The meeting was called to order by Chairman Wilmet in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Building at 4:00 p.m.

Members present:   Wilmet, Camplin, Frame, Hamm, Highfield and Woods

Members absent:     Stroinski

Others present:        Rudy Bushcott, Brian Juarez, Terry Ault, Jim Nelson, Sandy Mayer, Craig Ellsworth, Pete Weston and Dianne Hrobsky

Item #1:    Review and approve request for L.E.D. sign at Fort Car Wash, 1200 Janesville Avenue.

Jeff Woods said this parcel is zoned C-1, Highway Business, and the maximum allowable sign area is based on the building frontage. The building has a frontage of 110 feet which would allow for 116 square feet of signage. The existing sign is 5' x 10'-1" and has 50.4 square feet. The proposed L.E.D. sign is 4"-6" x 7'-6", for 33.75 square feet. The two signs would have a total of 84.15 square feet and would be less than the maximum allowed. The changeable/ electronic message board signs are allowed by the Zoning Code, but must be part of an existing sign, not a stand-alone sign, and must be approved by the Planning Commission. At this location, the approval of the L.E.D. sign would allow for the combining of several of the smaller signs that are on the parcel.

Cm. Camplin asked if there has been a time delay standard established for these types of signs? Brian Juarez said there is not a standard at this time; it can't be flashing, trailing or anything like that. Information has been handed out to the Commission members on what other cities have done. This will need to be reviewed and then the Commission will have to look at developing some standards.

Motion by Rich Frame, seconded by Roz Highfield, to approve the request for the L.E.D. sign at Fort Car Wash, 1200 Janesville Avenue. The motion passed by a 6-0 voice vote.

Item #2:    Review and approve preliminary site plan for medical clinic at the northeast corner of West Milwaukee Avenue and Robert Street.

Jeff Woods said this item is a review of a concept plan and not the review of a preliminary site plan. The Developer wants to know if this plan is agreeable to the Commission before they begin the detailed design of the project. The parcel is zoned C-3, General Commercial, and a clinic is a permitted use. The proposal is for the construction of a 9,000 square foot building to house offices for four doctors and the Hospital's Business Office. In conjunction with the building, a parking lot with 52 parking stalls will be constructed. There are several issues that will need to be addressed. There is the zero setback from the lot line on the north side; the Code requires a six-foot setback from the lot line. In conjunction with this, there would have to be a 15-foot "no-build" easement from the City to allow windows to be in the zero lot line wall. The City would need to grant an easement for the parking adjacent to the Bike Trail. There are Fire Department access issues that are being addressed. The openings will have to be widened to allow fire equipment to access these areas for firefighting operations. Also, a fire hydrant will need to be installed at the corner of Robert and Milwaukee for firefighting operations. If the concept plan is approved, the Developer will begin to work on the landscaping, building design, lighting. storm water, and signage plans for a site plan submittal, and will pursue the variance for the zero lot line and the Commission could recommend the 15-foot "no-build" easement to the Council.

Craig Ellsworth, of The Architectural Firm, made a presentation on the proposed project. The lot is an odd shaped parcel located at the corner of Robert Street and Milwaukee Avenue that backs up against a park. There is also a public parking lot located at the northeast corner of the parcel that is on an easement to the City. The building size has been reduced from 10,000 to 9,000 square feet to minimize the site area for the building. The Business Offices will be on the south end of the building and the doctor's offices will be in the northeast end. There is a challenge on this site to minimize the building footprint to leave space available for the required parking and green space areas. They will be asking for a 15-foot "no-build" easement, as a result of moving the building to the north lot line. This will affect an area in the park that will not be built on, so it will have minimal effect. The other item to be considered is to grant an easement adjacent to the Bike Trail to allow for parking. The building will be one-story, prairie style design with natural materials on the outside so that it will blend in with the surrounding area. The parking lot will meander around the site, with parking on three sides of the building. There will be an entrance/exit on West Milwaukee Ave that is very important to the site, along with a second entrance/exit on South Water Street, West, which the staff and patients can use. The site is also affected by an easement containing a high pressure gas line the runs adjacent to the Robert Street side of the parcel. It makes sense to move the gazebo to a new location, into an area where it would not encroach on the building and the building would not encroach on it. The existing sidewalk can be extended to the new location to make it just as accessible. The technical issues/concerns can also be addressed. The fire hydrant in the southwest corner of the property can be installed, and the plan can be modified to provide Fire Department access in the diagonal parking area and the front entrance area. The Department access off of South Water Street, West will require some green pavers to allow their access but still control the access for staff and patients. The building will have a partial basement under the doctor's office section and slab on grade for the Business Office portion. The building will be fully sprinklered and will have alarms for fire and smoke. Portions of the parking lot, on the sides of the building will be pervious pavement, with an underground drainage/storage system so that it will store as much water on site as possible. The other portion of the parking lot will be drained into a storm sewer system and then drained into the City's system. The green spaces on the parcel will also be investigated as pervious areas to aid in the handling of the storm water. As presented on the concept plan the site contains about 24% green space, which meets the Code requirements.

Cm. Camplin said that he is happy to see pavers being used and asked if they could be used more extensively on the project. Craig Ellsworth said that they could be used as much as possible, per the design of the drainage system. The paved areas are going to be looked at to see if they can be graded to have their storm water flow onto the pervious area for additional capture and infiltration. They have to be careful at the south end of the parcel, as there may be environmental issues that would prevent any type of excavation from occurring.

John Wilmet asked if any thought had been given to placing an access path between the Bike Trail and the clinic parking lot. This might be a good addition if the Clinic would allow parking in the lot on weekends. With all of the walking and biking activities in the City, this could be a good meeting place to start from. Craig Ellsworth said there are not any technical issues that would prevent this; he can look at it with the Developer.

Cm. Camplin asked if this would be mostly an 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday building use, so on the weekends and evenings it could be used by others? John Wilmet indicated this is a private parking lot and it would be up to the owners on what additional use would be allowed.

John Wilmet said there are some restrictions on the portion of land on the Bike Trail right of way that are being proposed to be used as additional parking. When the City purchased it from the Union Pacific Railroad, there was a deed restriction that states the City cannot convey, sell, lease, assign or mortgage any of that property. What we are proposing to do is to use an easement to allow the parking. This would be subject to the buy-back provision of the sale by the Union Pacific Railroad, and the easement would have to terminate at that time. This might not ever happen, but it is a Rails to Trails corridor and the Union Pacific has the right to purchase the land back, at the prevailing price. The City has also used State Stewardship money to purchase and build the trail, so the City must make sure that all of the property stays in City ownership.

John Wilmet said that Staff has been working with the Developer and Designer on this project, and most of the concerns that have been raised have been addressed. The entrance/exit on West Milwaukee Avenue is a concern to both City Staff and Fort Healthcare. Fort Healthcare will be monitoring this if the project goes forward and if a problem arises they will address it. It might involve changing start and finish times for the work shifts to try and avoid the heavier traffic times and make access easier and safer for staff. The snow removal issue and the ramp from the City's parking lot have also been addressed with the Developer.

Rich Frame asked what the final decision on the gazebo will be. John Wilmet said that he feels the gazebo needs to be moved. The question on who will pay for the relocation has been discussed, but no final decision has been made. The cost can be minimized if the work is done in conjunction with the construction of the building.

Motion by Cm. Camplin, seconded by Bonnie Hamm, to approve the preliminary concept plan for a Medical Clinic located at the northeast corner of West Milwaukee Avenue and Robert Street. The motion passed by a 6-0 voice vote.

Item #3:    Approval of Minutes and Adjournment.

A motion to approve the Minutes of the May 25, 2010 meeting was made by Cm. Camplin, seconded by Roz Highfield, and passed by a 6-0 voice vote. A motion to adjourn was made by Roz Highfield, seconded by Cm. Camplin, and passed by a 6-0 voice vote. The meeting adjourned at 4:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,      
 
 
Jeffrey L. Woods, Secretary