PLANNING COMMISSION

GLADSTONE, MISSOURI

September 7, 2004

7:30 pm

Item 1 on the Agenda: Meeting called to order – Roll Call.

Present: Council & Staff Present:

Ms. Alexander Scott Wingerson, Assist. City Manager

Mr. Dillingham Dave Ramsay, City Counselor

Chairman Hill Mayor Wayne Beer

Mr. Kiser Mayor Pro-Tem Carol Rudi

Ms. Newsom

Mr. Revenaugh

Mr. Steffens

Mr. Whitton

Absent: Ms. Abbott

Mr. Davis

Ms. Lowe

Ms. McGuire

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 August 16, 2004 Minutes.

Motion by Ms. Newsom, second by Mr. Revenaugh to approve the August 16, 2004 minutes as submitted. The minutes were approved as submitted.

Item 4 on the Agenda: Communications from the Audience.

None.

Item 5 on the Agenda: PUBLIC HEARING: Consideration of a Special Use Permit at 5008 Old Pike Road. Applicant: Patricia Day. (#1232)

Mr. Wingerson reported that the applicant tonight requests a special use permit that would allow operation of a nail salon from the home on Old Pike Road. The applicant is proposing to operate the nail salon Tuesday through Saturday with varied hours, but averaging 5-8 clients per day. Staff is recommending approval of the request Tuesday through Saturday, 8:00 am – 6:00 pm for a period of one year at which time she would be eligible to come back and ask for a renewal. Mr. Wingerson said he would be glad to answer any questions the Commission had.

Mr. Dillingham asked if the term was for one year.

Mr. Wingerson answered yes.

Ms. Alexander said that just for her knowledge she was wondering if you have to be trained to do nails.

Patricia Day, 5008 Old Pike Road, answered yes, she has a license from the State Board of Cosmetology.

Chairman Hill asked if Ms. Day had anything further she would like to add.

Ms. Day responded no.

Chairman Hill asked for those in favor of the application to come forward. There was no response. He then asked for those opposed to come forward. There was no response.

Chairman Hill asked for discussion from the Commission.

Ms. Newsom said that she had one question for the applicant regarding the third driveway that was installed. She asked Ms. Day if she knew how far the edge of the pavement was from her neighbor’s property line. She wondered if her neighbor’s chain link fence was the property line to the north.

Ms. Day said as far as she knew the fence was the property line and that there was probably two or three feet between the yards.

Mr. Whitton wondered if the applicant had a sales tax number or how the City was going to collect sales tax on this business. He also asked if she charges for the nails.

Ms. Day said that she charges for the service of putting on the artificial nails.

Chairman Hill said that it would be considered a service and therefore would not have sales tax charged to it. The sales tax would be paid by Ms. Day when she purchased the nails at a store.

Mr. Dillingham said that he would like to state for the record that Ms. Day did call him and they talked generally about the process and he recommended that she call City staff for further questions.

Chairman Hill closed the Public Hearing.

MOTION: By Mr. Dillingham, second by Mr. Steffens to approve the Special Use Permit at 5008 NW Old Pike Road for Patricia Day with the recommended conditions stated in the draft ordinance.

Ms. Newsom said that she is not opposed to this application but she is concerned. The Commission had discussed out-buildings and putting in extra driveways that encroach upon the 8-9 foot barrier that we try to keep between properties in this community. Since nothing has transpired with that, this third driveway would be compliant according to the City’s old regulations. Ms. Newsom stressed that she does have concerns about the short distance between the edge of the drive and the property line to the adjacent property owner. She would encourage the City Council to move forward with diligence to deal with that issue.

VOTE:

Ms. Alexander Yes

Mr. Dillingham Yes

Chairman Hill Yes

Mr. Kiser Yes

Ms. Newsom Yes

Mr. Revenaugh Yes

Mr. Steffens Yes

Mr. Whitton Yes

8-Yes, 0-No

Chairman Hill said that this application will go to the City Council on September 13, 2004 with a positive recommendation.

Item 6 on the Agenda: Other Business

6A. Rules of Procedure

Mr. Wingerson said that in the Commissioner’s packets was a draft of a Rules of Procedure document. This was provided for everyone to read through and start some discussion as it relates to the Commission adopting a form of By-Laws to govern themselves.

Counselor Ramsay said that the City Code calls for the Planning Commission to adopt its own Rules of Procedure. It hasn’t been done in some time and probably to the point that the old Rules of Procedure can’t be located. The City Council suggested that staff have the Planning Commission look into it. The draft was provided for the purpose of discussion and incorporates what this Commission has been doing in the past. He asked if anyone had any specific questions.

Ms. Newsom said that in Rule 2.1 and 2.2 regarding election of officers it does not state when the election should take place. One Rule 3.1 she asked if there should be a reference to the Sunshine Law when it talks about meetings and postings of meetings. On Rule 5.1 she thinks that having the Chairman have the sole discretion to determine whether an absence is excused or not is kind of a daunting task for one person.

Mr. Wingerson said that he agrees that it is a lot for the Chairman to deal with and asked if anyone had any ideas for changing it.

Ms. Newsom suggested that staff maybe look at other municipalities because the only other example she can think of is the school district and it’s too constricting. One of the important things that the draft Rules of Procedure talks about is notifying ahead of time if you’re going to be gone; which she feels is very important. The only other section Ms. Newsom said that might need reworking is Rule 11.1 regarding the conduct of public hearings. Rule 11.9 talks about Commission members refraining from expressing their opinion until after the public hearing has been closed and this might be more appropriate mentioned earlier in Rule 11.1. Ms. Newsom stressed how important it was for the Commissioner’s to adhere to Rule 11.9. It’s easy, for example tonight, when there is only one applicant and she looks shy and nervous, to make a statement like “I’m all in favor of this, but I just have a question.” An opinion has been stated at that time and although it’s to relax the applicant, they can’t do that. She said that in general the draft has some really good information in it.

Mr. Dillingham said he would agree with Ms. Newsom that it is a good document. The only thing he would suggest is to reword Rule 2.1. It states that the Commission shall elect a Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Secretary and then the next sentence says that the Secretary may be either a member of the Commission or a member of City Staff.

Counselor Ramsay said that the State Statute says that the Commission shall elect a Secretary. By custom the Secretary has always been from staff. To comply with the Statute they would probably want to elect one from the Commission and defer the minute-taking to the staff Secretary.

Ms. Newsom said that at times when both the Chair and Vice-Chair are absent they could have the Secretary run the meeting. She asked if that would be appropriate.

Counselor Ramsay said that the Statute is silent about what the Secretary does.

Discussion ensued regarding what capacity a Secretary on the Commission would hold.

Chairman Hill asked everyone to review and make notations on the draft Rules of Procedure and provide them to city staff. Then based on the suggestions staff can get a revised copy to the Commission at the next available meeting. He said it would probably be a goal to have the Rules completed and in effect for January 2005.

Item 8 on the Agenda: Communications from the City Council and the City Staff.

Mayor Beer said that next Friday is the final movie in the park. The movie being shown is Jurassic Park. Also Gladfest 25 is coming up the first weekend of October.

Mayor Pro-Tem Rudi said that she wasn’t sure if the Council could participate in their discussion this evening regarding the Rules of Procedure, but she would like to make one suggestion. As to the discussion on the Secretary’s duties, the board that works with her at her job has an elected Secretary position. She doesn’t take the minutes, the staff does all of that, but prior to the meeting those minutes go to that elected Secretary for a quick review and then sent back with any changes or corrections. It’s more of a courtesy, but it might help with proofreading for Becky. Also, she would just like to see, by show of hands, how many people here would be in favor of an ordinance banning smoking in public places such as restaurants, bars, hallways of apartments etc. (All Commissioners raised their hands) She thanked them for their input.

Mr. Wingerson thanked the Commission for their cooperation in a different room this evening. As they may have noticed, Parks and Recreation has a full group over there due to the Tuesday meeting conflict after Labor Day.

Mr. Wingerson followed up on a few things from last time. He looked at the signs in the cemetery. The banner between the poles will need to be taken down. The monument sign is compliant and the construction sign is compliant, however staff will be monitoring it and see how long it remains. Also, at the last meeting the group spent some time talking about Pam Raisher’s special use permit, fence and recycling containers. There has been a little bit of progress there, although nothing visible. Hopefully, in two weeks he will be able to report that most of the issues are solved with the neighborhood. Finally, Commissioner Abbott had contacted Mayor Beer during one of the heavy rains about Mr. Myers car lot at 61^st & Oak and the lack of detention. Right now there is no detention, because it’s not built yet, so that’s why it didn’t work yet. When it’s done, it will work.

Item 9 on the Agenda: Communications from the Planning Commission Members.

Mr. Steffens asked if the house on Shady Lane at the top of the hill by St. Charles is on the Gladstone side. It is continuously in construction.

Mr. Wingerson said that house is in the Village.

Mr. Dillingham said that the Commission spoke before about the signs at Sr. Housing and asked if those might be coming down soon. He also noted that the Walgreen’s corner and the new façade on Dominics looks good.

Mr. Wingerson said he would give them a call to see what’s going on.

Ms. Alexander said that she concurs with Ms. Abbott; if she had a wall of water above her she would probably be concerned too. She’s really the only one on that side of town that sees a lot of this.

Ms. Newsom said that she noticed when she was driving up N. Oak that Burnett’s Lighthouse has a playground now with a short wooden fence with points on them around it. She also said that on one of her trips down N. Oak today she heard sirens and pulled over although not many other people yielded. It’s very scary. Kansas City lost a fireman this weekend in a terrible accident because someone didn’t yield to the fire truck. She doesn’t know why people are not willing to yield and if it will take a ticketing effort she’s all for it. It is not safe for our Public Safety officers and firefighters. One last thing, Gladfest is just around the corner and they still need volunteers to work the booths. It will be a fun weekend and if you volunteer you get a free parking pass.

Mr. Steffens said that he has had three calls regarding the dirt and gravel on the street at the Pleasant Valley & Antioch curve that is blocking the sidewalk. He asked if Mr. Wingerson could look into it. Also, the Carriage Hills Homes Association just got finished rebuilding their brick entry sign and a car hit it and bent it over. He asked if Mr. Wingerson could find out if a police report was made on the accident because it’s going to be quite expensive to repair.

Mr. Wingerson said he will check out both of those things. He also had one more update to report. The graffiti on the wall behind the library is Curry & Company’s responsibility and they are addressing it.

Chairman Hill said that he definitely would second what Ms. Newsom stated about yielding to emergency vehicles. He noticed while vacationing in another state that no one yields there and that the fire truck even had to wait for the light to turn green!

Chairman Hill adjourned the meeting at 8:05 P.M.

Respectfully submitted:

______________________________________ Approved as submitted _____

Becky Jarrett, Recording Secretary

______________________________________ Approved as corrected _____

Brian Hill, Chairman