Planning Commission

FAIRMONT PLANNING COMMISSION The regular meeting of the Fairmont Planning Commission was held on December 21, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. at the Public Safety Building located at 500 Quincy Street. President Oliver 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 President Oliver Commissioner Miller Commissioner Parker Commissioner Straight Commissioner Weber Commissioner Majic Commissioner Richardson Commissioner Blickenstaff Commissioner Greene CITY STAFF City Planner – Sandra Scaffidi Planning Secretary – Maria Cipolla PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Approval of Minutes from November 16, 2016 President Oliver asked for a motion to approve the minutes. Commissioner Parker motioned to approve minutes. Commissioner Straight seconded the motion. Motion carried 7-0 PUBLIC HEARING FOR December 16, 2016 None PUBLIC HEARING TO SET FOR January 18, 2017 1. Steve Sinclair requests the abandonment of a right of way along Bryant Street between Locust Avenue and Ridgely Avenue located between tax maps 3-26-3 and 3-26-13. President Oliver asked if there was anyone here to speak for this request. There were none. President Oliver asked if there was anyone here to speak against this request. There was none. President Oliver asked for the staff report from the City Planner, Sandra Scaffidi. Sandra Scaffidi: I spoke with the neighboring property owner the other day. He also wants to abandon this alley. Therefore, I have included additional property in my staff report so that we don’t leave a fragment of a right-of-way when we are considering the future of this alley abandonment. I want to make clear that this alley may have utilities running through it. We have to make sure before we have our public hearing that we have received word from the utilities department in regards to any utilities being located in this right-of-way. President Oliver: If this is abandoned and becomes part of their property, we still have a right to service those utilities. 1 Sandra Scaffidi: We do but, the owner has expressed interest in redeveloping this site. You are not allowed to build over utilities lines. So that may affect your discussion. President Oliver asked for a motion. Commissioner Greene motioned to set the request for the January 18, 2017 meeting. Commissioner Straight seconded the motion. Motion carried 7-0 2. Life United Methodist Church is seeking a text amendment to change the Technology District zoning restriction to include churches as a use permitted with conditions. President Oliver asked if there was anyone to speak for this request. Jay Rogers, from Omni Associates: I am here to present the application for a text amendment of Section 13.1.10.C and 13.1.10.E because churches are listed as an exclusion in the Technology district. We discussed this at the last Planning Commission meeting. The Life United Methodist Church would like to occupy the old Lockheed Martin building located on Galliher Drive. The continued growth in the South Fairmont area has made this area look like an area where people can live, work, play, and have additional amenities such as churches and recreational centers. We have had discussion with the High Tech Contortion Foundation regarding their protective covenants that are in place right now. They are in the process of having those protected covenants amended. We do not want to create a situation where the zoning code would be amended to include church only to have the protected covenants exclude it. This should all be taken care of by the time this goes before the City Council for a final decision. President Oliver asked if there is anyone here to speak for this request. There were none. President Oliver asked if there was anyone here to speak against this request. There were none. President Oliver asked for a motion. Commission Weber motioned to set this request for the January 18th meeting. Commissioner Richardson seconded the motion. Motion carried 7-0 PUBLIC HEARING TO SET FOR February 15, 2017 1. Kirk Naternicola requests the rezoning of the Old Box Factory located on the 12th Street extension also known as 3-7-74.5. The applicant wishes to alter the zoning district from neighborhood mixed use to industrial. President Oliver asked if there was anyone here to speak in favor of this request. Kirk Naternicola: I purchased the building about five years ago. I am trying to do something with it now. I currently have it all cleaned up. I am trying to open up my options to see what we can do with it to get it back in working order. President Oliver asked if there was anyone else to speak for this request. There were none. President Oliver asked if there was anyone here to speak against this request. There were none. President Oliver asked for a motion. Commissioner Parker moved to set the request. Commissioner Greene seconded the motion. Motion carried 7-0 2 NEW BUSINESS None CITIZENS PETITION None OTHER BUSINESS 1. Commissioners Comments: Commissioners shared their thoughts and comments on tonight’s agenda and wished each other a Merry Christmas. The Commissioners all thanked Dan Weber for all his time and service on the Commission and on City Council. 2. Staff Updates: Sandra Scaffidi: With Dan Weber leaving, we will have a new City Council member joining us. Whoever gets appointed on January 24th will join you officially for the February 15th meeting. Ron Miller has also resigned from this commission due to scheduling conflicts with his position with the Public Works Department. I thank Ron Miller for his years of service, as well as his continued efforts to improve our City. City Manager, Robin Gomez, will appoint a City employee to the position. The City Council must approve this appointment, as well. We will have a new member from the City at the January 18th meeting. Robin Gomez: This Commission does require certain knowledge and experience in the matter of construction, development, and redevelopment, so it is not open to just any employee. We are limited to who may apply for the position on this Commission. We had one qualified employee interested in joining. His name is Mr. Shane Carpenter. He is here tonight. He is currently a Code Enforcement Officer for the City. We will get his application to all of you. It has already been forwarded to the City Council. Thank you to Shane Carpenter for his willingness to do this. Sandra Scaffidi: Please save these packets for next month’s meeting. We will update them with any additional information. Also, thank again for a great year of service. I appreciate everyone. At our next meeting on January 18th, we will be discussing our City Five Year Capital Budget Plan. ADJOURNMENT President Oliver asked for a motion to adjourn. Commissioner Straight made a motion to adjourn. Commissioner Weber seconded the motion. Motion carried 7-0 3