CALL TO ORDER: Lee Speidel, Chairman
ROLL CALL: Lee Speidel, John Richardson, Robert Giesse, Scott Evans, and Don de Reynier were present. Township legal counselor, Doug Miller, was also in attendance.
MINUTES: The board decided to review the minutes of October 7th, and November 4th, at the next Zoning Commission Meeting.
CASE 2002-727: 20 Mile Green, 3277 Montgomery Road, Stage 1 Rezoning
Staff Findings: Lee Speidel asked for the staff report. Jenny Kaage came forward and said the staff gave a presentation at the last zoning meeting on November 4th. Jenny distributed a letter from Christine Hilbert of ODOT. Mr. Speidel asked for the representative for the proponent to come forward.
Proponent: Richard Young of Henderson & Bodwell Engineers, 3530 Irwin-Simpson Road,
said he is representing Mr. Darrell Liebson. He said Mr. Ray Neverovich is here representing the builder. Mr. Young apologized for missing the meeting last month due some confusion over the date of the zoning meeting and the Veteran’s Day Holiday.
Mr. Young discussed the first approved plan under another developer to put in a strip shopping center and some offices. This plan was approved by this board but it never was built. Mr. Young described the plan which was originally submitted.
The total project is 9.67 acres and the plan is for town home condos. There will be 8 units per acre and each will have a 2 car garage. Open space is planned in the center and a perimeter buffer with 2 detention areas. Tonight they are showing a new improved plan. The plan has changed from 80 to 76 units. The units would be owner occupied. Mr. Young said he reviewed minutes from the last meeting and some of the concerns were as follows: 1) Traffic – He said condos would generate fewer cars than the originally approved shopping center and offices. 2) Storm Water – The condos will create less storm water run-off than the strip shopping center. Retail would have been more. 3) Lighting – There would be less lighting at the condos than there would have at the retail center. Mr. Young said all lighting would be shielded and directed inward. 4) Building Height – The original condo plan was for 3 story buildings but that has changed to 2 story buildings. There had been 80 units but now they plan for 76. Now the plan is for carriage homes and flats. Lee Speidel asked the board for questions. There were none.
Ray Neverovich, Drees Company, 211 Grandview Drive, Ft. Mitchell, Ky, came forward and described the homes. He said all but one has 2 car garages. He distributed paperwork showing the floor plans. The said the prices are $120,000 to $180,000. The size is 1200 square feet to 1600 square feet. He said Drees has been building in Cincinnati for 75 years. Last year they closed on 315 to 320 homes. The siding and the trim are vinyl The sides are vinyl which helps keep the HOA fees down due to low maintenance. Lee Speidel asked if anyone in the audience wanted to speak.
Diana Halligen, 4071 Brookside Court, said that she wants something else to be built on that site. She wants something that looks like her community. She said she wants the business zoning to stay. She is against changing the zoning. She said retail would be nice. She said a restaurant would be nice.
Darrell Liebson, Brownstone Development said it will be convenient for the residents of the condos to walk to some of the businesses on that side of the street. There was discussion on the setback of 40 feet all the way around.
Lee said he is concerned about the neighboring homes and the affect on them. John Richardson said there is 50 feet on the east side and if the condos are a little closer to Tractor Supply, that won’t hurt.
Lee Speidel asked Tim Hershner if he saw the letter from ODOT. Tim said he met with the Warren County Engineers and there is a plan for a median in the middle of the street. He said there will be a light at Townsley and the connector street along by Tractor Supply. He said it would be nice if the connector would run down to Gold Star and Ameristop. Tim said the corner of 20 Mile Green where the detention pond is planned is where part of the connector should go. Tim said as the out parcels get developed the connector would be nice for them. Lee Speidel said the connector would benefit all of those businesses.
Lee asked Tim about the size of the out parcels. Darrell Liebson said the lots are 1.2 acres and 1.25 acres. Tim said the small lots would lend themselves to the smaller user. John Richardson asked the developer if they like the collector road idea. Darrell said he did like that idea. Tim said it could be worked out in Stage 2 to clip the corner of the lot for the collector road.
Don de Reynier said we should be focusing on the rezoning and not these details. He said the Land Use Plan shows half of it General Business. Mr. de Reynier said he didn’t see a compelling reason at this point to rezone. John Richardson likes this development as a transition between the R-SF and the G-B. John said that they are owner occupied is a big plus. Robert Giesse agreed.
Diana Halligen, 4071 Brookside Court, asked if the board had seen the Enquirer article about slowing development in Warren County by permitting only larger lots. She said Commissioner Kilburn is recommending slowing development by doing this. She said it would protect the green space in Warren County.
Board Discussions: John Richardson said he would like to make a motion to approve but said he would like to go over the 17 conditions. Tim said that additional conditions could be added to the 17. Tim said what we did at Nantucket was to say that the shops were required to have a similar pitched roof, and that the stonework or brick must match. Tim said we should add to condition 18 that the maximum height must be 24 feet.
John Richardson asked if this would be gated and they said it would not Mr. Liebson said he wants some identifying name on it, like 20-Mile Green or something. Tim said to do it on Stage 2. Tim said it could be done tastefully with a low sign. Lee asked about the landscaping. Tim said there is 40 foot buffer yard where they will go in and remove the vegetation but the east and south property lines can be left undisturbed but maintained.
Motion: John Richardson made a motion to approve Case 2002-727 subject to the 17 Staff Findings and the ones discussed by Tim. Tim gave the following additions and changes to the 17 conditions as follows:
#18 would be, “Minimum unit size equal to or greater than 1200 square feet of living space with the maximum height of 24 feet. Each unit shall have a minimum of one attached car garage.
#19 The number of single family attached dwelling units shall not exceed 76 units.
#20 The roof pitch and materials for the G-B PUD zone parcels to the west shall be coordinated with the town home and carriage home units
#14 There should be a change to Condition 14, that the sixty (60) foot rear yard setbacks are changed to fifty (50) foot rear yard setbacks on the south and east. Robert Giesse seconded the motion and the vote was as follows:
Roll Call
Robert Giesse - yes Scott Evans - yes
Don de Reynier - no Lee Speidel - no
The motion was approved. John Richardson - yes
CASE: 2002-785 Ruby Tuesday, 5456 Kings Center Way, Parking Lot
Staff Findings: Jenny Kaage gave the Staff Findings. Ruby Tuesday is requesting permission to add an overflow parking lot with 37 spaces. The expansion area is 0.47 acres and is zoned General Business. They currently have 84 parking spaces which were approved with their original restaurant construction. Jenny said the staff recommends approval with 8 conditions. There were no questions for Jenny. Lee Speidel asked the proponent to come forward.
Proponent: Dan Peyton, Director of Construction for Ruby Tuesday, said his only concern was with the sidewalk requirement. He said they already have a sidewalk on Kings Center Drive all around their property and it goes to Taco Bell and the Harley Davidson dealership. He said there is no connector point for that sidewalk. He said Speedway has no sidewalk and by putting the sidewalk in, it would go nowhere. He also said the sidewalk would cause some of the required landscaping to be removed. He said the lighting in the parking lot is that way to make it safe for employees leaving late at night. Tim said the concern with lighting is when you drive on Kings Island Drive, the lights glare in your face. Tim suggested the lights be screened on the sides so they are directed down to the parking lot away from the street. Dan Peyton said the McDonalds and Speedway lights glare to the street. Tim said those two have lighting which was prior to Deerfield Township Zoning. Tim said it would be good to have a sidewalk from Comfort Suites to the restaurant. John Richardson said the sidewalk should be lined up with the restaurant door. Dan Peyton said in order to get a sidewalk in the landscaping would have to be removed and that may allow less landscaping. Mr. Peyton said they have spent a lot on that landscaping, and they would prefer not to have to remove it.
Lee Speidel asked the height of the light poles on the original parking lot. Dan thought they may be 25 feet. Tim seemed to think they must be 24 feet since that has been our requirement for some time. Lee Speidel asked for any public who wanted to speak. There was none.
John Richardson asked Dan which of the sidewalks he doesn’ t agree with. Dan asked what benefit you could get out of a sidewalk. Don de Reynier asked if there are sidewalks at surrounding areas. Dan said the sidewalks are on the south side. Tim said as things come in we will try to get sidewalks installed. Tim said you see Kings High School students walking along the road.
Lee Speidel said the requirement of no higher than 24 foot high lights should be added to condition #8.
Motion: Lee Speidel made a motion to approve Case #2002-785 for the Ruby Tuesday off site parking, with the 8 staff conditions and modifying Condition #3, by removing the first sentence and modifying Condition 8 by adding a third sentence which should read, “Light fixtures shall not be higher than 24 feet.” The motion was seconded by Don de Reynier.
Roll Call: Don de Reynier - yes John Richardson - yes
Scott Evans - yes Robert Giesse - yes
Lee Speidel - yes
The motion was approved.
CASE: 2002-799 Deerfield Township Zoning Map Amendments
Tim Hershner said there are a number of different parcels that we are dealing with. The purpose is to amend the Deerfield Township Zoning Map at 9 locations, Section 519.12 of the Ohio Revised Code. Most of what we are proposing is clarifications not zone changes.
Area #1 Located at Butler-Warren & Bethany Road, 103.31 acres (Johnson Farm) by court decree the zoning is R-MF PUD and R-TF PUD. The zoning was formerly R-SF. The development is now known as The Estates at Heritage Pointe. Lee Speidel said if there were questions or discussion to ask after each of Tim’s description.
Area #2 Located north on Mason-Montgomery Road, 17.887 acres. The area is zoned R-SF. This area had been omitted as being in Deerfield Township when the map was created. Two parcels in this area have been annexed to Mason.
Area #3 Located on Mason Road, 47.53 acres. The zoning is R-SF. The area was annexed to Mason when the Mason City Schools purchased the property. In the City of Mason the area is zoned R-1.
Area #4 Located at Butler-Warren and Tylersville Road. The area is 29.38 acres and is known as the Araujo property and was recently annexed to the City of Mason.
Area #5 Located at Snider Road near the Warren County Water Tower property and is 1 acre. These two lots (19 and 20 of Sherman Terrace Subdivision) were shown as R-SF but should be R-TF.
Area #6 Located at Socialville-Fosters Road and Snider Road. The area is 143.56 acres. Proposed map classification should be Sterling Lakes Apartments (R-MF), Deerfield Village (R-TF PUD), and Simpson Creek Farms North (R-TF PUD).
Area #7 Located at Mason-Montgomery Road (Blong/Bowen PUD’s). The area is 167.95 acres. The map should be changed from G-B and O-W PUD to O-W PUD. Lee said why don’t we make the map to match what has already been done. Tim said we rezoned it to be O-W with 51% being Office Warehouse and 49% being retail. Tim asked what we should do to the map to show what the real land use is. Doug Miller said we need a resolution which would spell out what they are showing 51% and 49% on the map so that we can refer to the map in the resolution. Tim said that is his preference, that when people look at the zoning map they can tell what the zoning is. Doug said it should be done with an asterisk saying see Resolution 2002 etc. Lee said no one understands what Office Warehouse is.
Russ Bowen representing the Bowen farm came forward. He said in 1993 he got a zone change for their property at the county level. It was changed from OW to R-MF. Doug Miller said that when you take the Summit Apartments out, there is 41% left for retail. On the Condition #7 on the resolution it shows the Office Warehouse. Tim said Summit did go through a rezoning and that was the small parcel out front. They wanted it to be G-B and O-W PUD. Tim said he would rather see it have M-F PUD. Tim asked Doug if he should have two separate resolutions. Tim said his question is what direction the board wants on this. On the Blong property, the front half would be G-B PUD, 49% could be retail. Tim said the back part of Blong is O-W PUD. Tim said we will prepare the proper documents for Doug Miller to review next month. Russ Bowen said it needs to be resolved so he can go to the developers.
Area #8 This is a 7 acre lot on Montgomery Road near National Amusements site near Heritage Green. It is now shown as R-SF PUD like Heritage Green PUD but should be shown as R-SF the same as Seilcrest Acres.
Area #9 Location is Old 3-C Highway. The area is 4.62 acres. The zoning should be changed from G-B to R-SF. The area is known as Fosters Crossing, the township’s property. This is a change in our map to reflect the change that has already taken place.
Doug Miller said the actual zone changes are 2, 6, 7, and 8. Tim suggested the board table the hearing until next month and we will try and come up with the actual resolution.
Motion: Lee Speidel made a motion to continue Case 2002-799 to January 13, 2003, the next regularly scheduled zoning commission meeting, on the Zoning Map Amendments. John Richardson seconded the motion.
Roll Call: Scott Evans - yes John Richardson - yes
Lee Speidel - yes Robert Giesse - yes
Don de Reynier - yes
The motion was approved.
Diana Hallegin, 4061 Brookside Court, said she was concerned that the zoning resolution, (code book) shows no limit on height of buildings. Lee Speidel said there is a cap on the building height in some districts but there is no cap on the height in the General Business District.
Tim said that he is taking several proposals to the Deerfield Township Trustees such as:
A) Building height in the commercial district approximately 75 feet.
B) Increasing our zoning fines from $100 per occurrence to $500 per occurrence as suggested by Judge Parker.
C) Changing distance of persons to which we send public notices of zone changes, or zoning activities, from 200 feet to 300 feet.
Adjournment: Lee Speidel made a motion to adjourn. Don de Reynier seconded the motion.
Roll Call: Lee SpeideL - yes Don de Reynier - yes
John Richardson - yes Scott Evans - yes
Robert Giesse - yes
The motion was approved and the meeting was adjourned at 10:00 PM.