PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING

MINUTES OF MEETING DECEMBER 4, 2006

 

CALL TO ORDER:

 

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

 

PLANNING COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

Ken Kraus, John Cunningham, Don Bergwall, Alan Seymour, Pete Griffin. Pat Soller and Roger Yoder – absent

 

OTHERS PRESENT:

Jim Page, Myron and Pricilla Gallogly, Andrew Maletz, Scott Diesler, Larry Zimmerman, Mike White, Phil Roush, Brian Palmer, Greg DeLong and Tammy Penhorwood, Secretary.

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

 

Planning Commission Meeting- November 6, 2006- Mr. Bergwall stated on page three second paragraph from the bottom, it starts by saying Mr. Seymour…  I think it should be Mrs. Cunningham instead of Mrs. Kraus.  Mrs. Penhorwood stated actually it should be Mr. Kraus.  Mr. Cunningham stated also take out the second “o” in loose.

 

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

 

ADMINISTRATION COMMENTS: 

 

Mr. Roush stated he would ask the commission to consider switching the order of business under new business and hearing the recommendation to City Council of the Final Development Plan before the acceptance of the final plat of the Oaks.

 

 

Mr. Kraus made a motion to switch the order of business under new business as requested by Mr. Roush.  Voice vote was unanimous.  Motion passed.

 

OLD BUSINESS:

 

Approval of Final Plat – Chestnut Park – filed by David Walker, ME Companies -Tabled from 11-6-06

 

Mr. Cunningham stated it is his understanding as the commission has been informed that the voting down of this project will still keep the TIF in place.  Is that correct?

 

Mr. Roush stated that is our understanding from Brickler and Eckler.  He stated what’s happened with the Chestnut Park TIF is you have to have a development agreement signed and recorded in the county recorders office and it is there feeling that because we have taken that legal step that it would save the TIF. 

 

Mr. Kraus made a motion to approve the Chestnut Park Final Plat.

 

Mr. Bergwall          No     Mr. Seymour         No     Mr. Cunningham    No    

Mr. Griffin   No     Mr. Kraus    No

 

NEW BUSINESS:

 

Recommendation to City Council – Final Development Plan – The Oaks – filed by Page Engineering

 

Mr. Roush stated he sent a letter to the commission stating there are some changes in the final development from the preliminary development plan.  The most important item is probably the changing of Wynburn Lane to Wynburn Ct. and changing it from a through street to a cul-de-sac.  This also creates a drive from the condo area coming out onto SR 736.  Also, the location of the lift station has been changed.  We don’t feel that is a major change although it is a change from the preliminary development plan.  The only other issue is the street name which was made a condition of the approval of the preliminary development plan.  He stated our position is that the preliminary development plan needs to be amended particularly because of the street issue.  We feel before the final development plan should be approved the preliminary development plan needs to be revised. 

 

Mr. Seymour stated in other words the plans in front of tonight do not reflect the changes.  Mr. Roush stated they are changed, but they are not in conformance with the preliminary plan. 

 

Mr. Cunningham stated the point is this is a significant change from the preliminary plan and the final development plans are not to be as such.

 

Mr. Bergwall asked Mr. Roush, in regards to the street names, one of the things we talked about before was that Royal Oak Dr. T’s into Royal Oak Dr. and Shadow Oak bend.  We suggested that the name not be the same going out onto SR 38 and SR 736. 

 

Mr. Roush stated correct.  The developer has agreed to change the Royal Oak that comes out onto SR 736 will be changed to Shadow Oak Bend. 

 

Mr. Gallogly state that was an oversight on our part, the drawings have all been changed to reflect that, but they have not been submitted. 

 

Mr. Cunningham asked Mr. Gallogly to address the moving of the condo access to SR 736.  Mr. Gallogly stated Mr. Roush suggested that the final plat, which is the final plat of phase one not the final plat for the entire project, and the development be thrown together in discussion.  He stated the city has approved the final construction drawings for phase 1.  The final plat for phase 1 that is in front of you is consistent with those.  There are no issues with the administration that we are aware of, with the final plat for phase 1.  He stated he is concerned that the final plat be approved as quickly as possible because I can not make any sales until the final plat is recorded.  The development plan only has two items that are different from the preliminary development plan that was approved at the last meeting.  One is the intersection with SR 736 out of the condo area.  After further reflection, you may recall that is the way is was shown in our first submission and in order to make things easier with the discussion we made the change of taking it down and through the residential area and only having one tie into SR 736.  On further reflection and discussion with condo developers and the idea of the traffic from the 80 some units down through the residential area really was not desirable.  So we would like to do what we think is a better plan and would like to have a variance to put the access onto SR 736.  The other issue is now a non issue.  We have met with the City Engineer and his staff and they have no issue with the lift station location.  It was actually moved to make it more accessible for service.  There is only one issue then and we would like to improve the project by getting permission to have the access onto SR 736 so the condo area is separated from the residential area for traffic.

 

Mr. Page stated as Mr. Gallogly stated earlier we were going to have Wynburn dead-end into the condo section.  After a people talked to Mr. Gallogly about purchasing the condo area, they all stated did not want to run the condo area through the residential area.  As far as coming out onto SR 736 with two entrances, we will not have the 1000 ft. space between the drives.  You gave us a variance for this same situation on SR 38.  These state routes are not very heavily traveled roads compared to other routes. 

 

Mr. Roush stated it is not the idea of having the extra drive out onto SR 736, but an amendment to the preliminary development plan needs to be done so it conforms to this final development plan.

 

Mr. Page stated what the administration has an issue with is the fact that we are making a change from the preliminary plan.  He stated to me this is a minor change. 

 

Mr. Seymour stated he agrees with Mr. Roush that this is a major change.  Mr. Griffin stated he fully expected them to come in here tonight with an amended preliminary plan.  He stated if we have both of the items we could deal with them at the same time.

 

Mr. Gallogly stated if that is the process, then we will submit the revised preliminary plan and asking for the variance then that is no problem.  The final plat for phase 1 does not have any issues and none of this discussion relates to it.  Mr. Roush stated that is not true.  The final plat can not be considered until the final development has been approved by City Council. 

 

Mr. Gallogly stated this is the final plat for phase 1 and the phase 1 construction plans have already been approved.  None of the discussion we are having has to do with phase 1.

 

Mr. Seymour stated the final development plan as a total project is what needs to go before City Council and that has to be approved before the plat can move forward.

 

Mr. Gallogly stated we are not asking for approval of a plat for the entire project, we are asking for approval of the final plat for phase 1.  You are saying this is your procedure?  Does the final plat have to go before council also?  Mr. Cunningham stated no.  He stated we are going to have to go through the readings of council for the preliminary development plan and the final development plan and three readings for each one.  I am asking procedural questions so we know what has to happen. 

 

Mr. Seymour stated the final development plan is what council approves. 

 

Mr. Kraus stated to clarify, the preliminary development plan and the final development are all part of a concept and it deals with zoning.  Until the final development plan is approved all you have to work with is the underlying zoning.  This body can not approve a plat that does not comply 100% with SR zoning until council approves the final development plan. 

 

Mr. Gallogly stated the final plat for phase 1 does comply with the zoning.  Mr. Kraus stated then you will be taking a risk that council makes no changes.  If council makes any changes then the final plat has to be amended also.  He stated procedurally you do not have zoning until council approves the final development plan. 

 

Mr. Seymour stated then the plan we have before us, page four, includes all of the changes that we have agreed too.  Mr. Bergwall stated except for the change in street name. 

 

Mr. Roush stated the final development plan as submitted including the change in the intersection with the condos with SR 736, seem reasonable to us, it is the procedural way it is being done.  Because it is a PUD, we feel the final development plan has to be approved by city council before the final plat can be approved.

 

Mr. Griffin asked how difficult is it to reconstruct the preliminary development plan.  Mr. Page stated it will only take a few minutes, but we thought there was going to be a major issue with having the two entrances on SR 736, so we didn’t change the preliminary plat until we got the approval from you. 

 

Mr. Gallogly stated what he is hearing is we are talking procedure not issues.  Mr. Griffin stated yes.  Mr. Gallogly stated we have the replacement pages to slip in place of the ones that need changed.  The only thing we don’t have is a revised preliminary plan.  How do we expedite this process? 

 

Mr. Seymour stated the point is we truly have the same document in front of us that we would use for the preliminary plan.  The message to the citizens did not announce that this was approval of the preliminary; however it is the same document.  If the applicants would state that they are requesting the approval of the preliminary plan tonight, in one motion, and then the final plan in another motion. 

 

Mr. Gallogly stated he could request that. 

 

Mr. Roush stated from a procedural standpoint, I don’t think it would be acceptable. 

 

Mrs. Penhorwood stated in the past we have required developers to submit a separate document that is properly labeled amendment to the preliminary development plan.  Also, per code it states that requests for variances must be submitted at the time of the preliminary plat in writing. 

 

Mr. Seymour stated the technical aspect is the application for the variance. 

 

Mr. Gallogly stated what he thinks he is hearing is that if he comes back to the next meeting with a revised preliminary plan and a variance request regarding the street access and also have a packet which is the final development plan and the phase 1 final plan, then you would be able to, if you choose to, able to refer the final development to city council.

 

Mr. Seymour asked about any time frame issue.  Mrs. Penhorwood stated Mr. Gallogly would have to agree to a tabling until next month.  At the next meeting he could present the amendment to the preliminary development plan and if you approve that the next item on the agenda could be the final development plan recommendation to city council. 

 

Mr. Gallogly stated he takes from this discussion that no one in the room at this point anticipates arguing against the second access.  Mr. Bergwall stated he has a question about that.  He stated he asked the question as to where these two exits lines up to the exit to the Links.  Links access pointed out on a map.

 

Mr. Page stated what you need is a preliminary development plan, a final development plan reflecting the preliminary development plan changes, a request for a variance, and the phase 1 final plat.  Mr. Roush stated we can’t do the phase 1 plat.  Mr. Griffin stated we can accept it.  Mr. Cunningham stated we can’t accept it because then we would have to act on it before council has acted on the final development plan. 

 

Mr. Gallogly stated he would agree to table the final development plan until the next regular meeting.

 

Mr. Seymour made a motion to table the recommendation of the final development plan at the request of the developer until the next regular scheduled meeting.

 

Mr. Seymour         Yes    Mr. Cunningham    Yes    Mr. Griffin   Yes   

Mr. Kraus    Abstain        Mr. Bergwall          Yes   

 

Motion Passed.

Acceptance of Final Plat The Oaks – filed by Page Engineering

 

Mr. Roush stated as it was discussed with the final development plan, once the final plat is accepted it still can not be approved until council has approved the final development.  So it is both accepting the final plat and then tabling it until after council approves the final development plan or tabling this request at the request of the developer until the development plan is approved.

 

Mr. Cunningham stated on the final plat we are tied to the Ohio Revised Code and have to make a decision within 30 days.  Mrs. Penhorwood stated that is one if the developer does not agree to a tabling.  Mr. Cunningham stated that is what I am requesting is a request to table the acceptance.

 

Mr. Gallogly stated it is his understanding that there are two steps, acceptance and approval, and they don’t happen at the same time.  He stated he didn’t think there was any problem with the acceptance.

 

Mr. Cunningham stated the dilemma is that we would have to act within 30 days and we would not have the action from council.  Mr. Seymour stated he suggests to what until the second reading in council and then we would know if there were going to be any issues. 

 

Mr. Gallogly made a request to table.

 

Mrs. Penhorwood asked are we accepting the final plat tonight and then once it is accepted the developer will request a tabling of the approval.  Mr. Cunningham stated no we are tabling the acceptance so we don’t start the 30 day clock.  Mr. Seymour stated they could request to remove the item and then bring it back at a later date.

 

Mrs. Penhorwood stated what we have done with past plats is accept the final plat and then tabled it until after City Council approved the final development plan and then brought it back.  Mr. Kraus stated the tabling didn’t take affect until the meeting after the acceptance. 

 

Mr. Griffin made a motion to accept the final plat for the Oaks.  Mr. Bergwall stated if we vote yes then we are approving something that we really can’t deliver on.  Mr. Cunningham stated we are not approving anything, only accepting.  Mr. Bergwall stated if we accept this then we are into the 30 day routine and we can’t deliver on the 30 days because of the other items. 

 

Mr. Palmer stated his concern would be that we would end up with a City Gate situation where if we don’t have a quorum on the second then it is automatically approved.  Mr. Cunningham stated we can’t operate under the assumption that we may not have a quorum. 

 

Mr. Bergwall stated these are the drawings for the final plat that we are accepting.  Is there any potential that in all of this other update work that these are going to change at all?  Mr. Page stated no, because the final construction plans for phase one have already been approved. 

 

Mr. Cunningham    Yes    Mr. Griffin   Yes    Mr. Kraus    Abstain       

Mr. Bergwall          Yes    Mr. Seymour         Yes   

 

Motion Passed.

 

Mr. Griffin stated before we move on I thought we were going to make sure that we had no outstanding issues on the final development plan that way when they come back next month they don’t have any unexpected issues.  Mr. Cunningham asked do you have outstanding issues.  Mr. Cunningham stated it is his understanding everyone had that opportunity.

 

Approval of Street Trees – The Oaks – filed by Page Engineering

 

Mrs. Penhorwood stated the developer did not list specific trees; they were leaving it up to the commission as to what they wanted to put in.

 

Mr. Griffin stated we have to select from the approved list and because of the development name, I assume you would like to have a lot of Oak trees. 

 

Mr. Cunningham stated there is a list of approved trees.  If we want to table this tonight and then you can choose the trees from the approved list and then we can vote on it.

 

Mr. Griffin stated he thought we were going to make a recommendation as to the type of tree to be planted. 

 

Mr. Gallogly stated he thinks it is silly to plant trees in the woods, but he knows it is a requirement to plant them.  He stated he doesn’t care what type they are.  If you have a list I can name a tree and you can tell me if you agree or not. 

 

Mr. Griffin stated as you go through the plan, some of your street names are actual trees. 

 

Mr. Gallogly stated he would like to sit down with Mr. Griffin and then we can come up with the types of trees.

 

Mr. Cunningham stated why don’t we do that and table it until the next meeting so we can address it.

 

Mr. Seymour made a motion to table the approval of the street tree plan at the request of the developer until the next regular meeting.

 

Mr. Griffin   Yes    Mr. Kraus    Abstain        Mr. Bergwall          Yes   

Mr. Seymour         Yes    Mr. Cunningham    Yes   

 

Motion Passed.

 

Mr. Page stated he would like to compliment the engineering staff in being able to schedule a meeting on a moments notice this morning to resolve the pump station issue. 

 

DISCUSSION ITEMS:

 

Marysville Intermediate and Middle School – located at SR 4 and Southard Rd.

General Issues

 

Mr. Scott Desler stated he is with the architectural firm representing Marysville Schools.  We are here to keep the city informed as to the site plan and future site plans for the site located at SR 4 and Southard Rd.  The project is for a new Middle school and Intermediate School.  The schools have submitted a petition for annexation.  The project is currently under Paris Township. 

 

Mr. Roush stated he would like to pass a copy of the map that shows what portion of the land is included in the first annexation.  There is also a copy of the developer’s agreement we have with the schools.  We had them go to the Design Review Board because we expect them to comply with city standards. 

 

Mr. Deisler stated the first page of our submittal is the current proposed site plan for the new Intermediate and Middle School.  As you can see we have two private drives coming in off of SR 4.  The dives are approximately 800 ft. apart.  They loop the building and we have adequate parking per Marysville City Zoning.  We also have the bus lot which also serves as event parking.  The building itself is a 166,000 s.f. building.  There are two entrances.  There two separate schools under one roof.  We have turn lanes; we have submitted traffic studies to both Marysville and ODOT.  The City of Marysville obviously can only unofficially comment on it because we are not annexed at this time.  We have received approval of the traffic study from ODOT.  One turn lane at each of the private drives is warranted and also a turn lane at Milford Ave and SR 4 has been accommodated for in our phase 1 site plan.  The area of the new school is approximately 45 acres. 

 

Mr. Bergwall asked how many students this school will accommodate.  Mr. Deisler stated 900 students.

 

Mr. Seymour stated if this were already annexed property and you were bringing it to us for review, I expect we would challenge your 800 ft. distance between entrances.  Our code currently states it should be 1000 ft. for a development.  I don’t know if this would fit that same category or not.  Mr. Disler stated these are both private drives.  There will not be as much traffic as a public roadway would have.

 

Mr. Bergwall stated he doesn’t understand that.  The only difference would be that you will have all of your traffic at a certain time.   He stated if you could get the two entrances to the 1000 ft. distance it would be more in conformance.

 

Mr. Andrew Maletz stated one factor that was considered is that on this portion of SR 4 there is a significant dip as you go down toward the creek.  They were very concerned about a safe sight line for buses entering and exiting the site.  This is what forced the minimization of the distance between the two driveways in an effort to keep them at the crest portion of SR 4. 

 

Mr. Cunningham stated he brought this up at the Design Review meeting and it came up at City Council, the issue of sidewalks.  Even this is a rural setting for the school; Councilman Marshall stated he did not want to happen with this school the sidewalk problems we’ve had with other schools, particularly the school on SR 31.  I know we talked about when the high schools is built there will be egress because they may have siblings at the other school.  It is not real clear where the walks will be vs. drives.

 

Mr. Deisler asked if he was talking about sidewalks on SR 4 or within the campus.  Mr. Cunningham stated he would say on the campus, Mr. Marshall’s comments were regarding SR 4.  Mr. Deisler stated there are sidewalks inside the private loop, around the building and around the parking lots of the loop.  We do not have sidewalks along SR 4.  As development occurs we will be adding more sidewalks between the buildings. 

 

Mr. Cunningham stated being a school; the safety is going to be more of a concern for you than it would a regular business. 

 

Mr. Larry Zimmerman stated what they commented on last time was that as the second and third building get located on the site then you have to have walks along Southard Rd. and walks across probably along a road that will connect our front property to Southard Rd.  As development occurs across SR 4, you will get a better idea of what is need from a sidewalk standpoint.  This is a whole different package then our current middle school.  It was there long before the housing developments were put in down the road.  Then the development was put in there should have been sidewalks put in by someone besides the school.  For reasons of safety, I don’t think there needs to be sidewalks along SR 4.  From a school standpoint, I think sidewalks are going to need to be put in around approximately phase 2 of the project.

 

Mr. Griffin asked if the road on the drawing that shows the prospective 2015 site, there is a road that connects SR 4 to Southard Rd., will that be open to the public?  Mr. Zimmerman stated it will be a private drive.  Mr. Griffin stated as soon as he saw this he thought it is going to open it up to a lot of traffic.  Mr. Zimmerman stated he understands that but if you are going to develop this property the way it needs to be developed.  Mr. Griffin stated he agrees.  Mr. Zimmerman stated whether it is a drive or a dedicated street those kinds of things will have to be determined at a later date. 

 

Mr. Bergwall stated one of the things you need to consider when looking at the long term plan is the support structure.  Bringing together this many people in one location, you need to have a mix to include some commercial property relatively close.

 

Mr. Griffin stated there is a TOC lot right across the street from this property. 

 

Mr. Zimmerman stated to keep in mind that this future plan is just the best guess.  I have no idea if there will be a second high school at this location.  It is how it is planned, but you never know. 

 

General Issues

 

Mr. Cunningham asked if the commission wanted to set up a special meeting for later this month.  We reviewed some of our To Do List items at the last meeting and are ready for another tweak session. 

 

Mr. Kraus stated given that it is December, I don’t think things are that pressing. 

 

INDIVIDUAL COMMISSIONERS COMMENTS:

 

Ken Kraus – He stated developers need to come in with a street tree plan that has specific trees on it.  I don’t see us getting into a tree discussion.

Don Bergwall - none

Pete Griffin – He stated he noticed that is says new retail is coming, do we know what is going in there?  Mr. Roush stated that sign has been up for about a month now, but we have not heard anything. 

Roger Yoder - absent

John Cunningham - None

Alan Seymour – Mr. Seymour stated at URT an issue came up that in the B3 district you are not permitted to have lawn signs.  It is an item we need to look at. 

Pat Soller - absent

 

ADJOURNMENT:

 

Meeting was adjourned at 8:24 p.m.