CALL TO ORDER PLAINFIELD BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS October 15, 2012 7:00 P.M. Mr. Monnett: I will now call to order the Plainfield Board of Zoning Appeals meeting for October 15, 2012. ROLL CALL/DETERMINE OF QUORUM Mr. Monnett: Mr. Carlucci would you please have a roll call for determination of a quorum. Mr. Carlucci: Mr. Brouillard is absent tonight Ms. Duffer- here Mr. Cavanaugh- here Mr. Monnett- here We have three members present, two members absent; we have a quorum for purpose of conducting business. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (June 18, 2012 meeting) Mr. Monnett: Since we did not receive any minutes from our last meeting I will skip that. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mr. Monnett: Would you all please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. OATH OF TESTIMONY Mr. Monnett: I will ask our Town Attorney to administer the Oath of Testimony and also make a quick clarification on a couple of our members that are absent. Mr. Daniel conducted the Oath of Testimony. This is a five member board to take any action on any petition that requires a majority vote of a full board which means three members; we have two members absent this evening which means for any action to be taken on any business tonight would require a unanimous vote of the three members that are present. Whenever that occurs, the Town always gives the petitioners the opportunity if you would like to have your matter continued to another date when there is a full board or four members here, this would be the time to do that. Mr. Monnett: We will proceed. PUBLIC HEARINGS Mr. Monnett reviewed the guidelines governing the conduct of public hearings. Mr. Monnett: Tonight our first petition is BZA-12-019. Mr. James: Good evening Mr. Chairman and members of the board. This was a petition that was approved four years ago. It was for a tractor trailer storage on about 6.3 acres north of Reeves Road. The front part is zoned Ag and the back part is zoned I-1. It is the Damon Jones property. It is behind his buildings which are on Reeves Road there. I think ABC Distribution is located there. Four years ago after they completed the road work on State Road 267, during that road work that site was used for the concrete plant. The project was completed, the site had already been graded, they had some left over gravel, and Mr. Jones decided it would be a good idea to convert to trailer storage. So the use variance was granted with the condition that in four years if they wanted to continue the use they had to come back to the board and get another use variance, so that is why they are here tonight, it has already been four years. Parking was approved on the gravel. The site is within 200 of 267, but it is tucked behind the building and trees and at the edge of the I-2 district. I will show you the property, here is Reeves Road it is Mr. Jones buildings, ABC Distribution, then over here is Becton Dickenson in the I-2 and all of this is zoned I-1, but this is zoned Ag. Four years ago this wasn t in
the Town and since it has been annexed and given the Ag zoning. The trailer storage is a primary use; it is not a permitted use in any zoning district so that is why they had to seek the use variance. Here is a photo of the site as you can see it is gated. Then this is a view of the property from 267 heading south, not a very good picture, but you can barely see one trailer right there. So for seven months out of the year it is screened pretty well by the trees. Four years ago the board thought this was an appropriate use for the site because of the location and the form of use. So is that still the case and are the same conditions still appropriate or would the board prefer to see this as a permitted use development in the gateway corridor development standards. We could take this to the Plan Commission and amend the zoning ordinance and see if they think it is a good idea to have a trailer storage as a permitted use. So with that I will have a seat, Bob Staton is here representing the petitioner. Mr. Staton: Good evening, Bob Staton with Banning Engineering, 853 Columbia Road Suite 101 here in Plainfield. As Joe said we are back here for our variance of use. We think this is a good use for the property and be happy to answer any questions. Mr. Monnett: How many trailers are in there right now? Mr. Staton: Right now, not a whole lot, four maybe five. Mr. Monnett: What is the max do you think? Mr. Staton: The max that it can hold? Mr. Monnett: I mean how many trailers can it hold? Mr. Staton: I don t know, probably 50 or 60. I don t know what the max he s had in there, I know he told me for short periods of time he gets quite a few in there and then they are gone and then it is back to something like you see here. That is a guess on my part. Mr. Daniel: Is the plant Bob is that was filed with it that shows the markings on that, is that trailer spaces in there? Mr. Staton: Yes. Mr. Daniel: Those total up to 140, but that includes the front which is not in the, I think it was just in the back it was 108. Mr. Staton: I remember that Mel, that drawing that we put together in 2008. I don t think they have ever had them parked quite that deeply to get that many in there. Mr. Daniel: Does the petition now include, Joe does that include that Ag piece also, or that would be different from what was approved before right? Mr. James: Yes (inaudible). Mr. Daniel: But it wasn t in the Town then. Ms. Duffer: And you want this variance for an additional four years? Mr. Staton: I assume, is that what you are thinking Joe, I think that would be reasonable to have it for another four years and if Damon wants to continue that use and if he hasn t done anything different he d have to come back. Mr. Monnett: Joe, if they want to come back and get re-granted, and it is gravel right now correct? What about any kind of concrete or asphalt? That won t be an issue, correct? Mr. James: If we made them do asphalt? Mr. Monnett: Right. Mr. James: You can approve it as gravel tonight and if we amend the zoning ordinance and allow it as a primary use then any new trailer storage. Mr. Monnett: I was thinking in four years, say they come back and if they want to get re-granted, then I would assume that is now a primary use, then we are going to have to have concrete or asphalt.
Mr. James: Yes, it may not be allowed in the I-1 if we do amend the ordinance. Mr. Monnett: Ok, thank you. Is anyone here that would like to speak for or against this petition, please come forward now. Seeing none, I will close it to the public and open it up to our board for discussion or a possible motion. Mr. Cavanaugh: I just have one question Joe you can probably answer this. Has there been any complaints or issues from the neighbors or different uses there? Mr. James: No we haven t had anybody come in, and I checked with the Fire Department and they haven t had any calls out there. Mr. Cavanaugh: My observance of the lots there, it is very frequent traffic, it is not like trucks are in and out, it is very frequent. Thank you. I don t think there would be a different change from our original circumstances with a different variance. If you drive passed there it is almost invisible and you really can t see anything. If you have future development or additional development in that area that change the landscape and trees (inaudible). If there aren t any other questions I am prepared to make a motion. I move that the Board of Zoning and Appeals approve BZA-12-019 as filed by Damon Jones requesting a use variance to allow a trailer parking on a gravel surface on property zoned AG and I-1 north of Reeves Road subject to the following conditions: 1. Substantial compliance with the site plan submitted and filed dated September 13, 2012. 2. The terms of the variance of use shall be for four years from the approval date, at which time the use variance shall expire. In the event the petitioner wishes to continue the granted use of trailer parking another use variance shall be petitioned for and granted. Ms. Duffer: Second. Mr. Monnett: I have a motion by Mr. Cavanaugh and a second by Ms. Duffer. Mr. Carlucci, would you please poll the board? Mr. Carlucci: Mr. Brouillard is absent. Ms. Duffer- yes Mr. Cavanaugh- yes Mr. Monnett- yes Three ayes, two absent the motion is approved. Mr. Monnett: Our next petition tonight is BZA-12-020. Ms. Sprague: Good evening. This petition is for the Enterprise Holdings on East Main Street just across from Walmart there. The site was originally a house with a detached garage which has since been converted into the Enterprise Rent a Car office and there is a little bit of a parking lot, but the garage that they are currently using is a carwash location. The property is zoned General Commercial and mostly surrounded by general commercial, although to the north is the Deer Field mobile home park which is zoned Residential. So they have to have a buffer yard on that side which is larger than the normal side or rear yard. The aerial photograph is a little bit misleading. The light colored I had, I had assumed at first was the garage but that is actually the concrete pad in front of the garage. You can kind of see the roof line there on the garage towards the back. So the buffer yard along the north side of the property should be 20 and they are within 4-4 ½ scaled off of the drawing they provided for us, where normally they would need to be 20 and then the side yard should be 10, and they show 8 1. They basically want to replace the existing garage on the existing foundation which is why they are asking to put it in the same location which requires these variances. The rear property line, you can see the trees in the back, I took a picture closer up but it is not really very good contrast wise to show you on the screen. There is also a fence right behind there I think along the property line to help screen it from the residential. There isn t any screening on the east side, but the structure itself wouldn t be improved. They also propose to build it out of concrete block which will match at least part of the existing main structure is and they plan to paint it to match. This is facing actually from the garage, these are the trees that are one of them, and I think one might be further over, but they are behind the building. I know the petitioner is here if you have any questions.
Mr. Gowdy: Good evening my name is Jeff Gowdy with Enterprise Holdings at 7111 W. Washington Street, Indianapolis. Obviously I am here to request variance for two variances for the rear and the side buffer yard. I have a rendered photo here from the architect as to what the new structure would look like. It would be built with block to match the existing, it would have a hip roof and it would be shingled to match the design of the existing primary structure. Mr. Cavanaugh: Mr. Gowdy, you pull the cars in have them washed and then pull them back out? Mr. Gowdy: Exactly, we call it a bucket wash. Literally it is a five gallon bucket with soap suds, it is not sophisticated equipment, so pull the cars in exactly, hose them off with cold water, wash them with the suds and pull them right back out. Mr. Cavanaugh: How do you handle the drainage for that? Mr. Gowdy: There is existing drainage that is there now that is tied into an oil water separator. The plans would include a new oil water separator and drainage to handle all of the water that would come from the wash bay. Mr. Cavanaugh: Are there utilities out to the building now? Mr. Gowdy: Correct, there is electric, water and gas out there now and we would reuse the majority of those lines, we plan to put in a new plumbing line to tie directly into the main line, but otherwise we will use the existing utilities. Mr. Monnett: From the one photo that we have that shows the existing garage, just to the west of the garage, is that a dumpster, is that going stay? Is that a regular dumpster or is that just for your Mr. Gowdy: It is a regular dumpster and the property in the driveway is really tight and that is probably an optimal place for safety for the waste contractor to get in and get out to get that garbage. But if you d like I have some additional photos that illustrate the garage, the tree line. If you would like to see those as well, just in terms of seeing the overall picture across the back of the property there. Mr. Monnett: My question maybe for Jill, in terms of the dumpster. What type of requirement? Ms. Sprague: That is kind of outside the scope of this. Obviously it would be nice but there is no requirement for it. Ms. Duffer: Mr. Gowdy just for my clarification, the existing structure and the new structure will be the 22X25 and fits on the same. Mr. Gowdy: The existing structure is 22X22, so the new structure would actually be built just slightly to the south by a couple of feet and that is just to accommodate, you know cars are a lot larger today than they were back when this garage was built and so we just need to have a little additional room there to make sure that we can get the door shut with the vehicle and all of the other barrels and buckets of wash soap and things of that sort. Ms. Duffer: Well I think you did a nice job (inaudible). Mr. Monnett: Is anyone in the audience to speak for or against this please come forward. I will close it to the general public and open it up to our board for discussion or a possible motion. Ms. Duffer: I m comfortable with it. With that being said I would like to make a motion. I move that the Board of Zoning Appeals approve BZA-12-20 as filed by Jeff Gowdy with Enterprise Holding. Requesting a variance to allow the reconstruction of a garage with the side yard and rear buffer yard at 2336 East Main Street. Subject to the following condition. 1. Substantial compliance with the site plan and building elevation submitted file dated September 14, 2012. Mr. Cavanaugh: Second. Mr. Monnett: Motion by Ms. Duffer, second by Mr. Cavanaugh. Mr. Carlucci would you please pole the board?
Mr. Carlucci: Mr. Brouillard is absent Ms. Duffer- yes Mr. Cavanaugh- yes Mr. Monnett- yes Three ayes, none opposed, two absent, motion is approved. OLD BUSINESS/NEW BUSINESS Mr. Monnett: Any old or new business Mr. James? Mr. James: No, that is all we have for tonight. ADJOURNMENT Mr. Monnett: I will entertain a motion for adjournment. Ms. Duffer: Motion to adjourn. Mr. Monnett: Second.