26 September 2005 Dearborn County Plan Commission Meeting Notes

26 September 2005 Dearborn County Plan Commission Meeting Notes

Present: Mark Mitter, Chairman, Jeff Hughes, Mike Hall, Jane Ohlmansiek, Robert Laws, Patrick deMaynadier (arrived at 7:25 PM), Nick Held, Tarry Feiss and Dennis Kraus, Jr.

Also present: Travis Miller, Plan Director, Mark McCormack, Enforcement Officer, and Arnie McGill, Attorney.

1. Nearly Three Hour Debate – and 156 Lot Subdivision is Tabled

Andy Temmel (Red Pine Properties LLC) with Terry Crouch (The Survey Co) requested Primary approval of Sugar Pine (previously known as Heritage Ridge requested under a different owner)
Sugar Pine is located at the corner of Augusta Drive and Stateline Road in Miller Township. Approximately 50 residents of HVL, Bright, Greendale, and Sugar Ridge were in attendance and many spoke in opposition citing issues with the connector road to HVL’s PRIVATE road system, VRUC not having all their permits in place and not having a treatment plant built, school overcrowding, and drainage issues.
Speakers included:

Craig Lysne for HVL POA, noting that HVL will put up a gate at Ridgecrest to prohibit access and does not want to turn that road over to the county.
Maria LaRosa – HVL resident- stated that Rupel put the paper road in so that HVL could expand onto that property possibly someday, NOT for public to access HVL.
Joanne Caudil- was concerned about detention basins in areas already having drainage issues and who will maintain them.
Richard Butler- att’y for Greendale covering for Steve Lampert Utility Director who was not available- stressed the permit status and that VRUC MIGHT have a plant started by fall of 2006. He quoted a letter from Jeff Bittner from VRUC June 2005 stating that VRUC will seek temporary capacity from the entities serving them (i.e. G-dale!) at SDRSD. Butler stated that Greendale IS NOT agreeing to transport. He gave pictures of overflow into Double Lick Creek and also the recent Katrina rainfall overflow into HVL LAKE! He cited Escherichia coli counts of 30,000/100 ml. (Legal limit is reportedly 253/100 ml). He went on to state that Greendale does not have the capacity to take this on even if they wanted to. They are regularly exceeding capacity.
Linda Mitchell- Noted that high density is OK IF roads, sewers, and schools have capacity. The eastern side of the county has issues with all three. The “need” for homes does not exist- it is really that Ohioans “want” homes here. She reminded Jeff Hughes of his campaign on property rights and that if the schools were jeopardized, then development would need to be controlled.
Bonnie ??? and Dave ???? – noted their issues were already addressed.
Stew Owens – owner of adjoining 21 acres with greenhouse and pond- wanted to be included in all reviews of drainage as it is already an issue for his property and this will adversely affect him.
Jim Maupin – read a prepared statement that he submitted for the record. Points included : The builder’s perspective- that it is good for the builder, that realtors make money, but that the residents will be stuck with the problems. He noted the traffic study on Stateline Rd rates it as a LOS (level of service) E on and A-F scale. This will make it an F. He noted that there is a growing group against the VRUC sewage plant with over 800 petitions so far.
Debbie McQueen - “This is a situation where you should ask yourselves not can I, but should I?” Sewage, schools, roads in and out. This is still only a one-way tract with HVL closed off. Stateline road is slipping on the hill. Sugar ridge has access at the bottom by HVL entrance, but this is at the top. Emergency personnel coverage will be difficult and traffic counts bring the LOS to an F with this.
Jean Aichman (sp?) – Safety issues- her mailbox on Stateline has been knocked down 4 times this year- the road is too narrow.
Robert Cannon – asked about detention areas and water pressure- especially if theirs is low now.
Jerry Jacobson- VRUC has no sewer capacity it goes through Greendale. VRUC has 3 realtors on their board and some if not all are employed by the same company selling this land! A package plant in HVL is just another pollution possibility in Double Lick Creek and will hurt Greendale’s safety and health.
Dave McKammer (sp?) – Roads, schools, and sewers – conditions are not ripe for development.
Tracy Robbins – primarily a personal concern about how close these houses will be to her property. Also retention basins and school capacity issues.
Public discussion ended at 8:40.

Tremmel and Crouch discussed detention basins, and Tremmel said he was not willing to do extra to get improvements on Stateline- he had already purchased additional land to get turn lanes. Tremmel said he had his letter from VRUC and they should base decision on it! [NOTE: Plan Commissions exist for this reason- there needs to be a board to apply common sense and be willing to dig for the answers, rather than just shuffle papers with some bureaucrat’s signature and stamp of approval.]
Mitter noted that they can’t- if there is conflicting information.
Butler reiterated in great detail the VRUC issues and also that Double Lick Creek runs dry often and VRUC will be dumping “treated” water to that. [NOTE: The implication is that VRUC ‘s history is less than stellar….]Board took a 10- minute break at 9:15

Plan Commission Member’s comments:

Kraus, Jr.- had no problem- thought they could get to the conflicting sewer info at the plan improvement stage in-house. [NOTE: What???????] also can get connectivity on a temporary basis even if gated- for emergencies only.
Laws- wants connectivity and a temporary turnaround as a minimum. “The sewer letter says WILL- not DOES have…” [NOTE: Laws gets it!]
Feiss – thought 1971 board had foresight in putting paper access there for HVL. Thinks the applicant has tried to correct previous issues, in favor of making it contingent on sewer access…
Hughes – sewer issues, road issues, may eventually get negotiated…
Mitter- narrow frontage and small improvements on Stateline there- but the impact is HUGE.
De Maynadier – thinks the application is deficient under section 216 – the letter from VRUC is not sufficient. He also noted Section 135 and the land use portion of the Comp Plan that states they should allow new development ONLY WHERE THERE IS ADEQUATE EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE!
Held – sewage is a mess- temp road is a minimum consideration.
Ohlmansiek – sewer “iffy” at this point. Infrastructure should precede development! We need connectivity, but certainly understand HVL position on their roads. They have difficulty maintaining them now.
Hall – lined up with Augusta Drive now, and bought land to do so. We made it contingent on sewer before in Aurora. That doesn’t make it right though. He doesn’t want to FORCE HVL to connect roads.
Mitter- sewer big issue- St. Leon and Aurora had plants that only required expansion- so contingency there was different. Here there is no plant and “Plan B” thru Greendale is also NOT an option. Connectivity is important. The whole school issue is a joke- and not a funny one! [NOTE: SD Schools letter indicated capacity at ECHS but no mention of any anywhere else.]
DeMaynadier- An issue this big should be decided here- not passed on to Travis and staff.

Hall motioned and Kraus,Jr. 2nd to table for 60 days max. to get letter substantiating sewer and connectivity issues to be resolved. All ayes to TABLE.

2. Doris Bedinghaus’s request to convert a farm access to a residential driveway for her son on North Dearborn Road (a collector) in Harrison Township passed.

3. Proposed changes to the swimming pool ordinance to allow mechanical covers instead of fences passed with a favorable to go to the commissioners for possible implementation into the zone book. This will match the zone book with the building codes and state law.

ADMINISTRATIVE:
Focus groups are going well- for future land use workshop which will be on Saturday November 5th.

The first deputy position is filled- Karen Abbott will begin Oct 5. Her experience includes work with Ewbank Land title Co, Aurora Casket, and the county recorder’s office.

Meeting adjourned 10:30 PM
Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township