Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

and um you know another reputable place um as a form of business okay anything else you guys want to add or would that be would that be on both sides or just the the South Side it just depends on how many cars we end up getting so you know we I'm not sure exactly how big we're going to be at first but you know we you know we got the means and the funds that start it and and I have lots of experience so I've been in the car business for that five to six years under one of the biggest used dealerships in WTO and so uh you know I feel pretty confident that we'll have at least the one side full and maybe the other side for you know eventually if we have enough cars so and would it be just car cells not automotive repair Tire cells that kind of thing yeah no primary use for automotive repair just basic repairs to the cars which should be done inside the building so okay wouldn't be any wouldn't be any stalled cars or anything setting out all vehicles would be operable and ready to sell so no problems there yep one more the fence that's currently there would that stay or would you put a pool around it and um we would plan to keep the fence there as far as I know um that would just you know be for security and just for you know advertisement you know potentially um to put on along the fence line and everything of course it' be subject to whatever the city would like to see with that so okay tell only how many square foot is [Music] that do you have it Y and the boys is talking about fixing that fence that desperately needs I'd like to take it down but then it become a parking lot for everybody else so but they already talked to me about repairing the fence making it all look

good and how many cars do you think you put out there because it said something in the in the or or the policy that you have to have like for every employee there needs to be a parking spot right yeah and there would be so we'd be the only the only technically employees you know um so I probably say starting off at least 10 10 to 20 give or take is where we probably start off at and hopefully go from there so so the law itself it's they're looking at 529 North Walnut and this is just the side the parcel on the South Side um we briefly discussed that second parcel on the North side but we're going to run into some other issues with our zoning codes because there's not a primary structure on that site um so to have a car lot across I mean it's Lots on opposite sides of of a street so they're not necessarily adjacent to each other so and we've had those conversations I talked at link with Nathan about it um they're primarily interested in this slot right now moving forward the 529 North Walnut and then once they're up and running and we can have more conversations about the other side um but that lot is a little over half an acre it's 23358 square feet could hear that many vehicles the 23,000 Square ft right I mean 3,000 square F feet per vehicle correct correct well so there's not a parking requirement or an amount there's no require there's no specific use standards surrounding that in our zoning rigs right now that would be an additional like a new one that we would add that's in this draft language that you've yes work up

yes yeah and then this shows on there you know you've got fast lane that's 15,000 and then the shop which I know there's no cars at the shop right now but 27,000 that's she's showing you the other current ones right and the the 412 North Walnut that came before you last year that one was 9,300 Square ft so in comparison and then there's also the car lot um on North Walnut the the old one that's vacant right now um it comes up in conversation sometimes as well so I wanted to include that as a reference point as well which is 19,618 and there's no decisions that need to be made today so this item we had to do a public notice and there has to be a public hearing so that's why I requested a meeting March 26 so we've made the public notice there'll be a public hearing March 26 this is just a conversation point so you can meet them they could talk about their business plan and we could talk through some of these um revisions and also how it would fit into the comp plan and we could have that conversation today and if there was anything else that you wanted to see I could bring that on the 26th so this is just a discussion Point um for today are you guys going to lease the land or are the the property or you plan on buying it um right now we plan on starting off by leasing it with the potential to buy um in the near future just you know depending on how things go and how success magistrates and everything so and what kind of signage are you planning on putting out there something High something um yeah I mean something probably I it kind of depends on the regs for that on what we need to follow um we' just be open to whatever regs that are pre-existing um outside of that you know just a normal what you would think to be signed you know dealership requirements only require like a 10-inch sign so I mean we don't

doesn't need to be anything massive or anything or too high up from what I read in the rigs but um you know any anything that's openable but yeah there would be ample signage um never everything so and I went through some of these Revis well through all these revisions that I was putting in here and was going to present to you today I discussed those with Nathan and it didn't appear like any of them were going to hinder their operations so they were supportive of them as well she's got she's got in here eler minimums you know handovers maze that's nice got we did some comparisons and they're they're up here that our codes are pretty restrictive compared to other municipalities that I looked at um they all either don't have minimum lot requirements or the 10,000 square feet seems to be pretty consistent you I think before the that got changed to one acre it was 10,000 square foot yeah I have the old codes I I didn't go back and look at them but I can and it was 10,000 came me some of these draft amendments that you've come up with from looking at these other communities and stuff like that had you had a chance to visit with with these gentlemen on those items and scen okay yes good yeah and then once we um obviously once the zoning um you know if you guys permitted to change um I know obviously our process starts once once that process ends so of course you know once we're able to get it changed we still

have you know anywhere from four to six weeks before we can get our dealer license pushed out and open so you know of course not to you know press time too much but it would be helpful for us to get that process started of course but of course that's totally up to the city I expedited the timeline as much as I could course so at this point the only thing that's making it a conditional use is because of the lot size or so it's not a conditional use okay um it's an allowed so this property Zone C3 a car lot is an allowed use in C3 it just has a specific use standard that it must be on an acre okay rather than the 10,000 square ft that is the minimum lot cover or lot requirement for a C3 Zone lot so this would be remove striking that specific use standard for the one acre and then adding the other items that are highlighted yellow um just you know no repair work conducted except in enclosed buildings making sure there's still a parking barrier around the outside so cars don't encroach um on the RightWay you know talking about outdoor loudspeakers certain advertising outdoor storage of inoperable Vehicles requesting that there is a site plan um that just ensures that we're looking to make sure there's still site circulation and there's employee parking and customer parking setting some parking requirements with the 3,000 square feet um one space per 3,000 square feet of open sales lot area so those things can all be changed um but you know and some of the municipalities to kind of still keep some constraints uh around that business for how you want it to fit into the community fit into that area and what you want it to look like

too 3,000 square feet per car is that a lot I mean that 3,000 sare feet is seems a lot you guys are okay with that 3,000 guys agreed I mean of course if if it could be lowered that would be great obviously you know cutting a little bit more cars in there you know but nothing obviously we're not trying to pack in this place and we're trying to be reputable use car dealership you know like a small town just what you wouldd expect for the area to be something that you know um you could do get a first car at or you know for whatever reasons it could be a good resource for the community so I think obviously it would be helpful to have a little bit more cars you you know um on the lot than that but we'll kind of take whatever we can get in regards stay 3,000 you can only get seven cars on that W right correct yes it seems like a lot think per car I don't know what the average square footage of a car is but when I'm thinking of a house you can park two or three cars in a house of 3,000 square feet yeah I mean if you look at the lots and like witch stuff they they take about like a normal size parking spot for a car you know and so we have gav how big is is Scott's lot do you know I'm say it's okay A little smaller it might be a little smaller but so this would be how many customer parking spaces yeah so okay not for the cars that they're selling this is you need a parking space for each employee and then so the building takes up so I don't know how much the how big the building is I could look it up but the lot's 26,000 Square ft your building is is however many square feet what's left of open sales area for every 3,000 square ft they would need one customer parking spot

okay yeah I was gonna say I was like which this was just to try and ensure there were customer a couple customer spots and not everything was devoted to sales cars right makes sense which would most of the time be common sense but you'd be surprised sometimes anybody else from the commission have any questions for these gentlemen okay thank you guys for coming today for your time appreciate it I don't think we're looking for a motion right now or anything like this just a discussion Point yeah yeah um is there anybody else that would like to talk on this item since we've got it open for discussion okay any other comments yeah I like your recommended changes KY except I think we need to okay and we'll we'll still have more discussion on this item later in the meeting as well yeah we can just change the language on that a little bit maybe add in the stuff about sign ordinances just because I know that's a big deal you know making sure that they comply with them it'll just be that they have to comply with what's already in the zoning code okay perfect yeah and there'll be a way for us to to work so there's permanent signs and there's also temporary signs so I think we could talk about a combination of of kind of both for okay thank

you okay well I'm just going to go back to the top um unless you have you didn't have any okay perfect okay so our second item now we're going to look at is our January 13th 2025 Planning Commission meeting minutes um just everybody's had a chance to review those see if there's any changes that need to be made or Corrections and if not then I'll entertain a motion we'll move Nick to approve the minutes second okay have a motion and second all in favor right all right motion carries all right next item on the agenda is fp225 d04 a one-step preliminary and final plat for the red bird Meadows Edition and at this time I will turn it back over to came in for a report yes good morning um so this is for a onstep pan final plot this is out in the growth area um this property is located north of Highway 54 and east of Diamond Road um there's actually two properties um that are being platted they're shown as lot one and lot two um on this illustration hopefully everybody can see so lot one is part of this larger parcel that has the orange slash lines on it um lot one is being split from the larger lot and platted um so it there is a current house there right now and the owners are wanting to do a real estate transaction to sell what is going to be lot one with that house on it but preserve the rest of the large lot um and then lot two some of those boundary lines were changing as part of lot one so it's also included in the plat um currently this area um is zoned so in our future lanus map it's zoned

agricultural but in our zoning regulations it's zoned a C3 um but either way it would need to be ploted and also rezoned um for this use so the current and proposed use is going to be rural residential um the property is currently owned by Troy and Jenny Palmer and they are here um as well as the family that is going to be purchasing lot one um the applicants requested the subject property be platted um it is 4.3 Acres um and the applicants as I said are planning to sell the property with the existing house for residential use um the applicant also owns numerous adjacent properties which is everything in Blue on this map so you can see the yellow square is where lot one will be um lot two is to the right and then everything else in blue is owned by the Palmers So currently the zoning to the North and South is A1 and Farm Homestead zoning to the east is C3 but according to our zoning Rags but it's it's a vacant lot right now um and Zoning to the West is also used as rural residential um the next section is where I talk about the discrepancy between our luse map and our zoning regulations um right here in the white on our land use map it's agricultural um this area is served by wellwater and septic and by evergy so there's no other Public Utilities going in

so I will stand for any questions if not I'd recommend approval of zoning case FP 20254 a one step preliminary and final plot of red bird Meadows Edition Amy will you go back to the first picture it looks like the lots are encroaching is that just four lines drawn or it's just squares okay it's it's not in the plot so I can bring the plot up okay that's fine how much is that l two is in a flood plane so it shows right here on the plat this is all flood plane and then so this is lot two and then this is lot one with the current house on it does anyone from the audience want to come and speak on the side him at all Gerald Dixon goodi surveying and answer any questions uh there is a a house and barn on lot two well it was an office and it's been and turn into a residence but it's not in the flood

plane it's the structures right there lot two is seven acres and lot four I'm sorry lot one is four .3 and this has already been platted and recorded is this no that we're we're doing the one step final plat at the same time in result so Cammy would we be approving turning both of these Lots R residential is that what we would be doing so this action right now is just to approve the plat okay the next case will be the zoning but that would be both of them too no it's I just did the zoning on the rot one okay on lot two they not planning on putting another house it's just keeping lot two they're not another house on lot two just the house that's still that's right so I we talked mainly about lot one lot two has existing buildings on it um but what was proposed for the future we did not discuss it's already so they're just barely changing the boundary lines of that lot so it's it's I don't so this boundary right here I would say this boundary and this boundary are what we really changing on lot two and that was so there wasn't a boundary line going through the existing buildings

anyone have any questions for Gerald I don't thank you um I don't have an open public hearing here so no you can I think you can make a motion I make a motion that we approve fp- 202- Z4 second okay I have a motion and a second all in favor all right motion carries all right this did go through the Butler County Planning Commission as well and they were supportive of this plat um I got notification yesterday that it was approved and then um this will go in front of the city council on April 7th and then it looks like the it'll go in front of the Butler County Commission on SE I highlighted it okay the one it's a 60 page package okay just checking that's why I not it I got notification yesterday it had gone through Butler County and was approved okay okay so next item on the agenda is yep RZ 20 25-3 zoning district reclassification for property located at 9716 Southwest Highway 54 from C3 General commercial to RR rural residential and back C so this is also about lot one um in the previous case that we just went through this property is again owned by

Jenny and Troy Palmer currently it's Zone C3 um but they're requesting for it to be zoned as rural residential and that is the current use of the property um the SI the excuse me the lot size is 4.3 acres and again this is located north of Highway 54 and east of Diamond Road um so earlier today you heard and approved a one step p and a final plat for this area called red Bird's Meadow Edition um notice of that of this public hearing for the rezoning um was published February 20th um on our website and letters were sent out to adjacent Property Owners within 1,000 feet the zoning to the North and South is agricultural the zoning to the east is Z3 and the zoning to the rest West is rural residential Public Services again this site is served by wellwater septic and by everg for electrical staff does find that as presented The Proposal can meet the zoning criteria and the golden factors and recommends that the Planning Commission approve zoning case RZ 20253 a zoning district reclassification from C3 General commercial to RR rural residential district for property located at 9716 Southwest Highway 54 if approved the zoning case will go before the city council on April 7th 2025 based upon information available prior to the public hearing um planning staff recommends that the request be approved for the following reasons so these are the golden golden factors that we'll go through next number one the zoning uses and character of the neighborhood surrounding properties are unincorporated they are

developed with single family residences and for agricultural use property to the east west and North are identified as residential in the comprehensive plan property directly west is identified as C3 General commercial and is currently vacant current land use is residential number two consistency with the comprehensive plan vision and character of the city of Augusta the request to reone is in conformance with the Augusta action comprehensive plan number three adequacy of Public Utilities roadways and other public services relative to the ant anticipated impacts of the proposed use wellwater septic and evergy serve the property all public services are provided to the area staff do not anticipate an increase in public utilities or Services due to the rezoning number four the suitability of the subject property for the uses to which it has been restricted staff do not see any issues with the subject property being zoned as RR rural residential current lus is residential number five length the time property has remained vacant as zoned the property has not been vacant however the currently land use is residential number six extent to which removal of the restrictions will detrimentally affect nearby property staff does not anticipate that approval of the request will have significant negative impacts on the surrounding properties number seven compatibility of the proposed District classification with nearby properties staff does not see an issue with RR rural residential being adjacent to other RR rural residential Cal number eight proportionality of losses impacts to individual property owners in the immediate vicinity relative to the net gain net public gain for the community at large approval of this application is not anticipated to have significant detrimental impacts to the public health safety or welfare denial of this application could represent a loss in the use and enjoyment of the applicant's property number nine public input no input

positive or negative has been received from the public at the time of the staff report so with that I would suggest um to open the public hearing okay at this time I'll open the public hearing if there's anybody that wants to from the audience wants to come up and talk about this item they can do so the H up any questions from uh the members at this time I will close the public meeting and then I will entertain any other questions or a motion I'll make a motion for RZ 20 zoning district reclassification for property located at 9716 Southwest Highway 54 that will go from C3 General commercial to rural residential distri second have a motion and a second all in favor I motion carries okay next item on the agenda is c2025 d02 a conditional use permit to allow an event center at 427 Northstate street we will consider approval for conditional use permit at this address get back to came for staff all right so this item originally came before you I believe in December um for the public hearing um on the conditional use and a motion was made to table this item while staff went and gathered some more information also the applicant wasn't at the previous meeting um but she is here today to

answer any questions um in the staff report there are items that are in red text and this is what has been added to the staff report since December um additional information was provided from the applicant about possible operating hours um so she listed those as the operating hours would be 8:00 a.m. to 10 p.m for pre-booked appointments and also um remember she is also going to office out of that space is my understanding so she'll be operating her business as well as special events out of this building um when a private or personal event is booked the cut off time would be midnight noting it may take another half hour or so to get everyone out so while the event would end at midnight you would still need to get the patrons out and then there would still be staff there cleaning up um as well and the next bullet point staff hours would be between 6:00 AM to 2: am um for setup and cleanup um Monday through Sunday 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. um I looked at what the common consumption hours were for State Street and those are Thursday Friday and Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 10: p.m. um and then I had mentioned that we had done a similar conditional use like this um with a business in Kai Kansas so I provided what those conditions were put on that business and its old school Tap House and their operating hours were restricted to Sunday through Thursday 10:00 a.m. to 10: p.m. and then Friday and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. um the cup was later revised to allow us start time of 8:00 a.m. um because they wanted to serve breakfast and I think really the closing hours were more of the concern than the beginning hours um and those were originally provided by the applicant and

then they decided that they wanted to serve breakfast so it was amended other businesses in austa sugar shanes is open Monday to Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and they're closed on Sunday um bricks bar girl maybe you guys can help me with some insight because their website hours I think are all wrong um it says they're open till 2 am every single day which I yeah I don't I don't yeah especially on Sunday I don't believe they're open until 2 am so um but red bud Brewing they are closed on Monday Tuesday to Thursday they're open 3:00 to 9:00 p.m. Friday FRS 3:00 to 11:00 p.m. and Saturday noon to 11:00 p.m. um so the recommended um action before the Planning Commission was to approve um the zoning case let's see it's down here and apply certain conditions to it conditions 1 through 4 were included in the previous staff report a fifth condition was added um that restricts operating hours so this is just a proposal these can be amended in the final motion um Sunday to Thursday 8: a.m. to 10: p.m. Friday and Saturday 8: a.m. to midnight and staff is allowed outside operating hours um for setup and cleanup so I will stand for any questions or clarification I know it's been a couple months since this case came before you um and again the applicant is here as well um if she wants to speak or if you have any questions for her would the applicant like to come up and

visit yeah good morning my name is debie Bowman my address I live at 143rd in Kellogg uh the property in question is the 427 State Street downtown austa what would be the occupancy of an event that that was full is it will it hold 60 people 100 people currently um from Bill Morris the architect from what he has determined is 300 is the maximum o occupancy what is your time frame on this how would everything be up and going well um it's going to be done in some phases so the first phase is to more let get me into the building so um that hopefully will begin in the next month month and a half so that'll just be basic you know um replacement of the windows fixing the windows HVAC just some basic you know things just to to get me in and I initially I would just be running Bowman and Company which is an event rental company so it wouldn't be an event center probably that's probably a year and a half out last time that we fire escape was The Neighbor Next Door was concerned about fire escape has that been remedied have you talked to the um I have talked with Bill Morris about that the um architect and I have talked

to I have talked to the uh the fire department about that also so I mean there are plans to have another one built but as of right right now yeah it it has been addressed with with the the fire department and as staff as long as it meets our building codes that is the recommendation as staff I do think Midnight's too late to stay open or to keep your guest there I think it should cut off at 11: that's when common consumption ends that's most venues are they stop at 11 o'clock allows the Patron's time to than your Bo and there's lots of airbnbs there's people that live up in apartments there I think if you keep them up till 1:30 if it's a Rowdy group I I think we'll get complaints I think instead of a midnight shutdown time I think it should be 11: yeah I guess I would say to be competitive with the other venues in the area in Witch uh they a lot of them do close at 12 o'l sometimes last call is 11 but probably the biggest thing to that I would see as a business owner in downtown is to shut probably shut down is if there's a band a band or DJ um probably you know shutting that down probably 11:30 12:00 so there's no

more you know loud music but um I guess my understanding is from the the bars downtown it seem you know they online it shows that they close at 99 maybe they shut down the the uh uh the restaurant at or the the kitchen at 9:00 but they stay open till 11: 11 on just they said if people are still there at the at the business that they they still stay open any other questions for the applicant I do thank you very much okay so discussion so we've got a recommendation here um has brought about about change of the time a little bit how's everybody feel what's everybody want do not in favor of changing the times I'd be in favor of leaving it at midnight okay I'm just Here's my thought is if you're there you're having a wedding most people are going to want to stay a little bit later than 11: a lot of money to have it bricks is still open till 2: a.m they could have bands going down there till two they can't yeah the city doesn't have a noise ordinance there's a like amplification

ordinance but that doesn't apply to any of the type of music or noise that will come from this venue or any of the other bars downtown um so I spoke with Chief aurman and he said if it's part of their business their operations like they can have the music um it just needs to stop when they operating hours and so yeah I don't think R cuts off drinks at 11 I've never shut down so that's what I'm saying but if you say you're going to close at 11 okay I theater when we leave on Friday and Saturday or night there's nobody at Sugar Shake she said though that even though they close at 9 personally there's people bricks that later than that yeah but bricks is on the other end of the block and I don't think there's part that to me is it's just it's inherent if you're going to live downtown that's just this is part of what you have to accept living down in the middle of of the business district I'm kind of on the same page as you j i I think 12 I mean for an event like that I mean it's not uncommon think 11 be a little bit limiting I'm 12 12 J 12 I don't have a vote but I kind of like 12 too so

so and mainly because that's what the applicants requesting and that's what they need to operate their business so yeah I'm honestly just I think it's exciting to see something happen with this vacant building that's you know that's been you know it' be nice to see this can I ask how long have you owned the building 2009 I also believe there's other people people in the audience that would like to speak on this item oh okay okay if anyone like to come up and state your name and address and morning morning morning Tracy eart I own the building next door 431 State Street I know I spoke to you guys at the last meeting or the first meeting um and I voiced some concerns and I am for having the building occupied and something going on with it after the first meeting I did come up with a few more concerns so if you guys are familiar with it it used to be the old Calvert's building and it the two buildings were joined there were openings between the two sides I don't know how those have been closed off how they when they were how they were originally separated I was told it was sheetrock they just kind of built a wall and that was it so after thinking about it with those two openings that would go directly into my building I'm worried about sound during the day when I'm trying to run my business so is there a way I don't know what your plan is Debbie um is there a way to soundproof that or to help soundproof it obviously it's not going to be completely soundproof the other thing is I don't know if I can show you guys can I come up can I approach you because all I have is a picture on my

phone can I show you that sure yeah okay so what I'm going to show you is the front of the building and the back of the building and how there's three Windows going directly into one of the apartments that I own upstairs we had Bill Morris had brought up having a band possibly outside on the roof and that's going to to go directly to one of my Apartments I'll come over there too it's one wall separating yeah there's a patio upstairs that we were talking about at the last meeting if you were to have outdoor music that is directly into those apartment this where they'd be doing the outdoor stuff right here if if Bill Morris was correct in that she wasn't here last night these are your apartments for your window okay yes I get and then the only thing separating from her building to my building is one wall and like I said there were openings I don't know if that is soundproof or not since I've on the building there's never been anything in there so I don't know I mean can you see the openings where they've enclosed them on her side on her side you can but not on mine it's just a sheetrock wall so I don't know that's why I wanted to address that would be part of that immi um because I don't know with the sound if that would if they're having a band if people

are you know doing what they do at a wedding it it may be a sound issue while I'm trying to work during the day what what are your hours on say Friday and Saturday you're shut down on Sunday correct you know but I'm not asking for anything after 5 o'clock to be you know my concern after 5 o' is for the people outside windows are right there on the building so that's it's just my my concern I don't want to stop her but sound is my biggest my biggest concern you have both apartment one and two rented right now yes okay yes and it would be it would affect those apartments but not so much the front apartment which would be 433 the back apartment if she was to do outdoor things is what I'm concerned about Debbie I have a question for you um on this rooftop it's it sounds like a patio additional venue space on the rooftop is that phase one phase two phase three phase four I mean where is that how far down the road with that yeah that's probably one of the last items and has there ever been anything on that

roof um well in the in several year yeah there's been when I bought it there was um there was furniture out there there was a dog run out there there was a satellite dish out there um yeah and I would say the um Tracy people will get onto my onto my roof they've we've seen stuff out there probably ass I'm assuming associated with them the church next door used to use the roof as their one of their main exits they would go out and come over on my roof and go down the the Escape or the the fire escape so it's been walked on used quite a bit so it structurally sound for say a 100 people to be out there it is not right now there are plans there are are architectural plans to have it structurally yeah sound anybody else wanted to talk on that is that okay okay a little more information now how's everybody feel you're approving a conditional use permit to allow an event there's no public here yeah yeah there's

no yeah on this one it's just opened and yeah so you can ENT you can can make a motion with conditions or you can make a motion to approve Z 2013-02 conditional use permit 429 North State Street allow ception Hall and Event Center second with the conditions that are in the staff report yes okay and no change of the time correct no change no items 1 through five with operating hours Sunday through Thursday 8: a. to 10 p.m Friday and Saturday 8: am to midnight and staff is allowed outside the operating hours okay I have a motion and a second or any so all in favor or not I okay motion carries okay next so next item we're going to look at the 2025 Planning Commission calendar been revised right I'm S I think this is the third time I brought this calendar before you and I apologize I feel like every time I look at it there is a date on here that is wrong and then it creates a Cascade of other dates that are wrong um I don't know I I don't know why it's giving me such a hard time this year so I apologize for that um I so there's two calendars included in here and I wanted to have a conversation with you and I know we've talked about this in the past but I'll bring it back up um so the Planning Commission used to have two meetings a month and I had suggested moving to one meeting a month and then now I've gotten this request to expedite um some planning cases hence the March 26th meeting which is now included on the calendar as well rather than having to call a special meeting every month I proposed a calendar that does have two

meetings a month and then if we need to cancel that second meeting I'll go ahead and cancel it because that's easier from an administrative standpoint to cancel a meeting than it is to call a meeting so the ones highlighted in yellow on this first calendar would be the second meeting of the month that would be there as a placeholder if we need it or would be cancelled if we don't need it I would not use this meeting to bring just discussion items or anything they would be actual like hearings or items that need need to get moving um if it was just a discussion item I'd save it for the regular regularly scheduled first meeting of the month so there's this calendar and then there's also the second calendar that doesn't include those meetings it does include the March 26th meeting but if we needed an additional meeting I would call a special meeting so this would just keep us from the emails I sent out going is everybody available this we would all know that this was a possibility um I don't know if that helps your planning or what conversations you guys want to have around that like first calendar with the opportunity to have that second meeting because it does expedite things because we've heard from the public that we're slow yes so this would help alleviate that issue and as long as we have a quum you're not slow it it would also speed up that going to anything needed to go to council to be voted on corre yeah I mean having that extra meeting in there can always help I mean just with the text amendments that were bringing on the 26 for public hearing those would have had to wait another two or three weeks

um so okay as long as we're not having a meeting to have a meeting we will not be having a meeting I will not we will not be having a meeting to have a meeting I promise okay I will cancel meetings I think I can have Susan that'll vouch for me good enough for me so based on that how do y'all feel do you guys want to go to the the new calendar with the two proposed dates yes yes yes down here okay sounds like everybody's in favor that can you make a motion and vote please yeah I move that we uh revise our 2025 plan calendar to include two meetings per month a second okay have a motion and second all in favor all Jak that was kind of are you sure yeah okay motion carries and I really hope I didn't get any dates wrong again I'm sorry okay as long as they Wednesdays and not Monday yeah next item we have a proposed amendment to section 10-36 of the adopted zoning regulations regarding Self Storage uh commercial and this is going to be for staff report and discussion yes um so the one we heard earlier was about the car lot this is very similar for um commercial Self Storage we've also been approached from a couple different business owners um that want to open storage facilities different parts of town um but one that um we're really looking at it is on Walnut Street um and see it's 19,000 Square ft and again this is a business that is C3

which minimum lot area for C3 is typically 10,000 square fet in our zoning RS but this has a specific use standard to require an acre um so I did the same research as I did for the car lots came across very similar findings um we do have a couple self commercial self storage in town already I captured two of them just to so show the different lot areas so there's one on 7th Street um it's 31 almost 32,000 square feet um The Other Self Storage on Walnut there's actually two lots so those combined are 60,000 square feet um there's also I guess the loot coverage requirements so the two current businesses are pretty much 100% lot coverage um and our zoning rags we have 40 and 50% lot coverage whether it's in C3 or if it's an industrial area and I feel like there are still so like maze they have a 45% lot coverage requirement um Derby goes anywhere from 70% to 100% um Andover is at 50% so and I believe they're at 50% they do a lot with Landscaping so when new businesses come in the required to have so many feet of Frontage um and sides as landscaped um which if you're looking at Walnut Street that wouldn't be consistent with the development that's there already um so again I have some draft language um removing the acre requirement adding some more um prohibitions to what can be stored in

these commercial self storage areas also requiring a site plan again so we can see what the lock coverage is we can make sure the drive aisles are wide enough and that there's site circulation um some other items that I was thinking about too is maybe if it's you know less than so many square feet you're not allowed to store RVs or something because I can see also people coming in and wanting to get kind of those covered the very tall large covered for RVs and boats so maybe if it's a maybe require an acre for that type of storage but if it's just commercial self storage and the regular pull down storage bins then that could be 10,000 acres um just throwing stuff out there shipping containers are not allowed shipping containers are not allowed is this that corner right there that's vacant is that there's nothing on it right there okay was driving by I was trying I can that's about the paving requirements on that they would still be required made our hard service requirements um so in C3 that would be concrete and asphalt and Industrial they can have gravel um in certain instances um so it's this vacant lot right here is the one we've been approached

[Music] about there's the car lot um here's one of the other commercial self storage facilities we have in town part of this is um owned by the city I believe that's what it looks like today are they going to keep the original curb cut right there they don't have any plans um I think they talked about closing some of them off there might be more than one so the other item we need to remember is that the city is looking at a road project right here on Walnut um that's what we got together with and T the Planning Commission the city council talked about so I would not be supportive of like ucing any of the setbacks or any of that because I don't know what's going to come of that project and so I wouldn't want to allow them to not have those front setbacks or side setbacks or rear setbacks because I don't want to come in and rip something out later what I I just don't know what we're not far enough along in the project um I also did I put together PowerPoint if we'd like to go through that real quick um just this is stuff from the comp plan so we can start thinking about the comp plan and these changes to the text Amendment so when we're thinking about the commercial self storage and the car lot how that fits into the comprehensive

plan and so the first slide is just the vision that is in the comp plan um also what the purpose of the comp plan is um so not only to what is the desired future but the needs this needs to go away we go this also the comp plan allows us to shape the appearance of the city promote Economic Development um and we use our policies to help enforce that and what the community needs are so in the plan the tools that we have to support our comp plan and the vision of the city and one of them is our zoning and subdivision regulations our future land use map that is um in the comp plan our ordinances and policies our Master plans design guidelines our CIP program so that would be the Walnut Street improvements um the road diet that we're looking at that would be in our CIP plan so all of those things help progress the vision of the city again these are Clips straight from our comp plan um so here's what came from our stakeholder groups of what makes Augusta great and what is needed more in Augusta in the future um some of it talks about more shopping retail and Commercial Services and attractions you know it talks about some more supporting Economic Development it also talks about having more sidewalks and quality of life um um be beautification and this is our future land use map that's in the comp plan and so this this is Walnut right here hopefully you can see my

arrow um this is DJ and so this area right here is where the car lot is looking um to locate and then further down here is where the storage fac facility would be and the future land use map this is identified as mixed use local commercial but that is not what is currently there on walnet what's there on walnet right now is your heavier commercial your C3 um so the next map is what is how it's currently zoned so again you can see we have a lot of industrial here for DJ and then on the other side it is General commercial and your C3 on both sides of Walnut so that's the discrepancy we talked about in the land use map versus what current zoning is and kind of what we need to have those convers excuse me conversations about what we want that development to look like on walnet and I feel like both of these types of businesses being C3 General commercial businesses if you open car lots and Commercial Stu storage on walnet then that would set the direction as remaining General commercial heavier commercial on Walnut in the future um and these are just um definitions from the comp plan just defining what the difference is between what we call C3 the major commercial and then your local commercial and that that L use map is used as our guideline and development so major commercial is identified in areas along the highway corridors um and at Major intersections so that would fit into Walnut being a

highway um and the next slide are just more EX serps from the comp plan we do have a Gateway design guideline criteria in our comp plan which I feel like Walnut is a gateway into the city as well um and this property for the commercial Stu storage would be right when you come into town one of the first properties that you see yes there is yeah they did a nice job with that too I think I mean it looks you know that that doesn't look bad over there yeah and he continues to make improvements to it as well I think they were just installing the automatic Gates as well for that area and then this is straight from the zoning book um so the first two have to do with Automotive Maintenance and vehicle sales and where they're allowed or where their conditional uses within the zoning districts and then the final one is your self storage commercial and it's a conditional use in C2 but it is an allowed use in C3 and Industrial but it does have those minimum lot requirements so it's just to help to know form the conversation um that we need to be having and I didn't want you to have to make a decision the very first time that you see these text amendments so I thought if you had any concerns or ideas of what you would like to see in the zoning code I definitely be happy to to take those under consideration and get them added into the staff report for the public hearing on March 26 so if we wanted to make this minimum

lot size for the storage down that's what we need to do that the March 2 yes it'd be for the car lot and for the commercial Self Storage they'll both come as separate items so it would be an opportunity to reduce those minimum lot size requirements and then also to add any other requirements that you may want to add in the specific use standards so Cammy on this particular lot you said it's got this 19,886 for the lot area right but are you saying the city owns a portion of that 19,000 um I don't know if it was the city it might have been the refinery it's the refinery they own that corner it's the refinery okay we the sign is where the sign is yes yeah there's a [Music] corner okay so this so this is the lot right here we're discussing and then the corner right here where the sign is so this is owned by the refinery and then I believe they own something over here too who takes care of that Refinery lot I bet it's not the refinery well our sign is on it at least that like as far as this particular lot goes if we're able to use that area there's some nice buffering that can happen right there like as far as you're talking about your entrance goes right and then there there are residential houses here that's not how

it is zoned um but there are single family homes here but there is like an alley and there are a lot of trees that are already here so it kind of serves as a natural buffer but it's also something we could put into the specific use standards is making sure that if it's back if a commercial Self Storage is backed up to a residential area that they have to provide you know their rear setbacks and they have to provide certain buffering or Landscaping um you know there's a whole spectrum of commercial Self Storage so I believe in wital you have to have someone on site so you have the facil facilities where there's no there's no doors allowed on the outside right so you have the brick facade going all the way around you have the storage inside and then there's someone that lives on site in that front building the front office building and that's a requirement um there's other communities where that's not a requirement it's not a requirement in our zoning RS right now to have someone on site 24 hours a day but you could there are communities where they still have those requirements to where you know if it's a residential you can't have doors on that on those outside they extend the side setbacks they make them larger if they're up to residential so those are all things that we can consider as well because it's not just going to be opening it up to this site only it's going to be opening it up to every site that is Zone C3 um to be able to have this type of business there any thoughts from the

commission I think we need to size and bring that to March 26 do you want me to look at more buffering requirements okay I mean there's that hedro back there yeah we do we do have buffering requirements and the zoning code right now that there would need to be something between C3 and residential um but we could always add to that as well what is the rear set back on that that's just what IR they home just so the rear set back is 15 ft and that front setback on that's 25 not even see it's yes the front setb back's 25 the side setbacks are five and the rear is 15 um and then we do also have this maximum loot coverage of 40% that be increased to 50 yeah that seems like most of them have got it at 50 don't they like and overs at 50 yes so it can be increased and and that would be across well but we already have two two current storage facilities that I right yeah

they were probably built prior to these codes so they were grandfathered in um we could put 50% lot coverage in the specific use standards part of the zoning code that is that's the chapter that we um made a notification for the public hearing on if you wanted to change increase the lot coverage requirement to 50% for all of C3 we would need to schedule a second public hearing to change that section of the book but we can at least add it for commercial Self Storage So when you say 50% does that mean you got to have 50% or more or 50% is all you can cover 50% or less and that includes the pay area as well what I was thinking yeah so it includes your parking lot all the paved area because that's imp it's the impervious surface so it would when you say you have 50% lot coverage you're allowing them to either have a building or ASA on 50% out of it and the other 50% needs to be landscaped that whole area isn't land I understand so 50% minimal for that I think it should be yeah I know in elero they don't uh they don't consider like the concrete that's part of their thing like they don't well they don't have I guess anything on here do they um they don't have yeah they don't have minimum block coverage yeah I've asked somebody there that before and I said what about the concrete and stuff like that was when we were getting into those discussions about the residentials and the pools and all that stuff and they're like I like okay I'm just wondering yeah well they don't have it so yeah they don't mean 50% will kill this deal most likely oh yeah I with the size of the lot I would assume

yeah or or if we do 50% it doesn't have to be the parking lot it's just the building that's not enough room landscape half of it money on it they're not going to not going to financially be right this goes into the conversation we were having about do we want to beautify the city do we want to require landscaping and setbacks or do we just want to allow people to put buildings in concrete over 100% of their lot coverage which I don't know because there's other communities that don't have lot coverage requirements and I feel like they're developing just fine as well um that whole right there doesn't really have beautification right that Corridor does not and so this is when we make changes like this we can't just be focused on this one Corridor like yes this is where the subject property is but we're opening it up to the whole entire city what we probably need to do is Zone some of these corridors differently and so we can have you know zoning that fits with that particular Corridor itself because I would agree you want the development to match what's kind of already there not impose all new yeah and buffering like as far as like buffering with shrubs or trees or any of these type of things can that happen that can happen in the setbacks can't it or not you can put like you can plant like shrubs and you can do landscaping and things like that can't you fence well I don't know because a fence is considered a fixture so I don't know if a fence can go in your setbacks or not but your fence can't your fence can go on your property

line right you just have to know that we may need to take take it out at some point but as far as the beautification stuff it could go like if you said these this has a 25 foot just on this particular one has a 25 foot front setback they could do some beautification in the front of that you know they can't build in that setback anyway that way they have more lock average too you know so maybe it's more about that you know as far as like buff read and your setbacks areas with you know if we want to if we want to do The Best of Both Worlds allow them to have Max coverage of their lock where they could use it but also make it look pretty you know maybe we could do something in the setback stuff just an idea this we don't need to vote on no this isn't a vote but this is if I need to bring any more information to you on March 26 I wanted you to see this prior to that public hearing and then if you have any questions or need more information you know you can request it now or within the next couple weeks if you want to reach out to me if you think of something I'm happy to prepare that information and bring it back this is just a discussion and I will ask on March 26 however like whatever decision vote is made if were able to provide an explanation because that will help me because this will need to go to the city council as well and we've had some of those joint meetings about this Corridor specifically and you know the future of it what it should look like and so I would like some narrative to be able to take to them as well okay but I think when you look at the other communities just on the S like we have our codes are restrictive compared to the other communities and compared to what we've

already got like you said with some of these you know yeah I don't know what Kevin's lot coverage is on that storage area over there but it's pretty full yeah it's I mean I put it it's basically 100% like it's there's a little green space around the and it doesn't look bad you know as far as that goes so well and that's the thing I mean you can require barriers you can require fences you can require you know how they have those little fences around car lots and you can require those as well it's guys got any other discussion on this item we don't have to make a motion just no I I think we need to increase the coverage um for sure because there's just not enough Lots properties in this town that you could conform to anywhere close to that could that just be something that's included in the site plan like you've got that site plan on there that you give us your maybe that we don't come up with an actual number but you give us a site plan that shows us what your coverage amount is and then we can determine that on a Case by case basis because all these lots are different sizes then I would be bringing those to you each time and slowing down the process so we we really need those guidelines so we can be as consistent as possible um I mean there might there could be some wording to maybe where staff has administrative authority to approve you know a 10% variance or whatever that is to the lot coverage requirement um some of those changes I think are going to require revisions to other areas of the code that we didn't include in our public notification so we'll try and bring a plan back to you but there might need to be another public hearing as

well Jake do you have some ideas on what lot coverage you think or you like 100% or so on elero is there no uh Max lot coverage there is not I I just don't feel like we got the land to enforce you know yeah we're pretty restricted here anyway nobody buy it yeah and I'm guessing if you bumped it up to that 75% time you took the setbacks out it'd probably getting you pretty close am I thinking of that right yeah so as far as proposed language do we want to you know she needs some proposed language to bring back to us on the 26 is what she's asking too or 80% yeah I'm good with be good with the 75 not 80 75 to 100 I'm good with so yeah I too I as long as they have adequate drainage that's they problem so they're not all of that is platted so they don't need a plat we don't need a drainage plan we don't need I mean we would want them to hire licensed contractors we would hope that would come through the building process to where they would have proper drainage that would drain away from their building but what you're also doing is adding to the flow that the city is already experiencing I guess because we're going to have less and like less grass and dirt to soak up any water like it's all going to end up in the street so when you think of 100% lot coverage then the Earth's not absorbing any of the water

anymore and it's all going into our storm water system um I don't know like this area Town specifically I don't know if it it's already pretty much 100% covered with concrete anyways but when you think about new builds and new development that's why I think we need to make another zoning section for that fits what's already here and how we've already developed and also what we desire from anything you know if we were to anex and extend out I think the development pattern could be a little different than what is already established here so I guess we will not have an opportunity to really see a drainage plan for any of these properties is there somebody that is it's my that's interested in that lot they're wanting to buy that lot and they've already bought it and they seen the design for the storage units I have not seen the design for these specifically um he does own um lots and other small communities and has storage facilities on them so but we also don't really have any design standards so I wouldn't any reason to not approve what he brings other than it needs to comply with all of our building codes and it needs to comply with our setbacks and our lot coverage and but as far as the design of the buildings we don't have any design standards i' just like to see size and see how much he can fit on there and I can reach out to him

going to get pretty tight but I'm like Cammy we need to be thinking about the other properties in town not so much yeah me too this one just what I was thinking I'd hate to see a storage you and go in that empty pretty ugly yeah and I mean through conversations there are some other locations where potential buyers are looking at commercial Self Storage so you know if we open it up we open it up everywhere we open it up to Ohio we open it up to 7th Street which a lot of those lots are already in acre so but but they'd have to be Zone C3 right they would have to be Zone C3 yeah okay any other discussion for this time if we give Cammy much direction we didn't [Laughter] really well I mean I provided a lot of information this time so hopefully so if we say 75% coverage they can still come with the conditional use and ask no no no it would need to be a variance and I don't I'm not as lenient with bringing variances as um it would really depend on the lot it wouldn't be just because they want to add more units and they want to exceed it like it would need to be a weird lot or there would need to be something atypical about the property they to allow for the variant be extend circumstances but

like would the Planning Commission feel more comfortable like is there a way to like have you send us like the zoning map for us to see all the properties in the city limits that are Zone C3 because we know now if we open it up that's a conforming use for C3 if uh somebody brings as a storage unit say in a different zoning it would have to be a conditional use so you could just not approve it you know like if you were worried about like if there's something on say North Ohio and it would say C2 or something I'm just making things up um but then you wouldn't you wouldn't have to prove that because that would be a conditional use of permit this would be an allowable use C3 so maybe we look at what we've got in C3 like how many properties we have in C3 even available agree yeah you know so yeah that's a good idea go since we're kind of thinking of this bigger picture right yeah we got to think about the future yeah because I don't know I don't know what a what all property zon3 you know I think my neighbors is they got a lot of cars out there any other items to give Cammy to chew on no sure sign disc

to do yeah you brought that question yeah well for that corner on that corner I don't think a monument sign just because you're going to block 77 I think it needs to be something high so that you're not blocking your view I mean the monument signs are definitely better looking you know there's no argument there but like on yeah but like the jump start one El did the same yeah the jump start you know they redid the jump start in Alero they did the exact same sign like they did here because I was asking Sarah about that I said well they redid that did they no they have so jumpstart they they have their logo they have their design and they do not deviate from it so we were we had made some minor mod or requested some minor modifications and we were lucky to get those because he was it's my understanding that the owner has those set and they are the same for everyone and he he doesn't deviate from the so I don't think they would have put in they would have agreed to a monument sign um it they do look nicer I was but the other argument you're going to get from business owners is that they're usually more expensive is my understanding so you're going to get kind of that push back too from now if you have a Walmart come in it's a lot different to ask them to put a monument sign in is than it is you know when you have local business owners repurposing existing buildings starting a business it's nice when they're in a residential area you know if we could if we could move to maybe that you know like when you have those businesses that are real close to residential it's nice if you could move that to some type of Monument or sign on the building you know as opposed but I don't know yeah that's a whole another large section of the zoning code well my concern is what happens

when that business vacates an area and there's still a sign right yeah so we're we have it in our code to where if it's a non-conform in sign they're supposed to remove it um and replace it with a conforming sign that never happens and it has never been enforced um we are talking internally about how we want to enforce our zoning codes and one of those things would be for the signage to really get start getting those cleaned up we have the ability to find people um but I think it's probably going to need to go through court so it's something that we'll need to talk to the prosecutor about about you know and we we don't have an internal process at all for taking any zoning cases to court so it's something we have to build up but then also what would be the negative impacts of that as well so it's something we'll need to develop and talk to the city council about that's how we want to enforce it but I think that's the only way we'll be able to get compliance um is if we involve or as these properties change ownership if there's an old sign on there you just make the new Property Owners they got to take down the old sign put up what they need to put up to comply with our but how do you do that so most of the time we don't even know that the property has changed hands and then second if they don't if they say they don't have the funds to take it down are we going to prohibit them from opening their business are we going to prohibit them from operating out of there because the sign's not in compliance like it seems like a really easy thing but it's not because it's expensive and so when you ask someone to take a sign down they it

just the property where the Mexican Restaurant on West 7even Street is now closed it is it's my understanding it's for sale they own that property I they were only releasing it so there's another property owner that should be and we have made contact with that property owner and the occupant numerous times we've had so many conversations with them we've requested that they replace even if they put in blank I I don't know what they're called but if they would just put in blank sections of the sign just so it wasn't broken um that would be now open I mean you could probably do that that's deceiving I I mean one of them's a pole I mean a flag sign I mean you could take that off the ground let's go get it when really but if it's not so there's only certain times we can go and take somebody's property so we don't we don't want to create more problems for ourselves um but I there have been so many conversations had with that property owner and like I said the occupant to try and get that rectified but again what do we and I don't our goal is not to find people our goal is for them to come into compliance and I would much rather them use the $500 to take the sign down than to pay a fine um so it's and I don't maybe it will have more teeth if it's coming from a judge I I don't know I'm I'm talking to some other communities that run some other stuff through the court system to see if I can see what their processes are and kind of what their success rate is and other than that I don't we can't

make them we don't have an Avenue to make them take it down um and even if you find them $500 a day that doesn't mean they're going to pay it and then what is the ramification like it it really doesn't affect their ability to open a business operate a business go buy another piece of property go it doesn't really have any have any negative consequences to their personal life so they just don't come into compliance I'm sure if there's a new business that's going to come in there they're not going to use the same name but that I mean they' changed that anyway but my concern is the one that says now open that's not even open I've got a question kind of changing subject here here real quick so about I I you know we're looking at some things in our in our zoning and regs and there was some conversation that we had last summer about you know forming a committee or or looking at you know changing some of those and You' mentioned that there was a do we have a company that's working through that and then now I hear that API has a group that they're going to be looking at that can you can you fill in the committee on what's going on with that it's kind of relevant to what we've seen today so yeah yeah where are we at on that so API has put together a group and they've met once um and Josh and I attended that meeting as well um and we discussed and you guys are welcome to suggest who you would like on this group now too um it's something I want to talk to the city council about as well but having a couple representatives from the Planning Commission couple representatives from city council that way we don't run into open meeting violations When anybody meets um we have the working group from API as well um we're looking at getting some people from the school district um go austa any other community groups that might want

to be involved Main Street and just get one or two people from each group and then we can start meeting and going through some of these changes and really starting with the ones that were either low hanging fruit or ones that we think will have the most impact because I think there's a lot of changes that can be made but they're not all going to be as impactful um as certain changes so I definitely take a recommendation from your board if you wanted to discuss who would be interested in in being in that group I don't know when the meetings would be I don't know necessarily how often we would meet but I am requesting that it be a working board where you know I have people that are also helping to bring ideas and help me re bring research and ideas and different perspective of of what some of these codes should be adjusted to so we do not have a company that's helping us in like we originally thought so our engineering firm is able to help us if we wanted to completely rewrite the codes and they are there as somebody that we could pay to be a consultant and to help with stakeholder engagement sessions and be an expert also because we were looking at um oh what is it called can't think of the name maybe you can help me um um when the codes are specific just to that area so like if we looked at Walnut and wanted to create like an overlay District or something just for Walnut they would be able to help us with that as well yeah no SAR I can't think of the name form based codes yes yeah yeah I was talking to them about moving to form based codes but I'm not sure if they'll work everywhere in the city so we were thinking about targeting areas with form based codes but they would be somebody

we would need to enter a contract with them to help my hope with the working group is that you know a lot of these decisions affect not just like city government but you know also the school district like they want housing and they want to increase their enrollment and they want to see the population grow with the city as well and so I think there's some synergies that can be realized there some conversations that can be had so all moving in the same direction and so they everyone understands the changes we're making and we have this working group that is able to come to the Planning Commission and be a support for us when we bring text amendments and also when they go to the city council for text amendments and that way we make it more of a ongoing you know monthly conversation rather than just when we get an applicant that wants to do something different so um so we we absolutely can I think it depends on how big the project gets if we need to bring someone in from the outside to be a consultant or to provide some like an expert opinion I move that we adj second I have a motion in a second a i everybody's inor y sorry that was an immediate C wouldn't yeah but maybe just think about who would be interested in kind of being part of that that group with us to when when are we meeting with City