Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Welcome to the city of Monroe planning commission meeting March 17, 2026. Roll call. Everyone present on the board here with the exception of Bonnie Roser is absent. Have we had a chance to re uh review the previous meeting minutes? Motion to approve. A motion to approve. I move we approve. Second. Say I. I. Carries.

Can we get approval of the agenda too? Yeah. And approval of the agenda. Skip that. We need a motion to approve the agenda. Motion to approve. Favor. I I agenda approved. report from code officer.

Uh I don't have anything to report tonight, Mr. Chairman. There's nothing going on, but I will mention that next month will be a little beefier than your agenda is tonight. So for a little bit longer meeting than we have tonight. Okay, that being said, we move into old business. Special exception variance 4390 100 Cherry Hill Road to increase the maximum amount of allowed parking.

Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh you heard this application last month. This is a special exception variance for increasing the amount of maximum amount of parking uh for an industrial site on Cherry Hill Road that was a 12acre property. And they're proposing to do some light industrials. It's cold steel manufacturing. And just to recap there, it was some 46,000 square foot building roughly and they're wanting to increase the uh parking to a total of 32 spaces and we have a very constrained parking requirement for our industrial. It's like one space per three employees or first shift. So I mean they need 355% of our employee parking which is pretty constrained. It's going to be like one space per employees with what they need really. Um our code is going to limit them to 11 spaces maximum to 120%. So they need more than that, right? So you heard this last month. We recommended approval. The reason why you're hearing it tonight was because um we needed a recusal from our other planning commission member. He had taken part in the preparation plan. We've gone through the item so quickly and so fast that I didn't catch it and she didn't catch it. We didn't realize it when we got through with it that she we both had talked about it afterwards that we gone through it so quickly, but we didn't realize that we need to back up, take a punt, and punt punt the ball and and take a recusal on that. So, we had gone through it so quick that we had already moved through it. We didn't have a chance to back up and actually rear the item. So, that's why you're hearing it tonight. Obviously, you had taken a motion to recommend approval to the city council. Obviously, our motion our recommendation is not changed and so the recommendation again approval without conditions and the applicant is in back in. So, you've already had a public hearing on the matter that you can rehear the public hearing again. But all things considered that he's had to go he had, you know, business away,

right? Um you've already had a chance for him to speak last month. Understandable. All right. With that being said, uh need a motion to approve. Motion to approve. Second. Say I. I. Motion carries. Very well.

Any right. Next is reszone 444950 North Hammond Drive. Approval to reszone B-3 Highway business district. All right. Good evening planning commission. The request here is for a reszone from B1 to B3. That would be neighborhood commercial to highway commercial. uh for the purpose of taking an existing building here and converting it into a contractor office with facilities. It's an HVAC contractor. Um you can see the parcel is is oddly shaped. It's triangle here. This is their uh it was a Dollar General at one point and uh is currently vacant. We've got a storm water facility in the back. We've got some parking here. Uh the current area has just some paved area in front. This would be removed in favor of a little bit of parking and some landscaping and sidewalk. So, improving the streetscape a little bit there. Uh, this is on Hammond Drive, uh, close to 1025 Church and across the street from the police station, if you know where that is, right here. Um, when we looked at the request, uh, you can see in your report there's a a multi-art um, test there for how we assess it. We think that the use is very well suited to the property. Um, this is a a vacant building, so it would be good to get that back uh back in use. It doesn't really have a conflict with our comp plan. However, the B3 zone is more intense than we would ordinarily recommend on a street that's like this on a secondary street on a secondary site. B3 zoning it, like the name implies, highway commercial. It's meant for more traffic, more trucks. It allows some commercial stuff that's not really

supposed to be right up next to neighborhoods. And so that's the really the only zone that's an option to them uh for the contractor office with facilities. So that's why they're asking for the B3 zone. The alternative is an M1, the manufacturing zone, and that's definitely not appropriate in this area. Um so in light of that staff decided that while the use is is well suited for the property we would recommend approval with conditions that that the use of the property shall be limited to this contractor office with facilities and all the allowable uses in the current B1 and B2 zoning districts. So those are less intense uses. So they would still be allowed but we are going to bump it up. we recommend bumping it up to allow the um the contractor office and none of the other things. So that kind of splits the difference there on allowing a re what we think is a reasonable use um at the same time uh protecting the area from some perhaps incompatible commercial stuff. So that's that concludes the staff report. So, is anyone here to speak in favor of this u proposal? You favor it. Would you care to come up and say anything about it? Josh. So, basically what we're doing is just turning that old building into our office. We'll have some light commercial stuff coming in and out. A little bit of HVAC supplies, just nothing extravagant. Basically, all we're going to be doing is cleaning up the street, making it more dressing it up. So, what we're trying to do is get the parking lot nice in the face of the building.

Okay. Any other comments? Anyone here to speak in opposition to this proposal? Seeing none, hearing none. Call the question to approve. All in favor signify by saying I. Motion to approve with conditions. Second. All in favor? I thank you very much. One question. What with the conditions? What is that limit? Says you said you got conditions.

Yeah, this the condition. So your use is a contractor office with facilities. So it would allow you to have that use and all the other uses that are in the B2 and the B1 zone. It's currently B1 right now. Um it just doesn't allow you to have the other uses that are in B3. So if there were some that was particularly like I think pawn shops and some other things like that would not be allowed on the property, but you would be allowed the the current use and then less intense uses. Thank you. All right, that motion carried. It looks like that's the end of our agenda. Do we have a motion to adjurnn? I move we adjourn. Second.

All in favor signify by saying I. I was short and sweet. Thank you.