PLAINFIELD BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS February 21, 2013 7:00 p.m. CALL TO ORDER Ms. Duffer: Good evening, I will now call to order the Plainfield Board of Zoning Appeals for February 21, 2013. ROLL CALL/DETERMINE OF QUORUM Ms. Duffer: I will ask the board secretary to have a roll call Mr. Carlucci: Mr. Brouillard- here Ms. Duffer- here Mr. Cavanaugh- here Mr. Gibbs- is absent Mr. Monnett- is absent We have three members present, two absent, we have quorum for the purpose of conducting business. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Ms. Duffer: Could I ask you to stand please for the Pledge of Allegiance. We have Boy Scouts here to lead us in that Pledge. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (January 21 meeting) Ms. Duffer: I will now entertain a motion from our board members for corrections or approval to the minutes of the January 21, 2013 meeting. Mr. Cavanaugh: I move to approve our minutes from our January 21, 2013. Mr. Brouillard: I don t know if this is correct, on page 3, Mr. Genrich, when I asked about the liquor licenses, I believe he said it is a quota, is that correct, I would like that corrected please. That is all I have. Mr. Cavanaugh: I will amend my motion to move for approval with a correction as noted by Mr. Brouillard. Mr. Brouillard: Second. Ms. Duffer: I have a motion and I have a second, all in favor say aye, opposed. PUBLIC HEARINGS Ms. Duffer reviewed guidelines for public hearings. OATH OF TESTIMONY Mr. Daniel conducted the oath of testimony. PETITIONS FOR PUBLIC HEARING Mr. Daniel: This board is a 5 member board, and tonight as you can see we have 3 members to act on any motion or petition. It takes a majority board of a full board, which tonight would be all three members, so it would take a unanimous vote of all three members tonight to take any action. That being the case, if any petitioner that would like to ask the board to continue their hearing so that they can be here when a full board or at least four members are here, this would be the time to do that. Ms. Duffer: Seeing none, we will proceed. We will hear petition BZA- 13-003 PAP Architecture Engineering. Ms. Sprague: This request is for the Meijer Supermarket. As proposed Plainfield Board of Zoning Appeals 2-21-13 1
on the outlined area there, it is primarily surrounded by general commercial and office district. The request is to allow a reduction in the required parking for the superstore only, the gas convenience store has the required amount of parking. The ordinance requires 965 spaces, based on their grossed floor area, with one per 200 square feet of gross floor area. The petitioner plans to install 764 parking spaces instead based on their sales projections for this location. The land has been banked on this site, so that if they needed to put in the required parking later, they could remove the landscaping and put in the parking. In the past the BZA has granted this type of request for industrial sites that have banked the land for the parking. In this case the petitioner proposes to put in some extra landscaping islands to help screen the cart corrals as part of this request. This is just to show you, this is what it would look like with the required parking and then in the blue areas that is where the land is being banked so they could replace all of that parking but it will be replaced with either asphalt in the upper corner there or with landscaping in the lower area. Then just to show you where the extra landscaping it is all going to be in the parking area there, where it would be extra landscaping items. That is all I have. I know the petitioner is here if you have any questions or I can answer any questions. Ms. Duffer: Thank you very much. Would the petitioner like to come forward, please state your name and address for the record. Mr. Vander Meulen: Lee Vander Meulen I am with Progressive AEO Grand Rapids, Michigan. I think Jill covered pretty close to what we are looking for. Based on our sales projections, we are looking at 764 parking spaces as what we fill is going to be the required amount of parking to satisfy the store, which is about 4 per thousand. That is the typical amount of parking that Meijer provides for their stores now. They at one point and time did provide more but they realize that it just wasn t being utilized and so now they have done some initial studies and come back down to a reasonable amount. Basically there is just 2 or 3 days out of the year that the lot will probably get filled which is the day after Thanksgiving and a couple of days before Christmas. Beyond that we feel pretty comfortable with 764 spaces will be adequate and like Jill stated, we do have room on the site that if sales do increase and we do need additional parking, we do have that room set aside for that. That is basically all that I have. Mr. Brouillard: Have you had any stores where you have banked land and you had to open it up? Mr. Vander Meulen: Not to date, but like I said before they used to build anywhere from 800-1,000 spaces, anything that has been reduced they have created out lots and took some of that parking away once realized they don t need it. It has kind of gone the other way, so I guess in the future I can answer that, but right now. Mr. Brouillard: What would be the tipping point? What would make you or make us make the decision that you don t have enough parking? Mr. Vander Meulen: I think besides those 2 or 3 days out of the year that we could fill up, it is really up to the general manager of the store that monitors it and if the customers are not finding a parking space then we will do something. I don t know if there are conditions that you want to place on it, we would be willing to entertain that if you felt strongly if there is some type of trigger that would make us build some additional spaces we would be more than happy to discuss that. Mr. Cavanaugh: If you were to have to come back at some point and time to put in the additional paved area for the parking spaces, is your drainage system in plan to accommodate that? Mr. Vander Meulen: We are going to build it out based on the full parking and basically put all of the drainage, lighting, everything to accommodate that, so if in the future we do need to, basically we will be removing topsoil and putting in the pavement and curbing. Ms. Duffer: Thank you very much. This is a public meeting, if there is anyone in the audience that would like to come and speak to the board for or against this petition, now is that time. Mr. Daugherty: Max Daugherty, 1702 Hawthorn Drive. Plainfield Board of Zoning Appeals 2-21-13 2
Mr. Daniel: You took the Oath didn t you Mr. Daugherty? Mr. Daugherty: I did. Mr. Daniel: I thought you did. Mr. Daugherty: If you have a standard, why do you change it? Why have a standard if you are going to change it? Mr. Cavanaugh: We haven t changed it yet, we are just being asked if we would change it. Mr. Daugherty: I have another question, the last time I was here there were 3 or 4 people that spoke against this and very few that spoke for it that I heard. Yet everyone voted for it, and I thought you guys were working for us, but it doesn t appear that way to me. Mr. Cavanaugh: Was that this board Mr. Daugherty. Mr. Daugherty: The ones that was here, there were 8 of them here. Mr. Brouillard: That was the Plan Commission. Mr. Daugherty: It was the Plan Commission yes, all of them voted yes after several people were up here speaking against it. I know the traffic is going to be horrible in that area, it is not good now, and it is going to be worse. The trash, I told you that I pick trash up around there just to be doing it, keeping the neighborhood clean. I am going to have to hire a helper. That is my opinion and I just wanted to let you know. I also would like to ask everybody how they would like to have this 2 blocks from their house and I didn t get an answer out of anybody on that either. It was silent just like it is now. Mr. Cavanaugh: I can give you an answer if you would like one from my perspective as one person on the Board of Zoning Appeals which is not responsible for the overall approval of this plan. My expectation and Jill correct me if I am wrong, is that the Plan Commission has approved this and this project will be built. At this meeting this evening we are being asked if we would allow them to have fewer parking spaces, which means less pavement and more green things growing. That is the question before this board this evening. That land is zoned appropriately for this type of use and it has been zoned that way for many years and I believe this project has been in the works on the table or off the table for many years. So it is no secret that that property is going to be developed, that is going to happen at some point and time. Mr. Daugherty: That is probably true, but I have to give my opinion. Mr. Cavanaugh: Absolutely, that is why we have the meeting. Ms. Duffer: We do appreciate your opinion. Mr. Daugherty: I m sure you do. Ms. Duffer: Is there anyone else in the audience that would like to speak for or against this petition this evening. Seeing none I will close the public portion of the meeting and open it up to the board for questions or a possible motion. Mr. Brouillard: I guess my only question is, as I asked Lee, who makes that decision? I don t know if this is a Jill question or whatever, who makes that decision whether we need there to be more parking or not. Ms. Duffer: It says in some of the comments here that once the sales figures exceed those projected, we don t know what those are projected, so I am not sure if that is up to us and I am not sure that is something that on an annual basis that Meijer takes a look at to justify it. Mr. James: Yes it would be up to Meijer to decide if they need more parking or not. If it impacted their sales and if people thought it was an issue getting in there and finding a parking place like Kroger has dealt with. Plainfield Board of Zoning Appeals 2-21-13 3
Mr. Carlucci: But if they did get to that, they would still have to get improvement location permit from the Town, is that correct? Mr. James: Yes all they would need is ILP. Mr. Brouillard: No further questions. Mr. Cavanaugh: (Inaudible) a point worth some consideration, because in our suggested motion is the decision based purely on sales figures. Ms. Duffer: I don t think that would be Mr. Cavanaugh: We don t have access too; I think we might be appropriate to also have a provision to give the Town Planning staff perhaps, not necessarily law enforcement, but the Town Planning staff to have some input on that based on public comment, traffic problems, input from the general public. I would be happy to take some suggestions for refinement on that thinking. Mr. Daniel: I think you could put something that indicated that the staff noted that parking is somewhat consistently or whatever exceeded the parking is being provided, but they can bring that to the attention to both the owner and the Board of Zoning Appeals for a decision. (Inaudible) Mr. Daniel: Yes, based upon the recommendation of the staff that the Board of Zoning Appeals take another look at that. Mr. Brouillard: So would this be Meijer s responsibility to look at their sales and if it goes above the Mr. Daniel: Well it wouldn t be based on sales; it would be based on staff calling it to the attention of the Board of Zoning Appeals. Ms. Duffer: I think I would agree with you, I would scratch that whole piece. Mr. Daniel: It would be removed from sales figures and be based upon staff s motive of the parking issues. Mr. Brouillard: Is that something that you guys think you could do? I mean it is going to be subjective. Mr. Daniel: Then they could bring it back here and get some input back from Meijer and the staff. Mr. Brouillard: Ok. Mr. James: If we see that it is an issue we will just bring it back to the BZA and get your opinion on it. Ms. Duffer: So I would think that we would add something to the effect of in the event the Town staff or public comment warrants additional parking and it be brought back to the BZA. Mr. Cavanaugh: Mr. Vander Meulen, based on the conversation we just had, do you have any questions or concern over our discussion? Mr. Vander Meulen: look at it. No I think that is a fair and reasonable way to Mr. Cavanaugh: I think that puts the control back in the Town s hands a little bit instead of dependent upon your sales, I mean your sales could go through the roof and it is not a parking problem. Mr. Vander Meulen: Exactly. Ms. Duffer: I for one like having more green space. Mr. Cavanaugh: I am prepared to make a motion. I move that the Board of Zoning Appeals approve the variance of the development standards of BZA-13-003 as filed by Architecture Engineering to provide for a reduction that required of off street parking spaces from 965 parking spaces to 764 parking spaces subject to the following conditions. Plainfield Board of Zoning Appeals 2-21-13 4
1. Substantial compliance with the site plan and landscaping plans submitted file date January 18, 2013. 2. At the direction of the Town staff based on observation of inadequate parking and or creation of public safety issues, the petitioner will be required to come back to the BZA and reexamine the condition of less parking. Mr. Brouillard: Second. Ms. Duffer: I have a motion and I have a second, Mr. Carlucci would you please poll the board? Mr. Carlucci: Mr. Brouillard- yes Ms. Duffer- yes Mr. Cavanaugh- yes Mr. Gibbs is absent Mr. Monnett is absent The motion is approved 3-0, two absent. OLD/NEW BUSINESS Mr. James: I have two items, one is an old business and one is a new business. The new business, we need to change the April BZA hearing date from April 15 th to April 18 th, we have a conflict, Jill and I will be in Chicago at the APA conference on the 15 th. So we request that we move that hearing date to the 18 th. Ms. Duffer: I am fine with that, anyone oppose? Mr. Brouillard: I am good with that. Mr. Cavanaugh: I am fine with that. Mr. James: The second is old business. Remember the snow cone hut that you heard last year. They got a variance to increase the number of days they could have a temporary use at the Plainfield Plaza. Well I got a call from Rebecca Bridge yesterday and they were having an issue with the Health Department because they couldn t get a sewer connection and the health department wouldn t ok their plan so they found another site. It is the Burlington site, the old Walmart. They have talked to the Tabani group who owns the property and they have agreed to let them do it on their property and they would like to locate at the east part of the building where the old oil change place used to be, on the concrete pad. They can get a sewer connection there. So the approval and the conditions, the last condition stated that approval is only for Robert and Rebecca Bridge and is not transferable to a subsequent business owner at the same location. So she asked instead of having to come back and get another variance if we would just modify that condition and take out that at the same location. Ms. Duffer: My thought on that condition is usually if it is the same business and a new owner, am I correct? Mr. Daniel: I think that is what that intends to say, it is just a variance for those particular owners, not for that business, now if they changed owners they didn t have a variance, I think that is what that says Joe really. Read that again if you will. Mr. James: Approval is only for Robert and Rebecca Bridge and is not transferable to a subsequent business owner at the same location. Mr. Daniel: So if it was at the Plaza that a different owner could not utilize that variance. Ms. Duffer: So that would mean that if they wanted to move their location, we didn t specify it for that location necessarily but the location and the owners, so if the owner wants to move the location, is the variance still good? Mr. Daniel: It would depend on the other part of their petition as far as far as how they have a petition address the location whether or not it was, my guess it probably was, it was specifically addressed to the plaza, we got permission to go together. Plainfield Board of Zoning Appeals 2-21-13 5
Mr. Brouillard: I believe some of the question was the safety and the parking and people walking around. It seems like a new location may have a new set of conditions Mr. Cavanaugh: I think we had some discussion about the traffic patterns, the parking, and the access to the service roads. Mr. Daniel: thing. Of course they would need a right of way and that sort of Mr. Brouillard: Sounds like that all has changed. Mr. James: At that site they wouldn t be in a parking lot. Ms. Duffer: True, it actually sounds like a better location. Mr. James: That is a plus, yes. Mr. Daniel: A better location, the problem is I think they will have to come back and get another variance for the Burlington location. Mr. James: Ok, I will let her know. Ms. Duffer: Anything else this evening? Mr. Cavanaugh: Motion for adjournment. Mr. Brouillard: Second. ADJOURNMENT Plainfield Board of Zoning Appeals 2-21-13 6