DRAFT
Deerfield Township Zoning Commission
ZONING COMMISSION
MEETING OF JULY 14, 2003
MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER: John Richardson, Chairman
ROLL CALL: Scott Evans, Lee Speidel, John Richardson, Robert Giesse, Don de Reynier, and alternate, Matthew Evans was present. Also present was Township Attorney, Doug Miller.
MINUTES: Minutes DT Zoning Commission July 14, 2003
Discussion & Recommendation
Don de Reynier suggested some changes to the front page regarding what he said during the discussion with Dave McElroy of the Warren County Water & Soil Conservation District.
Motion There was a motion by Lee Speidel to approve the minutes of July 14, 2003, with changes as suggested by Don de Reynier. There was a second by Don de Reynier The board suggested Marilyn Arnold e-mail the changes to the front page to them for review.
Roll Call Don de Reynier-yes, S. Evans-yes, L. Speidel-yes, J. Richardson-yes, R. Giesse-yes The motion was approved.
CASE 2003-329 1712 King Avenue, 20.2790 Acres, Requesting to change zoning from
Office Warehouse to Residential Single Family
John Richardson said the applicant asked the board to table this case. Mr. Richardson said there would be no staff report or proponent but he asked for comments from the public.
Concerned Citizens Bill Fuller, 5585 Maple Street, Kings Mills, was concerned that if Zicka Walker gets the zone change, they may decide to sell the property to someone else who would increase density in the development and have more houses.
John Richardson said that any plans for the development would have to come before this board. Tim Hershner said they are asking for R-SF and are proposing 100 foot wide lots. They could downsize and go to 84 foot wide lots. John Richardson said we can only review what comes before us. We can’t speculate.
Bonnie Baker Hicks, 5654 Walnut Street, Kings Mills, was concerned that 100 homes could be built there instead of 36 homes.
John Richardson said any thing that would be submitted must be approved but if it is R-SF we won’t see the plan. If they go with a PUD we would get to review it.
John Richardson said the maximum increase would be 46 homes.
Bonnie Baker Hicks doesn’t like the traffic. Lee Speidel asked Bonnie if she is the president of the Kings Mills Civic Club and she said she is no longer president but she is still involved. Lee asked about the minutes from the meeting of the Kings Mills Civic Club with the representative from Zicka. Tim said he was out of town and Zicka did the minutes. Tim said he would make copies and pass them around. Bonnie said the Zicka people did a good job.
DRAFT
Randy Drake, 5457 College Street, Kings Mills, said he attended the meeting with Zicka. He asked if they checked the soil on the 20 acres because that was the location for the sewers for Kings Mills.
John Richardson said Zicka must have done some checking on the soil. Randy Drake said that he would like to keep the historical aspect of the area.
Ed Hicks, 5654 Walnut Street, Kings Mills, asked if there is a PUD they must come back to this board and was told that is correct. Mr. Hicks was concerned that the storm water will run over the hill and further erode the soil away. Lee Speidel asked Mr. Hicks if Zicka will pipe the storm water to the river. Mr. Hicks said no.
Loretta Brayton, 5354 Oak Street, Kings Mills, said there is a historical value. She asked what type of resolutions this board has come up with to slow down development in Deerfield Township. She said the elected officials don’t help them. John Richardson said this board can’t develop resolutions to slow down the growth. He says this board reviews what comes in.
Motion There was a motion from Scott Evans to table Case 2003-329 to August 11th, 2003. There was a 2nd by Robert Giesse.
Roll Call L. Speidel-yes, J. Richardson-yes, R. Giesse-yes, Don de Reynier-yes, S. Evans-yes The motion was approved.
CASE 2002-799 Deerfield Township Zoning Map Changes
John Richardson said this case has been tabled previously and there are some issues with the zoning map. He said this case should be tabled.
Motion There was a motion by Scott Evans to table Case 2002-799. There was a 2nd by Robert Giesse.
Roll Call R. Giesse-yes, Don de Reynier-yes, S. Evans-yes, L. Speidel-yes J.
Richardson-yes The motion approved.
CASE 2003-137 Deerfield Township Zoning Text Amendments
Tim Hershner asked this board to dismiss the on-going, pending text amendments and in lieu of the zoning code update, staff is asking this board to dismiss these amendments and they will go into the new zoning code update. This way the trustees can formally dismiss these texts that are pending. They will “dove tail” into the zoning code update so we’re not confused on which we are updating.
Motion There was a motion by John Richardson to recommend to the Deerfield Township Trustees to dismiss Case 2003-137. There was a 2nd by Don de Reynier.
Scott Evans asked about some other text amendments in the last several months. Does this #137 cover those other ones? Tim said there have been a number of text amendments throughout the year. Tim said that next month he will come back with some clarification of text amendments approved and other that are pending.
Roll Call J. Richardson-yes, R. Giesse-yes, Don de Reynier-yes, S. Evans-yes, L. Speidel-no The motion was approved.
DRAFT
NEW BUSINESS John Richardson said the trustees have hired Poggemeyer Design Group, a planning consultant. They were hired July 1st and Randy Meineke is here as their representative. Tim said the township interviewed 4 different firms and then the top 2 were chosen. Poggemeyer got the contract. Tim said they have an impressive background in zoning code updates and planning throughout the state and we are anxious to move forward.
Randy Meineke, Poggemeyer Design Group, said he has an introduction to explain what they are about to do. When they go through these kind of projects, they are always trying to anticipate what kind of issues they will be dealing with. He said there are about a dozen issues to touch on. 1) Administrative or procedural issues . He said the township zoning code needs flow charts which are helpful to developers. 2) Zoning Districts The actual zoning districts should be defined and there could be additional ones. We could plan for what you would be dealing with in the future. There could be some overlay districts, near some of the major corridors. 3) Permitted & conditional land uses There could be a matrix which would show what uses would be allowed in different districts. The code book would be more user friendly. 4) Zoning district development standards This is regarding what is permitted and setback standards. Some are issues on group homes, home occupations, religious places of worship. 5) Performance requirements Lighting and noise standards are sometimes helpful particularly with regard to site plan reviews with the issue of light spill over when you have commercial next to residential. That can be a controversial issue. 6) Telecommunication regulations There are some issues with current laws. 7) Off-street parking and loading There is a general trend that some communities are requiring less parking now instead of more as it was a few years ago. 8) SOB regulations The sexually oriented businesses regulations are a controversial area which should be addressed. 9) Signage regulations These regulations have gotten a lot more complicated and we have some language which would simplify some of that. 10) Landscape buffering & screening regulations Sometimes we require that that plan be done by a landscaping architect when the building is over a certain size. 11) Site plan review process This is an area that gets a lot of attention also. We could do some clarification on that, also. 12) Definitions Those definitions could be vague, poorly worded and not meet legal requirements. Don de Reynier asked him on a scale 1 to 10, 10 being best or 1 being poor, how does our code rate. Mr. Meineke said he has never seen perfect one. The township one needs to be “fine tuned.” Don de Reynier asked if some zoning codes don’t have PUD’s. Mr. Meineke said some have them but never use them. He said sometimes due to controversy it is easier to go with straight zoning and not use a PUD. Doug Miller said one of the complaints we here, is that it seems like it takes so long to get through the process. Doug said we need to get this process down and look at streamlining the procedure. Don de Reynier said we typically have 20 conditions for approval. Many of those conditions are on every case we look at. Is there some way, some of these could be incorporated into the code? John Richardson said this is a great point. Scott Evans said a lot of them come from Warren County. John Richardson asked if Mr. Meineke thinks a January completion is realistic or not. Don de Reynier asked him how it is all going to work. John Richardson said according to the schedule the trustees are involved in this discussion tonight. Lee Speidel told Mr. Meineke that they can stream line the definitions and help us to get through that and can handle a lot of the administrative type thing. Randy Kuvin said this code belongs to the community. This is not the Trustees’ zoning code or the Zoning Commission’s zoning code. Randy said this code belongs to the community. Randy hopes the public will have input by way of the public meetings. Barbara said she agreed. She said the residents can speak up and let us know what they want in the code. Doug Miller said how much is this going to entail developing a comprehensive and the land use plan and looking at that. Will we be re-doing at that at the same time? Mr. Meineke said we would currently reference the comprehensive or master plan that you have for the township. Doug Miller said I don’t want a nice new zoning code and find out the plan is out of date. Doug said his main interest in this is making it as “enforceable” as possible. Doug asked Tim when was the last land use plan update. Tim said in 1997. Tim said the staff has a newer land use map but since we are going to be working with Poggemeyer, we held off. Tim said if through this process we come up with very new districts, we will want to make sure those districts are in the plan.
Matt Evans said he has found in the past in making applications for districts, he said graphics are very helpful. Mr. Meineke said they will use those and they are very helpful. He said site distances and corners are better explained that way as is landscaping. Mr. Meineke asked for the board’s help in pointing out areas which need clarification. John Richardson said this is the first public meeting, the next one is August 11, and the third one is the DTT work session August 22nd. Tim said maybe Poggemeyer could clarify. Mr. Meineke agreed with those dates. These meeting will be for major issues and we can get the input. Doug asked if this zoning information could be put on the website and that way the public could access the information. Doug asked would that be in your services? Mr. Meineke said that is a great way of getting the information out. It could show 3 dimensional, color high lighting, etc. Don de Reynier asked about non-contiguous parts of the township. Mr. Meineke said he hasn’t had much experience with that but they would work with it. He thought of another case of non-contiguous they had in Northern Ohio. Tim said in the corner of the old zoning map there are some islands shown. Tim said that is some of the challenges, Kings Mills, and the northwest quadrant. Tim said the west side of I-71 still has 40% to be built out. Tim said we would look at potentially overlays on the Montgomery Road corridor. Tim said we need some regulations governing properties whereby the slope of the land and erosion, and storm water situation causes homes to slide and no longer be fit for occupancy.
Public Comments Ed Hicks, 5654 Walnut Street, Kings Mills, let me see I can get this right, you are hiring this firm to come into our township and evaluate the zoning, go around the community and look at places and see if the zoning should be changed. Is that right?
John Richardson said he would like to direct that to the trustees. Randy Kuvin said Mr. Hicks may confusing the Land Use Plan with the Zoning Code. (Mr. Hicks said, “No I’m not.”) Randy Kuvin said that is not really what Poggemeyer is doing. They are looking at the zoning code itself, the regulations and wording of the code, and any other legal issues, things like that, to make sure that the zoning code does what it is supposed to do in properly regulating development in the community. There is a separate issue to that, which is the Land Use Plan which shows what is being developed on a particular parcel and how that gets developed. That’s where the two kind of meet. There may be additional districts which are created and changes which are necessary.
Ed Hicks, will this be like what we have been experiencing in the last month or so where people who live in Kings get these nasty little letters from this township about their property. We have a lot of fixed income retired people in this community. You sent this letter to this lady because she had a problem on her property. It cost her $300 to take care of the problem and she doesn’t have that kind of money. She is existing on her retirement. Mr. Hicks is afraid that this is going to start in this community. He doesn’t want this community to change. He said we don’t want this here. We take care of ourselves. We’ve been here all our lives and we don’t want people coming in here. If their property gets out of hand we will help them. We don’t want people forcing these issues. Mr. Miller said he wants this “enforced”. Mr. Miller said you’re taking this out of context. Doug Miller said we just had a lady up here saying she wants protection. Doug said the staff only acts when there is a complaint. Mr. Hicks asked if this Township has ever thought of an impact fee. Doug Miller said the county has discussed that but not the township. Randy Kuvin said there is no Ohio statute that governs it. Mr. Hicks asked how he could be notified of meetings which are taking place. Tim said the staff has been coming to the Kings Mills Civic Club meetings. Doug Miller said the next zoning meeting is August 11th. Mr. Hicks said the Kings Mills Civic Club is non-political and it exists to help the children and old people of the community.
Julie Jamison, 3607 Green Haven Way, said it is good we are looking at plans for our neighborhood. She likes screening between businesses and residential. She said she has some concerns about placement of cell towers and the adult business district. She said by law we have to have allowable zoning for sexually oriented businesses. Our industrial zone is along the Mason-Montgomery Road corridor. Ms. Jamison said she doesn’t like cell towers or water towers in people’s back yards. Lee Speidel said when the township zoning code was developed they worked very hard to have an elaborate set of conditions to meet for sexually oriented businesses. Lee said those conditions were carefully that you must have some place they can locate. Ms. Jamison wants the township to put up a sign on the properties that are going to be developed. This way people would know that the property could be changed. Tim said we have already put up such a sign but it is not in our code.
Bonnie Baker Hicks, 5654 Walnut Street, Kings Mills, said Kings Mills is an old town and her family has lived there since 1950. She said there is no Home Owner’s Association in Kings Mills. She said since Kings Mills has no HOA they should not be governed by HOA rules. She said no one has the right to tell the Kings Mills residents what to do. Ms. Hicks said Tim Hershner appreciates the historical value of Kings Mills. Ms. Hicks doesn’t want zoning rules to apply to them. She asked if it is “Clean up Kings Mills time?” Scott Evans asked if these rules are any different from the ones the township previously had under Warren County. Tim said in one case there were too many cars on the property but it was really because a business was being operated out of this residence and then while we were on that street we noticed some old unlicensed cars sitting at another residence. Tim said there is a corner lot down near the baseball diamond and since he has no back yard to park his boat he is in violation. Tim said he talked to him and he willingly moved the boat to the alley. Tim also spoke of another car sitting in public right-of-way with weeds growing up through it. Tim said he is trying in a friendly manner bring a solution to some of these problems. Trustee Barbara Reed said she wanted to talk about the zoning code. She said in 1997 when we came up with the zoning code, this code was adopted by the voters of Deerfield Township. She said the restrictions of the HOA are much more restrictive. She said those people with HOA’s have chosen to live in those communities with those restrictions. If you look at those restrictions, they are not anything like the zoning code. Tim said on the case with the 2 old vehicles, the lady said her son wouldn’t be back until September of this year. I told her to send me a letter to that effect. I don’t think she really wanted those cars there either. A lady on Townsley thanked me after she paid to have a car removed. Tim said some of these cars have mold growing on the paint. Tim said it looks like they are starting a junk yard and that really doesn’t help property values. Tim said certainly whatever we say in those letters, the code allows you to appeal. We have been known to waiver those fees, and we try to work with people. Tim said now is the time to protect our last frontier before the township is built out.
Sharon Fuller, 5585 Maple Street, Kings Mills, said she has lived in Kings Mills for 20 years. She said she doesn’t mind a vintage car with grass mowed around it but she said she doesn’t like old junk cars sitting in yards with tall weeds. Ms. Fuller said there are people who can’t afford to move the junk cars. She said there are organizations which will take those old cars and make them usable for the needy. She appreciates what the zoning department is trying to do.
Doyle Sevier, 3140 River Road, asked what is the minimum size for a lot to build a house. Tim Hershner said 14,000 square feet.
Jimmy Dalton, 8385 Park Drive, wants the zoning department to allow him to have a sign mounted on the Ernst Furniture sign on Montgomery Road. Mr. Dalton owns no frontage on Montgomery Road and operates a detail shop out of a store and lock facility. He attached a sign to a truck and parked the truck out on Montgomery Road. Tim said that Mr. Ernst old sign is a non- compliance sign. Tim said what if every one in the store and lock wanted to put a sign on the Ernst Furniture sign. Tim said Mr. Ernst’s sign is not in compliance. Now under current zoning it would have to be a lower sign. Tim said there are sign issues and access issues. Tim said after the tenants are all gone, even this shopping center will have to change the sign in order to come into compliance. Tim said our hope is to gradually get all of the old signs in the township into compliance. John Richardson closed the open portion of the meeting.
9:15 PM ADJOURNMENT
Motion by Scott Evans to adjourn the meeting. 2nd by Lee Speidel
Roll Call S. Evans-yes, L. Speidel-yes, J. Richardson-yes, R. Giesse-yes, Don de Reynier-yes