Planning Commission

200 South Hamilton Road City of Gahanna Gahanna, Ohio 43230 Meeting Minutes Planning Commission Michael Greenberg, Chair Michael Tamarkin, Vice Chair Bobbie Burba John Hicks Thomas Shapaka Michael Suriano Thomas J. Wester Krystal Gonchar, Deputy Clerk of Council Wednesday, February 10, 2021 7:00 PM Virtual Meeting Meeting Call-in Details: Tel- 513-306-4583, Conference ID- 992 885 610# Speakers must contact planningcommission@gahanna.gov one hour prior to the start of the meeting, and provide name, address, phone number, and item you wish to speak on. A. CALL MEETING TO ORDER/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE/ROLL CALL Gahanna Planning Commission met in virtual session via Microsoft Teams on February 10, 2021. The agenda for this meeting was published on February 5, 2021. Chair Greenberg called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Present 7 - Thom Shapaka, Michael Greenberg, John Hicks, Michael Tamarkin, Bobbie Burba, Michael Suriano, and Thomas J. Wester B. ADDITIONS OR CORRECTIONS TO THE AGENDA: None. C. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 2021-0024 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes for January 27, 2021. A motion was made by Wester, seconded by Hicks, that the Minutes be Approved. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 5- Greenberg, Hicks, Tamarkin, Burba and Wester Abstain: 2- Shapaka and Suriano D. SWEAR IN APPLICANTS & SPEAKERS Assistant City Attorney Matt Roth administered an oath to those persons City of Gahanna Page 1 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes February 10, 2021 wishing to present testimony this evening. E. APPLICATIONS - PUBLIC COMMENT SWP-0001-2021 To consider a Subdivision Without Plat Application to split .254 +/- acres of a 3.31 +/- acre parcel for property located at 442 Kason's Way; Parcel ID No. 025-010319; Current Zoning L-SF3; William Michael, applicant. City Planner Michael Blackford provided a summary of the application; see attached staff presentation file; staff in support. Chair opened public comment at 7:09 p.m. There were no comments. Chair closed public comment at 7:09 p.m. and called for questions from the Commission. Shapaka asked about the sidewalk, if it gets parceled off will we be installing a sidewalk? Blackford said current code requires that but when this was built that code was not in place; said that is a call from engineering, but confident that the answer is yes. Shapaka asked if the applicant will be required to install a sidewalk in the future. Blackford said he is unsure at this time, will review the overlay text. A motion was made by Burba, seconded by Wester, that the Subdivision Without Plat be Approved. Discussion on the motion: Hicks said he is in support; application meets code requirements. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 7- Shapaka, Greenberg, Hicks, Tamarkin, Burba, Suriano and Wester V-0005-2021 To consider a Variance Application to vary section 1165.08(b)(7)- Permanent Signs, of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Gahanna, for property located at 156 Granville St.; Parcel ID No. 025-013785-00; Current zoning OG-2; Divine Property & Asset Management; Chris Chapman, applicant. Blackford provided a summary of the application; see attached staff presentation file; staff in support; not in favor of code requirements for "no monument signs" for commercial and will be updating code in the future to reflect this; showed a few examples of other properties that have similar monument signs in the area. Chair opened public comment at 7:19 p.m. Chris Chapman, applicant; stated he received a letter from staff that said the material needs to be changed from vinyl, which they will be doing; City of Gahanna Page 2 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes February 10, 2021 sign will match 146 Granville, the adjoining property. Chair closed public comment at 7:21 p.m. and called for questions from the Commission. There were none. A motion was made by Shapaka, seconded by Suriano, that the Variance be Approved. Discussion on the motion: Hicks stated that he is in support; monument signs make sense here and pole signs are unsightly; wall signs are dangerous at this intersection because they are hard to read; code changes are forthcoming. Tamarkin said that he echoes those comments; has experience with signs and it makes sense that a wall sign is not easy to read; also the fact that the code will change. Greenberg said he is in support and echoes those same comments. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 7- Shapaka, Greenberg, Hicks, Tamarkin, Burba, Suriano and Wester V-0006-2021 To consider a Variance Application to vary section 1143.08(c)- Yard Requirements, of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Gahanna, for property located at 313 Spruce Hill Dr.; Parcel ID No. 025-010559-00; Current zoning SF-3; Igor Babamovski, applicant. Blackford provided a summary of the application; see attached staff presentation file; staff in support, and showed a few other options for the location if a variance was not granted; said the family is trying to expand and also have additional recreation options due to children and the pandemic. Chair opened public comment at 7:30 p.m. Igor Babamovski, applicant; in need of storage space, would like to extend for additional closet space; intend to put in a pool in the backyard; another option is to put it on the same side and line it up with the front of the house; will create a new doorway to go into addition. Chair closed public comment at 7:32 p.m. and called for questions from the Commission. Shapaka asked if the applicant received any comments from the neighbors. There were none. A motion was made by Suriano, seconded by Shapaka, that the Variance be Approved. Discussion on the motion: Suriano said that he is in favor; the setback variance will have minimal impact. Shapaka said he liked the placing in the back rather than the front. Burba agreed with Shapaka. Greenberg said he is in support. City of Gahanna Page 3 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes February 10, 2021 The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 7- Shapaka, Greenberg, Hicks, Tamarkin, Burba, Suriano and Wester Scannell Properties V-0007-2021 To consider a Variance Application to vary sections 1155.04, 1163.01, and 1163.08 for parking, of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Gahanna, for property located off Deffenbaugh Court & Eastgate Pkwy.; Parcel ID Nos. 025-012945 & 025-012946; Current zoning OCT; Scannell Properties; Dan Harrington, applicant. Blackford provided a summary of the application; see attached staff presentation file; staff has no issues with requests for variances; for urban code the parking space requirements are not as large as Gahanna code; even without the landscape islands there will still be plenty of landscaping due to impervious surfaces but this variance is better for large trucks; engineering has reviewed and there are no issues; Jefferson Twp. had no comments and neither did the fire department; reviewed similar construction that was approved in the OCT area recently and this application is similar to what is in the area; city has a need for this type of development; not much vacant flex warehouse space is available, which is what is desired for this region. Chair opened public comment at 7:47 p.m. Dan Harrington, applicant; excited for this project and the city has been pleasant to work with so far. Eric Stover, 6695 Taylor Rd.; adjacent property owner; this would be a huge win for jobs and development; has just a few concerns; there is a cell tower near the back of the property; appears that the building would be 45' tall which would be significantly taller; would it interfere with the cell tower; would that affect the residents; to the west side of his property there have been no issues with flooding but the water flows on to property from Taylor Rd; concerned about how the water will be handled; wants to ensure no flooding on his property due to the low lying land; there is a concern of increased traffic; appears their traffic count is lower than expected for industrial areas; should we consider a traffic study. Harrington had Justin Muller, civil engineer for the project respond. Muller said regarding the cell tower, it is not on the property, confirmed with a survey; no known identified encumbrances that they need to be made aware of; 45' building height for warehouses is expected and normal these days to get the high demand users; is what they need to operate efficiently. Aware of the creek, and picked up drainage outlets from the City of Gahanna Page 4 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes February 10, 2021 north and can be routed through pond to the south of the site; that will be reviewed again by city engineer to ensure not cutting off anything. For traffic, the code was straightforward for calculations; this would fall under the code requirements. Albert Iosue, Director of Jefferson Water and Sewer District; submitted a letter ahead of the meeting (attached); we provide service to 4,000 customers; pump ground water from an aquifer 12-25' below surface which has high susceptibility to contamination; proposed buildings are within the wellhead protection area and there's a drinking water protection plan in place; the plan is endorsed by the EPA; not opposed to the development but wants to ensure that the drinking water is protected; concern is the building use; wants to ensure that JWSD gets those details of what will be stored there; provided code of requirements in the letter; requests the commission to condition approval on the applicant meeting JWSD requirements; a nearby recent development went through the Franklin County process, and they did condition in a similar way; regardless of whether or not the condition is in there, the applicant is required to abide by our regulations for the protection of that well area. Muller stated that wellhead protection is not new to them; they will abide by EPA requirements and get required permits; water quality is built within their design; would request the commission not place the condition on the approval, having not yet reviewed those requirements. Robert Sander, 2625 Darling Rd.; owns the property next to Mr. Stover's; built there 25 years ago; has two questions; if my property were in Gahanna instead of the township, would there be any other code requirements for the cell tower and these proposed buildings being constructed; the second question is regarding the creek which runs across front of property through a culvert; 20 years ago Franklin County reworked Taylor Rd; it was higher than it is today; has seen flooding in the past; pond seems too small to hold much water. Muller stated that the pond will serve as a detention for this property for impervious surface being added; analysis will be in the center between north and south to ensure water flows at the same rate in order to not back up. Chair called on Blackford to address code. Blackford said Gahanna would not have allowed the cell tower because setback must equal height. Chair closed public comment at 8:06 p.m. Blackford said Kyle Stroh is on the line. Chair reopened public comment to allow Stroh to speak. City of Gahanna Page 5 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes February 10, 2021 Stroh, attorney for speaker Stover; said this does not provide property owners enough time to address the applications when they receive a notice a week before the meeting; client raised concerns about traffic on Taylor Rd; there's a minimum standard for when a traffic study is required; for the Eastgate Pkwy intersection, has there been a traffic study. Muller said he did provide the memorandum and for the benefit of the commission 100 is the trigger in the a.m. peak hour, and our peak was 88 and 93; can't speak to the intersection. Chair closed public comment at 8:09 p.m. and called for questions from the Commission. Wester: regarding water flow and drainage, has a high degree of confidence that the city engineer will review and hold applicant to those standards; important to note that the applicant should adhere to water standards set by JWSD; believes there will be a traffic study required for that intersection. Suriano: curious if applicant describe the exterior materials. Harrington stated it was concrete, cast off site and painted; building entrances would have curtain wall and glass and glazing; rear building will have dock doors; will have parapets and vertical relief for architectural detail. Suriano asked about the colors of the glazing. Harrington said will have grays and browns. Suriano said the area that appears to be charcoal gray is actually vision glass. Harrington said it was just paint. Shapaka: asked how far down in the natural grade will foundation go; will there be a flat spread footing in and then built up? Trying to determine how they will manage the water issue. Applicant said they ran an analysis to ensure that what is proposed would work; had an engineer site plan; building A has an elevation of 931.5; the southwest side of the property would sit at around 918; would sit on 4" of stone; not aware of anything drilling down into the well; would have shallow foundation at 36"; building B is sitting around 934. Shapaka said he is glad that they took the time to analyze this in detail; water could still run under the building. Hicks: these parcels are in Mifflin Twp. not Jefferson; looking at infrastructure maps, looks like the buildings will be serviced by Gahanna utilities. Blackford confirmed that the parcels are in Mifflin, and the city can provide services. Hicks said we should be good neighbors and not pollute the groundwater; asked Roth if Jefferson has jurisdiction over these parcels. Roth said after reviewing the matter, knowing the facility was so close to the property, does not believe the Township ordinances City of Gahanna Page 6 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes February 10, 2021 or requirements are binding to the city; it puts the applicant on notice, but the city and commission are not required to comply. Hicks said the regulations do not seem unreasonable, in principle he agrees with letting JWSD know what's in the building but does not favor placing a condition on a motion to approve due to lack of jurisdiction; stated that the development referred to earlier was in Jefferson Twp. and not Gahanna or Mifflin Twp. Burba: agrees with what Hicks said about not placing a condition on the approval; asked if these are spec buildings or are they already leased. Applicant stated spec buildings. Tamarkin: said part of the plan is to redirect the creek, would it go between the two parking areas. Applicant confirmed. Tamarkin said in the back corner, the northeast corner that abuts neighbors, asked if any water from this property would go over the water line; would it all drain onto their own property. Applicant confirmed that they would divert the water to the right spot on their own property. Greenberg: regarding the wellhead protection plan, is the applicant aware of those requirements. Applicant said no, they have not had an opportunity to review those; aware of EPA code regarding heavy use. Greenberg asked for confirmation that the applicant did not want a condition on the approval. Applicant confirmed, and when asked why, said it would be difficult to agree to when he has not reviewed them; wants to be good neighbors and will abide by EPA requirements; will work together with neighbors. Greenberg said it could impact 4,000 customers so this is important, but agrees with Hicks that it's not in our jurisdiction; urges them to be good neighbors. A motion was made by Tamarkin, seconded by Hicks, that the Variance be Approved. Discussion on the motion: Wester- agrees with what Hicks said and what Greenberg said, wants to be a good neighbor and protect the water but does not feel a condition needs to be included in the motion. Suriano- echoes those comments, wants to note that relative to the variances, they all seem reasonable for the property. Shapaka- echoes that the variances seem reasonable. Hicks- has a few comments that are not just for the variance, but all the applications; a speaker made a comment earlier that this is an industrial area; he agrees with that and wishes that the Jefferson Twp. Trustees would agree with that because the township has been approving some irresponsible developments in this industrial area; those developments could harm the city's ability to develop there; is relieved that Mr. Harrington desires to develop there; there are apartments within eyesight and developers may wonder why there are apartments in an industrial area and turn away; wholly supportive of the applications and in support of them moving forward. Burba- echoed Hicks' comments and is in favor of this project as well. City of Gahanna Page 7 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes February 10, 2021 Tamarkin- welcomed the developer to Gahanna, is a nice project and good for the city; these are the types of projects we need in the industrial area; these projects bring jobs, and jobs bring growth; would encourage the applicant to work offline with JWSD. Greenberg- echoed what Tamarkin said and asked the developer to work closely with the neighbors on the well protection plan; ensure that property is built according to regulations. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 7- Shapaka, Greenberg, Hicks, Tamarkin, Burba, Suriano and Wester FDP-0001-2021 To consider a Final Development Plan Application for the construction of a new building, for property located off Deffenbaugh Court & Eastgate Pkwy.; Parcel ID Nos. 025-12945 & 025-012946; Current zoning OCT; Scannell Properties; Dan Harrington, applicant. See discussion above under file V-0007-2021. A motion was made by Wester, seconded by Burba, that the Final Development Plan be Approved. Discussion on the motion: Wester- again, in support of this, echoes many comments made by colleagues before; is a wonderful addition and welcomes the developer to the community. Shapaka- said the developer is aware of the site drainage, there is a significant amount of water coming across the street and issues of detention of their own water, unsure if there's a split system, but they must address it. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 7- Shapaka, Greenberg, Hicks, Tamarkin, Burba, Suriano and Wester DR-0004-2021 To consider a Design Review Application for a site plan, landscaping plan and building design for the construction of a new building, for property located off Deffenbaugh Court & Eastgate Pkwy.; Parcel ID Nos. 025-012945 & 025-012946; Current zoning OCT; Scannell Properties; Dan Harrington, applicant. See discussion above under file V-0007-2021. A motion was made by Hicks, seconded by Wester, that the Design Review be Approved. Discussion on the motion: Shapaka said it is a good looking building and he is in favor of it. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 7- Shapaka, Greenberg, Hicks, Tamarkin, Burba, Suriano and Wester F. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: None. G. NEW BUSINESS: None. City of Gahanna Page 8 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes February 10, 2021 H. OFFICIAL REPORTS Assistant City Attorney No report. Planning & Development No report. Council Liaison The Buckles project will have the Council Public Hearing on 2/15. A splash pad has been approved for the pool. Legislation passed for fee structure for charging stations. CIC Liaison Hicks said the next meeting will be next week; nothing to report. Chair No report. I. CORRESPONDENCE AND ACTIONS: None. J. POLL MEMBERS FOR COMMENT Hicks complimented Greenberg on chairing the meeting tonight; there was a lot going on. Thanked Blackford and Roth for responses, when they were possibly caught off guard and not able to prepare. Said he believes there's an upcoming Buckles project for the next Planning Commission meeting, for a final development plan. Blackford said the upcoming projects are not related to the zoning that is pending in council, it is for a building to the east; we approved a medical building in late 2017, a smaller building will be adjacent to that. Tamarkin thought the commission handled the sensitive water issue nicely, it is complicated and they were able to communicate with the applicant that they needed to follow guidelines despite not having added a condition. City of Gahanna Page 9 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes February 10, 2021 Greenberg said he agrees, and thanked him for his comments. K. ADJOURNMENT At 8:41 p.m. City of Gahanna Page 10