November 09 Minutes
Planning Commission Minutes –November 4, 2009 Page 1
The Planning Commission met on the above date at 7:30 p.m. in the Administrative Services Building, 304 North Church Street, Bowling Green, Ohio.
Members Present: Adler, Robinette, Burton, Ash, Roudebush, Michel, Gaskins,
and Arnold.
Members Absent: Ferrell
MINUTES
The minutes of the October 7, 2009 meeting were approved as submitted.
LOBBY VISITATION None.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
Bicycle Implementation Plan.
Rick Ketzenbarger, Planning Director, said that the Bicycle Safety Commission wrote the Plan and they have done an outstanding job of it. He said that it is being requested that the Public Hearing for the Plan be held and then the item be tabled to the Planning Commission’s December meeting so the routes can be modified since some of the proposed routes were actually on private property. He said that there will also be a different map submitted that will only have two colors indicating the routes since the current map with several colors is harder to read.
Ash opened the Public Hearing and hearing no questions or comments, he closed the Public Hearing.
Roudebush moved, Gaskins seconded, that the Planning Commission table the approval of the Bike Plan to the December meeting. Motion carried unanimously.
Ordinance Revision to Sections 150.03 & 150.59(A) concerning parking requirements.
Ketzenbarger said that the parking requirements were reviewed and updated five years ago and the requirements were recently revisited and additional changes are being suggested.
Ketzenbarger said since the Commission discussed the revision at the last meeting, the language is now including new category of retail centers that are 100,000 square feet or larger.
Ash opened the Public Hearing and hearing no questions or comments, he closed the Public Hearing.
Roudebush moved, Robinette seconded, that the Ordinance Revision be recommended to City Council. Motion carried unanimously.
Planning Commission Minutes –November 4, 2009 Page 2
REZONING REQUEST
Wintergarden/St. John’s Nature Preserve, 615 S. Wintergarden Road from S-3, Planned Institutional and R-1, Single-Family, Residential to I-1, Institutional.
Ketzenbarger said that it is the City’s ultimate desire to not have S-Districts but since that cannot happen overnight; he said that the Recreation Director would like to at least have all the parks in the City zoned I-1, Institutional. He said that would eliminate the 7 month process for any modification they may want to make in any of the parks. He said the issue that triggered this current rezoning request is the fact that a citizen donated money to build an observation deck at the Wintergarden Park and it ended up costing more money and time in having to submit an S-District Site Plan. He said is the Director’s intent to apply to have all the parks in the City that are zoned S rezoned to I-1 since all the uses are identical.
Ketzenbarger said that the City was successful years earlier in rezoning Carter Park from S-1 to I-1, but the Wintergarden property was withdrawn since its neighbors were not in favor of the rezoning at that time. He said that the Administration fully supports the zoning change. He said that a safeguard will still be in place for the public since all work done on City owned property has to be approved as public construction so there will be an opportunity for citizen input. He also commented that it is the Director’s policy that all neighbors are notified for any project in the parks and public meetings are held to discuss such plans.
The Planning Commission set this item for Public Hearing at its regular meeting in January, 2010.
ORDINANCE REVISIONS
To Sections 150.03, 150.10(F), 150.16 & 150.28 concerning B-1, Neighborhood Commercial, uses.
Ketzenbarger said that the Community Development Foundation has suggested that the word neighborhood in the title of B-1, Neighborhood Commercial, district be changed to B-1, Limited Commercial. He said the word neighborhood has become irrelevant since larger grocery type stores have been steadily replacing the earlier stores known as neighborhood grocery stores. He said that the word limited will differentiate between a general commercial property and a smaller, more specialized retail establishment. He said that there is also a modification suggested that there will be specific prohibited establishments in the limited commercial district, such as bars and taverns, dance halls and bowling alleys. He suggested to the Commission that they visit the sites in the City that currently have the zoning designation of B-1 before the Public Hearing is held.
The Planning Commission set this item for Public Hearing at the December meeting.
Planning Commission Minutes –November 4, 2009 Page 3
To Sections 150.40(C)(15), 150.40(C)(17), & 150.41 concerning the S-District Site Plan Process.
Ketzenbarger said that now all S-District Site Plans must be approved by the Planning Commission and City Council which takes up to seven months to get accomplished. He said that it is being proposed that if an S-District Site Plan is fully compliant it can be approved administratively instead. He commented that if a Plan is fully compliant it is mandatory that they have to be approved by Planning Commission and Council anyway so it will save the applicant at least seven months in their project planning. He said that the Ordinance revision states that if there are any waivers requested on an S-District Site Plan that means it is not fully compliant and it will need to be submitted to the Planning Commission and Council. He said that this process may reduce the number of waivers that are asked for on Plans as well. Ketzenbarger stated that Subdivisions Not Requiring a Plat will also still need to be submitted to the Planning Commission and City Council.
Ketzenbarger commented that he and Mike Marsh, City Attorney, wrote the language in the ordinance revision request.
This item was set for Public Hearing at the December 2, 2009 meeting.
REPORT
Representative to the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Heather Sayler, Senior Planner, said that there was one request on the agenda and that request was approved.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 7:47 p.m.
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Chairperson Secretary
