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, Stroinski and Woods

Members absent:     Hamm and Highfield

Others present:        Rudy Bushcott, Brian Juarez, Christopher Rogers, Jose Ester and Rob Williams

Item #1:    Review and approve site plan for 120-unit Glacier Trails Apartments, across from Klement Business Park (tabled at April 27, 2010 meeting)

A motion to remove the item from the table was made by Cm. Camplin, seconded by Rich Frame, and approved by a 5-0 voice vote.

Jeff Woods said the property is zoned R-3, Multi-Family Residential, and that multi-family apartments are a permitted use. The parcel is 562,795 square feet in size, with 83,635 square feet in wetland area that is not developable. This would leave 478,635 square feet of developable land. Based on the Code requirement of 3,000 square feet per unit, it allow for 160 units on this parcel, and they are proposing 120 units, which is below the maximum. The plan meets the setbacks; they are providing 70 feet in the front, 210 and 121 feet on the sides and 110 feet in the back. Code requires 50 feet front, 10 feet with a total of 20 feet on the sides, and 30 feet in the back. The building coverage is at 13%, total impervious at 36% and green space at 64%. The Code requires 35% maximum for buildings, 70% maximum for impervious, and 30% minimum for green spaces. A permit for the sign will be submitted at a later date. The Fire Department has requested that the sign contain the address for the buildings, and also the addresses on the individual buildings. The plan provides for two stormwater detention ponds to address the runoff requirements. A Construction Erosion Control Permit will be required, because more than one acre of land will be disturbed. Based on the plan and our current Stormwater Utility, the fee for the completed development will be about $1,700. There is a credit application the Developer might want to investigate to determine if a credit is possible. The development will be served by a private sanitary sewer main and a public water main. The water main can be a 12-inch main, with the connection to the existing 16-inch main revised to a tee and valve to allow for future extension of the 16-inch main. There will need to be proper clearances between the 12-inch main and the power poles, and the lateral connections need five feet of separation between each lateral. The plans for the public water main will need to be submitted to the State for their approval. A Developer's Agreement will be put in place to document the future assessment of the 12-inch main when it is extended. This document will be recorded with the property. The plan provides for 273 parking stalls, with 78 in the lot and 39 underground stalls in each building. The Code requires 1.5 stalls per unit or, 180 total stalls. The utility crossings and driveway openings will need to be approved by Jefferson County, because this section of Business 26 is under their jurisdiction. There is an existing access easement for a farmer that goes across the property and this will need to be addressed with the farmer. The landscaping plan has been submitted; however, the number of plantings in the buffer area does not meet Code requirements because there is not enough room in the buffer area to contain all of the plantings. The plan proposes to add additional plants to the parcel to meet the total number. The Fire Department did have two additional items. The fire connections on each building will be discussed with the sprinkler design and a final approval given at that time. The landscaping will need to be looked at so that access to the building connection is not obstructed by trees or shrubs. Each building needs to have a key box, to hold all of the needed keys for that building.

Rob Williams, of TDI Associates, made a presentation on the proposed apartment project. The architecture of the building has been revised from the first submittal. The new plan has different materials on the outside of the buildings, with banding to break up the longer walls. The roof lines were revised to also break up the building and add more architectural style. In looking at the back of the building, there is a need to add additional banding to that wall to break up the large expanse of masonry. That could be done if the Planning Commission so desired.

Cm. Camplin said that he owed the owner and architect an apology, when this was rezoned to R-3 back in January, he dropped the ball on this. There should have been a different discussion back then and he should have asked the questions he is asking now. At that time, the only thing he said is that we were looking for something that is introductory to the community. What was originally presented was a "cookie-cutter" design for the apartments. Cm. Camplin said that he had talked with Ann Marie Hinkle, of HUD in Milwaukee, as they are looking at an FHA approved lender to help finance this project. Rob Williams said they are looking at a 221D4 loan. It would not be to provide mortgage insurance, because these are apartments, nothing is being purchased. It is just a financing package that HUD guarantees as a loan for banks. It is not a HUD project, it is just a possibility to use HUD assisted financing.

Cm. Camplin said that he had looked up information about HUD assisted housing, as what is being proposed does fall into what they would consider a moderate or middle income dwelling. There have been a lot of discussions in the last decade in this community on how to plan the community of the future, traditional neighborhoods, and walking neighborhoods. The City's Comprehensive Plan says the City has not reached the population threshold of 12,500 that would require the implementation of Traditional Neighborhood Zoning, but with the next census, we will be close to that number and he is one of those who feels we should be complying with that zoning. It should be done now, to make our community competitive with surrounding cities. The Plan goes on "to say to support the development of a variety of housing types within the context of maintaining a predominately single family residential community and to promote the use of traditional neighborhood design for new neighborhood subdivisions and require the preparation of detailed neighborhood plans before a subdivision development occurs". Cm. Camplin went on to say that HUD's mission statement is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. HUD is working to strengthen the housing market, to bolster the economy, and to protect consumers, meet the need for quality, affordable rental homes, utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life, build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination and transform the way HUD does business.

Cm. Camplin then quoted Lewis Mumford, who spent 30 years as a reviewer of architecture. "The modern architect has yet to bring me to grips with the multi-dimensional realities of the actual world. He has made himself at home with the mechanical processes which favor rapid commercial exploitation, and with anonymous, repetitive, bureaucratic forms, like the high rise apartments, which lend themselves with mathematical simplicity to financial manipulation. But he has no philosophy that does justice to organized functions of human purposes and that attempts to build a more comprehensive order in which the machine, instead of dominating our life and demanding ever heaver sacrifices in the present fashion, will become a supple instrument for humane design to be used, modified on occasion and rejected at will. The time has come to integrate objective functions with subjective functions to balance off mechanical facilities with biological needs, social commitments and personal values." Cm. Camplin said that when this is combined with the HUD statement, what we are really doing here is we are proposing to put 120 units separate from the rest of the community, out beyond where anyone could conveniently walk to a grocery store. When it was being rezoned he thought there would be other uses, that it could be office buildings, banks, etc., but it is the permitted uses that he should have paid attention to. Cm. Camplin said that he believes this is outside of proper development for our community and this is backed-up by HUD itself with their mission statement. He then reviewed items in a speech made by Sean Donovan, of HUD, made in Atlanta this year. There are 13 comments that dealt with urban sprawl; walk-able neighborhoods; location efficiencies for grant applications; infill developments; and sustainable neighborhoods, communities and regions. Cm. Camplin said this development will put 2% of the population being put in an exclusive area with none of the benefits that HUD is looking for, that we as a community are looking for, or that he as a representative of the community is looking for. He said that he should have been thinking of these issues back in January when the property was rezoned. This is not a development that offers a mixed neighborhood or mixed use. It does not have any businesses going in under these buildings; it is 120 units that will actually stick out like a sore thumb when we begin to consider this community as gong toward traditional neighborhood zoning. With that being said, Cm. Camplin said that he would be voting not to approve this project as it is proposed.

Rob Williams addressed some of Cm. Camplin's comments. This development is connected to the Bike Trail, which will allow people to get to a lot of different resources in the community. This parcel is at the edge of the community, so it is not necessarily walk-able, but it does provide different methods of transportation to get to places. This is a smaller scale lot. Traditionally the neighborhood design is looking at massive acreage when trying to design mixed use, commercial and public spaces. As there is additional development in this area, it might become an element in the traditional neighborhood design. This development does have some good possibilities for the community. When the rezoning request was submitted, the plan for the 120 unit apartment development was included, so that everyone would know what was being proposed for this area.

John Wilmet said the property is zoned R-3 and the plan meets all of the requirements from the City. Attorney Christopher Rogers said the Planning Commission has powers granted to it by State Statutes and City Ordinances. One of their powers is to review site plans, which is what is happening here today. The purpose is to review the site plan to see that it complies with the specifications of the Zoning Code, and Comprehensive Plan. The discussion on whether this type of development should be placed here should have taken place in January, not at this meeting. It is now a permitted use on this parcel. The real issues is does this site plan meet the City's criteria. When asked by John Wilmet, Jeff Woods and Brian Juarez said there are no areas where the plan does not meet the site plan requirements. John Wilmet said that he understands what Cm. Camplin is saying, but we are under the obligation to review what is being proposed and whether we like it or not, it meets the Code and the City's Master Plan, and it is zoned properly. In those situations we have an obligation to approve it.

Cm. Camplin said that during the rezoning he commented that he was looking for something architecturally unique, something that will make Fort Atkinson different from other cities that people will visit. He considers the architecture of the entrance way to be very important. John Wilmet said the comment that Rob Williams had made concerning the addition of a different color banding on the back of the building would be important. With this being the side toward the Bike Trail, that side should be dressed up as much as possible, just like the front of the building. John Wilmet said that he did not have any objection to the architecture of the revised buildings, his only concern is that it is maintained and continues to look like this ten years from now and not run-down. Joe Ester said that the proposed building is 65% masonry, so it does not deteriorate as a wooden clad building would. Joe Ester felt that there was not another building in the City that looks like this; it is a step above the other buildings and not a cookie cutter design.

John Wilmet asked why there is so much additional parking that is being proposed for this development. Rob Williams said what they have found is with underground parking, the residents will not use it during the day when they only are running in and out of the apartments. More surface parking is provided to allow this. They do not feel there is an over abundance of parking on the site, there will be a need for what is being provided.

Rich Frame felt there would be more pedestrian and bike traffic on Business 26, because the Bike Trail is not lighted in this area. He also noticed there is not a playground area for the residents, realizing there is no requirement for this, and asked if there are any plans to add a playground area for the residents of the apartments? Rob Williams said they had discussed it with the owner and there is an area between Building #1 and #2 where some equipment could be placed. Rob Williams added that most of the apartment units will be one bedroom, so right now we do not know how many children will be living in the development.

Cm. Camplin's last comment is that this development does not appear to meet HUD's Mission Statement. If the HUD Program was not being contemplated to be used, he would not have brought it up. Rob Williams said this is not a HUD Project; it is being looked at for possible financing through HUD. There is a different list of requirements for just financing, as opposed to a project. There has not been any application to HUD for this project, so they don't know if they will get anything. John Wilmet said there is substantial difference in the requirements for a HUD project vs. HUD financing.

Rich Frame moved to approve the site plan for a 120-unit Glacier Trails Apartment complex, across from Klement Business Park, seconded by Thomas Stroinski, and passed by a 5-0 roll call vote.

Item #2:    Approval of Minutes and Adjournment.

A motion to approve the Minutes of the July 13, 2010 meeting was made by Cm. Camplin, seconded by Rich Frame, and passed by a 5-0 voice vote. A motion to adjourn was made by Rich Frame, seconded by Thomas Stroinski, and passed by a 5-0 voice vote. The meeting adjourned at 4:37 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,      
 
 
Jeffrey L. Woods, Secretary