Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Y'all have anything you'd like to add?

I'm going to call the work session of the June Planning Commission meeting to order. Is there anything that we need to discuss?

No, ma'am, not at this time. We have a fairly brief agenda today, and so we'll go through those quickly. I've got some information on a few things that we'll talk about as they come up, but nothing that we need to talk about prior to the meeting.

All right. Then we will start at 3 o'clock.

Thank you. he's supposed to be here i talked to him today he said

and they're two very different people. Are we missing one?

Is he need a chair? Here, I'll get it.

some changes in this, but I'll send it to them.

the screen down here yeah either there's a short in the connector here or the usb or the table hdmi table because when i plug it in it goes dark on here and we'll show them up there

I'm going to call the June meeting of the Planning Commission to order and welcome those of you who are in the audience and let you know we're glad that you're here. We want to hear what you have to say if you have something to say. We'd like for you to come to the microphone and speak. You have one time at the microphone and five minutes. All right. We have the approval of the minutes. Do I hear a motion for that? Moved.

Second.

Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstain? And I'd like to welcome a new member on the planning staff.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Wanted to introduce our new principal planner, Jonathan Smith, who's right here. Jonathan started with us last week, but he is has a lot of experience in planning. He's worked quite a while in Fairhope, then Piper, a lot of different experience around the state and will be helping us with a lot of different projects over the next few years, hopefully.

Great. We're glad you're here and with your experience.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyway, thank you.

All right. Any update on any of the past cases we've had?

No, ma'am. The annexation you heard two months ago is moving forward to the city council, and then the rezoning on Birmingham Highway US 280 is also coming before the city council for the second reading at their next meeting.

All right. So into the meat of the agenda.

Yes, ma'am. The first item on the agenda today is Mayfair subdivision phase two. This is a request from Josh Muir with Sanford Group representing Aaron Adams, whose property owner the subject property is located on South Unaroyal. So that I apologize. It's formerly part of the Price property. The property is currently undeveloped. It was rezoned to a PUD last year, a planned unit development. This phase, phase two, is requesting preliminary plan approval for 156 single family homes. The phase one was previously granted last fall. There's a total of 400 Units located in the development for one actually this would be I believe one hundred and forty six lots. Fifty six lots of the you see the property here located just north of the railroad tracks north of southern coming through town. The plant, as you see here, is a fairly large section. They've divided it up into multiple pages. This phase would attach directly to phase one, which has not started construction at this present time. And phase two, as phase one did, is a variety of different sized single-family detached lots. They range from 50 foot wide to 70 foot wide and so in this phase there are 62 50 foot wide lots that are 6,500 square feet, 47 60 foot wide lots that are 7,800 square feet and then 47 70 foot wide lots that are a minimum of 9,100 square feet. The setbacks for all the lots are 20 in the front, 20 in the rear, three on each side, but a minimum of 10 feet from the adjacent house and 10 foot side on the street setback. Phase two has a few open space slots. I believe there are seven total ranging from just under just right at 6,200 square feet to 94 acres. These are shown as a mix of detention, kind of just passive open space and then park or playground through the PUD. Let's see. Here you see the overall PUD as it was originally intended or presented. The part we're talking about is the middle section kind of from the first open space on the left side of the page over to the second large open space where this pond is shown kind of this interior section here. So you'll notice that the the layout is slightly different, but it overall includes the same number and types of lots, same connections. And so we generally found that to be consistent with the overall plan unit development. They are required to provide one street tree for each single family lot. Sidewalks are required on both sides of the street. They've also provided some elevations that were originally in the planning and development. And here you see those with typically brick with two car garage in the front. And here you see kind of a general layout of all three lot types. Overall, we found this to be consistent with the plan unit development master plan and are recommending preliminary approval, provided that they provide sidewalks on both sides of the street, as shown on the plot. And so underground utilities, add a note to the final plot, noting the setbacks for each of the lots. Note who will maintain the open space and the use for each. There are two 50 foot lots that are slightly below the minimum, but should be able to be revised fairly simply to meet that to be done. Provide the minimum of one tree per single family lot. Provide or ensure the base points are met. The open space for running on streets must include trees space along them. Vinyl and aluminum siding not allowed on primary materials for the single family and then provide the latest flood zone information, the owner information and names of adjacent subdivisions as well.

Engineer. Yes, the applicant will be required to submit construction drawings for the subdivision, including grading, drainage, detention, and also utilities, which would be sewer and water, to the Engineering, Public Works, and Water Board for review and approval. Once these comments have been made, a pre-construction meeting will be held prior to construction. At this meeting, we'll discuss the expectations and requirements of the city and the utility departments. All the state and federal permits have been submitted and notice to proceed and land disturbance permit will be issued for the construction of the subdivision. All roadways and utility construction will be inspected and monitored by the engineering and other utilities. Once the construction of the site is complete, performance bonds will be issued for the final surfaces of roadway and sidewalks and maintenance bond will be issued prior to final plat acceptance. Engineering has no other comments, concerns regarding this proposed preliminary plat. Opelika Water states that there's water service would be available from phase one of this development as a continuation and Opelika Power states that Opelika Power and Tallapoosa Electric will both service this subdivision.

And point out Mr. Muir is here representing the Sanford.

This item calls for a public hearing.

This item calls for a public hearing. Is there anyone who would like to speak for or against this development? You need to come to the microphone and give us your name and address, please.

And if you would just sign it on your way out. Thank you, sir.

My name is Tim Hughes. I own the property across the street from this at 2402 South Union Road, a residential place. I'm concerned about the road conditions outside with all this construction going on also. I mean, is that going to be something that the city's going to look at down the road? Because it's getting a lot of traffic out there and roads are getting rough. I mean, we've got a big plant just south of that that's causing damage to the roads and washouts and mud and sewage issues and that corner there on old Columbus and south in rural we've called in several times there horrible smell there there's a small subdivision right there on the corner that joins the price olean property right there also it's been going on for years um so i'm wondering what kind of conditions is our roads going to get in there's another huge subdivision just east of that also that's been built.

So would you like me to address that? You're right. Would you like me to address the question? OK. So part of the subdivision, they will build turn lanes on south that would repave and stretch that road just like they did up where Drex Landing is. That surface that asphalt is about 15 years old and and that's getting close to the end of life. We are watching that as well. With this development out here we're aware of the condition of the four-way stop there and we certainly would we're keeping an eye on it if traffic is bad conditions get worse then we'll we'll address that. But we do watch those roads especially as they're developed.

Because I know once it's built It's mainly going to be small vehicle traffic and everything. But during that, that's going to be a lot of heavy equipment on South Unarola, Chewacca Road.

And you're right about the warehouse on down the way, too. Yeah. You're right. We're addressing that as it goes. All right.

Thank you.

Anyone else? Public hearing is now closed. Commissioners. Do I hear a motion?

Motion for preliminary plot approval with staff recommendations. Second.

Any discussion?

Mr. Chairman, can we get some update on the railroad? It looks awful close to the back of that row of houses. Will they put up some barrier there or How is that going to work?

So we typically do not require. Of course, the railroad won't do it because they're not the ones doing the development. We typically don't require the applicant in most cases to put up a fence along the railroad track. It's kind of a known hazard there. What we prefer instead is that they would leave a either underserved or planted buffer there. And what you'll notice is it's hard to see, but I believe this is I believe it's roughly 25 feet from the back of the lot to the right away for the railroad tracks. So to the center line of the railroad, you're talking about roughly 50 feet or so that is not part of the property. And then you have the person's backyard, which many of them will likely have privacy fences along their backyard as well. So In general, this is something where people, typically when they're building an extra railroad track, they will go ahead and either the developer or the individual can rebuild those fencing so that their yards are secure and safe for kids or whatnot. Thank you.

Anything else? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstain? Motion carries.

Item number two is a request for conditional use. This is a request for a car wash located at 2002 Marvin Parkway. The applicant is Kip Odom, representing Kumar Patel. Well, the subject property is zone C3. It's in the gateway corridor primary. So it's between I-85 and the railroad tracks on Marvin Parkway as you head south away from town towards Southview School and the old industrial park. There currently, if you look, is a existing car wash located this side. This is what we kind of consider a a old kind of old style self-service car wash, which we don't see near as often and don't really promote or typically try to. Now, like I said, promote is as they redevelop. However, in this case, The African is requesting to replace this with a mixed style car wash, which would include a both. Some self-service bays and then some bays that would be automatic car wash style with vacuums on the front. Here you see kind of the vacuum bays located directly adjacent to Martin Parkway with the building largely going back in the location of the existing car wash site. They're trying to reuse some of the existing plumbing facilities is my understanding. Here you see kind of a better layout of what this looks like. So the two blue ones are show so automatic car wash style spaces and then the remaining would be self-service with a small office space in the middle. I believe the one on the far left of your screen is is intended for a RV or larger vehicle that could go through that facility. Again, here's a the proposed layout with landscaping. So you'll see we as typical, we requested heavier landscaping along the frontage, screening both the the vacuum spaces and the building itself. Dumpster would be relocated from the side where it currently is to the rear. And then there would be some parking in the back that would primarily be for any employees or anyone who was there not having their vehicle washed immediately. This is a proposed design for this and so what you see here is a mix of brick or stone along the outside kind of a form from a flat roof to a pitch roof giving some depth and then you would have doors would be located along the front of the building, which would be closed during times where when it's not in operation. So while we typically don't don't promote self-service style uses, this I think takes a an existing old style car wash and really significantly improves the look and style of what's there. And so I think that that in itself provides some of the merit behind what we've looked at. They provided a landscape plan, as we mentioned, which meets the minimum calculations as far as. Buffering goes. The properties below the maximum surface, we've noted that the dumpster needs to be screened to use. Here's an example of what the vacuum stations look like, which is similar to the others we have in sight in town, kind of slightly covered canopies with the vacuums located at the front. But overall, we feel like this use is an improvement on the corridor and much better. We did note some concerns for noise, but Looking at the surrounding uses, most of those are commercial or industrial uses, and so we don't feel like that would be an impact to any residential units nearby. Should be within the requirements for the noise ordinance we have on record. With that, we are recommending conditional use approval subject to the following that they adjust the landscape plan to fully meet the requirements. Dump truth be screened with appropriate mirror materials for the gateway corridor. All mechanical equipment be screened from public right of way. Vacuum motors, car wash noises produced should be dampened to meet Section 8.6 of the zoning ordinance and monitor prohibited loud music in the vacuuming areas. And we've recommended hours of operations be limited to daytime hours, so not be operating overnight or when typically would not be someone there to sample.

Engineering.

Yes, the engineering department will require a site plan for the grading, drainage, and utility of this site. Once that's reviewed and approved, a permit will be issued for the construction of the site and be monitored for erosion sediment control. Because this use is using the existing driveway onto the state highway, we do not think that a state permit would be required or any adjustments to the access be needed at this time. Engineering has no other comments or concerns regarding the proposed conditional use. Opelika Water states there's an existing one and a half inch meter and there are no other comments to be served to serve that site and Opelika Power does serve this site currently.

Thank you. This item calls for a public hearing. Is there anyone who would like to speak for or against this? Would you give us your name and your address, please?

My name is Kip Oldham. Our office is at 57 Perry Street in Noonan, Georgia. We're representing Mr. Kumar in this project. And before I say anything else, I want to say thank you to planning staff. helpful in us with us dealing through dealing with these situations. I know that this is if this is a new project, it would not be allowed to happen. And we're trying to keep this existing business open while making this dilapidated portal thing look better than it does now and get closer to meeting your requirements. So thank you to them. They were very helpful. We've read the recommendations. I read over them with Mr. Kumar who couldn't be here today. And we just had one comment to the recommendations. You did mention that they asked to keep it open basically from daylight to dusk. He asked if we could define that a little more. Could we make that, he said like five in the morning till 10 in the evening was what he proposed. And he also proposed to gate the entry when it is closed, so. He does understand that there can be potential goings-on behind the building and that type of thing and wants to prevent that because of his investment, but he'd like to be more specific about the times that it can be.

I mean, we suggested daylight hours just because it's visible at that time. I don't know that we have a huge issue with... operations outside of those hours from a staff perspective provided that it's it's monitored and it's not an issue and that's that would be our question is you know is is it going to be is there an attendant on site during operation during the the times that it is open and what kind of lighting would you have available?

Sure. I think, you know, every parking lot is required to have a certain amount of lighting. I think he is most his his concern is not so much the lighting. It would be the ability for just people to go behind it in the lot that's back there. And it would not always have a person on site maybe to to look over that. So he, like I said, proffered the idea of putting a controllable gate at that entry point so that we could deter that sort of activity.

Would you or could you monitor it via cameras?

Absolutely. Yes, sir. I'm sure that will happen. I'm sure that will happen. And we will absolutely have parking lot lighting meets the requirements. So there will be no attendant? There won't always be one there. I know he does intend to have someone around because of the traffic that he's expecting to increase. His also, not that this matters for this site, but directly across the street, This is his other primary place of business. So he does have direct visibility, you know, to the site. He just, he understands that there's an opportunity for things to go wrong behind it.

What were the hours of the previous, the business there?

It is wide open and uncontrolled right now.

Yeah. I just think that the evenings where you get the trouble when, I just think that I'm not necessarily for 10 o'clock, I think.

Yeah, I'm asleep by 10 o'clock. Well, it's just, I think that's when you... I wish I was.

You know, the morning I get people coming to wash their cars, but in the evening, that, I don't know, that can bring trouble, I think, but... Well, dusk in the, dusk in the winter is going to, not that a lot of people, I guess everybody washes their car different all through the season, but in the, in the winter, dusk is at 435 o'clock.

Yes, sir. I can I can understand wanting some definite hours. So I don't know if there's something the commission would would feel more comfortable with, whether it's nine o'clock or something like that, or if there's I don't know that it's it's a has been a safety issue for the police department at this time. But I can understand wanting to make sure that there are some some limits.

Absolutely. It's his intent to close the gate at a certain time.

Yes sir, that was the point was it you know if it opened up at five o'clock in the morning when a lot of people going out to work then that would open he would open it up at that point in time.

So what time would you what time would you propose closing the gate?

He said he offered 10 o'clock in the evening because of late summer time hours and that type of thing but again we're we're not negotiating that's not the right term but we do understand the goal we just want to be more specific.

Even nine o'clock seems better than 10.

Do we have hours of operation limitations on the other our washes in the city?

No, sir. Not that I'm aware of. Well, actually, we do on some of the newer. The newer. Ones that we've talked to, I think they they typically looked at. I believe one of them is 7 or 8 p.m., but it's in a much more residential area near on Pepper Parkway as you're coming or Second Avenue as you're coming into town. And they were they agreed to limit hours when the church was, I believe, in session over there as well. But again, that was based on specific issues. This is, I would say, is much more in a much more strictly commercial area. So. Uh, if the, if the commission is, and I'm, I was thinking about the businesses that are adjacent there. I believe they are open 9 or 10 o'clock at night. I'm not sure when the Dollar General closes, which would be the next years.

But if it's unsupervised, you know, when you have a Dollar General, you have employees, a gas station, you have employees, you know, that's something to think about.

And, and the, and the sound of the drying is so loud. I mean, even in the car as I'm going through it, do you drive in the back and then go through as you, not go through, but aim your car toward Marvin Parkway? Or do you go in from Marvin Parkway and aim your car?

That's a great question. So we do come in off of Marvin Parkway, that existing DOT curb cut that we were speaking about. That is a problem. It could become a problem even larger than it is now because of the traffic that goes through there and getting into the site. So we did look at with the engineers coming into the building from the Marvin Parkway side, but we projected that the queuing might back up into Marvin Parkway. So his concept was to go all get the cars all into the site and then come back toward Marvin Parkway through that. And that was the other reason for asking to put the vacuum cleaners along the front of boundary. I brought the the comment up from planning the the recommendation was to muffle those. There are ways to muffle that noise on the outside like a muffler basically on a car. So when those things are running on the outside there are ways to cut that noise down.

Well if there was I don't know what would be on the back side of this piece of property. Maybe it would be a subdivision. Maybe it'd be another

Barbecue king or something is zoned for another commercial property or is continued to be zoned commercial property. See three, I think so. It would not be it would not be a noncompliant project back there directly behind this property.

This this takes up the first half of this piece. Mr. Tell owns property directly the rest of the property directly behind him. And then from there you have the railroad right of way. And then the backside of the industrial park is behind it. So it's a it's fairly unlikely that you're going to get a residential use right directly here. But if you know, if the commission felt more comfortable with, say, 9 p.m., I think that would be well within your authority to set it at something like that. And that would I think that would tie in with some other businesses that we typically regulate as a non-CAM is kind of a cut off on some of those as well.

All right.

I think it'd be a good idea, Matt, for you to review a lighting plan too.

We do during the building phase. We used to require the lighting plan come to the full commission, but they're fairly expensive to do before they have approval and For the most part, they're very technical, but we do require that lighting is sufficient to be visible on site, but also not so bright that it creates light pollution off site as well. So.

So are you amending staff recommendations to include specific operating hours?

Yes, I think we would be be fine if you wanted to amend the operating hours to 5 a.m. in the morning and at 9 p.m. at night, if that's

How did we come up with 5 a.m.?

That's what they requested. And again, I don't know that you're going to see much traffic there at 5 a.m. Do we have 5 a.m. for the others? No, ma'am. But again, I don't know that there are quite a few of these old ones that are open 24 hours whenever anybody's there. Some of the newer ones start at seven, but they're that's because primarily they have people there to attendance that that operate those. I will say this this is one that is in the most commercial location that I can think of from a surrounding standpoint. I mean, some of the others you have residential either a block or two behind them at closest. Some of them have residential right adjacent this one. It's unlikely that there's ever going to be any residential within a quarter mile of this location, so.

I understand that. Just sort of have standard.

Yes, ma'am. And we can look at that as we move forward with these. I mean, provide some set hours.

Well, let's do look at that. Yes, ma'am. As we move forward. That's my opinion on it. You have anything else?

No, ma'am. Thank you very much. Anyone else? Thank you. Can we give him an answer about this one? About what?

Can I make a motion? From a staff perspective that it be 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. We don't foresee that creating any issues at this location.

Okay. Closed public hearing.

Okay. So the public hearing is now closed. Well, anyone else who wants to speak? Thank you. Public hearing is now closed. Commissioners, do I hear a motion?

Motion for conditional use approval with staff recommendations. Second.

Any discussion?

Add to staff recommendations from 5 to 9 p.m.

Yes. What's an out?

I think in my mind, 9 p.m. in the summer is still fairly light and it keeps it consistent year round. But if you prefer 10, again. All right.

We have a motion and a second. We've had some discussion. Any? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstain? Motion carries. And this is, wait a minute, this is a recommendation to City Council.

No, ma'am, it is not. I apologize if that's... It's conditional use, so it is just a straight up or down vote at this time.

Okay, because it says to City Council. I apologize. Okay, all right. Okay.

I'll make sure that's corrected. The next item is also a conditional use request. This is located not far from this current site. This is a request for conditional use, which is a contractor's office with outdoor yard. This is located on Society Hill Road. The applicant is Austin Harmon representing Reynolds Cook, his property owner. The property is at 620 605 Society Hill Road. So we're talking about this small yellow corner right here in the top of the red. It's located in the north part of Society Hill, north of the roundabout, right before coming up to Williamson Avenue and the underpass where it turns to Longstreet. Properties currently zone C three it's not in the gateways currently vacant. You have a. After news requesting a. Contractor business that primarily deal with long spray. On a fairly large scale. What you'll see is they've requested a. Office building with some covered storage and then enclosed storage and then there's also a. yard here that would be primarily from what my understanding would be for larger trucks to be able to turn around. We've met with them to discuss this a little bit, but I'm sure they can fill in any answers that you may have or questions you may have. It'd be a 2000 square foot office, a 2600 square foot warehouse that would be enclosed and then a 1400 square foot kind of pole barn or covered shed. The Uses around this area, if you look at it to the north, you have the Lee County Public Works Department with their large facility just to the south of this and the rest of the C three is a another mix of office uses office warehouse contractor office type uses. Most of those are all don't have the outside space that this this does. And then across the street you have a mix of commercially zoned property. that is some of it will be future development for the creekside cottages. And then there are a couple of individual single family homes through here directly to the south of this as well. You have the Wyndham Industrial Manufacturing or Warehouse Park. They've also provided a landscape plan here showing buffering along the frontage of the site and then additional landscaping between the current parking lot and the enclosed fencing area for the yard here. So you'll see they provided some additional buffering along those sides to help screen the enclosed area. They provided 11 parking spaces The landscape plan meets minimum base points and then shows additional buffering around it, including the fencing area with gait. That would be kind of the storage part using arborvitaes. In reviewing this, based on the variety of uses through here, we do recommend approval of this. This is a conditional use, so you will have the final say. But that approval is subject to them screening the storage yard with landscaping so it's where it's visible from the public right of way. Fully comply with those landscape requirements of the front and side visible from society hill road for the building be a mix of natural materials and metal consistent with the elevations provided in adjacent buildings and then dumpster be fully screened from the right of way either in the storage yard where it's not visible or with its own privacy screen. Mr. Harmon is here representing the African. If you have any questions, just just to be clear, this is North. Yes, sir. This is North. So the traffic circle before. Yes, sir. Before Williamson. So I apologize. I can't see my own screen, but traffic circles is would be down here at the bottom. And then Williamson is is right here at the top. So we're talking about this area and in the middle.

Engineering.

The applicant be required to submit a site construction grading and drainage utility plan for review and approval for a permit for construction. Once this permit is issued, we'll monitor the erosion sediment control on the site and the utilities. Engineering has no other comments or concerns regarding the proposed condition to use approval. Opelika Water State's water service is available from the west side side of Hill Road and this property is served by Opelika Power.

All right. Decided to call for public hearing.

Motion for approval was staff recommendations second

The last item is on your agenda. We've revised some of the language we provided to you last month, running it past our consultant for zoning ordinance issues. He basically took some of the language and made it a little bit more reader friendly, user friendly, so that someone it's not just something that someone like myself would be able to comprehend. So who deals with zoning? So it changes it from Package store type two to a ABC board store package liquor store beer and wine store ABC. Store bait. Tobacco vape store in store pharmacy and store tying back to some of the state required ordinances and. Going from there the second part is providing some of those special development standards. including, you know, distance requirements, uh, gross store sales area for this store itself and then tying them to larger retail stores. Uh, and then additionally providing some additional, uh, requirements for the vaping, tobacco, and hemp stores as well. Uh, and then the last page is a, uh, change to the which shows kind of what we've been proposing. And again, we wanted to provide this to you with these changes and allow you some time to look it over if you'd like and make sure that it's in the format you feel comfortable. So we're asking, not asking that you approve it at this meeting unless you're just absolutely ready to, but just get some feedback so that before we send it on to city council. the right way to address this in your mind.

So do we make a motion here before we have any?

Because we changed it, we put it on as a new item. So you don't have to take it off the table or anything like that. You can open a public hearing if you'd like or if you'd like. This calls for a public hearing.

I was looking at someone from last month when I met with you earlier. Yes, ma'am. This calls for a public hearing. Is there anyone who would like to speak for or against this? OK, public hearing is now closed.

And so again, you'd like some time to look it over you can table it if you want to proceed with it that's fine as well but uh what we would be approving would be it's a recommendation to city council for if you would like like i said i'm i'm fine either way if you'd like some time to review it and that's fine with me if you are ready to move forward with

sit on it.

I make a motion to table it.

Any discussion? All in favor to table it back up in July? Aye. Okay, all right. All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Any abstain?