Council of the Municipality of Murrysville

Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, February 3, 2016 Council of the Municipality of Murrysville held a Regular Voting Meeting on Wednesday, February 3, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. in the Municipal Building. Present at the meeting were Council members David Perry, Tony Spadaro, Joan Kearns, Jeffery Kepler, Josh Lorenz, Loren Kase and Jamie Lee. Also present were Mayor Robert Brooks, Finance Director Diane Heming, Municipal Engineer Joe Dietrick and Municipal Planner Allen Cohen. MAYOR BROOKS WELCOMES THE BOY SCOUTS In honor of Boy Scout Month, Mayor Brooks welcomed the Scouts from Troop 213 and Crew 220. Crew members told about the activities they conduct, including white water rafting, rock climbing and camping. The Scouts introduced themselves and told about the adventures they like in Scouting. Mike Landy, one of the adult advisors for Crew 220, explained that the Crew members decide what activities they want to do and also do all the planning; the adults just provide transportation and safety oversight. Martin Garvey, Scout Executive for the Westmoreland/Fayette Council, said there are 6 Scouting units in the Murrysville area: 2 Cub Scout packs, 3 troops and 1 Crew, involving 224 young people. Eleven young men from the area attained the Eagle Scout rank, which involved completing a project that benefits the community in some way. In 2015, the youth in the six units performed over 3,200 hours of community service. Mayor Brooks reminded everyone that Sunday, February 7, is Boy Scout Sunday and urged all Scouts to wear their uniform and attend church. The Crew president gave information on the website, how to join and where the Crew meets. Mr. Garvey spoke about the high adventure base in West Virginia, which is also the home of National Jamboree, which is held every four years. Mayor Brooks again thanked all Scouts for their service. PUBLIC HEARING A public Hearing began at 7:20 p.m. on Z-2-2015, Diadon, LLC, Rezoning Request from Mixed Use (MU) to Business (B), 4806 William Penn Highway and 4801 William Penn Highway, Tax Parcels – 49-14-08-0-019 and 49- 14-08-0-020 Municipal Planner Allen Cohen gave a brief recap of the discussion held at the prior Council meeting as to the reason for the requested rezoning request, which is to construct a business which would include a restaurant. He said the rezoning hearing and request does not involve a review of the actual plans that would be associated with that development if the rezoning is approved; that would be subject to a review by the Planning Commission and Council. The merits of this request will be based solely on whether the request is sound in terms of land use policy and zoning direction for the Comprehensive Plan. The application was reviewed by staff and a report was submitted to the Planning Commission. Staff and the Commission agreed that the rezoning would be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan, sound use practices and would be a favorable outcome for the Municipality. The proposal is to combine two properties into one parcel for development. The property is adjacent to a property which is currently zoned Business (AutoZone); the properties across Route 22 to the South, as well as properties to the North and East, are also zoned Business. The conclusion was that the rezoning would be consistent with the surrounding land use of the properties around the site and would not be a deterrent to property values; also, the area is more consistent with a Business (B) use as opposed to the MU use. Planning Commission concurred and made a recommendation to Council for rezoning the property; the car 2/12/2016 Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, February 3, 2016 purpose of the hearing is to entertain the interest of any citizen or property owner and to give the property owner the opportunity to present the rationale for the rezoning request. Rob DeZorzi of Glenn Engineering, representing Diadon, LLC, the developer, told Council that the owner/developer operates other family restaurants in the area. The proposed development would include a building of approximately 8,800 sf and would include a restaurant of 3,300 sf, with the remainder being leased tenant spaces, all of which will be built in accordance with the B zoning district. Mr. Cohen confirmed that the proposed building is permitted, but a restaurant is not. There were no questions from the audience on this issue. Ms. Lee asked if the proposed restaurant would be serving only lunch and dinner or if it would include breakfast. Mr. DeZorzi said it would be lunch and dinner. Mayor Brooks asked for clarification of the B and MU areas surrounding the site in question and asked Mr. Cohen to point them out on the map. Mr. Cohen explained that all sites going westward to School Rd. are zoned MU; properties on the other side of Old William Penn Hwy. west of the Giant Eagle are also MU; all properties east and south of the site (across Rt. 22) are zoned B. Mrs. Kearns said the MU district is intended to be a lower intensity area. She said retail businesses might draw more cars, but the traffic would be intermittent – not a lot at lunch and a lot at dinner, when there would already be a lot of traffic on Old William Penn Hwy. Because Rt. 22 is a divided highway, anyone going to the restaurant would have to turn on Cline Hollow or Tarr Hollow and then on Old William Penn, which further exacerbates the traffic issues on Old William Penn. She also said rezoning requests tend to have a domino effect, so if the property in question is rezoned, the next one would also want rezoning, and so on all the way down Old William Penn. Mr. Perry said he has yet to vote for a rezoning request simply because when the Marcellus ordinance is finalized, it is Council’s agenda to do a complete, comprehensive look at zoning throughout Murrysville. What Council does today may not be consistent with the look ahead as to what’s going to happen in the next year or two and he can’t support rezoning requests at this point. Mayor Brooks said his concern is to see the Municipality sit on its hands for the speed of government, and since this property is truly on the fringe, he thinks it should be dealt with one-on-one as requested. Mr. Cohen offered some insight from the Planning Commission and said Mr. Mital said “this is a no brainer” from his perspective. Mr. Cohen said the fact that the property is in an area that has evolved more into the B category questions whether those properties should have been zoned MU in the first place. The Commission also raised the point that the area around the property is more predominantly B zoning. Also, Mr. Cohen said an area of a concentration of businesses is being created, which has become an economic boon for the Municipality. A development of MU in this area would be counter to what the trend is from a business development standpoint. He said the impacts of development are going to be there, whether they are B or MU uses, and must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. The other question is whether the area is conducive to more business development or smaller development. car 2/12/2016 Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, February 3, 2016 Mr. Perry said he disagrees with Mr. Cohen’s analysis and stated that studies show that small specialty shops bring in far more tax revenue than do restaurants, so MU is far more profitable for the Municipality when looking at tax revenue as profit. He said if this property is rezoned, others in the area will then request rezoning to B, and the whole area will end up changing from MU to B all the way down to Ferri’s if that is done one piece at a time. Mr. Spadaro questioned the number of curb cuts and suggested eliminating the two cuts on Old William Penn and using entrance and exit on Route 22 only, which would eliminate the traffic issue on Old William Penn. Mrs. Kearns said that’s a site plan issue and the discussion tonight is a zoning issue. There was no further discussion and the Public Hearing was closed at 7:37 p.m. REGULAR VOTING MEETING AGENDA UNISTED AMENDMENTS: Under Council Action Items – Administration - ADD Item No. 13D – Consider authorization to advertise for Council to conduct a Marcellus Shale educational outreach session on Wednesday, February 24, 2016, at 7:00 p.m. Under Council Action Items – Administration – ADD Item 13A – Consider approval to correct the record to reflect Jayne Hoy’s appointment to fill a Planning Commission vacancy that expires 12/31/18. Mr. Kepler moved to approve the agenda as amended. Mr. Kase seconded. All present voted aye. Motion approved. CONSENT CALENDAR ITEMS: None. COMMUNITY INPUT: None. WORKSHOP ITEMS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: 10A. DISCUSSION ON Z-2-2015, DIADON, LLC, REZONING REQUEST FROM MIXED USE (MU) TO BUSINESS (B), 4806 WILLIAM PENN HIGHWAY AND 4801 WILLIAM PENN HIGHWAY, TAX PARCELS – 49-14-08-0-019 AND 49-14- 08-0-020. Mr. Kepler said he agrees with other comments made by Council during the Public Hearing: that development shouldn’t be held up because of how slow government is and that Council shouldn’t spot zone. He said that looking at the area between Rt. 22 and Old William Penn, if anything in Murrysville is Business, it’s that area. All the lots from School Road to the Diadon property have businesses. He doesn’t have an issue with anyone on that row, but he’s against spot zoning and is hesitant to make a decision on one property just for the sake of that one property. He said he would be okay with looking at that whole region now and it makes sense to zone the car 2/12/2016 Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, February 3, 2016 area to School Road B. Mr. Perry said if Council is going to decide to sidestep the proposed rezoning process, it would be best to look at that whole group and made a decision on that area. Mr. Kepler said it’s a “zone” and it shouldn’t be applied to an individual lot; the entire zone has to be considered. Mr. Perry said there has been discussion about breaking the current B district into a couple of different districts (i.e. B-1, B-2) and if the area under discussion is rezoned B, that opens it up to many different kinds of businesses permitted in the B district, giving Council less control. Mr. Kepler said that risk applies to everything else on that strip that’s currently zoned B. Mr. Kase said that, looking at the map, the MU is the zoning that’s out of place and rezoning would not eliminate a buffer between MU and Residential. Mr. Lorenz said there is someone that owns property in the Municipality and wants to develop it; it’s not as though the applicant wants to do something that’s not in character with other businesses in the area (Applebee’s and Hoss’s are in the same area). It [requested development] fits and makes sense. Mr. Lorenz doesn’t look at this as spot zoning. His idea of spot zoning is taking one property that is out of character or not in keeping with the surrounding area; this is surrounded by business on virtually every side. He said there’s no difference, practically, in the use between B and MU in the area up to School Road; it’s all business and [the applicant] is not looking to change the use or character of what those parcels are presently doing. He said the only question is whether a restaurant is appropriate for that space, given the current zoning. He said he is going to have a hard time saying no when looking at what else is around it. Mayor Brooks explained the reasoning behind the creating the Mixed Use zone and the idea of transition between the zones. He said, in his mind, the south side of Old William Penn is eventually going to become Business. He agrees that the whole area from School Road should be changed to Business. He hates to see an applicant have to wait for the public hearings, etc. and would like to see a vote on this property, followed by asking the Planning Commission to look at the whole row. Mr. Perry asked how long the process would take for this one parcel. Mr. Cohen said the first step would be to prepare and advertise an ordinance and then bring it to a vote at a meeting after advertisement, which would take about a month. Mr. Cohen explained that rezoning has two different approaches: Council can proactively rezone properties without the consent of the applicant by initiating the process and notifying the applicant/owner of a hearing to give input on the rezoning, or Council can request the property owner to do the same thing as Diadon is doing and submit an application. Mr. Cohen mentioned that he received a call from one of the property owners that received notice of this rezoning request who said he would be interested in having his property also rezoned to B. There was discussion about contacting the other property owners about possibly rezoning the whole area after this application is addressed. Mr. Kase said he would rather make a decision on this parcel and then look at the group as a whole at a later date. Mr. Cohen said Council needs to decide if they want to authorize an ordinance for a vote on this particular application. Council was in agreement to have Mr. Cohen prepare an ordinance for advertisement on the subject application. car 2/12/2016 Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, February 3, 2016 COUNCIL - ACTION ITEMS ADMINISTRATION: 13A. CONSIDER APPROVAL TO CORRECT THE RECORD TO REFLECT JAYNE HOY’S APPOINTMENT TO FILL A PLANNING COMMISSION VACANCY THAT EXPIRES 12/31/18. Before asking for a motion, Council President Joan Kearns explained that when the original motion was made, it was made for a two-year term when, in reality, Ms. Hoy’s appointment is for a three-year term to fill a vacancy when Ms. Lee was elected to Council. Mr. Lorenz moved to approve the correction. Mr. Kase seconded. Prior to the vote, Ms. Lee explained her misunderstanding on the vote at the prior meeting and thought Ms. Hoy was being appointed to a four-year term. Since Ms. Hoy has not yet been sworn in, Ms. Lee asked if she could appoint Ms. Hoy for the four-year term. Mrs. Kearns said the only way to do that would be to re-open the nominations and the item tonight is just to correct the record. Mr. Kepler asked if there was a procedure to re- open the nominations; Mrs. Kearns said there is and after making a motion, it would take a unanimous vote by Council and everyone that applied for the appointment would then be open for nomination and consideration. Mayor Brooks suggested that the appointment stay as is and Ms. Hoy can run again at the end of her term. The Commission has missed three meetings for lack of a quorum and it’s important to fill the positions quickly. Upon a roll call vote: Mr. Perry – yes, Mr. Spadaro – yes, Mrs. Kearns – yes, Mr. Kepler – yes, Mr. Lorenz – yes, Mr. Kase – yes, Ms. Lee – yes. Motion approved. 13B. CONSIDER APPOINTMENTS TO THE BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES. Mrs. Kearns explained that, following the vote at the last meeting, two candidates remained: Zachary Kansler with three votes and James Boyd with two votes. Therefore, those two are under consideration tonight. Upon a roll call vote: Mr. Perry – Jim Boyd Mr. Spadaro – Zachary Kansler Mrs. Kearns – Zachary Kansler Mr. Kepler – Jim Boyd Mr. Lorenz – Jim Boyd Mr. Kase – Zachary Kansler Ms. Lee – Zachary Kansler With four votes, Zachary Kansler will be appointed to the Planning Commission for a four-year term. car 2/12/2016 Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, February 3, 2016 13C. CONSIDER THE APPOINTMENT OF SUSAN STEWART-BAYNE AS CHAIR OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISORY COUNCIL (EAC) FOR YEAR 2016. Mr. Kepler moved to appoint Susan Stewart-Bayne as Chair of the EAC for 2016. Mr. Kase seconded. Upon a roll call vote: Mr. Perry – yes, Mr. Spadaro – yes, Mrs. Kearns – yes, Mr. Kepler – yes, Mr. Lorenz – yes, Mr. Kase – yes, Ms. Lee – yes. Motion approved. 13D. CONSIDER AUTHORIZATION TO ADVERTISE FOR COUNCIL TO CONDUCT A MARCELLUS SHALE EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH SESSION ON WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2016, AT 7:00 P.M. Mr. Perry moved to advertise the session to be held February 24, 2016. Mr. Lorenz seconded. Mr. Cohen explained that staff has been in contact with representatives from DEP who will be present to discuss the new rules that have been developed for oil and gas drilling and other perspectives on what the State does and regulates as compared to Murrysville’s ordinance considerations. Upon a roll call vote: Mr. Perry – yes, Mr. Spadaro – yes, Mrs. Kearns – yes, Mr. Kepler – yes, Mr. Lorenz – yes, Mr. Kase – yes, Ms. Lee – yes. Motion approved. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: 14A. CONSIDER APPROVAL OF REVISION TO SP-6-2014, MURRYSVILLE RACQUET CLUB SITE AND RELEASE OF BOND. Mr. Perry moved to table this item as some outstanding questions need to be addressed. Mr. Spadaro seconded. Upon a roll call vote: Mr. Perry – yes, Mr. Spadaro – yes, Mrs. Kearns – yes, Mr. Kepler – yes, Mr. Lorenz – yes, Mr. Kase – no, Ms. Lee – yes. Motion approved. Mrs. Kearns suggested that members of Council get their questions to Mr. Cohen ASAP so that he can get answers for Council. The applicant/owner, Arshad Hafeez, said this was brought before Council at the last meeting and there were no questions or comments except for the handicapped parking issue, He asked why the questions weren’t addressed with him prior to tonight’s meeting. Mrs. Kearns said there were questions posed and she asked Council members to visit the site to familiarize themselves with everything. There still appear to be some questions that need answered and/or resolved. She said that with the recent snow, she had to go back twice to look at the site. She believes that if Council addressed concerns and/or questions with Mr. Cohen, the issue should be resolved at the next meeting. Mr. Hafeez said the process wasn’t fair and this should have been dealt with prior to tonight’s meeting. He said he has gone above and beyond what has been asked of him. Mrs. Kearns again urged Council to get their questions to Mr. Cohen within a week. car 2/12/2016 Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, February 3, 2016 ENGINEERING: 15A. CONSIDER AUTHORIZATION TO ADVERTISE DPW-1-16, 2016 OVERLAY PROJECT. Mr. Kase moved to advertise DPW-1-16. Ms. Lee seconded. Municipal Engineer Joe Dietrick told Council that information was included in their briefing packets and that two roads were inadvertently not included in the project: Hills Church Road from Rivertowne to Wiestertown and the completion of the Branthoover Cut-Off. The Public Works crew will try to do as much work as they can so that the contractor doesn’t have to do as much. Mr. Perry asked if PennDOT will, at some point, allow something other than SuperPave to be used and whether it would be prudent to wait on this project. Mr. Dietrick said PennDOT will not allow anything else to be used and that the asphalt producers have gotten better at making SuperPave. He said there is no reason to wait and this project should move forward. Upon a roll call vote: Mr. Perry – yes, Mr. Spadaro – yes, Mrs. Kearns – yes, Mr. Kepler – yes, Mr. Lorenz – yes, Mr. Kase – yes, Ms. Lee – yes. Motion approved. 15B. CONSIDER AUTHORIZATION TO ADVERTISE ORDINANCE NO. 942-16, REVISIONS TO THE MURRYSVILLE STORMWATER MANAGEMENT ORDINANCE. Mr. Kepler moved to authorize the advertisement. Mr. Spadaro seconded. Mayor Brooks said this is a very important issue and one that the Municipality faces every time there is a new development. Mr. Dietrick explained to Council that Murrysville has been very lucky in that there has been good development in the Municipality. The impacts from past developments aren’t nearly as great as other communities and the purpose of this ordinance is to ensure that future developments basically have no impact at all. There was no discussion on this item as it was explained in detail at a prior meeting. Upon a roll call vote: Mr. Perry – yes, Mr. Spadaro – yes, Mrs. Kearns – yes, Mr. Kepler – yes, Mr. Lorenz – yes, Mr. Kase – yes, Ms. Lee – yes. Motion approved. PUBLIC WORKS AND PARKS: 16A. CONSIDER APPROVAL OF BENCH DONATION FOR PLEASANT VALLEY PARK BY MELISSA HARRINGTON. Mr. Kase moved to approve the bench donation; Ms. Lee seconded. Diane Heming said that Parks Commission recommended approving the request and suggested Pleasant Valley Park since Mrs. Harrington didn’t designate a park. There were no questions from Council. Upon a roll call vote: Mr. Perry – yes, Mr. Spadaro – yes, Mrs. Kearns – yes, Mr. Kepler – yes, Mr. Lorenz – yes, Mr. Kase – yes, Ms. Lee – yes. Motion approved. car 2/12/2016 Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday, February 3, 2016 OLD BUSINESS: None. NEW BUSINESS: None. EXECUTIVE SESSION: None. ACTION ITEMS: None. ADJOURNMENT: Ms. Lee moved to adjourn. Mr. Lorenz seconded. All present voted aye. Motion approved. The Council Meeting concluded at 8:24 p.m. The Regular Voting Meeting was broadcast on local government Channel 19. A true copy of the Council meeting DVD is available for the public to purchase from the Municipality of Murrysville and is in the Murrysville Public Library for review. car 2/12/2016