HomeMy Public PortalAbout20060313_agenda_mtg
1
MINUTES
Planning Commission Agenda Meeting March 13, 2006 – 7:00 p.m.
Planning Commission Members present at the Agenda Meeting on March 16, 2006 were: Barry Brown,
Sandy Chandler, Bill Garbett, Susan Hill, Honor Hutton, Rachel Perkins, Chuck Powell, and Lawanna
Tsoulos. Gene Kindrick was absent. Building and Zoning staff present: Dee Anderson and Dianne Otto.
Jim Stone of Southern Cross Design, LLC, represented Mike Host for a Special Review at 1107, 1109 and
1111 Butler Avenue. This was for a parking lot at Tybee Market IGA. Chuck Powell said he would like to
see the dimensions put on the plan, and asked how deep the buffer would be. Stone said it was 5 feet
and he would make the size of the print larger. He said there was not going to be a building there and
they planned to do extensive landscaping on that side. He said the parking spaces were 9 by 18 feet as
required by Tybee’s ordinances. Rachel Perkins asked the width of the center drive. Stone said 24 feet.
Lawanna Tsoulos asked if the surface was going to be solid. Stone said yes and there would be a storm
drain system. He said the goal was to expand parking, and they were going to eliminate the existing
north cut. He said trucks would exit out of the parking lot to Butler Avenue instead of using Lovell
Avenue. He said trucks would never have to go to Eleventh Street and Lovell Avenue again. Tsoulos
asked if they needed a variance for the non-pervious pavement. Dee Anderson said they may and that
needed to look at that. Perkins said that if a house were built there it would be on a slab. Stone said they
might put some pavers on the front to make it more attractive and give better drainage. Powell said it
was R-2 area and was taking residential property. Anderson said that was what Special Review allows.
Tsoulos asked for clarification. Anderson said a Special Review was basically a variance granting special
use and specific conditions can be put on it. Bill Garbett said he was not requesting a variance. Anderson
said Special Review was a form of variance. Tsoulos asked Anderson to check if he needs a variance for
concrete. Barry Brown asked about trucks making the turn into the parking lot. Stone said it would be an
easier turn than at Lovell Avenue. He said Hosti owns the lot across the street. Brown asked why the
trucks could not back in from Butler to unload before the store opens. Stone said there would be a lot of
traffic that time of morning with people going to work, but it was not outside the realm of possibility. He
said this plan seemed to be the least impact on everyone and it was the most neighborly. He said he did
not slant the parking so cars would not be forced to exit onto Lovell. Tsoulos asked if there was anything
the Commissioners wanted to see. Stone said he would have a multimedia presentation and larger prints
at the meeting. Sandy Chandler said he wanted more information about the concrete. He said a lot of the
criticisms he heard were about the existing operation not this plan: noise, fumes, the dumpster, trucks
coming too early or too late. Tsoulos said she was sure all of that would come up Tuesday night at the
meeting. Stone said we all want the convenience of the market, there was no perfect solution, and we
are trying to promote businesses on Tybee. Tsoulos said it would be on the agenda.
Jim Stone represented a Site Plan Approval for Brent Palmer, Chris Godfrey and David Savere at 104
Tybrisa Street. Chuck Powell asked about the two parking spaces on the left side of the building. He said
he pulled up there and it did not look like 9 feet. Stone said it was 9 feet, barely, but he would go back
and re-measure it. Chuck Powell asked if they could have that dimension on Tuesday night. Stone said
yes. Stone said originally the plan was to do five or six units and a classy renovation. He said that condo
was not a building description – it was a definition of ownership. Stone said these units were very small,
300 to 400 square foot studios, and they will have Murphy beds. He said to get more parking spaces the
building has to go up in the air. Stone said they were going to pull off the vinyl siding, do an extensive
renovation with galley kitchens, hardwood floors, and barrier-free bathrooms. He said it would be real
open, very nice, and the units would be more owner-used units rather than rentals. Bill Garbett asked
about the parking bays. Stone said they could raise the building to get parking underneath, but the same
renovation works whether the building was up or down. He said it has six units now and that was going
to be reduced to five, and it would still have the same number of parking spaces that it currently has. He
said the only difference was the ownership type changes, not the type of building. Barry Brown asked if
the entry off of Tybrisa was more than 25 feet. It was determined that it was more than 25 feet. Stone
offered to put bricks there. He said there have been a lot of police calls to the current building and
something positive needs to be done. He said as expensive as it may be, it was very affordable for a
single person or young couple. Lawanna Tsoulos asked if the item should be put on the agenda. All
agreed that it should be. Garbett asked why it was Special Review rather than Site Plan. Dee Anderson
said it was going from one owner to five owners, and it is an existing building that does not meet the
2
setbacks. Stone said they really want to do this one right and told the Commissioners to contact him if
they have any questions. Tsoulos said they are not allowed to have communication outside the Public
Hearing.
Gail Lamb represented a Zoning Variance request at 9 Lovell Avenue. She said that Jane Coslick owns the
cottage and the lot was 45 feet by 78 feet. She said the house was only 18 feet wide. Lamb said she was
asking to build a porch on the left side and a porch on the right so cars can be driven under it. She said
this was a two-part request: shift the house to the left so there will be enough room to drive two cars
under it, and put 43 feet of the old hospital behind it. Lawanna Tsoulos asked if this was a non-
conforming use. Dee Anderson said yes, it was on the front property line. Lamb said the houses next to it
are in the front setbacks. Chuck Powell asked why she wanted to move the house to the left. Lamb said
to square it up within the side setbacks and to drive two cars under it. Barry Brown asked how they are
going to drive under it. Lamb said it would be 25 feet wide and they were going to square it off and keep
it in the side setbacks. She said the houses next door are both in that front setback. Lamb said there
were no trees involved except moving them out and back in. Brown asked where were the steps for the
porch. Lamb said underneath. Perkins asked if the entire structure would be raised. Lamb said yes, with
parking and 10% storage underneath. Powell asked if Lamb would be coming back in phases. Lamb said
no. Anderson said the rest would be handled in the office. Powell asked about the existing structure on
the lot. Lamb said she was hoping Coslick would take it because there was not room for it. Tsoulos said it
would be on the agenda.
Paul Calamari of ELK Development represented a Subdivision of Land at 1112, 1116 and 1120 Highway
80. Downer Davis talked about the engineering on the site. He said sewer had not yet been worked out
for this project. Davis asked if they would need a variance since there were more than four lots on a
single paved entrance. He said the developer might consider adding an exit-only drive or a turn-around.
Sandy Chandler asked why they were not using the existing cut. Downer Davis said the common area
behind the fourth lot shows a swimming pool and there would need to be proper access corridor to it for
maintenance. Davis said the tree survey needed to be incorporated onto the construction plan. Davis said
there were no real problems in the current format. Rachel Perkins said she had done a tree protection
plan and then passed out the plan. She said the silt fence was between the trees and the marsh. Brown
asked about the road moving to save the trees. Perkins said it would not change the drive but it would
the road. Chandler asked if they were against having another curb cut. Calamari said DOT might be
against it. Davis said DOT counts the number of lanes. He said this was five separate properties, but one
development. He said this project was the first since the 40-foot right-of-way rule that did not have the
roadway at a 90-degree angle to the road it was coming off of. He said they needed to consider school
buses, trash trucks and fire trucks. Chandler asked if they could explore possibilities with DOT prior to the
next meeting. Chandler asked about the drive on the far left side of the property. Calamari said it goes
back into another property. The Commissioners looked at each of the setbacks. It was decided that the
lots being just under 60 feet in width was not an issue. Hill asked what happened to the site plan from
when this went through as a sketch plan. She was told it had been approved. Chairperson Lawanna
Tsoulos said they were going to put the item on the agenda knowing there are issues. Powell said one of
the biggest pine trees on Tybee was going to be cut down.
Phil O’Dell represented a Preliminary Site Plan Approval in C-1 for 1605 Inlet Avenue. O’Dell distributed
drawings. Dee Anderson said there are no required setbacks. Chuck Powell said that during the Sketch
Plan process they were told it would not be a drive-thru. O’Dell said it is not a drive-thru; it is a way for
employees to get in and out. He showed a building from when the building first opened and that they
were going to landscape it again like it had been. Chairperson Lawanna Tsoulos asked about outdoor
seating. O’Dell said there would not be because they wanted to encourage people to use the park. Honor
Hutton asked about the area that had been marked parking. O’Dell said employees of Chu’s park there,
and it is grass and they are not going to put any concrete down. Bill Garbett asked if the building wings
were going to stay. O’Dell said yes. Tsoulos said the item would be on the agenda for the Planning
Commission meeting on March 21. She said once O’Dell gets approval of this he will come back with
drainage and whatever else was needed.
Chairperson Lawanna Tsoulos said she would not be at the meeting on March 21 so Rachel Perkins will
conduct the meeting. However, since Perkins has worked on the subdivision plan for ELK Development
3
she cannot preside. She said a Vice Vice Chairperson would need to be elected to conduct the ELK
Development portion of the meeting.
Tsoulos said she wants them to look at some meeting procedures that the Planning Commission would
follow but she needs to do more research. She said she hoped to be ready by the next agenda meeting.
A City Council and Planning Commission joint workshop was discussed. Chuck Powell suggested a 7:00 –
9:00 p.m. meeting.
Tsoulos said she wanted to get more feedback from City Attorney Hughes before further discussion on a
Code of Ethics.