MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER: John Richardson, Chairman, called the meeting to order.
ROLL CALL: Scott Evans, Lee Speidel, John Richardson, Robert Giesse, and Don de Reynier were present. Township attorney, Doug Miller was also in attendance.
MINUTES: Minutes DT Zoning Commission April 14, 2003
There was a motion by John Richardson to approve the minutes of April 14, 2003, with the 2 changes. There was a second by Scott Evans.
Roll Call Don de Reynier-yes, S. Evans-yes, L. Speidel-yes,
J. Richardson-yes, R. Giesse-yes
The motion was approved.
CASE: 2003-180 20 Mile Green, 3277 Montgomery Rd., Stage 2 Site Plan Review
Staff Report Jenny Kaage explained the location of the development. A 9,135 square foot, single-story day care facility is shown on the plan and a 10,500 square foot single-story commercial retail building is planned. On the other portion of the property there will be a 76 condominium units. The roof pitch and material for the day care and retail will match the condo units. Jenny stated that in the event this board chooses to approve this proposal staff recommends the approval be subject to 23 conditions. John Richardson asked for the proponent to come forward.
Proponent Doug Smith of McGill, Smith, Punshon said his company is the civil site engineers for the project. He introduced Darrell Liebson, Ken Hensley, and Mr. Maravich. He thanked the staff for their report. He said this is a well planned mixed unit development. He explained their plan for driveways, parking lots, lights, and their goal to coordinate the retail and condo. There are sidewalks planned along Montgomery Road. They worked with the Warren County Engineers to incorporate right of way requirements for the future. They have contracted with an engineer to meet with ODOT and have the ODOT requirements incorporated. They have planned for storm water detention and have adhered to Warren County’s Water & Soil Conservation District’s requirements.
· Mr. Smith referred to Condition #12 and asked if the board would allow 12 foot light poles in the parking lot area instead of the suggested 10 foot poles. Mr. Smith said this height is needed in order to provide the correct amount of light and not have to add more poles.
· On Condition #10 he asked the board if the sign height could be 7 feet instead of the 5 feet per the previously approved resolution.
· On Condition #23 in the Warren County Subdivision Regulations sidewalks are required on both sides of the street. Mr. Smith requested that they be required to put sidewalks only on one side of the street.
· On the access drive, the applicant is committed to the south access drive but feels the northern access drive is a road to nowhere. They would like to connect to the south to the access drive to the Townsley Drive traffic light. Darrell Liebson, Brownstone Development, said the township has no plan for the access to the north or south yet and until there is plan they cannot do anything.
Doug Smith asked the board to recommend approval to this Stage 2 plan as WCRPC did. He said he would answer any questions.
Board Questions John Richardson asked Mr. Smith if he has any plans that show connections to the southwest where it comes to the parking lot. Mr. Smith said he does not. He said this road is parallel the Tractor Supply parking lot. Darrell Liebson said there are no public documents which show that there are any easements or allowances for a road there. Mr. Liebson said he would work with the township staff but Tractor Supply is all private property. Scott Evans asked him what is Condition #7 on the WCRPC suggestion on this wetland water pretreatment? Jenny said that would be a new requirement. Doug Smith said they will check into this suggestion for wetland and if this is part of the regulations they would try to comply. John Richardson asked about the detention in the southwest corner and if it would be released into the neighborhood. Mr. Smith said the drainage to the north goes under Montgomery Road to the Simpson Creek.
Don de Reynier asked them how much of a positive would it be to have an access to the light at Townsley. Mr. Smith said they are in favor of having access to the light. Lee Speidel asked if the staff has had any contact with some of the neighboring property owners (lots 8, 9, 10, 11 & 70) who are close to this project and would be most affected by storm water run-off. Mr. Speidel said at the original meeting on this project there was a request that these particular property owners be contacted by Tim Hershner or Jenny Kaage. Tim said he has been working with the developer on this and the developer would be willing to pipe the water if the property owners would permit it. Lee said he wanted to know if Tim has been in contact with these property owners. Tim said he hasn’t talked directly to them. Tim said they have received mail notifications regarding the public hearings. Lee said he thinks that it is important for the township to take the initiative here. Lee said even if the drainage system works and there is no increase, you still will be changing the way the flow goes. Tim said the improvements could be made with a pipe going to the swale. Tim said the developer offered that to us, to accommodate those property owners and that would get the storm water to the swale out on Montgomery Road. Jenny said if the board is interested, she could invite Dave McElroy, of the WC Water and Soil Conservation District to come to one of the meetings. John Richardson closed this portion of the meeting and asked for any interested persons to come forward to address the board.
Concerned Citizens Marsha Sullivan, 3651 Stoneboat Court, Maineville, said she objects to the rezoning of this property based on the fact that the owner wanted more money than it was appraised for. She mentioned a resident (the Farley’s) that is a friend of hers who lives near this proposed development. This resident was mailed a notice but was not in attendance at tonight’s meeting. She said they should not allow storm water to run over her friend’s yard because of this development.
Paul Brown, 9101 Columbia Road, Loveland, said that he is concerned about the storm water, also. He said there is a run-off to Columbia and with a rain, there is a major problem. He said there is a 12 inch pipe on Columbia Road and it is at maximum now. He asked what is the buffer zone to the back side of the property. They told him there is a 50 foot buffer. Mr. Brown asked the board to address this drainage problem.
Stephan Bricker, 3366 Cutter Lane, Maineville, said that the water effect on the lake should be addressed. He asked if there would be a deceleration lane. He said the impact of the watershed to Landen Lake has become very critical.
Mike Rief, 3170 Myrtle Lane, Loveland, said there was a 4 foot wide flow of storm water there a couple days ago on the corner lot, the Farley’s. Mr. Rief said there is a collection basin to catch some of the storm water. He said except for the storm water concerns, he likes the plan.
Lee Speidel asked Doug Smith if he had a topographical layout showing the buildings. Doug Smith said he did not. Mr. Smith said he did speak with Mr. Farley, (the corner lot), and the water comes down. Mr. Farley built this mound and now the water pools there and Mr. Smith said that compliance with Warren County should help with that. Mr. Smith said they design for 25 to 50 year storm water events. Lee asked Mr. Smith where the basement “walk out” buildings were on the property. Lee said a grading plan of that area might reduce the neighbor’s concerns. Mr. Smith said they could prepare a drainage plan and present that. John Richardson closed this portion of the meeting and asked for board comments.
Board Discussion There was more discussion on the storm water drainage situation. Doug Smith said there will be some type of swale to relieve the run-off. Bob Giesse asked if the proponent has a copy of the Simpson Creek Storm Water Study.
There was some discussion on some of the 23 conditions. Don de Reynier asked the board to look at Condition #10 regarding signage and they agreed that one was okay.
John Richardson asked Tim to comment on the township’s stand on the northern access drive. Tim said Smyth came in with their PUD they required a future access point and when Tractor Supply came in they also had a future access drive in their plan. Tim said it is registered at the county. Tim as far as zoning compliance, we are ready to go to Smyth and let them know that they must sign off on an easement description. If they don’t we could site them for a zoning violation. Tim said we are willing to do an easement the full length. They should go ahead and put the pavement in on their portion. Tim said it could be a 10 year process before Dr. Gates who owns Ameristop property might tie into it. We need to get two options: #1) Allow them to go ahead and pave an access drive on their property in its entirety or #2) If we are successful in time to connect and get an easement recorded so they can build from their main driveway coming out at Montgomery south at Tractor Supply driveway. Tim said that, at least gets us there. Bob Giesse asked Tim how far north would you want to take the access drive. Tim said to the Landen Sports Bar. Tim said the access drive could go behind Ameristop, behind Gold Star, and end up in front of the Landen Sports Bar.
Lee Speidel asked what is staff’s opinion of the parking spaces and dumpsters n the access road? Tim said in general, the county doesn’t want parking spaces
and persons backing out onto a road but in the sense of a “village concept”. In that case it is meant to be a slow access drive. Tim said he is not overly concerned about that.
Tim said once we secure an access drive from the Smyth property the township is committed to helping with that.
Scott Evans asked about the 25 year storm plan. Tim said that the county plans for the 25 year plan which is more stringent than the requirements of most of the counties surrounding us. John Richardson asked Mr. Smith if a 25 year is his plan. Mr. Smith said their plan is based on the volume but his is also the 25 year post development plus one year pre-development. Lee Speidel was concerned that on the WCRPC Condition #6 a, it says “pavement detention shall be replaced with underground detention, “ and Mr. Speidel said he doesn’t like the concept of “pavement detention.” Lee asked why they plan pavement detention. Mark Smith said that there are physical constraints and that is why they cannot do the underground detention. Mr. Smith said he would rather address that at the Stage 3 hearing.
Don de Reynier said regarding the lighting fixtures, Condition #12, recommends the poles not exceed 10 feet in height and the proponent wants 12 feet. John Richardson said he didn’t see anything wrong with allowing 12 feet light poles.
John Richardson said on Condition #10, that the proponents should be allowed to change the sign height from 5 feet to 7 feet.
John Richardson, Condition #23, regarding Warren County Subdivision requirements, said he doesn’t think the board should enforce that the sidewalks be on both sides of the development’s roads. He said sidewalks on one side would be acceptable since this is a PUD.
John Richardson said a statement should be added to Condition #5, that says to require compliance with the Simpson Creek Storm Water Study.
Lee Speidel said that he recommends that we add that the conditions must include WCRPC Condition #6 a, “In the commercial area, if elevations determining the major flood route show it to be necessary, pavement detention shall be replaced with underground detention.” Jenny Kaage said that should be included in our Condition #6.
There was some discussion on WCRPC Condition #7, the last line “It is recommended that wetland pretreatment an/or extended detention of storm water be employed.” Jenny said she would like to have Dave McElroy come in and explain this wetland pretreatment. Tim said at least this is a recommendation not a requirement.
Motion Motion _John Richardson made a motion we recommend approval with the following changes and additions to the 23 Staff Conditions:
· #5 An addition to #5 saying “and require compliance with the Simpson Creek Storm Water Study.”
· #6 An addition to #6 “In the commercial area, if elevations determining the major flood route show it to be necessary, pavement detention shall be replaced with underground detention.”
· #10 Changing the maximum height of the ground mounted sign from 5 feet to 7 feet.
· #12 Changing the light post fixtures from 10 feet to 12 feet.
· #23 Adding “except for the sidewalk being required on BOTH sides of the streets (inside the development).
OLD BUSINESS Anthem Blue Cross / Blue Shield, Irwin-Simpson Road
Proponent Jay Smith, Duke, said that this request is for a Stage 3 PUD modification and explained to the board the two projects . One is a revised Parking Plan – Adding 149 parking spaces. They had the Stage 3 approval last fall and now they need 149 more spaces due to a planned conference center on the first floor. Jay said that in the original plan for detention there was allowances made in case there would be a future expansion to the vacant area. The capacity for the detention will be adequate. Jenny said the board is hearing this just so they can be aware of these changes and they do not have to make any motions on this. John Richardson said he is speaking for the board and sees no problem with this change.
Revised Flood Protection Berm – New pedestrian pathways Jay said the building had some flooding on the lower level and they hired some Henderson Bodwell Engineers to figure out a way to give the building some more protection. John Richardson said this board said there is no problem with this plan.
Stephan Bricker, 3366 Cutter Lane, Maineville, said he is concerned about the impact on the watershed to Landen Lake. He asked Jay Smith what kind of flood plan is in place for this development. Jay said it is either 25 or 50 year plan. He said the calculations were approved by Henderson Bodwell and the Warren County Engineers. Mr. Bricker said that developers come here because we are too lenient. He said the previous speakers on pollution, was correct in her concerns. He said there are filtering systems which can alleviate these problems. He said the plan should allow for 100 year storms.
Staff Report Jenny Kaage said that Kevin Fehring is working on these amendments and he would like more direction from this board. John Richardson said Kevin wants to know on the “open space requirement,” what part of the RPC do we like? Therewas discussion on designating the open space to be either “passive” or “active” open space. Don de Reynier likes this way to designate and be consistent with Warren County. Jenny said she is fine with this definition and said she wants to make sure the board agrees with it. Lee Speidel said the RPC’s definition was good. Tim said there was a good definition of junk cars in a recent Cincinnati Enquirer. Attorney Doug Miller said if Kevin doesn’t like that definition, he should submit one rather than asking this board. Doug Miller said going back to “open space”, the word “picnic facilities” should be deleted. Don de Reynier agreed. Doug Miller said would a “storm water” detention area be considered “passive” open space. Tim Hershner said that Kevin Fehring did get the zoning enforcement citation process in place and he has sent letters out. Last week we posted 3 different properties on high grass.Don de Reynier asked where we stand on temporary storage. Don said that this is an area this board should looked into, the placing of bags of mulch out in parking lots three times a year. Tim said they are working on that one. John Richardson asked if there were comments on junk cars and should this board go by the ORC. Don de Reynier said the RPC started with “junk” then “junk cars”. There was no motion at this time and Case 2003-137 will be discussed and continued at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Deerfield Township Zoning Commission.
John Richardson opened Case 2002-799.
Roll Call L. Speidel-yes, J. Richardson-yes, R. Giesse-yes, Don de Reynier-yes, S. Evans-yes
The motion was approved.
New Business Tim Hershner let the board know that the Borscherding Suburu has evolved to the Borscherding Collision Center and told the board if they see some construction going on, that is what is taking place. They are putting on garage doors. Tim will be trying to bring them into compliance with landscaping improvements and getting them to maintain the old landscaping. Tim said the dealerships could take better care of that. It is not a site plan review but he wanted to let the board know.
8:45 PM ADJOURNMENT
Motion _by Lee Speidel to adjourn._ 2nd by Robert Giesse
Roll Call S. Evans-yes, L. Speidel-yes, J. Richardson-yes, R. Giesse-yes, Don de Reynier-yes
The motion was approved.
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John Richardson, Chairperson Date