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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-28-19 Zoning and Annexation SOUTHB� U� _C w .f,`� PEACE„ h 1865 OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK K\REEMAH FOWLER, CITY CLERK ZONING &ANNEXATION JANUARY 28, 2019 4:30 P.M. Committee Members Present: Oliver Davis, John Voorde, Gavin Ferlic, Jo M. Broden Committee Members Absent: None Other Council Present: Regina Williams-Preston, Karen White, Jake Teshka, Tim Scott Other Council Absent: Sharon L. McBride Others Present: Graham Sparks, Bob Palmer Presenters: Jordan Wyatt, Mike Danch Agenda: Bill No. 69-18- 2610 E. Jefferson Boulevard Zoning Amendment Bill No. 19-01- Special Exception: 3602 West Sample Street Committee Chair Oliver Davis called to order the Zoning and Annexation Committee meeting at 4:30 p.m. He introduced members of the Committee and proceeded to give the floor to the presenters. Bill No. 69-18- 2610 E.Jefferson Boulevard Zoning Amendment Per the request of the petitioner, Bill No. 69-18 was tabled indefinitely. Bill No. 19-01- Special Exception: 3602 West Sample Street Jordan Wyatt, Planner for the Area Plan Commission with offices located on the 11`h floor of the County-City Building, stated,The petitioner is requesting a special exception use for this site here (referencing a presentation which is available in the City Clerk's Office) for pavement materials including onsite material, crushing and outdoor storage in excess of fifty percent(50%). Here is a view of the site from the street with the façade they plan on preserving. Here is a site plan that shows the area for outdoor storage. There is the building and the façade they plan on maintaining. This comes to you from the Area Board of Zoning Appeals with a favorable recommendation. Committee Chair Davis interjected, Their favorable recommendation was just based on that one (1) criteria that there were no hazardous things? Did I read that correctly? I saw number four (4) but there was something, why did they state that last reason when I read over that? INTEGRITY' SERVICE'ACCESSIBILITY JENNIFER M.COFFMAN BIANCA L.TIRADo JOSEPH R.MOLNAR CHIEF DEPUTY/DiRECTOR OF OPERATIONS DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF POLICY ORDINANCE VIOLATION CLERK EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W.Jefferson Blvd.I South Bend,Indiana 46601 I p 574.235.9221 I f 574.235.9173 I www.southbendin.gov CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK Mr. Wyatt clarified, I'm not sure what number you're talking about. Committee Chair Davis replied, The last page that was presented to us. Let me rephrase it this way: What was their rationale for approving it? Mr. Wyatt replied, They didn't have any objection to it and they thought the preservation of the façade helps screen the outdoor storage and the outside crushing from the neighboring properties. Committee Chair Davis stated, Ok, I'll come back to that. Mike Danch, Danch, Harner & Associates with offices located at 1643 Commerce Drive, stated, I'm representing the petitioner. What we are asking to do is for aggregate storage on 3602 Sample Street. The site plan, specifically looking at the aerial photo, it is about a 100,000 square foot building that exists right now. They are going to tear most of that building down. The property runs all the way back to the railroad. It is vacant property at that portion. We worked with the staff and Community Investment asked us, as part of this approval for the special exception, instead of tearing the entire structure down,to leave a portion of the building and use that for offices for this facility.They also asked us to keep up the façade wall all along the entire north side of the property. We will be doing that, too. We will also be reinforcing that wall so when you're looking at it from Sample Street, it will still look like an industrial building sitting there. We took what Community Investment asked us to do and we will be doing that as part of the approval process. There are a lot of permitted uses under the Heavy Industrial but because of what we are doing, morphing materials, under the ordinance we have for the City of South Bend, almost any use under General Industrial requires it to come before you as a special exception. This is just for the use that is there, and it allows Council for BZA to put conditions on the property. In this particular case, we don't have any residential except right on the north side of Sample Street, there is the vacant parking lot and you have to go north of that to get to the first(1st) nearby Single-Family homes. Committee Chair Davis interjected, And what was the reason the staff denied the variance? Mr. Danch replied, It was a proposed variance for what we call foundation landscaping. What the staff was afraid of is if the Board of Zoning Appeals had approved the existing landscaping, if those shrubs died, they wouldn't have to replace them. That is not really a part of the ordinance and if you have foundation landscaping for a use, you have to replace the shrubs. So,what we said was we will take that variance out and we will abide by the ordinance. If you look at the building, there is landscaping all the way along the entire front of the building right now. The staff wanted to make sure that those mature trees up alongside of the building,if they die,they will be replaced. We agreed with the staff. There will be more trees added along the parkway, about seven (7) or eight(8)new trees,per the ordinance. The other variances approved includes screening along both sides. We did have one (1) gentleman speak at the ABZA meeting. His only concern was if we would have an access point at our east property line. We only have one (1) access point which is on the northwest corner of the site. The other question he asked was about noise. Because the operation and the crushing machine they use is portable, we would only be using it for five (5) weeks of the entire year. Because we are doing it on the slab where the existing foundation is,there won't be any vibration. And the noise level done by the pressure, they did a decibel reading at three hundred (300) feet away, it was between fifty-eight (58) and sixty-five (65) decibels. Comparatively, a mower running from three hundred(300)feet away is one hundred and ten(110). EXCELLENCE j ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 wwvw.southbendin.gov 2 CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK So, it is less than that. We will also have a twenty-two (22) foot high wall between us and the nearest resident. That will also mitigate the noise even more. Committeemember Jo M. Broden asked, What about air pollution? Mr. Danch replied, What they do with aggregate materials, typically, is they wet them down so that there is no dust. They will either have asphalt or gravel. This is basically used for foundations for roadways, buildings and those types of things. He already has an operation out on US-20 that is west of Ash Road. Committee Chair Davis asked, Any fires? Mr. Danch replied, No. Councilmember Tim Scott asked, Is this just a one(1) shift operation? Mr. Danch replied, Yes. Councilmember Scott followed up, How many employees? Mr. Danch replied, I believe they have around ten (10)to twelve(12). Councilmember Scott then asked, And the storage of concrete and asphalt will be outside, in the elements, on the current existing concrete apron? Mr. Danch replied, Yes. Councilmember Scott followed up, So what about the run off? Mr. Danch replied, Main, what we end up doing with that is we have to meet the City of South Bend's standards. So, right now, that building is just pouring water off the others. We'll have to pick that up on the sides and we'll have to put in a retention area. Councilmember Scott asked, And that includes everything in that lot where that material is going to be stored? Mr. Danch replied, Yes. Councilmember Scott followed up, So there will be a retention pond but asphalt is made from oil products. So that will be in a retention pond that will seep into the ground? Mr.Danch replied,Usually with petroleum byproducts,depending on what the soil types are,those will be kept in the upper portion and will be filtered out. Councilmember Scott then asked, How often is this material going to be turned? Is this stuff that is going to be sitting there? Mr. Danch replied, They would like to move it as quickly as possible to the project sites. EXCELLENCE 1, ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 3 CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK Councilmember Scott followed up, So, how many weeks out of the year? Mr. Danch replied, The five(5) weeks a year is for the crushing portion of it. Councilmember Scott asked, But there is inventory sitting there all year round? Mr. Danch replied, Yes, and they move it when people buy it. Committee Chair Davis then opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak in favor of or in opposition to the legislation. David Andre, 21601 Durham Way, stated, I have a concern of any zoning variance that is of this size. There is an example of that being granted in the 2900 block of Sample Street and the end result of something like ten (10) acres of used or junked cars. It is not necessarily becoming of or improving the neighborhood. I raise that as a question and concern. Pam Meyer, Director of Neighborhood Development with offices located on the 14th floor of the County-City Building, asked, Could you explain the issue of petroleum byproducts? The reason I'm asking is because the property to the west, the Sample Street Business Complex, has been owned by the Enterprise Association for over thirty (30) years. We are currently in a voluntary remediation program with IDEM and we've done a lot of environmental clean up on that property over the years. Mr. Danch replied, This is the same material they use that paves roadways. There is nothing that goes into the ground that would get into your water. The one (1) we have out on McKinley is actually the exact same thing and the Health Department had no trouble with what we are doing there. There is no contamination with this type of material. You won't have oils running into the ground. These are just asphalt products. Also, since we are doing a special exception use, what you're seeing is the site plan that goes with the special exception. So,the question or concern about whether this could turn over into something different whether it be vehicles or what have you, that can't be done. If somebody wants to change this particular use from what we are asking for, they would have to come back through this whole process and come back to Council to change it to a different special exception. This does not open the door to that. Councilmember Scott asked, What is the address on Ash Road and US-20? Mr. Danch replied, I think it is the 1000 block, McKinley Highway. Councilmember Scott followed up, That is relatively close. What is the need for this site here in town? Mr. Danch replied, Actually, you want to have it in different parts of the county. Having it at this location makes it a bit easier to get toQa Porte County. The one (1) out on McKinley is easier access to Elkhart and Goshen. Committee Chair Davis requested to table this for thirty (30) days. He stated, I would like the courtesy to have this reviewed by me. Nobody ever contacted me. No one took the time to do that. EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 4 ®CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK The other owners we had before took the time to contact me. From the neighbor's standpoint, I believe they would have some concern. Mr. Danch replied, We only had one(1)person show up at the ABZA meeting. Committee Chair Davis replied, Whether they did that or not, it doesn't matter. Mr. Danch followed up, I'm just letting you know. Everyone within three hundred (300) feet is notified. Committee Chair Davis replied, I understand that. But the other people contacted me on that, so. I just need to get more clarity on this. Anything close to a neighborhood, even though it's north, I want to be able to answer intelligently to the neighbors that this is a safe kind of situation. Any time you hear crunching like that, environment issues and especially given everything that is near that area, those are red flags that fly up. I was a little surprised that has not been vetted out a little clearer given that it is an exception which means it's out of the main stream of life anyway. And so, those are the sorts of things. Mr. Danch replied, All the uses for industrial have to come before you. Committee Chair Davis replied, I agree but it's better when, and I was able to tour that other facility, and it's nice to be able to tour these things, especially when it's out of natural scope. Mr. Danch asked the petitioner if they were ok with tabling this matter for thirty (30) days. The petitioner replied if there was no other option and Mr. Danch replied, No, there is not. Trust me. Per the request of the petitioner, Bill No. 19-01 was tabled for thirty(30) days. W.• no further business, Committee Chair Davis adjourned the Zoning and Annexation ommitte. meeting at 4:46 p.m. 1flulIy Sus 1 ted, i •-r D.vis, , ommittee Chair EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 5