DRAFT
Special Meeting
Minutes
CALL TO ORDER: John Richardson, Chairman
1) Adherence with all Deerfield Township approvals applicable to the Blong PUD, as determined by the Deerfield Township Trustees.
2) Applicant shall secure and submit a letter of approval for stormwater drainage plan from Warren County Engineer’s Office, per the Rules and Regulations for the Design of Storm Sewer and Stormwater Management Systems and Henderson and Bodwell for Simpson Creek / Landen Lake Watershed Study and Model if applicable.
3) Applicant shall secure and submit a letter of approval for points of access, interior circulation and improvements from Warren County Engineer’s Office, in conjunction with the Deerfield Township Fire Department, per the Requirements and Standards for the Design and Construction of Streets and Roadway Facilities. Fire lanes shall be provided as determined by the Deerfield Township Fire Department.
4) Due to change of land use (from office/warehouse to commercial), the Blong PUD traffic study shall be amended, at the expense of applicant, as determined necessary by the Warren County Engineer. The applicant shall also be responsible for any additional on-site or off-site improvements found to be necessary through said amendment.
5) Applicant shall secure and submit a letter of approval for soil erosion and sediment control from Warren County Soil & Water Conservation District, per the Warren County Erosion and Sediment Control Regulations. Additionally, stormwater quality controls shall be addressed as recommended by Warren County Soil & Water Conservation District. Compliance with Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA), National Pollution Discharge Elimination Systems (NPDES) permit for stormwater discharges associated with construction. The applicant shall incorporated best management practices for permanent ongoing stormwater pollution controls such as bio-infiltration areas, wetland pre-treatment and/or extended detention, which shall be reviewed in Stage 3.
6) Compliance with Chapter 21, Bufferyard and Landscaping of Deerfield Township Zoning Resolution.
7) The Lighting Plan shall be subject to review and approval from Deerfield Township Community Development Director including the number and/or location and/or wattage of light poles and wall mounted lighting fixtures. The maximum mounting height of the light fixture shall be 24 feet with full cut-off fixtures.
8) Compliance with the Warren County Subdivision Regulations.
9)
The applicant shall prepare a sign package for the entire office park
development which shall comply with the Zoning Commission approval of Arbor
Square North development. No ground
mounted sign shall be allowed for individual outlots.
10) The new building elevations shall have appearance, features, and style of the Tahoe’s Entertainment Resort elevation drawing dated July 9, 2004.
11)
Neither
No outside storage nor outdoor electronic
sound amplification shall be allowed at any time.
12) The revised floor plan shall provide for family oriented uses as determined by the Deerfield Township Trustees.
There
were no board questions. Mr. Richardson asked the proponent to come forward.
Proponent Bill Mees, CUC, 100 E. Business Way, Cinti., OH 45241, said they have made some drastic changes to the plan. He said they have scaled the plan back. He said the parking lot and the shared access will work for the vacant lot when it develops. The last time the board was concerned with the relationship of the parking lot with the buildings and Mr. Mees said he believed that has been taken care of. He asked the board for questions. Mr. Richardson asked him what has been eliminated on the floor plan. Mr. Mees said he didn’t know. Mr. Mees said he believed it would still be a family oriented facility. John Richardson asked him if the exterior is the same and Mr. Mees said yes but it has just been shrunk down. There was no public comment.
Matt Evans asked about putting a condition that if the tenant changes, to make sure the use would be Office Warehouse. Tim Hershner said you could say if the use changes, they must come before this board. Mr. Mees said that Doug Miller said that there are 3.091 acres available for Office Warehouse. Matt Evans said on Condition #11 they may want some outside music. Matt said it seems too restrictive because even shopping centers have outdoor sounds. Don de Reynier asked the applicant if Condition #11 would be a problem for them. Mr. Mees said yes. Mr. Richardson asked what the distance is to the residential area. Mr. Kumar said it is about 700 feet. Mr. Mees said Harbourwatch is the closest residential. Matt Evans said the public specifically said they wanted the courts between he building and you did that. Don de Reynier said he has no problem with deleting that from Condition #11 but leaving in the statement about the outdoor storage. Tim said the trustees are working on a sound resolution including a decimal meter. Mr. Mees was concerned about Condition #9, that no ground mounted sign being allowed for individual outlots. Mr. Mees said the other users to the south of them in the Office Warehouse, would want some type of signage. Tim said along Duke Blvd. there is not much signage. Tim suggested that they strike the last sentence in Condition #9, “No ground mounted sign shall be allowed for individual outlots.” Mr. Mees explained the shared drive and the shared parking. Mr. Mees said the ingress / egress was worked out with Dan Corey of the Warren County Engineers. Don de Reynier complimented the applicant on what he has presented. Matt Evans said when they came to the board it was being sold as a family oriented business and he would like to add to Condition #10 that it must be family oriented. Tim said it looks like they will be cutting the building in half. Don de Reynier said you could say that it shall include a family friendly usage without getting into the proportions and so on. Mr. Kumar showed the original plan (33,600 square feet) and explained how much smaller the new plan is (22,680 square feet). Mr. Mees said since Todd Clifford is not here tonight, he doesn’t know exactly what the interior plan is. Don de Reynier said they should say that a significant portion of the building should be devoted to family friendly activities. Mr. de Reynier suggested that a Condition #12 be added saying that the facility provide for family friendly activities. Tim suggested that Condition #12 read, “The revised floor plan shall provide for family oriented uses as determined by the Deerfield Township Trustees.”
Motion There was a motion by Don de Reynier to approve Case 2004-112 including the Staff Conditions 1-11 with changes to Conditions #9 and #11 and adding Condition #12. There was a 2nd by Scott Evans.
Motion There was a motion by John Richardson to table the Zoning Code Update and the Zoning Map Update until October 18, 2004. There was a 2nd by Scott Evans.
Tim said that the board may want to hear some public comments since Diana Halligan is here and wants to comment. Tim said he has talked with Diana in dealing with storm water issues and maybe this board can better understand what she is suggesting to regulate storm water issues in Deerfield Township. Mr. Kumar said she is suggesting using the storm water management regulations used by the City of Lebanon and since the soil in Deerfield Township is similar to Lebanon, Ohio, these regulations would work. Tim said that Lebanon obtained theirs from Dublin, Ohio. John Richardson asked if townships are allowed by the Ohio Revised Code to establish our own regulations.
Diana Halligan, 4071 Brookside Court, said Chapter 519 of the Ohio Revised Code was used by the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission and they actually have a storm water section. They said that different municipalities can use it for land use controls of storm water. Diana said this is what Doug Miller referred to. She gave a report to the board for them to view.
Tim said Poggemeyer Design Group seemed to think we shouldn’t “go down this road,” but Doug Miller said we can “go down this road.” John Richardson said who is going to police this. Tim said he suggests that between now and the next meeting we need to walk through this. Tim said technically we want to maintain the county engineer as our engineer of record. Tim said that they are going to probably fight us a little bit on this because it’s like an unfunded mandate. Probably what is going to happen is that the burden will fall back on us because they won’t regulate it as much. It will be something that we will regulate as best as we can. Just as there are items in the county regulations that we are learning aren’t really adhered to, or imposed, like the creek easements, the drainage easements, that are supposed to be along any drainage way including creeks. This is something that Mrs. Halligan has brought up over the last year. Now we are realizing that on any subdivision plan, there is supposed to a drainage easement based on the watershed to protect that creek way. So it’s going to be a challenge. Also, in the interim between this meeting and next, Tim said he would like to take this to the storm water drainage district here at the township and try and get their endorsement as well. Having this delayed a little bit more is good but Tim said he wanted truly to have it brought up so we can try and gear up and see if there are any major pitfalls and if we want to adopt it. In 2008 the EPA may shut the door and say you have to impose all these. Scott Evans asked when you talked about “we” are going to enforce it. Scott asked is it the storm water management group or the zoning inspector. Who is the “we?” Tim said if it is in the zoning code, we would regulate it, however, since we are not engineers, we would first look to the county. Scott said we never have “as built” inspections and we have had a lot of problems with that. Tim said if the trustees want to gear up for it, they have the final decision on that. Matt Evans said he is not sure that this should be attached to the zoning code. Matt said if it was a stand alone document, it would be easier to update and change. Tim said the storm water district is a non funded, mandated district right now. Matt Evans said if he had storm water flooding in his back yard, he would not think of calling zoning. He said he would call Public Works. Matt said he thinks the zoning code is the wrong place to put this.
Diana Halligan said if the engineers know what is expected and what is required they would do it. Don de Reynier said once we have a standard we can reference it. Mr. de Reynier said he would like to see some authority say “this is what your zoning should adhere to.”
Diana Halligan said this plan would give any outsider something to measure storm water by with calculations. John Richardson said in 2008 it is going to be mandated by the EPA and we know Warren County will do that. Mr. Kumar said if it is a separate document, can the township enforce it, if it is not in the zoning code. Mr. Kumar said we need guidelines to tell them what level of control we are looking for. Tim said the county engineers have asked the commissioner to impose a storm water fee but the county engineer has been denied. Tim said Deerfield is developing much faster than the rest of the county. Tim said we need to fund ourselves so we can make our own decisions. Matt Evans said this could be an appendix item and it could be changed without amending the entire code. Matt Evans asked Diana if the Lebanon City plan was a good one. Matt asked her how it has been received by developers up there. She said that Lebanon was sited as a good example of storm water management. She said the Allen County Engineer likes the Dublin, Ohio, plan which is the one Lebanon uses. Ms. Halligan said she highlighted some of the report that they are viewing to help them to better understand it. She said once this plan goes into affect, she said she won’t have to get up and talk at every meeting. John Richardson told her he appreciated all her work.
Motion John Richardson reminded the board that there is still a motion on the floor and a second. Roll Call Don de Reynier-Yes, Scott Evans-Yes, John Richardson-Yes, Robert Giesse- Yes, Matt Evans-Yes The motion was approved.
New Business Tim Hershner told the board that the October 18th agenda is reasonably full so the board may want to make sure they have Monday, October 25th open just in case. Mayank told them there are 4 cases. Tim said this board used to look at all the subdivisions and we have not been doing that for some time. Now the trustees have asked that this board goes back to reviewing any new subdivisions for final approval. The board could certainly comment and that way the public could see what is coming. There was some discussion on requiring larger lots in the less developed areas of the county. Tim said Deerfield has very few areas that it would be appropriate for the larger lots. Leo Masarro asked Tim if there would be legal issues on that. Tim said there could be.