Planning Commission Workshop

Office of the Clerk of Council City of Gahanna 200 South Hamilton Road Gahanna, Ohio 43230 Meeting Minutes Planning Commission Workshop Thomas Wester, Chair, Kristin Rosan, Vice Chair, David. Andrews, Bobbie Burba, Joe Keehner, Jennifer Price, Don Shepherd Donna L. Jernigan, MMC Sr. Deputy Clerk of Council Wednesday, March 19, 2014 7:05 PM City Hall Present 6 - Bobbie Burba, Joe Keehner, Jennifer Tisone Price, Kristin E. Rosan, Thomas J. Wester, and Donald R. Shepherd Absent 1 - David K. Andrews APPLICATIONS: CU-0002-2014 To consider an application for conditional use to allow a drive -thru lane to accommodate proposed building A tenant and building C tenant; for property located at 390 Rocky Fork Drive South and 295-361 South Hamilton Road; The Shops at Rocky Fork; Jason Zadeh, Ranger Development, LLC; Tom Warner, applicant. Also present: Jason Zadeh, Gregg Gallas, Carter Bean, Tom Warner and Todd Faris. Anthony Jones said there was a component of the project that I wanted Planning Commission to be aware of; in particular what City Council's action has been; Council did approve the zoning change, which was actually mentioned in the article today in Business First; Council approved a Tax Increment Financing District agreement; what this agreement states is that the applicant, Ranger Development Corp., would do certain public infrastructure investments on the project site in order to receive reimbursement from the City; as part of the agreement, they are obligated to do some site improvements according to a certain standard, and that standard is being passed out to PC right now; this is a declaration of covenants that the developer has agreed to put on the property; these covenants obligate them to do certain activities in order to receive funding from the City; it states that they will develop the site under certain standards; approximately 20,000 to 26,000 sq. ft. of three facilities; shows the site layouts that Council looked at and said if we give you the money to do these improvements this is what the site should look like; A, B or C; there is some variation there and the language of the contract states specifically that from the private improvement standpoint that Council City of Gahanna Page 1 Planning Commission Workshop Meeting Minutes March 19, 2014 is fine with these three options being looked at; they also committed to the building height being what was submitted in their application; buffering around the parcel with the fencing and the trees; they commit to doing the vehicular access points in the locations shown in our plans; commit to having pedestrian access to the site both from the southern portion and the eastern portion; landscaping in the public right of way as in the plan that PC has seen; stormwater management features which Council has specifically requested they do and Warner can speak to that tonight; also the architectural design elements of the facade be similar to what was submitted to PC for your review; those are the parameters that they agreed they would develop the property as; they are not as stringent as what you will finally approve, but these are the guidelines that Council has said you must follow to receive reimbursement from any investments; the TIF was passed by Council and takes 30 days to be in effect. There was question about the specifics of the stormwater management. Tom Warner, Advanced Civil Design, submitted information about the Downstream Defender which maximizes sediment removal; said these are the same documents submitted to City Council; this is a water quality device that is higher than what we need to do to meet standards; device is accepted by the EPA and City of Columbus and Wetherholt is amenable to this device; our commitment to Council is to put in a Downstream Defender that is in line with the storm sewer systems; this will actually account for every storm event up to the 100 year event; all rain events, however heavy, will be routed through this system to promote better water quality for the entire development; this is the commitment we made to Council when they asked what kind of green initiatives can we include in this project; client is willing to spend the extra money to put this in; is below grade; will not be seen; will have an access manhole; no different than a storm manhole; it forces the water by gravity to swirl around and traps the sediment and it basically drops to the bottom of the container; need to remove that every six months or so; picks up the asphalt grits and sediment; it is filtered and then the rest of the stormwater is routed through and continues on to the receiving stormwater system which is out into the Hamilton Road stormwater system. Wetherholt said the City has several of these that are part of the public infrastructure; have a monitoring program; we have a vac truck, but we go ahead and pay a specialist that comes in and cleans those out. Bean said what Faris is passing out is updated black and white elevations; have addressed some of the comments from the meeting last week; showed material board and reviewed colors for project; said we have added a second store front color; have the light bronze and we have added this black color, as we have a lot of black ornamental City of Gahanna Page 2 Planning Commission Workshop Meeting Minutes March 19, 2014 metal throughout the development; we thought that was an appropriate color to add; in each of the store fronts we have added the muntins in the transom windows and they will match the color of the store front; the lower portion of glass will be swapped out for insulated metal clad panel which will also match the store front color. There was question as to building A south elevation; it looks like external mechanical meters, etc., is what a person driving north on Hamilton Road would see; Bean said they would if we did not have all of the landscape screening and the monument sign on the corner; there is a lot of screening; will not be that visible; (several conversations going on at once); no true back of the building; since that is the drive thru stacking area or lane we have worked hard to camouflage that. There was discussion about burying power lines and the expense. Question was asked if the fire department had any concerns about power lines being too close to the buildings, and Gard said no. Faris said the landscape plan has been changed; we will use some other colors of day lilies; will use purple and yellow lilies and have them mixed in the same beds along with blue of the Russian sage; planters will be sprinklered; Faris passed out revised plan; said we did see if some of the larger trees could be preserved; just not feasible with this development; any ones we could save would be under the power lines and have been butchered. There was discussion about having three plans and the possibility of two drive thrus on the property; Gallas said the reason we have the three plans, which we submitted to Council, is a direct result of what we are encountering in the market place; users that we were talking to were not far enough along with respect to the leasing process to know if they are going to come in; that is why we had to build in at least a little bit of flexibility based on what we know is out there atmospherically; so there is one big tenant out there that might take all of building C, but then we would have to shrink the building to accommodate the parking; there is another tenant who wants to be here who would require a drive thru on building C; that is why we have the scenario with the two drive thrus on building A and C; also another scenario where we would just have a salon user who would not have a drive thru; it is all a question of what shows up at the table and when. Zadeh said we made the decision that the plan with the second drive thru was the plan we wanted to move forward with and build; that is the plan we want to commit to even though we do not have a tenant; we wanted it to be set up so we would not have to go back before Council; but can come back to PC if necessary if there is a single City of Gahanna Page 3 Planning Commission Workshop Meeting Minutes March 19, 2014 tenant in building C. Jones asked about additional buffering for drive thru for building C. Faris said there is a landscape island to the north of this where we have included ornamental grasses as well as large shade trees; also along the frontage where we have the two benches we have put in juniper trees 8 to 10' tall; will have two layers of screening to help block that. There was question about how many tenants there would be for the whole project. Gallas said 12 or 13; would love to have an anchor. Concerning the sign by Huntington Bank for the other corner, Gard said she has not been able to contact the lady who is in charge of that; want to pull the file out and see what was approved versus what they want. Jones said Huntington would have to come back in before they built anything. V-0006-2014 To consider a variance application to vary Section 1153.07(f)(1) of the codified ordinances; for property located at 390 Rocky Fork Drive South and 295-361 South Hamilton Road; to allow a building setback of greater than 15' from the public right of way due to the conditional use necessary for the drive thru on building A; Advanced Civil Design ; Tom Warner, applicant. See discussion above. FDP-0004-2014 To consider a Final Development Plan for The Shops at Rocky Fork; for property located at 390 Rocky Fork Drive South and 295 - 361 South Hamilton Road; Ranger Development Group LLC, Jason Zadeh; Tom Warner, applicant. See discussion above. DR-0006-2014 To consider a Certificate of Appropriateness for The Shops at Rocky Fork; for site plan, building design and landscaping; for property located at 390 Rocky Fork Drive South and 295-361 South Hamilton Road; Advanced Civil Design, Tom Warner, applicant. See discussion above. Donna L. Jernigan, MMC Senior Deputy Clerk of Council City of Gahanna Page 4 Planning Commission Workshop Meeting Minutes March 19, 2014 APPROVED by the Planning Commission Workshop, this day of 2014. Thomas J. Wester City of Gahanna Page 5