Zoning Hearing Board - Regular Meeting

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[Music] Heat. [Music] [Music] Good afternoon. Welcome to uh today's planning commission meeting. T Tuesday, September 16th, 2025. Um, go through the uh roll call. Uh, I chair Richard Spiker here. Also present is Colin Russ, vice chair, and commissioner Jason Wazor. Mr. Bazari is excused. Also present in the room is uh Jackie Spry who is director uh for the city of planning and our secretary Cooper Moore. U first item of business is approval of the August 19th meeting minutes.

Motion to approve. I had one amendment to it. Um it indicated that there is a presentation on the um plans for the Miller Brothers property. Um I just think that the minutes should reflect that we were informed there were no plans at that time other than that. Agreed. We agree to the modification correction. Yep. Motion to approve with correction. Second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. All right. Uh, is there any public um comment or correspondence?

We have not received any public comment or correspondence? Thank you. We'll move on to item three, old business, the Salo amendment updates. Anything new to report there?

Good afternoon, commissioners. Um, my name is Jackie Sprry. I'm the director of planning and neighborhood resources at the city of Yuri. Uh, we had our public hearing on se uh September 2nd, I believe it was. That doesn't seem like the right date, but I think it was September 2nd, public hearing for the amendments of the subdivision and land development ordinance. Um, ordinance number 231989. And um there were no opposing comments to the uh in during the public hearing and tomorrow council will do the first reading for the amendments of the ordinance. So we're on track to hopefully have it fully adopted at the beginning of Octo October. Okay,

that's all. Thanks. Thank you. All right. Item five, new business. Um item A, subdivision of land development related. Um first up is Adam Trot related to phase one of Miller Brothers.

Good afternoon guys. Uh thanks for having us. Um I'm here on behalf of the public works department of the city. Um I'm here to kind of give you an introduction to the project. Um there's the overall project of the public safety complex and then there's our piece of it in the southeast corner that we're doing is Roth Mars Partnership which is 22,000 square foot pre-engineered mostly pre-engineered metal building um to relocate the fire department service garage from Marsh Street to this facility. So, um, if you go down to the slide of the aerial Yeah, that one. Okay. So, this is from Boston's master planning 40,000 foot altitude study. Um, that study was essentially a fit study. The stuff we want, can it fit? So, uh, right now what I'm talking about is that yellowish piece at the top. Um, that's the pre-engineered metal building that uh we're essentially going to strip it down to the bones and then put new higher insulated wall panels and roof panels on it, get a nice energyefficient thermal envelope and then move in and get all their stuff plus in there. um what they're moving, they're not moving the entire fire department. They're moving specifically the storage and the service garage. Okay. And um if if you Cooper, if you go to the um file tree and the one that's the existing Marsh Street plan,

Yeah. that that's where they are right now. Uh what you see on the bottom are offices and administration that is staying at Marsh Street. That's not part of this work. This work is the big rectangle. It's exactly 9700 square ft. We're taking that and we're moving it into the 22,000 square ft facility. Okay. And right now you can see how everything's kind of crammed in there. Um, they have essentially three service bays when you count the aisles coming into the garage. Um, and if you read the article that was just in today's paper by Kevin Flowers, you know, the building's way too cramped. It was never designed for those kinds of loads on that floor that those huge vehicles uh put on that that deck. So, so the building just is not adequate. Um, so now if you go to pull up the file tree and if you go to the photos at the top that photo file and just take the first one and we'll like walk the photos along. So that's Mars Street right now. Um, you can go to the next one, Cooper. Yeah, you can just hit the arrow and it should jump seamlessly. Yeah, that thing. Okay, so you can see the ceiling's not that high and they've got a lot of stuff that they access during their processes that they just need stuff around them, you know. Um, so they're making the best that they can do. What you see on the left there in the corner, that's also

Horus, the fire sniffing dog. That's his his suite we call it. Okay. Um that's where they wash him after an incident and all that stuff. So if you go to the next one, this is where they're going. The the bottom of the main beam there is 22 feet above the floor. Right now they're working with around 13 ft. Um so if you read the article in today's paper you they explain how that's difficult. They actually have to do some servicing outside regardless of the weather. So now they can do everything they want to do in here. And there's seven service bays now. Clean service bays. Uh plus that big open area in the middle. those uh wooden storage cabinets will be moved. That's where they can do everything they need to do with the ladder truck. So, you know, everything about this project. You can go ahead and go to the next picture, Cooper. That's another view of that open space. You can see and then Yeah. And that's that's the If you go back to that picture, um go to the next one. Okay. So, so the outside is just this. It's rusted. It's dented. It's horrible environmentally and energy-wise. So, everything you see from the block up is a new skin. Um, we we correct things like accessible routes, accessible facilities, all that stuff gets corrected. Um, and if you go to the next one, okay, on 23rd Street, we put two new overhead doors to get out on the street. So there's some regrading of that area to meet the existing street. But the whole point is uh through a lot of study

and back and forth, we've got this thing working with their processes. Trucks can get in, get serviced, and get out. Um what I'm excited for is cleaning up that site. It's been like that for how many decades? And now it's going to have nice new shiny building exterior to show the neighborhood that we see you. You know, I I I I really like that. Um so then um if you jump out and go to bid plans. Yeah. So So this thing is being done in two parts. One is the roof because the roof failed in a in a portion. So we got to get that done right away. That's under contract. And then the rest is the overall project. So if you go to A100. Yeah. So that's it in plan. And you can see five service bays along the south wall along 23rd Street. Two lift bays up on the north side. There's some builtout areas for storage, a conference room for conference and training. Um the dog suite is on the north wall and then in the west wall is all plumbing, break room, gear, storage, laundry. Um it's it's commendable that the the mechanics at the fire department, as you can guess, they take their job very seriously. And one of the critical elements is cleaning the self-contained breathing apparatus because that's got significant health concerns. So now they're able to have a a place to do that the way they want to do it instead of just taking whatever space they have on Mar Street that they do it now. So there's just a whole lot of everything's

improved with this thing. So we're slated. If you go to the project schedule. Yeah, you'll have to go to the file tree. Yeah, that's it. So, essentially we're past all this. So, you can go to the second page. Yeah. So, we're into the September and you can see all those X's. That's the bidding out of the main garage project now. And the roof is already happening. There's going to be an overlap. The roof will finish in December and the rest of the project will kick in underneath it literally and we're looking to occupy like late August. So at that point then um what you'll have is that southeast corner will be done and the yard will stay fenced off because that yard in the middle of the block becomes the construction yard for all the subsequent phases. So our project specifically orients towards French street. The rest of the work will orient towards State Street. And when we're done with our 22,000 square feet, we have full separation from the whole rest of the site, which as you can imagine, separation's not there now. There's all kinds of breaches with openings and things. So, um, so that that's where we're at. Um, I'm willing to take any questions. I don't know that uh Jason, do you have any questions?

No. Okay. That's there's no action required on our part since it's already a foregone conclusion and Yeah. And you guys have my email if you if you need to know anything, but it would be great to get some of those files though. Um so I was looking for last month when we were requesting information. Um, but any of those plans, you know, it' be great for a commission to understand it and have it to just be able to look over, as I said, even though it's a foregone conclusion. So, a few storytelling type of uh slides or something just to understand what's going on. Sure. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thanks, guys.

All right. Next up, reszoning 4125 Peach Street uh for Baldwin Brothers or someone here.

Good afternoon, gentlemen. Uh my name is Drew Baldwin. I'm the uh petitioner for the parcel immediately adjacent to 4125 Peach Street. I'm requesting a map amendment from R1 to C2 so the parcel can be consolidated with 4125 peach and reviewed as a single code compliant commercial site. Both parcels are vacant previously. They were operated together under a commercial use. The Peach Street corridor is already commercial corridor. This change corrects a single R1 pocket and aligns the map with the existing conditions. Along the northern boundary of the site, there is an existing 6-foot privacy fence adjacent to the uh R1 development that will remain. This request supports the reinvestment in the stronger tax base in the unified site allow standard code compliant internal access and circulation. For these reasons, I respectfully request a positive recommendation to the city council for reszoning from R1 to C2. Thank you,

Cooper. Any chance we have the map or the drawing that was included at the Yeah, I mean, looking at the pictures, it's already functioning. I'm honestly surprised that it's zoned R1 currently just based on its use. Curious how many properties are like that. I was saying looking at the photos uh it's already you know operating as you know paved over parking lot. So surprised that it was R1. Um it was permitted as an R1. Yeah. Yeah. And what its actual use is today. So I mean my perspective it just Yeah. Seems like a probably oversight at some point in the past.

Are we voting on this one? This is like more of a zoning hearing board. Yeah. Jackie, is this for I I understand request for, you know, something supporting it, but is this would this not come through zoning hearing board? No. Okay. Gotcha. A variance.

Gotcha. Change. And it's the lot at the back there on the on the kind of low lower right on the corner. Correct.

Correct. Good. I mean, I'm I guess motion to support. Yeah. To to motion in support of Yeah. recommend. Yeah. I'll move to recommend uh reszoning to council. Second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. Thank you.

Thank you. Next item, waterfront conditional use. We have three items on this area. Start at 214 Cherry Street, West 2nd Street, lots on West Third, and Popular Street. Art Terrace. There's someone representing Arc Terrace here or on the Zoom. Hey, good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. Hi.

My name's Andrew Gibbs representing our terrace. Sorry I can't be there in person today, but I will be there tomorrow. So, great to uh reconnect with you all. Okay. So, I've got uh a slide presentation um that I'm happy to share that I I believe looks similar to the the prior presentation we shared with the planning board. So, I will go ahead and share my screen. Anyone has any objections? Let me know.

No, I I think so. I think that uh we've all reviewed the initial proposal um pretty thoroughly. Um so, if you can address updates or changes, modifications to it and uh uh that kind of thing, uh we would appreciate that. Sure. So, um, since we last spoke to planning commission, uh, we made a couple small changes to the plan. Um, tried to preserve the, uh, character of of the of the plan, the architecture, but did make a couple small changes based on recommendations from the planning commission and members. Um, one of those changes was uh to include more front porches that face the street. So, uh, what we did recommend, uh, is we have wraparound front porches here, um, so that the the forplexes, um, have an opportunity to both base the interior courtyard and also the street. So, um, while we're still working on the architecture, these are very high level plans. Um, our intent is to uh try to design a building that would have a wraparound porch like this to to make this more outward facing with the street. Um, a couple of other just small details uh we included in the plan. Um, one was just location on trash recycling. Uh, so here is our intent to put it in the rear of the property. Um I I think one thing I would mention is that these plans are still fairly conceptual. Um our intent is after we get uh set plan approval is to formally uh engage our our engineer to to

formalize these through a more schematic design development phase. Um during that phase we probably would u make some continue to make some small changes here. Uh but our intent is to to kind of keep the plan generally um as as it is. Um so other than that uh I've got the Opticost team uh with us today who was the the site planner and architect. Um Nick Alice, do you have any other comments that you want to address? You think we missed here? I think the only other com that came up was about the mailboxes and so we both labeled the location and showed them in the rendering intent for the mailbox. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. That's it's kind of part of a element of where people gather and enter the community. Is there anything else?

I think that was all that from our end. Okay.

Yeah. One other comment I would just add is um we have been meeting with some additional neighbors in in the area uh to try to see if there's any other u changes we can make to the plan. um that would uh improve the the overall quality and and the way it interacts with the existing neighborhood. Um, one of the the items that we did hear was the need for additional um, parking on site, which um, you know, we understand has uh, been conflated with some additional feedback we heard initially, which is that we had too much parking. But um I would just add that uh our intent is to try to figure out ways to add additional parking in the next phase of um our our design development here as well. But at the moment um the parking has 68 surface spots, 25 tuck under 93 spaces total on the property um for for 61 units. So, we're we're in excess of the code. Um, but you know, we we want to be sympathetic to neighbor concerns and to the extent we can we can find ways to additional parking spaces um on site, we're going to look to do that in the next phase of development.

Okay. Thank you. And Commissioner, do you have any questions? appreciate the uh you know taking some of the feedback we provide last time and making those changes. That's it's nice to see. I like the porches.

Would note that uh a couple weeks ago um just after the first of the month that the design review committee uh subcommittee of the planning commission reviewed the um presentation and uh with a few comments uh passed it unanimously. So at this point, do we be we're not doing a formal sign off on the entire pro the detailed design of the project. They don't have drawings yet. Is that correct?

Do do we have an action on this since um it sounds like this is still kind of preliminary finishing out what the the final plan is? Would take action on this today. Um motion to recommend the application go to council um because that's the next step for the design because it is in district. Yes. So you're recommending to council that the

conditional use be approved? Yes. And forgive me, but what is the conditional use that we are recommending be approved? the fact that it can be occur at all that no development in this zoning district can occur without a conditional use approval by city council. We've got to fix that. We've got to fix that. Um well, Yep. I know. All right. Well, that's what the law is written.

Yep. Um I will move to um I can provide more detail on the comments from the design review committee.

That would be great if commission would like to hear them. Um so the design review committee um requested and received confirmation that the project would be using native plants um throughout the site. Um they acknowledged the historic precedent for um the style of this application. They learned that a local management company will be hired um to maintain and facilitate the project and they cited it as an example of walkable new urbanism um and said in the future moving forward through the process um we'd be looking for details on colors and fixtures and styles and everything visible from the outside.

Okay. So upon us making the recommendation to city council what happens next is a public hearing is scheduled and after the public hearing then they'll go it will two public hearings or two meetings one public hearing

okay um I'm willing to make a recommendation After the public hearing, Rich, council can act on a resolution approving the application. They know two. Okay. Thank you. Um I'll I can I'll move to recommend council approval.

I I'd like to amend it. that says uh we'll recommend uh the council approve it subject to receipt of the outstanding items as requested uh by the design review subcommittee and um as required by the zoning ordinance. I'll second that. Okay, we have a a motion and a second. Uh, any discussion on it? All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Nay. I got a nay.

And a nay. Excuse me. All right. Thank you. Two to one.

Great. Thank you. Can we um get further clarification on what those outstanding items are? The details that were discussed, colors, materials, exterior fixtures, siding, answer the question regarding uh details of where how uh trash is being dealt with on the site, things like that. all the things that were talked about at the initial meeting and at the design review committee, you know, a detailed planning plan that locks in the fact that you're going to do native plants. We have all that. So, we'll uh we'll follow up with that and forward it to uh city city council tomorrow. Okay. Thank you. Next item is 263 West Front Street, McCary Partners. Anybody here representing McCary Partners?

Yeah. Uh hello, I'm Dane with Interface Studio Architects. Um we will be presenting for McGary Partners. Okay. Go for share screen. Same kind of thing that uh updates to the presentation to the Well, this is the first time that members have seen this, right? Yeah, we got the email. That was it though. Okay. Yeah. So, you can present uh the scheme and the items under discussion. Thank you.

No problem. Thank you. Let me share here. Okay. Can everyone see our uh see the presentation? Yep.

Perfect. Thank you. Um hello everybody. Thank you for having us. As I said, I'm Dane. This is Christine sitting next to me. We're with Interface Studio Architects representing MCI Partners on the project at 263 West Front Street. So, the project consists is a um on nine lots that have been consolidated in the West Bayfront neighborhood over the past 5 years. We're proposing two three-story buildings with a total of 30 units. Uh the uh one building will have 11 units um that parallels Myrtle Street and the other will have 19 units that parallels Short Street. Um, our design's aim is to utilize materials and p material patterns and building forms of the surrounding area in a modern way, prioritizing views to the uh to the lake. As you can see here, this is the site um front street uh up here along this edge, Myrtle and Short. We we hit all three streets with the long edge along Myrtle and Short. So, our site plan shows two buildings. Um, the one along Short Street is the 19 unit building and the one paralleling Myrtle is the 11 building with parking in between um totaling like uh 30 parking spaces. The primary entrance to the parking will be along Myrtle um with the secondary entrance along Short um with to allow potential trash pickup in this back corner at the site. U as I said there's building one on the left 19 units approximately you know 18,750 gross square ft. The building 2 in front is about 13,700 gross square ft. Um it consists of a mix of uh one beds and two beds. The building one has

13 one beds and two two beds. And building two um along Myrtle Street has a 11 twobedrooms. Um all all of which um have either a a deck or a balcony or deck that that has gives some visibility to the lake. We meet all of the various uh setback requirements along all of all the streets as well as um the required parking and um underneath the you know maximum heights and building coverage. This is our simple site plan. Um kind of showing similar information um showing our parking. This uh showed u showed some lighting for the parking. One of the comments from the design review was to dive a little further into the lighting that's going to happen into the parking lot. So, we we had a you know lighting study done with the proposed lighting fixtures that are on in the parking lot showing that you know we're providing ample light to the parking lot but not bleeding or leaking over into the adjacent properties um by utilizing um shields on various lights to make sure that they are we're only lighting our site and not you know other people's properties. This is what we presented previously which was the landscape plan. One of the comments here basically were providing landscaping around the buildings as well as some street trees and trees in the parking lot. One of the comments was to provide additional landscaping around building 2. Um as the site does have a steeper topography on that, you know, on the corner of front and myrtle. Um so this is a a proposal we have. We're we're going to refine this a little further, but you'll see that we're we're attempting to um provide some landscaping to to to block the the foundation that sticks out above the

ground. Um making it a little bit more aesthetically pleasing. Is the building sections. Um all the apartments are flat, you know, flat apartments, flats and have either balconies or instep balconies that face the um the lake. You can see, you know, max height is 44t 9 in plus or minus on building 1 and 40t 7 in on building 2. The mean roof height is 37 and 34 or 35 on each of those. This is the general layout of the building and how the units are laid out. So, building one, the top one, that's the larger of the two. It has um that is along Short Street. So, Short Street's at the bottom of the page here and Myrtle is on the long left of the page. The lake would be north of the page. So, all of the units um you know kind of wrap around to the lake to allow windows and balconies to face the uh the lake. The units on the first floor have um some small outdoor space for their individual unit um that is between the building and the parking lot. Um, so there's a lobby. You know, the building is kind of connected at the first floor. And as you go up past the first floor, there's essentially a 4unit building on the left and a three-unit building on the right that is served by this single these stairs, all of which have balconies that face the uh the lake. Building two is the one that has the short side along Front Street and the long slide along Myrtle. All of these are two bed apartments. So this is the first floor. the parking lots to the right, the lakes to the left. So, you can have an entry with maybe a small amenity, fitness space, some mechanical space and mail. Um, and a single stair that takes you up to the other levels um which basically have two four two beds on each level. The two beds that are on the lakeside have balconies and the two beds that are away from the lakeside

have um inset balconies, you know, more decks than um than a balcony than an attached balcony. This is what we presented last time. Um the the comment was to to drill down a little bit deeper on the actual type of materials. So we're here is our presentation of of what we're expecting to util materials we're expecting to utilize. Um essentially we have an AB scheme. Um one building has the A scheme. So building one has the A scheme and building two has the B scheme. um with a dark darker hardy fiber cement shingle look uh siding in the iron gray color that will match the um kind of the roof shingles and then on the building two a lighter hardy fiber cement shingle um a lighter gray. Um the other facads like we're we're kind of thinking of this as a coarse medium fine material. So the coarse material is the outermost material of this fiber cement. The next level is this medium material which we're proposing a standing seam metal. Um kind of a you know you know the dark has a lighter the darker fiber cement has a lighter standing seam. The lighter fiber cement has a darker standing seam um showing atas products uh for those facades. And then the finer scheme like the the finest material would be a corrugated uh 7in corrugated metal panel that would be on these larger facades here. So, you know, we have our um fine or our coarse material stepping into our uh medium or medium material and our fine material, right? So, this is our short street elevation showing the entrance on the big building and this is the elevation that faces the lake. So, this is our smaller building with a larger building in the background. All of the balconies are proposing to have like an expanded metal mesh um

guard rail that we would also use at the uh the fenced in garden or outdoor spaces for the units on building uh one that face that are are adjacent to the parking lot. Moving onward, this is what we presented previously. The only change is that we added we're starting to add landscaping which was a request by the design committee um along the uh Myrtle Street facade. Here's what we presented previously. You can see here this is where the foundation starts to kind of poke up above the ground to the topography. So we're kind of starting to you know frame that um frame that area with some more landscaping um along those areas. As you can see here, similarly along the um lakeside, front street side, similarly adding some landscaping at those areas. All of the um landscaping will be native plants bought at a local nursery. Um and then yeah, that's the plan for landscaping. And then this is the short street facade. Um which has not has remained unchanged since the the previous presentation. Um, I think that's kind of where we landed and um, you know, anxious to hear your questions and comments.

Thank you. Thank you. Jason, do you have any comments? Questions? I think the sighting is great. I I know. Okay. Scale looks good.

I I'm curious what the comments were from the design review committee. just I'm not seeing anything here that resembles the character essence of the existing community. Um not not getting into design, but just purely, you know, siding windows. I I it just I I'm it seems like it's something that's going to stick out quite noticeably from the character of the existing area. And I I I do mean that with utmost respect. I am, you know, big fan of seeing these these types of projects come here. But having said that, this just I'm not seeing how this aligns with the the the existing character. So, the comments from the design review committee included the removal and replacement of street trees. Um concerns about whether trees that would be taken out would be replaced. Um they observed a lack of third spaces for each unit. um especially when compared to the previous application. Um they did say that it checks out from a historical perspective and similar will look for details on finishes, colors and styles moving forward. Um there was also a question about the material of the foundation um or foundations whether they would be blocks or poured concrete um but did render preliminary approval. I think you could make a pretty solid argument that we've lost the bluff as having any coherence.

No, no, I don't disagree agree with that. I mean, B wants to build. I guess I'm just thinking of, you know, West Bay front as more generally, not just separately as the the bluff and thinking how this doesn't necessarily fit. But you're you're right. Feel like this aligns with the the ones the the aesthetic at the other end. um the just way projects

we're the projects at the other end of the bluff. This kind of borrows from those aesthetics, right? So it's I don't think this is alien from anything we've seen before. Okay. No further comments or questions. Have a um a motion to approve. I'll make a motion.

Can I suggest we amend it as the previous one for submission detailed submission of all the items required by the zoning code? Uh materials, colors, um light exterior light fixtures, that kind of stuff. I I know you've included them here, but uh I don't see a product name, a color, those kind of uh things that uh say this is what the intent is, what the explicit intent, what it where's the a detailed planting plan that documents the use of um native plants, etc.

I would agree with that. Can I ask a clarifying question? Sure. So, does this for the planting plan as an example as calling out the various plants that are in these locations, is that not sufficient or are you looking for additional information? Well, as none of us are landscape architects. Um, and does that specifically list the size the species particular? Then I'd say yeah. So if I zoom in here,

okay, if if that's if if that plan does that, then uh um that one has been um addressed, I would say. And then similarly to the the materials we are calling out like hardy fiber cement shingle straight edge iron gray. So like a specific product specific color. Okay then I'll stand corrected. Sorry I didn't mean to be uh I just wanted to make sure see what else we needed to do. So apologies.

Yeah. Well you still have exterior light fixtures that kind of thing. Mhm. We have the lighting for the parking um which we've we've clarified here on this plan showing the the you know standing lighting for the parking lot. Um I mean I think it's the the the one condition we're putting on it was making sure all the boxes are checked. So if it ends up that it is, you know, if Cooper is able to verify everything's in place, then you I think it's our we're willing to give that recommendation that.

Understood. Okay. We'll we'll coordinate with Cooper to see exactly if we need what other else what other information we should provide. Dr. Cooper. Motion to approve. Motion to approve. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposition? None. Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you so much. Yep. Have a wonderful day.

You too. Okay. Uh item three or C rather uh 10 sass pier and associates. Do you have our drawings, Cooper? Yes,

that's not it. Yeah, I have a this thumb drive if you need it. just doing that. I'm Shelby Beer with Beer and Associates. I'm representing Erie Events. Uh Gus Pine, the executive director is also in attendance and Neil Worst with Erie Events are also here. So, we are adding two levels of parking to the existing threestory parking garage at the Bayfront, which is adjacent to the Marriott. Uh, it'll add 232 parking spaces, and it'll help with the overflow from the convention center, the Marriott, and any future development on that site. We are adding a small uh canopy entrance on the east side just from people at the convention center can see where the entrance is to get back to the parking ramp. And then around that'll be just a few uh landscape bushes that'll match what's already there to infill around what the new construction is for that canopy. And go to the next slide, please. So uh you can see it here on the bottom of the page as well. You can keep going. So we're adding three stories and we are two extra stories to go to five stories. We meet the zoning requirement. We go to 49 ft 8 in. So we're we meet the zoning requirements for there and we're not adding any other footprint other than that canopy. So if you want to keep going here. So our materials we're going to match the existing and we're going to meet all the handicap requirements security in the uh stairwells. The stairwells on the top will have a enclosed uh aluminum

storefront enclosure just on that fifth floor. And so on this slide you can see on the west side we are adding snow screens if you will. The snow here this I was amazed the snow went right through the the uh from the west side to the east side and then it gets the wind makes it all icy in there. So we're adding screens on the west side which will be a clear anodized aluminum which will be applied over the openings. We can't do 100% because we still have to have air flow for the ventilation of the parking ramp. So, if you want to go to the next one and the next one, these are all This is the top floor. So, we're adding lighting. This is going to be the same type of lighting that's already there. It'll be raised up to the fifth level. On the top uh left photo, you can see that we are using the we're going to use the same material. We're going to match the brick. We're going to match the pre-cast. We're going to match the concrete cast in place concrete. Same thing in the next photo. That's where that little canopy will go at the end of that sidewalk. So, when you're walking from the east side, you'll see how to enter into that garage if you're not coming through the lobby space on the north side. So, the other the top three photos show we're going to match what's existing. It's just going to be up two extra levels. Same with the uh bottom left photos. The bottom right photo shows the enclosure. We're going to match that enclosure that's already there uh with the storefront aluminum enclosures around the stairs and the elevator. We're also extending the elevators. On the bottom photo, you're those are the types of screens we're going to add to the west side to help block the snow uh that blows in on that side. That's kind of the project in a nutshell. Any questions?

So, the entrance to Pier 6 is then under undercover now, right? It'll be undercover still on the third floor. That's not changing. Yeah. But you'll just go to the third floor and then the same way you go in now and that back door with that ramp, you'll go still go in the same way. They'll be able to stay in business. Yes. Yes. Okay. A lot of logistics. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Colin, any Nope. All right. Any no further questions? Is there a motion to approve? I'll make a motion. I'll second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Okay. Uh item E, design review committee meetings and discussion and action uh to nominate Sarah Lewig um to the design review subcommittee. Uh I'll note that uh I after our last meeting I approached Sarah who works for Weber Murphy Fox um and is a city resident about um joining the uh design review subcommittee. Um she expressed some interest, discussed it uh further with uh Jackie uh submitted her resume uh among other things. Um

so we need to approve her motion to approve licensed architecture. Yeah, she's a licensed architect. about say we're we're already pulling from such a small pool to begin with. I think if we've got a willing candidate, let's uh I would like to make a motion to capture our willing participant. Second. All in favor signify by saying I. I.

Thank you. You will notify her and include her in future activities. Um, planning commission alternate appointment. Anything significant related to that? Um, just to inform the commission that the mayor has appointed an alternate member to the planning commission. Um, you received the materials um that we received, Carl J. Anderson III. Um, so you'll begin to see um Carl included on our communications and he will be called up if needed.

Okay. And when does that take effect?

Immediately. Okay. All right. Joe, he was notified. Yes. Okay. They just unless they're right. So, the fact that we're one member down would mean that if he would have attended, he could have uh participated and been a voting member. Thank you. Uh annual report. Anything further to report on the annual report?

Um nothing really to report. Um the annual report for the planning commission for the year of 2024 um was completed and sent to the commission. Um so if there are no edits to the report, it will be passed along to city council. Okay, great. Thank you. Uh item six, Department of Planning and Neighborhood Resources Updates.

Good afternoon again. Uh I wanted to report that for our Eerie Outside um comprehensive recreation, parks, and open space plan um we had over we have right now over 1,500 comments um from the public that we've received. We are moving into the next phase of the plan and this next phase is really going to drill down on stakeholder meetings. Um we are going to also be uh uh doing internal meetings especially with public works and bureau of parks. Um and there will be another study committee meeting on October 6. you should receive an email from me today, this afternoon, later this afternoon asking about um uh times for that meeting. So, please look out. Um also wanted to update you on our uh our map grant for uh DEC. As you know, we put in a application in March of this year um to the state for a rewrite of the zoning and the salo, a full rewrite of the SDO. Um I have been in contact with the state this just yesterday asking what's the status and as we know that the state budget has not been approved and the hope is by the end of this month that um they will pass the budget and notify the applicants of those grants. So, um there was really not much of an update, but I did want you to know that uh we're trying to keep track. Um we are planning to start writing and crafting the RFP for that uh for a consultant to do the

do this project and we can even post that RFP pending obviously pending and notifying um in the RFP that it's pending the grant application. So, um, I have I've already started, uh, started kind of crafting that RFP and and hope to potentially post that within the next couple of weeks. Good. Lastly, I just wanted to let you know that um the American Planning Association, the Pennsylvania chapter, is holding its annual conference in Harrisburg this year. And four of our four four staff, including myself, are attending that conference October 12th through the 15th. So, we'll be there and um each of the staff has picked different uh sessions that pertain to either their position or to um things that we would like to to um develop here at the city in the future. So, um there's a a lot of good information that we hope to bring back to Erie. Um we've extended our our travel one day and we plan to go to Lancaster after the conference and spend the day with the planning department neighborhood resources at um in Lancaster. So we're trying to understand what they're doing, the progress that they've made. um they they tend to be a model for us in in different ways in our department and of course they've um been a model for the CRIS as well. So we uh we hope to soak in all of the things that they're doing and again bring back that to the city. That's all I have. Are there any questions regarding the parks plan or anything else that you've heard in the last couple of months

regarding the stakeholders? Who's who do you reach out to with respect to that plan? We we're we're working on a list and we're almost finalized with it. But um we hope to talk to neighboring municipalities especially Mil Creek uh Prescy Partnership and the Trek Center. Um we will be talking to the port authority uh many of the other stakeholders that are and partners that um are directly uh not well directly impacted by what the plan what the plan will be. So, neighborhood associations,

we've already we that is part of this second phase. Um we we we're continuing to have uh a survey up on our website that's very much like the popup event that we held at um at the Boston store during Celebrate Erie, but we are going to be going over the next two months to neighborhood organization um neighborhood watch meetings um neighborhood groups and doing a small presentation of what this plan is and then having those participants of the meeting, take that survey right with them and walk them through it.

So on their phone, tablet, we're going to bring a few tablets. So we are going to continue to do outreach at the neighborhood level because there are so many neighborhood parks within the city of Erie, not just the destination parks, but also those small smaller neighborhood parks, and ask them similar questions. what amenities are they looking for, access, connections, um those types of things that we talked about at the popup. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. I I'll also note that uh about 10 people from my office um had a chance to review the materials

details of the information presented by the popup. Um, uh, Cooper and Jackie both were very kind and hosted us. Um, I thought it was a useful, uh, professional development opportunity on our part and I appreciate, um, they're reaching out and and offering to help. Thank you. Thank you. Well said. Uh, nothing else on the agenda. There are no other comments. Then um I'm going to make a motion or ask for a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. Seconded.

All in favor? I I Thank you. [Music]