Planning Commission

MINUTES TOWN OF FORT MILL PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING June 18, 2019 112 Confederate Street 6:30 PM Present: James Traynor, Hynek Lettang, Matthew Lucarelli, Ben Hudgins, Tom Petty, Assistant Town Manager Chris Pettit, Planning Director Penelope Karagounis, Assistant Planner Nick Cauthen, Planner Zach Driggers Absent: Chris Wolfe and Andy Agrawal Guests: David Buist (Applicant), Elliott Hamilton, Carmen Hamilton, Bret McNabb, Rick Hayes, Madison Shugart, and Scott Watson. Chairman Traynor called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm. Mr. Lettang made a motion to approve the minutes from the May 21, 2019 Planning Commission meeting. Mr. Lucarelli seconded the motion. The minutes were approved by a vote of 5-0. NEW BUSINESS ITEMS 1. Commercial Appearance Review: Ferrara-Buist LLC. Assistant Planner Cauthen provided a brief overview of the request which was to amend a previous Commercial Appearance Review approval. The applicant changed the layout and size of the building closest to Williams Road (Building 1), while also amending the playground location. Chairman Traynor asked about the new location of the playground. Staff pointed out the area labeled on the site plan which was in the side yard facing Williams Road. Mr. Hudgins asked about the reasoning for the changes. The applicant (David Buist) responded that the daycare has a prototype rectangular shaped building that was required. The playground would be of a high standard with turf on the ground. He originally depicted an L-shaped building, but the client preferred the rectangular option. Mr. Traynor asked about the elevations. Staff showed depictions of the previously approved buildings. The applicant stated those would remain and the materials will consist of brick with precast stone. Mr. Lucarelli asked what exactly is under review with the new revision. The applicant described they were simply changing to a rectangular building and placing the playground area on the south side of the property. 1  Mr. Lucarelli asked about the buffer yard between the playground and the road. Mr. Buist stated a streetscape will be provide around the perimeter of the property facing Dobys Bridge Road and Williams Road. Mr. Hudgins made a motion to grant the commercial appearance review revision based upon the size and layout of Building 1. Mr. Petty seconded the motion. The motion was approved by a vote of 5-0. 2. Text Amendment: COD/COD-N Corridor Overlay District Assistant Town Manager, Chris Pettit provided a brief overview of what the proposed text amendment would primarily be: • Amend the district’s design requirements to not require buildings to be oriented towards the street within the COD-N; • Strengthen the language relating to building architecture for those buildings that are oriented towards the street so that any façade visible from the street has the appearance of being the front facade; • Removes the requirement for parking to be located primarily to the sides and rear of the buildings, which allows for buildings to not have to be oriented towards the street; and, • Allows for an administrative review and approval of an amended commercial appearance review request for any project that received approval by the Planning Commission prior to June 1, 2019 and had not been issued a building permit as of June 1, 2019. Discussion was made about the COD/COD-N Corridor Overlay District—zoning map Mr. Petty expressed his concerns that a lot of effort was made during the planning stage of developing the COD/COD-N Corridor Overlay District with Town Council, Planning Commission and the public. There were concerns that the proposed text amendment was premature and that it was necessary to allow more development to occur before having discussions on how well the design concept was working. Mr. Hudgins asked if developers were complaining about requiring building to be oriented towards the street. Mr. Pettit responded that they were discussions relating to the difficulties of making the rear facades of buildings along the corridor as a high quality as the primary/front facades. Mr. Traynor stated it is much more challenging to have two fronts of a building. Mr. Traynor discussed the example of Ballantyne and how the overlay district was intended to create a similar design. He acknowledges the difficulty of making this example work along the bypass. Some members recognized the difficulty of making the current design concept of pedestrian 2 walkability work, and work well, along the bypass. Mr. Lucarelli mentioned how the Kingsley development allows a better pedestrian experience internally and their buildings do not front on the main street. He cannot imagine the bypass to be able to have an easy pedestrian experience by having the buildings to the front of the bypass. Pettit mentioned that this text amendment allows the opportunity to create those internal urban environments than focus on the requirement to be on the bypass. While others had some concerns of allowing more flexibility to the text amendment would allow developers to take advantage of the flexibility of the code. The Planning Commission’s primary concern was the deletion of the requirements that parking be primarily located to the sides and/or rear of buildings along the corridor. Discussions occurred as to whether there was a need to defer their recommendation as staff worked through an alternative to deleting this requirement. Staff requested that the PC make their recommendation to Town Council based off the current amendment language, noting that staff would provide Town Council with a summary of the concerns of the Planning Commission. Mr. Hudgins made a motion to recommend denial of the proposed amendment to the COD/COD-N Corridor Overlay District and Mr. Lettang seconded the motion. The Planning Commission recommended denial by a vote of 5-0. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:34pm. Respectfully submitted, Penelope G. Karagounis, MA Planning Director June 26, 2019 3