Zoning Board of Appeals Meeting

February 19, 2014 MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING URBANA ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS DATE: February 19, 2014 APPROVED TIME: 7:30 p.m. PLACE: Urbana City Building City Council Chambers 400 South Vine Street Urbana, IL 61801 _______________________________________________________________________________ MEMBERS PRESENT Paul Armstrong, Joanne Chester, Ashlee McLaughlin, Nancy Uchtmann, Harvey Welch MEMBERS EXCUSED Stacy Harwood, Charles Warmbrunn STAFF PRESENT Jeff Engstrom, Planner II; Rebecca Nathanson, Planning Intern; Teri Andel, Planning Secretary OTHERS PRESENT Sue Dawson, Elizabeth Hendrick, Steve Pickett 1. CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL AND DECLARATION OF QUORUM Chair Armstrong called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. Roll call was taken, and he declared that there was a quorum present. 2. CHANGES TO THE AGENDA There were none. 3. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES The minutes from the October 16, 2013 Zoning Board of Appeals regular meeting were presented for approval. Mr. Welch moved to approve the minutes as presented. Ms. Chester seconded the motion. The minutes were approved by unanimous voice vote. 4. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS There were none. 5. CONTINUED PUBLIC HEARINGS There were none. 1  February 19, 2014 Chair Armstrong swore in members of the audience who indicated that they may give testimony during the following public hearing. 6. NEW PUBLIC HEARINGS Case No. ZBA-2014-C-01: A request by Elizabeth Hendrick for a Conditional Use Permit to allow the installation and use of a catering kitchen and banquet center within an existing building at 801 Killarney in the IN-1, Light Industrial/Office Zoning District. Chair Armstrong opened this item of business. Rebecca Nathanson, Planning Intern, presented this case to the Zoning Board of Appeals. She began with a brief background noting the location, zoning and current land use of the proposed site and of the adjacent properties. She pointed out that the Zoning Administrator determined that the proposed uses are closest to the restaurant use in the Zoning Ordinance. Restaurants are allowed with approval of a conditional use permit in the IN-1 Zoning District. She reviewed the development regulations for the IN-1 Zoning District including the Floor Area Ratio (FAR), Open Space Ratio (OSR), parking and setback requirements. When discussing parking, she mentioned that 11 of the required parking spaces encroach upon the adjacent property to the east, the Woodlawn Cemetery. The applicant is aware of this issue and is communicating with the owner of the Woodlawn Cemetery to secure permission to continue to use those 11 parking spaces for their business. She then discussed the operation of the catering business and future banquet hall. She reviewed the requirements for a Conditional Use Permit according to Section VII-2 of the Urbana Zoning Ordinance. She summarized staff’s findings and explained how the proposed use relates to Goal 28 of the 2005 Urbana Comprehensive Plan. She presented staff’s recommendation. Chair Armstrong asked if the Zoning Board of Appeals had questions for the Planning staff. There were none. He opened the public hearing up for audience participation. Steve Pickett, Architect for the Hendrick House, introduced Elizabeth Hendrick (owner) and Sue Dawson (Vice-President of Food Service). Hendrick House has served students as a residential and food service facility for about 60 years. Over these years, Hendrick House has developed a very outstanding food service, which is what has prompted the proposed request. Chair Armstrong felt that City staff explained the accessibility to the proposed site. How do the applicants see the business as growing in the future outside of the future banquet hall? What impact might the increased growth have on the traffic? Mr. Pickett stated that most of the traffic for the catering use would be residential type vans taking food from the proposed site to other areas in Urbana and Champaign. There would be about 3 to 5 employees that would park their cars in the parking spaces. When the banquet hall opens in 12 to 18 months, it would seat about 95 people. They plan to contact neighboring properties to contract/share parking on their lots. Ms. Dawson added that while they do anticipate expanding their catering business from the proposed location, they do a lot of their catering off-site. Many of their big events would still have to be located off-site because the proposed building is not very big. The future banquet hall use would be for smaller groups such as Rotary luncheons, etc. With no further questions or comments, Chair Armstrong closed the public input portion of the hearing and opened the hearing for the Zoning Board of Appeals discussion and/or motion(s). 2  February 19, 2014 Ms. Uchtmann moved that the Zoning Board of Appeals approve Case No. ZBA-2014-C-01 with the conditions as recommended by City staff. Ms. McLaughlin seconded the motion. There was no discussion. Roll call was as follows: Ms. Chester - Yes Ms. McLaughlin - Yes Ms. Uchtmann - Yes Mr. Welch - Yes Mr. Armstrong - Yes The motion was approved by unanimous vote. 7. OLD BUSINESS There was none. 8. NEW BUSINESS There was none. 9. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION There was none. 10. STAFF REPORT Jeff Engstrom reported on the following:  Planning Staff Update – He explained that Robert Myers moved to St. Charles County in Missouri. Rebecca Bird moved to Wokingham, England. Aditi Kambuj moved to Seattle, Washington. The City of Urbana is working on hiring new planners to serve the City. 11. STUDY SESSION There was none. 12. ADJOURNMENT OF MEETING Chair Armstrong adjourned the meeting at 7:53 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Elizabeth H. Tyler, FAICP, Secretary Urbana Zoning Board of Appeals 3