Planning Commission

FAIRMONT PLANNING COMMISSION The regular meeting of the Fairmont Planning Commission was held on April 16, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. at the Public Safety Building located at 500 Quincy Street. Commissioner Majic called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and asked for a roll call of members. ROLL CALL OF MEMBERS Members Present: Members Absent: Commissioner Majic President Oliver Commissioner Parker Commissioner Pitman Commissioner Straight Commissioner Greene Commissioner Miller Commissioner Dan Weber City Staff Present: Director of Planning and Development – Kathy Wyrosdick Program Manager – Mark Miller Recording Secretary – Martha Richards Commissioner Majic asks for a motion to approve the minutes from the March 19, 2014 meeting. Commissioner Parker motions that the minutes be approved. Commissioner Straight seconds the motion. Vote was 5‐0 in favor. Motion Carried. NEW BUSINESS PUBLIC HEARINGS FOR APRIL 16, 2014 Commissioner Majic: We have a rezoning of the property located at the corner of Locust Avenue and Country Club Road, Tax Map 01‐10, Parcels 81 and 81.1, also known as Leonard’s Service Station, from Neighborhood Residential to Main Corridor Commercial. Is there anyone present to speak for this request? Could you say your name and address for the record please? Tracy Evans: My name is Tracy Evans, 241 Hamilton Street, c/o Springston Realty. I am the realtor for Leonard’s Garage, and at the time we listed him, we did not know it was zoned residential until we started going into more detail to the board. According to the sellers, it had 1 never been residential; we always thought it was commercial, basically where the corridor is. After we entered the contract several times and went through the process, we discovered that it was residential property. I am here today to get this rezoned because we have someone else who has entered into a contract who is interested in building a laser carwash there, and we need the zoning to be commercial or spot zoning, or something of that sort. Majic: Understood. Thank you. Is there anyone else present to speak for this request? Gonzalez Sullivan: I have a question. How will, if this is changed to commercial, how will it affect my property? I live directly behind it. Wyrosdick: Maybe I can give a little background on the rezoning request, and can speak to that. I can bring everyone up to speed on the specifics. Miss Evans gave pretty good background as to why this came before the Planning Commission. The Planning Department is where it started; when the property came up for sale, the two pieces we’re looking at are the Leonard’s Service Station piece and what used to be a little car lot between that and the Salvation Army, and that’s where the city of Fairmont line ends. The Salvation Army is not inside the city limits, nor is the Exxon gas station or Wendy’s. That’s outside the city. The Country Club Motel, Anthony Chevrolet, and, of course this site, is inside the city. When it came up for sale, and, therefore, the question of how it could be reused if it were ever torn down, is really where the zoning became known to us that the zoning was not consistent with how it was being used. What we typically do is go back to the Comprehensive Plan and try to determine what the intent was of the Comprehensive Plan when that was adopted in 2005, and then the new zoning was enacted in 2006, what was the intent for this specific site. And we also relied on past experiences from the commissioners who sat on the Planning Commission at the time that all of the property in the city was rezoned in 2006. It quickly became apparent to us that the intent of the Comprehensive Plan, for this site alone, Leonard’s Service Station and the lot beside it, that the intent was to be commercial similar to how the motel was zoned and Anthony Chevrolet, but I think it was sort of lost because it does stick right up against the residential line, between Fetty Alley and Big Lots. So the intent as we saw it on the Future Land Use Map and the Comprehensive Plan, that this site was intended to be commercial, but the property that’s residential was meant to be residential, but somehow it just got included. The map is a little fuzzy; I tried to provide it to you in your staff report. But, you can see from not only the map, but also from the way that that property lies, it’s physically separated from the residents and it’s buffered by the drop in elevation from Fetty Avenue to the site. It’s challenged very much in the depth of the lot to try to build single family homes there, which is the only thing that can be built there, essentially you could build some modest townhomes, but it would be very difficult and meet all of the parking requirements. So, you can see by not only the way the lot lies, but also what the Comprehensive Plan had recommended, that the intent was to actually have this remain commercial and everything else behind it as residential. So, that’s when it was brought to our attention that this was something that should not only be supported, but also be sponsored by the Planning Commission and why we brought it before you to do that. Now, as far as the effect on your property that you have on your home, I’m not an appraiser, nor am I a developer that could advise you, but one thing I can tell you is right now it’s being used commercially. That won’t change with this zoning, it will continue to be commercially used with the zoning. My fear is, if the rezoning doesn’t happen and it remains neighborhood residential, it will either just sit there until someone wants to reopen Leonard’s 2 Service Station, or if it’s abandoned for a year, it loses its grandfathering and then it just sits there and can’t be used for anything, which could be a great detriment to your property, if it’s not rezoned. So, that I can offer you. I can’t say that your property values will not be affected, but what I can say is that the property values will be affected as much as your property is affected now if you are backed into a service station. The use of it won’t change from how it’s being used now. Gonzalez Sullivan: If this is going to be turned into a carwash, are they going to use Fetty Avenue as a route in and out of that? Wyrosdick: No. They wouldn’t use Fetty; it doesn’t lay well. They would access it from Locust, that property can only be accessed from Locust or Country Club, and Country Club is even challenged with that. I don’t know why a commercial business would want to try to utilize Fetty to access the site, but… Gonzalez Sullivan, Joseph Fontana, Antoinette Fontana, and Mary Sullivan, all of whom live on Fetty Avenue, voiced their concerns about traffic increase, speed, and noise that would affect their quality of life in their neighborhood if a laser carwash enterprise opened up in the discussed location. Wyrosdick: The rezoning doesn’t necessarily mean a carwash is going to be installed. The carwash is step two. Rezoning to commercial would allow it to be continued to be used as a service station, or be used for some other commercial purpose. Leonard’s has a business there, even though it’s zoned residential, because it was grandfathered. Up to 2006, that property was zoned for B2 business, and from 2006, the entire city was rezoned to mirror the Comprehensive Plan. When that was done, we didn’t notice on that on the maps until it went up for sale, and then they were trying to develop it. Up until 2006, the property could be used for business. Straight: The only thing we’re doing to night is changing it back to commercial. We’re not acting on what’s going there. Wyrosdick: To ease your concerns, the carwash that is looking at the property is being zoned as conditional use under the new zoning, and because of that it will have to go in front of the Board of Zoning Appeals with a site plan on how it will be designed. We will hold another public hearing that you will get notice to, if you are adjacent to that property, or you will see a sign on the property, that you can come in and based on the design of that site, you can add comments to that specific site design. So there will be another opportunity for the property owners to look at the design and voice concerns for support of that certain design, and access will be one of those. Sullivan: Once it’s rezoned, there won’t be much we can do about it then – right? Once it goes commercial… Wyrosdick: There are uses permitted by right, as long as they can meet setbacks and landscaping, and things like that, they can develop that site without additional public hearings. And then there are uses permitted by condition, such as a carwash, and that means that there are additional public hearings that have to be held with the Board of Zoning Appeals, and neighbors are invited to come and comment and view the specific site design. 3 Fontana: A sewer system was paved over to make that parking lot; no one knows where the pipes are at. There’s also a water line there and a spring. Wyrosdick: That will be a challenge for anyone who buys that site whether it’s zoned residential or not. Majic: Is there anyone else who speaks for this request? If so, please state your name and address. None. Majic: Is there anyone else to speak against this request? If so, please state your name and address. Ganzalez Sullivan, 1510 Fetty Avenue Joseph Fontana, Fetty Avenue Mary Sullivan, Fetty Avenue Antoinette Fontana, Fetty Avenue All voiced concerns about what types of businesses can be built on this property (e.g. a Hot Spot), and how it will affect their neighborhood. Majic: Thank you. Do the commissioners have any more comments or questions? None. Majic: I make a motion to approve the public hearing. Parker: Motion to approve as submitted. Miller: Second Majic: Requests a roll call on the vote. Vote was 5‐0 in favor. Wyrosdick: To the residents, this will go to City Council for adoption and that will be scheduled for May 14th at 7:00 pm. 4  PUBLIC HEARINGS TO SET FOR MAY 21, 2014 Majic: We have one: Stoney Quinto, on behalf of S&S Auto Sales, is requesting a rezoning of his property located at 315 Morgantown Avenue from Neighborhood Mixed Use to Main Corridor Commercial. Tax Map 03‐05 Parcels 103 through 110. Majic: Motion to set that hearing? Parker: Motion to set. Miller: Second Wyrosdick: There was a question by one of the Commissioners on what the process is if the Commission failed to set the public hearing, or voted to not set the public hearing. I guess there would be discussion as to why the public hearing should not be set, and that certainly wouldn’t be a discussion to deny the zoning request. Usually, it’s not set because of some fault in the process in that notifications weren’t correct or the application was not complete. It’s been three years and he has to wait a year, unless something changes before he can apply again. Straight: We have to give the gentleman his due process. Majic: All those in favor? Motion to set hearing 5‐0. CITIZENS PETITION (For items not listed on the agenda). None OTHER BUSINESS Parker: I would like to speak about the four people who came to speak against the motion on Leonard’s. I think it’s an example where I think the City Council and the Planning Commission are pro‐business and not anti‐business, and I understand the feelings of the patrons, but I it shows that thought goes into the process and I think we did the right thing by approving the commercial. 5  STAFF UPDATES Kathy: I want to welcome Martha Richards, who is our new secretary, and she will be taking over here Mark’s position here on the Commission. Mark will be working more on parks and on‐going planning initiatives. We also have Huston Richardson who is here, and who was kind enough to submit an application to the Planning Commission. I suggested he come to a Planning Commission meeting before applying to see what kind of work we are doing, but he submitted his application first, and then came. We have not had any other applications, so I plan on making a recommendation for his appointment at the next City Council meeting on May 14th. Welcome Huston. May 6th is the Bad Buildings Stakeholders meeting. You will be getting emails to attend that meeting; it is from 6:00 – 8:00 at the County Commission Chamber. The Brownfields Assistance Center will provide light refreshments. This will be the kick‐off to the Bad Buildings Program, which will be a year‐long program involving citizens and volunteers who will identify vacant and dilapidated buildings and start helping to plan for reuse of some of those buildings. It is another inaugural program and I am very excited about it. The Brownfields Assistance Program has been very good to us. Any time I need some assistance, they are very quick to provide that to us. I think it will be an exceptional program for us to tell the story about what the city looks like from a vacant and dilapidated standpoint. It’s not going to be focused just on commercial properties, but will also identify residential areas which will be eye‐opening for a lot of us, just to see the sheer number of buildings that we’re challenged with. Majic: Any questions on Kathy’s updates? None. ADJOURNMENT Commissioner Majic asks for a motion to adjourn. Commissioner Straight made a motion to adjourn. Commissioner Miller seconds the motion. 6