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HomeMy Public PortalAbout2009-05-19 PC Minutes VILLAGE OF PLAINFIELD PLAN COMMISSION MEETING RECORD OF MINUTES DATE : MAY 19 , 2009 LOCATION: Village Hall Chairman Sobkoviak cal led the m eeting of the Plan Commission to order at 7:04 P.M. Village Clerk, Michelle Gibas, swore in Commissi oner Seggebruch and ex -officio Commissioner Heinen . Chairman Sobkoviak welcomed the new members. ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioners Kachel, Renzi, Sanders, Kiefer, Seggebruch; Chairman Sobkoviak; and ex officio Commissioners Schrack and Heinen Absent: C ommissioner O’Rourke, Plainfield Park District, Plainfield School District, Plainfield Fire District, Plainfield Library District and Plainfield Police Department. Also Present: Jonathan Proulx – Planner II Village of Plainfield APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The May 5, 2009 minutes were approved as presented. DEVELOPMENT REPORT: Planner Proulx summarized the cases that had been heard by the Village Board on May 18, 2009. There was a discussion between Planner Proulx and several Commissioners regarding the Villa ge Board approval of making Cambridge Circle in the Reserve Subdivision a public street. Chairman Sobkoviak wondered if the Board had taken any steps to prevent a reoccurrence of that type of situation in the future because there are a number of developme nts that have similar situations. Planner Proulx stated the current practices and current standards would prevent that from happening. This subdivision dates back to 1994 and the breakdown really occurred between the developer and the HOA when the reside nt -led HOA was first given the property. Chairman Sobkoviak had strong concerns that the rest of the Village would be paying for this. Commissioner Kachel also agreed with Chairman Sobkoviak. Chairman Sobkoviak wondered if the Village should stop allowi ng private streets within a subdivision or set up a dormant service area ahead of time as is done with retention ponds. Commissioner Sanders asked if there should be marketing materials with a definitive and full disclosure to alert the potentia l home b uilders of the conditions. Planner Proulx stated in a recently -approved project, Villas a Fox Run, a capital reserve study is required spe cifically for the road portion of the HOA owned and maintained property periodically. Staff reviews the declaration of covenants and restrictions before they are recorded to assure that the commitments made in the annexation agreement are included in the covenants. He further stated the Villas at Fox Run HOA must hire a competent engineer to perform a reserve study to identify the useful life of the road and prepare an estimate of how much it will cost to fix it. Commissioner Sanders wondered how that would be conveyed to the potential buyers. Commissioner Kachel asked if any easement property was given to the Villa ge by the HOA for Cambridge Circle in case the street needs to be widened. Planner Proulx stated the Board had directed the Village Attorney to prepare an ordinance amending the annexation agreement. The two provisions are that the HOA has to improve the road and the HOA has to prepare a plat of dedication. Once the plat of dedication is prepared and the Village accepts it, the Village will essentially be accepting the road and curb and gutter. The Village is not accepting the sidewalk. The Village wil l require a maintenance easement. There is a blanket easement already over the property to the benefit of the Village. The Village will have Village of Plainfield Plan Commission Minutes May 19, 2009 Page 2 of 5 easement rights to do any maintenance that will be needed in terms of widening the road. It is a looped street servicing the existing homes and the Village does not foresee the need to have it widened in the future. Commissioner Renzi suggested a disclosure form where the Park District, School District, etc. has to be disclosed so no one is confused. There could also be a box that states if the roads are public dedicated or private. This could go with all sales and transactions. He further stated he thought the Mayor had mentioned a mutual meeting of the Boards and felt that private vs. public street s could be a good agenda item. OLD BUSINESS: CASE: 1440 -123108.AA.SU.SPR HARVEST CHURCH Request: Special Use for a Religious Assembly (Public Hearing) Site Plan Review Location: East side of Van Dyke Road, ½ mile north of 135 th Street . Applicant: Harvest Church P lainfield, Inc., represented by Pastor Nolan McCants and Attorney Carl Buck Commissioner Sanders made a motion that the Plan Commission continue Case: 1440 -123108.AA.SU.SPR Harvest Church to June 16, 2009. Commissioner Kachel seconded the motion. Chai rman Sobkoviak called for a vote by roll call. Aye: Kachel, Renzi, Sanders, Kiefer, Seggebruch, Chairman Sobkoviak Nay: 0 The motion is carried 6:0 NEW BUSINESS: CASE: 1461 -041609.SU ALL AMERICAN ACADEMY OF MARTIAL ARTS Request: Special Use (Public Hearing) Location: 24108 W. Lockport St. Applicant: Robert C. Schirmer Commissioner Renzi made a motion that the Plan Commission continue Case: 1461 -041609.SU All American Academy of Martial Arts to the June 2, 2009 meeting. Commissioner Kiefer seconded the motion. Chairman Sobkoviak called for a vote by roll call. Aye: Kiefer, Sanders, Renzi, Kachel, Seggebruch, Chairman Sobkoviak Nay: 0 The motion is carried 6:0 TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT Planner Proulx summarized the development. He stated it h as been a year long project funded through a grant by the Regional Transportation Authority. The intent of the grant is to help the Village of Plainfield proactively plan for development around two transit station sites. The RTA’s goal is to provide comm unities with the tools and resources that will ultimately result in a successful transit node. He introduced the members of the Steering Committee. Planner Proulx introduced Mike Hoffman from Teska and Associates. He is the consultant and project manage r for this plan. Mike Hoffman gave a presentation. He stated this is a team effort and introduced the team. He stated they think that Plainfield needs transit and needs to plan for it. Transportation is a key issue. He mentioned that Pace will soon be offering a Park -N -Ride service to Plainfield towards the end of the year where you can get on a bus and go straight downtown. If this is successful more space will be needed and can possibly be incorporated into the Village -owned property. The transit s tations Village of Plainfield Plan Commission Minutes May 19, 2009 Page 3 of 5 that would be served by METRA would be on the STAR line. There are two sites, the village -owned property off of Van Dyke and another site off of Renwick Road. He pointed out these sites on a slide. He stated a critical point for site 2 wou ld b e that a small coach yard or maintenance yard to store some trains would be needed. Bridget Lane – BDI spoke next. She gave a summary of her part of the study. They looked at the best practices in terms of design. They wanted to create and maintain a p edestrian friendly community with g ood vehicular, bicycle, and p edestrian access to the station; a comfortable pleasant walking environment imme diately surrounding the station; and convenient services. She stated a key point was to provide a diversity of housing types within walking distance of the station. She stated right now with the market, immediate opportunities are limited. Mike Hoffman again talked. He stated most of the people that would access the Van Dyke Road site would use Van Dyke Road. He stated it would be kind of a core complex of mixed use. The remainder of the property was viewed as residential . To the north there is an option for light industrial use . Also that area was looked at for some potential retail or office uses right al ong Van Dyke with some additional parking. He preferred this concept. The Village has a contractual issue that they need to allow potential industrial use for a portion for a period of time. They want to make sure there is plenty of space t o accommodate Metra parking. He stated they think it makes most sense to put it on both sides of the track. They feel that multiple access points for the parking is the best way to handle it from a traffic flow perspective. Some of the land from t he old police stati on location could be used for parking. Commissioner Kiefer asked how this compares to the Rt. 59 commuter station. Mike Hoffman stated he thought this was considerably smaller. The goal is to be both an origin and destination. Metra, through their STA R Line studies, is still trying to do rider ship projections. They suggested providing at least 1,250 parking spaces. When they finish their study, possibly that number will have to be revised. The idea of garage parking has also been looked at. Garag e parking is more expensive than surface parking. He showed some views of the sites. Mike Hoffman stated if the PACE Park -N -Ride is successful, it could be expanded to this Village owned site on Van Dyke. Bridget Lane spoke again. She talked about an apartment complex. This population could not only support the Park -N -Ride, but could support the beginning of the development of some of the office and perhaps retail uses that would pay a higher value for the land. They were trying to make sure the dev elopment scheme they had designed was dense enough and had enough development on it to get a good return on the Village’s initial investment and leave some additional funds for landscaping, park ing , etc. Mike Hoffman then talked about Site 2. We went thr ough the two schemes for this site. The primary scheme was for a taller office building. There would be enough height in that building that perhaps a garage parking configuration might work in that area. They also showed a significant amount of surface parking to accommodate commuter parking, whether it be another PACE Park -N -Ride or ultimately a future station on the STAR Line. METRA will need a maintenance facility of some kind to store cars. The key driver for this site will be the Boulevard project . The Village would like to see grade -separated crossings both at Renwick and 143 rd St. He encouraged anyone with questions to go to the project website: www.plainfieldtransit.com to download a draft cop y of the plan. Chairman Sobkoviak asked if there was anyone in the audience who cared to ask a question or make a comment. There was no response. Commissioner Sanders asked if there would be a presentation from the STAR Line or RTA in addition to th is presentation. Planner Proulx answered this presentation really summarizes the draft plan before the Commission. If the Commission is interested in a more specific update regarding the progress of the planning efforts for the STAR Line itself, he could defer to METRA tonight or a more definitive update to the Commission in the future. At this point, METRA is working to fine tune their rider ship model as one of the final steps of completing the alternatives analysis. It was Planner Proulx’s understand ing they hope to have the alternatives analysis completed by the end of this year. Commissioner Sanders wondered if on the long term vision there would be an interconnection to the METRA line going into the City of Chicago and Naperville. Planner Proulx stated if the rail alternative is identified as the locally preferred alternative, the STAR line would interconnect the existing spokes that radiate out from Chicago . The STAR line would be the outside wheel of that hub and spoke system. The service woul d connect with the Rt. 59 station in Naperville and then to Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates, etc. In addition, you would be able to change trains and head into downtown Chicago. Commissioner Kachel asked if there was any thought to get some type of shuttle s ervice. Mike Hoffman stated they talked about the idea of having some type of trolley that would run up and down Van Dyke and come into the downtown area that could tie into the station area. Village of Plainfield Plan Commission Minutes May 19, 2009 Page 4 of 5 Planner Proulx stated staff wants to get input from the Pl an Commission and make any appropriate revisions or modifications to the plan. It is staff’s intention to bring the plan forward to the Village Board at a Committee of the Whole Meeting , hopefully in June, and incorporate any additional changes to the pla n based on the Board’s input. Staff would be seeking the Board to adopt this by resolution, hopefully in June. Commissioner Renzi made some suggestions for revisions involving several pages of the report. He felt some of the information regarding hous ing starts, etc. was outdated. He got the sense that a zoning overlay would be used and he wondered why. Mike Hoffman explained that a zoning overlay would be one wa y to implement the guidelines. He felt a footnote could be added at the end of the repor t summarizing why they felt an overlay would be more beneficial. Commissioner Sanders asked if this plan , along with the Four Seasons Campus Plan dependent on the construction of two interchanges on I -55 , would be referenced in the Transportation Section of the Comprehensive Plan. Planner Proulx felt that was an excellent point . Upon the Village Board’s action of this plan, as well as the Four Seasons Corporate Campus, one of the implementation suggestions would be to revisit the Comprehensive Plan. C ommissioner Renzi talked about an article in a booklet given to the Commissioners which talked about a Capital Improvement Plan and Economic Development Plan. He felt that might be a good way to try to put all of this together and prioritize it. Commissi oner Renzi questioned the mention of TIF in the report . Mike Hoffman explained the TIF language and stated it meant that the eligibility requirements for a business district are similar to tax increment financing. In a business district essentially an ad ditional sales tax is put on the businesses that are in that area. It does not have any impact on the property tax revenue. Commissioner Renzi felt the study was really impressive and that a lot of work has gone into it. Commissioner Kachel stated it would be nice if t here could be some type of name for the project. Commissioner Seggebruch asked if the Renwick site is looked at like an end of the line for the STAR. He thought Joliet was looked at as the end of the line for Phase I and it would then g o east into Indiana for the future. Mike Hoffman said there is the possibility of it in the future going to the east. Planner Proulx clarified that this is based on METRA’s current efforts relative to their alternatives analysis. It was METRA’s determ ination. Commissioner Seggebruch asked i f there was any thought that CN would aggressively push this development away or accept it. Mike Hoffman stated he believed their environmental impact statement says that it is still possible. Planner Proulx s tated if this meets with the Commission’s general approval, staff would be seeking a recommendation to the Village Board that the Board adopt this plan. Commissioner Sanders stated when the Commission has their joint meeting with the Village Board there s hould be a discussion of a series of visionary documents that have been created in the recent year. Planner Proulx proposed that when the Commission meets jointly with the Village Board an agenda could be set to discuss the plans mentioned by Commissioner Sanders in the context of looking at the Comprehensive Plan and identifying how these individual planning documents can be incorporated into the Comprehensive Plan. Commissioner Renzi made a motion that the Plan Commission recommend to the Village Boar d that the Transit Oriented Development Plan be adopted by the Village. Commissioner Kachel seconded the motion. Chairman Sobkoviak called for a vote by roll call. Aye: Sanders, Kiefer, Seggebruch, Kachel, Renzi, Chairman Sobkoviak Nay: 0 The motion is carried 6:0 Village of Plainfield Plan Commission Minutes May 19, 2009 Page 5 of 5 DISCUSSION: Commissioner Renzi asked if it would be possible to give the Commission an update on what is annexed and platted and where those developments are in the process . Planner Proulx stated the details Commissioner Renzi is asking for can be provided and thought it was a great suggestion. It would be informative and provide a context for future consideration of individual cases. In addition, as part of staff’s work plan for the coming year , staff is contemplating having a round ta ble to have a frank and productive discussion with the Village Board and the Development Community. Since there was no further business before the Commission, Chairman Sobkoviak adjourned the meeting at 8:30 p.m. Re spectfully Submitted Carol Millan Planning Secretary Vill age of Plainfield