Tuesday, July 29, 2014

28 July 2014 Dearborn County Plan Commission Meeting Notes


28 July 2014 Dearborn County Plan Commission Meeting Notes

Present: Mike Hall, Chairman, Dennis Kraus Jr., Russell Beiersdorfer, Mark Lehman, Mike Hornbach, Art Little, Jake Hoog, Dan Lansing, Jim Thatcher

Also Present: Mark McCormack, Plan Director, and Andy Baudendistel, Attorney and planning staff, Vinnie Fazzino and Nicole Daily.

There were about 25 citizens present in the audience.

NEW BUSINESS

REZONING REQUESTS:

1.Request by Daniel Badinghaus for 4.2 acres in Miller Township on the northeast corner of the Stateline Road and Bond Road intersection from Res to RESTRICTED B-1 for a woodworking business and office. Mike Hall stepped down as he was the surveyor on the project.  Dennis Kraus, Jr. took over the meeting for this item.

Mark McCormack- Planning Director: This has been platted for R use but only one house suits on the property. There was a church here. There are 3 entrances to the site. Proposed office use is in the house on the property. There were issues with the sewage disposal system a while back when the church was there. The staff looked at the parking lot and whether it needed improved. The entrances might also need improvement if the business becomes larger. One of these entrances is gravel. There is a proposed storage area on the back side of the church building area. The commissioners will ultimately decide if the rezoning occurs based on the recommendation from the Plan Commission. They usually do that in an evening meeting so that the public can attend. There has been discussion that there is an intent to provide public sewer and trying to work it out with LMH and the DC regional sewer District. Fire and EMS have not provided a letter even though the owner has tried to repeatedly get that. Anything that is allowed in a B-1 would be allowed here possibly and that has to be considered. There is no landscaping proposed for the outside storage area along Bond Rd. Terrain is not an issue- no steep slopes. County Engineer letter said that the roads are sufficient to handle the business as proposed. However, if another use is proposed a traffic study may be required. Lighting etc and other things could also be issues if the business changed. 29 letters were sent to anyone within 500 ft or an adjoiner. 25 receipts came back.

Terry Hall presented for Mike Hall Surveying. There are no new buildings or parking areas to be added. The house may be an office, the existing gravel is to be used to store a truck, a van, and two 18 ft trailers. There is some building blockage covering the storage site. The sanitary sewer is still in the talking stage. If not the vacant lot between the house and the church will be used for that. It would be pump and haul.  There are several businesses along Stateline Road. The size of the site will limit the uses for future owners and also the septic tank issue. The county would be in the position to approve or deny any future business that goes in there. This is presently classed as a commercial building on the county assessor site. 3200 lineal feet to the sewer line by the school. Badinghaus said he has 4 employees. They hope to get more automation so as not to have to hire more than a couple more people. Board members asked about other things that could go there. Repeatedly questioning the options that would not be suitable to the area that he isn’t considering- but someone else might should he sell it. Lehman said he could strike 22 of the 39 uses to make it OK for the area. McCormack also went over that concept. They seem to want the applicant to make up a self- limiting list to impose upon this. Baudendistel said that they need to have a list for commissioners to consider because the commissioners will probably not put any additional restrictions on this- they will depend on your recommendations. 

Board took a 5 minute recess to allow the applicant to consult with his surveyor. He is considering what to do about restrictions being placed on the B-1. He decided to ask the board to give him a list of what they want stricken and then table for a month for him to consider that. McCormack encouraged them to be self limiting and not use the board meeting time for this type of discussion. That is inefficient. Terry Hall asked for what their main issues were- besides traffic generators. Lehman outlined retail and anything with long hours or lighting issues.

PUBLIC Discussion:

Mike Sitke ( spe?) – Bond Road- Asked if Light manufacturing wouldn’t be more appropriate. Concerned about dust generation. Noise and motors etc. Moving equipment on the property as neighbors that work night shifts. There is a hidden dip on the driveway  along Bond Rd. He showed it in one of the county slides of the area.

Jed Belvin- lives across the street. He works shift work. Wants it quiet. Concerned about the future uses.

Harold Hall- Bond Rd. wanted to know what kind of shop. ( A cabinet shop- working 7- 5PM. Asked about planers and pneumatic tools. Noise travels more when there are leaves off the trees. They also had a problem with church noise in the winter. Also concerned with dust.

Sandra Wykoff- Bond Rd- live by the dip in the road. Built a home 10 years ago. She doesn’t see wood working in the B-1 list. It’s more of a M-1. It is listed as a conditional use in some areas. Husband ill- and concerned about noise. She has seen Hoosier Wall Bed Co and other trucks and trailers going in for the last couple weeks. She reiterated some of the other issues.

Others said their issues were already covered.

Shirley Gardner- She and her husband put this subdivision together and we have restrictions on his subdivision. There were protections such as only one unlicensed vehicle per lot. This was to keep it a clean quiet neighborhood. She said that on Tracy lane it is hard to get out on Stateline Rd between 3-6 PM. Most neighbors own a dog. If you have ever heard a planer run- you know it will have every dog going off just like the sirens do. She is sorry she sold to the church now- and apologizes to her neighbors for that. People moved here to get away from all the noise etc. Bright now has enough businesses. The people that lived here for years- did not ask for all these things. New people bring in all these extra items. She agrees with her neighbors that spoke before. This place was advertised as B-1 business- but it has not ever been that before. This is like opening a can of worms.

Brigid Essert- Stateline Rd- right across the road. She is not worried about Badinghaus- but what else might happen. She is also concerned about noise as the church building does not contain noise well. There is no sound barrier.

Chris Mueller- asked about where this could be a conditional use as McCormack had mentioned. (Answer- Ag zone) I also pointed out that was the only way they could restrict this to exactly what the applicant proposed and make it stick.

Sandy Wykoff- also- pointed out that it was a property value issue should they ever want o sell their homes around this.

They tabled public discussion and application until the August 25th meeting.

[NOTE: It is unclear why woodworking business is not listed in any primary business or manufacturing zone. If the owner is concerned about growing his business and also about selling his business or property, then this should be located in an appropriate zone. This may be shoehorning a potentially good business into an inappropriate location or perhaps inappropriate building. ( noise and dust issues)]


2. Request  for 905 acres involving the Oxbow owned and leased properties (from M-3 to Ag).Oxbow is represented by Tim Mara, Attorney. Site location is in Hardinsburg in Lawrenceburg Township. The entire area is in the flood hazard way or flood plain. There was some issue for Lawrenceburg Levee and want to leave zoning as is.  DNR property on both sides of the river- with about 6 plus acres and they said they were probably OK with the rezone. BUT they have not responded to the letter officially yet. US 50 and I-275 were listed as main roadways- no sanitary sewers proposed. He discussed surrounding property uses. 45 letters sent out and 37 came back.

Tom Mara- presented and Ed Gemperle- treasurer and board member. He is also joined by three additional property owners. Oxbow began acquiring the property in 1985. These are two contiguous aggregations. They feel uneasy about advocating for the flood plain and yet having it zoned M-3. Sedler, Pope and Graham-Undercoffer were the 3 additional owners. The request is consistent with the master plan. They lease hundreds of acres to local farmers. Thousands of people come to this nature preserve and there is no cost to taxpayers. It would be the area’s largest park- if it were publicly owned. They are not asking for anyone else’s property to be rezoned.

Public Discussion:

Mr. Bernard- owns the lake area- wants it to remain M-3.

Don Bernard- owns the property by the Whitewater River and RR tracks – also wants his to remain M-3.

Melissa Lake- lived in Hardintown and wanted to see what was included on the map. They showed her.

Mike Hall asked about the buffers required for M-3 to Ag if this passed. In the new zone code it will a smaller one than before. Some of these are already grandfathered. Discussion was held with board and McCormack about the boarder. This already happened when Bestway disposal  went in. The bufferyard is pretty reasonable. Even if they developed today they would have  a bufferyard to deal with. It will be about 60 ft. Baudendistel asked if Greendale was consulted as an adjoiner. MCcormack talked to Lampert and they know it is happening. Mara said they already have conservation easements in most of this. He also said that they would have no problem splitting that buffer zone. Minimum lot size in M-3 is 5 acres. Minimum district size if asking for a rezone is 50 acres of M-3. (This answered the Bernard’s question)

The board gave a favorable recommendation to the Ag rezone for the area with the map as currently submitted and including them splitting the bufferyard with their M-3 neighbors. They believe it is the best use and responsible use of the land and that it conserves property values and conforms to the reasons for zone changes. All ayes. It will probably be the 19th of August meeting for the Commissioners to consider this .

ADMINISTRATIVE:

Tucker Development Old Orchard Subdivision improvements and financial guarantees. According to reports, the street improvements are complete but Todd Listerman, Dennis Kraus Jr., and Mark McCormack need to check it and also check on the stormwater system and improvements. $25,000 was in escrow in Jan 2013 with Tuckers. The final work was to be done by June 30, 2014. Section 3 was to be reduced. Otherwise they keep the $25,000 and call in the bond. They have been working with Tuckers. Sections 1-3 were inspected and they have the report. Jeff Tucker said they didn’t get the 7/22/14 email with that. There are some items that still need to be finished- but they are better than last year. McCormack read a 2 page punch list that was needed to be done- and about $10,000 worth of work per Listerman’s estimate. Kraus said there were retention areas grown up with weeds, some sign issues because the road ends now instead of going on and some energy dissipaters that were not installed.

McCormack said he normally would be calling in the bond next week. Do they want to have him do that or have deadlines or have him financially guarantee the remainder? Be flexible or call in the agreement as we are past the time?

Jeff Tucker- said they have “substantially” complied with the document that they signed. Though they did not meet the June 30 deadline. They were ready for O’Mara but they didn’t get there by June 30th.

He thinks Todd Listerman’s estimate is accurate. They don’t want to renew the bond. They do have $25,000 in escrow- and the $10,000 is under that limit. Discussed the details of how much it will cost if the county has to do it. Kraus Jr. and McCormack were quite firm with Tuckers on the issues needing to be addressed. [NOTE: Tucker stating he has substantially accomplished his part of the agreement seems disingenuous. He is NOT finished and in fact seems to be somewhat demanding that his money be given back ASAP. The PC has to protect the county and not get stuck holding the bag- as happened in the case at Sugar Ridge Planned Unit Development. There is also more work for ucker to complete on another of his old subdivisions.]

It was decided that the Tuckers and McCormack and staff and Listerman can meet to get the details and amounts ironed out on Monday. There are issues with letting the bond go if the county has more liability possibly.

Other administrative items:

Applied for 9 homes to be demolished and will get $25,000 if the grant is approved.

Comp Plan will have info sent out next week.

New website will hopefully be up in August.

There may be some side tracking with federal changes.

Introduced Vinnie Fazzino- the new assistant planner.

Also will bring Animal Control ordinance for PC to consider next month.

Vacation request in Wilmington and Badinghaus request for next month.

 

Meeting adjourned at 10:15 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township

 

 

 

 

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