LAFAYETTE TOWNSHIP ZONING COMMISSION

Regular Meeting

6776 Wedgewood Road, Medina, Ohio

March 3, 2009 @ 7:00 p.m.

Zoning Commission Chair Karen Schoonover called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Roll call indicated four regular members of the Zoning Commission were present: Dianne Wenslow, Karen Schoonover, Mike Biskup and Russ Green. Also present was Matthew Strehle (alternate) and Peggy Folk at 7:04 p.m. (alternate). Sherri Meinke was absent. Others present included: Zoning Inspector Alliss Strogin, Attorney John Oberholtzer (Medina), and Justin Petrecia (T.C. Architects, Akron).

Minutes

Upon motion by Dianne Wenslow, duly seconded by Karen Schoonover, the February 3, 2009, meeting minutes were unanimously approved. Upon motion by Mike Biskup, duly seconded by Dianne Wenslow, the February 12, 2009, meeting minutes were unanimously approved. Both sets of minutes were then signed.

The draft of the February 25, 2009, special meeting minutes was distributed for review and will be considered at the next meeting.

Correspondence

The secretary distributed the following items:

- Listing of Zoning Permits through February 2009

- February 2009 Grassroots Clippings newsletter

- MCDPS Staff Report (draft 3/4/09), Chippewa Landing PUD Subdivision Preliminary Plan

New Business

Chippewa Landing PUD Subdivision Preliminary Plan

Tonight the Application for the Chippewa Landing PUD Subdivision Preliminary Plan will be reviewed along with the Department of Planning Services Staff Report (draft dated 3/4/09) for the Subdivision Plan. Those present on behalf of the applicant were Justin Petrecia (T.C. Architects) and Attorney John Oberholtzer (legal counsel).

Relative to the review of the CRO district zoning text as well as the MCDPS Staff Report, the following is the main part of the discussion and the responses to various questions and comments from the Board members and/or audience.

Justin Petrecia – For this subdivision plan there really is only slight changes from the site plan we had last month. There is the 10,000 (or 15,000) sq. ft. footprint for a fire station. We moved the water feature to the north and made the parking lot a little smaller to accommodate for that. We still have enough parking. The way this subdivision plan is different from last month is that the green space has been allotted to specific blocks. Instead of the green space being all of the extra area, blocks have been culled out to be these specific places. The areas marked not useable open space are the certain pieces that we are not allowed to count as useable open space, like the stream, which has a conservation setback of 50’ from either side.

Chair Schoonover – In the Staff Report the comments from Medina County Soil & Water Conservation state: the stream flowing through the center of the site calls for a 75 ft. riparian setback on each side of the channel for the stream flowing along the south edge of the site a 25 ft. riparian setback would be recommended.

There was discussion that the sentence was unclear and possibly punctuation was missing between the first part relating to the stream flowing through the center and that of the stream on the south edge. The preliminary plan calls for 50 ft. setback on each side of the channel, which is per the township zoning code. They are recommending 75 ft., not requiring it. Using a 75 ft. setback may not be doable but it will be looked into to see if it would be feasible along any portion of the center stream.

Petrecia – The land for the fire station as shown would be donated. There will be 13 parking spaces directly around it. Any of the parking spaces in this complex can be used by anyone. There will be a shuttle bus to take people from one place to another in the complex. The township/fire department would be responsible for the cost of the fire station and a second floor of 5000 sq. ft. could be added onto the 10,000 sq. ft. footprint if they desired. The plans are all very tentative at this time.

Petrecia – As to the status of the Army Corp of Engineers wetland permit, it has been submitted and received by them but the review has not been completed yet. The required traffic study is also underway and should be nearing completion.

Petrecia – As to the question about upkeep on the detention pond, when you have either retention or detention there is a water quality trap essentially so that when the runoff that eventually gets into this thing traps solid matter that would otherwise be dumped at the bottom. Every once in a while these have to be cleaned out. The pond will be deep and there will be some type of fence around it. The overflow will be piped – everything will be piped.

Zoning Inspector Alliss Strogin – The maintenance of those would normally be covered under the D & Cs.

Attorney John Oberholtzer – I’m not sure whether I will be drafting the D & Cs or someone else. Foundations Commercial of Ohio, Inc., owns the property, which is my client. They have agreed with the Chippewa Partners to have them develop the project. They are not the same entity.

Mike Biskup - Basically Chippewa Partners is acting as a management company to get everything up and running and everything done and if something were to go defunct with them then it’s pretty much finding another management company to pick up the ball and roll with it. If something were to go wrong with the property owners, the same thing – it goes up for sale and somebody buys it and goes forward.

Chair Schoonover – One thing that the trustees and the Medina County Commissioners are working on is a Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) that could give tax abatement to commercial entities in that area under the auspices of approval from the commissioners and the boards that are established. It would also be available to people in the area that own homes to use for improvements.

Zoning Inspector Strogin – Under a CRA, the townships and the schools would not lose any money but the value of the improvements to the buildings or private residences would be abated for a certain number of years and on a percentage sliding scale. So the developers get a break, the schools and the township loses nothing, and in a few years they will have the increased tax. Another thing to mention is that the township has the ability to have a 3% bed tax on any hotels in the township and that would not get abated.

Chair Schoonover – One of the comments in the Staff Report (p. 3) talks about the FEMA Flood Plain and they state serious flooding problems remain. One of the things I noted from our earlier meeting notes is that we knew going into this project that we were not going to be able to correct all the flooding issues in the Chippewa Lake area but this project will not make it any worse.

Zoning Inspector Strogin – What you would be approving tonight for this subdivision preliminary plan is the overall concept and how it fits. Then if they want to start the hotel, for example, they would come in with a site plan specifically for the hotel and get a permit for it and the next building etc.

Chair Schoonover – Let’s review the Concept Plan comments (p.3-4) – It was reviewed by the Planning Department on 10/22/08 and addressed agency issues, which included:

- Lafayette Fire Department – specific fire safety design requirements

- Medina County Highway Engineer – existence of FEMA flood plain, the need for a traffic impact study and private street improvements

- Medina County SWCD – existence of FEMA flood plain, soil limitations, riparian setbacks, storm water quantity and quality controls

- ODOT – traffic impact study

All of those issues have been addressed.

Chair Schoonover – I’m concerned about the Westfield Township zoning. I don’t think Lafayette Township approval should be contingent upon anything that Westfield does or doesn’t do because there’s no buildings over there that are a part of this complex.

Discussion indicated that it was fine if the comments about Westfield zoning were listed but there’s nothing in Westfield that is being approved at this time. It should not hold up our decision-making. It is a non-issue for us. The Staff Recommendation is just that – a recommendation. It was decided that Chair Schoonover would address this issue at the Planning Commission meeting tomorrow night.

Chair Schoonover – Under the Medina County Sanitary Engineer comments (p. 5) it states off site and on site water line looping will be required…additional information regarding storm water equalization tanks must be required – what are those?

Petrecia – I’m not an engineer but my understanding is that those would be underground tanks that would basically hold water in the event the storm water is too much. I don’t see that being an issue. It’s a part of their comments to make sure we do all our homework on the engineering but we’re not at that phase.

Oberholtzer – We believe and Lynn Snyder (engineer) believes that the organization of all this flood plain with more sophisticated engineering will do away with the need with something like those tanks.

Chair Schoonover – Under the Medina County Soil & Water Conservation comments

(p. 5) it states: Lafayette Township has proposed a balanced growth incentive plan. This parcel was considered high as a conservation development site due to the continuous wooded area and flood plain. This proposal indicates a very intense use of the property. We are all aware of this information as this project has been discussed for several months but I wanted to make sure that everyone read those comments.

Chair Schoonover – The preliminary site plan was approved by us last month and subsequently approved by the trustees as well. I’ll notify the Planning Commission of that fact tomorrow night.

Dianne Wenslow – One of my concerns all along has been the people that live there and the flooding issues they have had over the years. This project is not to make flooding any worse, and hopefully a little better, but those people are very vocal.

Oberholtzer – There’s some hope that if a Homeowner’s Association is created for those two subdivisions it would have the ability to do things correctly so you don’t have the veto power of one person – the HOA itself can get in there and do some things that can help alleviate some of their issues.

Petrecia – It is hoped that just draining the streets in the correct engineering way will alleviate some of the problems.

There was discussion about trying to keep the local community aware of the project as it progresses. Our meeting minutes are on the website and there have been a number of articles in the newspaper so there are multiple ways for them to learn about what is going on if they are concerned about it. There are older owners/residents and renters in those two existing subdivisions and they probably have different perspectives about this project but overall it will certainly be an improvement in the area in many respects.

Chair Schoonover – Under Staff Comments (p. 6) #3 it states: the two existing subdivisions will remain…The streets in the existing subdivisions are part of the same parcel that contained the Chippewa Lake Park. Therefore the applicant owns the streets. The applicant has stated his intention to re-plat the existing subdivisions, improve the streets. He was then to create Homeowner Associations and turn the streets and any vacant sublots over to the HOAs for maintenance etc. My question is – I don’t believe it was determined that the applicant was going to take those vacant sublots and turn them over to the homeowners – was it?

Oberholtzer – We have not specifically promised that.

Petrecia - That was something discussed with Planning Services after the site plan meeting, but I don’t think Gary Sills committed to it.

Zoning Inspector Strogin – I never heard Gary say he would give them up. I heard him say he would consider splitting up some of the vacant sublots that are in between houses and selling them at a reasonable price half to one and half to the other homeowner. There are some vacant sublots at the top and I doubt if he would want to give them up.

Oberholtzer – I’ve never heard otherwise. We retain the lots and we’re going to do the streets and I don’t think we should be required to give up the vacant lots.

It was decided that Gary Sills would be contacted before the Planning Commission meeting tomorrow night to get clarification of the vacant sublots issue and Attorney Oberholtzer will address that issue at tomorrow night’s meeting.

Chair Schoonover – Item #8 (top of p. 7) states: a portion of the site in Westfield Township that extends along the shoreline of Chippewa Lake is currently owned by the Medina County Parks District. It is our understanding that the applicant intends to enter into an agreement with the Parks District regarding the use or exchange of lands in the vicinity of the development… I got this email from Tom James today that states the Parks District is in agreement with the plan and are working on the details relative to the property owned by the Parks District and impacted by this development.

Under Staff Recommendation (p. 7) Staff recommends approve with modification the Preliminary Plan for the Chippewa Landing subdivision with the following… The board reviewed each of the twelve conditions listed.

All Board members acknowledged their review of the MCDPS Staff Report and the CRO district zoning text relative to this preliminary subdivision plan.

There was no further questions or comments by the Board members or the audience.

Karen Schoonover made a motion to approve the Chippewa Landing PUD Subdivision Preliminary Plan as presented subject to the modifications as listed in the MCDPS Staff Report Recommendation except for #3, which is zoning approval by Westfield Township.

Mike Biskup seconded the motion.

Roll call vote: Karen Schoonover - yes

Russ Green - yes

Mike Biskup - yes

Peggy Folk (alt.) - yes

Dianne Wenslow - yes

Motion passed.

The subdivision preliminary plan for the Chippewa Landing PUD was stamped as approved and signed by the Chair Karen Schoonover. The plan will be presented to the Lafayette Township Trustees for their review and consideration of approval.

Old Business

Status of Comprehensive Plan Revision

Peggy Folk summarized the discussion that took place at the joint zoning commission/ trustees meeting on 2/25/09 relative to the draft comprehensive plan. Items discussed included:

- Whether or not Mr. Arnold has fulfilled the terms of his contract;

- That the draft received is not legally defensible;

- That the plan is lacking definite goals and objectives;

- That the draft needs overview pages so that somebody could go to those pages and understand the direction;

- That the overview should be zoning for specific things;

- Different options for completion of the plan by other agencies and/or specifying to Mr. Arnold on what our expectations were and whether or not he could meet them.

After considerable discussion at the joint meeting, it was agreed that (1) the trustees will meet with the Prosecutor relative to our concerns and the legal issues; (2) Karen will contact the Department of Planning Services (Patrice Theken) and Peggy will contact the Ohio State Extension Service (Dave Civittolo) to see what those agencies would recommend to do with the draft plan, the cost and time frame; and (3) after those meetings the trustees, the prosecutor and a point person(s) from the zoning commission would meet with Mr. Arnold to discuss the concerns and then determine how to move forward.

Peggy reported that she did meet with Dave Civittolo and he indicated he would be glad to work with us to rewrite it but he would like us to give Mr. Arnold an opportunity to complete it. Karen reported that she did meet with Patrice Theken and basically she said a similar thing that the plan could be rewritten. Patrice will forward a proposal to the trustees. Patrice did say that one of the requirements for receiving the matching grant from the Planning Department was that the comprehensive plan must include implementation strategies. The recap of the discussions with these two agencies will go to Don Butler (trustee chair and zoning liaison) and the next step will be up to the trustees on how to proceed.

Zoning Commission Priority Items for 2009

The list to date includes:

- Nonconforming Lots in Chippewa Lake Area;

- Comprehensive Plan Revision;

- Parking Regulations.

Other suggestions were made for Site Plan Review Procedures, Abolish Rear Lots, General Clean-up of the Zoning Code, Lake Road Zoning Districts, Allowable Uses in Local Commercial, Conditional Uses.

In regard to the general clean-up of the zoning code, it was suggested that other townships zoning codes could be reviewed to see if a better format of the text would make it easier to read and research.

Mike Biskup volunteered to review the Local Commercial Zoning District text as to what possible changes might want to be considered for revision. This will be discussed at the next meeting.

Zoning Commission 2009 Meeting Schedule and Rules of Procedure

The Board members reviewed the draft document. Upon motion by Dianne Wenslow, duly seconded by Karen Schoonover, the Lafayette Township Zoning Commission 2009 Meeting Schedule and Rules of Procedure were unanimously approved.

Announcements

- Next MCDPS Zoning Workshop will be Wednesday, March 18, 2009, at 6:30 p.m. at the University of Akron, Medina County Campus, 6300 Technology Lane, Room 309 in Lafayette Township.

- Next regular meeting of the Zoning Commission will be Tuesday, April 7, 2009, at 7 p.m. at the township hall.

Adjournment

Upon motion by Karen Schoonover, duly seconded by Mike Biskup, it was unanimous that the meeting be adjourned. Adjourned at 8:35 p.m.

Marlene L. Oiler, Certified PP, PLS

Lafayette Township Zoning Commission Secretary

(Note: Minutes approved on 4/7/09.)