CALL TO ORDER: Lee Speidel, Chairman
ROLL CALL: Lee Speidel, John Richardson, Robert Giesse, and Don de Reynier were present. Scott Evans was absent. Township legal counselor, Doug Miller, was also in attendance.
MINUTES: Review and approval of minutes of Zoning Commission Meeting of September 9th, 2002.
Motion: Don de Reyniermade a motion to approve the minutes of September 9th, 2002. John Richardson seconded the motion and the vote was as follows:
Roll Call
John Richardson - yes Robert Giesse - yes
Don de Reynier - yes Lee Speidel - yes
The motion was approved.
CASE 2002-385: John Imbus, 2611 Montgomery Road, near Old Mill, Site Plan Review
Staff Report: Lee Speidel asked Tim Hershner to comment on the site plan review. Tim said that the surrounding property owners should be notified on the site plan review. Lee Speidel said he knew the residents of Old Mill would want to be notified. The applicant was concerned that we may have a text amendment that might alter store and lock facilities from the General Business District. He doesn’t want to loose the opportunity to do what he wants to do with his property. Tim said the proponent wants to “lock in” the site plan so our zone changes do not affect his property. Lee Speidel said tableling might be the way we want to go. Lee asked Jenny and Tim to come up with their issues. Tim said there are a couple minor issues. Tim said since Doug Miller is here we can talk about the 50 foot front yard setback requirement from the property line and the property line starts in the middle (center line) of Montgomery Road. Typically that is the right of way. Can we hold them?
Board Discussion: 50 feet requirement when the line is in the middle of the road? Warren County is going to request 27 feet for the right of way. Tim said Neil Tunison said when the study gets done, on a PUD they suggest 60 foot of right of way from the center line. That would give the amount of land needed. Lee said the state wants a 3 lane road there with 10 foot paved birms on both sides. Per Lee that would be about 61 feet. Doug said we may have to get him to donate some right-of-way to get the approval then we could change his property line and get it off the center line. Tim said under a PUD we could require that but under straight zoning we can’t do that. Per Tim he is short on trees and we require him to have an additional 43 trees that are not shown. Lee said if the code requires that we should make sure they are out near the road.
Doug Miller asked what are some other requirements. Jenny Kaage said there is a fence requirement. Tim said this builder of storage facilities builds the units out of concrete block and Tim would like them to be 100% screened. John Richardson said I would hope he would have a face material. Don de Reynier asked why this facility would need an emergency exit. Tim said if there were a fire there should be a second way in and out. Lee asked if the proponent asked for one entrance. Lee said that for Montgomery Road traffic purposes, entering off Old Mill would be better but those residents may not like that. Tim said it would be nice if Old Mill could be
lined up to match the entrance to the condos across the street and a light could be put in. Lee said that plan was in place a few years back using the UDF property but that plan has changed. Tim said another issue is any lights that would be adjacent to residential area should be 15 feet height instead of 24 feet standard. It appears the other lights on the plan are wall lights. Tim said the plan calls them a “wall pack.” Bob Giesse said the outside buildings will shield most of that light. Tim mentioned some old trees that are on the property. Lee said some of them may be on the UDF property and should be preserved if the road is not realigned. Tim said they are on the proponent’s property.
Tim asked the board if they would like to hold this meeting over until next month and we can contact the surrounding property owners. Lee asked the board if they had any issues that should be addressed before next month. Jenny said she tried to tell him that more landscaping was needed to comply.
Motion: Lee Speidel made a motion to continue Case #2002-385, the Imbus Store and Lock Site Plan until he next month’s regularly scheduled meeting. Robert Giesse seconded the motion and the vote was as follows:
Don de Reynier - yes
Robert Giesse - yes
Lee Speidel - yes
John Richardson - yes
The motion was approved.
Tim said he looked over some old minutes and in 1997 when the township started our local zoning the rules and regulations were discussed at that time. It doesn’t show that they were ever approved. He said he wanted to raise the question as far as procedure. He went to Warren County and they provided their Zoning Commission and BZA regulations. They have a clear description of what should take place at the meetings. As you might remember the Zoning Commission doesn’t have as strict regulations as the BZA. The basic premise is the that the BZA is a more judicial process. Tim said he thinks the Zoning Commission should hold itself to the same restrictions as the BZA. In addition to what the county has he said he wanted to get some detail from this board on how much time is allowed when people come up to talk. Doug Miller said you tell them they have 10 minutes and you give them 10 minutes. Tim said we have been lax in allowing some people to ramble on. Bob Giesse said the same people come to all the meetings and ramble on. We need to conduct all the township meetings the same way. Doug Miller said to give the opponents equal time as the proponents but no more. If the proponents took 20 minutes then the 5 people there should talk no more than 4 minutes each. Bob Giesse said some of the issues they bring up are not relevant to the case. Doug said some areas have nothing to do with the case and they need to be stopped before they go on and on. Don de Reynier said that the board could make the biggest difference if we would be more aggressive and not allow the public to go on and on. John Richardson said the Warren County rules say that the public’s statements must stay on the topic of the case and the board members should not talk back and forth to them. John said at a Hamilton County meeting he went to the chairman called the names before the public came up to speak.
Jenny Kaage said the board should have a sheet turned in at the beginning of the meeting with the public speakers names and addresses so we know who they are. Doug Miller said in Hamilton County most come up to speak after their name has been called. Don de Reynier said we need to have regulations to govern how the meetings are conducted. Don said we should have rules and stick to them. Lee Speidel asked Tim if he would prepare the board a draft of bylaws. Tim asked the board to review the Warren County rules and give any comments to Marilyn and he would try to incorporate them into the final bylaws. Doug Miller said if it is in writing there is a tendency to abide by them. Don de Reynier said the board members shouldn’t be talking about the case outside the public hearing. Once the board has acted upon a case can we discuss it outside? Doug said you can talk to the staff. Don said that the board has ruled on something and Lee talks to the public before the case gets to the trustees. Lee said it can’t come back to this board unless the board sends it back to the zoning board. Doug Miller said the trustees change things between the zoning commission’s decision and their reviewing the case. Don de Reynier said what if I am spouting off on the Edward Rose Case. Doug Miller said this case could end up in court. If a board member says the wrong thing they could be asked to testify in court. Tim said we have modified our reports in BZA to be “findings of fact.” Don de Reynier said he wants a better understanding.
Jenny Kaage asked if members allowed to talk to other members? Doug Miller said they shouldn’t be talking prior to the meeting. Lee Speidel said we don’t talk to board members previous to the meeting but we discuss things with Tim sometimes. Tim said if a board member drives out to the site they shouldn’t be talking to anyone who is out there about the case. John Richardson said he drives by and views the property prior to the meeting. Doug said it doesn’t look good to discuss outside of the actual hearing. Doug said a board member may find himself in court if he goes around talking against a ruling that his board has made. Jenny Kaage said that the BZA chairperson asked the staff for a recommendation. Doug Miller said the staff should give the facts not do recommendations. Tim said he likes to find a previous case to refer to in stating the facts. Jenny Kaage asked about charging for township documents. Doug said we are only allowed to charge what the cost is. Tim said there have been some long meetings. Lee suggested there be a 2nd meeting set for the month if schedule gets too full. Don de Reynier said we could end up with 2 four hour meetings. John Richardson we table meetings more than we should. Bob Giesse said in a couple cases it allowed the proponent to have more time to prepare. Don de Reynier said we should set up a standard not deviate from that. Doug Miller these are internal controls that this board puts on itself as a means to run the meeting. Tim said any suggestions should be back to us so we can get them in the packets.
ADJOURNMENT John Richardson made a motion to adjourn. Robert Giesse seconded the meeting and the vote was as follows:
Robert Giesse - yes
Lee Speidel - yes
John Richardson - yes
Don de Reynier - yes
The motion was approved and the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 PM.