Zoning Hearing Board - Regular Meeting

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[music] uh to the first meeting of the city of Erie planning council for 2026. Uh this is Tuesday, January 20th. Um we have a pretty full agenda, so we'll move through it. Uh Cooper, will you do the roll call? Yes. Um, Commissioner Rich Spiker here. Commissioner Colin Russ here. Commissioner Douglas Bazari here. Commissioner Carl Anderson here.

Commissioner Jason Woric, um, Director Bureau Chief Jackie Sprry, and assistant planner and secretary Coopermore. I'm here. Thank you. First item is the approval of meeting minutes from December or yeah, December 16th. Rich, if you can hear me, you're muted. I can't hear anything. I think the whole Zoom is muted. Based on the little muted thing on your microphone. No, mine's lit up. All the commissioners have hot mics.

I think it's I think it's the Zoom that is broadcasting and muting. I just sent it.

Can you hear us now? Testing, can you hear me? Absolutely. Sorry to interrupt. Thank you. The first item is approval of the December 16th, 2025 meeting minutes of the uh planning commission. I'll move to motion to approve minutes. I'll second. And we have a motion and a second. U all in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposition? Next item. We've received any public comment or correspondence. We have not received any public comment or correspondence.

Is there any online attendee that uh wants to make a comment?

Hearing none, we'll move on. Old business. Salo amendments. Yes. We just wanted to inform the commission that um in addition to the amendments that were passed last fall, we are working on another round of amendments to the salo um to include some things that have come up since we approved the last set of amendments. Um the big one to note is that we will be [clears throat] considering an amendment that would cover parking services um and considering those for land development review. At the moment there's no language that includes parking surfaces.

So redevelopment into something other than parking surfaces or expansion modification of existing parking surfaces to change the yeah the creation of a new parking surface. Okay. So just covering it so that it falls into that change of footprint language that's in there. Okay. Thank you very much. timeline uh for those to go forward. Um hopefully we will have the language for you to consider at next month's meeting. Okay. Thank you.

All right. We'll move on to new business. Uh first item is election of the 2026 chair and vice chair. Um, we'll open the floor for any nominations uh that members might make. Mr. Chairman, yes. Uh, I would move to uh nominate uh you as chair uh for the ensuing year. All right. I'll second. We have a motion and a second to not nominate me as chair. All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed

hearing none we'll move on okay vice chair um currently that is Mr. for us. Um, anybody since you are technically a short timer, right? Unless unless you're appointed. So, do either of you wish to be considered as vice chair? I I I would nominate Mr. Douglas Bazari as vice chair. I will second that. Assuming you're willing to accept it. Sure. We have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I.

I. I. Uh that item is disposed of. Next item is M Mr. Chairman. Yes. I would just like to say congratulations uh to both you as chair and the vice chair I I believe for the ensuing year. Thank you. Uh and we look forward to working with both of you. We look forward to working with the entire commission. Um, next item under new business B subdivision. Uh, there two items. There's 602 West 9th Street uh by the redevelopment authority. Eric,

good afternoon. Jeff,

good afternoon. Uh so 602 West 9th Street was an acquisition for demolition of a bllighted property that used to reside there at the corner. Uh we demolished the single family structure along with two accessory structures on that property. Uh once we completed that work, you know, certainly we we have a side lot program. We try to identify property owners. This was a a very unique shaped lot that had been carved out over the years. And so, uh, we worked with both the property owner on Cherry Street and the property owner behind the parcel on 9inth Street and came to an agreement that we will, you know, seek a subdivision of the original parcel to then give that one little sliver of the parcel to uh, do a combination deed on West 9th Street and then provide the homeowner on Cherry Street this rest of it, giving them a sideyard and an additional few feet of rear yard. So, uh yeah, that's that subdivision.

Thank you. Any commissioner have a question? So, in our vote today, we're uh actually combining just us subdividing the original parcel. So, then we'll do a sale and then combination deed to the respective owners. Gotcha. I'll move to approve. Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. Thank you. Thank you. Now 221 Locust Street. So this was

another single family property acquired by the Erie Land Bank. Uh ultimately demolished through working with the land bank board. It was determined and decided upon by the board to subdivide this or or seek a subdivision of this into two parcels so that it two single family properties and you know they can be offered out for the development of two single family properties. We we had two potential development proposals on the property. One has since fallen out, but we have one viable development proposal for one lot that's on the table and then once if the subdivision is approved, we will seek an additional development proposal on another single family build on the other parcel.

Okay. Again, any questions or comments from commissioners? Eric, none. Can we have a motion for to approve? A motion. Second. Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Awesome. Thank you very much. Okay, continuing on. Land development. Uh, three items. Item C is Grover Cleveland Elementary School. There's someone from HSDR. Okay.

Good afternoon, gentlemen. Uh my name is John Finn. I'm with HHSDR architects engineers. We've been the architects with the city of school district for quite some time now, working through the many buildings that they have. And the next one that we have up here is the Grover Cleveland Elementary School. Uh so we're here to present this development to you as our preliminary land development submitt. Um, I know you've been submitted the drawings, but I'd love to take an opportunity real quick just to kind of walk through the need here and what is happening as part of the prog uh project and answer any questions you may have. Um, essentially the existing building as it stands right now uh is in need of some renovations. There is no accessibility to the second floor. Uh there is also um HVAC that is failing, things of that nature that we need to address. So as a part of that process, well, the way we've done these projects with the district is in the phased construction manner. Uh we've been able to, you know, occupy a few classrooms with our contractors and shift those students to another location in the building, complete the work, and then just kind of shift the students back and move around. Unfortunately, at Grover Cleveland, there's nowhere to put the students. Uh they are at capacity there. So um we have proposed an addition to the building uh for a new gymnasium as well as an elevator addition uh to allow us to have accessibility to all three floors. out. The elev or the new addition will have a gymnasium and four classrooms and a restroom which will allow us to uh build that first and use that for classroom swing space as we go through the existing building and renovate the balance of the area and move students in and out of that swing space as we walk work our way through the project. Um, in general, uh, that's kind of a nutshell, real quick, uh, overview of what the need of the project is, but I'll go into just a few drawings here just to kind of show you the overall or unless, uh, are these adequate enough up on the screen, I can work off of those as well. It's

your your choice. So, um, you can see here we did get the, uh, property surveyed. We've had the ability to work with Lared here on what the existing conditions are. We looked through all of that, got our preliminary test borings and understood what uh our bearing capacities are going to be as a part of the project. If you want to go ahead and uh zoom through there, Cooper. As I mentioned, uh this is going to be the proposed floor plan or the proposed site plan. Over here on the east side of the building is where we will uh erect our proposed gymnasium addition. I can show you a quick floor plan of that. Essentially, the gymnasium is in the back side here. And then we have four classrooms up towards the front towards 38. And then this in this connecting corridor there, we'll have some restrooms and some lobby space that uh has the ability to be secured for after hours use. Uh but we also have restroom size for the uh the gymnasium proper at that point. And then if you look um back through here, the existing parking lot will remain. uh we'll be resurfacing that as a part of the project. We are going to be providing a new playground uh out behind the back of the gymnasium edition there. And then if you uh take a look towards the north side of the page there back to 36th Street, we are proposing a connecting road. There's an existing walkway that goes back there. Now, uh we're going to be proposing that connecting road because of all the congestion that occurs on 38th uh during pickup. If you haven't seen that, it's it's pretty remarkable. So, the new plan uh that the district has come up is to send the parent drop off and pickup back to 36th, corral the cars along this roadway all the way to the front where they will conduct drop off and pickup for their walkers and their uh uh their car riders and then exit out on the 38th, which should relieve the congestion out on 38th at that point. Okay. Uh the existing parking lot off to

the west side will be uh mil and resurfaced as well. We're trying to keep budget in mind for the district at that point. And then you can see a new proposed parking lot off to the north side of that uh northwest there. That proposed parking lot is an alternate bid. Uh we do uh we do have enough parking spots in the existing uh count and uh to meet the zoning requirements. However, if we can provide for a little bit more that may be of some assistance to the district. So, we're going to try and see hopefully uh some competitive figures come in here very soon and we'll be able to uh accommodate that. So, from a storm water management position, we've developed a new um some new detention basins. Uh you can kind of see one to the northeast there behind the parking lot area where we will be directing the storm water management from the gymnasium edition back to that location. And then obviously on the left hand side kind of the northwest there with our alternate bid parking lot that is an alternate bid detention basin that will be sized appropriately for that parking area at that location. Um we do have new site lighting that will be included as a part of this project as well. Our electrical engineers are working through those lighting calculations and making sure that's all taken care of. We'll have some selective walk replacements. And overall, this new addition here on the east side will be about uh just over 14,000 square ft. The elevator edition, it's a little bit smaller to see, but it's right at the northernmost point of the existing building. That's where it has access to be able to touch all three floors of the existing building. So, we'll have approximately a 200 ft addition there just to house the elevator and its shaft. Okay. Uh from a zoning info standpoint, uh that was all laid out on SP 1.1, but we do meet the required zoning requirements. Want to make sure that we did that and we've spoken with Jake Welsh on a few occasions about those those components to make sure that uh we are following along with the guidelines of the ordinance. Um the minimum lot

area uh we at 6,000 square ft we're 11.37 acres. Minimum front yard we have a 44.7 foot setback which is the 30 foot required. Rear yard is definitely uh achievable. We have 247.3 ft. The sideyard even with the addition at its 15t um and 5ft minimum. We are at a 45 ft setback on the east side there. Um the height the maximum building height is 35 ft. The existing is actually 39 almost uh 40 ft 39 10 and 78. It's the existing component that's three floors and that's cuz that third floor that lower level is accessible by grade down there. Um but our new proposed will be 34 ft 10 in with the new gymnasium addition there. Okay. And we do meet the lot coverage at 16% versus the required oh excuse me 35% there. Parking wise, our base bid will be 128 spaces. If we do accept the alternate bid, we would be able to expand that to 167 and uh the 38 spaces is what we were able to calculate from the overall requirement as far as what the ordinance was pointing us to with the elementary school building at that location. Uh from the other submitts that we have, we have submitted this to the MPD or for our MPDS permit to the conservation district. Um Tom Ray right now is actually out on a surgery. So we'll be getting his final comments back here shortly, but we do have a letter stating that we've been substantially, you know, uh administratively complete with that. We've had multiple conversations with him during the design to go over what our plans were. Uh from storm water management, I think we are waiting for the final approval from the city, but uh had a chance to meet uh Mr. Helmock out on site and kind of walk and talk him through what we were thinking. So once we have their final comments back, we'll be establishing any changes into the drawings and making sure that gets taken

care of. Sewer module wise, we reviewed that with the uh city as well because of our changing over the fixtures. We have a lower sewage flow as well as a lower water usage uh because we are switching over to a higher efficiency fixture throughout. So uh we will have that as well. And then our water authority is going to be something that is going to be um the same services coming in as before. The one thing we have not established yet and that we're working on right now is actually the covenant with the city uh for the storm water management. We're developing the budget for that so that we can establish the covenant uh to be with the district uh so that we can take care of that final aspect. So uh sorry I threw a lot out there. I've been rehearsing it. So but uh any questions that I can answer gentlemen uh we are as it stands right now we are proceeding with the bidding process. uh BIU has uh had our drawings and given us some feedback. So, we're working through those components uh the few that we got back and we'll be handling those items and getting them taken care of as well.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Um anybody on the commission have questions or concerns to express? Uh Mr. Chairman, I would just have uh some comments to offer. Uh f first of all, I thank you for your presentation uh and commend the school district uh for their vision uh and planning in this particular situation. I think it's been a long time coming uh particularly on West 38th Street for the safety of the the students uh in particular and the community at large uh for the congestion on West 38th Street. Uh and that alone I think is a tremendous uh improvement to the community. Thank you.

Uh including all of the other uh elements that you talked about. Uh I think Grover Cleveland has become uh even more important to the west side of this community uh particularly with the closing of Blessed Sacrament. Uh and just keeping in mind I believe uh we'll continue to expand with uh students. Mhm. Uh so uh you know having adequate classroom space uh for the expansion of uh the the student base over there uh keeping that in mind. Yes sir. For the school district. So but uh thank you uh for your proposal and for the uh the planning of the district.

It's absolutely our pleasure. Yes. So, you had uh mentioned that uh some of the changes include um obviously improved efficiency fixtures for water and lighting stuff. Um with the state's budget that they actually managed to pass, uh there was additional funding for solar schools. I'm curious if there's been any consideration or discussion about addressing overall energy efficiency or developing on-site power generation to offset uh facilities consumption considering the expanded footprint and just the size of existing rooftops.

We uh the school district has not considered that as a part of this project alone. I know that they've uh had some considerations and I'm not uh privy to those and I wouldn't be able to comment directly on that. What I can say is as far as the uh what is happening is in this building is the lighting that is getting switched out is going to be switched over to all new LED uh replacing the old fixtures. Uh the uh new rooftop units uh will be replaced with high efficiency units as well. The existing HVAC is all powered by unit ventilators in each individual room which they're all failing. They're all you know getting old at that point. So uh from the the situations that this project is involved with uh energy efficiency is is required and we are uh pursuing that uh to make sure that we're meeting the energy code the new energy code requirements for the renovations and construction.

Thank you. Yes sir. Any other questions then? Mr. Chairman could I just add on to m Mr. uh Russ's comments uh that there has been a pretty aggressive program with the state uh and I believe that they have met uh previously with the school district tried to meet with other

uh entities around uh Erie County and uh a a conversation with the regional director of of the governor's office may be uh worthwhile uh because there may be some opportunities there through Harrisburg and I can defin I could certainly deliver that message back to the district for sure. Thank you. Any other comments?

Just on the the city's end, um this project has been reviewed by by city staff. There were no issues raised from the zoning um offices, but the I believe there are some outstanding comments um and approvals from the engineers about some permits and things. Um but this is preliminary approval. So those would all be addressed before we see this project again for final approval. Okay. And those comments I mean nothing earthshattering, just housekeeping type stuff. Um waiting on some permit letters and things. Yeah. No. Well, they'll need to be addressed before it moves on.

Yes. So, our intention would actually be to get them addressed within the next week or so. Uh like we'd like to bring this back in February actually for the final if it's possible. Yeah. Good. Thank you. So, thank you all. Appreciate your time today. Do we need to Is this a vote? Yeah. Okay. I'll move to is grant preliminary approval plan. Okay. Is there a second? Second. Motion is second. All in favor signify by saying I please. I I. Thank you so much everybody. Thank you. Thank you.

Next item is McKinnus rled rings CEC. Uh hello everybody. This is uh Steve Caruso with with CEC here representing uh my client McKinnus Swirl Rings. Uh we're here for our final land development approval. We have received all of our necessary permits and approvals and I was been working with the city um on getting all those necessary documents that were required. I believe there were only two housekeeping items uh left. Um a lot consolidation plan which McKinnus is is finalizing. Um and then there was a letter of credit for proposed storm water infrastructure that McKinnus would actually have to provide as well. Uh just to give a little bit of a a status on the project and and construction. We recently had a a pre pre-construction meeting with the Erie Con County Conservation District that went really well. So we're kind of giving the the go-ahhead on on construction or starting construction. So the intents initially here for this year um would be mostly earth moving um with the site and storm water infrastructure building happening most likely next year. So, like I said, we just have a couple high housekeeping items that we're currently finalizing and should have that to the city uh soon. If there's anybody any questions on the on the the plans, any of the permits or approvals or any other questions uh feel free to ask. I would just say it's great to see this one actually coming, you know, moving forward through the process. saw this a couple months ago. So, it's nice to see more of these development projects actually getting through. So, thanks for the uh update.

Okay. Thank you. Um any of the other commissioners have questions or comments? Yeah. Well, great. Um so, this will be a final approval, correct? Yes, this will be the final end development approval. Um, again, the city staff has reviewed the project and there were no issues raised from any department or bureau. All right. Thank you very much. All in favor? No. Motion to uh issue approval of or final approval. Yeah, I'll second. We have a motion and a second. Sorry. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I.

Thank you. I think you're might be the first project to have gone all the way through. So, we appreciate uh your and McKinnus's um diligence and following through up. Thank you very much. Thank you. Oh, is Jason on the meeting call? Yes, he is online. So, yep, I'm here. Can we recognize him then as uh being in attendance? Yes. Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah. Yeah. Y I just heard him vote. That's why I wanted to make Yeah. make sure we recognize it. Thank you. Um, third item under land development, uh, 263 West Front Street, uh, McCiri Properties. This is for a final approval. This is a preliminary land development. Oh, preliminary. just received their waterfront conditional use from city council and are here for land development. Okay, someone here is

Good afternoon, Rich and this is Steve from layers. Cooper, if you could scroll down just a little bit so we can see the plan, I'll

I'll go through it there. Thank you. Uh in front of you today is our preliminary land development plan for Mckiri Properties. Uh as I said, I'm Steve with layers representing Miri Properties. Uh they're proposing, which I believe you've seen on the uh waterfront conditional approval. Uh two buildings, 30 unit residential development on the souththeast corner of Westfront and Myrtle Street. Uh one unit will front along Short Street containing 19 units. The other will front on Myrtle containing 11 units. Uh the plan that you see in front of you has been elaborated a little more on probably since the last one that you've seen. We now show a storm water management system and underground infiltration system that kind of stretches through the parking area. Um will be connected back into the city's uh MS4 system and Myrtle Street. Uh we show the required landscaping and you'll see some noting there that uh shows that it it has to be in accordance with sections of the city's ordinance. Uh we have submitted this plan to uh the city for engineering approval. Uh the sanitary sewer uh usage has been submitted to the city for approval. Uh and it is under an acre. So will not be required to obtain a NPDS permit but we do we have provided along with this package an ENS set of plans and and uh narrative. Uh if there's any other questions, I'd be happy to answer them. But that's a brief synopsis of this project.

Any questions from any of the commissioners? Nice to see some more residential getting built. This is exciting. Yeah. Any issues, Cooper? Um the there were no issues raised from the zoning office. Um, as Steve said, I think there's a couple of outstanding approvals from the engineering side, but those will of course be addressed before we accept a final application for the commission to review. Okay. Well, to make a motion, Mr. Chairman, I'll make a a motion for preliminary approval. Okay. Second. I'll second.

Motion and a second. All in favor sign approval signify by saying I. I. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good day. Yep. You too. [clears throat] Reszoning. There is none at the moment. Okay. Waterfront conditional use. Item E under new business. This is Bayfront Place AC Marriott. Uh WMF.

That's you. Afternoon, gentlemen. Brian Weber with Fox Architects here to uh talk to you a little bit about the phase two for the Harbor Place uh development uh for Scott Enterprises. Um Cooper, uh if you want, do you have the master plan document that we can go through? Yeah. Um, I think Sarah would have emailed I emailed you earlier today,

right? Just want to do a quick introduction to this. It's been a while. Uh, those of you who remember we first introduced this master plan for Harbor Place back in 2015. Um, and we got the um the phase one completed which is the Hampton Inn and Suites. Uh, and that was completed uh right around 2018 2020 right before COVID came. Um, and it's been a while. So now here we are coming back to phase two for this. Um let's go ahead and just move forward if you don't mind Cooper. Um so you know Harbor Place and the waterfront is a very important piece of of Erie's vision for redevelopment of the city. Um destination Erie talked about it. Obviously we've we've gone through this quite a bit for the initial phases for this. Um so it remains to be a very important critical part of Erie and here we are going to talk about phase two. So, let's go ahead go forward a few slides here. Uh, keep going, please. We'll go all the way to uh the finish of phase one. So, as we know today, one more slide, please. As we know today, this is phase one. Uh, as it's stands down at the uh bayfront today, we have the Hampton in Suites, obviously, Oliver's rooftop, the beer garden, and the mini golf. Uh and we have um a series of surface parking. Um at this point, what we're looking to do is um develop the next phase, which is going to be phase two, and additional surface parking uh along with this as well. Let's go ahead and fast forward all the way down to phase two for a little while here. Keep [snorts] going. One. There we go. That's a good one. So, for phase two, we're looking at an AC Marriott hotel, which is going to sit uh adjacent to the Hampton Inn Suites, uh just like the original master plan had it. Uh we're looking at adding a rooftop restaurant to this, similar to um

similar to Oliver's rooftop, as well as an event center, uh which will be on the seventh floor of this. So, basically two rooftop venues uh for this hotel. The hotel will be eight stories, uh same height as the Hampton Inn Suite, and will have about 140 rooms. [snorts]

This is this is then phase two of the hotel or I'm sorry of the Harbor Place master plan. And Cooper, if we if you don't mind, let's just scroll all the way to the end of this presentation and let's go to the final master plan slide up this one. So, Harbor Place is envisioned as about a sevenphase project to happen over time. We are today only at phase two. Um and part of that um development includes the two hotels. So this will be the second and final hotel for the site. Uh a series of commercial uh office space which you'll see there in the purple in the diagram. A series of retail spaces which are shown in the red which are primary along the first floor. Development happening on the north and south side of Front Street and really turns Front Street into that main street. uh with these spaces, this retail and this commercial overlooking and spilling out a lot of open space, public amenity space, including ice rinks, including splash fountains, including linear parks, um flexible open space, grass parks, and of course, uh improvements to the walkway along the W's edge, and looking at housing out at the end of of Holland Street Pier. For these future phases, for us to get to phase seven, it's going to be really important for us to get to some structured parking for this. uh that's not included currently in phase two and phase two is about as far as this project's going to be able to go without structured parking. So what we are looking at is um pushing phase 2 forward with the surface parking that we need for the development. And at the same time we are approaching um different funding uh opportunities to get the first parking garage built. And the first parking garage is the one you see here in the bottom of your screen wrapped with the uh purple commercial space that sits on the corner of State Street and Bayfront Parkway. That'll provide about 500 parking spaces. Uh, and if that's completed, then we will not have to do the surface parking that's going to be

required for us to uh get this first or the second hotel finished. Um, currently the second hotel was approved for CRIS funding uh for from the city here. Uh, it's right now down in Harrisburg being voted on. Um, and we're hoping that phase two CRI funding that'll happen uh this coming year will include then the parking garage. And if those come to fruition, then this parking garage can actually be built before the completion of this hotel. If it doesn't, then we'll have the surface parking, uh, which is what we're going to present to you today. So, that's the update of the of the Harbor Place master plan in general. And since we're going to be skipping around with some slides, I'll stop there to see uh if you all have any questions about the master plan. Um, any specifics that you want to cover uh before we move on to the hotel itself. Any of the commissioners have questions?

Mr. Chairman, uh I uh commend you for the vision and the continued development on the Bayfront uh certainly critical to our community. Um but with the uh construction of the Bayfront uh Parkway uh and all the work that's going to be done in your area and the congestion that's there now. uh how are are you envisioning and working with the city uh and how that's going to continue to be able to to have that flow of traffic through through that area dur during this period?

Well, that's a good question and I think it's it's one of the reasons why it's good for us to be taking this a bite at a time. Um because to develop this whole thing would be a huge interruption to the bayfront and the waterfront and the city in general. Uh at this point, what we're talking about is probably beginning construction on this, beginning the initial site work here in um mid to late summer of this year. Uh and then constructing over the next two years for this hotel. Um again, we have enough site here that almost all the staging uh all of the um uh all the material supply and storage is going to happen on site and out of the public right away. uh we don't see any interruption to Front Street. Um all the h all the construction will happen off of that. What we did which was great for phase one is phase one put in pretty much all the infrastructure uh and roadways that was required for the master plan. So now the continuation of that master plan will have less interruption to public utility, public rightway and other infrastructure.

Thanks. That's a great answer and I because I think the community is going to be very very concerned. Absolutely. uh because it's a a real congested situation down there at this particular point. So, but we'll as as tough eerie people do, we'll survive it. And [laughter] again, congratulations on continuing to move forward. Okay, other questions at this point.

This is for Cooper. Um when the uh Hampton Inn was being approved there was a requirement the height variance was granted with condition of a green minimum green space allocation. Um have we confirmed that that was in fact adhered to and and met? Um yes I I believe the variance is still accepted. No, I know that the variance I'm saying before the green the green space being met. Was that the public green space piece? Yes. All right.

And we can uh if you want to move on to the slide that talks about parking and the open space that was emailed to you today. Yeah. As well that um it'll be it'll be a separate file.

Okay. So this is this is the open space and parking that we're looking at for for phase two and it combines it. So every time that we talk about adding to Harbor's Harbor Place, what happens is obviously pieces that were there prior get altered or modified, new pieces are added. So every time we look at the next phase, we look at the whole thing cohesively. So we want to look at the open space cohesively. We want to look at the parking requirement cohesively. So, as you can see, what we're looking at here for the open space, phase one, at the end of phase one, we needed about 12 25,800 square feet of open space, which was provided. At the end of phase two, we'll have 29,400 square ft uh that's going to be required. And what we're proposing is um providing uh a total of 77,000 square feet by the end of phase 2. And there's some conversations that have happened. A big part of our uh open space was planned for the area that was taken by eminent domain by PENDOT. Um our our previous discussions um uh was that that 21,55 would be subtracted from the requirement. However, we don't necessarily need that. Um and this open space that we're showing is the amount of open space that's going to remain in and around uh phase two once we're complete. And this doesn't even begin to address what's happening at the end of Holland Street Pier as well, which has an even additional space for more open space as this master plan continues. So, every step of the way, we're planning for that open space uh through a combination of public ways, sidewalk improvements, plazas, open space, green space, flexible green space, everything except of course parking lots, anything that's not within the public right away either. So this plan does not count for anything that's sitting within the public rightway way. So any any sidewalks and green space that we created within the rightway itself is not even included in this plan. So we have every bit of confidence that we'll

be able to meet all the open space requirements that were promised when we did the uh the variance requests back in 2015 for parking. Uh that's the next piece to talk about here. As you can see with this plan, I think what certainly bothers everybody, including uh including the developer, including uh the public, is going to be the amount of surface parking that's required down here. And so u unfortunately, it's a necessary evil until we get to the steps of being able to provide those structured parking garages. So at this point, we're looking at expanding that parking to accommodate again not just the AC hotel, but also all of the pieces that came before that and looking for those parking requirements. and then providing about 386 total parking spaces down here. We are looking at as we do our parking count, we are looking at combining the Oliver's rooftop as well as the new Oliver's um ro rooftop restaurants at about a 50% count because 50% of that is included in the hotel guests themselves, which is where their guests come from, and 50% from the public, which is how we come up with a number. This also helps us just overall reduce the amount of surface area that's going to be paved down there and amount of surface area that's not going to be used by the public. So, we want to increase that by looking at this way of getting the maximum amount of parking that we can down there, but also keeping the max amount of space available uh for the public and creating a positive attractive space for our for our waterfront in this space too.

So, I know I'm going to dramatically oversimplify uh this question. The proposed parking raised parking structure that would essentially be in the footprint of that 240 space lot. Exactly. Exactly.

Now it is it's that footprint, but that footprint also includes an office building, right? Yeah. That's potentially

That's right. And what you'll see is if you look at that footprint uh directly south of the hotels where you see that half oval shape that's sticking out that half oval shape is the future ice rink and uh splash fountains uh which will be a large public plaza and that'll attach to a linear park that goes south from there and actually attaches then to that area uh the green space that's remaining for what from what Pendot took uh for a trail system. The idea here is that we developed this trail system that comes in, travels north through this, and continues all the way up to Oliver's beer garden and the water and the waterfront. So, if that parking garage comes in, not only do we replace this surface parking with the parking garage and the office space and retail that Rich was talking about, but we also eliminate a big portion of that, probably a quarter to a third of that parking, and give it back to park space. So, it's very important to get those parking garages in here, I think, for the community and for the vision as a whole.

I'm a big fan of going up, not out. So, yeah. Other questions at this point. Brian, any other comments related to the uh conditional use approval? Um, no other comments the conditional use approval. I'm happy to go through the packet that we provided for you. I think is in front of you. Most of you have seen um it talks about the hotel itself, gives you some renderings, gives you some more site information, and I'm happy to elaborate on any of those, but I don't also want to take any additional time. Yeah. Well, they're going to be back. So, it's they will be back. Yeah. [laughter] Get a chance to be clubbed later. Um

this is just preliminary approval then. No, this is a waterfront conditional use. No, they've applied for that. So, assuming there is a positive recommendation, it will go to council uh for Yes, that's correct. Their consideration and approval. Yeah. I'll send a letter to city council with the planning commission's recommendations and comments. Yeah. And city council will schedule a public hearing and then make their decision after that. So, I'll move to recommend uh to council approval. Yeah. Second. I have a motion and a second. Uh all in favor signify by saying I.

I. I. Uh Cooper, will you note that I have abstained? Thank you. Good. Thank you very much. Great. Thank you. Look forward to you to come back. This was the pre-etch as well for the salo. Correct. Okay. Thanks. All right. Uh, moving on. Pedro for no blighted property designations this month. Um, Miss Spry want to talk about Department of Neighborh Planning and Neighborhood Resources updates.

Good afternoon, commissioners.

Good afternoon. just get my things situated here. So, first I wanted to um just make sure that you were aware that we've had some internal structural changes. Um so our planning and neighborhood resources is now called the Bureau of Planning and Zoning and um we lie uh within the umbrella of Department of Neighborhood and Economic Development. Yes. Um and so it's a bit of an umbrella with neighborhood and economic development. Um, and the three few three bureaus, uh, Bureau of Planning and Zoning, and I'm going to have trouble with these names now. Bureau of uh, Building Inspection and Safety and Bureau of uh, Bureau of Depart, Thank you. Bureau of Department of Grants, Department of Economic and Community Develop Grants, sorry. Um, so we've had a little bit of change, but uh, zoning is now with planning, which makes great sense. Um, and, uh, also wanted to mention that tomorrow we um, I I believe you received an invitation for ourformational session for our salo amendments. We've invited around 130 uh, invite invitees. um their civil engineers, developers, land surveyors and architects to thisformational session tomorrow at noon. Um if you can attend, it's a virtual session. Um we would very much encourage the commissioners to be present to understand more of the process internally what how we're

reviewing these projects and um the time frame and the policy that we've put in place. So if you can make it that'd be great tomorrow. Uh, also I wanted to um inform you if you haven't seen already that we did receive $20 million for the Safe Streets and Roads for All implementation grant. So that was really exciting and um um we are we're working through um just sort of the preliminary things right now with the federal government but that award um part of it was for supplemental planning. So 400,000 for a road safety and audit of priority intersections in the city, 75,000 for finalizing the city's complete streets policy, 75,000 for establishing a traffic calming program, and 50,000 for data analysis of lane departure crashes. And then 19.4 4 million was awarded for implementation. We're um focusing on two major projects, a road reallocation project and expansion of our safe routes to schools initiative. So, um, that's, uh, that was a very that was a very big grant that we received and we're, um, we're very excited to be able to work through with planning and engineering and the new administration work through how we're going to be implementing that on our high injury network. Um, [snorts] I also wanted to remind you that um, I believe before the first of the year, we spoke about the municipal um, assistance grant that we did not receive for our zoning and salo rewrite. Uh however, we discussed um potentially applying for another one of those MAP grants through

the state for comprehensive plan and I believe um you were going to submit a letter um asking um for the administration to consider that request. That's right. Yes.

I just wanted to send a friendly reminder for that. Um, also I know that Cooper is working on or he's has a draft annual report for you for the planning commission that we'd like to submit to um council and to the mayor. Uh, and uh at the next meeting that uh we'll make sure to put it in the minutes that that annual report was submitted. Um, [snorts] also wanted to throw out to you um the potential for training this year again. Uh, I know we brought in a trainer in um about a year ago and I think it's it'd be a great idea for us to um bring in somebody again to talk about the role of the planning commission. um now that we have these new amendments with SADO um potentially what that means for the planning commission um just moving forward and how we we would uh continue to progress here on this board. So um we can talk through that if you're interested in that. Um we'd be happy to reach out to some of the some of the connections that we've made in the last couple of years to bring training specifically to our board here. Um I know there was one more thing about training. Um do you have any questions? Yes.

Well, I think one of the uh members brought up uh the idea of uh a discussion relating to uh items uh of interest and goals for the planning commission for uh the coming year. And so, um, I think, uh, it would be appropriate to perhaps schedule a, uh, a special meeting, uh, uh, for for that to occur.

Sure. Um, in terms of priority and goals, can you explain a little bit in terms of what you what you want to focus on for the upcoming year or how you might improve the uh processes that you have in place?

Um, probably all of it. I think that that um uh we have relatively new members with Mr. Bazari and uh Mr. Anderson um who are members of the uh commission. Um and hopefully we'll have some uh additional uh members uh nominated uh relatively soon that we can u uh both address uh items of interest to the commission members um about what they would like to what they think is important for the commission to consider moving forward. but also um understanding um how to improve processes that happen within the commission. Um I think that uh we're all feeling our way through as we establish um land development approval processes and and how all the pieces dovetail.

Sure. And I think that that one of the concerns that's been expressed is that uh that these can happen as expeditial expeditiously as possible so as not to impede um progress um in improving the city. And I I I'll piggyback on that since I was the one harassing Rich about um sort of priorities. I think where I was coming from for it was largely just last year we made a tremendous amount of progress more than the commission has and I think anytime um and the goal is how do we keep building on that momentum and keep you know doing as much as possible to support the ongoing development and growth of the city.

I apologize Mr. Chairman. I'm going to ask ask for your indulgence. As a member of my staff I feel like I can come up and speak for Jackie. So if you don't mind introducing myself Daria Davlin, mayor of the city of Erie. I want to thank you for that suggestion and just say um I sat this morning actually with Jackie and Cooper to talk about um all of the kind of comprehensive approach to land development and improvement we need to do in the city of Erie to further the goals of the city of Erie. So I would very much welcome an opportunity to sit and talk with all of you about my administration's goals about where we're going in terms of city development and the critical role that you all play in that. So I think a special meeting would be wonderful. We're also I know um Councilwoman Scha is here. We're going to be talking to city council about a study session specifically on Salo so that they can get kind of some baseline information. Um city council has been great with this new president and vice president to set up regular study sessions and we're going to help them build those agendas. So I think if we can have that opportunity and then an opportunity to sit and talk with you about our goals, what you need from us, how we're all aligned, this is how we really move the city forward. So thank you for that suggestion. and I would very much welcome it. Thank you. Thanks for your indulgence.

Thank you. And welcome to a meeting. Um, if you would like to hold a special meeting, don't forget that you have to make a motion to uh call for a special meeting and take a vote. Go ahead.

Go ahead. Uh, lastly, I just wanted to mention that we are still working on our parks plan. Um and we are wrapping up the engagement piece of that plan. Um this month we've been talking to many of our stakeholders including some of our um thirdparty providers for programming as well as um different uh entities that potentially could be working with the city um for programming. So um that is on its way to uh the second or third phase I believe of the plan which is the recommendations phase. So I hope to have something to you in the next couple of weeks based upon the recommendations of our consultants.

Thank you. I wanted a quick comment um or compliment uh to you and your staff. Um, I've spoken to a number of people who have who signed up for the newsletters that uh team sending out and they have just been, you know, I love what the information they're getting there. Incredibly insightful, informative. Um, and I've spoken actually to a couple members of county council who said that they would love to see something like that adopted at the countywide level. So, great.

Just really great job. Um, great feedback that I've heard from people. So, keep up the great work. Thank you, Hannah Alleski, who's here in the audience. She she takes the lead on that. And um yeah, we've heard we've had good feedback. In fact, the last um newsletter we sent out, there were several people who contacted Matthew Falconee because of the Keystone grants. So, um several different organizations who are interested in applying for Keystone grants. So, thank you. Yeah, Mr. Chairman.

Yes. I I'd also like to offer some comments to uh director Spry to congratulate her and her staff on particularly on the award of the grant uh for the roads. Uh what uh your department does and what will you will continue to do under this new umbrella uh and this new administration in the future is critical to the future of our community uh and to our community success. So, uh, I congratulate you and all of your staff for the work that you do. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate that. I think it's

And Mr. Chairman, uh I I would offer uh a motion uh to call for a special meeting uh to meet with uh the mayor, the new mayor and their staff uh at their convenience um and under the agenda that they would like to have uh in a special meeting uh with our commission. Okay. Second. Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. I.

Any opposition? There being none, it's approved. All right. Last item. Adjournment. Nope. [laughter] We're just going to sit here. Two more minutes. Stay more room. Um, motion to adjurnn. I'll make a motion. Is there a second? Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. Thank you. One of these days I'm going to get a no. I'm just going to sit here. Make make the stream keep going. Just have to sit here.

It doesn't have to be unanimous. I'm at least going to oppose.

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Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat.

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