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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPZ 04-10-1990 Workshop k,. MINUTES OF THE PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION WORKSHOP HELD ON TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 1990 CALL TO ORDER: The workshop was called to order at 6:40 p.m. by Chairman Sims. PRESENT: Chairman Sims; Vice Chairman Linebarier; Commission members Swickerath, Weeks, Switzer, and Shiver; Alternate Commission members Carroll and Rhodus; Planning Director Behrens, and Deputy Clerk Resnik. ABSENT: Commission member Bond. DISCUSSION ON WEST HIGHWAY 50 CORRIDOR Chairman Sims reviewed the recommendation that the Planning and Zoning Commission had made at its previous meeting. He stated that they recommended to the City Commission that a six (6) week moratorium be put into affect on all development approvals along this corridor in an attempt to put into place some new land development regulations for this section of the City. Chairman Sims said they also wanted the Planning Department to do some ;r further research and to bring back an aerial map from which the Planning and Zoning Commission could study in order to make further recommendations to the City Commission. Director of Planning Behrens said that rather than an aerial map, he thought the map he had included in the packets to the Commission members better outlined the area. He said it was a map that was developed by previous Planning Department staff and he assumed that this map had been put together with input from the Planning and Zoning Commission. Director Behrens explained that the Good Homes Plaza developer had closed on the property at Good Homes Road and State Road 50 and that the purchase price was more than $4 million. He said the City was looking to develop Clark Road using bonds so that the City would not have to depend on individual developers constructing the road in a piecemeal fashion. Commission member Shiver asked if Clark Road would be built with two or four lanes and Director Behrens said he was trying to convince the City Manager to do the full four lanes since it was a strong possibility that this would be the only north -south road the City would get (due to the complications surrounding the proposed beltway). Director Behrens said that the City was currently working with the William Hough Company on a study regarding impact fees and Clark Road and that the City Manager was intent on starting Clark Road as soon as possible. Page 2 Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting April 10, 1990 Vice Chairman Linebarier asked if the City would still rely on developers to pay for the road even if the City was bonding for the project and Director of Planning Behrens said yes. Chairman Sims said the developers would all have to pay transportation impact fees. Chairman Sims asked Director Behrens about the access points that were designated on the map and Director Behrens said he thought that was probably the best guess of where the access points would be. Vice Chairman Linebarier said that was what the Planning and Zoning Commission and Planning Department staff had meant by the access points when they devised this map. Director of Planning Behrens said that representatives from West Orange Hospital would be presenting a preliminary plan later in the evening and that he thought the hospital would be setting a good precedent because it was only proposing one cut onto State Road 50. Chairman Sims asked Director Behrens what this map was done for and what the purpose of it was. Commission member Swickerath said that rnole the map was part of the City's West State Road 50 Plan that former Mayor Tom Ison and former Planning Director Russ Wagner had developed to talk with the County about. Commission member Swickerath said that one of the ideas was that Blackwood Avenue on the north side of State Road 50 would hook up to Montgomery Avenue to create a north -south roadway. He said that the north part of Montgomery Road that was at one time proposed to be extended, was voted down by the City Commission. Commission member Swickerath said he was in favor of keeping this north -south roadway of Blackwood to Montgomery as a possibility. Director of Planning Behrens said that he was reasonably certain that the Ferdinands had purchased Tom West's property that was just south of Veronica Place and that they would most likely be interested in this roadway as an access to their property. Commission member Swickerath said he did not recall exactly, but that he was quite sure that those access points were devised as a means of limiting the access directly onto State Road 50. Vice Chairman Linebarier said that was the same reason for the feeder roads such as the one shown from Clark Road to the Lake Lotta property. Director of Planning Behrens told the Planning and Zoning r Commission that Scotty's was currently in the process of expanding its site and that he had talked with City Manager Shapiro and Page 3 Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting April 10, 1990 convinced him to have Professional Engineering Consultants review the proposed cuts onto State Road 50. Director Behrens said that the result of this was to move the current entrance on State Road 50 to the west, to be more within the DOT guidelines insofar as distance from the intersection of Old Winter Garden and the cut itself. Vice Chairman Linebarier said if the City was making Scotty's move its access point, he did not understand how the City could allow Good Homes Plaza to have its proposed cut so close to the intersection of Good Homes Road and State Road 50. Director Behrens explained that with Scotty's, he was able to work with the developer and that Scotty's was not disagreeable to the idea. He said that with Good Homes Plaza, there were a lot of other things involved and that the outparcel that the cut would provide access to was a much bigger issue money -wise. Director of Planning Behrens said he did try to have the cut eliminated and that he had even taken it to the Orange County Development Review Committee but they did not oppose the cut and that the City Engineer had approved it as well. ishoy Commission member Swickerath commented that he felt the City had changed its administrative philosophy and he personally felt that the City would do anything to get sewer hook ups, where before it had made it more difficult to develop. He added that he did not feel this new philosophy was coming from the Planning Department. Director of Planning Behrens said what was very effective in the case of Good Homes Plaza was that the developer came into a Development Review Committee meeting with a chart showing the northeast corners on State Road 50 from I -4 all the way to the Turnpike and that all of them had development with curb cuts within 50 feet. He said the developer pleaded the case that it needed to have the same access in order for it to remain competitive with these other shopping centers. Commission member Switzer commented that the Development Review Committee seemed to have a lot more clout with the City Commission than did the Planning and Zoning Commission. Director Behrens suggested that the Planning and Zoning Commission discuss this with the City Commission if it was an issue with all the members. Commission member Swickerath said he would like to add under "Other Business" in the regular meeting an item to propose a resolution between the Development Review Committee and the Planning and Zoning Commission. Page 4 Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting April 10, 1990 Commission member Shiver asked who appoints Development Review Committee members and Director Behrens said the committee was outlined in the City Code. He said the City Engineer, the Planning Director, the Building Official, the Public Works Director, and the City Manager all currently were part of the Development Review Committee. Commission member Shiver asked Director Behrens what his perception was as far as whether the Planning and Zoning Commission had more clout, less clout, or equal clout than the Development Review Committee. Director Behrens said he thought both groups' recommendations were weighed equally by the City Commission. He said both groups were responsible for reviewing all subdivisions and all commercial development over 25,000 square feet. Commission member Shiver asked why the Development Review Committee was spending time reviewing these developments if the Planning and Zoning Commission was already doing so. He also wanted to know whose recommendation the City Commission chose if there was a conflict between the two. Director of Planning Behrens said it depended upon each individual case. fir.► Alternate Commission member Rhodus said that the Development Review Committee was to provide more of a technical review of development and that she felt the Planning and Zoning Commission was to provide a review more on the aesthetics. She said the staff on the Development Review Committee had more technical expertise than did the members of the Planning and Zoning Commission. Commission member Shiver asked about the Highway 50 Study and whether the City was going to require more as far as aesthetics in this area (i.e.- bigger buffers between parking lot and roadway) or whether the City was going to allow it to become a mass of concrete. Director of Planning Behrens said he would like to go on record as saying that he would like to see an architectural review board such as the one in Boca Raton. Commission member Shiver said he hated to see the City develop another Orange Blossom Trail with asphalt to asphalt. He said the City really needed to concentrate on increasing the aesthetic value. Commission member Weeks said that the Planning and Zoning Commission spent a lot of time on coming up with just that when the Highway 50 Study was being done. Commission member Shiver said that signage was also an important aspect to monitor. Director of Planning Behrens and Alternate Commission member Carroll said the City had a good sign ordinance in place. Alternate Commission member Carroll said the arbor ordinance was also good. Commission member Shiver responded that Page 5 Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting April 10, 1990 the new 7 -11 store on the corner of Bluford Avenue and State Road 50 had landscaping and trees that consisted of a retention pond with white rocks in it with no trees of any value and he wondered if that met the City's ordinances. Commission member Swickerath said that all these recommendations for upgrading of ordinances needed to be passed on to the City Commission so that they could be written into the City's land regulations. He said that they needed to be as specific as possible in making recommendations. Commission member Shiver asked Director Behrens what the City was requiring of Scotty's. Director Behrens said it was not specifically set in stone. Commission member Shiver said they should be required to provide a nice berm between the parking lot and State Road 50 with scrubs. Director Behrens said they may do that but that the City did not require it. Director Behrens said he would copy the College Park Study for the Planning and Zoning Commission members to look at to see if they could get some ideas from it. Director of Planning Behrens reminded the Planning and Zoning Commission members that some of the land along this part of State Road 50 was actually in the County and that the City had no say over how it was developed. Vice Chairman Linebarier said the City should try to work with the County on this and thought the County would cooperate with the City if it presented a concept it wanted to develop for this area. Commission member Shiver said it seemed to him that the City required more of residential developers and wondered why the City was not more stringent with commercial developers. Alternate Commission member Rhodus said the City should try to create a positive image of Ocoee by making this part of State Road 50 nice so that when people drove through, they would be left with that image. Commission member Weeks said that the plans for Good Homes Plaza called for a lot of landscaping. Commission member Shiver said, however, that the landscaping it was doing was all within the plaza itself and not along the periphery. Alternate Commission member Carroll said the landscape ordinance and arbor ordinance covered every 50 feet, plus a hedge of some sort. Director of Planning Behrens said City Commissioner Johnson had asked staff to strengthen the arbor ordinance to make larger trees mandatory. Commission member Swickerath said he would bring it up for discussion under "Other Business" that the Planning and Zoning `, Commission recommend that the City Commission enact stronger regulations for buffering along Highway 50. Page 6 Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting April 10, 1990 Commission member Switzer asked if the City could legally require cuts within a set distance along State Road 50 and what the distance could be. Director of Planning Behrens said the distance between cuts depended upon the speed and design of the roadway. Commission member Swickerath said the City could not lessen the state's requirements but could enact regulations that were more stringent. Vice Chairman Linebarier asked Director of Planning Behrens if he had reviewed this map to see whether the current zoning still fits with the designations that this map gave to the parcels along State Road 50. Director Behrens said the only change that might have taken place is the R -3 by Lake Blanchard, which he thought was now C -2. Commission member Swickerath said that would really not affect this map since that area was designated on the map as either light commercial or high density residential. Commission member Swickerath said he would make a motion during their regular meeting that this map be incorporated into the City's Comprehensive Plan. Chairman Sims said the motion made by the Planning and Zoning Niwow Commission at its last meeting regarding the six (6) week moratorium was not taken to the City Commission. He also mentioned that the developer of Good Homes Plaza had gone before the City Commission to ask for a repeal of added impact fees. Chairman Sims said that they did not get to cover everything that he had hoped to accomplish in tonight's workshop session but that a lot of good discussion had taken place. Director of Planning Behrens said he felt any recommendation that the Planning and Zoning Commission came up with regarding the State Road 50 corridor should be presented at the City Commission meeting by the Chairman or one of the other members rather than himself. Chairman Sims said he would prepare a resolution outlining what they come up with insofar as a recommendation to the City Commission and then someone from the Planning and Zoning Commission would be in attendance to present it. ADJOURNMENT: 7:30 p.m. CHAIRMAN SIMS ATTEST: Li— EPUTY CLERK RESNIK