23 February 2015 Dearborn County Plan Commission Meeting Notes

23 February 2015 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, and Jim Thatcher

Also Present: Mark McCormack, Plan Director, Nicole Dailey, Assistant Planner, and Andy Baudendistel, Attorney.

ACTION ON MINUTES- tabled until next month

This was the first meeting for 2015. Officers will remain the same as last year. Mike Hall continues as Chairman. Dennis Kraus Jr. as Vice Chairman. 

OLD BUSINESS: none

NEW BUSINESS: moved the vacation item to the top of agenda due to it being first on the Powerpoint.

Request: Vacate a portion of public road-right-of-way(s) in the platted Town of Morgantown ( also known as Lawrenceville per Russell Beiersdorfer)

 Applicant: Dennis Kraus / The Hountz Family

 Site Location: LaFayette Street

 Legal: Section 7, Map #02-07, T-7, R-3

 Township: Jackson Size: 0.227 Acres

 Zoning: Agricultural (A)- 

This is in the area of St Peters and SR 46. No one was present for this request and Dennis Kraus Jr stepped down from the board and left the room. Mark McCormack gave the presentation and showed the area and plats surrounding this. There is only one neighbor affected by this and this neighbor has had some vacated already. He showed pictures of the site. There were no objections from neighbors notified. 

Dennis Kraus, Jr. presented that the family has inherited the property and wants to be able to transfer the property for the heirs. He then left again to go outside. 

No Public spoke. 

The Plan Commission made a Favorable Recommendation to the Commissioners to Vacate the portion of ROW that was requested.

Review of the Preliminary Plat for a 92-lot Major Subdivision, Woodridge Estates Subdivision

 Applicant: Bayer Becker; Owner: Landhill Development Company

 Site Location: Stateline Road (Between Lakeview Dr. & Georgetown Rd.)

 Legal: Sec. 13 & 14, T6, R1, Map #06-13, & 06-14, Parcel # 004.000,

 008.000 & 002.000

 Township: Miller Size: 126.749 Acres

 Zoning: Residential (R)

Mark McCormack presented the site maps showing the terrain the locations and the slopes. This is the first of the three major steps as the zoning has already been established as R.  0.76 units per acre is the density proposed. This is located just above Sugar Ridge. There are still a couple buildings near the entrance that need to be identified on the plat. The entire perimeter is steep slope and is intended to be a conservation area and not to be built. There are some rough storm water areas detailed. An adjoiner sent a letter concerning their pond near the entrance area. 

Waiver requested for the street being longer than 1200 feet with more than 30 homes on it. This is a dead-end street. So they need 62 extra units in the waiver  and 2078 extra ft of dead end road.Using and emergency access of 12 ft width is an option if it holds 40,000 lbs. The applicant is requesting 9 ft wide to a 3 ft waiver on this also. Mailed out 17 letters. Have had a few phone calls and 2 sets of written comments received. Eugene Hester- sent  letter saying nothing has really changed since the last refusal so he wants a no vote now.  Gary Blade requested fencing specified and also screening along his pond.

Items to consider per McCormack- You have to address the 3 waivers or else the primary plat may not be able to proceed as planned.

Lehman asked about sewage and Greendale is ultimately handling it.- and McCormack checked that with Lampert to be sure the plans were the same. Mark Rosenberger of Bayer Becker presented as they have been involved since 1999. Mike Perleberg is the developer and Landhill Development is the owner. They have a 9 ft wide walking path that'll be the emergency access. It will run along the south side of the road. The actual lay of the land has a gentle slope- about 3% along the roadway. One street will have some grade change at 8% on one of the side streets. They also have to get IDEM and Corps of engineers on this property if they get approval. Traffic analysis was done and tehy plan to put a deceleration and acceleration lane as part of the project. Most of this will be gravity fed and some will be low pressure. There are letters form VRUC and Greendale o the sewer agreement. They have Tri-Township water REMC electric is most of it and Duke energy is a smaller part. As part of the secondary plat will have a Homeowners Association and details will be on each plat. This will help maintain the Conservation Easement. They will be required to maintain the detention facilities and the entrance features. This proposal is significantly less that the 1999 or the 2006 proposals. Some of the lots are 5 acres. The 3 ft waiver request was covered in letters from the fire dept in the packet also. 

Questions from PC- Hall asked about drainage areas and specs- Rosenberger said it would be per county standards. Kraus, Jr. said the REMC letter was in tech review but was missing from tonight’s packet. Hall asked why the conservation easement didn’t go behind a few of the lots. Rosenberger said they could make it do that so it was all accessible continuously as conservation easement. Hall asked about 80, 4, and 5 being tight for building. More questions about drainage easements. Residents own the pressure sewer pumps. Questions about the pathway crossing over the cul-de sac side streets. Easements will be provided to the detention ponds for maintenance. 

Mark Lehman asked about tree line and Rosenberger said that line is not firm yet.The walking path will be kept on the general profile of the street so they are not bottoming out. Lehman asked about a stub street to the north to connect to other property lines like Sugar Ridge. This was not feasible per Rosenberger. He said the other neighbors wanted fences- not connections the last time they were in. 

PUBLIC DISCUSSION:

Linda Moser Mitchell- family adjoins with 90 acres This was an extremely contentious process back in 1999 on. It was given no recommendation and then an unfavorable. Two commissioners overturned the recommendation. As property owners they want to know who will maintain the fences between their family and this and also the Merks and this. Will they be dealing with POA or individuals? This is by HVL entrance. Very high traffic. The developer said certain things were appropriate for this property. They are asking for one variance 3 times the ordinance and one is 2 times it and the third is reducing the ordinance by 25%. The ordinances were put in place for the public safety. This should be done in accordance with the safety measures we have in place for the public safety. 

Debbie  Moser McQueen-  Adjoins this also. She wanted to know about the trouble spots in the plans- asked them to be specific. There are lift stations required due to some slopes. The north side. and the lift station is on lot 62. She is concerned with increased runoff and also possibly sewer failure into their family’s creek. She wants a buffer between her and that first cul de sac street.There is no conservation easement on part of her border so she will have individuals to deal with. She thinks the first cul-de-sac has to go. 

END Public discussion.

The PC asked more questions of Rosenberger. Hall asked if they could extend conservation easement across the back of lot 6 and 7. Beiersdorfer asked about the maintenance of farm fences. Discussion was that they wanted the POA to take care of their half of the fence. It was clear that the developer and Rosenberger were NOT familiar with the farm fence laws. Hornbach will send the the laws. Rosenberger said this was the most efficient way to develop the land. Hoog asked about the pond the front. They will make sure the drainage will be directed away from this area. Lehman- asked if they will be doing any more silt fences and straw bales to protect that pond adjoining it. Rosenberger said yes. Rosenberger said that in reference to the sewage concern it will be inspected by IDEM. the scrutiny is at a higher level than it used to be even 10 years ago. There will be no sewage going into the creeks. 

PC Board Discussion:

Lehman said he didn’t see any way to get interconnectivity to other properties. There would be a lot of damage to try to satisfy that recommendation. Beiersdorfer said we call this a razorback ridge. They didn’t want to excavate and destroy creek to achieve that. Lehman motioned to approve the waiver for the 92 lots with Beiersdorfer 2nd OK’d. Lehman and Beirsdorfer motioned and ended to approve the waiver for the increased cul de sac street length. Approved. And they also motioned to approve the waiver for the decreased ft length for the emergency access width. Approved. 

Then Lehman motioned to approve the the preliminary plat for the 92 lot major subdivision with the conditions that lots 89-92 drain to the east swale, that fencing between adjoins follow state law with the HOA, and addressed drainage and silt fence against the joiners pond with Blake and Niemeyer. Beiersdorfer 2nd . Approved. All ayes for all of these motions. 

ADMINISTRATIVE

Proposed changes to the Dearborn County Zoning Ordinance - McCormack reviewed the changes in Article 22- on Landscaping, Buffering, and Screening Fences. There are 4 types of buffer yards depending on the amount of conflicting and the degree of conflicting uses.

 They also have list of unacceptable trees for reasons of fruit mess, diseases, or weak wood. There are color pictures showing the bufferyard options. Highway interchange is like B-2 for bufferyards so it was not in the chart in the revision. McCormack advises them that the Highway interchange should be eliminated and called B-2. Beiersdorfer recommended forwarding the bufferyard article as revised with a favorable recommendation to Commissioners. Hoog 2nded. All ayes. 

Article 17 was reviewed on Plot Plan Review. Location Improvement will be called Improvement Location Permits. That is because it matches our state law language. Other changes were made for ease of reading and reducing redundancy. The Plan Commission with Beiersdorfer motioning and Lehman 2nding sent the changes to Article 17 to the commissioners with a favorable recommendation. All ayes. 

Comp Plan meeting on March 23 instead of the regular meeting as there were no applicants for the March meeting. He is hoping to get it finished by summer. He has been busy on the Blight Elimination Program with Bill Shelton. The Land Use Plan will be presented as what we have so far. Hoping to have a joint meeting with Commissioners sometime this year. We want to be sure we are working together and communicating. 

Meeting adjourned at 9:20 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township