Planning & Zoning Commission

MINUTES CITY OF DEKALB PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING July 16, 2014 The City of DeKalb Planning & Zoning Commission held a regular meeting on July 16th, 2014 in the City Council Chambers of the DeKalb Municipal Building, 200 South Fourth Street, DeKalb, Illinois. CALL TO ORDER Chair Welsh called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. ROLL CALL Planning & Zoning Commission members present: Christina Atherton, Roger Ruehling, Matthew Crull, Deborah Nier and Chair Michael Welsh. Absent were David Castro and Adam Katz. Also present: Derek Hiland, Principal Planner, Jared Heyn, Administrative Intern, Mark Eddington, DeKalb Sanitary District Manager and Mike Holland, Assistant Manager Engineering. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Crull motioned to approve the July 16th agenda. The motion was seconded by Ruehling and approved by voice vote. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Atherton motioned to approve the minutes of the May 28, 2014 meeting. The motion was seconded by Crull and approved by voice vote. Crull motioned to approve the minutes of the June 11, 2014 meeting. The motion was seconded by Nier and approved by voice vote. CITIZEN BUSINESS None OLD BUSINESS None NEW BUSINESS Public Hearing on a proposal from the DeKalb Sanitary District to obtain a three foot variance from the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) Article 7.05 pertaining to the maximum height limits for front yard fences in order to place a 7 foot tall ornamental fence around the sanitary lift station located between 453 and 459 Red Wing Lane for both security and aesthetic purposes. Jared Heyn shared a power point presentation regarding the staff report on the lift station at 453 & 459 Red Wing Drive. The options are a wooden privacy fence, a shadow box style, board on board or metal with landscaping around it. Considerations are these; metal would be more decorative but wood would offer a sound buffer as the generator is noisy when running. Heyn noted that the Commission will be making a binding decision through the variance approval. Heyn said that the City believes it will be in the best interest of all to go with the metal fence. Wood would deteriorate too quickly while metal fencing is open and allows for better security since it doesn’t block the view of the lift station. PUBLIC COMMENT Many homeowners attended the meeting and offered their concerns regarding the lift station. Among those concerns were the lack of upkeep of the plantings that were there previously and discussion regarding who would maintain any new plantings, minimizing the noise of the generator and the fact that the lift station is an eyesore in itself were highlighted through a spirit of discussion. Also voiced was concerns regarding the possibility of lift station being unsecured. Denny Ervin, 458 Redwing Ln – Mr. Ervin read a prepared statement outlining the history and concerns of the Lift Station and shared it with staff for the public record. Sue Higham, 452 Red Wing Ln - Ms. Higham recommended installing a vinyl fence which would not require the maintenance of a wood fence but would still hide the lift station Chair Welsh made note that the Sanitary District is its own entity and has been since the 1920's. He said that in this case the City has an ordinance that speaks to fence requirements. The ordinance restricts placement of a privacy fence over 3’. He said that the purpose of this meeting is to address that specifically. Chris & Michelle Brantley, 459 Red Wing Ln – The Brantley’s concerns were those of safety for neighborhood children, maintenance of the property and the noise of the generator. Mr. Brantly asked if the generator could be exercised once a month rather than once a week. He also noted that the purpose of the fence is to hide the eyesore, not to be decorative. Judy and Matt Santacaterina, 453 Red Wing Ln – Mr. & Mrs. Santacaterina were in agreement with Ms. Higham’s recommendation of a vinyl privacy fence for sound and safety purposes. Denny Ervin, 458 Red Wing Ln – Mr. Ervin asked why the generator is so large and why it wasn’t placed in a different location. Mike Holland, DeKalb Sanitary District, 303 Hollister Dr. – Holland answered the question of the size of the generator noting that this was the sized generator required to meet the need and did not want to undersize it. Mark Eddington, Manager of the DeKalb Sanitary District, 303 Hollister Dr. - Eddington answered questions related to zoning noting that the intent was originally for this area to be zoned multi-family however the zoning was instead single family. He said that single phase power was used which is unsightly and had been one of the problems with the lift station. With the addition of PC055-14 2|Page the natural gas generator performance will be improved. Eddington noted other options for locations were considered but were cost prohibitive. Eddington said that it is a benefit to the residents to have the lift station as there would be flooding without it. Denny Ervin, 458 Red Wing Ln – Mr. Ervin asked what consideration was given to the limitations of the easement noting that the utilities should be underground. Mark Eddington – Eddington said that he can't speak to what was considered before his time with the DeKalb Sanitary District but answered that he didn't give much consideration to going underground because utilities had been above ground before and there was no real way to place them underground. Denny Ervin asked about homeowners getting some compensation in the form of a property tax break because of the property value decline. Eddington answered that the meeting is to advocate for screening. Eddington invited homeowners to attend a board meeting in order to ask their questions of the trustees. Meetings occur the 3rd Wednesday of every month at noon. He said that homeowners could voice their concerns and ask questions at that time. COMMISSIONER COMMENT For the sake of perspective, Chair Welsh said there are neighborhoods in this town that would kill for such a station. People don’t want to deal with flooded basements. He suggested that many of the topics brought up are very appropriate for the Sanitary District meetings. He reiterated that the purpose of the meeting is to decide on the variance to allow a 7’ fence. Hiland said that he was enlightened by many of the citizen comments and that he would like to take some time to look into it further. Atherton asked if the fence would go completely around the lift station. Hiland said that the ornamental fence would go completely around it. The thinking behind the ornamental fence versus the privacy fence was that it might be beneficial for security reasons to have the decorative fence as opposed to a sight proof fence because a decorative fence would allow people to see in and see out thereby not creating a hiding place. Atherton asked about what would be planted along the drive. Hiland said that it would be a low profile planting. Atherton asked if 7’ would be allowed, why not 8’? Hiland informed the board of code requirements according to the UDO and that for either discussed a height variance would need to be granted. Nier asked about placing alarms on the fence. Holland said there are internal alarms on the equipment that would notify them of trouble but that there was not alarms proposed to be on the fence. Crull commented on the maintenance question. He said if the goal is to mask the lift station the decorative fence with plantings would not be very effective. He said wood or vinyl would create a visual block whereas the metal fence would not. Ruehling – Wondered about getting the City forester involved in picking out the type of shrubbery to be installed there. PC055-14 3|Page Welsh suggested addressing this further at the meeting on August 13. Nier said she would like to get more information on the vinyl fencing. Her concern is that wood will deteriorate over the course of time. Eddington said that no matter what material is chosen the Sanitary District will maintain it. Atherton said she would like to know if there are options to the vinyl option such as shadow box style. Hiland said that he will check into commercial grade vinyl fencing. Matt Swan – 453 Red Wing Dr. – Swan’s present concern is about the fence and where the funding will come from. Eddington answered that the Sanitary District will pay for it. Michelle Brantley – Ms. Brantley said that maintenance of landscaping would be ongoing. She also mentioned that according to the drawing there is no landscaping planned in the back of the lift station. Holland said that the lack of anything on the back side was intentional because they need to access the back and the front. Denny Ervin said wood should not be considered because of the deterioration over time and said PVC would be a better option. He asked that the district explore ways to make it quieter when it runs. Holland said that a better way to address this is to possibly change the time of day the generator is exercised and consider doing so less often. Atherton motioned to table the discussion until the August 13th meeting. Ruehling seconded the motion and was approved by voice vote. CONSIDERATIONS None REPORTS/ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING None. Hiland advised the next meeting will be held on August 13th. ADJOURNMENT Atherton made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Ruehling seconded the motion and it was approved by voice vote. The meeting adjourned at 7:25 p.m. Brenda Hart, Recorder Administrative Assistant PC055-14 4|Page