MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION,
WHICH TOOK PLACE ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2005, 7:00 P.M.,
COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL,
1. Roll Call
PRESENT: Eyre,
Gaynor, Jocks, Kozakiewicz, Mead, Rapanos, Senesac and Svenson
ABSENT: None
OTHERS PRESENT: Jon Lynch, Assistant City Manager;
Daryl Poprave, City Planner; Cheri Standfest, Community Development Specialist
and 4 others.
2. Approval of Minutes
Special Meeting of
It was
moved by Mead and supported by Eyre to approve the minutes of October 14th. The minutes were unanimously approved
Regular Meeting of
It was moved by Eyre and supported by Jocks to approve the minutes of
October 25th. The minutes were unanimously approved.
3.
Public
Hearings
None
4. Public
Comments (not related to agenda items)
None
5. Old Business
Site
Plan No. 249, Manual Therapeutics – Consideration of a petition
initiated by
Weckesser Builders for
approval of a 12,868 square foot addition on approximately 2.06
acres located at 1900
Ridgewood Drive.
Mr. Poprave reviewed the location map. It is zoned LCMR. It is adjacent to Davenport University. To the east is a medium density residential
neighborhood. The site plan shows an
existing office building of just under 5,000 sq. ft. Both properties are owned by the same
corporation. The proposed building will
be a half story below ground. The
contingencies were the need for site access, that the dumpster be in accord
with the zoning ordinance, storm water retention is approved by the Engineering
Department, that there is a bus turn-around in the parking lot, and that site
grading be approved.
No one spoke either in favor of or in opposition to this
request. Mr. Weckesser was present to
answer any questions.
Mr. Mead, Ms. Svenson, Mr. Eyre and Mr. Gaynor all stated
they would support this petition.
Moved by Gaynor, supported by Jocks, to approve Site Plan
No. 249 with the contingencies stated in the staff report. Motion passed 8-0.
The vote proceeded as follows:
YEA: Eyre, Gaynor, Jocks, Kozakiewicz,
Mead, Rapanos, Senesac and Svenson.
NAY: None
ABSENT: None
6. New Business
Zoning
Ordinance Revisions – Review of text revisions recommended by staff. Schedule public hearing for December 13,
2005.
The Zoning Ordinance became
effective on January 1, 2005. Staff has
utilized this ordinance throughout the entire 2005 construction season. Changes have been proposed to correct errors,
strengthen regulations and make the ordinance more readable.
Section 2.03 – Sign Definitions –
A new definition was created to describe what a free standing canopy is
(Definition needed as a result of a 2005 ZBA case).
Section 3.06 – Home Occupations –
Section 3.06a(7) – Added language to strengthen Home Occupation regulations to
protect against the retailing of inventory in homes in residential
neighborhoods. Added an exemption for
occasional yard and garage sales.
Section 3.12 – Site Lighting –
Section 3.12H – Adds requirement for photometric grids for all site plans.
Several sections of the Zoning
Ordinance incorrectly list BB-1, BB-2 and BA as Commercial Districts. These district names would be changed to CC
(formerly BB-1), RC (former BB-2) and NC (formerly BA) to match the zoning map
and current zoning ordinance text.
Section 5.01E – Commercial Vehicle
Parking in Residential Districts – Clarified how long commercial vehicles may
be parked in residential areas (48 consecutive hours).
Section 5.01F(2) – Recreational Vehicle
Storage – Corrected what type of surface RV’s can be stored on for non single
family and two-family residences.
Section 7.03C(2) - Wall placement
on property altered to correct contradiction with Section 7.03B which specifies
that obscuring walls shall not be located in the front yard setback.
Table 8.1 – Temporary Sign
Standards – Garage sale size limits added to reflect new City Council
regulations on garage, yard, and rummage sales.
Footnote “e” reference to sign content removed to achieve content
neutrality. Election sign footnote “l”
revised to limit total signage in residential districts to 32 sq. ft.
Table 8.2 – On-premise Advertising
Sign Standards – This table received the most attention and numerous changes
are being proposed to make it more understandable to sign contractors and
business owners. Sign area in RA and AG
was decreased to 12 sq. ft. Sign area in
RB was increased.
The number of wall signs was
restricted to one single sign per business and due to multiple ZBA variances
heard this year, the proposed change will permit multiple signs that do not
exceed the maximum area in Table 8.2.
The most extensive revisions have occurred in the footnotes section of
the table. These footnotes were
confusing because they overlapped between sign types (i.e. ground vs. wall
signs).
Footnote “a” was eliminated
because it simply refers users to other existing ordinance language. Footnotes “A”, “B”, and “C” were re-grouped
under the wall, roof, and ground sign heading to delineate that these footnotes
apply to all sign situations. Footnotes
“D” and “E” only apply to wall and roof sign situations. Footnote “D” applies specifically to
buildings with multiple tenants but with common entrances.
Footnote “D” refers to strip mall
developments with multiple individual entrances. Footnotes “F” through “J” apply to ground
sign situations. “F” applies to large
parcel sign allotment. “G” applies to
ground signs on corner lots. “H” applies
to industrial, commercial and office park directory signs. Footnote “J” was re-worded and renamed
“E”. Footnote “K” was eliminated because
other ordinance language already exists.
Footnote “J” was added to specify when ground signs were not permitted.
Table 8.3 – Garage sale sign size
changed to 6 sq. ft. Table 8.4 – OS
District added to ground sign setback table as it was mistakenly omitted from
the ordinance. Section 8.07D – Pole
mounted ground sign language reinforced to account for clear vision areas.
Signs in Circle and Downtown
District – Expanded description of murals and sandwich board signs to provide
guidance to business owners and city inspectors.
Articles 9, 24 and 26 – All
proposed changes reflect the re-designation of zoning districts from old
language to new. BB-1 changed to CC,
BB-2 changed to RC, BA changed to NC, CBD changed to D and D-O.
Article 27 – Site Plan Review –
The current ordinance language requires a site plan to be presented to the
Planning Commission and City Council if it involves erection, relocation,
conversion or structural alteration to a building or structure to create an
additional 10,000 sq. ft. of gross floor area.
Does the city wish to retain this language? Should the Planning Commission and City
Council be reviewing projects under 10,000 sq. ft. and if so, what other requirements
should be enacted? Should new curb cuts
trigger site plan review?
City Council approved site plan
approvals are valid for one year. There
currently is no expiration time for administrative site plan approval. Since November, 2004, the Planning Department
has reviewed 15 “administrative site plans” and the Planning Commission has
reviewed seven site plans. Notable
Administrative Site Plans include:
·
7,582 sq. ft. adult foster care home on
·
9,981 sq. ft. Quality Truck and Auto Accessories at
·
9.862 sq. ft. Belle Tire on
·
8,500 sq. ft. retail space next to Best Buy
·
9,572 sq. ft. Fairground Shoppe’s strip center at
·
8,349 sq. ft. Logan’s Restaurant at
·
Hidden Pines Phase 2 – Two duplexes and a single
family unit
·
9,974 sq. ft. – BWP Transport at
Section 29.14 of the former ordinance permitted
dividing of duplex structures so that separate ownership of units could be
established. Such division of ownership
resulted in lots hat did not meet required width or area dimensions. Local builders are requesting a mechanism to
again permit such division of ownership.
Potential solutions:
·
Permit division of ownership
·
Require filing of a deed restriction indicating that
any replacement structure must be built on the newly created property line
·
Lot splits would be effective upon recording of the
deed restriction
Requested action:
·
Guidance on site plan review “trigger”
·
Guidance on divisible lots
·
Direct staff to schedule a public hearing for
December 13th to formally consider these changes
7. Communications
None.
8. Report
of the Chairman
We now have streaming video of all
the meetings. It is really great! Also, we still have an open seat on the
Planning Commission.
9.
Report of the Planning Director
November 14th
PUBLIC
HEARINGS
§ Rezoning, Zoning Petition No. 524 – Consideration of a petition initiated by Nicolaos Rapanos and the City of Midland to rezone approximately 14.32 acres located at 4228 Bay City Road and 405 Fast Ice Drive from Agricultural to Regional Commercial zoning.
ACTION
ITEMS
§ Preliminary Plat, Trotter’s Pointe – Consideration of a petition initiated by Bartow & King Engineer’s for tentative approval of a 20 lot residential subdivision on approximately 5.84 acres located south of East Wheeler Street and east of Liberty Drive.
§ Site Plan No. 249; Manual Therapeutics – Consideration of a petition initiated by Weckesser Builders for approval of a 12,868 square foot addition on approximately 2.06 acres located at 1900 Ridgewood Drive.
November 28th
PUBLIC
HEARINGS
None
ACTION
ITEMS
None
November 22nd
Meeting
Canceled
December 13th
PUBLIC
HEARINGS
§ Rezoning, Zoning Petition No. 525 – Consideration of a petition initiated by Ron Lapham to rezone approximately 1.9 acres located at 1314 West Wheeler Street from Office Service to Regional Commercial zoning.
ACTION
ITEMS
§ Review modified master plan work program
November 15th
§ No. 05-19 – Starbucks for an area/dimension variance to permit more than one wall sign for informational purposes at 7201 Eastman Avenue.
None
The Planning
Commission conducts only one regular meeting during the month of December.
10. Adjourn
Adjournment at approximately 9:08 PM and unanimously approved.
Respectfully submitted,
Jon Lynch
City Planner
MINUTES ARE NOT FINAL UNTIL APPROVED BY THE PLANNING COMMISSION