Planning & Zoning Commission - Regular Meeting

All righty, it is 5 p.m. and I am going to call this meeting of the City of Saginaw's Planning and Zoning Commission to order at 5 p.m. We are gonna do a roll call really quick to establish quorum. Place one, Vivian Anderson.

Present.

Place two, myself, Benjamin Guttery, present. Place three, Peter Drouet. Present. Place four is currently vacant. Place five, Mr. Valvisas. Present. First alternate, John Hardy. is not present and second alternate Rebecca Errington is also not present. Note that we do have a quorum. Now I'm going to go to section 1B, audience participation. If anybody would like to speak, um feel free to come up to the microphone say your name and where you're from we will also give everyone an opportunity to speak at the beginning of each agenda item so if you're here for a particular one of the three items you can also come up at the beginning of that as well but if somebody has something else you're more than welcome to come up now we are going to go to approval of the minutes so That was our meeting on April 14. That was our last meeting. I've taken kind of a once over on it. I didn't see any typos or anything missing. But does anyone else on the panel have anything to note? If not, I'll entertain a motion.

I move that we accept the minutes as written.

All right. Do I have a second?

I second. OK.

All in favor, we're going to vote. All righty, and the motion passes. The approval of the minutes are approved. All righty. Now we're going to go to Section 3A, a public hearing, consideration and action regarding a specific use permit, SUP, for 1000 Kennedy Lane, Suite 107, to allow the operation of a philanthropic and or charitable organization. um i do want to note that i received various messages and support and we have all of those in our packet so note that we we did go over the ones that we got by email um i also have one in person i believe at least one in person um would mr chairman oh yeah i'm gonna briefly introduce the item and then we can open the public hearing thank you i'm moving along fast tonight sorry

Mr. Chairman, for this item, if you recall last time, you all voted on recommending that the light industrial zoning district allow for a philanthropic or charitable use in the light industrial area. City Council will be voting on that today to finalize that, but this is gonna be the specific use permit side of it. So what that entails is a specific use permit is an application specifically for this suite. So this suite is 107 on 1000 Kennedy Lane, and they are proposing a philanthropic and or charitable use. Their specifically has to do with a uh food bank type of establishment and we do have the owner marvie mclendon here today for her to discuss the business type and a little bit more about her application but with that i'm just going to ask y'all if you all have any questions in regards to the application itself and what the stp is for OK. So then we can go ahead and open the public hearing.

OK. So at 5.04 PM, I'm going to open up the public hearing. I do have at least one note here in person. Would Mr. Jeremy Roberts like to come speak on the item? If not, I do have your item in support of it, but if you're here.

Mr. Chairman, we'll begin with the applicant first, if you're okay with that. And then we will open it up for discussion from everyone. And that way we can just get there.

Applicant come. We have a city council meeting right after this, and so we're trying to make sure everybody gets their time. So excuse me.

My name is Marvie McClendon, I'm the founder of Chat & Chew.

Yep, thank you. We spoke briefly last time and so I don't think I personally have any more questions for the applicant, but does anybody else have any? If you recall, she mentioned her business is more than just kind of a food bank. There's a lot of other services that go along with it. And how many years have you been in business?

Since 2017.

right yeah thank you mr chairman since we're talking about this specific unit um maybe just for the record if she could uh ma'am please explain again what are your operations for this specific unit what are they going to look like so at suite 107 we have a client choice food pantry we're 100 volunteer base

and we are not zip code restricted. We offer food and services for people who are food insecure. We have a program for kids on the weekend. They come in, they shop like it was a little Kroger, and then they leave.

So there is, you explained last time, I'm just doing this because we're on this SUP now. You explained last time people drive up the park. Is this the one that they come on appointment? They actually park. No, that's my donation house. Okay. Yeah.

So ours is Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9 to 12. We have about 100 parking spots in the complex. They park. They spend maybe 15 minutes inside choosing what they want. We check them out, and then they leave. Yeah.

And this is the one where the people being served, they get some sort of token, and so they're able to shop and pick what they want.

It's actually point-based. Point, yes.

For sure. Got it. And the landlord is supporting this, the property owner.

Yes, he's actually on his way.

Got it. For sure. Okay. Does anyone else have any more questions while we have her at the dais? Yes.

Okay, thank you so much for your time.

We appreciate it. Okay, so if I'm not mistaken, I'm going to close out that part at 5.07 and now I'm going to, oh no, I'm not going to.

No, we're going to leave the public hearing open and we're going to allow anyone in the audience to participate.

Okay, so I don't have to reopen it.

Okay, cool. No.

All right, would Mr. Jeremy Roberts or anyone else like to come to the dais in support of Chat and Chew of 3A? Okay. And if you could just state your name and where you're from Name Jeremy Roberts.

I'm from Keller, Texas. Thank you right now. I Won't tell you where I'm really from Marvy asked me to come and just support and ask you guys to reconsider to consider rezoning Rezoning this I've been involved with chat and chew For a few years now But back when they were down in Fort Worth at the school, she invited me down to see their operation. And I was amazed at what they were doing in our backyard. The outreach that they're doing. I mean, one of the first questions I asked her was, you're doing this and your volunteers are doing this for all these people. I was quite amazed at not only what they were doing, but the number of people that they were helping. And it was all volunteer and no government. Which was weird. Which was great that she filled a void that is direly needed in our area. And like she said, it's not zip code based. So there's people coming from all around coming here. And it's not just the... It's not just the pantry that she does twice a week. It's also the outreach to the moms that she's helping get out of dangerous situations and helping them resituate themselves. This pantry helps them do that as well. And then there's the volunteers within the pantry that helps all of that. So it's a wonderful experience. organization is something that should be a beacon in here in Saginaw something that you should be proud of it's really a great organization if you spent one hour there you'd see it like immediately like I did so I volunteer as much time as I can and my treasure so I am fully supporting this organization I think it's wonderful And I strongly urge you to consider rezoning so they can stay where they're at. They're finally to a place where they can get their, you know, home. And she chose Saginaw, which was fantastic. So it's a great location for her. There's a place for growth. And it would just be absolutely perfect.

Okay.

Thank you so much, Mr. Roberts. And so you're a volunteer there. Correct. Thank you so much. All right. Would anyone else like to come up to speak in support of 3A? OK. So if not, I'm going to close the public hearing portion at 511. And now we can discuss amongst ourselves this item. No, I did not receive anything against on this item. No, I did not. And the landowner and property owner landlord is in support on paper and at the last meeting as well.

Mr. Chairman, we just had someone walk in, the owner of the establishment of the suite, and he would like to talk. So if you could reopen the public hearing.

I'm going to reopen the public hearing on item 3A at 5.12 p.m. And if the gentleman that would like to speak on 3A would like to come up to the dais, if you'll just tell us your name and where you're from and yeah.

Sorry, I went across the street. I thought that was a new city hall.

You're fine.

I'm sorry. Yes, sir. My name's Gary Himes. I own the property. at 1000 Kennedy Lane. We've got like 13 units in there. I only have about five, six tenants besides these here because some of them rent double units.

Yes, sir.

And I've verbally spoke to most of the tenants and told them several times What was coming in, what was going to happen, what they were going to do, I have not received any objections whatsoever from anybody, any comments negative and stuff. So I don't know. We just want to support the community, whatever that takes, and I think these ladies here will help us. Okay. Any questions for me?

Thank you, sir. So in your opinion, in terms of usage and parking, none of the parking, you have sufficient parking spots, so we would not have issues.

There's 100 parking spots there. We use, on a good day, there may be 20 cars there. You know, half of them are in the back, but most of them are in the front. So never had a complaint on that. And most everybody's gone. I've got an office in there, and we're gone at 3, 3.30 every day. Most of the other businesses, they're out of there at 3.30 or 4. So I've got one business that meets at night, has some people, customers come in at night. I don't ever see him. He's always, I'm always gone before they get there. But no, I haven't heard any objections. I don't see any problems. It's nice and quiet over there.

Thank you, sir.

Okay.

Thank you for taking the time to come out. Does anyone else have any questions for the gentleman?

Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate you.

all righty so now i'm going to re-close the public hearing at 5 14 p.m and now we can speak amongst ourselves here on the dais about item 3a um we received a significant amount of in support notes on this item last time we learned a little bit more about the organization um from from what i understand it's only going to be two days a week by appointment um that the the pantry aspect is going to be used the rest of the days that they'll be open it will be more of like um counseling, coaching, group services by appointment as well. And with support from the property owner, the neighbors, and the need in the community, I think that this would be a good addition to the city of Saginaw myself. Does anyone have anything else they wanna say?

My curiosity was, I went by three times, including today, just to see how the spacing was going to be and what the parking's like. I don't see any issues.

All right.

I'll entertain a motion.

Motion to support.

Thank you, sir.

Mr. Chairman, you heard the gentleman. I'd like to make a motion to approve 3A, Consideration of Action regarding Special Use Permit for 1000 Kennedy Lane, Suite 107.

All righty, do we have a second? I'll second. All right, I think Peter got it first, and then we're all going to vote. All righty, and the item passes, so. Congratulations and welcome to Saginaw. Alrighty, now we are going to go to item 3B, consideration and action regarding a specific use permit, SUP, for 1000 Kennedy Lane, suite 108, to allow the operation of a philanthropic and or charitable organization.

Yes, sure. Mr. Chairman and the rest of the commission, this application for a specific use permit, we will be approaching it in the same way that we just reviewed the prior item, taking into consideration that council's approval is still pending for the amendment to the permitted use table. This application is for, again, a philanthropic and or charitable organization use at suite 108. for donation house. They are a little different in the way that they would be providing clothing, shoes, household items, hygiene items, furniture, kitchen items, cleaning supplies, and kind of a wide variety of family and home supplies that people can use. requests they don't have an application process so a family doesn't need to like qualify for assistance in our majority appointment base but we do have the representatives here that will be speaking on behalf of cheryl mix the applicant for this application they can come forward and answer any questions that the commission has okay we could have that

Excuse me, if we could have the applicant come up to the dais.

Then we'll just have you open the public hearing.

Oh, okay. I'm going to open the public hearing on item 3B at 5.18 p.m. And then if the applicant would like to come speak. Howdy. If you could just tell us your name and where you're from, please. Jeremiah Tyson, Ulis, Texas. Thank you, sir. Would you like to add anything additional?

I mean, like she said, we do donations, clothes, household items, hygiene. Everything's appointment-based. So they contact us through Facebook. They tell us what they need. If we have it, we bag it up, put their name on it, set an appointment. They come and pick it up. We do two major events every year. We do a back to school. Obviously, you get your school item list for each grade. We get a list of kids. They sign up through Facebook or through our website. We bag those school supplies up. We'll sometimes do Halloween costumes. And then if they need clothing kits, we'll box those up. Again, all of that is by appointment base. And then we do a Christmas event where what we used to do was gently use toys, but this year we're switching to just brand new toys. So the parents will go on our website. sign up, give us the kid's age and gender, and then they'll tell us what their favorite toy is. If we can get that specific toy, we'll get it with a $20 limit or $25 limit. If we can't get that toy, we'll get something very close to it, box it up. Again, everything is by appointment basis.

So besides the two events per year, the two bigger events, how many days a week are you going to be open at Donation House?

So we're open every day except for Sunday. But again, everything is by appointment. So they tell us on Facebook, hey, I need clothes for a five-year-old female. We'll box it up. Most of the time, I think we give them a kit that has about three to five clothing pairs. And then we'll set a time, and then they'll come and pick it up.

And what would your general range of operation hours be? I know it's based off of request, but do you have a set, like, we only do appointments in between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.? Or, like, I'm just throwing that out there. Or is there, like... We need this for school tomorrow. We're available. We'll meet you at whatever time.

Well, sometimes we have done that, but mostly around our Christmas event. We'll help families after our event if they weren't able to come to the event. But for day-to-day, I think we're open from 8 to 4. Obviously, depending on the weather, because we're not a climate-controlled area, hot in Texas, we're not going to be open that late. Because by the time it hits noon, you've got to get out of there. Yeah.

Okay. How many volunteers are in the facility on a regular basis?

Most of the time we have at least two board members working there. And then maybe an extra two volunteers that are consistent.

So two to four people daily? Yes.

And how long has, was the organization, have you been around since 2015 or earlier than that? About 10 years, yeah. About 10 years? Okay, thank you. Mr. Avicis or Mr. Droulet, do you all have any questions for the applicant?

No questions.

Thank you so much for your time, sir. Thank you. Go ahead. Okay. Do I need to? No. Okay. Come up, Mr. Himes. Thank you. And if you don't mind, if you could just reintroduce yourself because we annotate these meetings.

My name is Gary Himes. I own the property at 1000 Kennedy Lane. I just wanted to point out the fellow just up here, they said they've been in business for 10 years. As my understanding, they've been working out of a church here in Saginaw. for 10 years and were forced to move. And I wasn't sure if everybody was aware of that. So they're trying to stay in this central location because this is an area that they service is mainly Saginaw. And they didn't mention that. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Oh, did you mention that already? It's over a period of time. I just wanted to make sure this, you know, they're serving the community of Saginaw and have been for 10 years.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you so much. And just for the record, I would assume that the neighbors, the other tenants are feeling the same way. Yes, sir. yes sir and the parking situation would be generally the same so i just wanted to have that on the record um okay so now yeah yeah would anybody else like to come up um i have a couple of notes here um so i have missed would i believe we just talked to mr jeremiah tyson correct yep And so I also have a stack of letters that we read before the meeting, but would anyone else like to come speak on item 3B, excuse me, at the dais for anything for item 3B in consideration of? Alrighty. So I am going to close the public meeting at 5 24 p.m. and then I will open this up for discussion amongst the committee. So again I just want to preface with you know a lot of the services that the applicant is requesting are appointment based. They've been in business for at least since 2015. It sounds like we know that there'll be two to three board member volunteers there during the day. And it's obviously filling a need in the community. uh and the neighbor tenants and a property owner um in addition to we got a very nice stack from the community of uh and support um so anybody else in the dais want to ask anything or make any notes i feel good about it okay yeah all righty uh if that is all good with everybody i will entertain a motion

I make a motion that we vote to approve as laid out.

And do I have a second?

I'll second.

All righty. We're all going to vote. And again, the motion is carried. So welcome to Saginaw. All righty. Now we're going to go to item 3C, consideration and action regarding a specific use permit, SUP, for 105 West Lemon Street, 213 North Saginaw Boulevard, and 215 North Saginaw Boulevard to allow the operation of an auto service station. All right, stop.

Yes, so we received a request to allow the operation of another service station at the locations you see on the map showcase. The operations will primarily be taking place at 213 North Saginaw Boulevard and 105 West Lemon Street with potential demolitions slash improvements of 215 North Saginaw Boulevard and use for an installment bay for the business, Hempstire, that is applying for these locations. The auto service station is defined within our permitted use table as an establishment for the retail sales of petroleum products, automobile accessories, auto tune-up, muffler installation, incidental to the primary use. Tire installation or repair, oil change, or other lubricant services in which all services provided in all storage supplies, parts, equipment, and accessories are indoors with the exception of fuel dispensing operations. The Ham's Tire business applicant for this request sells used and new tires. and would also be providing installation services with some alignment, and I'll let the applicant speak a little bit more as to what other services will be provided within the three properties on your application. If you scroll, I'll scroll down in a minute, but in your application, you'll be able to see in addition to the map, the site plans for each of those properties, as well as the intended look from what the applicant submitted, but we... Are you open public hearing if you want to go ahead and let the applicants walk forward and speak on behalf of the business?

All right. Thank you, staff. I'm going to open up the public hearing at 528 PM. And if the applicant would like to come up to the dais, if you could please introduce yourself and let us know where you're from.

I'm Chris Wagner. I'm with Ham's Tire. And I'm from Watauga, Texas.

And besides the application, is there anything you want to let us know, anything you want to point out that maybe isn't clear, or just tell us about business? Sure.

Absolutely. I'd like to at least explain the scope of what we usually handle, which is we sell tires, wheels, brakes, shock struts, suspension work, alignments. We don't touch tires. We don't handle things like with fluids or like transmissions, engines. We're slim in the scope of what's going on there right now. We handle the easy stuff, stuff that is like regular maintenance. But we don't do like AC work or anything like that.

Are your bays set up now to handle that? Or do you have to rework?

No, the bays, as they say, so the 213 property, it's set up pretty much how we need it. We'll be cleaning up and ripping out a bunch of, like, just garbage that's in there that doesn't need to be there. But, no, how it's set up, the building itself, it's ready. Yes, sir. And we'll also be utilizing the Lemon Street address as well. It's a little four-bay building connected to the 213 property. That one's probably the best building on the property. It's absolutely set up. It's just four bays available for use.

So you're going to be having cars parked on the front towards literally out on the boulevard and then possibly around your fence and back into the...

It's an awkward property for sure.

I'm familiar.

It's an awkward property. The demolition side, not the 213 but the 215, it looks like maybe Saginaw was expanded there or something. It's such a small little parking lot. It doesn't leave us with a lot of room for parking but I've generally, yeah, like that picture right there. We've got a couple of the parking spots laid out where we think we'll be able to use them. We can't have people parking in front of the bays. And number one thing is we want it to be streamlined and comfortable. So we'll be establishing a new parking lot for sure. It'll be all concrete. It won't be asphalt. And at that point, we're definitely going to have to come up with some creative ways of having enough parking for the amount of business we're hoping to have.

um i know what you meant about the parking on the front of the building but i just i wanted you to know and everybody in the room i i found this out probably 10 years ago i've been here almost 17 years now um saginaw boulevard is is u.s highway 287 and so the the federal government owns the highway runs the highway and then they kind of subcontract out the maintenance and the right-of-way to tech stop so the city of saginaw has like Very, very, very little to do with Sackinaw, Maine. I just wanted everybody to know that part. So your business has multiple locations, correct? Yes, sir. Where else are you located in the DFW area?

Cheryl Street in Dallas, right off 30. That was the initial store. Then Watauga got opened up in, I believe, 99. Louisville got opened up in 06 and then we're hoping Saginaw of course 2026 but yeah we've been around for a while it was started by my grandparents and then my parents opened up Watauga and just looking to carry that out yeah okay

And like you mentioned, so the demo, and I saw a slide earlier, the demolition aspect is going to be on the 215 portion of the three lots.

That's what we're proposing. And maybe not initially, maybe initially, just depending on what it breaks down to. But those buildings specifically are pretty rough. And even being inside of them, you can see it from the outside, but even going through the The inside, they're just, they're pretty rough. They're gonna need, I just, I don't see, I see that as a beautiful parking area or maybe building something nicer and newer on the area, but I don't see us being able to renovate that and make it look nice or even more modern, which is what we're kind of aiming for. The other building, absolutely, for sure, but that one's almost kind of just held together by glue, it looks like. It's just a little rough. the big bay attached to it that we did not mark in all the red on that uh Yes, the big bay attached to it is a beautiful bay. It's well made, it's beautiful, it needs some paint and it's good to go, but the building itself is different. It's a little rough.

Okay, and then the 105 West Lemon property, that property where we currently show a line of parking that's gonna be butted up against, I guess, the end of what would be your property, um is there there's currently a fence there yes along that basically the west side um and are you going to proposing to do anything to that fence or leave it as is or um if you guys want me to for sure but the fence looks looks decent to me i've walked that fence that's not the problem fence we have some chain links on lemon street that i don't like very much but

That fence seems to be stable and nice. But no, no proposed plan for that unless.

Okay. And the chain link fence on Lemon Street, are you going to be proposing to take that down or? At least maybe replace it.

Yeah. It's just kind of, you look at it, it's all hanging in. It's kind of drooped. It needs some maintenance for sure. It's a little rough.

For sure. Okay. And I mean, I see the business hours in here. Does anybody else on the dais have any questions for the applicant while we have them?

About how many employees will be in the business during business hours?

So I can speak on like Watauga, we have roughly about 15 to 20 right now. It just depends, of course, on how busy I get, but as many as I need, I'll employ. Yes. Which is why I put all those employee parking spots on that west side on the back of the lot, just in case.

Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

So we'll probably get to it. My concern was with that stretch, the little stretch on the side for LeMond. On the left, I think it's on the left side of the building, 115. So we already know that there's not enough. Parking in the front, right? And so obviously, depending on how busy you are, that might be encouraging 1st on the roadway, right? Or on the side, which is, I think 1 of the concerns with 1 of the people wrote. And I have the same concern because sometimes I pass back there and you could easily get blindsided if there are cars parked on the left, right? You don't know, you can't see oncoming traffic properly. So I have no real concerns with the building itself because it's been similar use for many years. But how are you planning to handle that flow of traffic? If we go to discount tire, for example, people queuing up for air check and whatever check that they're doing, waiting for their turn. So do you have another plan for like... controlling that traffic to make sure this side emergency vehicles users living back there on LeMond and the North Saginaw Boulevard not getting crowded as well do you have you started thinking about any of that kind of plan yes sir absolutely so first with like the proposed demo I do think that would be excellent parking in an area that just is lacking a lot of parking

yeah um secondly the flow of traffic um we've kicked around the idea of having like one of our assistant managers or something be the person that brings in customers gets their keys fills out the info and then brings the the vehicles to where they need to be and then also brings them around and we're thinking the way that that property on 215 that that shop it's got three bays in the front They go all the way through that building. It's actually super cool. And so we're thinking about utilizing that and just pulling into those bay doors, pulling them forward to where the work areas would be, finishing that and just pulling straight outward and having our guys bring it right up the alleyway in between the big bay and the 213 building just for parking. We cash out the customer right by the office there. And they're good to go.

Dealership style.

Yes. Dealership style, for sure. And hopefully that makes it kind of cool to watch, too, because we're also proposing changing the front of that 215 building, oh, I'm sorry, 213, to have like a glass facade on it, make it a little more modern, a little more nice. So they'll be able to see when their car's pulling up right beside it. Can't see the whole picture, but hopefully it will wrap around when we're done with it, the glass. But yeah, dealership style is a good way to put it. Yes, sir.

With the pass-through that you're the back alley, like you were suggesting when people are backing out or driving through, maybe it's prudent. Maybe the business owner's already thought of this, but to put one of those mirrors on the corner of the back of the building so that that way people can see that something is coming around that corner. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that'd be nice to have in every corner, just how awkward the building is. Yeah. And as long as we, it's almost, you know, rule of the land, just there's got to be a flow of traffic and you cannot go the other way. Right. Even if we have to paint big yellow arrows.

Does anyone else on the dais have any questions for the applicant at this time? All these properties are in our Saginaw main overlay district, which is really important to the city. And I personally am pleased with the concept pictures that we've seen with the buildings being upgraded and their visual appearance looking a lot nicer than currently I know that there isn't there doesn't appear at least from Google Maps to be too many areas for like landscaping but I would just suggest to you as the business owner to you know beautify the property as much as possible because this is an important area to the city and the city is investing a lot in the whole district and business owners like yourself are proposing to invest a lot in the area and we appreciate that and so yeah i just wanted to point that out any any opportunity that you have to do something like that would be prudent

We do at the Watauga location. We have a bunch of, like, wooden slat flower pots with spineless prickly pear cactus all over the front just to make it look a little nicer. For sure. But, yes, sir. I understand.

Okay. All right. We appreciate your time. Thank you, sir, for speaking. So now I have one person that applied that wants to speak. Is this Mr. Blaine? Yes, sir. If you'll come up, please. And if you would introduce yourself and tell us where you're from.

Yes, my name is James Blaine, and I work for Century 21, and I'm helping sell the building.

Mr. Chairman, can you please speak into your mic so that we record these meetings so that they can hear?

Thank you. Can you put the picture up with the Hams building? Yes. I think this is nice. I've been in this area for 20 years, and I know CR personally, so I think some of y'all do. And this is going to be a nice addition to the street. But anyway, I've been doing real estate for almost 29 years, and I've worked with the Wagner family for 20-plus years. And I've sold over 13 properties to them commercially, and they've improved every one of them. So over 13 residential properties to them, and they've improved those. You can go see Watauga. They know the Wagners. They don't scrimp on anything. And they're going to bring new people in. They're going to bring business in. That road's going to be busier than it is right now. So anyway, I'm here just to let you know that I do have an interest in selling the property, but I know these people, both him and his dad. I've worked with his grandpa, grandmother, his brother, his nieces and nephews. Sold Ryan a house. All they've done is upgrade them. They've done pretty good.

All righty. Thank you so much, Mr. Lane. We appreciate it. Would anyone else in the audience like to speak regarding this item, regarding 3C? All righty. Then if not, I'm going to close the public meeting. oh you know what i still have a letter to read excuse me okay yeah all righty uh thank you okay so i have an item to read regarding item 3c it says um deer planning and zoning commission My name is Dan Ditforth and I am a nearby resident submitting comments regarding the requested SUP for an auto service station at 105 West Lemon Street, 213 North Saginaw Boulevard, and 215 North Saginaw Boulevard. I am not opposed to responsible commercial development. However, I have significant concerns regarding the proposed conversion of an existing low volume mechanic shop into a higher turnover tire operation at this location. a tire shop inherently generates a higher volume of vehicle traffic staging and short duration service activity in a traditional mechanic shop based on the current site configuration it appears unlikely that all operations can be contained on site without impacting adjacent streets particularly west lemon which is a residential roadway directly serving the neighborhood behind the property My primary concerns are as follows. One, overflow parking and street impacts. There is a high likelihood that vehicles will overflow onto West Lemon or stage near the intersection. This would reduce visibility, restrict safe ingress and egress for residents, and create avoidable safety hazards. This also has the potential to impact emergency access into the residential area. Two, on-site capacity and operational fit. The existing site layout appears better suited for a lower volume mechanic use. A tire operation requires adequate internal space for vehicle queuing, staging, and service turnover. If these functions cannot be fully contained on site, the use is not appropriate for the property in its current configuration. Three, outdoor operations and visual impact. Without strict controls, tire-related operations can extend outdoors, including vehicles on jacks, tire storage, and active service work and view of the roadway. This would negatively impact both safety and the visual character of the corridor. Four, aging structures and corridor appearance. The existing buildings are older and were not designed for this type of intensity or use. If this SUP is approved, the site should be brought up to a standard consistent with the primary commercial corridor, including appropriate building upgrades, screening, and overall site improvements. Additionally, existing Ham's Tire locations in the region demonstrate a consistent branding and site design approach. including locations on Watauga Road in Watauga, Fox Avenue in Louisville, and Carroll Avenue in Dallas. While the branding itself is not the concern, these examples illustrate a development pattern that may not align with the established character of the Saginaw corridor, which is primarily masonry-based and with more subdued and integrated signage. If this SUP is approved, exterior design, building materials, and signage should be required to meet the current corridor standards and be compatible with surrounding development rather than replicate a standardized design approach that may not fit this location. Based on these concerns, I respectfully request that the Planning and Zoning Commission either deny the SUP as currently proposed or at a minimum recommend approval only with strict enforceable conditions including All vehicle parking, staging, and storage must occur entirely on site. No use of West Lemon or any adjacent residential street for overflow parking or queuing. No vehicles allowed to stage near the intersection in a manner that impacts visibility or access. No outdoor vehicle service including tire changes or vehicles on jacks. No outdoor storage of tires, parts, or disabled vehicles without proper screening. A site plan demonstrating adequate circulation, parking, and operational capacity. Required upgrades to ensure the property meets current commercial corridor standards. If these conditions cannot be met, then the proposed use is not compatible with the site or the surrounding residential area. Thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely, Dan Ditforth. I'm going to enter this into the record. If anybody else wants to speak, you may. Otherwise, I'm going to close at 5.47 PM, the public hearing portion. And now we can speak amongst ourselves, ask the city questions, ask more questions amongst ourselves. What does everybody think?

I do get what Mr. Diffrith is saying, and I would say since we're all here, I think it's strongly, as the gentleman spoke, we hope that they come forward with an attractive building that would be worthy of being on the boulevard as it is, whether it's exactly like you've always done, or you deviate and make it more custom to this location. Obviously, and understanding that. Also, I see it, I think they know their business. They didn't start this six months ago, and as we talk about the flow, it's gonna have to be considered all the time. And I'm just saying this for my own well-being and yours. You're on a very, very vibrant location right there as people come and go. It is a cut through at times to go back into a neighborhood and come out, literally out to here. So I hope that continues to all be considered. I understand what the gentleman is saying. I feel for it, but I still feel good about the opportunity. And I also know if I would say the considerations that you're making, considerations you're making about redoing the property and going through that process, It's not easy, but I'm sure you'll get to where you want to go, and I hope that happens soon for all of us.

Ms. Anderson or Mr. Visas, do you all have anything to kind of ask, say? Remember, just so that we're all clear, if If we deem it, you know, with council, obviously we'll talk about this after us, but if we say you need to, add masonry on the front of the buildings facing North Saginaw Boulevard, or you need to put a screen fence on this road, that has to be in the SUP. This is the SUP. So we can make wink suggestions to the property owners, but if we want it to for sure happen, it has to be proposed and then put into the SUP at that time. I just wanted everybody to know that.

Mr. Chairman, so we can't regulate the masonry, but we can regulate color.

Color and yeah, OK.

And I don't disagree with you. I just don't know that I want to put that hamstring on them to say, this is what you're going to do. I want them to use, and I'm sure you're thinking this also, I want you to use your wealth of knowledge that you've had for all these years and consider it when you're bringing it in here to make it look as good as possible. The flow, everything that you can do to make your business good is good for us. We want to do that. Looking good, doing good business, employment, everything that goes with that.

Mr. Visas, do you have any other notes you want to read off, anything?

No, I think we've all echoed the same concerns, and we want to make it easy for people to come do business, obviously. So I don't feel we should necessarily put another ring on it to say you must do this, but I think you hear our considerations, We want to make sure it's safe, especially that corridor. We want to make sure there's no obstruction of traffic and encroachment. We already talked about the beauty of the building because that's our major roadway. So I think I'm good with that. I'm sure also the city is working closely with them too. For sure. Ms. Anderson?

I haven't any objections to anything that I have seen as I have passed their establishments in other areas that would cause me any alarm. They all seem to be very nice and clean, well taken care of without a lot of Garbage sitting around or there are vehicles, I haven't seen any of that in any of the other locations that I have seen. So I would hate to put handcuffs on them as well.

All right. um does the city have any other notes for us okay all righty well then uh we yeah do i'll entertain a motion

I make the motion that we vote to approve as given and as the information has been listed for the SUP. All right.

Do we have a second? I'll second. All right. We're going to take a vote.

Vi, we need you to answer on the screen, please.

We got this fancy new touchscreen technology, so give us a second, guys. All righty, the motion passes. Welcome to Saginaw. All righty. Now we are going to go to 4A, our staff report and project update.

Yes, so just really quickly, we really only have one significant difference from last month's update, and that is the pre-construction meeting was held for Rose City Plaza, a project located at 1500 Old Decatur Road. That's really only significant change from last month. If you guys have any questions, do let us know.

And for what business at 1500?

Rose City Plaza.

Rose City Plaza. Okay, awesome. Yep. And I see there's finally some commercial development coming to the Saginaw Square on Saginaw, Maine. Very excited about that. All righty. Thank you, staff, for your report. I don't believe that we have executive session this evening, and so we are going to adjourn this meeting of PNZ at 5.54 p.m. Thank you all for your time.

Can we get a motion for adjournment?

Oh, I keep forgetting. I'm chairman. I can't make motions. All right. Do I have a motion to adjourn? I have a new position, so I'm learning it.

I'll make a motion to adjourn.

Do I have a second?

I second. All right, then. I second. Yep, Peter seconds. And so we adjourn at 5.55 PM. And tell council we got five minutes early. Thank you all so much.

Thank you for coming. So we will have the city council to vote on.

This is the TMZ portion. Now the city council portion. If anybody wants to speak on any of these items as well, besides for the applicant, please make sure to sign one of the reply forms again.

Mr. Chairman, if you can leave the audience participation attachments and stuff like that next to you. Oh, okay, thank you.