Bza - Regular Meeting

Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Johnson

here. Michael here. Motion to approve of August 14th.

[snorts] All those in favor.

Motion to approve.

Mics. Can you turn your mics on? Okay. Sorry about that. We need a second. Second. Thank you. Uh voice vote. Uh all those in favor vote I. All those opposed vote no. Motion carries. Uh secretary, if you can introduce the next item. In accordance with article 13 located at 4,000

Hey, good evening. Uh Jordan Miller, City of Frankfurt Planning and Community Development. So BJ's is a wholesale club. It's an American company located in Marboro, Massachusetts. It's a membership only like wholesale club similar to Sam's and uh Costco. They have about 250 locations nationwide. Uh this will be the second in Kentucky. They currently have one in Louisville. Uh it's going to be in the Paddics development located off of US 127 and 64. So they have a development plan plan that's been approved through the planning department and through the technical review team. Currently they're under undergoing the building permitting process through the state. Um the request tonight before you is for a signed package plan specifically the wall signage faces signage uh for the development. So [snorts] typically uh the area allowed for individual buildings for facial signage on one elevation one side of the wall is 200 square ft. So it's a one it's a 1:1 ratio uh for the linear uh width of the building to how many square feet you get. So like 50 square 50 feet width 50 square feet of signage up to a max of 200. In this case we're dealing with a large big box building, right? So it's going to exceed what they're proposing is exceeding that 200 ft allowance. Typically what would be allowed for this without the 200 ft is um 460 ft per fascia. They are proposing uh significantly less than that if that were to be allowed. So total they would be allowed 1380 square feet for all elevations. They're proposing 652. If you look at the massing of the elevations of the building, it seems to be scaled in proportion. Um and staff finds that uh that seems reasonable uh for what's uh due to the size of the building and the development. So we're recommending approval um with one condition to just get a signed permit with us. Um, happy to answer any questions if you have them.

Uh, commission members, uh, questions for staff. [snorts] Mrs. Jones, Ryan, any questions? Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Is there anyone in the audience who wishes to speak on the item? I got I got one thing I wanted to ask on this on allowing this for this new development on these sizes. Would P older establishments be able to request for larger signage? Because I do hear that sometimes like they don't know we're here. We'd like to have a little bigger sign. Sure. Yeah, I hear you saying. Okay. I just I Yeah, they could. Yeah, they could come request the same thing. And what would their max be? The same or

Well, they could ask whatever they wanted. Uh, and submit a sign package plan application. Yeah. To be reviewed by you guys. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Um, are there any other questions for staff? No questions. [snorts] Uh, then we need anyone in the audience to speak on on behalf of the item. Uh, we need a motion to approve or deny the request. Motion to approve. Thank you. Uh, we need a second. A second.

Do we need a roll call or just a voice? Do we need a full roll call? If there is a negative, I would suggest you do a roll call. Thank you. Roll call. Okay, M. Johnson. Yes. Mr. May. Yes. Mr. McDaniel. Yes. Mr. Mills. Yes. Mr. Nichols. Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you. U Madam sir, if you can introduce the next item.

[clears throat]

Thank you. Evening commission. Uh yes, this is a signed package plan very similar to the one you just approved um for the target. uh as you all know is under construction out in the paddics right now um which is uh directly adjacent to where the new BJs will be going. Similarly to BJ's it's a very large scale building. Um the square footage of signage that they have asked for um based upon that one linear foot of uh square footage for facial signage would fall within that. Um we're just uh um having some issues with that that 200 uh foot maximum. So uh you know we've reviewed it uh for what they have based upon the scale of the building as I said and uh staff will recommend approval. Happy to answer any questions?

Uh questions for staff? Nine. No. Uh is there anyone in the audience who wish to speak on uh on the item? Uh we need a motion to approve or deny the request. Make a motion that we approve. Thank you. We'll be a second from Mayor May and we'll do a roll call. M. Yes. Mr. May. Yes. Mr. Daniel. Yes.

Mr. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Proposed zoning or Franklin County.

Good. Good afternoon.

I do. You state your name for the record. Autumn Godwis. And your position with the county of Franklin, director of planning and zoning. As director, did you participate in the proposed zone ordinance text amendment which we're reviewing tonight? Yes. Have you made a recommendation with Yes. Any addition to your recommendation? No. Could you briefly give your opinion with regard to text.

Yes. So, this is a text amendment. This is very similar to something that the commission adopted a few years ago for the city. Um, this allows for the alternate zone change that's provided by KRS 100.2111. um this basically does not impact the way that you all make decisions or um what you all are doing but it's sort of whenever the next step occurs after you make a recommendation to the legislative body in my case the fiscal court um this helps things move a little bit quicker um under the current setup um fiscal court has to give two readings or hold their own hearing um before they accept your recommendation um or make a different call. Um, so this would allow for zone changes that are uncontested um that that you all have made a recommendation on and and no one is um concerned about essentially to um become legal through the process of law after 21 days. Um so it really shays down the time on those zone changes that are not as controversial. Um but it does still allow an out for if there is someone who feels agreved by your decision um or who disagrees with that or if the members of the fiscal court want to hold a hearing, they still can. Um, so it still has that ability to to have that extra layer of review. Um, but again, for those simpler zone changes, it just makes things move a little bit quicker. In your packet, you have a copy of the state statute um that allows for this as well as the redlinined um zoning ordinance text. Um, this did go to the zoning update committee over the summer and they were um in agreement that this made sense. So, we are recommending approval of the text amendment. Are there u any questions uh for staff?

Good. Okay. I I just want I mean it's just I want to make sure I understand it correctly, but it's we're just taking it off from something that could be switched in a few weeks to a month versus waiting three or four months.

Correct. So typically um just as an example once you all make your recommendation um you you vote on a matter then um you accept the meeting minutes the following month. So we wait that month and when we have the finalized meeting minutes we take it to the fiscal court um and then if it's something that they don't want to hold a hearing on um they have to have two readings. So that's two separate meetings that that they have to have in order to um allow your recommendation to become law. or they can opt to have their own hearing which there's another 90-day time clock that starts ticking um from the date of your decision at that point. So, this just helps me shave off a couple months. But it doesn't take us out of the process of No. Still do the steps. That's it. Okay. [snorts] I thought that's what it said. I just want to make sure.

Any any other questions? I'm good. I'm good. Good. All right. Thank you. Nobody left. Anyone in the audience to speak on the item that uh and we need a motion to approve or deny the request. I'll make a motion to approve. Second. And second from uh Mike Nichols. And a motion for uh and if we can have roll call. Mr. Johnson. Yes. Mr. Mr. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Okay. Thank you. And uh the final two items uh that we need to go is the budget. U just uh take a few minutes and then I know you'll have the update on the code rewrite. So we do need to get the budget approved. Um it you all should have gotten a budget and uh each one of the Yeah, there you go. Okay. Um, Eric or if y'all can uh we'll get a chance to explain the budget. We need to vote on that. You can send a draft budget um which with your your uh your friendly local uh commission secretary help prepare for us. Um it's it's typical uh budget uh will look very similar to one from last year. Um the only thing unusual about it from any other budget over the years is that it does include those expenditures for the zoning code rewrite. Um other than that, it shows the typical estimated city and county contributions. Um and then your typical expenses, the audit, um any traffic, uh study services, um [snorts] and then obviously um you know printing, insurance, member training, um as well as uh fees for council. As a reminder on that zoning code rewrite, you'll see that it shows a full 190,000 in the budget, but if you recall correctly, um the city and the county are each paying um a portion of that uh the number which escapes me. And then uh the commission on each bill is picking up a much smaller portion which I'm also escapes me at the moment. But the point

of the of which is to say that the the the vast majority of the burden of that is not on the commission is my point. [snorts] U Miss Johnson, would you want start the question? Yes. Does anyone have any questions regarding the budget that um let's see in terms of uh so the 190 for the consultants uh for the code rewrite and it was 190,000 that they uh we spent for the two years that they were consultants for the two-year update. So almost 400,000 combined to them for both the code update and the comprehensive plan.

Uh I not 400. No, I think the I think the original scope and I don't have it in front of me was uh 298 or something like that for the so I think this kind of just got moved over um as a placeholder. But you know, as I said that I don't think there's 190 left and certainly not for the the commission's um portion of the scope. But regardless of the budget um that contracted amount hasn't changed. Okay. Yeah. Um I know you all had uh when we met on Monday uh that you were you wanted to uh to increase the fees. Did you all wanted uh for the uh starting next year?

Right. I think next year um you have to have a draft fee schedule by January um to update our planning and zoning fees. Um so that is for things that come before you all but also some other things like plats um that that contribute to your budget. um those fees have not been updated in a number of years and and pretty cheap compared to surrounding the community. So, we just want to kind of right size that. Okay. And you'll have that in January. We hope to.

Okay. And um let's see. I know the other that is certain I know with the legal fees uh that uh and I know we the first major illegal fee and in terms of from the lawsuit. Um, are you expecting uh whatever how it's decided, are you expecting that's going to get appealed and uh

not necessarily I'm not going to try to guess what the judge is going to do in this, but in the case that we're involved in, not the appeal, the case we're involved in, the court can only remand it back to us for reconsideration. They can't redo the whole thing. So, I don't think there'll be an appeal on that. If they remand it, we'll consider it. If they don't remand it, I don't the plaintiffs. Do the plaintiffs have an opportunity? I mean, if they're not satisfied, everybody has an opportunity. I mean, to right to correct. So, um that uh do you have a timeline in terms of are you expecting um

Well, since the briefs are not yet scheduled to be finished, ours is the plaintiffs have another 15 days to do Then it'll be submitted to the court and I would say within 60 days the court will have something. So within two or three months we're going to know basically what what happens with us. Now the other option that's available is if they [snorts] join our lawsuit with the other consolidate two cases then we're getting drug with them and I don't know how much but once again that's the determination we don't get a choice.

Okay. Um, I know uh we had uh we received the lawsuit that we were named uh I know along with uh fiscal court and and others on the 21st and had a 20-day reply. How is that? I I am not the attorney representing that. The insurance carrier has provided counsel for that. So, I can't really tell you what they've done in that case. Okay. I know that they asked for an extension of time. I don't know for how long, but that's the only involvement I

Okay. All right. Um are there uh further questions that we all have? Uh and I know that um talking with Cindy in terms of I know the expected bills between the consultants and the legal um if they need to get additional money. I know you all mentioned Eric and Autumn. Is it split uh if it say it's legal um and need additional money? It's split 50/50 between the city and the county. Typically, when we've had to invoice the city and the county for additional funds for for anything, including any legal fees, it's typically shared 50/50. Okay. And those funds are taken out of just a general budget or or one of the line items on

if we need additional

uh typically on mine, it comes out of a professional fees line item budget. That's where the planning commission portion of my budget lies. So, it'll come out of that um until that's, you know, run through at some point. and that would be a a budget amendment. I don't expect that to happen. Um and and that's another reason why it's good timing. Um even though the the the commission's budget right now, um the cash flow is a little uh a little tighter than normal because we have both um you know the zoning code rewrite which is a significant unusual expenditure on top of a lawsuit. Um so we just have been running a bit tight. Usually though we can we can make things work one way or the other. So

um are there any other additional questions or if you are ready a motion for um to accept this budget if everyone wants to approve. So a motion um that we'll need from the uh finance committee. We'll need official second. I'll second. Okay. for get a roll official roll call. Okay. Miss Johnson. Yes. Mr. Yes. Yes. Yes. [snorts] Yes. Mr. Yes. Yes.

All right. Thank you. And then the final item um on the if y'all can update on the code rewrite how that's going.

Sure. Um work continues. Um I know it's a little bit different. So you guys are kind of um it's not out in public view as much because it's it's largely between the consultants and staff, but we have our every other me week uh meeting with the consultant team as they're drafting um chapter by chapter the new development code and we're providing feedback and and doing research along with them on other codes and and examples of things that we want to incorporate. It's going well. we have drafted in one form or another um probably threearters of the chapters of the code um which is already quite a bit of stuff. So, we're kind of at a point now and Autumn and I have been talking uh the last couple weeks about getting to a point where we can think about probably some sharing some information with the public, getting drafts that are far enough along at least of some chapters to maybe share at the very least with some um stakeholders that we engaged at the beginning of the process that are actually familiar with using our existing codes and other codes to get good feedback. Um, we got some good notes uh before we started drafting and we want to kind of check back in with some of those people hopefully. Um, so uh yeah, we're we're talking about how and when we can start sharing at least some draft stuff. You don't want to go too early when you're like very preliminary. Um, but we also want to want to try to be transparent as we go through the process and share it with the public. So, we're starting to think about strategizing about how to maybe do that soon. [snorts] And um are y'all hoping to have it all finished um going to the uh to us to the planning commission fiscal court for the final votes and uh and city commission this summer or next summer?

Yeah, mid26 is what we're on the calendar for. U the the beginning we got a little bit of a slow start and the consultant got a little bit behind. I think we've kind of ramped up our our uh um momentum since then. So, I'm I'm cautiously optimistic we can stick on our timeline. I think once we once we've worked through each chapter individually and then can look at the whole thing together, I I would like to think that we'll we'll push it through a little quicker. Um, going chapter by chapter makes sense because it's not too much to bite off at one time, but at the same time, it's it's hard to really feel good about it until you can kind of understand the whole thing together. And it's it's a lot. um particularly, you know, since we're doing both jurisdictions, but um excited about it.

Questions for No, I was just thinking that this will be something that the actual planning and zoning um board would probably need a little more training once once it's been rewritten to

not a bad idea. [snorts] And we'll try we've also talked about um you know as we're introducing the new code to you guys and to the public to to try to um in whatever format that occurs whether we have any kind of you know public openhouse or anything like that before it actually comes to you all for approval to try to [snorts] um create some kind of bulleted points things to point out significant changes that that you all should want to be aware of that are different from the existing code and and that folks We want to make sure don't think we're, you know, um, sneaking anything in. But at the same time, that won't be, you know, entirely exhausted because it's an entirely new code. But I know that most people aren't familiar enough with it to read through several hundred pages and get everything that might affect their property. So,

sounds good. Are there any, uh, questions or No. Any questions? All right. Um, Eric, any questions? Okay. Um, Eric, thank you very much. You're out. All right. Uh, if there's no other business, uh, we need a motion to adjurnn. Make a motion to adjurnn. I need a second. I'll second. [music]