APPROVED MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING

OF THE KENTWOOD PLANNING COMMISSION

NOVEMBER 23, 2010, 7:30 P.M.

COMMISSION CHAMBERS
(return to index)

A.                Chair Holtrop called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.

 

B.                 The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Commissioner Swanson.

 

C.                 Roll Call:

Members Present: John Helder, Dan Holtrop, Laurie Sheldon, Ed Swanson, Frank Vander Hoff,  Don Yokom and Johngerlyn Young

Members Absent: Betsy Artz and Maurice Groce,

Others Present: Community Development Director Terry Schweitzer, Economic Development Planner Lisa Golder, Staff Secretary Monique Collier and the applicant.

 

-          Motion Carried (7-0) –

-          Artz and Groce absent -

 

D.                Approval of the Minutes and Findings of Fact

 

-          Motion Carried (7-0) –

-          Artz and Groce absent -

E.                 Approval of the Agenda

 

 

-          Motion Carried (7-0) –

-          Artz and Groce absent -

 

F.                  Acknowledge visitors wishing to speak to non-agenda items.

 

There was no Public Comment.

 

G.                Old Business

 

There was no Old Business.

 

H.                Public Hearing

 

There were no Public Hearings

 

I.                   Work Session

 

Case #11-10 – South Pointe Plaza – Special Land Use Open Air Business for a Vehicle Rental Establishment located at 5526 Division Ave. SE

 

Planner Golder introduced the request. She stated the request is for special land use and site plan review of an Open Air Business for equipment leasing. She stated the site is an existing strip mall on .91 acres. She stated the strip mall has 27, 600 square feet of building area. She stated the proposed tenant space is 2,600 square feet and they are looking at an open air business for equipment and vehicle rental and the major part of the space within the building will have party, wedding equipment etc. that will be rented.

 

Golder reviewed the split including easements for ingress, egress parking and loading.

 

Golder stated in the front of the building there will be four parking spaces for display, two for Uhaul and two for equipment within the existing parking area. The rest of outdoor display will be in the back, half of the 16 spaces would be Uhaul spaces and half would be equipment spaces. She stated that what the commissioners need to approve are the outdoor storage in the spaces up front.

 

Golder stated one of the issues deals with the specific special land use standards in which variances are required because the special land use requires a certain amount of lot width and lot area and they don’t meet those two standards. She stated the applicant has made application to the zoning board of appeals. She stated the minimum lot area has to be 1 acre and they don’t quite have an acre. The minimum lot width is 200 feet and the actual lot width is 162 feet.

 

Golder stated the major issue is what those easements allow for them to do. She stated the staff would allow for parking and loading but they don’t allow for storage or display of the vehicles in the rear of the building. Golder stated their recommendation will have something to do with making sure they have the right, by amending the existing easements to allow for that parking.  This will require the applicant to work with Midway and  the current owner and that will be up to the applicant to get that complete. Golder stated the only other issue is part of the easements talk about maintenance of the driveway, she stated somebody will have to fix the drains that currently appear to be plugged behind the building.

 

Dan Mejeur was present to represent the request. He stated they are an equipment rental facility and they have a store in Hastings now. He stated they are part of True Value Grand Rental Station in Hastings but they will not be True Value here because their requirements require them to have 5,000 square feet of interior building area and to do it exactly how True Value wants. He chose to go independent here in Kentwood.  He stated they rent out their equipment to small contractors and home owners. He stated this location is ideal. He stated the largest piece of equipment that he has is skid steerer, a compact like tractor and a terramite which is a small backhoe. He stated he has home care products, carpet cleaners, floor care products, ceramic tile cutters, party area tents, tables, and chairs. He stated they handle a wide variety of inventory. He stated they also do business with Uhaul.

 

Swanson and VanderHoff stated they think it is a good fit for the neighborhood.

 

Sheldon asked about the signage. Golder stated they will get whatever they are allowed by ordinance. Sheldon asked do they plan to have a sign for Uhaul too. Mejeur stated he doesn’t plan on putting one up. He stated his business name is One Source Rental and if Uhaul wants signage he would have to see how much he is allowed but he doesn’t plan to share his portion with Uhaul. Golder stated they will have the trucks out front. Discussion ensued regarding the Uhaul trucks.

 

Yokom stated that it sounds like a nice fit and he is in favor.

 

Helder asked if he has thought about the future and the space. Mejeur stated what he worked out with the owner is that there is an adjacent vacant tenant space and if he runs out of space he has first option to take the adjacent space. He explained how he intends to reserve parking spaces for his business. Mejeur stated he is signing a 5 year lease and they have provisions in case they do need more area. 

 

Young stated she likes the idea.

 

Holtrops concern was if we are using a lot of spaces for storage will there be enough parking? Golder stated there is a parking calculation for display and it added about 5 spaces. Golder stated it is not clear on the site plan how many spaces there are but they are covered as long as the cross parking easement is valid. Golder stated there are also a lot of places where they are not parking they could use. Holtrop stated if he parks 2 pieces of equipment out front where will the Uhaul’s be parked. Mejeur stated the Uhauls will be in the very front; there are a total of 4 spaces designated for display. Mejeur stated what he is planning to do is move the equipment out back at the end of the day.

 

Case #12-10 – Zoning Ordinance Text Amendments – Billboards/Sign Regulations

 

Director Schweitzer introduced the request. He stated the City was approached by a billboard vendor to consider permitting dynamic display billboards as a special land use in the C-4 zone district. He stated the prospect of a dynamic billboard equipped with an electronic message center was incorporated into the amendments that allowed for a billboard along I-96 with modified height and location requirements specified for the dynamic display billboard.

 

Schweitzer stated as a result of recent litigation involving CBS Outdoor, have arisen concerning desirability of continuing to permit billboards, either as a permitted use or as a special land use. He stated based on decisions from the eastern side of the stated it appears that some courts are now taking the position that signs of any type cannot be subject to special land use approval as such subjective standards represent prior restraint on speech.

 

Schweitzer stated in light of this, if the planning commissions is apparently unable to consider billboard requests with regard to the potential detriment to adjoining property, undue distraction to traffic on nearby streets and the aesthetics of the surrounding area then the City may wish to consider restricting the development of additional billboards within the City limits. Schweitzer stated at minimum, with the impending removal of the four billboards along Division Avenue and the practical inability to install another dynamic display billboards along I-96 there is no perceived benefit to make further allowance for more dynamic display billboards within the community. He stated we currently have one on I96 two existing ones along Broadmoor Avenue one near 32^nd Street and one near 44^th Street. He stated if we go through those amendments no new billboards can be constructed; all billboards that are in place will be existing non conforming uses and   there will be no way for the two other existing billboards to be converted to dynamic display.

 

Schweitzer stated the other draft amendment involves the regulations that limit how often the message can change on a sign. Currently the regulations allow message changes once every 5 minutes.  But there is an exception right now in which we allow the time and temperature to change every minute. He stated one thing that was suggested in professional seminars is to limit or eliminate exceptions to sign standards.  Staff is suggesting to eliminate the ability to have more frequent than five minute changes on time and temperature. He stated the elimination of the time and temperature exception from the sign movement restrictions will also make our regulation more content neutral and more in line with constitutional protections on freedom of speech.

 

Young asked if the draft amendments could have been something we could have done prior. Schweitzer stated we felt we came up with a dynamic display ordinance that was reasonable in terms of objective standards and make it subject to special land use review so we could assure that it was a good fit. Now that the court says special land use is not the way to go.

 

Helder asked if this means that the ordinance has to be changed. Schweitzer stated given the issues that we went through; it would be prudent for the city to reaccess our standards. Schweitzer stated there are two options as to how we can do this. He stated on approach is no more new billboards and another approach would be to allow for billboards but not make it subject to special land use review. Helder asked if these changes will eliminate any lawsuits. Schweitzer stated with respect to CBS Outdoor the recent settlement filed in Circuit Court will settle that issue. 

 

Yokom stated he would like to not see any more billboards.

 

Sheldon stated she doesn’t like the idea of restricting the posting of time to no less than 5 minutes intervals. Sheldon stated she thinks that could cause a lot of problems for people. Schweitzer stated if we eliminate the exceptions then we are in better standing should someone challenge our regulations. Sheldon stated if we are not allowing anymore billboards who will challenge our regulations. Schweitzer stated we still have the same restrictions for on premise signs, if somebody had a free standing sign or a wall sign they can have digital display, we allow up to 60% of that sign to be diverted to digital display.

 

VanderHoff stated he agreed with Sheldon, what good is a clock if is not the right time. He stated he thinks there should be some way to word our ordinance that the time can be to the closest minute. He stated he thinks there could be an exception for clocks. He stated he doesn’t think the temperature matters much but we need to look at the clock.

 

Swanson stated he doesn’t see a problem with a 1 minute restriction which will keep the time current and the messages change every one minute. He stated he doesn’t see a problem with any of the other signs he sees throughout the area and thinks it would be better to be consistent and instead of having a five minute interval make it a one minute interval that will keep your clock and your temperature correct. He stated he thinks we have been over restrictive with a minimum 5 minute interval..

 

Sheldon asked was there a reason why we went to 5 minute intervals. Schweitzer stated for safety reasons; motorist already have people merging from center turns, moving in different directions, merging from multiple driveways as well as multiple signs and multiple locations to deal with. Schweitzer stated we felt that if you are going to allow for sign change to make it very infrequent so that a passing motorist would not likely see a message change there is currently no empirical data to substantiate this approach.

 

Swanson stated there are so many distractions out there that one minute is such a minor change.

 

Sheldon asked what the other communities are doing. Schweitzer stated Walker is no changes more frequent than every 30 seconds. Schweitzer stated along state highways the federal standards and the state standards allow changes as frequently as every 6 or 8 seconds. Schweitzer stated he will do a poll for the next meeting to get a sense of how we compare to other communities in the area.

 

Holtrop asked what the time change was in the dynamic display billboard settlement. Schweitzer stated right now the way it is set up it is once every 60 seconds. Schweitzer stated depending on the federal highway study that is coming out it could be as little as 30 seconds or once every 90 seconds. Once the federal highway study is complete we will have the option to reassess the frequency of message changes or because of the outcome of the study the Feds could mandate the elect to regulation restrictions. Schweitzer stated regardless of the study it will be no more frequent than once every 30 second or no less frequent than once every 90 seconds.

 

J.                   New Business

 

-          Motion Carried (7-0) –

-          Artz and Groce absent -

K.                Other Business

 

1.      Commissioners’ Comments

 

Holtrop welcomed the new commissioner John Helder to the meeting.

 

Holtrop stated December 1, 2010 there is an Open House at City Hall. He stated December 2, 2010 at Kelloggsville CRC will be a presentation on the Charrette for the 52^nd Street and Eastern Street and Kalamazoo intersections.

 

Helder stated he attended the meetings at Lighthouse and it would have been nice if everybody knew what was being talked about at the multiple tables they had instead of splitting everyone apart.

 

Holtrop stated the proposed grocery store site on East Paris a semi-truck parked on weekends. Sheldon stated there is a semi-trailer parked at the church on Eastern Avenue parked near 48^th Street. Schweitzer stated that code enforcement is aware of that address and is initiating enforcement.

                       

2.      Staff’s Comments

 

Schweitzer stated he would like to take a look at our non motorized trail system. He stated he would like to have staff from Planning, Engineering, Park and Recreation along with  Planning and Park &Recreation Commissioners to sit on a study committee to take a look at the non motorized trail system and develop it into a plan. Yokom stated he would do it. Schweitzer suggested kicking it off in January and spending a few months on it to come up with something that would complement to the Master Plan.

 

L.                 Adjournment  

 

-          Motion Carried (7-0) –

-          Artz and Groce absent -

 

Meeting adjourned at 8:35p.m.

 

 

                                                            Respectfully submitted,

 

                                                            Don Yokom, Secretary