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, Frame, Hamm, Highfield, Stroinski and Woods

Members absent:     Camplin

Others present:        Rudy Bushcott, Brian Juarez, Al Vogel, John Schwemmer, Jerry Jansen, Barb LeDuc, Hal Koenig, Jim Nelson, Sandy Mayer, Craig Ellsworth, Tim Lynch and Pete Weston

Item #1:    Review and approve Preliminary Certified Survey Map creating one (1) lot on Regelein Lane (extra-territorial).

Jeff Woods said this Survey would create a three-acre parcel that was for a future building site. The parcel is outside of the present Urban Service Boundary Area, but within the three-mile extra-territorial review area. The Comprehensive Plan shows this area as Agricultural, Rural, which is defined as areas for agricultural uses, farmsteads and very limited rural housing allowed under the Farmland Preservation policies of Jefferson County. This future land use category will mostly be enforced through the combination of County Zoning, and Land Use Regulations, and the City's Extra-Territorial land division review. There are no problems or issues with the Survey Map as it is presented.

Rich Frame asked where is the City in the approval process for an extra-territorial Survey. Jeff Woods said the Survey is presented to the City and Township at approximately the same time. After these two bodies review the Survey it is sent to the County for final approval.

Motion by Rich Frame, seconded by Roz Highfield, to recommend to the Council to approve the Preliminary Certified Survey Map creating one lot on Regelein Lane, extra-territorial. The motion passed by a 6-0 voice vote.

Item #2:    Review and approve Preliminary Certified Survey Map creating one (1) lot on Schwemmer Lane (extra-territorial).

Jeff Woods said this would create a three-acre parcel for an existing house and outbuildings. The new parcel is outside of the present Urban Service Area, but within the three-mile extra-territorial review area. The Comprehensive Plan shows this area as Agricultural, Rural, which is defined as areas for agricultural uses, farmsteads and very limited rural housing allowed under the Farmland Preservation policies of Jefferson County. This future land use category will mostly be enforced through the combination of County Zoning, and Land Use Regulations and the City's Extra-Territorial land division review. There are no problems or issues with the Survey Map as it is presented.

John Schwemmer said there was a correction that needed to be made; it is Schwemmer Road, not Schwemmer Lane.

Motion by Roz Highfield, seconded by Bonnie Hamm, to recommend to the Council to approve the Preliminary Certified Survey Map creating one lot on Schwemmer Road, extra-territorial. The motion passed by a 6-0 voice vote.

Item #3:    Review and approve the request to install 4-foot by 8-foot Electronic Message Board Sign at Jansen's Banquet, LLC, 1245 Whitewater Avenue.

Jeff Woods said the Code requires that electronic message signs be part of an existing sign display and that they be approve by the Planning Commission. The proposed location of the new electronic sign is in conjunction with an existing sign display. The parcel is zoned C-3, General Commercial, and the total square footage of signage is determined by the length of building frontage. The existing building has 160 feet of frontage, which allows for 128 square feet of signage. The proposed sign is 53" by 16" for an area of 5.9 square feet. The existing signs at this location have an area of 28 and 16 square feet for a total existing area of 44 square feet. Including the new sign, they will have a total of 49.9 square feet, which is less than the maximum. Based on the Code requirements there are no problems with this request as presented.

Brian Juarez said the request does meet the Code requirements, but he had a concern that the sign was put up without any approval, permits or inspection and then has continued to be up, all of this time as an illegal sign. There are regulations concerning flashing and following messages that will need to be followed for the operation of the sign. He can be contacted to get a copy of these regulations. Jerry Jansen said that he would be in this week to get the proper permits and get a copy of the operation regulations.

Motion by Rich Frame, seconded by Roz Highfield, to approve the request to install an electronic message board sign at Jansen's Banquet, 1245 Whitewater Avenue. The motion passed by a 6-0 voice vote.

Item #4:    Review and approve site plan for Plant #2 construction at Opportunities, Inc., 200 East Cramer Street.

Hal Koenig, of Prairie Lights Architects, gave a presentation on the proposed work. The reconstruction of Plant #2 will be with a conventional steel frame structure, flat roof building with four-inch metal panels for the walls. The building will have similar style to the other existing buildings to give the space a campus feel for the workers. They have been in contact with the City on the possible reconstruction of Clarence Street to narrow the pavement and improve the campus feel. The project has some budget constraints, so several of the individual components of the project are being bid as alternates to see if they can be included. The extension of the covered canopy that extends north to Cramer Street is one of the items that are being bid as an alternative. The predominate colors of the building will be a limestone, with accents being charcoal gray and entrance doors being a copper. These are the same colors that were used in the administration building when it was remodeled. The landscape plans have been developed for not only Plant #2, but for the current infill project and the parking lot. The plan shows a pedestrian drop off area on Clarence Street for Plant #2 that is landscaped to separate it from the traffic on the street. Opportunities Inc. is currently working with Loeb-Lorman to divert their truck traffic from Clarence Street to the access drive on the west side of Plant #2. If an agreement can be reached, this will remove all of the truck traffic from Clarence Street and even Jefferson Street, south of Cramer Street. This will then allow Clarence Street to be narrowed and improve the pedestrian safety aspect of the street. The landscaping plan for the parking lot/detention pond lot will accent the work that has been done there and will screen the truck parking lot to the north.

John Wilmet asked if Opportunities would be continuing production during the reconstruction of Plant #2. Hal Koenig said the reconstruction of Plant #2 will not start until the current project is completed. The production work from Plant #2 South will be moved to the new addition to Plant #1, and the south half of Plant #2 will be reconstructed. Once this is completed, the production space in Plant #2 North will be moved to the new Plant #2 South and north portion of Plant #2 will be constructed. The work is scheduled to begin in August, and be completed in September, 2011.

Jeff Woods said this parcel is zoned M-2, Heavy Industrial, and their use is permitted in that zoning. The proposed work consists of a two-phase reconstruction of Plant #2, with 35,000 square feet for warehousing and 45,000 square feet for production. There are no new signs associated with this construction project. The storm drainage is exempt from the infiltration and flow requirements because it is a redevelopment site less than five acres. They will be addressing the quality requirements with the use of filter inserts in the catch basins and manholes. There will be a new sewer lateral and water lateral on Clarence Street. Depending on their needs, they might be replacing a portion of the six-inch water main on Clarence Street with an eight-inch main. The submittal includes the landscaping plans for the entire site, including the parking lot, Jefferson Street construction and the construction on Clarence Street for Plant #1 and #2. The plan calls for 13 terrace trees to be planted by the City. Based on current budgets, this will take about 6 to 8 years for the City to complete. The building design colors are limestone, charcoal gray and copper, with the proposed building having similar architectural style to the existing buildings. The building setbacks meet the Code requirements. The front setback is 45-feet, with a Code requirement of 10-feet, the street side is 10-feet and a Code requirement of 10-feet, the side yard is 30-feet, with a Code requirement of 20-feet, and a rear yard provides for 55-feet, with a Code requirement of 15-feet. The lot coverage is looked at for the entire developed site. The building coverage is at 45.6%, with a code maximum of 50%, the impervious coverage is at 79.3%, with a code requirement of 90% maximum and the green space is at 20.7% with a code minimum of 10%. In looking at their Stormwater Fee, with 226,744 square feet of impervious area their total ERU's will go from 56.7 to 73.2 ERU's, at the completion of all of the construction projects.

Motion by Rich Frame, seconded by Roz Highfield, to approve the site plan for Plant #2 construction for Opportunities, Inc., at 200 East Cramer Street. The motion passed by a 6-0 voice vote.

John Wilmet added that the City will be available to discuss the future improvements to Clarence Street. It would be better to have those discussions after the agreement with Loeb-Lorman has been finalized and approved by everyone. It will be difficult to talk about narrowing the pavement unless we know the truck traffic will be removed.

Item #5:    Review and approve site plan for medical clinic at northeast corner of Robert Street and West Milwaukee Avenue.

Craig Ellsworth, of The Architectural Firm, gave a presentation on the proposed building and site development. It will be an L-shaped building with about 9,000 square feet of floor space, with business offices on one side and medical offices on the other. There will be parking on three sides of the building, with green spaces throughout the lot. The main entrance to the site will be off of West Milwaukee Avenue, with a secondary access and Fire Department access off of South Water Street, West. There will be 52 parking stalls to handle staff and patients for the building and an enclosed dumpster site located in the northeast corner. There will be a need for a 15-foot No Build Easement along the Bicentennial Park property line, to allow for windows and doors in the building. There will also need to be a cross-parking easement to allow for public and clinic parking. The lighting will be located in the soffits to provide area lighting around the building and pole mounted lights to illuminate the parking areas. Minimal lighting will be used to prevent spill-over onto other properties. There will be one monument sign that will be located at the corner of Robert and Milwaukee, along with other signs that will be on the building. The exterior of the building will be natural color tones, with natural stone for a border base and on the columns. Above that will go a painted cement board that will be either a brown or green tone in color. The window will have a medium brown aluminum frame, with reflective glass to eliminate the heat gains into the building. There is a challenging area in the northeast corner of the building that will require additional grading and shaping to allow for windows and an exit door from the basement area. They will be working with the City on this for grading, terracing and retaining wall work.

Bonnie Hamm asked if there are going to be any exterior mechanicals at this site. Craig Ellsworth said there will be condenser units for the air conditioner units, they will be on the ground and will be screened with landscaping or fencing.

Brian Juarez questioned the site for the dumpster, considering it is also the entrance to the Park. Craig Ellsworth said this is the best site because it allows them to blend the dumpster screening with the retaining wall construction and better hide the dumpster from view. They will look at this again and see if there is a better site for it.

Tim Lynch, of RSV Engineering, discussed the site engineering and Stormwater. The parking lot in the northeast corner will be draining to the north and the stormwater will be collected and sent to a rain garden adjacent to the City's parking lot. The water will then be discharged into the Park. The central parking area will be sloped to drain to the green space in the middle where it will be collected into a storm pipe system. This system will continue toward Robert Street, picking up the drainage from the west parking area and then discharging the stormwater into the City's system. To meet the quality requirements of the City's ordinance, there will be sumps put in all of the manholes/inlets to capture the sediment. There will need to be scheduled cleaning of the sumps to keep them functioning.

John Wilmet asked if there was going to be curbing on any of the parking areas. Tim Lynch said there would be some curbing around the northeast parking lot and around the walkway adjacent to the building, but the rest of the parking areas would be graded to flow the water in toward the storm sewer collection system. In winter they have made provisions to haul out the snow. There will be two to four stalls that will be used for temporary storage until the snow can be hauled away.

Rudy Bushcott asked what the elevation was of the northeast parking lot in comparison to the building floor. Tim Lynch said the parking lot would slope to the north and be one to two feet below the floor elevation, and be draining stormwater to the Park. Rudy Bushcott said the City would prefer not to take any stormwater to the Park, and asked if this parking lot water could be collected in a piping system and discharged to the City's system with the other stormwater. Tim Lynch said they could look at that and see if it could be done.

Jeff Woods then reviewed the proposed site plan. The parcel is currently being rezoned to C-5, Downtown Business, and a medical building will be a permitted use. In looking at the setbacks, assuming a C-5 zoning, the Code requires a zero-foot setback, which is being met. The lot coverage requirements in a C-5 zoning are being met. Their Stormwater Fee will be based on the 44,375 square feet of impervious surface, which will calculate to 14.2 ERU's and an annual fee of $394.68. The City has approved the 15-foot No Build Easement and is working on the cross parking easement. The RSV plans need to show the access drive off of S. Water Street West, as the other plans do. The location of the water and sanitary sewer laterals needs to be determined and shown on the plans. The site is exempt from the infiltration and flow requirements because it is an in-fill project of less than five acres. They are proposing to use manhole sumps and a rain garden to meet the water quality requirements. In looking at the location and grades of the rain garden, they are not sure that it can be constructed in this area. As discussed earlier, it would be better if this water could be collected in a piping system and discharged to the City's system. The light and landscaping plans have been discussed and meet the Code requirements. The location of the monument sign is approved, but there will need to be a submittal for the actual sign. The possible relocation of the dumpster has also already been discussed and will be looked at. The only other issues that need to be resolve are the relocation of the gazebo and access sidewalk, parking lot access, sidewalk and relocation of two lights, relocation of the electric pedestal (next to the gazebo), the re-grading of park land to allow for basement access to the building and the relocation of park and bike trail trees. These issues need to be resolved; what needs to be done and who will be responsible for doing them.

John Wilmet asked what the time frame is for the bidding and construction for this project. Craig Ellsworth said he is trying to get the bids out during the first week in August, with a move in date of January, 2011. John Wilmet asked if there were any of the unresolved issued mentioned that could not be resolved or would delay the bidding/construction schedule. Craig Ellsworth said there is nothing that could not be resolved and it should not affect the schedule.

Bonnie Hamm said that she is concerned with the traffic accessing the site, being that both Milwaukee Avenue is a busy street and the driveway is close to Robert Street. John Wilmet said this was discussed before, and the majority of the traffic will be employees arriving and leaving the building in the morning and afternoon. The rest of the day will see very little traffic. To help prevent traffic issues, the employees will be working staggered shifts so they will not all be starting and ending at the same time. Jim Nelson, of Fort HealthCare, said there will be three different shift times to ease the traffic flow around the building. He anticipates there will only be about three to four patients per hour for the clinic.

Motion by Rich Frame, seconded by Bonnie Hamm, to approve the site plan for a medical building at the northeast corner of Robert Street and West Milwaukee Avenue contingent on the following being resolved with City Staff: water lateral location, sanitary sewer location, stormwater discharge in northeast parking lot/rain garden, dumpster location, gazebo relocation and sidewalk access, public parking lot access and light relocation, electrical pedestal relocation, park land re-grading for building access, park and bike trail tree relocation. The motion passed by a 6-0 voice vote.

Item #6:    Approval of Minutes and Adjournment.

A motion to approve the Minutes of the June 22, 2010 meeting was made by Roz Highfield, seconded by Rich Frame, and passed by a 6-0 voice vote. A motion to adjourn was made by Bonnie Hamm, seconded by Roz Highfield, and passed by a 6-0 voice vote. The meeting adjourned at 4:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,      
 
 
Jeffrey L. Woods, Secretary