VILLAGE OF NORTH AURORA
PLAN COMMISSION MEETING
JUNE 4, 2013
CALL TO ORDER – 7:00 pm
Chairman Brackett called the meeting to order.
ROLL CALL
In attendance: Chairman Mike Brackett, Commissioners Mark Bozik, Jennifer Duncan, Connie Holbrook, Aaron Anderson, Mark Carroll, Mark Rivecco. Not in attendance: Tom Lenkart and Anna Tuohy.
Staff in attendance: Community & Economic Development Developer Mike Toth and Pete Iosue of Teska Associates.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. Approval of Plan Commission Minutes dated May 7, 2013
Motion to approve made by Commissioner Rivecco and seconded by Commissioner Duncan. All in favor. Motion approved.
PUBLIC HEARING
1. The petitioner, Marberry Cleaners (220 John St.) requests a special use under Title 17, Section 8 of the North Aurora Municipal Code (Zoning Ordinance) to allow a Laundry Establishment in the B-3 Central Business District (Petition #13-07). (This petition was continued from the May 7, 2013 Plan Commission meeting).
Mike Toth introduced Alex Typo who gave a presentation on behalf of the petitioner. There were no comments or questions from the audience. Chairman Brackett then closed the public portion of the hearing. Staff recommended approval conditioned upon five items mentioned in the staff report.
Commissioner Duncan asked if the new 8-foot high chain link fence with 10-foot wide gate was for the entrance area. The petitioner stated that the fence and gate were being installed for security purposes.
Commissioner Rivecco asked if all of the vegetation would be removed to make room for the addition. Petitioner said no. Rivecco said that was good since the vegetation is a nice buffering to keep in place.
Commissioner Bozik questioned with the addition of a large amount of impervious surface, if the petitioner will have to come into compliance with the current code for water detention/retention. Bozik said there are concerns with additional water and direction of the runoff. Toth said that Rempe-Sharpe looked at this and did not have any concerns with storm water drainage. Specifics of the actual engineering plans would be addressed at permit time through a punch list with the engineer.
Chairman Brackett asked how much green space would remain. The petitioner said there would be about 25 feet of green space kept. Pete Iosue suggested making this a condition of the special use. Brackett asked if the petitioner would be doing anything with the façade of the existing building. The petitioner said no. Toth said they have talked about integrating the addition into the actual existing building and that will come as part of the design review.
Commissioner Carroll said he was in favor of the special use but would like the site plan to come back to the Plan Commission for final review. The rest of the Plan Commission was in favor of the plan as is along with approving the site plan.
Commissioner Bozik made a Motion to approve the special use for the laundry establishment with the approval of the site plan pursuant to the conditions outlined by Staff and the additional conditions of the addition of the landscape and leaving the trees as much as possible for conformance to the building code as applied by the building department and integration of the façade between the existing building and the new building so that it looks like one building. Seconded by Commissioner Duncan. All in favor. Motion approved.
2. The petitioner requests a special use under Title 17, Section 8 of the North Aurora
Municipal Code (Zoning Ordinance) to allow a Gas Station and Drive-Through Facility
in the B-3 Central Business District (Petition #13-09).
Ron Ambros of Ambros Design Group stated that the petitioner is looking to reopen the facility and make some significant changes:
1. Rebrand from Citgo to BP
2. Improve facades of both the convenient store and the car wash building
3. Onsite curb work and landscaping
4. New trash enclosure which will be placed away from the street, alongside the building
5. Provide more parking stalls.
Audience Comments
Ray Gonzalez, 121 Lincolnway, North Aurora – Gonzalez asked for the ability to see the plans for the gas station. Toth said the plans are always available and could be provided.
There were no further audience comments. Chairman Brackett closed the public portion of he hearing.
Commissioner Rivecco asked if the construction/façade of the building will be completed before the business opens. Ambros said yes.
Commissioner Duncan asked about the recommendation of the petitioner replacing the existing perimeter fencing. The petitioner said that there is a wood fence that will be replaced.
Toth said that there were some minor modification to the site plan. Originally the dumpster was on the north side adjacent to John Street. It has been flipped to the other side of the building so that there is less of a visual impact. Additional parkway or landscape trees could not be placed along the western elevation due to the parkway being too narrow and the overhead utilities. There are some signs included in the proposal, but not a part of the hearing. Signage will be part of a separate submittal. If there are any variations needed, those would be brought back to the Plan Commission at a later time. Toth requested the Plan Commission approve the site plan, as well, subject to the conditions.
Commissioner Duncan asked how the condition of everything underground is and if there will need to be any remediation. Toth said the tanks were replaced a couple of years ago and are monitored closely by the industry. The petitioner said this would fall under all the conditions of the fire marshal.
All were in favor of the use and the site plan.
Motion made by Commissioner Holbrook to approve the special Use with the recommendation of Staff, including site plan approval. Seconded by Commissioner Rivecco. All in favor. Motion approved.
3. The Village of North Aurora requests a text amendment to Title 17, Chapter 13 of the North Aurora Municipal Code (Zoning Ordinance) specifically regulating driveways
(Petition #13-08).
Toth said that the text amendment would allow for all driveways in the Village to be 20 feet.
Motion made by Commissioner Rivecco and seconded by Commissioner Carroll to approve the recommendation by Staff on the driveway widths. All in favor. Motion approved.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Village Staff would like to solicit feedback from the Plan Commission relative to text
amendments associated with public hearing notification and site plan review requirements
Mike Toth suggested streamlining the process and still allow the Plan Commission to review any plans that come through the Village. Toth said that if the Village has a mechanism to approve a site plan, does not want to do it twice.
Commissioner Rivecco said the site plans for this evening’s meeting were well thought out, but the Plan Commission does not want to lose the ability to review site plans in detail.
Commissioner Carroll said that the Village has to be careful because in a case where the Plan Commission did not like one of the site plans, if the process was changed, the Plan Commission would have to deny the special use permit because the site plan was bad. Carroll added that instead of approving the special use permit and sending it back to staff to draft up a new site plan, the petitioner would be back at square one. Chairman Brackett said that the Plan Commission would be able to say that the special use is fine but would need to see the site plan again. Toth the said yes. Toth said this was done administratively in the past and would like to go back to that process. The site plan is reviewed ahead of time. Engineers, planning and the fire marshal all look at the plan and a final product is brought to the Plan Commission.
Anderson said likes doing it this way because it creates us some leverage for the PC if we don’t like the site plan presented even after staff has worked with the petitioner.
The Plan Commission stressed that they do not want to lose ability to review the site plan.
Commissioner Duncan said that in regard to the public notice, does not believe the petitioner should have to buy massive signs and have them printed and that it can be quite costly. Duncan suggested there be more than one sign on some of the large properties. Toth suggested one on each frontage and no further than 25 feet from intersections.
OLD BUSINESS – None
PLAN COMMISSIONER COMMENTS AND PROJECT UPDATES
Chairman Brackett said that the apartment/townhomes on Randall that are being built look like a different elevation from the original and asked if the new plans were approved or if changes were made went they switched to rentals. Toth said the plans changed as time went on.
The Plan Commission asked about the status of the clubhouse that was to be built first but has not broken ground yet.
Chairman Brackett asked Toth to provide an update for the Commission at the next meeting.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn made by Commissioner Carroll and seconded by Commissioner Rivecco. All in favor. Motion approved.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lori J. Murray
Village Clerk
