Zoning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I'm going to call to order this meeting of the Concord Township Zoning Commission for Tuesday, August the 4th. Call to order. Heather? Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Let's honor our country with a pledge of allegiance, please.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Now, Heather, roll call, please.

Mr. Robert?

Here.

Mr. Schindler?

Here.

Ms. Woakley? Here. Mr. Horton?

Here.

Mr. Eifelix?

Here. Thank you for all being present here this summer. Hopefully the last couple months have been pleasant here without any meetings for us. So with that, next on our agenda is approval of minutes. So by memory, does everybody know what March the 3rd meeting minutes were in March the 3rd? So at that time, obviously Mark and Amanda were not here, just the three of us. Any comments on the minutes of March the 3rd? None here, Mr. Chairman. None either. Any action on either of you two on the March the 3rd minutes? No. Okay. Let me ask for a motion to approve the minutes of March the 3rd, 2026. So moved. I have a motion. I second. And a second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. We have the minutes of March the 3rd stand approved. Minutes of April the 7th, 2026. Any comments from the board on the minutes of April the 7th?

None, Mr. Chairman.

None, Mr. Chairman. No. No comments be shared. Let me ask for a motion for approval of the minutes of April the 7th, 2026. So moved again. Motion. I second. And a second. All in favor signal aye. Aye. And the minutes of April the 7th, 2026 stand. Next order of business is correspondence. Any correspondence from any member of the board to report? None for me, Mr. Chairman. None for me, Mr. Chairman. None for me, Mr. Chairman. None as well for me. So moving along very quickly here today, the zoning inspector report. Next on our agenda. Heather, please.

I'm just brief tonight. I know this board hasn't met the last couple of months, but The zoning office has been busy with permit activity and talking with our residents about compliance with certain issues that they may have with their property. I did just want to give a quick update that we did get another, we got a draft version of the comprehensive plan. Staff's still going through that. Hopefully we're just making some fine tunes on that. um so the comp plan is you know almost ready to put out there for the public there is a section of the plan that i think will be beneficial for to give a little bit of guidance you know if and when the plan is adopted by the trustees on some of the decisions that this board has to make regarding how some of the properties are developed along cryo and capitol parkway and things of that nature so hopefully we can get the comp plan finished adopted and lean into that as far as how we make decisions moving forward and how the corridors build out if we need to make changes with zoning or any of our other land use related policies on that but once the plan is finished we're going to put that out on the township's website for a couple weeks likely for some public feedback and then we i think we're going to bring back ms to do a presentation on that before it would be adopted will that be available to us The plan? Oh, yes. At this time or later? Yeah, I'll let you know. Okay. I can give you probably the draft of it for sure. I mean, it's a public record, so I'd be happy to submit to you. But just note that it's still in a draft format. Everybody would be interested in it.

Okay. Thank you.

That's all I have.

That's it? Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Heather. Public participation is our next item on the agenda. Other than the presenters we have this evening, I don't think there's any member of the public to come before this body. So move on to new business. So under new business, our first item is a presentation by our township administrator, Andy Rose, of the plans for the reconstruction of fire station number two, 10154 Prouty Road, parcel number 10-A-029-0-00-013-0. For the colleagues here at the board, this is a presentation as a professional courtesy to the board. There's no action required by the zoning commission. So with that, I'd like to invite Andy. You have the floor, Mr. Robinson.

Chairman, I, Felice, members of the commission, Mrs. Freeman, members of the audience, good evening. On behalf of the trustees, thank you for the opportunity to give you an overview of Fire Station 2. As you know, this project has been planned for quite some time. We started this process back in 2019. Fire Station 1 was built first, and during that time, the fire department in Fire Station 2 has evolved. The existing station is in the same location. However, there's the fire station annex house, which is actually on the actual corner of North Meadow and Prouty and then there was a house that was behind the existing station and we acquired the fire station annex in 2006 and then we acquired the property that was behind it. As luck would have it, the residents at the time were listing the house for sale So we were able to acquire that property to give us enough room to build the new fire station. This fire station as before you was 11,335 square feet. 11,335 square feet. It's double what our existing station is. This is the current layout that's out there. We managed to fit the building nicely and recognize the various required setbacks that are indicated on the first page. We've got a robust landscaping plan. We've got parking, dumpster, generator, small shed for outdoor equipment hiding in the back. and then the public entrance is actually off the parking lot. There's a small sidewalk and then you'll see the public entrance is on the front facing Prouty Road. This station has drive-through access just like our new station one. So you can come in off Prouty, drive off on North Meadow, come in on North Meadow, drive through and pop out to Prouty. So it has great access. And then moving on to the second slide. These are two of the four elevations. This is the north and east elevation. I don't think the colors from the exterior materials come up, but they will when we get to some later slides. You'll get a better indication of how the station really looks. But certainly we went for the ranch, not too tall. Because it's at the entrance of the neighborhood off North Meadow, we wanted to complement that neighborhood. So that is the north and the east elevation. And then the next slide is the south and west building elevations. The south building elevation is what faces Prouty Road. No, I'm sorry. It would be the north elevation that faces Prouty Road. I apologize. So going back, the north elevation faces Prouty Road. The east elevation faces North Meadow. And then the back of the building is the south elevation. And then the west building elevation is there. But the pictures that kind of tell a better story of what it's going to look like, we had the architect provide us some exterior perspectives. And I think this is a good representation, very similar to the materials on station one. fiber cement siding, masonry stone, we put a decorative ground face in, and then the big difference is we did a standing seam metal roof, then we did matching gutters, and then the aluminum storefront windows are there, and then we did the red accent on the apparatus bay doors. And then you can see where there's some landscaping that's depicted there. I'm not sure if that's the exact plant, but it will be something similar, if not that. To keep everything neat and tidy, and then strategically planted along the perimeters to screen both the neighbor to the west and to the south. I know that the fire department has had many conversations with the neighbors. They know what's coming. They've seen the plans. I know that the neighbors have provided input into the landscaping plans and I'm told that their chief reports that they're good with the landscaping plan. And then there's another perspective which gives you a little bit different view. And then they inserted a person there to give you some perspective. And then the flagpole will be on the corner. And then that parking lot that's on the left-hand side, that actually, the parking lot's on the North Meadow side of the building. You can cross where I'm sat with the first slide and see that. The tall needle that's in the back of the building that sticks up, that is not an homage to the CN Tower in Toronto. That is the communications tower that's required. We took it as short as we could and still maintain what telecom says we need in order to provide the radio and microwave laser beam. I don't profess to understand all that, but that's what's needed. So that's what's gonna be tucked into the back so it doesn't look so ominous. We certainly didn't want it in the front. I'm not sure if the commission's aware, but we did, We did open bids, just for some background information. We opened bids on July 29th, and the trustees, after the architect, owner's rep, fire department, did a full scope review Thursday, Friday, and then Monday morning. The winning bid was $7,808,000. I don't remember the change, but $7.8 million, and that contract was awarded, well, Bid was accepted and we've been authorized to proceed and enter into a contract, so we're working on the draft contract documents. Now, I would expect that construction will probably start in about a month with earthwork demoing the old fire station. The fire station annex is being demolished first through the Lake County Land Bank. That's coming down starting Friday. which is the White House that's actually on the corner right now. That will come down starting this Friday. And the land bank was able to take that down under their contract, save us a few dollars. And then once the contract's awarded, then Millstone Management Group out of Chester Township is the winning bidder. And so they will then demolish Station 2. and then the earth work will start. It's about a 10-month build is best guess.

I have a question.

Yes, sir.

When the demolition starts, will all the service, fire service, be coming just from one?

No, we own the house at the corner of Noel Wood and Johnny Cape Ridge Road, and we have, we acquired that house 2016, 2015? Yeah, 2016, I believe. And that house will serve as a temporary fire station. We constructed a pole barn to hold a rescue engine. And the fire department has outfitted a fire engine with all of the rescue equipment that an ambulance would carry as well. They will respond from that house to make sure that the west end of the township is covered. And they can do anything an ambulance can do except transport. So the plan is that the rescue engine will show up, either start fighting the fire or whatever it is, or stabilize a patient, start working on the patient. By the time they get a patient stabilized, if it's an EMS call, the ambulance will have shown up from station one to transport them to the appropriate medical facility. So we're going to maintain our presence of two stations. It will just be a temporary fire station. Yeah. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

The first one, who is the winning bidder for the construction of the new fire station? Millstone Management Group is what they're called. You said that, but I thought that was the demos. They're doing everything.

No, they're going to do, yeah, the demo of the station and the construction of the station is wrapped into one. The only thing that was carved out was the fire station annex. We're tearing that down a little bit ahead of time.

And secondly, on this perspective, exterior perspective number two, is that radio tower to scale? Is that the height it's going to be approximately?

I think it is. I think that's to scale. I know it's going to go above the building. It's my understanding that these are to scale. Thank you. Yes, sir. Questions? Comments? No.

A couple. Yes, sir. Mr. Rose? Sure. So obviously they moved this quickly. It must be in budget.

It is. It is.

We bonded $4.25 million.

utilizing Concord Township existing finances to finance that bond. And then 3.75 million is coming through Congressman Dave Joyce through the USDA on a federal grant that we received under the Rural Development Program.

So that being said, the published estimate for the project?

Published estimate for the project was $7.2 million. And the $7.8 million includes about $60,000 for soil allowances that may or may not be used. And there's a $150,000 contingency baked into that. But we fell within 10%. And the other bids were in the 8.4, 8.4, 8.9, and then there was a 9.2 on the other bid. So we felt comfortable after the scope review on the 7.8, and it fell within our comfort zone to move forward with the station.

So number two will continue to be a volunteer bid?

Well, it's made up of full-time and part-time firefighters.

I'm sorry.

Yeah.

Yes. Do you know how many full-time are you? Four. Four. Okay. So assume that's in the part of the building. Yes, that will be.

As you're looking at exterior perspective, too, the living quarters are on the left, and then the bays and then equipment storage are on the right.

Very good.

Yeah. And the system's also designed with the hot, warm, and cold zones to prevent carcinogens from moving from the bay side. There's full decontamination room for both gear and personnel that you have to go through prior to getting into the living office side of the building to protect the firefighters' health. Same thing we did in Fire Station 1.

I know FGM did... Fire Station One as well. They did.

Well, they were called LeMayerks and Wilcox, and then they merged, and now they're FGMA. Same architect, same firm.

Pleased with their work? Very pleased. Yes. I know it kind of came out of the state. They were out of Virginia and Ohio. It did. It got arrested in Virginia. Yes, sir. Okay, so I assume it was an interview process where they were selected for both?

Yes, there was an extensive interview process. There was RFPs that were submitted. We went through them, did a scoring matrix, rubrics. interviews second interviews and we we the trustees landed on at the time of lemay erickson now fgma but the same architect team has been with us through since 2019 all the way through we've had the same same architect which has been very nice and i think a little bit unusual over a seven year span to maintain the same architect, which has been a comfort to us, to be honest with you. Yeah, I imagine so. Nobody had to come in and reinvent the wheel or learn a new system, so it's worked out well.

Very good. Given what appears to be a compact site. It is. There's a lot there. It is. There's a lot there for it. But obviously it's an aged facility that needs. Very tired facility. Very tired facility. I know this is a long time in coming.

It's a long time coming and I know that the firefighters are excited, the trustees and the staff are excited to get this going and get it done. Very good.

Is there going to be an open house?

Absolutely. There will be a groundbreaking sometime, my guess would be early September. The gold shovel ceremonial groundbreaking. And then at the appropriate time, once the station is completed, I know that Chief will have an open house just like we did with this one. And then they will wet the station down with the fire hoses. It's a firefighter tradition.

Yes.

So, yes, I'll make sure you get an invite.

No, it's my kids that want the invite.

I will make sure they get an invite. It's going to be great. Yep.

Well, very good, Andy. Well, congratulations to the trial and chip trustees. Thank you. It was a great project, and best of luck in getting you done. On time and under budget, as they say. Thanks for coming.

No, thank you for the opportunity, the trustees, and I greatly appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Have a good evening. You too. Thank you.

All right, let's move on to our second item under new business, site plan review application number 66. Bob Baker with HSB Architects and Engineers on behalf of the property owner PNL Liberty LLC is requesting site plan approval for parking lot expansion. at 7533 Friedel Drive, parcel number 08-A-019-B-00-003-0. With that, Mr. Baco, please introduce yourself, name and address for the record. Good evening, everybody. Bob Baco, HSB Architects, 1250 Old River Road, Cleveland, Ohio, 44113.

Welcome. Yeah, thank you. Appreciate it. So you explained it fairly succinctly. It's hopefully it's a straightforward project. The owners of these three properties, three buildings at this, the Creel Drive development, are looking to address concerns from existing tenants and prospective tenants about parking counts. It's a combination of addressing the prospective needs. I think the concentration of medical uses at this facility, at these three buildings, is being elevated. And I think opportunities exist for more of a concentrated medical use for all these buildings. And that means a lot of higher density for the patients and users of the building. So to get in front of it, they're proposing what you see in front of you. So I've worked with the owners, Rockaway Civil, the engineers, Matt McHugh, the landscape architect, and my own engineers to do the site lighting to put together a simple 23 parking space lot behind the buildings. So just adding, I think it's increasing the number of parking spaces 162 to 185. And we've worked closely with Heather to develop the plan to stay within setbacks. And working with the owners of the Coil Hollow property adjacent to it to make sure that we're recognizing, or at least we're APPRECIATING THE RELATIONSHIP THAT WE HAVE WITH THEM. WE DON'T FEEL WE'RE IMPACTING THEM AT ALL, AND I THINK THEY FEEL THE SAME WAY. AND SO, REALLY, IT'S JUST ADDRESSING, I THINK, THE NEED OF THE PROPERTY AND THE CURRENT OWNERS WANTING TO INVEST IN THE PROPERTY. JUST GO GET A FEW BOOKS AND SLICES OVER THERE. YEAH. So hopefully it's pretty straightforward. I think we've dotted all the I's on this one. We've done enough back and forth, I think, to make it a fairly straightforward development as far as a parking lot. So hopefully you agree and we can move forward.

You had mentioned, if I may, 23, the report says 27 spaces. I thought it was 162 to 185. Sorry about that.

Am I correct? Seven. Oh, you're right, it's 27. I read the report. The report says, yeah, it is 27. Yeah, thank you.

So there's no, you say increased density demand by the tenants. No, not at all. So what is the... I'm trying to understand that.

Well, I think just the nature of the occupancy where the existing tenants are some medical users and the new owners of the property understand that the The circulation on the property would be improved if a lot of the employees were to park behind the buildings and open up more of the public circulation for the visitors and the patients, so to speak, the clients. So they're just trying to make it a little bit more efficient for the buildings. That's it.

More value-driven now. Yeah, for sure.

I think on the property, depending on what day you go there, there might be... need for more parking and they want to make sure that they're addressing it before being proactive as opposed to reactive. Okay.

Colleagues? Board members? Oh, I'm sorry. Before I do that, Heather, any comments on the project aside from what you have in the report?

No, nothing else to add. Nothing else to add.

Any questions or comments?

No, for me, Mr. Chairman.

Senate table, Hiram. No comments, sir. Are you sure? Yeah. I know it's just the parking lot.

Well.

No comments. No guys? No. Nothing at all? No. So I'll continue then. Yeah. Mr. Baker, the storm water prevention is using a product. So are you familiar with it? What they're using, the storm tech?

I know all the names of the system, but I couldn't speak to the engineering side of it.

Okay, okay. So given that, well, it's an underground system for detention. Yeah. The Lake County stormwater has not, doesn't provide any review of this. Really the most critical thing here is stormwater. Of course, yeah. Is there a reason that's delayed or it's not done yet?

I think we're waiting for township approval to push forward for permitting. I think this was submitted to the county actually already by John Urbana.

Right, typically we get the stormwater. I like how the stormwater gives us comments.

Yes, and I did send this project to them, this exact plan set that you have, and the only comment that I received is that Steve still needed the report that goes along with the engineer drawings. Okay. That way he could confirm that.

And that comes from John?

That would come from the stormwater, yes, from John. Okay, so there's some... And he may have submitted that, but he'll have to do that before Steve would approve it. Okay.

Given that, and really, like I said, it's a fairly straightforward project here. The staff has recommended to the board a conditional approval. I'm going to read the three items into the record and need you to kind of consent so that we know, given that, if it would be acceptable, the conditions that our staff is recommending. Okay. So the first one is what we just spoke about. Submit a stormwater report to Lake County Stormwater. review to ensure compliance with county standards.

Yes.

Number two, all new driving and parking services intended for fire department access shall be designed and constructed to support the imposed load of fire apparatus weighing at least 75,000 pounds.

Yes.

And number three, provide evidence to the township that the holder of the 60 foot non-disturbance easement does not object to the activities within said easement.

Yes.

Having said that, where is this 60 foot non-disturbance easement?

If you see on sheet C101, the second page, there's a dashed line that's got a 60 foot, it says a 60 foot non-disturbance easement. Oh. Right? Yeah, exactly. So that's part of the agreement between the two property owners. that everything is compliant with, it's agreed to. So it was first established when the buildings were built, and so this parking lot is now imposing on that. So there's actually a consent agreement between the parties right now that has been signed by the owners of our property, and it's been agreed to by the legal side of... COIL HALL MANAGEMENT PROPERTY, THEY'RE JUST WAITING FOR A SIGNATURE BY THEIR BOARD.

VERY GOOD.

SO WE'RE WAITING FOR THAT. ONCE THAT'S DONE, IT'S BASICALLY AN E-MAIL CORRESPONDENCE THAT'S AGREED TO OR THEY'RE JUST WAITING FOR THE FORMAL SIGNATURE. VERY GOOD. SO THAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN.

OKAY. YEAH. SOUNDS LIKE THAT'S IN PROGRESS, NOT GOING TO BE A HINDRANCE TO YOU. SHOULDN'T BE A PROBLEM. I HAVE NOTHING FURTHER. ANY OTHER COMMENTS FROM MY COLLEAGUES HERE ON THE BOARD? So with that, I'll entertain a motion for conditional approval of the site plan review application. And I ask that the motion include the three items in the staff recommendation for the conditions for the approval of the site plan.

Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion that we approve or conditionally approve the site plan. Let's see what number it is. For parcel number 08-A-019-B-00-003-0 with the staff recommendations for conditional approval. The three items.

Very good. We have a motion to approve. We have a second.

I second.

We have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Not objected. Site plan stands approved. Congratulations. Thank you, Mr. Banco, for coming. Appreciate it. Good luck with the project.

Great. Thank you. So everything else is administrative at this point? It is. Once we get the paperwork signed off and you can. Okay. Great. Awesome.

You don't have to come before us again.

Thank you so much.

We should do something wrong.

Hopefully not.

Very good.

agenda so as Heather had just reported the comprehensive plan is still in draft form yet not yet finalized and that was primary reason for the establishment of the the delay in the final day for the completion of the sidewalk as we mentioned in item number one under old business so I'm recommending that that item, that agenda item, remain tabled until the comprehensive plan is published and we have an opportunity to review it and then evaluate it in understanding how it impacts this project, which was a year ago that it's been tabled.

It seems like a lot longer than that.

It was tabled a year ago, but the project, yeah. Okay, okay. Yes, yes. Yes. Any comments toward that?

No, I agree with that.

Okay. Election of Vice Chair, I'm going to recommend that it remain tabled here. We've been off for a time. We can discuss that at a future meeting this fall.

As long as you're going to be here in September.

If you're not here, Mr. Chairman, we have to have someone designated I suggest we, my recommendation is to appoint Hiram for the mayor this year.

For the vice chair. Could we do that for a meeting?

Sure, so let's say that you did not elect a vice chair. Yes. At the next meeting, someone would have to be designated as the chair for at least that meeting.

I would go along with Frank's recommendation and designate Hiram if we don't object.

As far as I know, I'll be here.

to chair the September 1st meeting.

It's not that I don't consider our new members qualified, but you're still getting your feet wet. So that's the way I'm making a recommendation to let them take over.

No. No objection on this side? No. No. Good. Hiram? I got it. Good luck. I will toast you from Italy. From where? Italy. Italy. Oh, no. That makes it worse. I'm asking how the next meeting is. There it is. Next meeting is September the 1st. Hopefully you won't have a full docket. We'll see what happens. We'll manage. There's no further business. I have an issue to bring up.

With the moving along so quickly of these AI big electric facilities going into communities, is there anything that you might be aware of or can think of on our zoning that might have to be updated to accept these big huge facilities? that are going in. The reason I bring that up is if you've been watching the news over the months, a lot of communities are getting upset about these big, huge facilities going in because of electricity required and water required to sustain these facilities. And I'm just wondering, Is there anything in our community that we should be concerned about to a point maybe we should be making modifications to our zoning to accept these pipelines that are coming in?

I'll comment on that. I think it's more of a state federal issue.

It's supposed to be. on the news and everything that I'm just wondering if there's anything, especially one of the things I heard the other night. The communities are asked to participate electrically to support these facilities and they're being required to offset their electric bills to pay for some of this. Now, we have a lot of building trustee bills go up astronomically because of these things coming in. And these corporations have made deals with state officials that so many of the homeowners within the areas are being subsidized. You have to pay for this additional law trustee requirements.

if something like this should come about. Are you asking to a district where a data center is permissible?

Well, I would assume we have areas in the township. I'm sorry? I assume we have areas in the township that would allow this type of building to take place. Yes, no?

I don't think so.

I don't think so. I don't think so. First of all, it's so massive. I know. It's an area of community demand.

I can't see. I know we have a small station. What is it now? Is it light industrial, do you think? A data center? Oh, where it would fall? Yeah.

Where would it fall in our zoning? Yeah, I'm wondering if MS could advise us whether they're involved in any of these across the state. And since we're in the incubation phase of our master plan, is there anything we can ask?

we did not talk about data centers specifically as a land use in the township now I've attended you know a couple professional development workshops where this topic has come up and they had some attorneys talk about it from their standpoint but I mean I agree we're still waiting I think on some direction from the state state government about that but like as far as what our zoning is we don't address obviously data centers specifically in the resolution. I've heard that, you know, once these type of uses want to come into a community and by the time they submit their application, like they're not gonna go away. So like they're already invested in it, but like they're saying like, I don't know, Juan, if there's any area in the township large enough to locate one. I understand your concerns about the electric and the usage and utility usage. Those are things that we can't regulate in zoning anyway. But yeah, it's definitely a topic that a lot of communities are dealing with right now. I know Andy Rose and I have... kind of had a couple brief conversations about that too like what do we do with data centers do we need to do something is it the trust you know what i mean and it's um but no decision you know has been made i haven't had any conversations with the trustees specifically either myself so i'm not sure whether they're there oh yeah situations yeah okay yeah Do you remember one of the meetings John Rattel was, when he was still on our board, he brought up data centers as one of the next uses coming up, and that was before all of that was really coming in the local news.

Thank you. Anything else? Nothing here. Okay, with that, our zoning commission meeting on Tuesday, August 4th is adjourned.