Regular Meeting and Public
Hearing
Zoning Map Amendment/Text
Amendment for
Section 309 Golf Community
PUD Overlay District
And Article XII Definitions
Chair Karen Schoonover called the meeting to order at
Upon motion by Dianne Wenslow, duly seconded by Sherri
Meinke, the minutes of the
Handout materials included:
- Current listing of 2008 Zoning Permits
- Updated MCDPS 2008 Workshop Series seminars
- June, July & August Grassroots Clippings newsletter
-
A.P. Thorne
Chair Karen Schoonover opened the public hearing for the
GCPUD zoning text/map amendments. Roll
Call indicated the same Board members and audience members present as noted
above. The Board members acknowledged
receipt and review of the Draft 070108 zoning text amendments and the MCDPS
Staff Report dated
Chair Schoonover read the
Chair Schoonover – As to ownership of the open space, Thorne is saying that the regulations do not provide at what point the ownership of open space is to be established and the document submitted for review.
Zoning Inspector – Those are in the Declarations and Covenants (D & Cs). The open space has to be deeded over to the homeowners association before a final plat is approved.
Attorney Lesiak – Remember this is the golf course and the open space includes the golf course and the current owners of the golf course own all the open space before it is platted. So anything before the plat we can put the deed restrictions in place on all the lots but they aren’t open space. I would suggest that you require that the deed restrictions showing where the open space is and who owns that open space be on the final plat. The plat will not be approved unless the D & Cs are on file and approved by the Prosecutor.
Lewis – When we record the subdivision plat it is recorded in phases. For each phase the deed restrictions are recorded simultaneously with the plat. The open space that appears on the plat will get a permanent parcel number – it will be related open space and so many acres. A proportionate amount of the open space shall be created with each phase of the subdivision plat.
Chair Schoonover – Is all of the open space going to be golf course or will there be a portion of the open space that will be maintained by the homeowners association and a portion maintained by the golf course?
Attorney Lesiak – Right now all of the land is owned by the golf course and at some point it will be platted differently – this will be golf course and this will be open space for the neighborhood. On the plat itself will say which part of the open space will be maintained by which entity.
After additional discussion, the Board determined that wording be added to Section 309.05 B. 6. - “d. A proportionate amount of the open space shall be created with each phase of the subdivision plat.”
Chair Schoonover - In reviewing the County Planning Commission report I wrote some notes down that I thought should be reviewed. One thing mentioned was something about providing a buffer around the houses like if they buffer the edges – is this addressed on the site plan or do we need to have something written in the text language?
Shanley – If they are addressing things like mounding or things like that it really isn’t very different so it makes sense.
Cavey – I think when that discussion came up like in Shale Creek we have to be careful because people who want to live on the golf course want to see the golf course and you don’t want to hide the golf course. It goes right back to what we were talking about the concern for the Chippewa Watershed there if people go into the wetlands and claim them and what they end up doing with a buffer is that’s their yard so that was some of the discussion – we have to be careful if we extend a buffer. This was more addressing the surrounding property – it would be a buffer not for the houses that are facing the golf course but in other places.
Zoning Inspector – This is what the site plan shows – the external buffer. I think that is what they were talking about.
Chair Schoonover – I’m talking about the external buffer. We talked about people driving down SR162 and it would be more private.
Shanley – That was the mounding by the boulevard.
Biskup – There’s already some text in 309.07 E.
Zoning Inspector – If you read 309.07 E – Landscaping, it refers back to 309.10 and 309.10 lists your landscaping.
Attorney Lesiak – Section 309.08 B – the minimum setback is 75’; the minimum setback from property boundary is 15’.
After additional discussion the Board determined that appropriate language was already in the proposed text.
Chair Schoonover – Do we want to address the size limits in 309.03 A. Permitted Uses 4 & 5? This is another County Planning item to be discussed – sizes for golf shop retail store or restaurant as part of the golf course clubhouse. In our PUD it can’t exceed 5,000 sq. ft. of floor area for any single space or building.
Cavey – It’s a good size if you’re talking a pro shop for the golf course. The whole clubhouse is 25,000 sq. ft. We do have the limit on the height because of fire and everything. I don’t know why you would want to limit the square footage of the business or whatever as long as it doesn’t cause a safety concern.
Zoning Inspector – I don’t know why you would want to limit it. I would think the business would limit itself to what it could sustain.
Chair Schoonover – One of their other comments was in 309.03 A. 4 – if it’s intended to be within the golf course clubhouse, it should be so stated. When we discussed this previously we didn’t feel that was necessary.
After discussion the Board determined not to make any size limits – the site plan and the economy will advise what is going to be sufficient.
Folk – A part of the staff comments talked about the architecture being consistent with existing buildings, was this addressed.
Attorney Lesiak – I believe it is in 309.07 Design Considerations.
The Board determined that the architecture comment had already been addressed.
Chair Schoonover – We had talked about the height of the building but the staff report commented that at times it is appropriate to allow exceptions to the height limitations for accessory and incidental parts of a structure; in most cases an additional 15-20’ may be considered.
Zoning Inspector – Did you bring the Medina Township zoning book, I think it is addressed there and you might want to use similar language.
Chair Schoonover – Yes – fire or parapet walls, skylights, towers, flagpoles, chimneys, smokestacks, water tanks or similar structures may be erected above the height limit herein. The above exceptions may not be erected to exceed more than 15’ over the height limit nor shall such structure be used for any purpose other than a use incidental to the main use of the building. Does the Board want to consider including something like that?
Zoning Inspector – If they put air conditioning on the top of a building they might want to have a façade or parapet to cover it but you don’t want anything there that could be livable space. But if they have a steeple or a cupola for a design and there’s no livable and useable space in it, it’s just a design or cover for ventilation etc.
Chair Schoonover – Under 309.06 General Development Requirements, we already have a maximum height for buildings or structures of 35’.
Wenslow – Should we put some comment about review with the fire marshal?
Zoning Inspector – That’s general – they always have to sign off on it.
Hanley – If we put a clock tower or steeple on that’s not habitable but it might exceed the 15’ is that saying we can’t?
Zoning Inspector – You have 35’ and 15’ for a tower or something so you can go up to 50’. If you want something over that 15’ then you would need to apply for a variance.
Hanley – Okay, just wanted clarification.
After discussion, the Board determined to add to 309.06 A – “Fire or parapet walls, skylights, towers, flagpoles, chimneys, smokestacks, water tanks or similar structures may be erected above the height limit herein. The above exceptions may not be erected to exceed more than 15’ over the height limit nor shall such structure be used for any purpose other than a use incidental to the main use of the building.”
Chair Schoonover – As to Section 309.07 where it says Design Considerations, we had talked about taking that whole title line out and just making it a part of 309.06 General Development Requirements and then 309.06 C. would be Building and Site Considerations. I think somebody didn’t like that wording.
Attorney Lesiak – I remember we discussed pulling out that section and incorporating it into the section above it.
Zoning Inspector – You can’t really enforce them – you’re giving a strong suggestion of what you would like to see.
After discussion the Board determined that the title 309.07 Design Considerations would be removed and items A, B, C, D and E would be reconfigured under Section 309.06 as items C, D, E, F and G. The subsequent section numbers and any references to sections would also need to be renumbered.
Chair Schoonover – I note we have a General Street Design and then Parking Lot, do we want to combine those and make it one section? The staff report says something about addressing vehicle circulation. I’m just asking because we have only one sentence under Parking Lot.
Zoning Inspector – But it is referring to a whole section.
Meinke – And it’s talking about landscaping and that is part of the street design.
Chair Schoonover – What about the vehicular circulation access?
Zoning Inspector – It’s already there but not in those exact words. Most of that is going to be done by the engineer’s office.
After discussion the Board determined that no changes or additional wording was necessary for the two discussion points above.
Chair Schoonover – Do we need to remove 309.12 because if there is no flood plain, why do we have that in there?
Zoning Inspector – I see no problem leaving it in, it doesn’t hurt anything.
After discussion the Board determined to leave in the section relative to the flood plain.
Zoning Secretary – It was brought to my attention by Attorney Lesiak that in 309.02 B where we list the address of Medina Country Club as 5588 Wedgewood Road that we need to also list 6717 Lake Road because that’s the address on one of the other parcels.
Cavey – The 6717 Lake Road is the address of the maintenance facility.
Attorney Lesiak – They had us take out the parcel numbers previously but now we need to show the two addresses.
After review of the map, the location and the parcel numbers, the Board determined that the address of 6717 Lake Road should be added.
Chair Schoonover – Does anybody in the audience have any questions relative to this matter?
Matt Lichty – My concern with the wording on 309.06, the height limitation, is with the surrounding houses that aren’t a part of that. Looking at the horizon it’s going to be seen. Sitting on my back porch at that height of 50’ it’s going to be seen. Are they talking about the houses, talking up along SR162 or talking 4-story business building or stuff?
Cavey – None of the houses – it would be the clubhouse. We could put a clock tower on the existing clubhouse.
Zoning Inspector – The houses are 35’ - that’s pretty standard. That’s how high the ladder can go from the fire department. What they are talking about is an extra 15’ on a commercial building for like a façade, parapet or a tower or something like that.
Lichty – As far as I’m concerned 35’ for a house is pretty tall but the extra 15’ is basically on a commercial building. My personal perception is that something tall like that is getting into more of a city atmosphere instead of more rural. Tall things like the water tower and cell towers draws the eye with the blinking lights.
Jane Miller – My daughters and I own 30 acres on Lake Road and SR162 beside the country club, the south corner that is farmed, and I was wondering how this will affect the drainage and also the water. I’m not against the development - I just wanted to know how it would affect for future use.
Cavey – I think if we refer to the map it would be helpful to you to understand (the map was reviewed with her property pointed out and the stream that goes down the middle of her property, etc.) This watershed is not going to change. We pump a lot of water from here toward the irrigation lake so you don’t get a lot of water going through there anyhow. We’re creating these lakes and we’re going to recycle that into our irrigation systems so we’re going to try and capture as much of the surface water as we can when we build. With the watershed and drainage the way it is there shouldn’t be any additional water that will affect your property.
Jane Miller – What are you going to do about the bike path? We donated some property in the past for it.
Cavey – We have met with Mr. James already and we’re going to extend the bike path and we’re going to have a tunnel under the road for the golf course and bring the bike path along here. We’re going to try to get the township and county commissioners behind us to allow us to put the bike path in the right-of-way to benefit the township because it is difficult to extend bike paths onto private property.
Chair Schoonover – If there are no other questions from the audience or the board, we would normally make a motion and forward this to the trustees. The supporting documents to be copied for the trustees include the staff report for the text amendments and the map amendment and the letter from the prosecutor’s office.
Attorney Lesiak – For the map amendment you will need to put that second address in (6717 Lake Road) adding it to the 5588 Wedgewood Road already shown.
Chair Schoonover – County Planning already shows the three parcel numbers for the map amendment (the parcel numbers were verified). It also says the legal description submitted with the application describes the area proposed to be rezoned. Yes, we should include that second address for the map amendment.
Wenslow – I have a question about the maintenance facility – what is the possibility of coming out on Lake Road?
Cavey – The County wanted us to plan and they said you have to have another way in and out so we moved it back there but it doesn’t do anything for us as it’s all golf course. We have a small fortune in the other buildings that are there, septic systems and everything else. We have a pretty sophisticated chemical storage there and we have a lot of money in that small parcel already.
Recap of the Revisions to Draft Amendment to Zoning Resolution of Lafayette Township – Section 309 Overlay District for Golf Community PUD (draft070108).
(page 2) Section 309.02 B. Add at the end of the 2nd line: “and 6717 Lake Road”
(page 6) Section 309.05 B. 6. Add an item to read: “d. A proportionate amount of the open space shall be created with each phase of the subdivision plat.”
(page 6) Section 309.06 A. Add at the end of the 2nd line: “Fire or parapet walls, skylights, towers, flagpoles, chimneys, smokestacks, water tanks or similar structures may be erected above the height limit herein. The above exceptions may not be erected to exceed more than fifteen (15) feet over the height limit nor shall such structure be used for any purpose other than a use incidental to the main use of the building.”
(page 6 & 7) Section 309.07 Design Considerations. Remove the title Design Consideration and reconfigure items A – E into Section 309.06 by naming them as items C – G.
(page 7) As revised above, new item G. 1, 2nd line, change Section 309.10 to 309.09.
(page 7) Section 309.08 Development and Site Planning Standards – renumber to read “Section 309.07”.
(page 8) Section 309.09 Site Plan Requirements – renumber to read “Section 309.08”.
(page 13) As revised above, in Section 309.08 C. 2. 3) General Landscape Plan, change Section 309.10 to Section 309.09.
(page 15) Section 309.10 General Landscape Plan – renumber to read “Section 309.09 General Landscape Plan”
Revision to Map amendment: include the addition of a second address: 6717 Lake Road.
As reviewed and amended with the above changes, it was determined that the map amendment and draft text amendment to Section 309 Overlay District for Golf Community PUD and to Article XII Definitions be approved and forwarded to the trustees for consideration.
Karen Schoonover - yes
Dianne Wenslow - yes
Mike Biskup - yes
Peggy Folk - yes
The motion was unanimously passed.
Attorney Lesiak – Your motion that you made in the public hearing, should you do it in the regular meeting?
Chair Schoonover – Yes, we can do that.
Karen Schoonover made a motion to approve the map amendment and the draft text amendment to Section 309 Overlay District for Golf Community PUD and to Article XII Definitions of the Lafayette Township Zoning Resolution with the noted changes as we have gone through tonight and forward them to the trustees with the supporting documentation so they can go ahead and set their public hearing.
Karen Schoonover - yes
Dianne Wenslow - yes
Mike Biskup - yes
Peggy Folk - yes
The motion was unanimously passed.
Chair Schoonover advised that she had talked with Bob Arnold regarding the status of the comprehensive plan. Mr. Arnold indicated that he had a few more things he wanted to put together.
Chair Schoonover inquired as to the status of the Medina Country Club – North PUD Subdivision. Zoning Inspector Strogin indicated that the Board of Zoning Appeals had approved the conditional zoning certificate/site plan application with one of the conditions being the submittal and approval of a landscape plan for the entire subdivision. The landscape plan was provided to her earlier this evening and it will be reviewed prior to the BZA meeting this Thursday night.
Mike Biskup indicated that he had two quick items. He thanked the zoning inspector for talking with the individuals relative to the ham operator permit and an earlier complaint relative thereto. He then inquired if anyone had seen the big sign on Route 42 (the seed/ landscape sign). Zoning Inspector Strogin indicated that she had already talked with the owner of that particular sign. The owner is entitled to a 4 sq. ft. home occupation sign because her piece of property is where the road is and they have their office there with a physical site somewhere else. The owner said the sign guy told her she didn’t need a permit. The owner wanted to know why she couldn’t have such a sign when right down the road there is a sign about the same size. The zoning inspector explained that the difference is that the owner’s property is rural residential and in a development – it’s the last piece of property before commercial and commercial is entitled to a larger sign. The owner was told she had two weeks to get rid of the big sign.
John Miller inquired about the cleanup of his neighbor’s property, 7287 Lake Road, as he initially understood the property owner was given thirty days to clean it up. Zoning Inspector Strogin indicated that it had been cleaned up in terms of what zoning can enforce. She further stated that the dirt back there is not junk or clutter. He’s got dirt there and he claims he is going to level that out and seed it. The only thing if he moves more than 5,000 sq. ft of dirt he needs to have a permit from Medina County Soil & Water Conservation. Mr. Miller stated that it is currently level but it still higher than his property, which it wasn’t to begin with. Zoning Inspector Strogin indicated that Medina County Soil & Water Conservation at the Medina County Engineer’s Office handles issues relative to drainage and recovery of run-off. As a neighbor you can call and ask if there is a permit and indicate you are concerned about drainage on your property and they should come out to check it out. Mr. Miller's property is zoned rural residential whereas his neighbor’s is zoned local commercial even though it is being used as residential. It was suggested that Mr. Miller continue to take the time and follow through with the county engineer’s office.
- The next regular Lafayette Township Zoning Commission meeting will be Tuesday, September 2, 2008, at 7:00 p.m. at the township hall.
- The Lafayette Township Trustees meeting will be held Monday, August 11, 2008, at 5:30 p.m. due to a conflict with the regular 8/18/08 meeting date.
Upon motion by Karen Schoonover, duly seconded by Dianne Wenslow, it was unanimous that the meeting be adjourned. Adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Marlene L. Oiler, Certified PP, PLS
Lafayette Township Zoning Commission Secretary
(Note: Minutes approved on 9/2/08.)