18, discussion items, Mr. Kraus… met, not got, with Mr. DeLong.

 

Mr. Cunningham made a motion to approve the minutes as amended.  Voice vote was unanimous.  Motion Passed.

 

Planning Commission Special Meeting – October 10, 2007- Mr. Kraus made a motion to approve the minutes as submitted.  Voice vote was unanimous.  Motion Passed.

 

ADMINISTRATION COMMENTS: 

 

Mr. DeLong stated in the packets there is a letter from the County Engineer’s newsletter.  It had an article on manufactured homes I thought you’d be interested in.

 

Mr. Bergwall made a motion to rearrange the agenda.  Revision to Approved Final Development Plan for The Oaks should be first, Recommendation Approval of Sketch Plan in Principle- Cooks Crossing second, and Recommendation to City Council new Chapter 1110- Property Owners Associations is last.

 

CITIZEN COMMENTS:  None

 

NEW BUSINESS:

 

Revision to Approved Final Development Plan for The Oaks- filed by Myron Gallogly

 

Mr. Gallogly stated the drawing before you is the page of the development plan which includes street lights.  I have intended from the beginning to have the two monuments out front on either side of the driveway.  They are on a separate service which will be billed to the home owners association (HOA).  The City standard requires a street light out in front of the two monuments.  In meeting with URE staff we came up with this plan for the lighting.  The issue is having the street light in front of the monument lighting.  In working out the details of the street lighting, we moved a light at an intersection to across the street and would like to remove the light that would be next to it.  The third is a light in the cul-de-sac, rather than have a light at the entrance of the cul-de-sac and having one at the back of it we would like to remove one.                             

 

Mr. Palmer stated when the City staff reviewed this change, we decided that since there was discussion about street lighting during the approval of the development that it was an item that needed to be brought back before you.  As far as going through City Council, this change will be reported to them and they can make the decision as to whether or not they want to see it back.  He stated we do not have any problems with the plan; it all comes back to being part of a final development plan.  He stated he is currently working with the electric companies to come up with verbiage for a plan note that can be added to all plans to hopefully avoid this situation in the future.

 

Mr. Seymour stated as far as lighting distribution, engineering is fine with the proposed plan?  Mr. Palmer stated yes.

 

Mr. Bergwall stated because you are looking at changing the number of lights, I think it is good that it comes back before us and get approval in a public setting.  All of this makes sense to me except the one at the entrance on SR 38.  If your monument lights are lighting the intersection of SR 38 and Royal Oak Dr, then I would have a concern about the glare and view people are going to get trying to turn into the development.  I would have thought that the monument lights would just highlight the monument. 

 

Mr. Kraus asked what type of lighting was going to be on the monument.

 

Mr. Gallogly stated it will be two large fixtures that will have 4 bulbs in each one housed in clear glass. 

 

Mr. Seymour asked will there be enough ambient light.

 

Mr. Bergwall asked what the height of the lights would be.

 

Mr. Gallogly stated the monuments are almost 6’ and the lights are another 2.5’ and the base is 3’ above the street. 

 

Mr. Cunningham stated the ultimate question is will the street be well lit.  He stated he doesn’t care about the monuments.

 

Mr. Gallogly stated the light in the front is a no brainer.  The entrance is lighted, the street is lighted, why would you put a stupid pole out in front of the monuments.

 

Mr. Seymour stated you have apparently talked to the experts and all have agreed that it will light the intersection.

 

Mr. Bergwall stated he was under the assumption that you were talking about new monuments and new lighting that would be directional to the monument. 

 

Mr. Gallogly stated no they were there for 10 years.  We had to take one down to put the street in.  We are going to recreate one to match the old one.  I am not sure why we are even having this discussion.  I am baffled by your comment.

 

Mr. Cunningham stated you are making some assumptions.  It is obvious that it is not clear to the seven members sitting here and that is obviously reason for discussion.

 

Mr. Yoder stated he wanted to make it clear, Mr. Page’s letter stated that URE made the comment that it is excessive lighting.  In talking to the employees of URE that have been working on this project, we don’t necessarily feel that it is excessive we just felt that it would be more logical with the changes. 

 

Mr. Griffin made a motion to approve the changes to the Final Development Plan as presented.

 

Mr. Griffin   Yes    Mr. Yoder   As an employee of URE he abstained           Mr. Soller    Yes    Mr. Kraus Yes    Mr. Bergwall          Yes    Mr. Seymour         Yes    Mr. Cunningham    Yes

 

Motion passed      

 

Mr. Gallogly stated while I have your attention, there are a couple of other issues that I don’t want to become issues later, that I would like your consideration on.  He stated the City has a standard template for street trees, street lawn, sidewalk, etc.  In the plans we have conceded against my judgment to have sidewalks.  He stated he would like the commission to consider some photos, of the subdivision as completed which if we put the sidewalks in the spacing that is called for in the standard plan, we would be eliminating at least half a dozen mature White Oaks, a mature Walnut and a couple of Hickory’s.  My only reason for bringing this up is so that we don’t have a problem like we are having right now of being a deviation to the plan.  As far as I am concerned, a sidewalk can go around a mature tree.  I am not going to cut down a mature Walnut to put a sidewalk in.  I have conceded that I will have sidewalks.  In the photos there are a significant amount of mature trees that we would need to take out.  It seems to be an engineering deviation to take a sidewalk around a tree instead of through the tree.  Personally I will not cut down a mature Walnut to put the sidewalk in.

 

Mr. Seymour stated you are approaching a different topic.  Hopefully this can be worked out with administration.

 

Mr. Palmer stated he can not comment because he has not seen the photos.

 

Mr. Kraus stated our role is to make sure the sidewalks are there. 

 

Mr. Gallogly stated he is not arguing that the sidewalks not be there.  I don’t want an issue in the future that the sidewalks are not in the right place.  I am not asking for action on this item. 

 

Mr. Gallogly stated there is another issue that I don’t want to be an issue and that is the existing monument on the south side is in the City ROW.  I don’t want someone to come and say that it has to be moved.  To balance that monument it has been our intention to build another one on the north side.  That monument will be within the easement but not in the way of any services.  I want to make sure there won’t be any issues with this.

 

Mr. Seymour stated he assumes this has been addressed with the City. 

 

Mr. Gallogly stated they have pointed out that it is in the City ROW.  It may be an issue to someone but it is not an issue to me.  If someone has to tear down the monument in the future, fine. 

 

Mr. Seymour stated they will be the responsibility of the HOA.  Mr. Gallogly stated correct. 

 

Mr. Kraus stated in regards to the street light issue, I don’t think it needs to go to City Council. 

 

Mr. Seymour stated it would go if it is part of the development plan.

 

Mrs. Penhorwood stated we will get an opinion from the City Law Director regarding this matter.

 

OLD BUSINESS: 

 

Approval of Sketch Plan in Principle- Cooks Crossing - filed by Patricia Harmon of Bird Houk Collaborative, Inc.- tabled from 10-1-07 meeting

 

Mr. David Cook stated we have enlisted the help of Mrs. Catherine Cunningham to help us in this process.

 

Mrs. Cunningham stated after the last meeting she was contacted by the Cook’s to join their team and help them through the process.  She stated since the last meeting I heard the comments from the meeting, read the minutes, met with staff, Eric Phillips about the regional concerns and met with Mr. Schulze and Mrs. Cox who are representing the Clark Addition.  I was trying to get an understanding of the process through your code.  When I looked the code provisions for what the sketch plan requires one of the things that struck me was the level of detail that you require at the sketch plan and the significant detail that was provided to you for the sketch plan.  It seems that there was some frustration in comparing what the project is requesting vs. what is required by standard regulations in your code.  What I asked Bird-Houk to do was to give more of a general overview.  That is why we are here today is to have a conversation about understanding where we need to be.  We would like to get an idea of how you feel about the overall general concept of the layout, roads, use areas and then come back to you.  We met with staff in hopes that we would have some amended things to submit to you in advance, but decided that we didn’t have enough direction.  What we would like to come away with today is either an approval of the concept so that we can come back to you with preliminary detail, understanding that it is only conceptual.  Or at least have some clear direction about what level of detail you want. 

 

Mrs. Cunningham stated there were two handouts that Mr. Schmidt will go through with you.  One is the sub area plan which has changed slightly.  The other is a chart that hopefully will give a better overview of how things will work together.

 

Mr. Gary Schmidt stated I think were we left off last time was you wanted to see where we were deviating from your standards.  The chart shows the sub areas, what district it is related to, permitted uses, conditional uses, minimum lot size, etc.  If the box on the chart is white we are meeting your standards, if it is blue we are exceeding your standards and if it is purple we are less than your standards.  If we are less, it is very minor.  The Cook Book has a lot more detail in it.  We would like to get back to that level of detail, but it seemed like a bit much for sketch plan. 

 

Mr. Schmidt stated as far as the changes on the sub area map, there are changes in response to the comments we heard from this commission but mostly from the Union County Economic Development Director.  There is a concern that there is too much retail.  We have tightened it up and are requiring more office.  The other change is the pond was a separate sub area.  Now the pond is part of sub area B.  They are all little changes but they affect it a lot.  If this looks good to you then the next step would be to work with staff to reformat the text.

 

Mr. Kraus stated he has a comment that is to be addressed as we move forward.  In sub area A for example it states all TOC except…  We are in the process of going through all of our districts and reviewing all of the permitted uses in the districts.  At some point you either need to be specific with all the uses you want or know that if changes are made to TOC you will have a change in your plan. 

 

Mrs. Cunningham stated they have discussed this themselves and where we left it is at this point the best thing to do is to refer to your code and pointing out the differences.  We are inclined to incorporate your code uses but specifically call out code uses that we would not want to change.  The counter of that is rather daunting.  The thought was that we would include generally the classifications in the districts understanding that as the district changes the classifications would change.  Otherwise you are going to have a PUD document that is overwhelmingly complex. 

 

Mr. Schmidt made a comment that was inaudible. 

 

Mr. Seymour asked if they have had a chance to calculate the percentage shift from commercial to office with the restructuring of some of the sub areas.

 

Mrs. Cunningham stated there were a couple of changes that were a direct result from the conversation with Mr. Phillips.  It was the changing in the sub area of B2.  One of Mr. Phillips suggestions was to make the 7.9 acre, the 3.4 acre and the 2.6 acre areas less retail and more office.  The idea was to deintensify the retail there and make it more office and restaurants. 

 

Mr. Seymour stated since this is an issue that is looked at closely, I think we need to spend a little more time on this area, such as the percentage of retail vs. office with the new breakdown. 

 

Mr. Schmidt made a comment that was inaudible.

 

Mr. Kraus stated another item to look at is OR is permitted in some areas and it permits single family which has not been excluded. 

 

Mrs. Cunningham stated she thought they had excluded that. 

 

Mr. Schmidt made a comment that was inaudible. 

 

Mrs. Cunningham stated her hope is that these details can be worked out in the preliminary stage.  She stated a couple of other changes you will see in the sub area plan are that Mr. Roush had comments regarding connectivity to the property to the north.  There was a road in the center which has been changed to two roads one farther to the east and one to the west. 

 

Mr. Schmidt made a comment that was inaudible. 

 

Mrs. Cunningham stated there was also a little shift in the cul-de-sac making it closer to the Clark Addition to allow for the emergency access without a road connection.  The developer is not proposing a through street to the Clark Addition. 

 

Mr. Yoder stated in regards to the property to the north of the subdivision that has been designated as residential, an issue that was raised at the last meeting is that if it is designated as such it could have an impact as to how the Fitzgerald property to the north can be developed.  The Fitzgerald property would then have to develop into something compatible with the residential.  He stated he is wondering if there has been conversation with the Fitzgerald’s, staff or Mr. Phillips as to how they see that sub area developing.  Maybe it is not best to be residential. 

 

Mrs. Cunningham stated they have not talked to the Fitzgerald’s but we have talked to Mr. Phillips and he was supportive of and liked the multi-family.

 

Mr. Schmidt made a comment that was inaudible. 

 

Mr. Seymour stated he is not as inclined to have residential that dense, because it is already a highly populated area. 

 

Mr. Griffin stated he would concur with Mr. Seymour, he doesn’t see the need for a residential area as large as what is shown on the map. 

 

Mr. Bergwall stated he has expressed reservation about having the residential to the north.  It kind of caps this area and the central corridor between SR 31 and SR 4, if we keep it all office and keeping the residential out of it would make more sense.  Especially with the amount of traffic that section of Mill Wood is going to have against the two large commercial pieces.  The only thing that would seem to make sense from a residential standpoint might be some multi-level condos with commercial on the first floor. 

 

Mr. Schmidt stated it is kind of unusual for us to be thinking of the land to the north since it is not in your city.  However, if I assume that it is in the city limits, there is a limit to the amount of commercial, office and retail that you are going to see out here in this part of town.  Especially with what is happening on US 33 as we move towards Dublin.  I think it makes sense to have mixes of uses like we have in this plan.  It seems like a lot of acreage for residential, but it is 30 out of 160 acres.  We are trying to get a mix of different uses for several reasons.  One is for traffic and another is for marketability of the land.  I am listening to what you are saying but I think the commercial opportunity diminish as you go farther to the north and more to the center of the development.

 

Mr. Kraus stated a couple of things he would like the developer to think about for the next time back.  One is that he would like to see a one or two page delineation of the buffering around the Clark Addition.  The other one is for your consideration, you have two public roads going to the north and your current multi-family is about 19.55% of the developable acres.  What would happen if on the two public roads you had an additional 5 or six acres on the opposite side of the road that was also commercial, having a little less multi-family but still leave some there.  It would give commercial along the access corridors. 

 

Mr. Cook stated he would like to do the entire development in the north commercial.  He stated if you look at the demand we felt that it would be too much commercial for Marysville to take on.

 

Mr. Bergwall stated we tend to look at two things.  The first objective has to be what is the proper zoning, what is the proper land use for this property long term.  The marketability of what is best for long term land use may not be totally compatible with that but needs to be given fair consideration.  From a planning standpoint we need to look at what is the best for this land for the foreseeable future. 

 

Mr. Griffin stated he thinks there is an issue that has not been talked about and that is traffic.  He stated he knows that City is going to be spending money on a traffic study and that thinking has to be incorporated into this whole thing.  I think it would be terrible if we got embarked on this thing and then found out that the traffic of the future is going to be different than it is now.  We all know that the traffic is horrendous in this area now.  It is only going to be a whole lot worse.  I don’t think you should be jumping into things until the traffic thing is understood, because it may mean a relocation of some of your infrastructure.

 

Mrs. Cunningham stated she expects that these are things that would be talked about more at the preliminary and final development plan stage. 

 

Mr. Griffin stated he understands that it is just something he feels we need to keep in mind as we move forward.

 

Mr. Seymour stated at the recent City Council meeting there were comments regarding this development.  Some comments were relative to the comprehensive plan.  I am sure you have already heard these comments from Mr. Phillips.  A requirement of a PUD is that you do a document as to why you are developing the PUD outside of the normal district regulation method.  In other words what benefits does this bring for the community and it would align with how does this align or not align with the comprehensive plan.  Why does this proposal make more sense?  This is a requirement of the PUD.  This may respond to City Councils concern about more retail than office which is in conflict with the comprehensive plan. 

 

Mrs. Cunningham stated with the initial submission of the Cook Development Text, that was included as part of the letter and in the general introduction.  How do I get that to you?

She stated she doesn’t have a problem getting that to you, I’m just trying to understand the format you want it in and when you want it.

 

Mr. Seymour stated he is sure it is part of the Sketch Plan requirement. 

 

Mr. Kraus stated supplemental PUD sketch plan requirements 1145.09 (a) 9, is what Mr. Seymour is asking you to address.

 

Mrs. Cunningham asked do you want a written presentation on that.

 

Mr. Seymour stated yes.

 

Mrs. Cunningham stated something she would like some clarification on is the distinction between commercial and retail.  The way you talk about these terms and the way I understand them in your code are not necessarily the same. 

 

Mr. Seymour stated commercial is used in a broad sense.  The distinctions I’ve heard in regards to the development are between commercial and office.

 

Mr. DeLong stated he has always thought of commercial and retail to be very similar.

 

Mr. DeLong stated on the new sub area map the A1 area in the legend now states that commercial is allowed where before it was just corporate office.

 

Mr. Schmidt made a comment that was inaudible. 

 

Mr. Kraus stated in order to help the applicant out a bit, if there are issues that they come up with where you are not sure how we are using the terms or it may not be clear in our definitions, I am not opposed to you having your own definition section in your book.

 

Mr. Schmidt stated he was trying to make it as close to our code as possible.

 

Mr. Seymour stated the difficult part here is office vs. retail.  By calling it commercial it leaves it open.  It provides greater flexibility and I think that is the intent of the developer.  The road block we are faced with is that we want to know what percentage will be office and what percentage will be retail. 

 

Mrs. Cunningham stated her frustration in trying to put together something is when I read your code it looks like what your code is trying to get an applicant to do is to define the PUD in terms of your code.  You want us to identify the uses based on the similar zoning district and how whatever uses you are going to have deviate from the zoning district.  From an applicant standpoint it makes it look like if we just conglomerate your existing classifications together it would be the easiest way to go.  But since that is what was submitted before, it appeared that everyone was unhappy with the definition of uses because it didn’t say what all the uses were going to be.  When you say you want an office component and I look at the code I don’t find a zoning classification that allows freeway orientated office.  Every classification you have has retail, office, and commercial together in some format.  There is a reason for that generally and that is it is typically what works in land use.  It is very difficult to have a very large tract and say it is going to be all office.  Usually you see developments with all of the uses mixed together and the reason you see that is because that is the way property can reasonably develop.  We are trying to do this here and we are trying to do that in compliance with your code but when I come to the meetings and listen to what everyone is stating and the statement that the comprehensive calls for office here, you don’t have a classification that calls for just office.  We want to work with you to get this in a way that everyone understands and we are incompliance with your code.  I understand that you have a comprehensive plan that calls for office here.  I think it is unrealistic to think that you can take 170 acres at this location, when you have things developing down the US 33 corridor.  In some ways straight zoning would be easier, but I think the land lends itself well to a planned development that everyone can work with. 

 

Mr. Bergwall stated the code we have to live and work with as the guide.  Your comments about the confusion are appreciated because there may be things we need to address in that regard.  The opportunity you have with the PUD is to come up with something that is creative that best fits this site, meets the needs of the community and provides a point of pride as this area develops for the community.  That then becomes attractive and then competitive because of the way this was planned and developed.  You also have the latitude to redefine some things or more clearly define them to what works for this particular area.  When I think about the differences between office, commercial and retail, one of the things that come to mind is the use from a traffic standpoint.  When we first talked about A1, it was an office area that employees came to for their point of work but not generally open to the public.  This makes the traffic pattern more predictable.  When you move into more commercial office it is where services are rendered.  Then you get into retail where people are going in to buy stuff. 

 

Mr. Seymour stated I think what I’ve heard from the commission is that sub area A1 should be office. 

 

Mr. Soller stated for the sketch plan the developer has laid out what should go into related districts.  As we go into preliminary plat then we can get into permitted uses.  I don’t think we should get caught up into semantics of the title of each area, but look at the related district that is going in there. 

 

Mr. Seymour stated in general I think we’ve heard less R-5.

 

Mr. Cunningham stated he had heard that there was a layout of this area.

 

Mr. Schmidt stated they did do an illustrative plan and it was based on a building footprint, but we don’t know for sure what is going to go in there.

 

Mr. Cunningham stated the reason he is asking is because he thinks the density we are going to end up with in that acreage of land will probably be less than what we are expecting just because of the layout of the land.

 

Mr. Schmidt stated with 30 acres it is less than 20% of this site as residential.  It will be a good transitional use for the property to the north.

 

Mr. Griffin stated he likes the comments Mr. Phillips made about the possibility of revisiting the use of the land several years down the road.

 

Mr. Schmidt stated either that or do not lock them in to tightly which is what we would normally try to do with a PUD.  No one knows what the future is.  We try to set the parameters so that the things we want to see can occur.  If we do the job right there is flexibility for some of that to happen so we don’t have to rezone it in 3-4 years.

 

Mr. Seymour stated in the B1 and B2 areas which is identified as Suburban Office.  He stated his objection to the B areas is having any residential at all. 

 

Mr. Kraus stated he didn’t know if going through each district was what should be done tonight.  I think they are trying to get a general idea. 

 

Mr. Seymour stated the only other area in which City Council might challenge in relative to the comprehensive plan is the C2 area.  You do have the entire area designated as retail. 

 

Mr. Bergwall stated he needed to understand what is being said.  The C1 area is okay but the C2 area is not.

 

Mr. Seymour stated he thinks the C2 area takes it over the expectations City Council has for the amount of retail in this development. 

 

Mr. Cunningham stated he doesn’t see the sustainability of just having one major retailer in the C1 area and retail no where else. 

 

Mr. Bergwall stated relative to Mr. Seymour’s comment, for the way the traffic is going to flow through there and what the intent is for the C1 property, I think the C2 for some other commercial building is very compatible and supportive.

 

Mr. Cunningham stated one thing he wouldn’t want to see there is that Meijer put a big box on the C1 area and then have to settle for strip mall type commercial on the C2 area.  If the developer would define the uses for the C2 area to prevent that type of area, I would be in favor of it.

 

Mrs. Cunningham stated their hope is that if they come back next time we will have something in a format that is deemed appropriate.  If you are not inclined tonight to approve the sketch plan, we would at least like to be able to come back with a format that you would feel like you can make some minor adjustments and approve it then.  We would like to move beyond the sketch plan stage. 

 

Mr. Cunningham stated Mr. Seymour asked for the written presentation which is required by code but I think we already have it.  The one thing I think we haven’t seen is how this fits into the comprehensive plan, but other than that I think everything is in there. 

 

Mr. Schmidt stated on the comprehensive plan, in my opinion we covered it in two ways.  One was in the cover letter that I sent with the application and the second was in the power point presentation that we showed last month.

 

Mr. Bergwall stated there is one other question that I have in regards to the sketch plan.  It is still not clear to me who the developer is.  The reason that is important is I want to know who is going to be the enforcer to make sure each parcel is compatible from several standpoints.  It needs to be made sure that you are not just selling off lots and there is no one to make sure it is cohesive. 

 

Mr. Schmidt stated the Cook’s are the developers.  Everyone that buys a lot that will be bound by the development text.  As far as a POA, there will probably be several.

 

Mr. Fitzgerald stated we own approximately the same amount of acreage just to the north of this development.  I am glad that a local person is developing this land.  We appreciate the fact that the two roads were put in instead of the single road which lead to our pond.  What I want to make clear is I am absolutely against the multi-family residential abutting property.  I think it significantly decreases the values of our land and the future developable possibilities of our land.  The thought that all of this could not develop into office space doesn’t make sense to me.  What you are asking is for a bunch of apartments with families and children that will try to cross the State Routes to get to school.  We know there is a traffic problem.  From a standpoint of what is good for the town and the development, I can’t buy that this is a not a better spot than A1 for offices.  It has access that the rest of the property doesn’t have.  On the traffic, a traffic study was done but didn’t consider 33, 4 and 31 and the interchange and how it affects the property.  I don’t know how you can make any decisions without knowing the final result of the traffic study or the final result of what is going to happen when it is fixed by the state.  Lastly, I know this all is happening because Meijer wants to buy this one piece of land.  Consider the fact that in the last 2 ½ years we’ve almost tripled the available square footage of retail in this town. I would just like you to consider these things.

 

Mr. Dennis Schulze stated he is representing the residents of the Clark Addition.  We have made a good start on our involvement in this matter.  We have met with Mr. Cook, his attorney, and his engineer.  We have met with committees from the Clark Addition and had a meeting at the library.  Our purpose is for protection not protest.  We are here to insure that their lives are disrupted as little as possible.  In order to accomplish this we have hired Paul Clappsaddle.  We have met with the City Attorney.  We’ve met with the Township Trustees and in fact we have to remember that this area of residents is not part of the city at this time.  We are concerned with surface water run off, buffering, land uses, traffic, access, noise and lights, having a professional development and maintenance.  We will continue to work with the developers.  You know me I usually work with developers, I understand development.  I know it is not our job to tell them what to put in there.  It is our job to express what we don’t want in there.  We are not the ones that need to figure out what economically make this thing work.  You mentioned about putting in all of the permitted uses in TOC which would include a professional race track.  That puts a shock on the resident’s faces when I told them that it has not been excluded yet.  I don’t believe for a minute that they intend to put in a race track.  We are concerned about things way beyond the sketch plan.  I am not going to get into all of them.  Buffering is wonderful, mounds and trees, but you are altering the landscape.  There are areas that if you don’t have good runoff we are going to create as many problems as we eliminate.  The administration through City the Engineers office has made some suggestions.  They have talked about moving the road up next to the Clark Addition.  I don’t think we are in favor of that.  They have also suggested that they don’t just want emergency access but for the roads to connect.  The residents do not want that kind of traffic coming through their subdivision.  We want to work with everyone but we need to have the resident’s interest protected.

 

Mr. John Marshall stated he is a resident of Mill Valley and also represents Ward I on City Council which includes all of Mill Valley and is adjacent to this property.  As we look at development, the planning process is important because it will be here for many lifetimes.  One of the concerns I have is a simple question as to where the future goes.  Where do you or your neighbors work?  How many of them actually go to work within the city limits.  I would say most everyone is filing out and going somewhere else.  The question was posed as to what is commercial.  From my standpoint the definition is what is on 270 towards Tuttle.  That is what I am hoping to see from the standpoint of office development.  What I would implore you to do is to study the comprehensive plan.  It was developed with tax payer dollars.  It was developed with a lot of public input.  We need to allow for those documents to be used.  As I get input from the people in my ward, I get varying requests and concerns.  Traffic is a standard one right now.  There are certain times of day that it is a nightmare to be in that area.  This traffic will be there regardless of how this develops.  My point goes back to the idea of living and working in the community that you live in.  We don’t have a lot of opportunities for that.  Nor do we have a lot of opportunities for that type of development.  A lot of the developments seem to be retail or residential.  We need to diversity our community.  This particular parcel of property is what we envision as being the overall diversity to stay solid.  To the degree that we can, the more the council members can be either individually or collectively engaged, I think will be helpful in the long run.  I would encourage a joint meeting with planning commission and city council at an appropriate time. 

 

Mr. Schulze stated he has already discussed this with the developer, but I also represent Coleman’s Crossing.  They are not crazy about the name of this development.  It makes it very susceptible to confusion. 

 

Mr. Seymour asked the applicant what their request was for tonight.

 

Mrs. Cunningham state she would be thrilled to have an approval of the sketch plan or if the commission does not feel that is appropriate we will come back next month with whatever format you feel is appropriate.

 

Mr. Seymour stated there has been a lot covered and I know you have taken several pages of notes.  He stated his thought would be that you digest that and make sure you are comfortable with what you propose.

 

Mr. Kraus stated from his standpoint, we need to have some definitions as to what is commercial vs. retail.  The percentage as to what the office vs. retail is going to be.  I understand it will be a range and an estimate.  I would like to see the document in 1145.09.

 

Mr. Cunningham asked what part because he is not sure what is missing. 

Mr. Kraus stated the part as to how it complies, goes along with the comp plan and the benefits.  There is more than what we need in the development text.  I realize that it is early in the process but I would like to understand where you see the Design Review and landscape portion being addressed. 

 

Mr. Seymour stated in the end we want success.  That means a development plan that is going to pass planning commission and city council.  I do recommend that we have a joint session.

 

Mr. Cunningham stated as far as what we have received so far, I think we’ve received everything we’ve required.  Unless we are telling them something very specific to change on this plan, which I am not hearing, they’ve given us everything.

 

Mr. Kraus stated he thinks the things he is asking for is important for approving the sketch plan.  With a PUD it is more than just the standard information.  I am not clear in the information that is supposed to be provided in 1145.09.

 

Mr. Bergwall stated that is why he was asking questions earlier on the types of use.  The long cul-de-sac which I initially did not favor, with the emergency drive onto Echo Dr. and with the uses being geared more towards office.  The only reservation is with regards to residential.  I was one of those that questioned the residential unless it is something unique and that it would encompass less area. 

 

Mr. Yoder stated he agrees with Mr. Bergwall on the residential area.  Also, the cul-de-sac area, we’ve talked about it being an issue but we have never seen anything as an alternative.  I think we should put this off for another month and have the meeting with City Council. 

 

Mr. Soller stated according to our definition of sketch plan, I feel the applicant has satisfied all of the requirements of the sketch plan.  It states this is a step to give them an idea of the directions to head.  My understanding is that the commission is comfortable with the concept of this development with a few minor items.  I think it is going to be up to the applicant as to whether or not approval tonight is going to save them time and expense in moving forward.  If it is not going to save them time or expense I would suggest that they table it.

 

Mr. Seymour stated the sketch plan as you said is conceptual.  If a line changes here or there relative to the preliminary those things can occur. 

 

Mr. Kraus stated he thinks Mr. Soller is right on if you are talking about a standard subdivision, sketch plan is strictly principle.  But because this is dealing with zoning issues and it is new to all of us, I am not sure I am comfortable tonight but I think I can be at the next meeting, especially if they can get us something in advance based on what we’ve talked about tonight so we have a chance to look at it and digest it.  He stated he thinks the chart that was provided tonight was a great start but I just saw it tonight, it wasn’t given to us in advance.  I would be much more comfortable if it were tabled until the next meeting.

 

Mr. Seymour asked Mrs. Penhorwood if the applicant met the proper timelines and if they have provided everything.

 

Mrs. Penhorwood stated as far as the information that was submitted tonight, it has not been seen by anyone for review in administration.  With the submittal itself there are a few other things that I would need for it to be official.  If the two pages they gave us tonight are the official record then there is information missing per code.  Trying to pull the information from the original submittal and what they submitted tonight, I would ask that they submit a collaboration of what they want for the official submittal. 

 

Mr. Bergwall stated relative to traffic in this area, Mr. Fitzgerald made a comment regarding how can you look at this without looking at traffic studies.  I think it would be fair to request from the engineering department some what ifs.  There is only a certain amount of potential that can happen relative to expansion for increased traffic.  We are not going to find in some traffic study that we are going to move SR 31 or SR 4, but we might be doing some lane work and additional lights.  It seems like we should be able to say when the traffic situation gets to some point, this is what is going to happen and it can be accommodated or there needs to be some provisions made with this property to accommodate these what if’s.  I don’t know if we need to have all the specific data.  Just that there is adequate right-of-way and opportunities that will be able to handle additional traffic. 

 

Mr. Cunningham stated in response to Mrs. Penhorwood’s comments, when I read Mr. Schmidt’s letter, the book was submitted as the sketch plan and what we received tonight was supplemental based on our comments at the last meeting.

 

Mr. Schmidt stated what we submitted tonight was not given through the proper channels.  This is not new information, it is just reformatted.  We tried to simplify this.  We did do a traffic study and I thought it was turned in.

 

Mr. Palmer stated the traffic study has been received.  ODOT still looks at this as a rural intersection.  This is something that we will have to work with internally.  The study is under review and there are some general comments to be made. 

 

Mr. Seymour stated some open issues that I see are what is the retail vs. office shift in relation to the comp plan, preference is the R-5 be reduced, residential is to be eliminated in the descriptions and emergency ingress and egress was another point.  Mrs. Penhorwood had mentioned a condition of incomplete information.

 

Mr. Cunningham stated he disagrees, it is all in there.

 

Mrs. Penhorwood stated the reason for her comment was because in conversations with Mrs. Cunningham prior to this meeting, she mentioned to me that since they have submitted the development text book and they would, after talking to the commission, decide which direction they would go.  Whether it would be to retract the development text book that was originally submitted and submit what was given tonight as their submittal.  These are the conversation that I’ve had with Mrs. Cunningham.  If what they submitted tonight is their official submittal there are things that are missing.  I don’t think it is up to me to make the determination as to what needs to be pulled from the original submittal to go with the stuff submitted tonight.  Everything needed is probably here in collaboration, but I need it all together.

 

Mr. Kraus stated he would move that with the agreement of the applicant to table this item until the next regular meeting and in the interim provide us with a clean sketch plan submittal in advance so