PLANNING COMMISSION
GLADSTONE, MISSOURI
September 15, 2003
Item 1 on the
Agenda: Meeting called to order –
Roll Call.
Present: Ms. Abbott
Council & Staff Present:
Ms. Alexander Scott Wingerson, Assist. City Manager
Mr. Davis David Ramsay, City Counselor
Mr. Dillingham Mayor
Pro-Tem Wayne Beer
Chairman Hill Councilman Carol Rudi
Mr. Kiser
Ms. Newsom
Mr. Revenaugh
Mr. Steffens
Ms. Wild
Absent: Mr. Bone
Ms. Lowe
Item 2 on the
Agenda: Pledge of Allegiance.
Chairman Hill led the group in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
Item 3 on the
Agenda: Approval of September 2,
2003 Minutes.
The minutes were
approved as submitted.
Item 4 on the
Agenda: Communications from the
Audience.
None.
Item 5 on the Agenda: Consideration of a Special Use Permit, 6212 NE Antioch Road. Applicant: Jo Marie Armilio. (#1198)
Chairman Hill called on
Ms. Newsom for the site visit report.
Ms. Newsom reported that
she assumed that everyone received a copy of the site visit report in their
packets and have read it. In summary,
it appears that the non-compliant business that is currently taking place is
much more intense than the other businesses around that area. One thing that bothers her is the curve and
grade as Wabash connects. The line of
site in that area is poor. The traffic
seems very intense. In addition, the
driveway extension is on top of an easement and appears to be right on top of
the property line. Ms. Newsom stated
that she will be voting against this application.
MOTION: By Ms. Newsom, second by Mr. Kiser to approve the SUP at 6212 N. Antioch Road.
Mr. Davis apologized for
his absence at the last meeting, and asked if anyone is currently residing at
the home.
Ms. Newsom answered
no. She added that the home is not
currently totally being used for a business.
Ms. Newsom said that gives her cause to pause and think that in the
future the home might house more offices and have more employees.
Mr. Davis asked if the
site visit committee discussed why this request was not for a rezoning since it
doesn’t seem to apply to the normal Special Use Permit.
Ms. Newsom said the group
did not discuss that issue.
Chairman Hill said that
he drives by there several times a day and would concur with Ms. Newsom that
this is a very intense use for this property.
He acknowledges the fact that there are commercial businesses across the
street, however his observation has been that there are frequently multiple
cars in the driveway and cars parked in the street. Chairman Hill said that, in fact, he almost witnessed an accident
there today because someone was trying to turn onto Wabash from Antioch,
northbound, and there was a car pulling away from the curb on Wabash. If this were a commercial zoning, there
wouldn’t be the cars parking all along the street because they would be
required to have a parking lot. In
addition, the property did not appear to be well-maintained. The business has been operation from this
house for quite some time and there has not been any improvements made to the
property.
Ms. Abbott said that she
was thinking about the lady, who lived across the street, who had no complaints
at the public hearing.
Chairman Hill said he
goes by there at least four times a day and he can’t remember a time that there
was not a car in the street. He
frequently sees a lot of traffic coming in and out.
Ms. Abbott asked why they
did not apply for a rezoning.
Mr. Wingerson answered
that he did not encourage them to apply for a rezoning because of some of the
reasons that were spoken of in the public hearing, such as the property width
and depth and the feasibility of a commercial venture on a single lot. This lot combined with other lots and then
commercial development is likely and feasible.
Ms. Newsom replied to Ms.
Abbot’s comment about the lady who spoke at the public hearing. She said that the second part of her comment
was that she was waiting for her property to be rezoned commercial so that she
could sell it at a higher value. Ms.
Newsom said that her testimony did not carry as much weight because of the
woman’s encouragement of a commercial endeavor.
Mr. Revenaugh said that
is really the issue in his mind. There
is no doubt that there are already some businesses along Antioch, but it would
make more sense to have a developer buy three or four of those residences along
Antioch and create one new large development.
It doesn’t seem fair to the residents on Wabash to have to fight all
that traffic just to get to work each day.
Ms. Abbott No
Ms. Alexander No
Mr. Davis No
Mr. Dillingham No
Chairman Hill No
Mr. Kiser No
Ms. Newsom No
Mr. Revenaugh No
Ms. Wild No
The motion failed.
Chairman Hill announced
that this application would be heard at the City Council meeting on Monday,
September 22, 2003 with a negative recommendation.
Item 6 on the Agenda: Public Hearing on a Special Use Permit, 903 NE 76th Street. Applicant: Toni Faust. (#1202)
Mr. Wingerson reported
that a majority of the Commission will remember a similar application from
about eighteen months ago. This Special
Use Permit application would allow for an in-home daycare. The concerns of the Commission, originally, revolved
around the water feature (pond) in the back yard as well as traffic safety when
entering and exiting the property onto 76th Street. The application is similar, if not the same,
and the concerns remain the same. Mrs.
Faust has choose to re-apply and see if she can work through, with her husband,
the technical concerns of the request.
Staff will reserve it’s recommendation until the water hazard issue and
the traffic safety issue have been dealt with.
Ms. Newsom noted that the
staff report states the application is for a Montessori school but Mr.
Wingerson referred to it as a daycare.
Mr. Wingerson said that
terms of the application is for a Montessori school; however, it is for
preschool aged children. From a zoning
standpoint, it is classified as a daycare by use, by name the applicant has choose
to call it a school.
Ron Faust, 903 NE 76th
Street addressed the Commission. Mr.
Faust said that his wife is in Africa so he is here in her place. Their goal is to make this facility a
pre-school and not a daycare. There are
different qualifications for each. Mr.
Faust said that he has permission from 7510 N. Harrison Place to use that area
for their playground so that the water garden is a mute point as far as he is
concerned. The goal is to provide a
quality pre-school in two sessions eliminating food issues and other difficulties
and provide a learning experience in 2 ½ hour segments in the morning and
afternoon. It will be a very small
operation. Currently they have two
students.
Chairman Hill noted that
in the recommended conditions the hours are stated as 8:30-11:30am.
Mr. Faust said that needs
to be corrected. The hours would be
9:00-11:30am and 1:00-3:30pm.
Chairman Hill asked if
DFS had been out to look at the water feature.
Mr. Faust said that he
and his wife have been in conversations when they were needing to undergo the
daycare. Mr. Faust replied that he was
not sure how to answer that question because currently the parents are bringing
the children around to the school. They
have a gate to the adjoining playground area.
Chairman Hill asked what
age the children would be.
Mr. Faust said that
originally they were thinking 3 to 5 but are now thinking 2 ½ to 5.
Mr. Davis asked if the
Commission is considering a Special Use Permit for 7510 N. Harrison.
Mr. Faust said that Alice
Blythe is willing to do whatever he needs her to do. Earlier in the summer he thought that they might have the school
at that address, but things evolved, and they realized that it was better to
keep it in their own home and just use 7510 N. Harrison as the playground.
Ms. Abbott asked if the
children in the morning would be the same children as the afternoon group.
Mr. Faust answered that
there are two different groups of children.
Ms. Abbott noted that
there would be traffic coming and going four times a day.
Mr. Faust said that
presents very little problem.
Apparently, that will be addressed with the 76th Street
project. He said the whole area in
front of his house is being leveled where there is a little bit of a
hazard. He said he gave his permission
for the project, but is not sure of the status.
Ms. Alexander said that
when the Commission viewed the property one of their concerns was the safety
when you have cars going in and out.
Mr. Faust said there are
a couple of ways to minimize that. One
is to find an access point from this east adjoining property, so it’s easily
accessible. With the improvement on the
road, he doesn’t feel it will be a problem.
The way the parents to do it just doesn’t seem to present a problem to
them.
Ms. Alexander asked if
they have to back out on to 76th Street.
Mr. Faust answered that
they do. He gives them instruction on
how to do that using the left hand lane.
Ms. Wild asked how many
children Mr. Faust anticipates having in each session.
Mr. Faust replied that
ten children would be their maximum, if it goes that high. His wife had taught at another Montessori
School in Smithville where she had 24 kids, and that was just too many. They are trying to keep their number of
children at a minimum.
Ms. Newsom asked what
permitting agency Mr. Faust works under other than the City. Does he get a state permit for the daycare
or school?
Mr. Faust said that they
are not applying for a daycare.
Ms. Newsom asked if there
was a Montessori association or anything that he would be applying for a permit
with.
Mr. Faust answered no.
Ms. Newsom noted that her
concern was that there was no letter of authorization from the owner of 7510 N.
Harrison authorizing Mr. Faust to use their property on file with the City.
Mr. Faust asked if that is
what she would like.
Ms. Newsom wasn’t sure if
that was what she wanted or what kind of liability issues there are for the
City to permit them to use the adjoining property on a regular basis.
Mr. Wingerson said that
the application was submitted on August 5, 2003 and it is now the end of
September. Part of the reason for that
delay is because staff was seeking an owner’s authorization and that didn’t
come forward. Staff felt is necessary
for the application to come forward, however, it does not contain that owner’s
authorization. Regarding the 76th
Street project, from Oak to Troost, it is designed, funded and it’s currently
an active acquisition for the necessary right-of-way. There are approximately 77 easements required, and the City has
secured 39 or 40. Once that is done,
the project will be bid and released for construction.
Ms. Newsom asked when
that construction might take place.
Mr. Wingerson said that
hopefully in the spring, the City can begin that process.
There was no one to speak
in favor or opposition of the application.
Chairman Hill closed the public hearing.
Mr. Revenaugh asked if
the Commission could vote on an application that includes another person’s
property that we do not have authorization from.
Mr. Wingerson suggested that
it would be inappropriate for the Commission to vote including that additional
playground, which then makes the application the same one that the Commission
saw eighteen months ago.
Ms. Newsom asked if it
could be added as a contingency.
Mr. Wingerson said that
an additional condition could be added to the draft ordinance that require
proof of ownership and authorization, then if that authorization was not
submitted, the special use permit would be invalid.
Chairman Hill said that
they may want something in the ordinance regarding fencing.
Mr. Revenaugh asked it
was staff’s view that the traffic would not cause in adverse impact on 76th
Street.
Mr. Wingerson said that
he doesn’t have any concerns about the volume of traffic, however it is more than
a typical daycare because it has two sessions, so it is four trips instead of
two trips. The concern is accessing the
property from 76th Street and then backing into 76th
Street. This street is narrow there
with open ditches and the improvement will further impact this facility with
construction equipment. The Commission
noted in the minutes from last year, a little bit of a crest of a hill looking
west that made visibility somewhat of a concern. In terms of volume and impact, Mr. Wingerson said he is not
concerned, but basically exiting the property does cause some level of concern
for safety.
Ms. Abbott said that she
is not happy about the driveway, and backing into 76th Street. She said she was just out there around 7:00
pm and it just wasn’t very nice getting in and out of that driveway. She can’t imagine 10 cars going in at 9:00
am and 10 cars coming out at 11:30 am and 10 cars going back in at 1:30 pm and
then coming back at 3:30 pm. Ms. Abbott
said that is 40 cars a day getting in and out of the driveway and she doesn’t
think it’s safe.
MOTION: By Ms. Newsom, second by Mr. Revenaugh to approve a Special Use Permit at 903 NE 76th Street.
Ms. Newsom amended her motion to include a condition that would be added to the ordinance which states that the City must receive notarized owner’s authorization and the hours of operation be changed in the ordinance to read 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, Mr. Revenaugh gave the second.
Ms. Newsom said that it
appears that Ms. Faust had a deep commitment to the Montessori education. That said, it seems as though she has made
other efforts to deal with the water hazard problem. One thing that has not changed is the traffic on 76th
Street. Ms. Newsom feels that little
children are going to wander and it does not seem to be a safe situation for
them. This does not feel like a safe
situation to permit a daycare or a school with double sessions and she will be
voting against it.
Ms. Alexander said that
if there was a way for the cars to turn around to get out she would be a lot
less concerned about the safety factor.
Ms. Abbott said if they
had a circle drive that would accommodate the cars; if they would put a circle
drive in, she would vote yes.
Mr. Faust said that would
be one solution. The other solution he
had mentioned is they could restrict the access to their driveway and have the
cars come through 7510 N. Harrison.
Mr. Wingerson advised the
Commission that if that be made a condition, they may want to table action at
this point and give staff an opportunity to notify people on N. Harrison.
Mr. Davis commented that
he shares Ms. Newsom’s concerns and assuming the motion stays the way it is, he
will be voting no. He wanted to express
his concern that he would not like to see the Commission make it a practice of
encouraging people to find ways to make residential areas more like commercial
so they can get by being used as commercial while still maintaining an R1
use. He is very concerned about the
spread of spot-zoning in the name of Special Use Permits instead of
rezonings. There is a place for
commercial and this is not particularly a good one. Mr. Davis added that the thing the Commission should be concerned
about is that we are talking about uses other than R1, so they should be
located in properties zoned for something other than R1.
Chairman Hill decided
that it would be better to go ahead and vote on the motion presented and then
if the applicant wants to re-submit his amended application staff can perform
the necessary notifications to residents on N. Campbell.
Ms. Abbott No
Ms. Alexander No
Mr. Davis No
Mr. Dillingham No
Chairman Hill No
Mr. Kiser No
Ms. Newsom No
Mr. Revenaugh No
Ms. Wild No
Chairman Hill announced that the application would
go to the City Council on September
22, 2003 with a negative recommendation from
the Planning Commission.
Item 7 on the Agenda: Public Hearing on a Special Use Permit, 2201 NE 56th Terrace. Applicant: Joyce Vogt. (#1203)
Mr. Wingerson reported
that the applicant requests a Special Use Permit to allow the operation of a
nail salon from the home. The proposed
conditions in the staff report and in the draft bill are typical in nature and
include occupancy licensing and hours of operation. There is information in the Commission’s packets discussing the
request. The official staff recommendation is to recommend that it be
approved; however staff also recommends that the Commission perform a site
visit and take this matter up for a vote in two weeks. He added that the applicant is in the
audience tonight.
Ms. Vogt, 2201 NE 56th
Terrace addressed the Commission.
Chairman Hill asked how
many customers she would have per day.
Ms. Vogt replied that she
would have six a day.
Mr. Dillingham asked what
her hours would be.
Ms. Vogt said she works
on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
She tries to take her last client about 6:00 pm because she has so many
working women that can only come in the evening.
Mr. Dillingham noted that
those days/hours are different from what is in the draft ordinance.
Mr. Steffens asked how
many clients she would have at her home at any given time.
Ms. Vogt said that two
would be the maximum. She would only
have one client at a time. Her driveway
is set up to where she can have two cars parked and they don’t have to move in
order for the other person to leave.
Ms. Vogt said she had pictures if the Commission would like to have
them.
Chairman Hill noted that
her letter to the City said that she would like to apply for a temporary permit
until she received her license.
Ms. Vogt said that was to
apply to work while her application was waiting to move forward. She said she has been working in a salon in
Gladstone, but she thought she could get a temporary until this issue was
decided.
Ms. Newsom asked Ms. Vogt
if she was currently residing there.
Ms. Vogt answered that
she is living there and has been since June 21, 2003.
Chairman Hill asked if
anyone in the audience would like to speak in favor of the application.
Pam Morrow, 6804 N.
Walnut addressed the Commission. Ms.
Morrow stated that she has personally been going to Joyce for a number of years
and she was real happy for her that she got this opportunity to become a homeowner
in Gladstone. She has been to her home
and it is an ideal set-up for her. As
far as the parking, there is no problem because you can pull in one way and if
someone else is parked there, you don’t have to move your car for them to
leave. It works well; there is no
parking on the street.
Ivan Burke, 2204 NE
Pursell addressed the Commission. Mr.
Burke stated that as far as traffic is concerned, six cars a day coming around
that street won’t even be noticeable the way she is situated. He is just glad to see someone moving into the
house that is going to take care of it.
It looks a lot better than it did six months ago.
William Gillespie, 5701
N. Brooklyn addressed the Commission.
Mr. Gillespie said that he is a moderate person, he believes in “live
and let live”. Everybody he knows who
is in a service business is working a second job. He met his Gladstone Building Inspector selling building supplies
on weekend trying to make ends meet. He
doesn’t object to the application. He
thinks that she has adequately addressed the parking issue which was his only
concern. Mr. Gillespie said he lives in
an older Gladstone area and those streets are so narrow that when they park on
both sides of the street, it creates a one-way drive.
Diane McGuire, 6725 N.
Askew addressed the Commission. Ms.
McGuire said that she is Gladstone resident, but she is a client of Joyce’s for
about thirteen years. She knows how she
runs her business, she knows how she runs her personal life and she is a
wonderful gal. She’ll take care of the
property, she’s met the neighbors, she’s done her homework. In addition to that, Ms. McGuire said that
she is a realtor and has good standing in this state for eighteen years and
primarily here in the northland area.
It will have no impact on anything other than she’ll take care of the
property and the people like her; her neighbors like her. She doesn’t see any reason to not go forward
with this. She hopes the Commission
will take that into consideration.
Chairman Hill asked if
anyone in the audience would like to speak in opposition.
Jerry Braton, 5705 N.
Brooklyn addressed the Commission. Mr.
Braton said he has several concerns.
First, like Mr. Gillespie said, it is a pretty old neighborhood. They have a lot of cars that park on both
sides of the street, especially down where Ms. Vogt’s house is on the
corner. They have a lot of commercial
trucks that park there that narrow the streets. He believes that if the Commission goes and looks at the
property…it is single drive not a double-wide drive as she has there. With all due respect to the gentleman on the
end, he has been there quite a while himself and there is more than five or six
cars that go down that street everyday.
Mr. Braton stated that in fact, they are going more than 25 mph down the
street. They have a problem with school
children, school buses…the kids stand at the bottom of Pursell and Brooklyn,
which he thinks needs to be considered.
He feels that if we let this happen this time, we are setting precedence
for other people to come into the neighborhood and do the same thing for other
commercial-type operations, which is basically what this is. He doesn’t know if there were any petitions
or anything that were send around the neighborhood, but he never saw any; 56th
Terrace and Brooklyn is a bad intersection.
It may not look like it when you
drive down it, but a lot of people whip up Pursell taking a shortcut to get
back on Englewood Road. He has almost
been hit several times. It is basically
a quite neighborhood, and they are just concerned that if we start out small,
the businesses could grow and it’s just going to be expanded into a larger
operation.
Stan Maynard, 5707 N.
Brooklyn addressed the Commission. Mr.
Maynard stated that the driveways do go off of Brooklyn, which goes from
Englewood down to Pursell Road and there is quite a bit of traffic that goes on
that street. In their neighborhood,
they have a lot of elderly neighbors as well as children and these people are
sometimes walking during the daytime so they are concerned about the
traffic. Obviously, they purchased
their homes in an residential neighborhood, assuming it would stay residential,
and they would like to keep it that way.
Chairman Hill closed the
public hearing.
Mr. Revenaugh noted that
staff’s recommendation was for the Commission to do a site visit.
Ms. Newsom asked Mr.
Wingerson about the three letters that were in their packets from residents
opposing the application. Only one of
those had an address on them.
Mr. Wingerson said that
Ms. Thorton is at 5912 N. Brooklyn, Ms. Kennedy is 6610 N. Brooklyn and Ms.
Euritt is at 2206 NE 56th Terrace.
Discussion ensued
regarding what time the site visit would take place. It was decided that Mr. Kiser would chair the site visit on
Tuesday, September 23, 2003 at 5:30 pm.
Ms. Vogt submitted a
petition of names in favor of her application and some photos of her lot.
Ms. Abbott asked if Ms.
Vogt was licensed with the State Board of Cosmetology.
Ms. Vogt answered that
she has been licensed for 27 years.
Item 8 on the Agenda: Public Hearing on rezoning and site plan revision, 3610 NE 72nd Street. Applicant: City of Gladstone. (#1205)
Mr. Wingerson stated that
this application proposes to rezone the parcel of property at 72nd
and Monroe from R1 to R2 to allow construction of a duplex. The City acquired this parcel through the
re-construction of NE 72nd Street.
There a was single-family home on the property. The City purchased it, demolished the
existing structure and provided an ingress/egress easement on the north edge of
the property to a duplex that is directly west of the subject property. Both to the east and the west are duplexes
basically in all directions except for the north. Multi-family is across the street in the form on Appletree
Apartments. The City Council has
declared the property to be surplus and it will be bid and available for
sale. Eighty percent of the proceeds
from the sale of the property will be provided to the Missouri Department of
Transportation because they provided a significant portion of the funding for
that reconstruction project. Mr.
Wingerson stated that he wants to be very clear that this is not about the City
making money by selling the property for more money; this is about creating a
consistent land use along that portion of 72nd Street. Staff recommends approval of the request.
Chairman Hill asked if
anyone from the audience would like to speak in favor of the application.
Chris Bonova, 312 NE 88th
Street addressed the Commission. Ms.
Bonova stated that she represents the owner of the property at 3604/3606 NE 72nd
Street which is right next to the property proposed. She is here on behalf of Charles Matney who is here in the
audience. Originally this property was
not buildable, which was the understanding when she attended the meetings on
the 72nd Street project. She
asked if the requirements changed.
Mr. Wingerson answered
that the buildable, not-buildable question is really a function of how MoDot
used the property. The City took a
position that they believed that the property may not be developable because of
lot sizes and land use consistency because it allows a more efficient, and
affordable option on the City’s part as a way to dispose of the property. MoDot didn’t agree that the property was
undevelopeable and actually they are right, it is developable, so now the City
is in the formal process of disposing of the property in accordance with MoDot
and Federal regulations. The City is
attempting to take advantage of a provision in Federal and State Laws that
relates to these kinds of things that would allow the City a quicker and more
affordable way to dispose of the property and protect the taxpayer’s
money. Unfortunately MoDot didn’t
concur. When they didn’t concur, that
made the City come forward on the zoning change for consistency to ensure that
any development that occurs there is consistent with what is in the
neighborhood. The City believes that
this request, with the proper builder would met the setback requirements and
parking requirements and all the things that a duplex would need to meet.
Ms. Bonova said there is
another question regarding safety. She
said she is not sure if the Commission has gone to the site…she has verbalized
this in letters to the Council when they re-did 72nd Street because
originally the duplex at 3604/3606 was to be torn down. That didn’t happen, they instead took the
single-family dwelling as Mr. Wingerson indicated. At that time, they changed the access to all of these duplexes
that are facing 72nd Street.
All of the duplexes’ accesses are through the back off of Monroe. There is no through street to there. She has expresses the safety issue of fire
trucks getting back there. They are
telling her that the street is wide enough, but if you go back behind the duplexes
and there are cars parked back there, it is a death trap in her view. Again, Ms. Bonovo stated that she has
expressed that in writing. So now we
are talking about adding two more cars, actually four more cars, and there are
no parking spaces available. She thinks
they need to find another avenue out if we are going to increase the amount of
traffic in there.
Mr. Davis noted that from
the drawing in the packets, it looks as though the driveway Ms. Bonova speaks
of is part of this lot. He asked for a
clarification of that issue. It looks
like it provides access to far more than the first duplex. It looks like it provides access to several
duplexes.
Mr. Wingerson answered
that when the City acquired the property the reason it was acquired was to
provide access to the duplexes further to the west. The City, in effect, purchased the property and then deeded an
ingress/egress easement or access easement back across the property to provide
access for the duplexes to the west.
Mr. Davis asked how big
an easement is was.
Mr. Wingerson said be
believes it is a 30’ easement.
Ms. Bonovo said that at
one time the owner was told that he is responsible for the whole back
alley.
Chairman Hill asked if
anyone would like to speak in opposition of the application. Hearing no response, he closed the public
hearing.
Chairman Hill asked what
would happen if the application was denied as far as MoDot is concerned.
Mr. Wingerson answered
that MoDot is not concerned with the zoning, just with the disposal of the
property and receiving 80% of those proceeds above the City’s costs.
Chairman Hill asked if
there would be a way to protect the easement so that there was no parking on
it.
Mr. Wingerson said that
it was designed as an ingress/egress easement.
It may be helpful if he were to pull the actual ingress/egress document
that was recorded. He believes it
prohibits parking in that thirty feet.
Chairman Hill asked if
that is something that the owner of 3604 could call Public Safety about or is
it a private matter.
Mr. Wingerson said he
thinks it would be a private matter, but he could check.
Mr. Davis said that the
map that is attached said the easement is to be dedicated. He asked if that means that approval of this
rezoning would be a part of that dedication.
Mr. Wingerson said that
easement has been dedicated and currently exists on the property.
Ms. Alexander asked that
if that were an alley, would each individual property owner be taking care of
their own part or would it be the City.
Mr. Wingerson said it was
the individual property owner’s responsibility as Ms. Bonova indicated.
Mr. Revenaugh exited the
meeting, 8:40 pm.
Ms. Bonova approached the
Commission again and said that it is a dead end street. If they go look at it, they will see that
there is no way a fire truck can turn around.
She was reassured that they could do it, but there is not enough
room. The access off of N. Monroe is
wide enough, but once the fire truck is back in there…that is why she is
requesting a site. Her concern is they
are going to put another two units in the corner and if we have the same
problems that are existing beyond the 3604 and 3610 that will create havoc at
the entry and that is going to be detrimental to all these others. Mr. Matney watches his duplex and his
tenants are not allowed to park in behind.
Chairman Hill asked if
MoDot would go along with using the proceeds from the sale to improve the
access to these units.
Mr. Wingerson answered
that he doesn’t believe they would.
MoDot approved all of the design plans for this project, as did the fire
department. He doesn’t want to discount
what Ms. Bonova said; it is congested back behind the existing duplexes. The fire department does believe that they
could adequately handle a fire on any of the properties as well as police
protection and emergency services.
Ms. Abbott asked why a
fire truck would have to go down the alley.
Why couldn’t they park on 72nd Street?
Mr. Wingerson said that
is one of the ways they would approach a fire in this area.
Mr. Davis stated that he
has a concern that the Commission not rush to condemn this proposal because
this lot is poorly zoned right now as R1.
One thing that the Commission should be concerned about is correcting mistakes
that time has created. Time has created
this mistake and he thinks that the City of Gladstone should want to avoid a
single-family dwelling being built on that lot. That lot is certainly big enough; it is a good-sized duplex
lot. This area is completely surrounded
by duplexes or multi-family. Every one
of them get fire access from the front door, not the back door. The access lane was put in there for a good
reason, to get people to avoid using driveways on 72nd Street, not
to provide fire access. It was a good
idea. If it becomes a permanent
easement, that’s a good idea. The City
of Gladstone is faced with options.
What happens to this piece of land?
It’s certainly not an attractive one for City ownership for a park; you
don’t want kids to be walking or playing in this busy area. It just doesn’t have a functional
alternative other than R2. Mr. Davis
said that it is a constructive move in the right direction by the City and he
doesn’t think the Commission should rush to condemn it.
Chairman Hill pointed out
that the aerial photo that was in their packets is old and there are no longer
driveways on 72nd Street.
Mr. Davis said that he
understands that, that is why the City gave them the access to the back to park
their cars. The fire access is still
from the front, isn’t it? That’s how
everyone else gets fire protection, from the front.
Ms. Alexander asked if
there could be as part of this, the fact that they need off-street parking from
the alley.
Mr. Wingerson said that
if a duplex were built there he is envisioning that it would have garages and
driveways leading to the garages providing, probably, 4 parking spaces per
unit. There are different ways to do it
but it would depend on the actual builder.
Ms. Newsom said that
right now she couldn’t vote up or down on this one tonight without a site
visit. She requested that one of the
fire captains accompany them to the site visit so that they can tell us how
they would approach a fire in that area.
Mr. Wingerson said that
would be fine.
The Commission voted to table the application and perform a site visit. The vote was unanimous, 9-0.
It was decided that the
site visit would take place on Tuesday, September 23, 2004 at 6:30pm, following
the Vogt site visit. Mr. Kiser would
chair the visit.
Item 9 on the Agenda: Public Hearing on rezoning and site plan revision, Shady Lane and North Oak Trafficway. Applicant: Reveda Development, LLC. (#1204)
Mr. Wingerson began by
explaining the contents of the Commissioner’s packet on this application. It begins with a memo that references some
other correspondence and the plans that were provided. A couple of things are missing from a normal
packet. One being a staff report, the
other a draft bill. This is an
important project for the City on a variety of levels and he was not
comfortable drafting a technical staff report without all the technical
information available especially on a project of this magnitude. After tonight’s public hearing and
additional technical information being provided by the applicant, staff will
come forward with a full staff report and a recommendation. The applicant is requesting a zoning change
and site plan approval to allow the construction of a project known as the
Villas of Shady Lane. To give some
background, Mr. Wingerson drew the Commission’s attention to the display boards
behind City Attorney Ramsay. These
boards represent the North Oak Corridor Study.
The Commission is also aware that staff and Council are seeking
redevelopment proposals for the commercial portion of Gladstone Plaza as well
as the vacant un-developed area behind Gladstone Plaza, which is the subject of
this request. It is his understanding
that the applicant has a contract to purchase the available land and desires to
move forward separate from the redevelopment process.
Mr. Wingerson said that
from the Corridor Study, one of the things that was talked about at the citizen
meetings as well as the Planning Commission and City Council meetings was the
desire to connect the two catalytic projects.
The first being traditional retail and traditional residential
properties at Gladstone Plaza. The
second one being the creation of a civic center area further to the north to
create a sense of “town center”.
The request, at this
point, is somewhat consistent with the North Oak Corridor Study. Mr. Wingerson said that it is his
understanding that a traffic engineer has been retained to perform a traffic
study. Staff continues to have some
concern about the alignment of the north entry. It is currently aligned with a street further to the east, and
Mr. Eisner will talk about that in his presentation. Staff would prefer and suggest that alignment be N. Holmes to
provide a linkage between the plaza property and a future civic center that is
both vehicular, but primarily pedestrian.
Mr. Wingerson explained
that a storm water study has been done; the City’s Engineering Department is
currently reviewing that. It appears to
be conceptually accurate with some technical revisions that will be requested. Regarding installation of sidewalks, the
applicant will ask the Planning Commission’s permission to allow sidewalks on
one side of the street. The revised
plan indicates the relocation of proposed water mains and sanitary sewer mains
into a location that is more maintainable for the City in the future. Storm water inlets will be located or
designed appropriately.
Mr. Wingerson explained
that one of the things about the Gladstone Plaza redevelopment project is the
ability for residents of the property to have access to a redeveloped
commercial portion. Certainly no
developer would want access to the current facility, but in a redeveloped
situation it may be very attractive.
The engineer has corrected the cul-de-sac radiuses; the City is waiting
for final approval from the fire division.
Richard Eisner, 11605
Pawnee Lane, Leawood Kansas addressed the Commission. Mr. Eisner stated that he is a developer, his company is Reveda
Development. They are a Kansas City
based development and construction company.
They specialize and have specialized for the last eight years in
building and developing condominium town home communities in the greater Kansas
City area. Currently they have
completed several projects such as Villas of Leawood, Palisades of College and
currently they are building a project called Courchevel in Lee’s Summit,
Missouri. All these projects have been
very successful and have sold very quickly.
The reason they have sold quickly is because what they are offering is
something that is fairly unique in the area and is becoming more common with
time. His company has introduced a
maintenance provided concept with an emphasis on single-story living. They are not age restrictive in who they
sell their homes to; however the very nature of their project, being
single-story and being in a maintenance provided setting has a great attraction
to the empty-nester market. Many of
their buyers are empty-nesters, active retirees, single professionals, couples
who are still working, people who are concerned about maintenance. They often are down sizing from a larger
home because they don’t want to maintain the grounds anymore or the roof. When someone buys a home, this is a for sale
concept, it is not a for rent, everything outside that home is maintained by
the community, collectively. The roof,
the sidewalks, lawn care, snow removal, clubhouse and pool are all part of
living at one of their communities.
There are six different plans (Mr. Eisner submitted a group of photos
for the Commission to look at) which are represented in the pictures they are
looking at. These homes range in size
from 1200 sq ft to just under 2200 sq ft.
They offer 2,3 and 4 bedrooms all with two car oversized garages. It’s a wonderful plan. Architecturally, they are very proud of what
they have done. It’s very
architecturally pleasing and consistent.
They do a combination of siding, stone and brick depending on the
community.
Mr. Eisner noted that his
company is under contract to purchase this piece of ground. Their intention is to move as quickly as
they can to begin construction. They
have identified a traffic engineering company to conduct this study on the
intersection. Some of the issues on
their northern entrance will be resolved, hopefully, with that traffic
study. Mr. Eisner introduced his civil
engineer, Damien Greble, of Construction Engineering. He asked if there was anything else he could answer for the
Commission.
Ms. Alexander said that
she had reason to be in Villas of Leawood last week. She asked Mr. Eisner if the density here would be similar to
theirs.
Mr. Eisner answered that
typically he will have 5.2 to 5.8 homes per acre. They have never gone over 6 per acre, which is pretty nice. They have a lot of green space in their
developments and do a very nice job of landscaping. One thing about their development is that they are attempting to
build a sense of community. They have a
clubhouse, a pool and often the neighbors come together and organize social
events. It is really a community. Mr. Eisner said that he is trying to create
the same feel for Villas of Shady Lane, which may actually change names, that
was just a first step. He added that
one thing he would like to point out is that that northern entrance is desirable
in a number of ways. The first is that
his company controls the site. They
actually have the house and the lot under contract. The alignment issue they know has to be resolved, but it’s
important that this is a community that does not create a “through way” to get
somewhere. All of their communities are
closed loops. Typically their average
sized homeowner is 1.2 to 1.5. It is
rare that they have children, although they do not restrict that.
Ms. Alexander asked what
the price range would be.
Mr. Eisner replied that
it would be between $130,000 to just under $200,000; those are base
prices. He said that in speaking with
Gary Gable, who used to be a partner of his, he thought that there weren’t many
homes in this range in the northland and that it would be very desirable.
Mr. Davis asked how many
acres the property is and how many dwelling units there will be.
Mr. Eisner answered that
there are 22 acres, and they are proposing 124 homes in the community, or 31
buildings. What is neat about the plan
is that almost all the driveways are side entries. So when you drive down a Reveda community you actually see homes
and not garage doors. It makes it more
attractive.
Ms. Wild asked if these
buildings are on basements.
Mr. Eisner said they are
slab on grade. One of the things they
are offering is single-story living. So
when you go into one of their homes, they offer tremendous storage on one
level. Two of their homes that are the
larger homes, have guest suites that are also on the same level.
Ms. Newsom said that
generally in the Midwest that hasn’t been an acceptable building practice
because of storms.
Mr. Eisner said they do
it successfully and many other companies have been doing it for years and have
no issues with those factors.
Ms. Newsom asked if there
is a storm do you just go stand in the shower.
Mr. Eisner said that is a
good idea.
Mr. Davis commented that
Gladstone has over 100 people who are alive because of basements.
Mr. Eisner said he
understands.
Mr. Davis asked about the
easements between this development and the single-family residences behind
them.
Chairman Hill said that
he is not sure we are ready to talk about that because staff has not had an
opportunity to do a full review.
Mr. Eisner said that the
plan the Commissioner’s have shows the buildings with the largest
footprints. When they plan a community
they actually plan it with the largest footprint, but they build to sell as to
what the market is telling them. Some
of those larger footprints will actually shrink, actually a good number of them
will become 10’ smaller in length.
Ms. Newsom asked if the
storm water and drainage calculations are also figured on the largest
footprint.
Damien Greble, 16810 E.
40 Highway, Independence, Missouri addressed the Commission. Mr. Greble answered that they have submitted
a preliminary storm drainage report to the City of Gladstone. In their calculations they have developed
run-off curve numbers per APWA for multi-family homes. So, in essence they use a number for the
worse case scenario. They could break
it down to driveways, buildings, curbs, but in this preliminary report they
used APWA run-off curve number.
Mr. Wingerson said that
in response to Mr. Davis’ question, the rear yard setback on the north, east
and south is fifteen feet.
Ms. Alexander noted that
since we are talking about redeveloping the shopping center, is this putting
the cart before the horse? Should they
be looking at the entire property?
Mr. Wingerson said that
certainly the Commission should consider the future of Gladstone Plaza and the
retail portion. As the two projects may
relate is a difficult question because we don’t know what the future of the
retail portion holds in any level of detail.
However, there are ways to reserve flexibility to provide pedestrian and
vehicular access between the communities.
Mr. Wingerson continued
by saying that in terms of “the cart before the horse” the applicant, as he
stated, has a contract on the property.
If the property can be developed in a way that is consistent with the
City’s planning tools and desires of the Commission and the Council as a
private sector matter without the City’s involvement. That may be a very good situation also. So if it meets the goals of the City and it’s a private venture…
Ms. Alexander asked if
the reverse would be true, the fact that this is developed would make the
shopping center more interesting.
Mr. Wingerson answered
that his gut feeling is that it is a coin toss.
Mr. Davis asked for an
explanation on the southern portion that is not in Gladstone, since it is so
relevant.
Mr. Eisner said that in
the Oakview portion of the project is the clubhouse, pool, a putting green,
parking and a retention area that is proposed as a retention pond. To the left is a potential commercial piece,
which they do not know what the use is.
One thing that is important from their side is that they control that
entry. They want to make sure they have
power over the appearance of that entry.
Mr. Davis asked what
street it will be tying in to Oakview.
Margaret Martins, Oakview
answered that it was Circle Drive.
Mr. Wingerson said that
Mr. Eisner has met with the Village of Oakview and in the discussion of
redeveloping Gladstone Plaza members of staff and of the City Council met with
the Village Board and committed to pay very special attention to two particular
subjects. One is that storm water would
run to the south primarily from this property into the Village of Oakview. The other is to look very closely at the
traffic issues.
Chairman Hill asked if anyone
from the audience would like to address the Commission in favor of the
application. Hearing no response, he
asked if anyone would like to speak in opposition.
Ted Wales, 6506 N.
Campbell addressed the Commission. Mr.
Wales stated that he has lived there for forty-eight years. All the neighbors came out here to raise
their kids in a quiet neighborhood. He
is against this proposal because he is afraid the traffic and everything will
be different from what it is now because it’s been a very good neighborhood up
to this point. He would be very much
against anything like that going in back there.
Richard Sayles,
Operations Manager at St. Charles Parish addressed the Commission. Mr. Sayles stated that the proposed project
has boundaries to the Parish property to the north and the west. He hesitates to count his comments in terms
as being in opposition, but the Parish does have some concerns they would like
to make the Commission aware of as this goes through. Some of these concerns may have been answered already because
they do not have all of the technical data either that Mr. Eisner may have
provided to the City. Mr. Sayles
provided copies of his comments to the Commission members. One was submitted for the record (see
attached). Mr. Eisner has visited with
Father McClure and himself about the project.
They had a good visit and he thinks Mr. Eisner was very forthcoming and
he thinks that overall they will be able to work together well. Mr. Sayes continued by saying that St.
Charles Parish is a community of 1800 families who use the Parish grounds at
one time or another. They also have an
elementary school there with about 600 children. As far as the northern boundary they would like to encourage
all code compliances for setbacks and green space. In addition they would like some type of consideration given to
some type of berm and fencing on their north and west property line so that
they have some type of boundary for the children they have on their
playground. One of their main concerns
is storm water runoff. They have
problems with that now without construction there. The addition of the roofs and the driveways is going to cause
water to come their way. There also are
the issues that occur further on down the road in Oakview, which are stated in
his letter.
Joanie Smith, 801 NW 67th
Place addressed the Commission. Ms.
Smith stated that she has a couple of concerns/questions. She walks that neighborhood all the time for
exercise and see the children and everybody playing. If she understands correctly the north entrance would come out on
Campbell. The traffic that they want to
come out there…if it’s to go down to Campbell it dead ends at 67th
Place. That is not a through
street. She is on 67th Place
and there is a problem with traffic already because they cut from N. Oak up to
Flora to get on over to Antioch. Her
concern would be, what are you going to do with these 150 cars that are now
going to be there coming out in that direction? If you park on the streets, which everybody does, how are the
vehicles going to get through? Her
other concern is the storm drainage and Scott will tell you that she has been
back and forth about that. Even though
she is on 67th Place a lot of the drainage ends up down there and
there aren’t storm sewers all over to cover all of that.
George Stephens, 703 NE
66th Terrace addressed the Commission. Mr. Stephens stated that he has several issues. One is on the ground water. Basically there is a creek that runs through
this property. He doesn’t know what
they plan on doing with additional water.
He also has an issue with the access to it; 66th Terrace is
basically a narrow street, residential and all the traffic will be using. The only other access you have is on Shady
Lane.
Chairman Hill closed the
public hearing.
MOTION: By Mr. Kiser, second by Ms. Alexander to table the application for a rezoning and site plan revision at Shady Lane and N. Oak.
Ms. Abbott Yes
Ms. Alexander Yes
Mr. Davis Yes
Mr. Dillingham Yes
Chairman Hill Yes
Mr. Kiser Yes
Ms. Newsom Yes
Ms. Wild Yes
Mr. Wingerson noted that
this application will be tabled at the September 22, 2003 City Council meeting
pending the Planning Commission’s recommendation. For the audience’s benefit, when the follow up to this meeting is
scheduled staff will send notification.
If anyone in the audience did not receive the original notification, he
asked that they give him their name and address.
Item 10 on the Agenda: Other Business.
None.
Item 11 on the
Agenda: Communications from the
City Council and City Staff.
Mr. Wingerson said
he had follow-up on a couple of items.
First, he thanked the Commission for making an excellent record
tonight. He let Ms. Abbott know he
hadn’t had a chance to check on her mosquitoes. He also still needs to check on the landscaping for Ballet
North. Chairman Hill forwarded a
concern about a semi-trailer in the Westlake parking lot and ways that might
exist. Mr. Wingerson will check into
that and see what was approved originally.
Mr. Steffens raised an issue regarding roofing debris at 3607 NE 62nd
Street. That was written up as a
property maintenance violation and should be on it’s way to being corrected.
Item 12 on the
Agenda: Communications from the
Planning Commission Members.
Ms. Abbott remarked
that the Sr. barracks are just the way they were.
Mr. Steffens
commented that regarding the N. Oak Study, this is the one of the biggest
projects that have come up and he thinks the Commission needs to take a real
good look at this before we say no.
This is what we have been working on for a long time; to have something
like this come into the area. He was in
on the study and have worked long and hard on this thing and this is really the
first big thing that has come up. Mr.
Steffens thanked the City if they have been behind this.
Ms. Alexander asked
how we are coming with Larry Whitton and his cars.
Mr. Wingersons said
that he pulled the file and took a look at it.
His understanding is that there has been, or will be shortly, a
discussion with the property owner to refresh everyone’s memory as to what’s
going on there.
Mr. Dillingham
thanked Mr. Wingerson for following up on the light pole at Lighthouse Custard.
Chairman Hill
thanked the Commission members and staff for their time, attention and
discussion tonight.
Item 13 on the
Agenda: Adjournment.
Chairman Hill adjourned the meeting at 9:30 P.M.
Respectfully submitted:
______________________________________ Approved as submitted _____
Becky Jarrett, Recording Secretary
______________________________________ Approved as corrected _____
Brian Hill, Chairman