Planning Commission

STERLING HEIGHTS PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING CITY HALL FEBRUARY 13, 2014 LOCATION: City Council Chambers, 40555 Utica Road, Sterling Heights, MI. SUBJECT: Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Planning Commission held February 13, 2014. Chairman Rowe called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Members present at roll call: Ben Ancona, Paul Jaboro, Al Kollmorgen, Edward Kopp, Stefano Militello, Donald Miller, Jeffrey Norgrove, Leonard Reinowski, Gerald Rowe. Members absent at roll call: None. Also in attendance: Donald Mende, City Development Director Clark Andrews, City Attorney Tina Viazanko, Recording Secretary APPROVAL OF AGENDA Moved by Militello, supported by Miller, to approve the agenda as presented. Ayes: Militello, Miller, Ancona, Jaboro, Kollmorgen, Kopp, Norgrove, Reinowski, Rowe. Nays: None. Absent: None. Motion carried. PPCM-1133 C&D LAND DEVELOPMENT, LLC Request Special Land Use Approval for an automotive service center – East side of Van Dyke between 16 Mile Road and 17 Mile Road in Section 22. Property Address: 38190 Van Dyke Mr. Mende stated this case is a Special Approval Land Use for an automobile service center. The petitioner is proposing to open an automobile service center in an existing, vacant, 5475 sq. ft. commercial building. Automobile service centers are allowed as a Special Approval Land Use in the C-3 district as regulated under Section 13.02 I. of Zoning Ordinance No. 278, subject to satisfaction of the requirements of Article 25. The C-3 general business zoning district does permit automobile service centers, subject to special conditions under the zoning ordinance. The petitioner intends to sell and install automobile and light truck tires. The building on this property meets his needs and the only exterior modification needed is the installation of an overhead door. Installation will occur inside the building, as required under the ordinance. The subject property has 130’ of frontage on Van Dyke and a depth of 330’ (1 acre). Abutting properties to the north and south are zoned C-3 (General Business). Abutting property to the east is developed with one-family residential. This building was most recently used as a retail flooring establishment (carpet, hardwood, tile) and has been vacant for nearly four years. Service work at this location will consist of tire sales and installation. The work will be conducted completely within the building with no outdoor services performed and no outdoor storage permitted. After a site inspection, the following items were observed and have been discussed with the applicant: 1) Provide required frontage landscaping. 2) Repair the asphalt parking lot where necessary and re-stripe parking spaces. 3) Ground sign to be brought into compliance. Planning Commission Minutes Regular Meeting of February 14, 2013 Page 2 As part of the plan review and building inspections, these issues will need to be addressed prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy. One improvement is being made to the exterior of the building, to the rear, where they will be installing one new overhead door to allow vehicles to enter the rear of the building on the east side. Mr. Graving, attorney for the owner Mr. Christopher Aiello, 50258 Van Dyke, Ste F, Shelby Twp., was present. His office resides at. The proposed tenant is an occupant of a building also owned by C & D Land Development, currently located at Mound and 15 ½ Mile Road. They have been an excellent tenant and business operator in Sterling Heights. Mr. Norgrove asked during business hours will there only be one door on the side of the business. He questioned what will prevent the petitioner from doing work in the parking lot and what will the hours of operation be. Mr. Graving stated outside operations are prohibited and they will follow the rules. Mr. Kollmorgen asked what the attended hours would be. Mr. Graving did not know. Mr. Kollmorgen stated the satellite view of the back of the property showed several feet of grass, which will add an additional buffer for the residents. Mr. Graving was not familiar with this. Chairman Rowe opened the public hearing. There was no audience participation. Mr. Norgrove asked Mr. Mende if he is satisfied with everything the petitioner has brought to him and the City’s requirement with this. Mr. Mende stated he is. The zoning ordinance prohibits any outdoor repairs and the City has also included that in the conditions of approval. The zoning ordinance also states any violation could result in a show cause hearing. The City is satisfied that if there are any violations, the City would have the appropriate remedies to correct those. Mr. Rowe asked Mr. Mende if he knew the hours of operation. Mr. Mende stated they were not stated in the application. Mr. Norgrove stated he would have a problem approving this without knowing the hours of operation. He is concerned with the residents hearing air compressors going off at night. Mr. Mende stated many of the tire stores in the City typically close at 6:00 p.m. If this is acceptable to the commission, that could be added to the condition of approval. Otherwise the other option is to postpone this to next month or approve it with the 6:00 p.m. time limit. Mr. Andrews stated the Planning Commission has the authority to impose reasonable conditions and given the fact this location is on the East side of Van Dyke where there is a residential area close by that is a different situation than Discount Tire or Pep Boys on the west side of Van Dyke. If the petitioner doesn’t like a time restriction, he can bring it back for reconsideration of the condition before the Planning Commission. In the meantime they would have to live with the condition the Planning Commission imposes. Chairman Rowe stated the two options are to postpone until next month or the Board can place the condition to 6:00 p.m. If the petitioner has an issue with the condition, he can come back before this commission for reconsideration. Mr. Graving stated he did not want the meeting postponed. He stated there will not be any outdoor noise. He was fine with putting the condition to close by 6:00 p.m. Any operation after 6:00 p.m. the door has to be close so there will not be any noise. Mr. Norgrove stated his concern is that there will be no outside work. He wants the assurance that the residents in that neighborhood will not have any issues with noise. Planning Commission Minutes Regular Meeting of February 14, 2013 Page 3 The commission took a five-minute recess so Mr. Graving could try to get in contact with the petitioner to find out the hours of operation. Mr. Rowe reconvened the meeting. Mr. Ancona stated his suggestion would be for the maker of the motion to add item number nine, which would indicate that the petitioners must have the hours that would be consistent with the hours of the businesses that are similar. Mr. Andrews stated he is concerned about that because there was a business that was called All Night Autos and they operated around the clock. Mr. Andrews believes it is too vague. Mr. Ancona stated all we have to do is put a time limit so there should not be a disadvantage to the competition. Chairman Rowe stated the petitioner agreed to the Board stating a specific time and if there is some objection by the petitioner he can come before the Board and there would be no additional fee. Mr. Norgrove stated he is trying to avoid an All Night Autos. If whoever makes this motion can put in noise ordinance times, he would be happy with that. Motion by Militello, supported by Jaboro, In the case of PPCM-1133, C&D Land Development, LLC, 38190 Van Dyke Road, I move to APPROVE the Special Approval Land Use, subject to the following conditions: 1. That the development and operation of the facility shall remain consistent with the scale and nature of the use as described in the proposal, at Public Hearing and reflected on the application received January 16, 2014; 2. That the petitioner shall develop, maintain and operate the facility in compliance with all pertinent codes, ordinances and standards of the City of Sterling Heights, County of Macomb and the State of Michigan; 3. That the petitioner complete the plan review process and comply with all standards of the Offices of Planning, Engineering and Building Services; 4. That the petitioner file a Notice of Approval with the Macomb County Register of Deeds within sixty (60) days after the date of approval of the minutes. Failure to file this notice will serve as grounds to revoke the Special Approval Land Use; 5. The decision of the Planning Commission shall remain valid and in force only as long as the facts and information presented to the Commission in the public hearing are found to be correct and the conditions upon which this motion is based are forever maintained as presented to the Commission; 6. The petitioner complete all landscaping, parking lot and signage improvement to the satisfaction of the Office of Planning prior to the issue for the certificate of occupancy. 7. No outdoor storage of type including tires for resale, scrap tires or other merchandise or secondhand materials of any kind and all installation or repairs done on site in conjunction with the approval be conducted completely indoors. 8. Sale of tires shall be limited to those customarily used on passenger vehicles, pick up trucks and motorcycles. There shall be no sale or taking in of tires for use in commercial trucks, semi trucks or semi trailers. Large recreational vehicles or mobile construction and building equipment. The site shall be used solely for retail sale of used tires. There should be no whole sale, trading or swapping or auctioning of tires at this site. 9. The hours of operation can be no later than 9:00 p.m. Mr. Reinowski asked if the business is solely for used tires. Mr. Graving stated that was correct. Mr. Mende asked for an additional condition that the service door on the east side of the building be closed except for the entrance and exiting of vehicles. Mr. Militello amended his motion and Mr. Jaboro amended his support, to add that as condition #10. Planning Commission Minutes Regular Meeting of February 14, 2013 Page 4 Mr. Ancona stated if there is a violation of the ordinance the residents will call the City and the City will take action. Roll call on motion: Ayes: Militello, Jaboro, Ancona, Kopp, Miller, Norgrove, Reinowski, Rowe. Nays: Kollmorgen. Absent: Motion carried. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION There was no citizen participation. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Moved by Mr. Militello, supported by Norgrove, to approve the Minutes of the January 9, 2014, Regular Meeting. Roll call on motion: Ayes: Militello, Norgrove, Ancona, Kollmorgen, Kopp, Miller, Reinowski, Rowe. Nays: None. Abstain: Jaboro. Absent: None. Motion carried. CORRESPONDENCE There is one correspondence for a tentative case in March. OLD BUSINESS There was no Old Business. NEW BUSINESS There was no New Business. ADJOURNMENT Moved by Militello, supported by Norgrove, to adjourn at 7:37 p.m. Ayes: Militello, Norgrove, Ancona, Jaboro, Kollmorgen, Kopp, Miller Reinowski, Rowe. Nays: None. Abstain: Absent: Motion carried. Respectfully submitted, Benjamin Ancona, Secretary Planning Commission