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City of Lewisburg

Planning Commission

Meeting Minutes

April 6, 2017

Paul R. Cooley Council Chambers

942 Washington Street, West, Lewisbug, WV

PRESENT: Commission Chair Mark Etten; Commission members Tony Hinkle, John Manchester, Jim Simpson, Jeff Vickers; Zoning Officer Chuck Smith, Planning & Zoning Clerk Marsha Cunningham, Recording Officer Peggy Mackenzie

ABSENT: Michael Adelman, Dylan Boone, Mike Dotson, Lydia Hicks

VISITORS: Jimmy Calhoun, Michael Christy, Joshua Hardy, Scott Mache, Ian Maute, Kristen McClung, Mike Neville

CALL TO ORDER: Commission Chair Mark Etten called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. With no comments presented, he stated that the approval of minutes will follow the Public Hearing items on the agenda.

Public Hearing: Construction Solutions, 3410 North Jefferson Street, Site Plan Review

Zoning Officer Chuck Smith stated the Site Plan has been approved for sewer, landscaping and outdoor lighting, which includes a light from a single post at the front of the property, and all other lights will be from the building itself. He said Stafford Engineering has not yet released a review of the storm water retention pond with regard to a 100-year flood assessment. A 37 square foot sign will be positioned on the property five feet back from the highway, meeting code requirements for dimensions. The height of the sign must be no higher than nine feet, Smith said.

A Public Hearing was called at 7:12 p.m., and hearing no response, Chair Etten closed the Public Hearing at 7:12 p.m. Etten requested the minutes record a concern that traffic congestion is growing owing to increasing developments in the North Jefferson area. He said access roads were not sufficiently installed to alleviate the volume. He said the Public Safety Committee may need to address speed limits for the area. His concerns, he said, have no direct bearing on the application.

Approval of the application as presented was made, with the conditions that the 100-year flood assessment is approved and that the sign height is set at nine feet, by Commission member Jeff Vickers and seconded by Commission member Jim Simpson. With five (5) in favor, no opposition, and four (4) absent, the motion carried.

City of Lewisburg Planning Commission Meeting Minutes April 6, 2017 Page 2

Public Hearing: Buckeye Community Sixty-Eight LP, 303 Austin Street, Site Plan Review

As a non-conforming element in a R1 district, the property owners received approval for a variance to add seven feet to the Morgan Manor building on both the front, facing Echols Lane, and the rear side which faces the parking lot, from the BZA, said Smith. No new units will be added. The plan is to bring the building up to standards with regard to the size of the rooms. Smith said no setbacks will be affected on the site.

There is no storm water plan and so Kristen McClung of Terradon has developed a plan for a retention pond below the parking area. All the roof drains will go into a drop inlet in the parking lot, according to McClung. A Public Hearing was called at 7:26 p.m., and hearing no response, Chair Etten closed the Public Hearing at 7:26 p.m. A motion to approve the application as presented was made by Commission member Simpson and seconded by Commission member Tony Hinkle. With five (5) in favor, no opposition and four (4) absent, the motion carried.

Lee Street Partners, LLC, 206 North Lee Street, Sketch Plan Review

The plan for the recently purchased old Lewisburg Elementary School property is to convert two classroom buildings to create housing for the osteopathic school students, said owner/partner Michael Christy. Christy is asking for approval of the first phase of the project: to develop 19 400-square-foot efficiency units in Building B. Building A is planned to have 16 one-bedroom units at a later phase. Other buildings on the property will be used as “we work” start-ups or as offices. Christy said the original 1924 brick school building, which faces Lee Street, is being used as community art studios. The gymnasium can be a recreation center and basketball pick-up game site.

As a preliminary for a Site Plan, the Sketch Plan prompted a number of concerns, which included discussions about water drainage, parking lot spaces and landscaping, a walkway along the driveway from GMS Road, plus a variance there as well. Christy said a 2’by 2’drain will be installed at the rear parking lot to address the storm water coming onto the property from the park property uphill from the school. The commissioners asked for a landscaping plan for the parking area and that one and a half parking spaces be allotted for each of the planned 35 units. Commission member John Manchester said the driveway from GMS Road is on city property, which will have to be addressed. Christy asked that it be a two-way lane. The commissioners asked that a sidewalk with a curb be part of the driveway plan.

City of Lewisburg Planning Commission Meeting Minutes April 6, 2017 Page 3

Etten said as a result of the change of use of the EI zoned property, the Site Plan is “triggered” to include a storm water review that must meet a 100-year plan. Smith said that it could be as simple to have someone assess what is there now as adequate and functional. Manchester agreed, stating the engineer could review the current situation – the piping, etc. as a statement of findings.

Smith said usually the site plan includes construction of buildings, but in this case, the buildings are already in place. He said Christy wants to begin work on the interior of Building B as soon as possible in order to meet O-school students’ needs. The timing is tight, he said. Christy assured the commission that the Site Plan would be available at the May PLCOM meeting, however, he asked to be allowed to continue with the interior construction developments in Building B. He said he had a demolition permit, but that phase will wrap up quickly, leaving him ready to get on with the interior construction work. He said he had prepared for this PLCOM meeting, having consulted at length with Smith. With $400,000 committed to the project, Christy is under some pressure from investors to get moving on the time-line for this phase, anticipated to take six months. He said he was looking to get a building permit approved at this meeting.

The commission was sympathetic to Christy’s situation and discussed on what basis they could go outside the directives of the code. Etten said a sketch plan doesn’t have all the requirements that a Site Plan has. “What we do has a bearing on the future,” he said.

Hinkle said the fire marshal must approve the project before a building permit can be issued, and though Christy said he had everything in place for this meeting, he had not contacted the fire marshal. Smith called Building Inspector Ray Still, who confirmed that the building must be first inspected by the fire marshal, and that the timeline is usually around 30 days. Still said fire marshal approval is needed before Still can issue a building permit for a total remodel, but added that he may be able to proceed without fire marshal approval to work on individual units, or no more than three residential units. Smith said Still will contact the fire marshal to confirm whether he can issue a building permit before getting the fire marshal’s approval.

The agenda item was concluded with nothing before the commission to approve. Clearly disappointed, Christy stated, “This is a setback.”

Public Hearing: The Grow Project, Site Plan Review

Smith said a Site Plan, presented by The Grow Project for the Bolling School property, showed an uncompleted boundary line. The survey was done by David Holtz, who stated that the last City of Lewisburg Planning Commission Meeting Minutes April 6, 2017 Page 4

named title for the boundary area was dated 1853. The Grow Project withdrew the application until the issue is resolved. Smith said he conferred with Christy DeMuth regarding the Project’s site plan. There are no features in the plan other than a parking lot. There are no lighting, landscaping or screening features indicated; all of which are required. The consensus was as a non-conforming EI property, the Bolling School property cannot get a variance from the BZA on a requirement, Smith said.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: January 5, 2017 and March 2, 2017

The minutes of both meetings were approved as presented in separate motions. Commission member Manchester moved to approve the minutes of January 5, 2017 with a second from Commission member Vickers. Commission member Vickers moved to approve the minutes of the March 2, 2017 meeting with Commission member Hinkle as a second. With five (5) in favor, no opposition and four (4) absent, the motions carried.

ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 9 p.m. in a motion by Commission member Hinkle and seconded by Commission member Simpson.

Respectfully submitted,

Peggy Mackenzie,

Recording Officer

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