The Plainfield Plan Commission met on Monday, July 2, 2007. In attendance were Mr. Satterfield, Mr. Matrana, Mr. McPhail, Mr. Brandgard, Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Kirchoff and Ms. Whicker.
ROLL CALL/DETERMINATION OF QUORUM
Mr. Carlucci administered the Roll Call.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
MINUTES
Mr. Kirchoff made a motion to approve the minutes of the Plainfield Plan Commission of June 4, 2007 as submitted. Second by Mr. Brandgard. Motion carried.
Mr. Gibbs abstained from voting on the above minutes because he was not present at the meeting.
OATH OF TESTIMONY
Mr. Daniel administered the Oath of Testimony.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
Ms. Whicker reviewed the Guidelines Governing the Conduct of Public Hearings. We have a petition requesting a continuance.
Mr. James said petition DP-07-011 will have to be continued tonight to the August hearing. That is the Meijer's petition on Dan Jones Road. They didn't make it out of the Design Review Committee. We had some issues with the building design so it was tabled, therefore, it will be continued to the August meeting.
Mr. McPhail made a motion to continue DP-07-011, PAEP Architecture Engineering, PC until the August meeting. Second by Mr. Brandgard. Roll call vote called.
Mr. Satterfield – yes
Mr. Matrana – yes
Mr. McPhail – yes
Mr. Brandgard – yes
Mr. Gibbs – yes
Mr. Kirchoff – yes
Ms. Whicker – yes
7-ayes, 0-opposed, 0-absent. Motion carried.
Mr. James said DP-07-012 is Westwood, LLC with a development known to be Main Street Shops. Ms. Sprague will give the presentation of the report.
Ms. Sprague said this is for the Main Street Shops. It is going to be located right out in front of Wal-Mart next to the Murphy Oil. They had a couple of issues before the DRC meeting. They corrected almost all of them by the time they showed up at DRC. They had some parking in the front setback along Main Street. They had an HVAC screening wall on the south side of the property but they have moved those to the west side and they took that out of the setback when they moved it over to the west side. Also, we requested that they make the loading area one way just to try to ease traffic issues and they have corrected all of those issues. When they first showed up with the landscape plan, they didn't have the plant species included and the screening walls weren't on there so we couldn't tell if the screened walls were screened. Their foundation landscaping did not comply at the time. As you can see, there isn't any foundation landscaping in front of the building. We have decided to approve that as an alternate plan. They have more than enough total landscaping around the rest of the foundation and they also have excess in the other perimeter areas so we felt that would be acceptable.
The photometric plan complies. Originally just before the DRC they had one fixture that was proposed with the sag lens and they volunteered to fix that with no problem.
This is the rendering of the northeast corner of the building. Unfortunately, the PDFs I have are old but these are the north and south elevations and they have complied. They integrated the dumpster enclosure into the building. It is opened to the air on the south side but otherwise it is enclosed on all three sides at the same height of the building all the way around. The east elevation complies. This picture of the west elevation does not, however, the one you have in your packets does. The DRC asked them to change the CMU, which was at the back of the building brick and they have done that. They have also added soldier courses over the tops of all of these doors because they were requested to make the building look less like the back of the building.
This is the summary of the materials and they comply. Basically that is it. If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them or Mr. Watkins can answer them for you.
Mr. Henry Lee Watkins at 400 S. Main Street, Henderson, Kentucky said we have a 15,000 foot building that is on an acre and a third. As Ms. Sprague has indicated, it is adjacent to the Murphy Oil facility just in front of the new Wal-Mart on the corner of Shady Lane and East Main. We have what we feel is a good looking building. It has nice treatments we would like to think. We made some additional changes at the request of the DRC to the back of the building, the south and west portions. We added brick with side lights on the doors and soldier course and generally made a good attempt to try to make the back of the building not look like the back of a building. We feel we have a very well landscaped plan. We have one that will fit in well with the surrounding properties. We would hope that the Plan Commission would approve it.
Mr. Kirchoff said as I'm looking at this, I'm having trouble envisioning this entrance. As I look at it from a geometric standpoint, I struggle with that.
Mr. McGillem said Shady Lane is on the east side and U.S. 40 is on the north. The drive is the current drive that comes into Wal-Mart and Murphy Oil there. What we have asked them to do is due to the drive and the fact that the turnout is already there in the curve as you come into Murphy Oil, what we have asked them to do because of our concern of how close it is as someone is turning in wanting to make a left into the new center. If they are stacked up going out, then you would have possible backup out on U.S. 40. So, that is a raised median coming in there into Murphy Oil so that you will have only a right-in/right-out northbound coming out of the Murphy Oil into that driveway.
Mr. Kirchoff said it is also as they are coming off of their driveway.
Mr. McGillem said that is exactly right so the raised median would extend beyond their entrance off of U.S. 40 coming in there.
Mr. Kirchoff said I see people turning into Murphy Oil and then that gets really confusing getting into the Wal-Mart parking. Will this clear that up?
Mr. McGillem said no. Basically, on site into Wal-Mart you essentially have a three-way stop into Wal-Mart right now. When you come into Murphy, you have a stop going south and you have east/west stop but there is no north stop. In dealing with this site primarily our concern was getting that raised median off of U.S. 40. We did not want the opportunity as you as you turn off of U.S. 40, to turn in that first drive. We were not so concerned with the right-in/right-out coming off of the establishment there. The truck loading zone we had requested that they include that as one way northbound so that you do not have trucks coming in and trying to turn left to go into that loading zone. With the size of this development I don't think you are going to see a lot of tractor trailer delivery trucks in there; I think they will primarily be box type trucks. We have not really gotten into the Wal-Mart site because this is really separate from the Wal-Mart; it is internal. I don't go into Wal-Mart that often but my wife does but as much as it complicates it it seems to work.
Mr. Kirchoff said people coming off of U.S. 40 and go through Murphy Oil they don't see the stop sign and it is a challenge.
Ms. Whicker said I think you have a lot of people coming through the parking lot going north and not coming up that aisle to take you to the stop sign and they cut right to bypass the stop sign and kind of circumvent that three stop sign intersection.
Mr. McGillem said the problem that I have in there is showing me an internal parking lot that you don't have that problem.
Mr. Kirchoff said but it is compounded by this. I know this is not the time or place to struggle with this but basically you are saying right-in/right-out all the way around.
Mr. McGillem said I will say too that the access off of U.S. 40 right now with this drive was a full access and it lines up with the old Galyan's drive to the north. That is going to go away. I can assure you when the old Galyan's redevelops on the north side and we require Shady Lane to be redeveloped as expanded as the main entrance associated through the signal, INDOT has already indicated that you will have pretty much a raised median all the way eventually from Clarks Creek Road to Shady Lane on U.S. 40. The full access onto U.S. 40 what you will end up with is a right-in/right-out off of U.S. 40 into this also. It is just being delayed at this point and time until it develops on the north side.
Ms. Whicker asked, is there anyone in the audience who would care to speak on this matter?
Mr. McGillem said I would like to add one thing. One of the things that we have tried to look at primarily when it comes to sites like this is how it impacts the public roads. That is our primary responsibility. When it gets internal as we talked about with the parking lot, etc., there become a lot of issues that I would have with a lot of these if we really got involved in trying to dictate total internal flow. What we have tried to do when it comes to these private sites is the access points going to the public streets just like this here. My main concern is the access point that causes backups onto U.S. 40 or a public street.
Ms. Whicker said with no one coming forward from the public supporting or opposing the petition I will close the public portion of this matter and open it up for discussion or a possible motion.
Mr. Gibbs made a motion that the Plan Commission approve DP-07-012 as filed by Westwood, LLC requesting Architecture & Site Design Review approval for an approximately 15,000 square foot retail center at 2377 E. Main St., which is located within 600' of a Gateway Corridor finding that:
1. The Development Plan complies with all applicable Development Standards of the district in which the site is located.
2. The Development Plan complies with all applicable provisions of the Subdivision Control Ordinance for which a waiver has not been granted.
3. The Development Plan complies with all applicable provisions for Architectural and Site Design Review for which a waiver has not been granted.
4. The proposed development is appropriate to the site and its surroundings.
5. The proposed development is consistent with the intent and purpose of the Plainfield Zoning Ordinance.
And that such approval be subject to the following conditions:
1. Substantial compliance with the Site Plan, Photometric Plan, Building Elevations, Landscape Plan and dumpster enclosure details file dated June 15, 2007.
Second by Mr. McPhail. Roll call vote called.
Mr. Satterfield – yes
Mr. Matrana – yes
Mr. McPhail – yes
Mr. Brandgard – yes
Mr. Gibbs – yes
Mr. Kirchoff – yes
Ms. Whicker – yes
7-ayes, 0-opposed, 0-absent. Motion carried.
OLD BUSINESS/NEW BUSINESS
Mr. James said before we move on with our zoning compliance issues I would like to get your opinion on one matter. The owner of the Kid's Corner called Friday and she wants to do some painting. I walked down and met with her and she would like to paint the facade, she called it a royal blue, but it would actually be the blue of the “K in the sign. I tried to do a rendering the best I could this afternoon of what it might look like. We don't really have a Town Center review committee so I told her I would take it to DRC July 17th and get their opinion on this. She would also like to do a richer or darker brown to provide more of a contrast so that the store will stand out a little more. I just wanted to bring this up to see if you had any comments or opinion regarding this.
Mr. Brandgard said I think if she is wanting to make the color the color of the “K, I think that is okay but I think……
Ms. Whicker said the blue is a little shocking.
Mr. James said I think it is a little too royal.
Mr. Brandgard said the brown would probably help the building also.
Ms. Whicker said I think it is an improvement but the bright blue is a little shocking.
Mr. James said we will move onto our zoning compliance issues. The first one is at 613 W. Main Street. There are some inoperable vehicles, some junk and trash and debris. I'm not sure if the owner is present tonight. So, we have sent a letter informing them of the violation and invited them to the Plan Commission tonight and I guess they chose not to come tonight. So, how would you like us to proceed from here?
Mr. Matrana said it is a pretty recent photo that you have.
Mr. Carlucci asked, have you talked to her son?
Ms. Sprague said Emily has talked to him. We sent them letters but I don't if she received word back.
Mr. Carlucci said she would know him from high school. I could talk to him because I know him real well. You said there are two inoperable vehicles back there.
Mr. James said yes.
Mr. Carlucci said if I recall, he has had a flatbed truck there and I think he is a Depot guy too but I will talk to him.
Mr. McPhail said if we don't have a significant improvement being made after Mr. Carlucci talks to him, we ought to give him a couple of weeks and if they are not making some progress, start the fining process.
Mr. Carlucci asked, is this based on a complaint that you received or something that you noticed?
Ms. Sprague said I think it was a complaint.
Mr. James asked, do you want to give them 30 days for progress?
Mr. Carlucci said let me talk to him first.
Mr. James said our next violation is at 332 Pickett St. Again, we have junk, trash and debris. Do you want us to give them 30 days or two weeks or progress?
Mr. McPhail said I think it is the same situation. I think when you notify them and you don't see significant process, start the fining process. We have invited them and sent them letters and they are ignoring it. It seems to me that the fining process gets their attention.
Ms. Whicker said when we send out information; we could also include information about the heavy trash pickup days. Not that it would be applicable to this but obviously if they are collectors, it might be helpful in the future to help prevent that. I don't know how far in advance we set those dates for collection.
Mr. Carlucci said it is always May and September.
Ms. Whicker said let them know where we post at or where they could be watching for it.
Mr. James said our next compliance issue is at 404 N. Carr Road with inoperable vehicles, junk, pool violations.
Gentleman said that is my yard. I just don't have the money to obtain a lost title yet. It runs because I could fire it up and move it right now if I wanted to. That is why it is parked backwards until I get the money to settle with what I have to do with it. (Inaudible). I just parked it over there until his dad gets his pole barn cleaned out. They are not inoperable. If I had plates on them, I could drive it right now if I could afford the plates.
Mr. James said we just assume that if they are not plated.
Gentleman said just because it is not plated it is sitting on my property and it doesn't mean it doesn't run. You should come up and talk to me before you say something is inoperable. If I had the money to buy the plates right now, they would be operable.
Mr. Carlucci said the police will look at that and they consider an inoperable vehicle one that you cannot drive. You cannot drive that vehicle because you don't have plates. Inoperable doesn't mean necessarily that you can run it but can you drive it legally? That is part of the equation that they look at under the State statutes.
Gentleman said if I can't afford it until next year to get plates because I'm single and I have kids and right now my job is slow, so does that mean I have to get rid of it? Is that what you are trying to tell me?
Mr. Carlucci said I'm just telling you what the police officers under the statute consider inoperable.
Gentleman said I need to find out what I need to do to get it right. If I can't afford to get insurance, do I need to get it off my property?
Mr. Carlucci said I didn't say that.
Gentleman said that is just what I'm trying to find out.
Mr. Carlucci said it would be helpful if you are going to talk, to come up and give your name and address and then we can have that discussion but there are other things on that property besides the vehicles that they are concerned about.
Mr. Victor Brewer at 404 N. Carr Road, Plainfield said what I want to know is what do I have to do to that truck? I can't afford the insurance right now. My job has only been giving me 30 hours a week and with a single person trying to fix the house up and take care of your kids and pay child support I can't afford it. So, I need to find out what I need to do.
Mr. Carlucci asked, Mr. James is there anything else on that property that you are concerned about?
Mr. James said there is material stored in the back.
Mr. Brewer said that is because I don't have a garage and that is soon to be for the outside of the house so I can get siding on it because I had to replace the windows because it was costing me too much to heat it in the wintertime. My gas bill this winter I ended up getting it shut off because it was $600.00 for one month.
Mr. James said (inaudible).
Mr. Brewer said that is because I'm trying to get money up to get the siding done because I had to replace the windows to lower my heating bill so I could afford it. I'm trying to do this on what I make because I don't have any other income other than my daytime job.
Mr. James said (inaudible).
Mr. Brewer said that was my next question. It is not past the front corner of the house.
Mr. James said you need six feet off the (inaudible).
Mr. Brewer said on the other side of the property? Anything has to be six foot off the side of the property line?
Mr. James said yes.
Mr. Brewer said even if it is not permanent? That gets taken down every year. It is not a permanent fixture.
Mr. James said even if it is temporary, it needs to be on the side six foot.
Mr. Brewer said so anything on that property has to be six foot off that fence no matter what it is; a chair; a bench it has to be six foot of the fence line?
Mr. James said (inaudible).
Mr. Carlucci said maybe the way to approach this is if you could meet with Mr. James and Ms. Sprague.
Mr. Brewer said because there isn't much of a yard there.
Mr. Carlucci said but come up with some benchmarks that you think you can get these things done.
Mr. Brewer said it depends on how many hours I get. I can only work one job. I do plumbing service during the daytime and sometimes I work late at night and sometimes I don't. I never know when I'm going to get off because I don't have a set time and I can't afford to have contractors come in and do it. When I got this house, it was when me and my wife were married and we had two incomes and now I'm down to one and my bills come first especially my child support. That is going to come over any construction on this house and I would like to get the siding done. I've been trying to get the money to buy all at one time so I can get it done. I just want to know what I need to do to get it done. I can't set any dates. I know the trailers are gone tomorrow. One is my ex-father-in-law's and one is mine and I'm getting them out of there. I'm trying to work on it; all I need to know is what you guys are wanting.
Mr. Satterfield said that is what Mr. Carlucci is saying for you to sit down with Mr. James and come up with some kind of game plan with something that is reasonable.
Mr. Brewer asked, are they going to come out after work because I can't afford to take off work. I can't meet during the daytime with these guys because then it lowers my income. If they are willing to talk to me after 6:00-7:00, then I could probably do that. The less I work the less money I have to try to get this done.
Mr. James asked, can you stay after the meeting tonight?
Mr. Brewer said yes.
Mr. James said we can talk then.
Mr. McPhail said we have had complaints from your neighbors or you wouldn't be here. There are probably a lot of things like straightening up and cleaning up that would make some head-up solving this problem but when you come in with a chip on your shoulder and with the attitude you have taken tonight, I don't feel a soft spot right now just because of your attitude. I understand you have some issues but you are going to have to make some effort to improve this situation or you are going to be back here before us again.
Mr. Jeff Duncan at 3400 S. SR267 in Plainfield said I have made every effort to help Mr. Brewer to clean this up. It is one neighbor in particular that he is having a problem with making the complaints. He is making an effort.
Mr. McPhail said I would be concerned if I was him, with the pool unprotected with neighborhood kids running around. That is a liability issue. There are some issues there.
Mr. Duncan said I agree and that is why the fence has been put up.
Mr. McPhail said I'm not a neighbor but I would look at that and say that you have a problem there; you need to do something to protect the pool from neighborhood kids wandering around.
Ms. Whicker asked, does the pool have water in it?
Mr. Brewer said about three foot. There is no ladder to get into the pool; they would have to climb.
Ms. Whicker asked, does it have a cover?
Mr. Brewer said it has a cover.
Ms. Whicker asked, is it a safety cover?
Mr. Brewer said (inaudible).
Mr. Duncan said no it doesn't have a safety cover; that is why the fence is being constructed around the front of it.
Mr. Brewer said I was going to do a privacy fence but I got this letter so I'm taking the privacy down and I'm going to put a chain link up there.
Mr. Duncan said it says the fence has to be five foot, am I correct?
Mr. McPhail said there is a specification.
Mr. James said (inaudible).
Mr. Brandgard said I think as mentioned, what can you do to straighten it up?
Mr. Duncan asked, straighten what up sir?
Mr. Brandgard said the yard. What I'm looking at here it looks like stone or something laying there.
Mr. Duncan said it is a lawn pond.
Mr. Carlucci said I think we have the same goal in mind. One is not to have your neighbor call the Town and you can get with Mr. James to get some things set up so when they call, we can at least say we gave him this amount of time to get this done. If we can do that, we can both move forward and not have an unhappy neighbor because whoever is calling is not going to stop unless they feel there is some progress being made.
Mr. Duncan said there is progress being made. Like he is trying to say in a roundabout way money has been an issue and he is trying to address these issues as the money comes in.
Mr. Carlucci said he talked about the trailers coming out and the Camaro.
Mr. Duncan said that is my Camaro. I have a pole barn and it has plates on it and it is legal. The only one that is not legal is the Ford and that can be removed tomorrow if need be.
Mr. Carlucci said the truck is really operable and he is missing the plates; I'm not sure the police officers really do a lot of towing those. They usually tow the ones that don't have plates, don't have tires and are all tore up and they haven't been moved in six years or something like that.
Mr. Duncan said if you can see those stones, that is a lawn pond with a nice bench. He is trying to improve. He isn't trying to destroy the neighborhood like a lot of other people is trying to do; they don't care; he does care and he is trying to get it all done.
Mr. Carlucci asked, do you have time to meet with Mr. James afterwards and try to get this worked out?
Mr. Duncan said yes.
Mr. James said the one last issue is DayMarc Portrait Homes. They have been putting out weekend directional signs for a subdivision that is not in Plainfield. Apparently they didn't have representatives show up tonight. Do I send a letter with a fine attached to it?
Mr. Brandgard said you need to get their attention.
Mr. James said another issue is Logan's Roadhouse. We have been battling with them about this banner. They are running a special on Mondays and Tuesdays I believe so they will put the banner up on Mondays and Tuesdays and then take it down. I think we are at the point where we are ready to fine them. It seems like that is the only way we can get their attention is sending them the fine.
Mr. McPhail said I would be glad to take one hitch at them from the chamber's standpoint and see if I can convince them. If they don't, I think next week if they stick it back up there, I think we ought to do it but I will be glad to approach them and tell them they are going to get fined if they don't leave it down.
Mr. Satterfield asked, how many letters have been sent?
Mr. James said I think we just sent one.
Ms. Sprague said (inaudible).
Mr. Satterfield asked, did we receive a response from them?
Mr. James said no one has contacted me. I don't know if Emily has been able to talk to anyone but apparently they are ignoring whatever Emily is telling them.
Mr. Satterfield said send one more letter and if it is out there again, fine them.
Ms. Whicker said sometimes with a restaurant you have a daytime manager and a nighttime manager.
Mr. James said they all say it is the corporate's fault. The corporate tells them they have to do it.
Mr. McPhail said go ahead and send the letter and I will take a hitch at them.
Ms. Whicker asked, has the Davenport property made any improvements. We have the extension of July 9th.
Mr. James asked, on the Davenport property after July 9th what is our next step?
Mr. Daniel said my memory is it got better and then they started putting some other stuff out there.
Mr. Carlucci said he also has a neighbor who is tired and has called everybody in the Town Hall.
Mr. James said it is cars and junk in the garage and on the front porch.
Mr. Daniel said (inaudible).
Mr. McPhail said there is another one getting out of hand by Friendship Gardens on Center Street.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Kirchoff made a motion to adjourn. Second by Mr. Brandgard. Motion carried.
