Design Review Board Meeting

January 15, 2015 MEETING MINUTES URBANA DESIGN REVIEW BOARD DATE: January 15, 2015 APPROVED TIME: 7:30 p.m. PLACE: Urbana City Building – City Council Chambers 400 South Vine Street Urbana, IL 61801 _______________________________________________________________________________ MEMBERS PRESENT: Alice Englebretsen, Scott Kunkel, Dannie Otto, Jeffery Poss, Kim Smith MEMBERS ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Jeff Engstrom, Interim Planning Manager; Kevin Garcia, Planner II; Christopher Marx, Planner I; Teri Andel, Planning Administrative Assistant OTHERS PRESENT: Dustin Allred 1. CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL, AND DECLARATION OF QUORUM Chair Poss called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. Roll call was taken and a quorum was declared present with all members present. 2. CHANGES TO THE AGENDA Mr. Kunkel requested that the Board add a new item under New Business regarding the Combining of the Design Review Board and the MOR Development Review Board into a single board. Chair Poss agreed. 3. APPROVAL OF THE MINTUES The minutes from the December 15, 2011 meeting were presented for approval. Ms. Smith moved to approve the minutes as presented. Ms. Englebretsen seconded the motion. The minutes were then approved by unanimous voice vote. 4. COMMUNICATIONS  2015 Brochure on the Design Review Board 1  January 15, 2015 5. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION There was none. 6. CONTINUED PUBLIC HEARINGS There were none. 7. OLD BUSINESS There was none. 8. NEW PUBLIC HEARINGS There were none. 9. NEW BUSINESS Election of Chairperson Chair Poss opened this item of business. Mr. Kunkel moved to nominate Jeffery Poss to continue to serve as Chairperson. Ms. Englebretsen seconded the motion. With there being no other nominations, the motion was approved by unanimous voice vote. Mr. Poss accepted the position. Discussion of Amendment to the Official Bylaws Chair Poss opened this item of business. Jeff Engstrom, Interim Planning Manager, explained that the City’s Legal Division has requested that they update the bylaws, and he presented a brief summary of the proposed changes to the existing bylaws. He pointed out that according to Article IX of the bylaws, the Board would not be able to vote on the changes until the next meeting. Chair Poss asked if there was a time period between receiving the proposed changes and being able to adopt the changes. Mr. Engstrom said no. With no questions or comments from the Board, Chair Poss continued this item of business until their next meeting. Discussion of Combining the Design Review Board and the MOR Development Review Board Chair Poss opened this item of business. He asked City staff to give a brief history of the two boards. Jeff Engstrom, Interim Planning Manager, gave a brief summary on the Design Review Board and on the MOR Development Review Board. The Design Review Board is a relatively new board that was created to oversee developments within the Lincoln-Busey Design Review District and the East Urbana Design Review District. The Board includes a resident from each district. 2  January 15, 2015 The MOR Development Review Board was created when the City adopted the MOR (Mixed Office-Residential Zoning District). The purpose of the zoning district is to encourage redevelopments using design guidelines and adaptive reuse of existing buildings along the Green Street and Elm Street area within the district. He believed it would be feasible to merge the two boards, especially since both boards are short two members each. This is something that City staff will look into and present at the next scheduled meeting. Mr. Otto asked if City Council would need to review and make the final decision on this. Mr. Engstrom answered yes. Combining the two boards would require a text amendment to the Zoning Ordinance. Ms. Englebretsen wondered if there had been much activity on the MOR Development Review Board. Mr. Engstrom said no. The last meeting was on December 15, 2011. Chair Poss added that there had been a few cases for the Design Review Board, but they were fairly minor issues and were administratively approved. Ms. Smith asked what the procedure would be to combine the two boards. Mr. Engstrom replied that City staff could work on it and give a presentation to the Design Review Board and to the MOR Development Review Board first or they could just ask City staff to take it directly to the Plan Commission. Chair Poss stated that there may be reasons why it would not be a good idea to merge the two boards, so he thought it might be better to have City staff work on it and bring it back to each board before taking it to the Plan Commission. Ms. Smith added that each board will have to meet again anyway to vote on amending the bylaws, so they might as well have City staff bring it back to the boards. She suggested getting input from the other member of the MOR Development Review Board that does not also serve on the Design Review Board. Dustin Allred, of the MOR Development Review Board, stated that he did not see any problem with merging the two boards; however, he is new to the board since their last meeting in 2011 and has not attended any meetings or reviewed any cases yet. He thought it would be reasonable. Mr. Otto stated that he serves on both boards and did not feel that it would be onerous to merge them. Chair Poss stated that the Design Review Board directed City staff to research and work on merging the Design Review Board and the MOR Development Review Board. He, then, continued the item to their next meeting. 10. STAFF REPORT Jeff Engstrom, Interim Planning Manager, reported on the following:  City Staff Introductions – He introduced himself, Kevin Garcia, Christopher Marx and Teri Andel.  Cases Within the Lincoln-Busey Corridor Overlay District – He talked about the cases that were reviewed and approved within the district. They were as follows: 3  January 15, 2015  807 West Indiana Avenue to repair brick work and install new front stairs on the porch on a house owned by the Twin City Bible Church was approved administratively by City staff and Chair Poss.  807-809 West Illinois Street to install three-new LTE antennas on an existing cell phone tower was recommended by the Plan Commission and approved by City Council.  801 West Indiana Avenue (James Elmo Smith House) was approved by the Historic Preservation Commission as a Historic Landmark on January 2, 2013.  1207 South Busey Avenue (Reed-Sutton House) was recommended by the Historic Preservation Commission as a Historic Landmark to the City Council, who then approved the nomination on June 17, 2013. 11. STUDY SESSION There was none. 12. ADJOURNMENT Ms. Smith moved to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Kunkel seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 7:50 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jeff Engstrom, AICP, Secretary 4