ALTOONA PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING September 26, 2017 Altoona City Hall Members Present: Dan Dove, Eric Gjersvik, Ann Moyna, Jill Pudenz Members Absent: Anne Lohmeier, Dan Narber, Scott Henry Staff: John Shaw, Chad, Quick, Jenn Naylor Guests: Zach Pottebaum, Abbey Doyle, Jolie Sawhill, Brian Lindgren, Curt Engelhardt, Conor DeCamp, Ethan Penne, Ethan Tarantino, Wade DuMond, Peyton Jackson, Elisabeth Knapp, Kole McNeel, Jon Wall, Others not signing in. Dan Dove called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Roll call was taken with all members present, except Anne Lohmeier, Dan Narber, and Scott Henry. 1. Consideration and recommendation of a preliminary plat for Rodgers Estates Plat 2 (County Plat). Wally Pelds (Pelds Engineering Company) presented the request. The plat is southeast of Altoona, and the request is basically a lot line re-shift, taking a piece of Outlot Y and adding it to Lot 1, so that a pole building can be added onto Lot 1, as currently there is not enough space. It is a county plat, so they are going through both processes. With no questions from Commission members, Dove opened the hearing to public comments. With no public comments, Dove closed the public hearing and asked for a motion. Gjersvik moved to recommend approval of the request. Seconded by Moyna. Votes: Yes Gjersvik, Moyna, Dove, Pudenz. No None. Motion approved, 4-0. 2. Consideration and recommendation of a site plan for Hy-Vee Fast and Fresh convenience store. Pete Hush (Hy-Vee Corporate Offices) stated that in consideration of their request, his understanding is that one of the Board members had to recuse themselves and asked what the procedure was, given that there were board members absent. Shaw explained that if there were not four members present to act on it, it would have to be tabled. Hush asked if any board member may show up later in the evening, so they could delay the item. Shaw said no. Pudenz asked if she abstained, could the remaining three vote? Shaw explained that they could go ahead that way, and he would confer with the City attorney. If that procedure was not acceptable, the item would have to be brought back before the Commission. Hush asked if a delay would jeopardize their Board of Adjustment hearing. Shaw said no. Russ Schraeder (Shive Hattery, Incorporated), presented the request. The site plan is for a 10,600 square foot, new style convenience store located along Hubbell Avenue, which would include a coffee shop, prepared meals, and fresh produce. They are continuing to work with staff on deficiency items. Dove opened the hearing to public comments. With no public comments, Dove moved to recommend approval of the site plan, subject to deficiencies. He then addressed Shaw, who clarified the deficiencies. He said three applications were still sitting before the Council, so staff recommends any action be subject to the deficiencies being approved by City Council. Dove repeated his motion to approve, subject to deficiencies, which were the rezoning application, the preliminary and final plat, and the development plan for Prairie Crossing. Seconded by Moyna. Votes: Yes Dove, Moyna, Gjersvik. No None. Pass: Pudenz. Motion approved, 3-0.
Shaw will double check with the City attorney regarding the procedure for this agenda item. 3. Public hearing, consideration, and recommendation for a rezoning request from Kwik Trip to rezone 1.728 acres from M-1 (Limited Industrial) to C-2 (General Commercial). Wade Dumond (Kwik Trip/Kwik Star) presented the request. Pudenz asked if for the first item, they were just looking at the rezoning. Dumond affirmed. Shaw clarified that it is the eastern lot that is requesting rezoning. Pudenz moved to recommend approval of the rezoning request for Kwik Trip. Seconded by Gjersvik. Votes: Yes Pudenz, Gjersvik, Dove, Moyna. No None. Motion approved, 4-0. 4. Consideration and recommendation of a preliminary plat for Kwik Trip. Wade Dumond (Kwik Trip/Kwik Star) presented the request. He stated staff is supporting both plats. The only issue outstanding is the access. Dove asked Quick and Shaw if there were deficiencies. Shaw stated that on the preliminary plat, there were no deficiencies. He noted that on the far eastern edge of the two-lot addition, where they are combining two lots into one lot, is a shared drive with the undeveloped lot, which is directly east of the two lots. There will be a common drive directly south of the access that is gained by Casey s. Pudenz moved to recommend approval the preliminary plat for Kwik Trip. Seconded by Dove. Votes: Yes Pudenz, Dove, Gjersvik, Moyna. No None. Motion approved, 4-0. 5. Consideration and recommendation of a final plat for Kwik Trip. Wade Dumond (Kwik Trip/Kwik Star) presented the request. Shaw stated they still need legal documents for the final plat. Gjersvik moved to approve the recommendation of the final plat Kwik Trip, subject to deficiencies. Seconded by Dove. Votes: Yes Gjersvik, Dove, Pudenz, Moyna. No Dove. Motion approved, 4-0. 6. Consideration and recommendation of a site plan for Kwik Trip. Wade Dumond (Kwik Trip/Kwik Star) presented the request. Pudenz asked about the access points. Dumond explained that they are proposing three access points onto Adventureland Drive. The reason for asking for three access points is that there will be a smaller diesel island, and what they have found on some of their other 520 sites throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa is that when they can avoid the conflicts between the larger and smaller vehicles, on-site and off-site, everything works a lot better. They want to keep the two uses separate. Dumond explained that when there is a shared drive, as is proposed by staff, the exiting vehicles conflict with the entering trucks, which can cause backups on the City street. They will direct traffic as far to the east as possible to the main intersection, so when they turn left, they can come right back out to the intersection of Adventureland and First. He noted that Casey s to the north has four access points, and Kwik Trip is asking for three. Gjersvik asked Dumont to point out on the projector where the different pumps were located in relation to the access points. Gjersvik stated he didn t feel there would be a lot of cars going out that exit, as it is right in/right out. Dumont agreed that locals will understand the site and learn it quickly, but they are anticipating a
lot of interstate traffic. Gjersvik stated that with less entrances, there would be less confusion about which to take and reiterated that he didn t think eliminating an entrance would eliminate the crossing, because they still have to intermingle with trucks coming in. He then asked if the lines on the visual were wheel paths/turning movements for larger vehicles. Dumont affirmed they were for semi vehicles. Gjersvik stated they may need to widen the center entrance if the lines were an accurate depiction. Dumont stated that it works okay. Gjersvik stated he is not a huge proponent of a lot of entrances into a site, especially when they are that close. Dumont explained there is also a raised island between the two uses to reduce intermingling. Pudenz asked if it were too close to the intersection to have one off of First Street. Shaw affirmed. He stated he had a conversation with Wade earlier about this and understands his point of view. He explained that they want to try to avoid having cars making U-turns in the street. By SUDAS standards, they are allowed once entrance per street frontage. If there is a shared access point for commercial properties, then they can have two. Staff recommends widening the center drive to make it more usable, and also try to train customers through visual cues to get to the far east entrance. Exit signs can help direct customers. Designing it in such a way that cars have to take U-turns can cause function breakdown on a City street. Pudenz asked if there was a possibility of just doing a right in with no right out and using the shared drive only as an exit. Gjersvik said that would be tough with truck. Dumont didn t know if that would be acceptable. Gjersvik asked what the building was on the north end. Dumont explained it was a future facility for compressed natural gas. Gjersvik asked how that worked, and Dumont explained. Dove asked Shaw if they will need to go before the Board of Adjustment. Shaw stated that they have an application in for the more truck-related components. Since the convenience store has some components of truck stops such as the diesel and compressed natural gas, but no resting facilitation or no showers, staff advised them to seek approval and clarification from the Board of Adjustment. Dove moved to recommend approval of a site plan for Kwik Trip, subject to deficiencies, with the main thing being resolving the access points with staff. Seconded by Pudenz. Votes: Yes Dove, Pudenz, Gjersvik, Moyna. No None. Motion approved, 4-0. 7. Public hearing, consideration, and recommendation for a rezoning request from MidAmerican Energy for 77.34 acres from A-1 (Agricultural) to M-1 (Limited Industrial). David Bentz (Bishop Engineering) presented the request. The land is being annexed currently. Quick showed the area on the projector in relation to Facebook and other properties and explained that the pond is also part of the annexation. Dove opened the hearing to public comments. With no public comments or further questions from Commission members, Dove asked for a motion. Pudenz moved to recommend approval of the rezoning request. Seconded by Moyna. Votes: Yes Pudenz, Moyna, Dove, Gjersvik. No None. Motion approved, 4-0 8. Consideration and recommendation of a preliminary plat for MidAmerican Energy Altoona Service Center. David Bentz (Bishop Engineering) presented the request. He explained they were trying to plat this into one lot. He showed on the projector where public water would be run to the north property line along 56 th and where along 62 nd, they are running water all the way along the south property line. Twelve and sixteen inch water mains as requested by the City. He also indicated that sanitary sewer would be run to their farthest building.
Gjersvik moved to recommend approval of the preliminary plat. Seconded by Pudenz. Votes: Yes Gjersvik, Pudenz, Dove, Moyna. No None. Motion approved, 4-0 9. Consideration and recommendation of a final plat for MidAmerican Energy Altoona Service Center. David Bentz (Bishop Engineering) presented the request. He explained that for the final plat, they are deeding an additional ten feet of street right-of-way to the City. Gjersvik moved to recommend approval of the preliminary plat. Seconded by Moyna. Votes: Yes Gjersvik, Moyna, Dove, Pudenz. No None. Motion approved, 4-0 10. Consideration and recommendation of a site plan for MidAmerican Energy Altoona Service Center. David Bentz (Bishop Engineering) presented the request. Of the 77 acres, they will only be developing 30 acres. He showed the area on the projector. They are proposing two buildings, one just under 80,000 square feet and the other 42,000 square feet. They are providing circulation through the site and between the two buildings. MidAmerican desired more connections, but in working with staff, some connections were eliminated. He indicated the locations of the detention basins and existing wetland areas. For landscaping, they want to make it more prairie in nature, so they are using a lot of wetland mixes and prairie grasses. There s a lawn area for picnics. Dove asked about the deficiencies. Bentz said staff was asking for more trees. He pointed out that the site as a whole has quite a few trees. He said there were constraints that led to asking for prairie fill rather than trees. He showed on the projector the substation area, existing power lines with associated easements, feeder lines, right-of-ways, and sidewalk and public utility easements. He stated with all of that, there is not a lot of room for trees. He showed where trees are planned and where they could add more. The building cannot be moved to the north or it would be under the electric lines. He also showed where they were proposing an eight foot tall opaque fence with six foot tall shrubs in front of it as part of the screening. It would be similar to the Prairie Meadows fence. They were asking the Commission s blessing to allow the fence to bet the screening instead of plantings due to space constraints. Brian Lindgren (OPN Architects) explained that the building operates with gas, electric, and substation operations and would house crews and engineers for service and emergency operations. The first part of the building is office and support space. This is in front of a pre-engineered metal building would house maintenance and fleet. It s the garage that would house 42 vehicles as well as working shops for substation activities. The architecture in question is the metal building panels. The front part of the building would be two sizes of rainscreen metal flat panels, 20 inches by 10 feet and 40 inches by 10 feet. For the other part, they would use a vertically-oriented flat panel 16 inches wide by 32-33 feet in length. They are interlocking with an embossed finish. Another material is a wood-look product used for the soffits and also goes into the building and vestibule. The north substation building would also have the 16 inch wide vertical panel system. Dove asked the commission if they had any questions. Gjersvik asked about resolving the architecture. Shaw explained that in an M-1 district allows brick, stone, or pre-cast tilt-up panels, which is different from what they are proposing. Dove asked if they had to go to the Board of Adjustment for that. Shaw said no, that they were going to the Board of Adjustment for the orientation of the overhead doors toward the public street. Pudenz asked if there were any color variation in the panels. Lindgren said
they were all the same color. Gjersvik stated that currently they were not complying with architectural requirements. Shaw affirmed. Dove asked if there were any other questions. Gjersvik asked if there were any other issues with mitigating wetlands. Bentz said they were disturbing a little, but it was non-jurisdictional. Pudenz asked if they had any photos of other buildings like the one they were proposing. They did not. With no further questions from Commission members, Dove asked for a motion. Dove moved to recommend approval of a site plan for MidAmerican Energy Altoona Service Center, subject to deficiencies. Seconded by Moyna. Votes: Yes Dove, Moyna, Gjersvik, Pudenz. No None. Motion approved, 4-0. 11. Minutes of the August 29, 2017 meeting. Dove moved to approve the minutes. Seconded by Moyna. Votes: Yes Dove, Moyna. No None. Pass Gjersvik, Pudenz. Motion approved, 2-0. 12. Old Business Status of Previous Applications: Shaw provided an update on Spring Creek North plat that has gone to Council, who has approved it subject to certain conditions. Preliminary comments have come back from consultants. There will be a recommendation of eliminating five lots along the park frontage. They ve started grading. Shaw stated the Outlets project is getting closer. 13. New Business None Dove moved to adjourn. Pudenz seconded the motion. Votes: Yes Dove, Pudenz, Gjersvik, Moyna. Motion approved, 4-0. Meeting adjourned at 7:27 p.m. Next meeting October 31, 2017 at 6:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jennifer Naylor Office Assistant