MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE
WHICH TOOK PLACE ON TUESDAY,
COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL,
1. Roll
Call
PRESENT: Eyre,
Gaynor, Hanna, Kozakiewicz, Mead, and Senesac
ABSENT: Brown, Jocks and Svenson
OTHERS PRESENT: Daryl Poprave, Acting Director of
2. Approval of Minutes
Regular Meeting of
It was moved by Hanna and supported by Senesac to approve the minutes of
November 28th. The minutes were
unanimously approved.
3.
Public
Hearing
a. Zoning
Petition No. 532 (tabled) – Consideration of a petition
initiated by Patrick and Shawn Pnacek to rezone .98 acres of land located at
This is still tabled and will not be dealt
with tonight.
b. Zoning Petition No. 534 (tabled) – Consideration
of a petition initiated by Patrick and Shawn Pnacek to rezone .96 acres of land
located at
This is still tabled and will not be dealt
with tonight.
4. Public
Comments (not related to agenda items)
None
5.
Old
Business
a. Site Plan
No. 254 – Three Rivers Corporation, on behalf of Midland Medical
Oncology, for site plan review and approval for an 11,409 square foot medical
office building at
Dan Kozakiewicz abstains as he is
employed by Three Rivers Corporation. They
elected a temporary chair. Roger Mead
moved to have Ray Senesac acting chair and Gayle Hanna seconded the motion.
Daryl Poprave gave a brief
review. The site is located on
1.
The
stormwater detention system is designed and constructed in accordance with the
2.
The
drive aisle adjacent to the building’s entrance shall be posted “no parking”
fire lane.
3.
To
properly service the site, the water main should be extended south to
McCandless where a 12 inch main exists.
4.
Landscape
irrigation is not shown and should be an extension of the existing system.
5.
Care
should be taken when placing the pneumatic tubes so that they are spaced at
least 10 feet horizontally from the water main.
6.
All
exterior lighting shall adhere to Section 3.12 of the Zoning Ordinance.
7.
All
landscaping shall adhere to Section 3.12 of the Zoning Ordinance.
8.
The
dumpster should be screened in accordance with Section 3.15 of the Zoning
Ordinance.
9.
All
ground mounted mechanical equipment shall be screened in accordance with
Section 6.02(E)2 of the Zoning Ordinance.
10. All parking spaces must be
delineated with “box” style striping per Section 5.01(d)3 of the Zoning
Ordinance.
11. All signage shall adhere to Article
8 of the Zoning Ordinance.
Keith Wirth, Three Rivers
Corporation, architect, they met with the facilities staff and they will have
ambulance service from the back. They
met with Consumers Power there is a 70% chance they will connect
underground. They will see how much
power is available at that time.
Roger Mead stated that it looks like
a good plan, a lot of consideration and a good addition to the campus.
Bill
Eyre agrees, it is a good thing.
Gayle
Hanna stated that it is sited nicely.
It was moved by Mead and supported
by Hanna to recommend approving Site Plan No. 254, with the contingencies, by
Three Rivers Corporation, on behalf of Midland Medical Oncology for site plan
review and approval for an 11,409 square foot medical office building at
YEA: Eyre, Gaynor, Hanna, Mead, and
Senesac
NAY: None
ABSENT: Brown, Jocks and Svenson
ABSTAIN: Kozakiewicz
The motion was approved 5-0.
6.
New
Business
a. Vacation of
Public Property – Consideration of a petition initiated by the Dow
Chemical Company – Michigan Operations, to vacate the following public
streets:
Daryl
Poprave showed the location of the vacation on the aerial map. The reasoning for
Ray
Senesac asked what property Dow owns.
What is the process to get to the final plan if these streets are to be
vacated? With that alternative the city
recommends there is a portion of James Savage that would be vacated.
Bradd
Maki, Assistant City Engineer, stated that during the reviews a consensus was
reached between the consultants. Other
city departments had no objections to the recommendation. The replacement route would contain any
detours and emergency evacuation routes.
With the closing of James Savage, west of
Scott
Gaynor doesn’t understand why they want to close James Savage. They are just moving
The Dow
Consultant and support by our traffic consultant in general traffic will seek a
path they want to seek. The new road
will be there and a portion of the traffic will still go up to that
corridor. When the new gate gets put in,
all traffic is going to be going to that location.
Scott Gaynor
asked if the existing lights will remain.
Bradd Maki
stated yes, but if James Savage is a cul de sac there will be significant less
traffic and you will still have the signal there but the efficiency will be
much improved.
Scott Gaynor
asked about three signals within one quarter mile.
Bradd Maki
stated that yes, the way it looks for the moment there will be three. When the numbers come through, we will see if
the signal will still operate.
Ray
Senesac asked if they identified any increase or decrease of through
traffic. The new road will be how many
lanes?
Bradd Maki
stated that right now maybe four or it could be three.
Gayle Hanna
asked with the new ball park would there be signage on the main highway prior
to the interchange to go up to M-20 to alleviate the congestion. You want it to be a welcoming entrance to
town. If they have to make many turns,
they would be frustrated.
Bradd Maki
said that the work will take place the following year.
Dan Kozakiewicz
asked what the timing of the MDOT projects?
Bradd Maki
stated they haven’t received a time line yet.
Dan Kozakiewicz
asked when the property is vacated, does the city still has access to that
property.
Daryl Poprave
said that normally a street vacation is in a subdivision and you would split a
road to adjacent property owners. In
this case the platted subdivisions have never been platted. Once the vacation occurs city deeds the
property to Dow. That is part of City
Council process to give the property to Dow Chemical. The city could choose to sell that property
to Dow. It doesn’t have to give it to
them. Dow has accepted the construction
costs of the new streets so an agreement would be worked out.
Gayle Hanna
asked about MDOT’s plan. Could they expedite
and have good ability to move people out of harms way quickly.
Todd Konechni,
Dow Chemical, project manager working on projects.
Rollie
Shook, Director of Security.
Todd would
like to cover the back ground and a little more detail. The Dow petitions were brought about by
Homeland Security to relocate the security fence out further. The vacation of these roads would allow them
to relocate the perimeter fence line.
Right now the public is able to drive through this area and get
close.
Ray Senesac
asked what would Homeland Security be unhappy about today.
Rollie
stated there have been many bills and actions pushing for various requirements
to upgrade security in the chemical facilities nation wide. Since September 11th some of the
basic security is to add extra layers.
To push boundaries out as far as possible.
They have
updated their perimeter fence line to help gain some better defense in that
area. They are capable of future
expansion.
Roger Mead
asked if they are looking forward to the vacation of
Rollie
state that there are not plans right now for that.
Ray Senesac
asked Daryl Poprave about the decision this evening and what would happen if
that property was vacated. They need it
for security issues and if their decision is based on that he needs more
information.
Bill Eyre said
that Dow wants to create a buffer and then expand but that doesn’t make
sense.
Daryl Poprave
stated that with the open meetings act they would have to be tabled and they
may have to meet one on one. They would
have to get the city attorney involved.
Gayle Hanna
responded to Ray Senesac that this company would not go into all this time and
expense on a whim. They are trying to
work very carefully with the city and accept that and she would not vote for anything
by going into closed session.
Ray Senesac
asked if they would treat every company the same way.
Roger Mead
agrees with Ray Senesac and there are probably some concerns and
questions.
Ray Senesac
stated that his raising issues has nothing to do with the Dow Chemical, just to
have a better understanding.
Todd made
a brief comment on the green belt expansion.
It would be a low impact low risk activity. It is real estate of theirs and there are
other activities it could be used for without a risk at the fence line.
Alex Irigoyen,
3717 Woodlawn, was there to speak on behalf of Nick and Elaine Rapanos. The Rapanos family realizes how important
this project is and the city concerns; however, they have a few concerns about
this project. They own a resort on the
east end of
Tom Begin,
Consumers Energy, they were provided the plans a couple of weeks ago for the
gas and electric plan. The operation of
their service center currently has three drives. With the change in traffic flow there might
be some effect to get trucks in and out.
The increase in traffic would only be three vehicles per minute. So based on those discussions they were
comfortable with the operations and the change in the traffic flow. They also have some critical lines within Dow
property to make sure they would still have access 24/7 and get to those
facilities quickly. They have no
objections to the proposal.
Dan Cline,
Ray Senesac
continues to feel he does not have sufficient information to make a
decision. He would like a better
understanding of what this is going to do to help security.
Roger Mead
thinks there are too many maybes to vote tonight. He questions the closing of James Savage and making
it a cul de sac. Is there going to be a
signal, a four lane road, signage hasn’t been talked about. For him he is not ready to vote on this issue
tonight.
Scott Gaynor
said that there are multiple plans and this was decided and there it is.
Daryl said
that is how it is. The City Council
treats the
Dan Kozakiewicz
said they need to be specific of what they need for help do their job.
Scott Gaynor
would like to talk about vacating and the closing of James Savage separately.
Gayle Hanna
would like to separate the issues. She
has a problem with the route.
Ray Senesac
wants a better understanding as to why they want to move ahead.
Dan Kozakiewicz
thinks that if the city departments stated that they don’t object. He struggles to go against that.
Roger Mead
wants to know more information and has other questions.
Ray Senesac
requests they want to learn more about the need to do this and have justification
on this project.
Roger Mead
is concerned about what is going to happen with
Scott Gaynor
stated that discussions were involved without them and now they are suppose to
give their recommendation.
Gayle Hanna
agrees that James Savage needs to be separated.
It should not be cul de sac at this point in time; they need that extra
street there.
It was moved by Mead and supported
by Senesac to recommend tabling the request until the
YEA: Hanna, Kozakiewicz, Mead, and Senesac
NAY: Gaynor,
Eyre
ABSENT: Brown, Jocks Svenson
Hanna moved that the appropriate
parties within the city set a meeting with themselves, Dow and MDOT with the
Patrick,
The motion died for lack of a
second.
b. Vacation of
Public Property – Consideration of a petition initiated by the Dow
Chemical Company – Michigan Operations to vacate the following public
streets:
Daryl
Poprave introduced the petition showing the location on an aerial map. Currently these streets do not have much
traffic outside the Dow Chemical workers.
As part of the fence line improvement, Dow asked that these streets be
vacated so that they can put a fence line through this street and put in a new
gate. City Council adopted a resolution
on December 4th and City Council will receive that recommendation on
December 18th and hold a public hearing on January 8th. Austin and Indian streets will be converted
to two way access. Public utilities will
be maintained
Todd shows
the proposed gate they are looking at.
The fence line would move out to the boulevard between
Rollie
stated that the Dow health department is for Dow retires and the blood donation
center is there. Part of the design is
for outside parties to provide the service.
The agent assigned to this area had a security assessment done. They have had meetings with Roger Gardner and
the police as to why they should go forward.
Things are changing and from a security and public safety purpose it is
to protect Dow Chemical Company and the public.
Ray Senesac
stated that this one will be easier and this is an active street and driving it
today with closing it off it will have zero impact on the community.
Roger Mead
stated that he lived in
Bill Eyre said
that if you go there you either got lost or it was a mistake.
Gayle
Hanna agrees.
It was moved by Senesac and
supported by Eyre to recommend approval to vacate the following public
streets:
YEA: Eyre, Gaynor, Hanna, Kozakiewicz,
Mead, and Senesac
NAY: None
ABSENT: Brown, Jocks, and Svenson
The motion was approved 6-0.
c. Vacation of
Public Property – Consideration of a petition initiated by the City of
Daryl
Poprave reviewed the petition location on the aerial map. This was requested by the City due to a
previous agreement with the Midland Soccer Club. City Council adopted a resolution on December
4th and City Council will receive that recommendation from the
Ray Senesac
supports this and Bill Eyre agrees.
It was moved by Mead and supported
by Hanna to recommend approval to vacate the following public street:
YEA: Eyre, Gaynor, Hanna, Kozakiewicz,
Mead, and Senesac
NAY: None
ABSENT: Brown, Jocks and Svenson
The motion was approved 6-0.
7. Communications
Brochure on training workshops.
8. Report of the Chairman
There was a request of several of the commissioners in regards to
site plan reviews. There was a change in
the site plan approval in the Zoning Ordinance from 10,000 square feet to 7,500
square feet. Daryl gave them the
statistics and they could discuss it.
There were five site plans reviewed by the
Roger
Mead would like to do a year end monitor of the site plans and check into next
year and keep their eye on it and see how it goes.
Bill
Eyre stated that he thought there would be more site plans between 7,500 square
feet and 10,000 square feet and it appears there is not.
Roger
Mead stated that they should review it yearly.
Ray Senesac agrees. Gayle Hanna states
that she feels Daryl should bring them to the commission if there is a
problem.
9. Report
of the
. December 4th
PUBLIC
HEARINGS
None
ACTION
ITEMS
Set public hearings for ZP 535, 536, 537, 538, 539, and 540
Hearings should be
scheduled for
Remand (3) Street
vacations for
December 18th
PUBLIC
HEARINGS
None
ACTION
ITEMS
SP #254
Set public hearings
for three street vacations –
January 4th
SPECIAL
MASTER PLAN MEETING
LSL presentation on Implementation
January
9th
PUBLIC
HEARINGS
None
ACTION
ITEMS
None
February 1st
SPECIAL
MASTER PLAN MEETING
Public information session on
entire draft plan (televised)
December
19th
Cancelled
None
The next special
meeting on the Master Plan is scheduled for
The public can
view the Master Plan Update by accessing the City’s website at www.midland-mi.org and going to the
Master Plan Update link on the homepage.
1.
MSU – Citizen Planner Online – City has money for
up to two PC who wish to get this invaluable certification online.
2.
5 Site Plans were reviewed by the PC and approved
by CC.
3.
7 Administrative site plans were approved by staff
most were way under the 7,500 sq. ft. threshold with the average development
being 5,000 sq. ft. in size.
Happy Holidays!!!
10. Adjourn
Adjournment at
Respectfully submitted,
Daryl Poprave
Acting Director of
MINUTES ARE NOT FINAL UNTIL APPROVED BY THE PLANNING COMMISSION