ANDOVER CITY PLANNING COMMISSION /

April 15, 2003

Minutes

The Andover City Planning Commission met for a regular meeting on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 at 909 N. Andover Road in the Andover Civic Center. Chairman Quentin Coon called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Commission Members present were Clark Nelson, John McEachern, Charles Malcom, Lynn Heath, Dave Martine and City Council Liaison Keith Zinn. Others in attendance were Zoning Administrator Les Mangus, Administrative Secretary Deborah Carroll, and City Clerk/Administrator Jeff Bridges. Commission Member Ron Roberts was absent.

Call to Order

Charles Malcom made a motion to approve the minutes as presented. Lynn Heath seconded the motion. Carried 5/0/1 with John McEachern abstaining.

Review the minutes of the March 18, 2003 Planning Commission meeting.

Review of the City Council minutes of March 11, 2003 and March 25, 2003. Chairman Coon noted the minutes were accepted as presented.

Communications.

Review of the Site Plan Review Committee minutes of April 1, 2003. Chairman Coon noted the minutes were accepted as presented.

Review the Site Plan Review Committee minutes of April 1, 2003.

Review of the Potential Residential Development Report. Lynn Heath asked Staff for the total number of building permits issued for the first quarter of 2003. Les Mangus said there were 45, and at the end of 2002, over 200 building permits were issued. He stated the yearly average has been 120 to 140 per year for the last 5 years.

Staff Reports

Les Mangus stated the Replat of the portion of the Terradyne Estates PUD that was postponed from the last meeting to this meeting has been postponed indefinitely according to Kenny Hill of Poe and Associates.

Keith Zinn asked for clarification on this case. Les Mangus said it is a replat of a portion of the golf course at Terradyne.

Terradyne Estates PUD

Recommendation on Butler County Case No. RZ-03-11, an application for change in zoning districts classification from AG-40 to Commercial on 20 acres on the south side of US-54 at Onewood Drive. Chairman Coon said this property is across from Green Valley.

Les Mangus said he submitted additional information to the Commissioners tonight as he just received notice of this case on Friday morning. Mr. Mangus said this is a copy of the application and some maps that define what the area in the application was, and an explanation from the county zoning office as to the purpose of the application. As Les noted in his memo to the Commission, this is the result of Butler County's change in zoning regulations, each time they adopt a new set of zoning regulations, all the properties revert back to agricultural status. A part of this property had highway zoning at one point in time but has reverted back to agriculture. Inside the 20-acre tract are several different land uses. There was general discussion about the existing uses within the tract. Devron Drive is adjacent to the west of the applicant's property. Mr. Mangus thinks Charlie's Salvage has probably reverted back to agricultural zoning also. The salvage yard is not in the Andover city limits. There is also a 40-acre tract minus 2 home sites adjacent to the south that is zoned agriculture and is in the county. The 40-acre tract is the same property that was reviewed for an application for a 350' foot communication tower. Les Mangus stated a cell tower is allowed in the requested zone as a conditional use. Mr. Mangus said the Andover Planning Commission is to make a recommendation to the Butler County Planning Commission on this application.

Dave Martine asked Les Mangus the outcome of a case from 3 months ago from the Jamac Farm area which the Andover Planning Commission returned a recommendation to the Butler County Planning Commission for annexation. Les Mangus stated after the owner received notification of the Andover Planning Commissions recommendations, he withdrew the case.

Dave Martine asked if in our area of influence the ruling of this board is only a recommendation to the County Planning Commission or if it is a decision they will uphold like they have done in the past.

Mr. Martine was concerned about the City of Andover squaring up the boundaries with city limits and zoning. He further stated if this application is approved, there would be no control by the Planning Commission of what happens on that ground. Les Mangus said any subdivision of the land would be put before the Planning Commission for approval of the plat and then sent to the County Commission for acceptance of dedications. Les Mangus stated the subject property is part of a 160-acre island in the middle of annexed property that is left out in the county.

John McEachern asked why this could not be handled like Mecca Acres and be recommended to be annexed into the city. Les Mangus said the property is not currently served by to city sewer, and it is not currently served by a public water source. Public water service is available across the street along Kellogg, public sewer is available along the Mecca Acres area, so they are both reasonable extensions away from the property.

Les Mangus said he believes this property is one of the keys to success of the highway corridor management agreement and if we allow this to continue unchecked, it fouls a lot of surrounding property in that it does not make any transportation connections. It is an island of itself. Les Mangus said the collector streets at the 1/2-mile are designed to collect all the traffic out of the neighborhood and take it out to the arterial streets or from the arterial to the interior.

Les Mangus said that in the past 14 years, the owner of the 40-acre tract adjacent to the south has approached him 5-6 times asking about development of this 40-acre tract. The problem the owner has is he is an island in the center of annexed property, but he does not have reasonable access to water, sewer, and paved streets.

Keith Zinn stated city water is available from Kellogg down to Clyde Street. City sewer is available all the way along the west side of the property. Les Mangus stated there is a 12" water main in the north right-of-way of Highway 54, 8" main along Ruth Ave. that T's and goes over to Ruth Street then to Devron Drive which makes it less than 100' away from this property with public water. Public sewer is in the middle of Ruth St. and Keith Zinn stated it goes up the rear easements and around between the apartments and between the storage units. Les Mangus said public sewer is available adjacent to the tract.

Dave Martine was concerned about the communication with Butler County. Les Mangus stated the property would have to be annexed into the city to have public water, sewer, and police service.

Les Mangus described the hedgerows that are surrounding this tract.

John McEachern asked for the depth of the property in relationship to Cloud City commercial area. Les Mangus stated it is on the same parallel in depth. The comprehensive plan talks about limiting highway business to 660' and Les uses the Ledgerwood Addition as a gauge where Augusta RV, Wholesale Fireworks, and Advance Storage is located. It has been allowed in the past for owners that provided their own transportation system within, own public utilities within, to go deeper than 600' off the highway.

John McEachern recommended the plan not be approved and have the owner come before the Andover Planning Commission to approve the platting so the roads will be done so the entire area will be serviced.

Clark Nelson said he thought the City Council could take action on their own with respect to the annexation.

Keith Zinn made a recommendation to the Planning Commission on behalf of the City Council, they would require more information about the planned uses of the property before it would be approved.

Les Mangus said what the applicant has applied for is Butler County Commercial Zoning. Butler County Commercial is similar to the City's B-5 Highway Business District which allows some fairly intense commercial activities (car- truck dealerships, agriculture implements, some entertainment, etc.)

Dave Martine asked how many feet is the property from the north to the south sides. Les Mangus said it is about 1,320'. Mr. Martine asked if the comp plan called for 660' off of the highway in a B-5 district.

Keith Zinn asked what the owner intends to do with the property after he is approved for the commercial zoning. Les Mangus stated the application states it is intended to "clean up zoning".

John McEachern was concerned about the allowed uses if the county approves this application. There was general discussion about the concerns of the Planning Commission on this case. Les Mangus said there is some new personnel in the Butler County Planning Dept. and it was in error that the city was not notified sooner of this case.

Keith Zinn asked if Sylvia McHam is the owner of this property. Les Mangus said that she is.

AG-40 to Commercial

Member Items: Dave Martine was concerned who is responsible and accountable for squaring up the boundaries of the city to avoid the lack of communications between the county and the city. John McEachern said this is an issue that is dealt with often at year-end by the city council.

Jeff Bridges stated 2 zoning change requests per year is not excessive. Most cities are leery of taking on aggressive unilateral annexation and historically Andover has seldom done that.

John McEachern asked if there is a State Statute stating that if a parcel of land is 20 acres or more it is more difficult to annex. Jeff Bridges said there has been some case law that has narrowed those prohibitions although this has been zoned agriculture, it will be difficult for the owner to make a case that it is used primarily for agricultural property. All unilateral annexations on behalf of the city are very strenuous on the community because you are forcing someone into the city that would not otherwise want to be there. It is more amenable to the city to have owner's request to be taken into the City limits for water, sewer, and other services we offer.

Keith Zinn stated it is easy to look at a piece of platted property and find reasons for annexing it. There was general discussion about the McCandless addition. Les Mangus stated they have Andover Public Sewer and Rural Water Dist. #8 public water service. Keith Zinn said the McCandless Addition is platted. John McEachern said for the future growth of Andover it needs to be annexed.

Jeff Bridges stated the Planning Commission would have the opportunity to discuss this issue at the City Council meeting as they are anticipating a spring/ early summer planning session and annexation could be on the list of topics. A date has not been set yet. There was general discussion of dates for this session.

Keith Zinn stated in the State Statutes there are 5 reasons when a city can legally annex property. Jeff Bridges stated there are 7 reasons.

Jeff Bridges said to choose from the first 2 weeks of May or the first 2 weeks of June. Les Mangus stated he would be gone May 22, and will be back on June 1. He was not sure Bickley Foster could get the meeting together by the second week of May but that he would ask him. Jeff Bridges asked if the 2^nd Saturday of June could be the back-up date.

John McEachern asked Les Mangus when he drives through town noting where there are screening trees that are dead and need to be replaced. Les Mangus said he is doing that now. Mr. McEachern said the Andover Journal never waters their trees and he is sure they are dead again. Mr. McEachern said there are dead trees on the property to the south of his home where there are 5 trees, and the fence has now been removed, so if the doctor wants to put those back on his property he could, because there is not a double fence there now.

Dave Martine asked what is being done to increase the communication with the Butler County Planning Commission. It has been discussed previously about holding the public hearings for zoning cases for the area of influence here at city hall. Les Mangus said no progress has been made as the Planning Commission is about to begin work on the Comprehensive Plan update which will take a lot of time and the County can be integrated into that plan better and be thinking how the system could be changed to make it more friendly to properties adjacent to the city. Until then the issues will be addressed on a case by case basis. Quentin Coon asked if in general the County is favorable to working with the City of Andover. Les Mangus said they have the mentality that the more dense development should be occurring inside the city limits, rather than outside the city. The only problem has been the turnover in help at the County in the Planning Department.

John McEachern said the County seems to be more cooperative lately.

Les Mangus said the County is back to having zones with permitted uses and minimum lot sizes where years ago, everything was a conditional use. The drawback is that when they adopted that, they reverted all the properties back to agriculture, which makes cases like this one pop up.

Lynn Heath said what this property would do if they don't get commercial county and don't want to annex is they will be considered non-conforming. Les Mangus said that today they are legal non-conforming agriculture, and they can continue to do business as they have done, but they will not have been granted commercial zoning.

Member Items

Appointment of 2-3 members of the Planning Commission to a steering committee to oversee the update of the Comprehensive Plan. Quentin Coon asked when this would begin and the expected duration of the meetings. Jeff Bridges said the plan is to begin in late spring, and duration is until the Comprehensive Plan update is completed. The first step will be to conduct a needs assessment, then draft and adoption of the Comprehensive Plan. Once the draft plan is done, the steering committee would fall away unless the Planning Commission asked for more information or different information than the steering committee would reform to provide that, but to expect 6-7 months of work with several meetings for public input. The needs assessment will require a series of meetings to gain public input on transportation, recreation, and community amenities. The steering committee will be made up of Planning Commission members, City Council members, Chamber of Commerce, Churches, etc. and Mr. Bridges envisions a representative of the Planning Commission to chair the committee since it will be a document by the Planning Commission that is submitted to the City Council.

Keith Zinn asked if Bickley Foster would be part of this process. Jeff Bridges said this is yet to be determined and that Mr. Foster will not be a part of the needs assessment. There was general discussion about volunteering for this project.

Jeff Bridges said that because there was a grant accepted for this project the needs assessment is an added step that is more formal, public community information gathering process than what has been done in the past, so the steering committee will be more charged with drawing out what the community has to say about the community and handing the information to the group that will be writing the Comprehensive Plan. John McEachern stated he would volunteer for this committee. Dave Martine also volunteered to serve on this committee.

Appoint. 2-3 members of the Planning Commission to a steering committee to oversee the update of the Comprehensive Plan.

There was discussion about the inflatable Gorilla at Wholesale Fireworks. Les Mangus stated Mrs. Bush called him when this gorilla showed up on the Wholesale Fireworks building, and whether this is legal. According to the sign regulations, and a consultation with Bickley Foster it was agreed that this is considered a temporary sign, which can be up to the maximum size for the district. The property is zoned B-5 Highway Business District which allows a 400 square foot sign. It complies with all the regulations. The owner has paid for and received a temporary sign permit. This is allowed for 30 days, 4 times per year and is no different than a banner sign.

John McEachern asked if the Planning Commission needed to change the regulations to keep this from happening again. Les Mangus stated this is up to the Planning Commission. There was general discussion about this sign regulation. Les Mangus stated the surface area of a sign is measured on one side only. John McEachern asked if that regulation could be amended to read total square footage on all sides if it is more than single dimensional. Keith Zinn asked what would prevent a 20' x 20' cube sign under the current regulations. Les Mangus stated that would be legal at this time.

Les Mangus read the Zoning Regulations, Article 7, Section 102A Gross Surface Area of Sign, which states " the entire area within a single continuous perimeter enclosing the extreme limits of such sign, and in no case passing through or between any adjacent elements of same. Such perimeter shall not include any structural elements lying outside the limits of such sign and which do not form an integral part of the display. When two or more signs are located on a zoning lot, the gross surface area of all signs on the lot shall not exceed the maximum gross surface per street frontage set by the applicable district regulations, except as provided by Section 7-102B".

There was general discussion about the definition of "perimeter".

John McEachern made a motion requesting Les Mangus study this issue to suggest alternative to eliminate such large signs that are more than single dimension, to bring the definition for "perimeter" and bring a recommendation to the next Planning Commission meeting. Lynn Heath seconded the motion. Clark Nelson opposed the motion. Motion carried 4/2 with Clark Nelson and Charles Malcom in opposition.

The inflatable Gorilla at Wholesale Fireworks

Clark Nelson stated he was concerned about changing the regulations for the entire city just because the Planning Commission does not like this one sign. He would certainly like to understand the definitions of "perimeter".

Lynn Heath asked if there were any height restrictions on signs. Les Mangus said the regulations for this zoning district are 20' above the principle structure or 40' maximum, which it does comply with. Mr. Mangus said there are many examples of this type of sign: ReMax Realty, which uses a balloon, tire stores with inflatable sign, WUShock, Hereford cows at the steakhouse.

Dave Martine asked about maximum height regulations in different zoning districts. Les Mangus said a business along Andover Road or Central not close to the intersection would be limited to 10' tall. But out on the highway due to the speed of the traffic, signs are allowed to be bigger and taller.

Dave Martine asked where the regulations stand in a sign compared to a prop. Les Mangus said flags are specifically listed in the sign regulations for the use of flags as a sign.

Les Mangus said he has a problem with this whole process is that just 2 doors down from the purple gorilla is a 400 square foot billboard that is lighted, with a reader board, and is legal. Because it was there prior to this change in zoning regulations it is off site advertising and can advertise Harrah's Cassino in Kansas City and etc. 400 square feet is allowed. 40 feet tall is allowed and to pick it out just because it looks like a gorilla.

A motion was made by Lynn Heath, seconded by John McEachern, to adjourn the meeting at 8:20 p.m. Motion carried 6/0.

Adjournment

Respectfully Submitted by 

Deborah Carroll

Administrative Secretary

Approved this 20 day of May 2003 by the Planning Commission / Board of Zoning Appeals, City of Andover.