25 February 2008 Dearborn County Plan Commission Meeting Notes

25 February 2008 Dearborn County Plan Commission Meeting Notes

Present: Hall, Chairman, Kraus, Jr., Beiersdorfer, Laws, Lehman, Lansing, Thompson, Held, and Nelson.

Also present: McGill, Attorney, McCormack, Plan Director, and Listerman, Transportation Director.

The room was about 2/3 full.

D-1 Commissioner candidate Kathy Scott was present.

Primary Approval for 75-lot subdivision (White Pines) on North Dearborn, Short, and Gaynor Ridge Roads in Logan Township on 56 acres. Zone change was approved to Residential from Ag previously. Owner is White Farm Development (Tucker and Schmidt were present) and the surveyor was JDJ Surveying (Jeff Stenger)

McCormack presented the tech review and staff report. He also showed pictures of the area to bring the 3 new board members up to speed. Aerial shots of the new layout showed a density that was far different from the surrounding lands on 3 sides. The main thrust of the staff report and Tucker’s presentation was how to buffer the surrounding neighbors from the new subdivision. [NOTE: This seems to indicate that everyone “knows” this is a different animal from its neighbors.]

Because of the 100 ft frontage on lots, curb and gutter is not required but sidewalks are required on one side of the main streets. A variance was being sought for phasing of the subdivision. Thompson asked about buffering in the bowed out area of the plat along North Dearborn Road and sight distance. It will be done so that sight distance will not be impaired. The lot owners will be maintaining the trees and buffer yards. Tucker is staying away from HOA- as people don’t seem to want to have them.

Tucker said they did NOT show the 100 ft buffer yard- as they think the owner could put in a patio or basketball goal that would get into it. They think the lot owner should have right of appeal to BZA for variance for such things. [NOTE: Are the reneging on a desired buffer?]
Their buffer is actually a 60 ft setback after the 30 ft ROW. (That adds to 90- not 100) Tucker showed pictures of serpentine and intermittent mounds with trees to illustrate what they have in mind. He thinks they can do a really good job of fixing sight distance issues. They will need a service road for St, Leon to access their lift station about once a week. It will be fenced around the lift station.

Hall asked him to set the buffer wider at Short and Gaynor and Short and North Dearborn to be sure sight distance works. Tucker said it wouldn’t be a problem as there is detention there also.
[NOTE: The county side seems to want adequate buffers and the subdividers want to leave options for the owners. The owners need to be buffered from the farm uses around them- it would be a vital amenity to get that buffer yard right.]

Stenger told the board there will be 2-14 lots on pressure sewer- the rest will be gravity- depending on St. Leon. Listerman advised Thompson and the board that boring under the road to access sewer was not a problem.

Tucker plans intermittent white board fencing. Hall said 2 trees per lot (100 ft) seems sparse. Tucker said they will be spruce, pine, and deciduous like pears. He doesn’t want a wall of trees as that would be uninteresting. [NOTE: Even when a spruce is mature in a windbreak at 15-20 ft spacing- 2 trees would cover only 40 ft. of the 100 ft area.]

Beiersdorfer reminded them that the shallow roots systems of pines don’t do well on mounds, as the recent drought illustrated. Tucker will use conservation officers and covenants to keep the kids from taking four wheelers over the mounds. Answering Nelson- Tucker said he’s staying away from HOA.

Stenger said they want 3-4 phases to help steer traffic to North Dearborn- they won’t open the Gaynor Ridge intersection till about half built out. [NOTE: This is where road bonds etc get into trouble. This variance needs to be really looked at carefully. People might be trained off Gaynor Ridge at first, but once that is open- it won’t matter. All that “training” will be gone. I would say that is not an adequate reason to NOT build that through street in the beginning.]

Tucker told Laws the lifetime for the phases is 5-7 years.

McCormack cited section 2516 on accessory buildings to clarify some points with the board. Stenger noted the front yards face the NEW streets- so the back yards are what the existing streets will view. He said all lots have at least 80 ft from the centerline of the road as setback. [NOTE: Now it’s just a 50 ft setback- above it was a 60 ft from the ROW end. This buffer yard number seems to be bouncing around a lot.]

Nelson thinks the 8x10 sheds won’t be a problem- we made them have internal streets- don’t dink them on this. Thompson noted that though this is already approved- this is the problem with compatibility in high-density situations.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

Glen Crocker- 38 year resident of Short Road. The vote was 5-4 by the PC and 2-1 by the commissioners to rezone this and it did stick a knife in rural Dearborn County. The example pictures of buffers are good looking- they show more than 2 trees. You have to make this look good because it’s an area of high visual impact. I’m not sure about the deciduous trees- but that’s my personal opinion. I don’t want a fence around the whole thing- that would be ugly. Lots 47-56 are in an area that is completely wooded now- how is this going to save greenspace? Hopes they can preserve many of these trees. Make sure this gets maintained- like the sidewalks.
Crocker also advised them of the actual location of the sewer lines- as being ½ way down Short Rd on his side. (St. Leon is in error)
He ended saying it was hard to grab a hold of this setting right in the middle of RURAL Dearborn County. We want to be a good neighbor- make it LOOK good…

Todd Schumate- resident of Gaynor Ridge. Minimize the impact and make it look right. This area has high travel and high visibility. The outbuildings should have the same façade as the home. It should look clean. Schumate doesn’t want vinyl sides- showed the example of the one buckling in high temperatures at Harley Springs with one window and door on the whole side of siding.
He said curbs and gutters will prevent parking in the front lots and county has no parking on their roads – which is helpful to emergency and fire equipment. Be mindful of us having to turn fire trucks around. We don’t want 10 years of dirt and dust around us during construction. Would like to see no wood burning stoves in the covenants- a health issue. Who will replace trees if they die?

Bob Gaynor- these were to be ¾-acre lots. I see 16 at ¾, 29 at ½ and 30 between ½ and ¾ acres. Who will maintain the retention areas? Listerman and Thompson said- the property owner or HOA if there is one.
Gaynor is not sure about the mounds- 3 ft isn’t going to do it, especially on a 2-story house. There are 26 homes on the outer perimeter- he wants a decorative fence there as a protection for the kids playing. Noted that cars travel faster than speed limit out there. Treat the backyards the same as the front yards- make it look nice.

Tom Gaynor- Farmland is adjacent- still concerned about traffic- the fence is a good idea. Where did all the green space go? Where will the kids play?

Steve Kuhn- Gaynor Ridge- most is already covered- his big concern is the visual impact- don’t know of any other subdivisions in the county bounded by 3 roads like this. Concerned for the safety of the neighbor kids. Make the fence look like a prize- not an eyesore.

Kathy Scott- Heard about covenants- will this have a Homeowners association (HOA)? Who will bear the cost of the sewer extension and lift station? Hall said the developer would.

Lydia Schumate- Doesn’t think 3- ft mounds will be enough. Fence with trees on both sides of it would look somewhat woodsy. Worried about lights form homes and cars driving in and noise. We’ll have to deal with that. They need to remember we still farm and they will have to adjust to that and the smells etc.

END PUBLIC COMMENT

Thompson- Could have a hodge podge of fencing styles. Who will enforce retention? Who will keep mounds and trees?

McCormack- Enforcement after build out will be complaint based.

Tucker- The other lot owners will enforce the covenants (in court). He will address the maintenance and fencing issues in the covenants.

Listerman- Traffic speed calculations and the sight triangle will be worked on in the improvement plan.

Tucker- How about 4 trees average per lot?

Lansing- 3-foot mound- standard?

Tucker- actually 3-5 feet. More than that looks like a wall. There may be some vinyl homes- they can look nice. I live in an all vinyl home- that was the style. Sheds can match the homes color scheme.

Stenger- Owners will do regular maintenance on the detention ponds- but if it blows out- the subdivision community will have to help repair.

Tucker- Brookstone Way is 9 years old with no problems- Tucker cleaned it before the county took over roads. Also Old Orchard.

Stenger- You should put in an Ag covenant to say that the subdivision buyers can’t complain about adjacent Ag uses. They do that in Ripley and Franklin.

THOMPSON moved and NELSON 2nd to approve the primary plat based on:
1. An average of 4 trees /lot in the buffer
2. Controls by covenant or HOA for uniformity of fencing and
3. Retention of character of the buffer
4. Repair and maintenance of the detention by the developer until buildout is complete,
5. Sidewalks on one side
6. Service lane to the lift station
7. Requirement for architectural review by the developer of the primary structure
8. Ag Covenant(as described by Stenger)
9. Accessory buildings to match the residence in color scheme
10. Sanitary sewer lines to be run inside the development rather than on adjacent property as on the west side of Conifer Court- unless St, Leon provides a sound reason
11. Require a buffer on the east side of the subdivision
12. Have an appropriate way to prevent leakage should the lift station fail and thus protect the pond to the east.
All ayes- Passed.

The variance for phasing the development was questioned by Thompson as not fulfilling the requirements. They were all over the problem of the Gaynor Ridge intersection being opened and when. This was tabled until March until Tucker has plans.

Subdivision ordinance changes tabled until March.

ADMINISTRATIVE:
First bond report given to board.
Financial guarantee steps- have a fireproof safe for these documents.
Kate Rademacher is sending series of letters to get the bonds updated. They mentioned Old Orchard bonds lapsed and they have NOT withheld permits for this. [NOTE: Why not?]

The Sugar Ridge mess was mentioned also

Comp Plan – McCormack is still trying to keep discussions going with Fox and Hughes.

Fiscal Impact Study is proceeding at OKI

Kraus Jr. complained about fees for small splits as being excessive when attached to the $100 for the original panhandle. He’s talking about corrections of slivers of land. McCormack is authorized to waive those fees.

Meeting adjourned at 10:30 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township