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HomeMy Public PortalAbout11-17-2016 Minutes PB Regular MeetingPlanning Board Minutes November 17, 2016 Page 1 of 4 MINUTES PLANNING BOARD Thursday, November 17, 2016 7:00 PM, Town Barn PRESENT: James Czar, Chairman Dan Barker, Lisa Frazier, Janie Morris, Carolyn Helfrich, Jenn Sykes ABSENT: Rick Brewer, Doug Peterson, Vice Chair Toby Vandemark, Chris Wehrman STAFF: Planning Director Margaret Hauth, Town Attorney Bob Hornik ITEM #1: Call to order and confirmation of a quorum Chairman Barker called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. and confirmed a quorum with six members present. ITEM #2: Consideration of additions or changes to the agenda There were none. ITEM #3: Approval of minutes from September meeting and October public hearing MOTION: Ms. Morris made a motion to approve the minutes from both meetings as submitted. Ms. Frazier seconded. VOTE: Unanimous ITEM #4: Approval of 2017 meeting calendar MOTION: Mr. Czar moved to approve the calendar. Ms. Sykes seconded. VOTE: Unanimous ITEM #5: Recommendation to Town Board regarding request from Vouthaus, LLC to Rezone 9.75 acres at 505 Eno Street from General Industrial to Adaptive Re-Use so the building can house a wider variety of uses that are not industrial (OC PIN 9864 -65- 3492). Ms. Hauth said she didn’t have any additional information. There was one speaker at the public hearing who asked questions that were not directly related to the application and those questions were answered at the hearing. The applicant did not attend the public hearing. Ms. Sykes expressed concern about potential traffic impacts in that area. Ms. Hauth said there’s unlikely to be an impact to Nash Street. The driveway access is on Eno Street and the driveway is very wide. Ms. Sykes expressed concern about adding to traffic on Eno Street but she is not opposed to the types of uses permissible in Adaptive Re-Use. Mr. Czar spoke in favor of Adaptive Re-Use. Ms. Morris agreed it seemed like a good fit. Ms. Frazier said she has concerns about traffic around Gold Park and the school over there. Ms. Helfrich said the re-zoning seems reasonable to her but she understands concerns about traffic. MOTION: Mr. Czar moved to recommend that the Town Board approve rezoning this property to Adaptive Re-Use. Ms. Morris seconded. VOTE: Unanimous Planning Board Minutes November 17, 2016 Page 2 of 4 ITEM #6: Recommendation to Town Board regarding request from the Little School Development LLC to Modify their approved Special Use Permit to create additional on-site parking and remove the enrollment limitation (OC PIN 9873-25-6187). Ms. Frazier said her daughter is employed by The Little School. Mr. Hornik advised that is not a legal conflict of interest but if she feels uncomfortable, she may recuse herself. Ms. Frazier said she doesn’t feel uncomfortable participating in this conversation. No one on the board felt that she needed to be excused from this item. Ms. Hauth reviewed the request and that speakers employed by The Little School spoke at the public hearing. The waiver regarding the number of parking spaces is no longer needed because the school has the exact number of spaces now required under the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). Ms. Morris asked about the number of employees. Wendy Vavrousek of The Little School said 65-66 including teachers, chef, and administration. Regarding Waivers 1, there was general consensus to grant so that The Little School would not be required to plant trees throughout the parking lot. First, Mr. Czar expressed that he did not support granting this waiver. The intention of islands with trees is to provide shade and reduce heat in the summer. If the waiver wasn’t granted, then the school would lose four parking spaces and would need the waiver regarding the number of parking spaces. Another board member said the islands with trees doesn’t add much to the current parking lot. The trees will be moved to the edge near the parking. Regarding Waiver 2, also requiring shade trees, there was general consensus to grant the waiver. Regarding Waiver 3, there was agreement to grant the waiver and reduce the side setback from 20 feet to 10 feet. First, Ms. Helfrich shared that in a couple of daycares she’s seen a u-shaped drop-off lane that would accommodate 6 to 9 cars. Chairman Barker advised that the layout was approved when the original parking was approved. The 20 foot setback would take away one or two parking spaces. Regarding Waiver 4, there’s a portion of the travel aisle where the width is less than 25 feet. Regarding Waiver 5, it’s also related to landscaping in the parking area. Waiver 6 no longer applies. Regarding Waiver 7, Ms. Hauth said if it’s in the range of 25 and 50 percent, it’s been permissible. There was discussion that the concerns are for safety and for appropriate setback when the land is developed next door (possibly by Habitat for Humanity). Tony Whitaker, a civil engineer with Civil Consultants representing The Little School, said the 10-foot setback is well landscaped and does conform to the landscape requirement and offers some buffering to that adjacent property that is only 60 feet wide. He doesn’t think a building would be built on that 60-foot strip. He didn’t think it would harm any other property to make this request. Specifically, if this waiver isn’t granted, the school loses one parking space. Planning Board Minutes November 17, 2016 Page 3 of 4 Mr. Whitaker said for the affordable housing special use permit, that driveway is a current requirement. It is essential for the circulation pattern and for what Ashton Woods requires. Chairman Barker moved the discussion on to the request to remove the enrollment cap. Mr. Whitaker said 294 is the theoretical cap for licensing but is not the practical one. The existing SUP allows 196 and current population is 239 all day and 14 additional after- school children. The original approval was for enrollment. The board discussed thoughts on this, recognizing that The Little School has comfortably operated at this capacity that is beyond their SUP cap for some time. Mr. Whitaker clarified that if the star rating dropped the school would not be allowed to enroll more than 294 children. Mr. Hornik suggested requiring that the school report each year on the enrollment. It was agreed that when the school annually reports its enrollment to the star rating program, the school will also report to the town. Ms. Hauth said if the staff is 66, there’s only parking for 208 students. Chairman Barker asked The Little School how many staff members are present at one time. (The 66 is the number of names under The Little School’s payroll). The requirement is one parking space for every 8 students. Mr. Whitaker pointed out the 14 after-school students have parents who need to pick up younger siblings at the school anyway. Ms. Hauth pointed out at the enrollment of 239, with 66 employees (who are probably not all there at once), the school would be shy 3 parking spaces in this proposal. The 66 employees are not all there at once. Chairman Barker took straw polls of who was concerned about what. Two were concerned about reducing the 20 foot setback. MOTION: Ms. Sykes moved to recommend that the Town Board grant the waivers and grant the SUP modifications, eliminate enrollment and replace with an annual report of parking compliance. DISCUSSION: Mr. Czar noted there were two more modifications on the application including the play structure and the sign location. Chairman Barker asked if the play structures were permitted. Mr. Whitaker said staff is contacting Orange County inspections to figure out what needs permitting. The electrical work for the outbuildings was inspected, he said. It was clarified that the modification request to the SUP is out of an abundance of caution. The buildings are play equipment or play structures. Mr. Whitaker said when staff realized the sign location was nonconforming, that was added to the request. VOTE: Unanimous Planning Board Minutes November 17, 2016 Page 4 of 4 ITEM #7: Recommendation to Town Board regarding Text Amendments to Unified Development Ordinance: a. Amend Section 6.20, Stormwater, to match state minimum requirements and meet the mandate for local regulations to not be more stringent than the state. Ms. Hauth and Mr. Hornik explained that the state changed the law last year to say that local governments cannot have more strict buffer requirements than the state. But the state did say local governments could apply to the state for permission to have more stringent buffers. The week before this meeting, the state decided that the state’s new statute didn’t prohibit the more stringent riparian buffers that were due to the stormwater programs. MOTION: Ms. Morris moved to not recommend these changes unless additional word comes from the state that the town does indeed have to implement these changes. Ms. Sykes seconded. VOTE: Unanimous b. Amend Section 7.3, Nonconforming Characteristics of Use, to provide guidance on when a site is required to correct existing non-conforming characteristics. The board briefly discussed feeling comfortable with 30 percent. c. Amend Section 3.8.5.1.a to modify cultural resource documentation requirement for special use permit applicants. d. Amend Section 3.13.3.d to make reference to the traffic impact study requirements in the street standards document. e. Delete reference to the Design Standards manual in Section 6.2 and list this section as “reserved for future codification” f. Amend Section 6.11.7.3 to remove the sentence requiring site lighting to be extinguished when a business is closed. g. Amend Section 7.5.2.1 to clarify that non-conforming residential lots are buildable. MOTION: Ms. Frazier moved to recommend approval of 7b-7g. Mr. Czar seconded. VOTE: Unanimous ITEM #8: Adjourn MOTION: Ms. Helfrich moved to adjourn at 8:45 p.m. Ms. Morris seconded. VOTE: Unanimous Respectfully submitted, Margaret A. Hauth Secretary